How He Built a $1B Brand by Letting People Rent Their Cars | Shelby Clark, Founder, Turo

This is Shelby Clark, a visionary entrepreneur who founded Turo, the world's first peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, transforming a simple idea into a billiondoll company. Shelby revolutionized how we think about car ownership and sharing in the modern world. Today on the pod, we have Shelby Clark, founder of Turo, which is a peer-to-peer car sharing platform. I'm really excited to have Shelby on the show today because I'm actually a customer of Turo and I've recently rented a huge SUV from Turo and today Shelby is a partner at Lionhe Heart Ventures where they invest in AI and mental health. And before we talk about what you're investing in, I do want to start from the beginning with Turo.

Sure, let's go. Thanks a lot for having me. Nice to chat today.

So, I was reading about Turo and one thing most people don't know about is uh Turo used to be called Relay, right? But uh can you talk a little bit about the original story of how Turo started and like how you scaled it?

Sure. Let's see. So um it's always difficult to figure out how far back to go but um I had a really inspiring experience in my early career with a nonprofit startup called ka.org. Um and so KA was a peer-to-peer u micro finance lending platform. So this was in 2006 I think. Uh Muhammad Ununice had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work in micro finance. And it was the first time where they created a a peer-to-peer platform so um the average person could sort of get involved and loan $25 to somebody who needed access to finance in you know um in Bangladesh or in Kenya and the company took off and um I was the sixth employee involved and it was just so exciting to be a part of and we had a bunch of people locked in a room who knew nothing about about micro finance and we created one of the most influential organizations in the world um you know which has impacted now millions of lives all around the And and so I was like, "Wow, this entrepreneurship thing is pretty cool." Um and so I was like, "All right, I'm inspired. I'm ready to start a company. All right, ready to start a company. Well, I don't have any ideas or time or money or partners or anything might be useful in starting a company." So I decided that getting u going to business school might be a useful um thing to do. So I ended up um enrolling at Harvard Business School and in fall of 2008 with a really strong focus on starting a company. So um at the time I was because KA was a peer-to-p peer marketplace I was really focused on sort of these peer-to-peer ideas and finding ways of connecting people online in new ways. And so um uh there very much was a light bulb moment. Um I uh it was my first year of business school and I was I was using Zipar. Are you familiar with Zipar?

No, but it was a car rental sharing platform. Correct.

Yeah, it's a car sharing platform. So, you know, you could instead of having, you know, like a car rental where cars are sort of in a, you know, a big parking lot at the airport, Zip Car had a couple of cars like all around town and you could just, you know, pick one up near you and it was an alternative to car ownership.

So, it's not peer-to-peer. It's more just uh they have their own cars. Big

company. They did an IPO. It was a billion worth a billion dollars at some point. Um, and um, and so I was using Zip Car when I was living in Boston going to grad school. And um, I really loved how I could access mobility whenever I needed it. I didn't need to own a car. I could take um, you know, a a convertible if it was in the summer and I was going to the beach. Um, I could take uh, you know, SUV in the winter, if it was uh, if it was snowing, a Prius, you know, to go to get groceries, whatever it was. And um, so I loved the idea, but um, it was challenging for me in practice. So, um, I didn't I never planned far enough advance and, uh, I always found that the closest car to me was booked. And so, um, one day in November of 2008 and I reserved the closest car to me and it was two and a half miles away. And it was one of these days where it was like fleeting upwards, um, in Boston. And so, I go outside and I hop on my bicycle and I'm trudging through this in the snow to get to this car. And, um, all along the way I'm passing cars that are covered in snow, look I haven't driven in weeks. And so, um, there was this moment and I was like, um, why, you know, why do I have to trudge so far to get to this car? Why can't I get in that car? And I was like, why can't I get in that car? You know, I sort of went back to those KA roots and and thought about the power of uh sort of a peer-to-p peer marketplace. Um, you know, to satisfy our mobility, we don't need more cars on the road. We need to better utilize the cars we already have. And so um you know I sort of had this this concept of like you know ka or like eBay you know sort of a peer marketplace meet zipcar and I was like it was just obvious to me like all it was instantly very clear and um I was like well this either exists or there's a reason why and so you know like any good entrepreneur I go home and start looking up domain names and um uh uh and doing some research you know is any doing this and Gnome is doing as far as I could tell. Um, so I reserved a bunch of domain names. The best one that day was communal wheels. So actually before relay rides, communal wheels was the was the name for a while. Um, your car is my car is another one I do my reserve that day. Anyways, it wasn't the um so uh you know turned out nobody was doing it and the reason why was insurance and um and so you know I was like what I think we can solve this problem. I think this is a real need. So, um, yeah, just from like from day one, I was just very clear on what the idea and the vision was. And, you know, there's been some twists and turns along the way, but you know, not it took about a year and a half to get the company off the ground. Um, and we eventually launched as the world's first peer per cart marketplace. Now, we're the largest. Um, so, you know, this year we'll do, um, over a billion dollars in revenue. The company's profitable and growing. Um, and, um, you know, the majority of the revenue actually goes into people's pockets. So, um, you know, has a great impact as well. So, really exciting to see. It's been a lots of twists and turns along the way. Um, but it's been, you know, a great experience.

I see why you must have like a lot of haters or people who were trying to fight with you like how same thing with taxi were against Uber. Same thing with Turo, right? Like all the existing car rental companies like Enterprise Hurts. They must be trying to Did they try to kind of like sabotage your operation or like uh try to undermine you somehow? Um we had some like push back but you know the governmental companies aren't nearly as powerful as the taxi unions or um you know Airbnb has had a lot of push back um from like um affordable housing people. You know like the we just we did have some push back. we didn't have nearly as like you know formidable opponents that you know we've had um you know uh we got really involved in legislation. Um there was you know uh now there's been laws all over the country that have been passed either for or against us. Um in some cases people love this idea. Um in the beginning the states were actively trying to create legislation to encourage this. You know they were like this is a way for people to make money. This is like car sharing has been shown to reduce um uh congestion in driving. might be counterintuitive, but if you have access to mobility, uh it's easier to not own a car. And if you don't own a car because you can access Turo when you need it or um bike sharing or Uber or sort of you have um a mobility portfolio, uh you're less likely to own a car and if you're less likely to own a car, you actually drive a lot less. Means less congestion on the road. So, um a lot of cities were like, "This is a great thing. We're psyched about this. We love Zipard. This is even more scalable and the money stays in our communities. This is great." Um, and so at the beginning we had a number of of of laws that were passed for us. Um, and then eventually it was a little more contentious and more complicated in airports, but for the most part it was it was pretty um, you know, we didn't see have a ton of really strong push back. And you know, I would actually say that the biggest competitor alternative for us is car ownership. um you know and um interestingly what I saw was that the big um automotive brands actually really um engaged us. So um you know I think there's this concept of the in the innovator's dilemma. you know, you have like a young, you know, sort of innovator that comes in and can sort of disrupt everything. And um, you know, in many cases in in many industries, you have the incumbent industries who try to like stop everything. Um, like enterprise, like these car rental companies who were like, we can just stop them. Um, meanwhile, they're missing the boat that like there's actually big changes that are happening. Another great example of this was, you know, the record labels. you know, whenever MU digital music was happening, instead of um, you know, trying to figure that out and have a digital music product, they like just tried, you know, to to sue to sue these companies, Napster, and they went out of business. Um, but they missed the boat, you know, like um DMG Records did not like capitalize on um, you know, on digital music and neither did Kodak with digital photos. So, you have these um, in general um, the incumbents have a very difficult time dealing with innovation. And interestingly um what we saw was different. We saw that the car manufacturers actually wanted to understand what's going on. Um they wanted to participate in their own disruption. Um by you know we had uh we did a major deal with General Motors. Um uh we had investments from uh uh multiple um uh you know major automotive brands. Um you know there was lots of conversations around partnerships and um several you know BMW launched its own pew precaring marketplace. Um so you know I think this was a you know a big industry is trying to understand like hey things are changing here. These guys are on to something and and what can we learn from this?

Yeah you know recently if you use Turo it's a very close to perfect product in my opinion like the customer service is amazing. Uh the insurance

insurance works really smoothly inside the app and everything's very like smooth even u owner car owners are have these remote they unlock the cars remotely or something like that where they don't even have to show up to unlock the car for you but uh I want to know in the early days like how did you figure like what was the hardest thing like how did you guys figure out the insurance aspect or like how what was like the you were like this is impossible hill to climb on. insurance was a really big challenge and that was sort of like the the first major hurdle for us and um you know I actually had um a co-founder who was an insurance expert and she's like okay I can figure this out I I can do these you know she had a background in insurance and um

and after a couple of months after six months she quit and she said you're never going to figure the insurance out I'm out and I was like can I say that sorry if I if I shouldn't be saying that on podcast. Um, and I was like, that's not good. And but I was just like, this is going to work. I know it's going to work. And so, um, what I did was, uh, so there was lots of small local nonprofit car sharing services. So, these are little nonprofits that realized that car sharing would have a good, um, impact in their communities. And so, um, uh, there was one guy who had, um, underwritten the insurance for like 10 of these little car sharing services. And so eventually somebody introduced me to him and I told him what we were doing and he's like this is brilliant. And so he got him I got him to invest in the company and become our insurance broker. And so um at that point uh you know our interests were aligned and he was willing to move mountains for us. Um but it still took a long time. So you know he started he got things um almost ready to go and you know he told me hey Shelby um you know I'm going to have this policy in two weeks. So like start getting your team ready. And so I was like okay great let's go. you know, started getting the team mobilized, getting our marketing ready, like sort of all the things. So, we were ready to go and the two month two weeks passed and it was two months and it was four months and um eight months later, it took eight months to get the insurance policy from the time he told us it'd be two weeks. And in the meantime, actually, a lot of my team left. They lost they lost faith and um you know, it was um it was it was a really like it was a really challenging time. I remember there was like so the the the roller ship the roller coaster of entrepreneurship is like people tell you about it but like the visceral experience of being in it is like harder than you think. The highs are higher, the lows are lower and the velocity that you fly between them is greater than you think. So, I remember there was this one time and um I'm uh I was in my my second year in business school and I I get an investor or an email from one of my investors and this his investor was pretty was pretty old and um he like didn't I uh this was in 2006 so it's a little earlier in technology but um he he sent me an email and he couldn't really distinguish between the body of emails and subject lines. Um maybe he was like in his 80s and he put this entire email in his subject line. like Shelby, you must shut down re relay rides immediately due to your inability to keep your team together and launch the product or something like this. Um but so my my main investor is like asking for my money back and telling me I'm failing. And then at that exact same moment um the next email that comes in was from the economist was asking to feature us in an upcoming story. Um and at that moment I was also sitting in um a like a business plan competition final and we were at that moment announced as um one of the three finalists in the business plan competition. And so like you know just in this like in this period of like 10 minutes I went from like the floor to the ceiling to the floor and um so so anyways the the early stages particularly getting the insurance right and keeping you know and building a team and motivating a team particularly during the sort of like the very difficult ups and downs um was challenging to say the least.

Yeah. Jeff Bezos always says that most people overestimate the risk and underestimate the opportunity. And in my opinion, you built a marketplace business and marketplace businesses require like a decade or two to mature or and how did you in the initial days like think about the supply and demand side because you always need both sides to like how did you get people to enroll?

Yeah, so in the earliest days um we took like a really sort of hyper local approach. So I was uh very focused on um you know sort of generating supply and demand like in a neighborhood level. Um we initially launched in Boston while I was in business school and then we moved to San Francisco um when we raised our series A and um you know we were growing very slowly like in these small markets uh and really trying to be very surgical in the way that we grew. Um and um and then uh we ended up hiring a new CEO, a guy named Andre Hadad, um who's still the CEO to date. Um I think 13 years later, maybe 14. And um he his background was was from eBay. So he actually was an expert in building marketplaces and he really understood the nuances of um of how you build a marketplace. And what he understood in a marketplace is that you you create the infrastructure, you do everything you need to make a transaction safe and convenient and then you get out of the way. Um and in the meantime, we were doing everything. We were like doing the customer service and we were installing devices in every car. um you know there was a lot of friction on what um what we were doing and we were very much getting in the middle of the transactions in a way that we thought was critical that I thought was critical in order to to have this supply and demand match in order to have a good service but Andre knew that the that the market would do it better um that again we needed to provide the infrastructure and so um Andre decided that we should launch nationwide and I was I freaked out with this idea I was like wait a like how can we do this? You know, we are in these two markets and still really growing slowly and trying to get these um these like these these markets to thrive and um his intuition was right. Um you so we launched nationwide and um the first year was was was sort of painful honestly like we hadn't really sort of reached um a balance of supply and demand and we grew pretty slowly and it actually ended up being really challenging. We went out to fund raise our series B and we failed. um we weren't showing enough traction in the marketplace and so um uh we ended up needing to um uh like our investors did an internal round, we had to do a round of layoffs. Um it was a really challenging thing. Um and fortunately on the second year around um enough sort of organic inventory had been built. Um, and what was sort of happening was like you had like a car and then sort of like so supply happened and then demand sort of came around the car and then it sort of like just more and more places that's happened around the country until um uh you know until we end up just having a pretty solid supply base. And you know people talk about like you know with marketplaces difficult to figure out supply and demand. What what comes first the chicken or the egg? The chicken. the supply comes first. Um like you know the uh this is something that you know we learned over time but like you absolutely need to get um high quality supply on the marketplace and so it took some time. Um but interestingly so we had one big competitor at the time. It was called Get Around and so we did this big nationwide launch. Um and again it took us a while to sort of gain momentum on a nationwide basis. Um Get Araround continued with sort of their city by city model. Um and in the end um you know we ended up you know 10 times larger than get around um get around tried to do a stock IPO and ended up failing and and going out of business. So um you know it was we we did get to see sort of side by side you know this idea of like um market bymarket growth versus sort of a you know a more blanket blanket approach. Um and and yeah, so I think being first to market um uh being able to create um supply and demand at scale um you know it was challenging to do um but as we're able to do it we were really able to sol solidify ourselves as the market leader

to be to give you some credit um there was the app interface was not there yet in 2006 2008 like like how we see it today it was just not there so you were in a way you were kind of ahead of your time. I'm pretty sure like the web app interface must have been a lot better. But uh how did that change like from the initial app to the initial UI? Like how did you change? How did that evolve in the last 20 years almost this company been around?

Interesting you know I mean um we had an app pretty quickly. So like we launched a company in 2020 and I want to say we had an app within a year. So um what was interesting was that if anything we sort of took it we like we took a step back you know we we sort of launched with this very like high-tech hightouch model with we had devices installed every car and then um we took a back step back from that because we thought that it was like it was too high friction and um and scaling like getting um a device in every vehicle was was really challenging. So, you know, I do think, um, and another thing that we did really early on, um, was we partnered with General Motors. So, um, General Motors, uh, they have like a invehicle platform called OnStar and they wanted to make that into, um, you know, like a, um, like an open platform and we were the first example. So, they came like, you know, we did a partnership, um, and we integrated with OnStar. So through through the re through the relay rides app you could unlock your OnStar vehicle directly through GM without needing to install anything. Um we thought this was going to be a dream integration and um you know but from a technology perspective it it worked like it was very functional like instantly we were tied into millions of cars around the country. Unfortunately um the uh the the partnership didn't end up doing very well. there was sort of like a mitchmatch between, you know, General Motors is like, you know, an older audience that's more in suburbs and we were looking for sort of like early adopters who lived in cities and um and so there just it didn't end up being, you know, a great partnership for us. Um but from a technology perspective, like that wasn't sort of one of like the, you know, we've had some improvements in technology, like you know, our app and interface have certainly gotten a lot better. um you know we've gotten a lot smarter in terms of um you know just different ways that we're running the business but I don't say that like I don't think that like you know improvements in technology were really the unlock for us. Um it was just a lot of like like very long consistent growth. Um we've just been at it for a really long time now and you know um and you know so it's we weren't an overnight success. It wasn't like you know uh 100x growth in 2 years um but you know 3x growth for 15 years and you're like okay we've we've got a billion dollar company

in a way you started a category not a company because Turo if you go on YouTube and search Turo it has its own subculture there's like YouTube channels dedicated to just Turo and they're just teaching other people how to start a Turo business and my roommate had three slingshots that she was renting out on Turo like you know So that's one really thing cool thing about tour. It's not only a company. It's it's transcended into more than that. And I I want to favorite parts about it was I think that we've inspired entrepreneurship and made you know made it possible for people to um you know to earn income on their own terms. You know it was a number of years ago I remember getting picked up in New York and um the person had um five cars and you know he was like a you know a starving you know artist. he was trying to make it in beer and instead of like waiting tables in in bars he had a fleet of Turo cars and um I just loved that. I loved that story in terms of like how people were able to use this to you know pursue their dreams and make money and you know that's that's definitely continued today like there are you know um uh many people who make more than a million dollars a year on Turo. Um and I think that that's amazing.

Awesome. I quickly want to get your take on the robo taxis and Whimos and the how we're moving into like a self-driving. How what do you think about that? Cuz you you must have some thoughts about that. I

mean, I think it's great, you know. I mean, I think that like um you know, the as um you know, uh vehicles are are obviously one of the biggest forms of emissions that we that we have out there. And um people driving their own vehicle on their own is sort of the most wasteful way of of getting around. And so, you know, again, as I mentioned earlier, um as people have more mobility options and um they're less likely to drive their own vehicle, um it's it ends up being much better for for society, for the environment, um for the pocketbook. Um and so I think that as we have more um options on mobility, um I think it's going to be good for everybody. Um, you know, I don't necessarily, you know, we'll see how that impacts Turo and and and Broad Mobility. Um, you know, I think there are times we'll still really want to have a car. You know, like if if I'm going to the beach for the weekend, you know, I like being able to go and I like being able to have my stuff in my car and being able to drive around. You know, I think it'd be unlikely for me to take a um, you know, a weekend getaway with with five friends and, you know, in a Whimo. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Um, you know, ask me in 10 years and we'll we'll see. We'll see what I say. Um but um but yeah, I mean I think that like it's really exciting to see you know the um the you know advances and changes and um I think we're going to continue to see them. You know I think that like there's other you know crazy big improvements that are coming on on the horizon. EV talls um electrical or electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles sort of like personal drone plane things I think is the technical term. Um uh those are on the horizon. Um those actually work today. Uh really the reason why we don't see more EV tools today is really because of regulation. Um we don't actually understand the best way to regulate these and and um it's not because the technology doesn't exist. So um you know I think the the coming years is going to be um quite a wild ride.

Awesome. I want to talk more about the transition after Turo. So you after Turo like what did you end up doing today and how did you end up becoming more of an investor now and I want to know like what do you look for in people when you invest in them?

Yeah let's see again sort of trying to figure out like how um how far back to go. So um I'll I'll open up and be more vulnerable as well because I think that it's important for every to understand like the you know the the whole the whole arc. So um you and honestly I was I was pushed out of the company at Turo um which was a really difficult um experience. Um many entrepreneurs like get we become you know the company becomes like our baby you know like we identify so much with this company and like who am I without that? Um and who am I without this story of me as an entrepreneur u me being a successful person and so you know then I started another company and um that was sort of the logical thing to do. company was called peers sort of like a um a benefit for gig economy workers. So people that were Uber drivers or you know Turo hosts or Airbnb you know like they don't have a social safety net so can we create something for them um and um there's actually a lot of political momentum and this idea called portable portable benefits which we were trying to p pioneer and it didn't work and the company failed and so um then I was really stuck and I was like well what do I do now and do I start another company at this point Turo is doing quite well so it's like okay if I start another company does I be more successful than Turo what does that even mean does it have to raise more or have a deeper impact or like be worth more or you know um and when is it enough and and so you know on a bit of a whim um I you know um yeah I was really found myself in and and a depression like I just didn't know what to do next um and so yeah on a bit of a whim I went to Bali and did a yoga teacher training um I just knew that when I moved my body I got out of my head and my body that I felt better and um the yoga teacher training was just a phenomenal experience for me Um I learned all these practices, yoga, meditation, breath work, mindfulness, um eastern philosophy. Um and yeah, it just it sort of you know turned the camera around in my life and um and then at the end of that I did my first um soul cyburn journey. So magic mushrooms. Um I did mushrooms many times googling at music festivals and you know with friends but never really intentionally. Um, and uh, you know, I was able to watch the world sort of like all those stories melt away um, around me. Um, you know, being able to sort of like really see my my life from a different different perspective and um, and and it and it turned out that it was, you know, um, full of full of love and joy, connection, and, you know, that a lot of these things I was judging myself on weren't weren't really that important. And so the last, you know, eight years has really been catching up with that. And so, um, I I came back to realize that there was an entire world of psychedelic therapy that was emerging. Um, and I really wanted to, um, uh, to get involved and be a supporter of that. So, um, I ended up moving to Costa Rica, um, to, uh, help open a psychedelical treat center community. Um, the first one was called Holos. And then, um, as I started to do that work, really realized that, um, I wanted to be working with the LGBT community, um, which I'm a member of. And so, um, I ended up opening another retreat center, um, focused on the LGBT community. We've been called the Jungle Neighborhood and we're now actually just rebranding to Casa, QASA, um, Spanish word CASA for home, um, but for the queer community. So, very similar to Turo, the Turo story, starting with Relay Rides and and then rebranding to Turo. Um, starting with jungle neighborhood, very, you know, on the nose, and then, you know, evolving to, um, you know, a simpler brand. Um, so yeah. So, so now I um I live in Costa Rica. I'm in one of our bamboo uh cabins and um we host um also different types of retreats and events um for the LG community. And um yeah, and around the time I moved to Costa Rica um I ended up um deciding I wanted to get more involved in investing particularly in psychedelics and and the world of mental health. And so um I met a partner named David Langanger and he had founded a a venture fund called Lionheart Ventures and um I was really active in the mental health space and psychedelics and so ended up joining him about that was over four years ago. So um since then I've I've invested in um you know a number of companies throughout uh mental health um certainly in psychedelic therapies but also in um neuroch and wearables um in consumer um AI for mental health you know there's lots of really interesting things happening um in a you know in an area where you know I I think it's very clear that there's a major mental health epidemic ep epidemic around the world and so we're investing in companies that are actually doing some really great I'm glad that you went through this like spiritual awakening because you look really healthy. So I can tell like a a lot of people right now in America have no purpose. They're drowning in debt. Um they are not having kids. They're not getting married. Um there's this huge like the society feels kind of difficult right now. There's also this movement where people are moving out of US and moving to Bali, Thailand, Costa Rica, wherever they can even afford to live. So I do see a lot of transition happening there. I I want to know like how do you spend your time today? Like how in terms of daily practices? Uh how do you make sure you're more mindful, more conscious about your surroundings? What do you do on a daily basis?

See, as much as possible, I try to get out of my head and into my body. You know, I mean, I think that like this is where the, you know, the human experience is is in the body. Um and we really get trapped in our head and what am I supposed to do and what you know who thinks what of me and you know what has society told me to do and the more that we can sort of tune that down and you know tune into the intuition of the body there's a lot of wisdom there and there's also a lot of joy um you know I mean I think um the you know the the path here was not clear or linear you know like before I went into that yoga teacher training I spent a lot of time um spinning my wheels creating my fiveyear plan like I don't know if anyone else is quite what am I going to be in five years and like it was so unobvious for me I was for me to like answer that question with my head with all the logic the like to you know the to-do list and the pros and cons like it just didn't work and you know I sort of joke around uh you know so technology is is built through what's called agile development decades ago people used to build technology it was called the waterfall development so basically like you were like this is the app we're going to build and here's step one and here's step two and here's three and like you had this very linear process. The reality was that as you were engineering the technology like you would do step one and then you thought step two is here and there actually was a little bit of gap between step one and step two or as you built step one you realize that like actually um you should go in slightly different direction than you thought than the plan um because you're getting smarter as you go. And so agile development is around iteration. It's around um you know uh testing and learning. is around taking one step, knowing which direction you're going in, but not being like totally committed to the plan um and being, you know, open to getting smarter along the way. Yes, this this now is how the majority of technology is built. If you ask like a CTO, you know, when is this, you know, build me this app? When is it going to be done? They a good CTO won't tell you. They'll tell you, you know, the number, you know, um what they're going to do in their next sprint. Um, a sprint is sort of like a, you know, a two week a one or two week, you know, chunk of time where you you do a bunch of little tasks and again you take a step. And so this is what, you know, my last couple of years has been like, you know, taking a step at a time. Um, being guided by what felt right in my body, um, by being guided by my intuition. Um, and again, getting out of my head. Um, spent a lot of time journaling. Um, I think that like, uh, for me, it's how I process information. And it's how I sort of like figure out what's going on up there in the monkey mind. Um you try to meditate uh daily and um yeah. So uh breath work is a is a a favorite practice of mine. Um I uh I really love dancing. Um I like an ecstatic dance sort of like a daytime dance party. Not trying to like impress people, but um you know just move the body and um just be in nature. So, you know, I think that like I moved out of the city and and into nature and um you know, I just feel really um you know, inspired and refreshed by, you know, being uh you know, healthy environment.

What are you observing in the psychedelic industry? Um again I have personally consumed magic mushrooms psilocybin mushrooms and I noticed this pattern like it kind of breaks your frame or sometimes you get stuck in these loops and magic mushrooms can kind of like help break that and also now I'm seeing ketamine clinics popping up in LA. I'm in based in LA so I see that happening and magic mushrooms are kind of legal. I'm not sure really sure what the law is there. So what are you observing and what kind of innovations are coming out in that space?

So um a couple things I mean I do think there's a big societal shift that's happening where people becoming more open to this. Um you know there was a big war on drugs in the 80s that I don't think it did anybody any favors. Um and you know there's just a ton of science that's coming out to show that um that psychedelic medicines or psychedelic inspired medicines um can have huge impacts in the body. um you know we don't really have good treatments for mental health um you know SSRIs or anti-depressants sort of just like numb you um they don't really address the underlying issues and psychedelics can actually address underlying issues um you know they can break you out of um these sort of like thought patterns that you talked about um and they can help you see things from a different perspective um and once you do that you you sort of can't unsee that what you've already seen um you know they can sort of melt away all the stories and expectations that we have of ourselves that society layers on us and help us see what is my life without that. Um and um you know they've also been shown to um promote the uh it's called neurogenesis which is the creation of new neural pathways. So basically like can help our brains rewire um you know so as you're able to see things from new perspective you can sort of rewire your brain um and in a different perspective that's grounded in um connection and safety. Um and so yeah, a couple big things that are happening. Um you know, there are uh FDA clinical trials that are happening with psychedelics, um and a number of different medicines and indications. So um the one that was sort of leading first was um MDMA um ecstasy uh being used to treat PTSD and made it all the way through his clinical trial and it actually didn't get approved by the FDA. Um there's uh lots of um conversation as to why that was. Um but I don't think that this is dead. I think that they probably will do another trial and come back and you know there's a good chance it will be approved. Um it's just it's a very different approach. You know the FDA is not used to approving and regulating um psychedelics. This is a very different very different thing. Um um psilocybin is close on its heels actually is now because of the the um the uh denial from the FDA looks like magic mushrooms will be or um you know a variant of it a variant selfin will be approved first um treating depression um and you know as you mentioned there's there's ketamine clinics um you know um all around LA and and really really the world um and there's just a lot evidence. There's a lot of evidence showing that um these can have really um longl lasting profound improvements um you know in mental health. Um so we're investing in these companies um as well uh and we're also seeing that they can actually have psychedelics can have impacts outside of just mental health, different parts of the body as well. Um and um uh yeah like one company we work with has has uh created psychedelic inspired molec molecules that um uh have a profound impact on on inflammation. Um so very similar to um how you know we don't have good good drugs to treat um uh depression. Um in many ways inflammation is is very similar. We've got corticosteroids, you know, um aspirin or Advil. Um you know, there there are certain things that can have an impact on them, but they might they're really more focused on um uh on the symptoms than the underlying causes. And um we've seen some of these psychedelic molecules can actually have a resetting effect on parts of the immune system. So um yeah, lots of danging things are happening. I was shocked when I found out 40 million Americans take Adderall and I think the Xanax numbers are even higher. And my worry is that the overengineering of products like for example when my father was or his grandfather t the THC in marijuana used to be a lot less and now if you like uh THC substance content in like regular marijuana that people can buy is insane. It's like 30 30 33%. Um, so I hope the psychedelic mushroom industry does not get overly engineered to the point where it becomes kind of like a very strong substance.

A very different approach. There are some things that are happening in terms of decriminalizing psych psychedelics in certain states or cities. Um, I think that's a great thing to see. Um, but at a high level, there's a lot more activity through the FDA to where you're going to have drugs that are approved and regulated by um, you know, by the FDA. It's very different from cannabis, how cannabis was, um, you know, that was decriminalized on a state-by-state basis. Um, and so, uh, yeah, I just I think that there's a different approach and it's really important, you know, like psychedelics aren't for everybody and they can be very dangerous, frankly, like if you're not in a safe place, if you're not sort of like, uh, ready for, you know, what might come through, um, you know, uh, it's very important to have, uh, you know, a trained guide if you are going to wait into these medicines. Um, and I'm certainly not recommending this for anybody. Um, they they can uh it's it's very important to consider um you know the uh you know both the benefits and the um the challenges. Um and so you know having things passed through the FDA is really important because it's going to be um administered by a professional um you know in a safe setting. Um and and so yeah, so I I I think um um I think that's going to be a very different approach to how we'll see um these medicines roll out in uh in the states and around the world.

Amazing. So for listeners and viewers watching this video or listening to this on the audio podcast, a lot of them have, you know, ideas are too abundant nowadays. I feel like back in the day, there was no chat GP. you know, you couldn't even go on cloud and immediately ask like pros and cons, ideas, like now you can there's idea abundance, I would say. Uh, and how do you think about like what problems to solve because there's so many good problems out there that to solve like how do you because I feel like with Turo, your your selection of the idea was a major problem that you're solving, which is a peer-to-peer marketplace for car sharing. Um, how do you think about that? Like how do you think about selecting an idea to work on and devoting a decade to that?

You know, I mean, I I think that um, you know, necessity is the mother of all of all animation, you know, and I think that Arland mentioned um, I think starting with um, a problem that's really dear to you, you know, um, and um, that like has really deeply impacted your life.

Entrepreneurship is very hard. Um really understanding your why is really important. Um and so you know just looking through a bunch of trends and trying to trying to identify the best startup idea like I don't think it's going to work that well. And also you know like when the going really gets tough it's going to be hard to stay really um dedicated to that. Um, but if you if you're solving a problem that you have, you know, with Turo, I had this problem and, you know, I wanted a better solution than what I was finding with Zipar. And so, you know, I was solving a problem that I had and um, I found, you know, I just I found a better solution. Um, I cared a lot about it. Um, I felt really passionate about its possibility. And so, when when things got tough, when I got that email from my investor, I was like, screw you, we're going. and you know and so I think that making sure that you have that connection um to you know and that you're starting with a problem that is near and dear to you um I think that's always going to be you know a good um way for inspiration.

Got it. Um and how can people get a hold of you? They're like Shelby we want to talk to you like can you help me advice on my business? Um and they also are interested in coming to Costa Rica for the retreat. So tell people how they can find you and how they can sign up for these retreats. Yeah,

sure. Um so uh I do one-on-one coaching if somebody is curious to to follow up. Um I love coaching early stage entrepreneurs. Um so uh you can find me at um uh there's a platform called intro.me. Um the app is called intro. Um and you can find me there for one-on-one coaching. Um and uh if you want to come down to um a retreat in Costa Rica, um our our market, our target is the LG community. Um uh CASA um it's uh QASA.house is our website.

For people who are curious, just go in the show notes or the description on YouTube and I'll put the links to both Casa and Intro uh for Shelby. So, if you like what you hear, go hit up Shelby and um he can help you. I mean, he literally scaled the company to Turo is a billion dollar company. By the way, before I let you go, like, do you know when the IPO is happening?

Your guess is as good as mine.

All I'm going to say is I'm I'm going to buy some shares cuz I do like to invest in companies I actually use or I'm a customer of. That's that's all I think. Thank you for coming. Well, thank you