Learn How the MEP National Network™ Delivers Tremendous Value for Manufacturers

Curt Anderson  00:07

Damon low walkout song, huh,

Damon Pistulka  00:09

yep.

Curt Anderson  00:18

All right, all right. Everybody, happy Monday. What a wonderful it’s a great day to have a great day. What a great walk out song. Damon, so Dude, did you get a good night’s sleep last night? Whoo, I

Damon Pistulka  00:29

did. Man, Alright,

Curt Anderson  00:30

we’ve got an amazing, incredible guest today. Man, I I’m a little hot under a collar here. So we’ve got the one, the only we’ve got. G. Nagesh Rao,

G. Nagesh Rao 00:42

was that right round? So

Curt Anderson  00:45

we’re gonna, we’re just, we’re going by G. today. So G, happy Monday to you. Thank you for joining us today. How are you my friend? I’m

G. Nagesh Rao 00:51

good. I’m good. I actually had a great weekend. Carved some pumpkins with my sons. Oh yeah. So that was a lot of fun with my wife. Yeah, I was it kicked the weekend kicked off well, so I did the reimagined manufacturing event on Friday in Philadelphia with the DB, IRC crew. Nice and so Bernie Dean Haas, who’s the Chair of the advisory board for NIST me piece manufactured advisory board. She was there, and so she and I got to hang out a bit in Philly. And it was a good time. I really enjoyed my time there and for celebrating manufacturing month and then nice way to cap out the weekend was hanging out with my wife and two sons, and we had we carved pumpkins. We hung out with some family friends, and my sons last night took up the backyard. It was a beautiful night in DC, so the older son, who’s three and a half, was kicking on the soccer ball. And the younger son, who’s two, picked up the Batman racket and started wanting to play Batman size. It was good. How about you all? Did you have a good week?

Curt Anderson  01:47

Oh, my goodness gracious. It was absolutely phenomenal. And, and, G, we’ve got a few friends here today. Man, we’ve got Buckley in the house coming to us live.

01:56

Buckley b squared, Derek from vessel man coming

Curt Anderson  02:02

to Tracy. She’s She’s a dear friend. So I’ve met these folks at the MEP conference Bucha again, and we’ve got Darren Smith, hello, Greetings, everyone. So guys, thank you for joining us and drop us a note. Let us know you’re out there. Let us know where you’re coming from. We’ve got the acting director of the MEP conference, and so MEP network, rather, and so we’re just super excited to dive in. So G., as we get things started, I have a little I have a question for you. So a bunch of folks sending questions for us. So curious minds would love to know. G., when you’re little guy growing up now, on your LinkedIn profile, you have Gen Xer, who came who from immigrant parents. I love your tagline, connect with G. on LinkedIn. He’s a powerhouse when you’re a little guy growing up. When you’re little guy growing up, who was your hero? Who did you look up to? Who was your hero when you’re a little guy growing up?

G. Nagesh Rao 02:57

It’s funny. So as a little guy growing up, you know, I’m in awe of my parents and the good work they did as immigrants, for sure, but from a pop culture kind of reference, for a moment, I got to give it up to, you know, folks like Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior from World Wrestling Entertainment and Brett hit, man, hurt if you, if you want to, if, if you want to be real and honest, if, when I was a little kid, because I grew up, yeah, era of time, yep. And my dad was a big wrestling buff. He loved watching that program. And so, Dude, watch it, and, you know, he would, my dad would always say, Vince McMahon’s right, you know, the brain’s wrong, that kind of thing. And I was like, wait what? And I’m watching this stuff, and, you know, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and, you know, Sergeant slaughter and boss man. So, like, that was what I grew up around, that entertainment and operatics of of folks. And it’s not to say, you know, I agree with it today or stuff, but, like, as a little kid, that’s what I got exposed to. And that’s what the truth is, if you talk to kids who are like, if you talk to any of us who were, you know, from that first gen immigrant family, a lot of immigrant families tuned to, tuned to that kind of programming, right? Because it was, it was a way to connect and feel like you were American, right? And the truth is, in my household, in the in the household, my parents had it was Indian, and then outside, it was American. And so the one way I could relate with my childhood classmates was no pop culture and entertainment, and that was one of them.

Damon Pistulka  04:31

Yeah, great demon. We

Curt Anderson  04:32

have not had Hulk Hogan Ronnie Piper, right?

G. Nagesh Rao 04:36

Yeah, yeah.

Curt Anderson  04:37

Classics, you know, how about Ventura, right? So, but the class,

G. Nagesh Rao 04:43

it’s, it’s funny people. I tell folks, if you want to understand people, you got to understand the environment and culture they’re from, and you got to understand, you know, you got to level set with them and be able to relate with them in some shape or form. And one of the biggest things. Of export that we export from America was entertainment, yes, well,

Curt Anderson  05:05

I absolutely love it. And hey, gee, we’ve got some friends coming at you. We got Molly coming from boat, uh, Boise. Boise is beautiful here in the city of trees. We’ve got Darren coming from Australia. We’ve got Sadia here. We’ve got, hey, our buddy, Mike from the Oregon MEP is here. Mike, happy, Mike, you and Oregon Ducks are doing great stuff. Dancing. Coming from Nigeria. Uh, we’ve got Lawrence coming from NYC. Happy. Yankees are in the World Series. Lawrence, congratulations to you. I was kind of hoping for

G. Nagesh Rao 05:34

a Subway Series. I’ll tell you what, yeah, it’s been, like it was late 90s, early 2000 since the last Subway Series. And I was as I was in college or right after college, and I just remember that time. And so I was kind of, I was like, oh, man, are we going to get another Subway Series? And I was like, Darn it, it’s New York and LA, but, you know,

Curt Anderson  05:54

well, I love it. So again, guys drop a note. We’ve got, you know, let’s see we’ve got gentlemen coming from South Africa. And Darren says I loved Hulk Hogan too. So Gee. So let’s dive into a little bit of your background here. So you know RPI grad, grad, you’re an Albany guy. Albany Law School looks like you got an MBA from Maryland. Talk to us a little about so, you know, immigrant parents. Hulk Hogan’s your hero. What drove you to go to RPI? Let’s, let’s let’s hear a little bit about college age. G if you would please. You

G. Nagesh Rao 06:25

know, I got two older sisters and younger sister, right? And you know, my two older sisters came to America with my parents, whereas me and my younger sister were born here in America. And so growing up, I did not know what I wanted to be. Personally, I knew what my parents expected of me. And anyone who’s been encountered or engaged with folks from the South Asian diaspora community, know there’s a hierarchy there. It’s medical doctor, and then PhD scientist, and then, you know, business, and then law, and it goes down. And so, you know, there was a strong expectation for me to go medical. I had thought that’s what I wanted to do. It wasn’t all. I found myself at RPI in college and with my classmates that I started to, you know, come up and find myself from a personal identity of who I was as a person. You know, we joked about Hulk Hogan being a hero, but actually another one was Spider Man, right? So I got, I got hooked to the Spider Man comics as a kid, because I saw this kid, this guy who didn’t know who, Peter Parker didn’t know who we wanted to be had. This was an engineering student at Manhattan College and and, you know, was just trying to figure out who he was as a person. And I think I identified and related a lot with I didn’t know who the heck I wanted to be. So when I went to RPI, I did the engineering thing, because I was not doing well and good in the biological medical route. So I was like, Well, let me try doing engineering. And I did decently, better, but I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to be. And my older sister was and her husband were had also gone to RPI, and they went all the way through for the PhD Materials Engineering. For me, bachelor’s was enough, and it wasn’t. It was It wasn’t until the end scene year, when I really started to get more interested in policy, intellectual property law, and that landscape of Technology Commercialization and startups a little bit and and so that’s what, genes asked me, as you know, after I finished up at RPI, I worked in the university tech transfer office, trying to figure myself out more. I took up a job over at Starbucks, and was doing coffee jockey by day, you know, you know, doing work for the University tech transfer as well, and other things, just to kind of figure out who that guy was and what the heck I wanted to do. And that’s where I got into the Albany Law Program. Did that masters like you know that yet up to four years I did it one year, I just was like, Look, let me just get some skill sets figure myself out, and we’ll go from there. What? And quite honestly, I don’t think I got a better sense of myself until I moved to DC, and that was in 2004 after I finished with my bachelor’s and master’s and took a gap year. I started doing work over at the National Academy of Sciences with the materials what’s now the materials and manufacturing advisory board as a as a merge lion fellow on policy making decisions and how to help America be more competitive in the materials and manufacturing space and and I actually got to work on the first round edition of the the triennial National Nanotechnology Initiative at its birth. So that was pretty cool thing. So folks don’t know is I actually had my fingerprints on that, some of those efforts there, back in the beginning, early days and and that’s where I got hooked on public policy a bit. But I also liked, you know, election, property law, and I thought I might do well in patent law. So I got a job at the Patent and Trademark Office as a GS seven patent examiner, and I climbed up the ranks there, you know, by day, working at the patent office, learning and understanding intellectual property and how it impacts inventors and entrepreneurs and small businesses and startups, and the fact that that’s a. Tangible asset that can help with evaluation for a small business or startup. You know, I ended up in reviewing, back in the early days, some of the earliest additive manufacturing patents that are I, I reviewed some of the early ones, and especially around biological manufacturing our body parts. And the, the famous one I did was the one from NASA, where they were developing a set of technology. It was Karen damage, the scientist there, she was developed, they were developing the technology for enabling the Mars missions to happen down the road where they were going to have to do editor manufacturing on Mars if they were ever going to do an explosion. So they were developing what, what is those apparatuses? What is those physical, you know, heavy pieces make sure you they’re going to need to take take over there, and the forging, right? You know, you’re doing your forging over there. But what were the components of what it that those machines would look like? So I ended up getting to work on that stuff. And then I actually ended up reviewing the portfolio of Curt the LED lighting technology. I reviewed those two I pivoted a bit in semiconductor crystals as well. So I it was, it was great. Seven years at patent office, I learned an awful lot. And from patent office, I pivoted. I was, I got my MBA part time at night, debt free. Was hungry for the next thing. I could have stayed in government, or I was going to take a risk. And I took a risk, I moved to LA and joined a startup that failed miserably. It was clean tech meets social media. It failed miserably. It was horrible. But I learned an awful lot about myself as like when you when you break free of the shackles, and you start to carve and figure out who you want to be and and so when I was working out in Los Angeles, I ended up getting hooked up with some folks over in in the Bay Area. So I pivoted and moved from LA up to San Francisco, San Jose area, because I had some family up there, and I had a lot of friends who were playing in the next round of startups there. And I I again, wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. You know, here I am now, armed with a few degrees skilled with engineering, philosophy public policy, as well as with business and intellectual property law and international stuff. And I was like, How do I blend all this together, and how do I make this beautiful? And I ended up doing pro bono work while I was taking that year off in the Bay Area. Lo and behold, I didn’t realize I was doing pro bono work with some pretty heavy hitters, including Eric Schmidt’s from innovation endeavors. Oh, well, those who don’t know Eric Schmidt’s the CEO, former CEO and Chair of Google, yeah. So I ended up advising a number of his portfolio companies because some of the friends I had met and knew from the LA scene, who are also based in that Bay Area, they were being funded by him. So and my name just started to spread, because I knew a lot about intellectual property. And it was during that time, in the early 2010s 2012 time period, where patents were a big deal, if anyone remembers the big lawsuit, that settlement that had occurred between Apple and Samsung on on the mobile patent technology and the mobile phone devices. And then there was the one around Yahoo and Yahoo search engine intellectual property and Google. So, you know, there was a big bum rush during that next phase of round two of the tech bubble, where intellectual property was being seen as a real, true asset to take advantage of a venture capitalist. We’re trying to really understand it better. And lo Behold, I’m walking around, who knows, who knows how the patent office works? I know how that whole office works. I know are seen as viable. What’s not so all of a sudden, these folks, and I’m doing pro bono, so all sudden, I’m getting hit up by a bunch of people saying, Can you take a look we’re getting hit by this patent troll, or we’re getting hit by this patent infringement issue? Do you know what’s going on? How do you help us decipher and demystify the federal government and the processes that are here? Because it’s all legal jargon to them, and that’s what I was doing. And I ended up working with some really cool projects, and working with some cool people in that world, with companies out of the bay area and also in upstate New York, helping them figure out their IP portfolio stuff. And that’s where I said, huh, I got I got it. I got an issue. I know how to talk legal, I know how to talk technical, and I know how to talk business. That’s it was because of that that I got recruited over back into government by the Small Business Administration, back in 2014 time frame. So I was out for a few years from government around 2011 2014 time frame. I got pulled back in late 2013 early 2014 and it was during that time that I got because I knew the government talk and I knew how to navigate those, those various worlds. I got asked to help with this Small Business Innovation Research program. Wow,

Curt Anderson  14:50

man, dude, yeah. What an underachiever he is, yes, but, and

G. Nagesh Rao 14:58

it was, turned out, a lot of the company. In the Bay Area were funded by SBI or funded SBIR funded funding from the different agencies. So I just, I again, demystified. And during that time, I built out sbir.gov so those who want to understand how to tap into the 4 billion plus non dilutive capital funding. That was me. And then, and then I pivoted, actually, after doing all that venture capital, private equity tech startup stuff, I pivoted into IT management. And I did that, but it was funny, because during that time too, I took on some I kept doing pro bono work on the side, as I disclosed it to ethics. I said, no conflicts of interest. You know, I had the time at the time. I wasn’t a dad. I was I just had a fiance. Was getting married, so it’s just me, my wife, and, you know, and that was it. And, you know, helping my parents out with my but my parents were good at the time, and my sisters were fine. So I took on a pride. I took on a consulting gig out of Sri Lanka, which turned out to be a really good smooth for me. So seven years, because Sri Lanka is 10 and a half hour time difference, yeah, nights and weekends, I would spend time with that company. Turned out it was the OEM to Nike, Lulu, lemon, Victoria, secret. So the major garment manufacturer company mas, if you look up mas holdings, 80,000 employees, if you build revenue per year, I ended up being the senior advisor and like their chief technology guy for cheap venture technology guy to the C suite. So I was helping those folks. And it was a really cool opportunity again, doing that in my private, personal time, nights and separate from government altogether, disposed to ethics, kept my life separate. So I actually, in part of it was, I wanted to keep my skills developing in a manufacturing and material science world. While I was doing government policy stuff. I was I was like, Look, I invested a lot of time and energy in these different skill sets, keep them fresh, even if I’m not using them for my nine to five bread and butter, keep them fresh because what’s the point and having the skill sets if you’re not keeping them fresh? So that’s what I did. And yeah, so if you, if you see a lot of the like your dry fit technology for Nike and a bunch of other stuff that’s on my ass holdings, wow, lemon was another client, so it was cool. That was cool because we started to pioneer wearables. And right now, I’ve been, I keep in touch with those folks there from time to time, see how they’re doing, and now they’re pivoted into gamer tech. So a lot of the gamer tech equipment that folks use to competitively in E gaming, E Sports, that’s being designed by mis holdings, wow, if you look them up, like under, you know, and that’s what’s interesting, like, that’s what got me. I remember that moment I’m working with the company. I took a few days off from from my day job, so I could go with them to Vegas, to CES, you know, just with the MAS team. And I remember the moment that I realized, okay, this is, this is a pretty phenomenal opportunity, working with nod and Ronald is every if anyone’s ever been to CES that’s run by Consumer Technology Association, there’s the floor and there’s all the happily cool products and stuff that people are doing. That’s all the stuff that’s for the public. That’s not where all the deals are happening. The deals are happening over in the pet house suites of the Bellagio and in across from Bellagio Plaza and Venetian Right, right. So like everyone’s over by the convention center and the wind and a few others, but all the deals are actually happening in Caesars Palace and a few others in the penthouse suites. And I remember that moment where we’re in the past. We over in, I want to say this Bellagio was Bellagio or no, it was Palazzo Venetian, and we have our our gear set up because we had partnered with Patagonia on some next gen gear and and in walks in, if anyone remembers Fitbit, the CEO, James Park, I think was this guy’s name, walks just smoothly, walks in, and my job was to be like a concealed artist, to be in the background, read the room and help mas, because they’re all Sri Lankan, help them understand the American cultural dynamics. Goes back to the thing I talked about the beginning, no, be able to relate and be able to connect on the thoughts on that. And I’m watching, I’m watching the room. I’m explaining that, you know, afterwards we have a discussion. And it was a pretty interesting conversation. We were having with Fitbit about what our gear could do with Fitbit. And it was important to me to understand that, because I got to see at a high level what they were thinking from a supply chain and from a mass manufacturing of what the next big thing could be for a product. Because, you know, at the end of the day, when you produce this stuff, if you got a home run, it sells quickly. But if you don’t, you’re sitting on all this product, and you don’t, and then you got to fire sale it. And that was, that was, like, one of the coolest lessons I ever learned, was that one. And then the one actually ties back to WWE now, so there’s a connection. So now, then silicon out. Then it was the chief growth officer at mas he’s an Eisenhower Fellow, and I’m also an Eisenhower Fellow. So we got we knew each other, also through the Eisenhower network. And Stephanie McMahon, the former CEO and acting chair, CEO of WWE Vince McMahon solder. She’s also an Eisenhower Fellow. So we got in a meeting that this is what explains, like, what happens at that high level. This is, this is like a, I’m giving you a first, like, real life lesson of what really happens at those upper echelons of game place, and especially as when you’re playing concealer, you get to see and go. So I remember nodding out the meeting with Stephanie because they were part of the same cohort that year. I was the year after and and, and we went to WWE headquarters in Manhattan, and I remember the conversation because we were having this conversation with them about how to get our gear being utilized by the wrestlers. We thought, because Stephanie was interested, she said, Look, if you’re making all this really cool athletic gear from Lululemon and Nike, she’s like, why can’t you do it for me? Because they used, I think it was tap out, yeah, not top of tap out. They used another gear. So we had those active conversations with them. And I remember the moment again, learn to read the room, learn how to engage with books on that cultural connection. So there was another guy on the team who was a big wrestling buff, you know, wrestling nerd. So we’re joking around, and I could see the conversation immediately happening where there was a little bit of a disconnect between some of our guys from the company with WWE, and I kept quiet because I, you know, I was letting them figure out how they want to have the conversation first. And then I swooped in with the other guy, and I said, What if we created a storyline opportunity where you bring out some nerdy wrestler guys who come in and create some Iron Man tech gear that makes them souped up when they wear the gear and then wrestle through, and you find this pivot like, you know, powered by mas, is that Hail Mary pitch I throw at the time the guy got interested, he said that that could be interesting. Did it end up happening? We throw us into a deal? No, it did not let me get let me get to the picture. But, you know, the meeting went from like kind of lukewarm all of a sudden. Well, let’s talk, because now you’re talking my language. You’re trying to find an angle for me, yeah, to make this relevant and viable to me. And I think at the end of the day, that’s what this is all about. When we come back to, you know, let’s spin it back to, you know, here we’re talking about MEP, right, the national network. You got to be able to relate and make it relatable, and people have to feel a connection to it, right? And especially manufacturing, you got to have a connection to it. When you know a job is on the line, when you know your livelihoods on the line, when you know that it’s a good quality product that’s in your hands, and it was only possible because you had a good company manufacture it and do it. You know, that means a lot, and they think, you know, I married into an automotive family, right? So my wife’s father was the chief of design over at GM, right? Cadillac, Saturn, Buick. He designed a bunch of those cars. The Cadillac was lost when he did the evoke concept that Missy misdemeanor Elliot loved, like she featured it in MTV Cribs. So, like, that was my father in law’s last design. Wow, tired. It was awesome. Yeah, something to be said about quality, right? Like, it wasn’t shitty, it wasn’t like, subpar, like, Oh my God. And that was and why am I saying that? Is because if you think about it, and you produce a quality product that sticks around for a long time. You manufacture it with really good stuff, brand reputation. People buy into it. People are interested in it, right? Yeah, right, absolutely. All right.

Curt Anderson  23:52

Hey, couple comments here. So Jeff Spain from, where is he? Here’s Darren. Here’s Jeff from Columbus. Says hello. So hello to Jeff at the one of the Ohio MEPs. We’ve got Skyler coming from Denver saying hello. And so again, guys drop us a note. Let us know that you’re out there. Diane, buyer drops a note. Diane, speaking of the importance of connection this morning. So, all right, man, that was a lot,

G. Nagesh Rao 24:13

like a lot I threw a lot in that still scratching the surface.

Curt Anderson  24:17

Whole COVID, right? It all comes back to Hulk Hogan.

G. Nagesh Rao 24:20

It does in some shape or, I mean, and that was wild. I remember actually to Stephanie once briefly. I mean, it’s not like we’re friends, right, but we know of each other, right? Worked for her mom when her mom was the head of SBA. I actually worked for her for a bit, and she was cool. Linda McMahon was great to talk to him work, but she was a real professional and, and I remember one time I wanted to ask her I wanted to be like, I remember Royal Rumble in the 90s, yeah? When, when Hogan lost, and it was to Ric Flair, yeah, Rick Clark. Because Mr. Wasn’t Mr. Perfect, it was Mr. Perfect. I think it’s the last three. And the reason why I know this is because it happened. Albany and my dad couldn’t get us tickets to it, but he got us pay per view. And so I remember that moment because in the early 90s, we’re watching it, and I’m watching Hogan lose and Ric Flair take the belt. And I was pissed about that, and I will always wanted to ask Stephanie and admin. I was like, Why did you let Rick doing

Curt Anderson  25:22

yours? Years of therapy, right? Like, how not over it? G, right, you’re still not over it. So I want to you scratch on the question. I want to you talk about the Eisenhower Fellow. They I think you earned that 2000 Yeah? 2016 Yeah, yeah. Just enlighten us again. Connect with G on LinkedIn. His background is just phenomenal. You’re, we’re just scratching the surface. Just talk a little bit about the Eisenhower Fellowship.

G. Nagesh Rao 25:47

It’s, it’s a game changing, life changing fellowship. So it is a, it’s a leadership development program that’s focused around cross pollination and cross connecting of folks from around the world who are committed to justice, peace and prosperity in the world. It was a fellowship created in honor of President Dwight Eisenhower, as a birthday gift for him from a number of benefactors who wanted to celebrate his legacy and leadership. As both, you know, the commander of armed forces, Allied forces during World War Two, and thereafter, is the, you know, one of the, you know, probably one of the most consequential presidents of the 20th century in American history. If you think, really think about it, you know, there’s a few up there who are consequential, and he’s one of them with FDR. And you wouldn’t have the interstate highway system it wasn’t for Eisenhower, you would not have DARPA if it wasn’t for Eisenhower, you actually wouldn’t have NASA if it wasn’t for both Eisenhower and Lyndon B Johnson, both of them combined, play their roles in that. If you ever go to the LBJ Library at UT Austin, you’ll see the story in the background of NASA and everything that Eisenhower put in place for both JFK and then, you know, sadly, you know, after JFK said, you know, passing from the assassination, LBJ took it forward to make sure that 69 you know, missions to the moon happened, you wouldn’t have a lot of critical infrastructure and agencies, including the Small Business Administration, if it wasn’t for either. So fellowship was designed to connect leaders and rising leaders from around the world, to connect the dots, forge alliances, and essentially what we call tier two diplomacy. So your tier one diplomacy is what happens at the State Department level, with your foreign service officers who engage on the front end your two tier two diplomacy happens with folks who are outside of the system, who can’t have formal conversations, but can have informal conversations. And that’s your business leaders, your fellows like Eisenhower fellows or Marshall Memorial fellows and and folks in the know and in the world who can actually help connect dots and and have conversations that you can’t have otherwise. And that’s and that’s what the fellowship is designed to do, is to create those tangible relationships and engagements. And we have a number of, you know, around the world, a number of reputable leaders who are part of this fellowship. It’s, it’s, it’s a very strong network. It’s a very dedicated network. Everyone looks out for each other in America. 10 are selected per year to represent the United States, to go abroad and do this leadership development program, and, you know, to help foster international tribes with attainable results to your project. So for mine, it was focused around, how do I? How do I get entrepreneurship and and and venture capital out, out past the American market, into into the global market is and create replicating funds or opportunities abroad. So that’s what brought me overseas to a couple of the countries over there, and helping them bridge the ties back of economic ecosystems that they might be doing well, that we’re not doing well, and also creating an opportunity for what I would call technology leapfrogging in the energy space, for example, which I used to work in clean energy, we developed all this next gen technology, but it couldn’t be outfitted or manufactured for use in America because we were so tied down to our general infrastructure state, the switching cost was too high. But if you go overseas to countries like India, China, South Africa and Ghana and whatnot. It’s a blank canvas. They’re willing to adopt anything and everything, because they need solutions. Anything that’s a viable solution they’ll take. So in a good example, I would, I would always highlight the folks. Was mobile wireless technology. If you really look at the origins of mobile wireless technology and how that blew up, although the critical R and D was done here in the United States, in fact, from government funding through like agencies, like National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and defense and others, its widespread global adoption was catalyzed by countries like India. In China because they looked at our legacy landline technology back in the 90s. And we’re making decisions, do we go and replicate what the US has currently, which is going to be obsolete in the next 10 to 12 years, or do we skip over and grab the stuff that might be not perfect, but in the next few years, it’s going to perfect itself, work itself through the kings. And you know, if you’re in India, you’re going, well, making a phone call is pretty shitty. Anyways, why not? What’s it to me, at least I can adopt this technology, work out the kinks and then. And it was, it was a bet, right? You know, you’re taking a calculated bet. And those countries, if you really look at it, you saw, you’ll see they, it’s their adoption that really pushed it forward, right?

Curt Anderson  30:47

Yeah, excellent. Alright. So, man, lots of unpack here. So, geez, I want to go here because you know, you’ve talked, you know, startup, you’ve been on cutting edge of of technology, you know, your legal profession, you know, you know all sorts of things, what sparked your interest, your passion for manufacturing, like, why? Because. And then next I want to, we’re going to dive into the MEP, and I’d like to share with folks you know, who is the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, but just share a little bit you know, you’ve covered a lot through your journey, what really sparked your interest? And I’m going to lead up to, you know, when you landed here at the manufacturing extension partnership,

G. Nagesh Rao 31:24

yeah, so a few things. One, so I talked a little bit about the textile manufacturing work I’d done, yeah, but it was actually also my in part, a little bit my uncle, because he ran a cotton mill in India. So I got to learn a bit about that through him, so that that was interest. But I would say what really sparked it was my time at RPI, in part with my fellow engineering classmates, when we were making and building and manufacturing stuff. And it was a bit dormant at the time, but material science and engineering was interesting. To understand the composition of materials and at a chemical and fundamental physics level, was of interest, especially in semiconductor I did some research for two years under a fellowship over at Cornell on semiconductor manufacturing and use of environmental friendly materials, solvent solutions, super critical CO two in particular. So that was that got me interested more of like huh and and I especially because I was an econ nerd, you know, I understood the value of self sufficiency and self resiliency. And when you know how to make and build, you’re not dependent on anyone but yourself, because it’s your skill sets that you know and understand. I got exposure to a lot of that too, actually, through my parents rental property business, because I ended up having to help out and be a quasi handyman at times. So when you’re when you’re fixing, you know, apartments and stuff are helping them out. But stuff you’re learning all sudden on the trade, you know, how to use this saw, how to use a screw, or how to use a torch, you know. And there’s some funny stories there. I’ll save another day. I’ll save the one about the drug den that we had to clear out that was, oh, man, interesting. You

Curt Anderson  33:02

can’t leave us hanging. You got to give us a personal version of that one then.

G. Nagesh Rao 33:09

So there was a tenant in an apartment who ran a marijuana farm inside the farm,

Damon Pistulka  33:17

oh no,

G. Nagesh Rao 33:19

five foot topsoil. Five, six feet top soil had the UV lights, everything set up, you know, cops figured it out. And, and, you know, we were unaware of anything, because the guy was legit, legitimately keeping himself squeaky clean in front of us, right? And, and it wasn’t till a tip had gone down and the bust happened, and everything was cleared out. We I walked in, I was like, Oh my god. None of us knew. No one. Neighbors didn’t know. It was like, no one knew what the heck was going on. So there was, it was just, again, a guy who came across the squeaky clean, yeah. And so the cleanup on that was a was, was a mess. And that’s where I remember ripping the drywall out and a bunch of other things and redoing the floors I was an interesting moment, a good life lesson, learned. Lesson always, always do your double checks on people, but the free manufacturing. The other thing too, I was a big Lego nerd, and I really adopted that word during the pandemic. So you know that that inspired me a lot, I would say, in the world of making and manufacturing and building an optimization, yeah, I think that’s what really drew me a lot. I also like to cook at home, right? So when folks don’t realize that, but when you, when you cook at home and you make and fabricate a meal, you’re manufacturing a meal, right? Yeah, that’s, that’s science, folks, or are you just cooking up some noodles? Like, no, it’s actually requires some chemistry and science involved. When you’re cooking up a pad Thai dish or Indian Curt dish, it’s not, it’s not just like, microwave and done, right?

Damon Pistulka  34:55

Yeah, and there’s something to be said about like you, you said. Learning how to make things, and then how that relates to manufacturing. Because you can see the pride, I’m sure, from the things, the projects you completed with your parents, helping them in those places, you know, the pride of seeing something done before and after. And then you see all these people in the US that are out there helping them make cool stuff in the, you know, in the manufacturing plants, it doesn’t matter what it is. Could be semiconductors, it could be cars, it could be, you know, street sweepers. But the just the pride in knowing that they did something to make that end product, and then seeing it go off and do what it’s supposed to do, is, is just so cool.

G. Nagesh Rao 35:39

It is absolutely, you know, it’s just thinking of a side note story. So my parents, you know, when they came to America, they were part of the first generation of Indian families to come to the country. They were part of part of the initial wave. And so in upstate New York, they were part of the founding families. In Troy Albany area, there they are part of the official founding families of that region. That’s how a massive Indian diaspora, South Asian diaspora family was one of the first ones there. So the Hindu temple that’s there in Albany shaker Road in line. Well, my dad and mom helped co found and helped co create with the other families. And so what’s interesting about that was actually my dad got involved. Even though he was not a trained engineer architect, he was a medical he trained up to be a medical doctor. He still got involved. He wanted to understand the process. Walked around. If anyone’s ever walked into a classical Hindu temple, you’ll see the artisan work, the sculptures, the manufacturing. It’s a very skilled process. It’s a very delicate it’s it’s in the precision these folks use, if you ever walk in and just see how ornate it is, and you just wonder how they did it with, like, very simple tools of precision. It’s, it’s something you would, you would just never realize, and you couldn’t believe they were doing it. And was crazy back then as they were doing it with bare feet.

Curt Anderson  37:01

Wow, I tell you, what courage, what inspiration for folks, no, you know. And again, mention for folks that are just joining us when we asked who your hero. Heroes were, of course, Mom and Dad were first. What mom and dad’s name, please. G

G. Nagesh Rao 37:15

Oh, yeah, so my mom’s side of the and then my late father was got to nageshwara,

Curt Anderson  37:19

okay, sending our condolences. What? What heroes? What an inspiration that they both, yeah, they’ve come to another country and just a roll up their sleeves and a dive right in. Absolutely love it. So let’s, um, let’s go here, man, I we could keep you all day, dude,

G. Nagesh Rao 37:33

I know, I know, but we got

Damon Pistulka  37:36

behind you.

G. Nagesh Rao 37:38

Buckley always yells at me, start on time and on time, I

37:41

always we will.

Curt Anderson  37:42

And so hey and drop us a note in the chat box, let us know you’re out there. Let g know that you’re coming here. Yeah. So G, let’s go here. Manufacturing Extension Partnership, for folks that are not familiar with the MEP network, I’d love to hear what what inspired you to as a matter of fact, I was at the MEP conference when you were announced, just share a little bit what attracted you to come to the MEP. And who is the MEP? How do you guys make the world?

G. Nagesh Rao 38:07

Yeah, no. So what inspired me to come over here? I just finished up a stint as a national security CIO for one of the bureaus at Commerce, and I got recruited over to MEP, in part, because I really love the mission and vision of helping support American manufacturers make build and grow in America and help us be resilient and competitive. I in part, it was because of what I saw happen during the pandemic. We got pants during the pandemic. Let’s be real. We got pants from our supply chain. We did I could speak firsthand as a customer. So when I was rebuilding our IT infrastructure at the Bureau of Industry and Security and getting it all good go, there was some critical equipment I needed that I had to wait for because we couldn’t get it from China. I had to wait eight months for particular hardware, equipment, and there are only a couple manufacturers in North America, and America in particular, that can manufacture it, add a security level standard where I could then implement and deploy it, because it was being used for an agency that where everyone had a top secret sei clearance. So I couldn’t use rinky dink stuff. I had to use something a little bit more sophisticated to make sure, you know, I was addressing our security needs. And so, you know, as a real life customer who is impacted as a result of the pandemic and supply chains, and especially on electronics and stuff of that nature, when I got the opportunity to come in over the MVP program and help push forth on that model of supporting and demystifying and invigorating American manufacturing capabilities, you know, something I couldn’t say new to and I had been familiar with the MEP program for a long time, because, back when I was at the patent office days and and I helped did some special assignments over there. I I ended up working with the MEP program for part of the President Obama Start Up America Initiative. And so we were, we’re partners on a bunch of stuff back in 2010 so I’d already had a. First line, line lens on it. And then I part when I was came back in the government a few years later to SBA. I partnered with MEP a lot around intellectual property, demystification and and, and that whole getting the MEP network plugged in more with the SBIR stakeholder community. And so just connecting those dots and those cross pollinating of networks was important to me. And so, you know, for the MVP network, it is a national network. You’ve got 51 MEP heads across the 50 states, in Puerto Rico, and then 450 plus service locations, you know, supporting 36,000 plus manufacturers that we can touch. We touch base on to me, it’s about de risking the MEP, the value add that MEP brings to the table is de risking and de mystifying the process, right? You know, you’ve got folks who are trying to be competitive it with a lot of small, medium sized manufacturers, and in particular the small manufacturers, you know, you usually the folks are wearing two, three hats a day. And so how do you like make priority of the different tasks you have to do in front of you each day? That’s hard. And so having a resource partner like the MVP program and MEP staff across the 51 centers helps you de risk and helps you take, alleviate, you know, some of the worries and stress, and be able to outsource some of your needs through through, or optimize yourself better, or get access to resources that you may not be able to afford otherwise, on your own right. I think a lot of that access to resources and access to equipment, technology, not only technology tools, but the technical trade from from experts across the the network is what’s important.

Curt Anderson  41:42

So let’s, let’s go here. G so share my screen, and let’s take a look. So again. So for manufacturers out there that are new to this whole MEP thing, like this MEP network, just share a little bit, you know. So, you know.

G. Nagesh Rao 41:55

And I think what’s critical here, and this is what’s important, if you look at our entire country and the diaspora of our country, it is not monolithic whatsoever. This is a very heterogeneous population with a heterogeneous series of sectors, right? You know, in Los Angeles, it’s big manufacturing base, besides arts and entertainment, nor Cal Silicon Valley. You go to Oregon, they got a whole bunch of stuff from agro and by and semiconductors. Same with Washington. And if you go across the country, you’ll see a lot of different stuff. And I think a lot of people forget and don’t realize that as you go across the country, there’s a lot of strengths that each center brings to the table that mitigate the weaknesses that might be there other places, you know, if I need help with semiconductor manufacturing, you know, you need not just go to California, you can go to Arizona, you can go to Texas, you can go to New Mexico. There’s a lot of skills right there, including Illinois. If I need help with biotech, you know, it’s not just nor Cal and Boston. There’s Philadelphia, there’s good work happening in Raleigh, North Carolina, there’s stuff happening in the Midwest. A lot of things folks don’t realize is, when you think about biotechnology, I think a lot of people think about it from a human perspective, and they forget about the life science and ag agriculture and animal lifestyle, right? And the Midwest is full of that science and technology capabilities that that folks don’t realize and think about. And so what I try to do and make sure everyone understands, is play off your strengths, play off your regional strengths, and play off those strengths well, and the weaknesses will work themselves out. Because when you’re working on as a network, you know you may not if you, if you go into the room trying to be the smartest person in the room, that’s going to Damn you, never, ever go into the room thinking you’re the smartest person in the room. Yeah, going room, looking, my advice is always going to the room looking to be the dumbest person in the room, because that means then you’re surrounded by perceived geniuses that you can tap into.

Curt Anderson  43:54

Yeah? I Yeah, you’re preaching the choir. Because I typically, by even by default, demon, I’m usually the dumbest guy in the room anyway, right? So, gee, phenomenal advice. But you know, so what we’re looking at here, so for manufacturers out there, as you mentioned, one in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, and what you can do is you can go right to the website, check out the map, and then just, you know, select the state that you’re in. And so let’s go here.

G. Nagesh Rao 44:18

And if and if that state services can’t fulfill your needs, they can go check with their partners at the other states. Yep, that’s the critical part. That’s the whole critical thing that I think Thomas, when she was director, really wanted to push hard with national network. She said, if, if a small business company comes out to the genetic location, Virginia, but there, but the needs that Genet have, it’s not good match. That’s not, it’s not, it’s not in the story. It’s, you know, Donahue and his team will then say, hey, there might be folks over in Eleanor, there might be folks over in our there might be folks over in in Oklahoma who could help you out. Yeah, and that’s

Damon Pistulka  44:57

the power of it, too. And we’ve, we’ve had several incidents. Is a Bucha on on with MEP centers that have gone to their local MEP. Actually, that local MEP has reached out to other MEPs and help them, you know, and really got the help for the end manufacturer across the network. And it’s it that is one of the powerful things that behind the MEP network right now is, if it’s not there, where we’re at, you can go across the nation and find,

G Nagesh Rao 45:25

and that’s the goal, yeah, absolutely.

Curt Anderson  45:28

So we’ll start winding down here. G just show, share with folks. You know, when somebody reaches out to their MEP center, can you just dive into a little bit of just, you know, again, like, we, we’d be here all

45:39

day, yeah. So, so if small, medium sized manufacturer, when you reach out your MEP center, they’ll put you in touch with someone who can help out from that initial client engagement. And they’ll scope out your needs and project desires of what it is, you know, if anything that you need help with that they can, they can provide. And then you’ll enter a contract with that group. They’ll, they’ll address your needs and concerns and give you a final, you know, end result project of deliverables that you need. And then you go from there. And it’s not like a one time kind of pony, right? You can go back over and over and utilize them as you consistently grow and scale yourself up with all ideas. Having access to consultants, really, you can think about it, it’s having access to consultants that are paid for in part by the federal government, right, right.

Curt Anderson  46:25

Excellent. And hey, we’ve got a comment here from Bernadine. Thank you for stopping by. It’s an extension partnership, similar to what state universities offer and other

G. Nagesh Rao 46:33

Bernadine is awesome. I love Bernadine. She I was so glad to see her Friday over at the dvirc event. So absolutely, she’s absolutely, it’s an extension, right? The all it is to extend, extend through and deliver on that partnership capabilities. And the reason why it’s a public, private partnership is, is that we, the federal government and the state local government are putting our, you know, two cents, and we’re hoping the private partners do their put their weight into and effectively coalesce so that we’re working in partnership, hand in hand, to help again, American manufacturing grow and rise. Well,

Curt Anderson  47:09

absolutely love it. And so you know, 1300 members in staff, teammates, yeah, 1400 plus throughout the entire team, throughout the entire country, and we, and as Damon just mentioned, we’ve had the honor and privilege of having dozens of your teammates on our little live show show, and it’s just amazing, the skill, the passion that they bring.

G. Nagesh Rao 47:29

And the services can go from again, high tech stuff to low tech stuff. Yeah, you know, federal procurement, state procurement, you know, funding opportunities ISO, is a big thing that we do. We’re now cyber security maturity, because a lot of the requirements, especially for the small, medium sized manufacturers that want to work with, DOD, there’s all that cmmc requirements. So, you know, guidance and helping to get yourself up and more savvy in that world, Lean Six Sigma, Toyota Cata stuff. So there’s, there’s a lot of different areas of opportunities and support that we do, you know, if it touches in the world of manufacturing in some shape or form, we help provide those services across the 51 centers and sub centers across, yeah,

Damon Pistulka  48:11

it’s just such a great help for manufacturers. I mean, you know, they just need to, if you’re, if you’re listening to this today, and you’re a manufacturer, you should just get on the NIST site, go out and contact your local manufacturing extension partnership just to start the relationship. Even if you don’t need help, have them come and talk to you, because there are you are going to run into something that you’re going to need help with, and they can help.

Curt Anderson  48:37

Yeah, absolutely,

G. Nagesh Rao 48:39

it’s the relationship building.

Damon Pistulka  48:40

Yeah, get it started now, because then you’re ready when something comes up.

Curt Anderson  48:44

That’s right, yeah. So let’s start writing down. What do you like? Where are with your leadership? Where are you taking? MEP, what are you excited about for the future? Where are we going? Here for manufacturing.

G. Nagesh Rao 48:55

So a big fan of 10x I’m a big fan of 10x and doubling in pushing forward on our efforts. So, you know, we’re pushing hard around the three pillars, which is leveraging innovation, technology support, American manufacturers, mitigating supply chain risks and improving its resiliency. And then, actually, I had a bit of an epiphany over the weekend. So in our plan, it says workforce development, and when I really thought about it over the weekend a bit more. Yes, it’s to help folks build into the pipeline of American manufacturing workforce, for sure, but I really think it should also be considered, rethought of as human capital development. And the reason why I say human capital development is because you’ve got smart folks who just need to skill up, train up and leg themselves up, operate in a growth and learning mindset, right? So I could have been a one trick pony and just went with engineering degree and that’s it. Instead, I went back to school at night and got my master’s in law, then I went back to school again and got my MBA, and I still continuously learned. And engage. And I’m, in fact, looking at a couple of other programs in the years I had to go and skill up a bit more. And, you know, between the fellowships, leadership fellowships, I’ve done, and a few other things I’m constantly looking to eagerly learn, like right now, I’ve been, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not a fan of AI and but it’s important to know it’s here you’ve opened up Pandora’s box. I got to learn and understand it. Personally, I would have kept Pandora’s box closed. And it’s on a philosophical level. I don’t think we should be playing God. And I think when we did that, we were playing a little bit of like, oh, it’s I don’t think we have the moral maturity. I don’t think we have the maturity to handle some of that stuff, and that’s why that’s my personal that’s my private two cents, like, that’s not my official disposition, but, but it’s here, and because it’s here, I gotta, we gotta live and learn and work with it. And so for American manufacturers, you got to leverage it, right? Whether it’s RPA technology, MLA, AI, it’s your leverage it, use it. But you know, when it comes to emerging and critical technology stuff, I always think it’s be a little bit thoughtful and mindful about how we’re going to use it and how we deploy it. Never rush it, right?

Curt Anderson  51:22

Well, and hey, and Diane says human capital development absolutely always be leveling up. So Diane, thank you for your comments here. Alright, we’ll start winding down here. G and so my last question for you is best business advice as as a previous entrepreneur, you’re just your entire career has just been dedicated to helping entrepreneurs be more profitable, be more protected, you know, grow and improve their businesses. What was the best business advice that you would love to pass along to entrepreneurs out there?

G. Nagesh Rao 51:56

So I’ve been very blessed in my life. I’ve been I’ve been able to meet and work and interact and engage with a lot of really cool people. And so I got to give a shout out to Peter Cooney. Those who don’t know look up Peter COVID. He is the former CEO of Black and Decker Revlon, and he’s most famous for is Marvel Entertainment. He turned Marvel Comics and Marvel Entertainment around to become a Juggernaut and get it acquired by Disney. Peter is a friend. He is my Curt Well, he’s one of my current mentors. He and I serve on a board together, and so he has given me a lot of advice over the last few years as we served on the board together. And Peter is a phenomenal person. One of the things he always reminded me, I was like, go. He’ll say things like, go learn a foreign language. Go abroad, learn a foreign language, and then come back. Go serve. He’s an ex Navy guy. Go serve in the military. Go, go. Be of service to folks. One of the best business advice I ever learned from him in particular, was learn to read the room and read it right, read the room and and be able to relate with people. And it goes back to what I said in the beginning, of like being able to relate with folks, when you can relate with folks and find that ability to connect intrinsically, that’s huge. And I remember that because we talk an awful lot about comic books and stuff. But you know, during the time, I remember, he always would remind me about how Stan Lee, when he created X Men, X Men was built on flawed characters, just like a lot of Marvel Comics characters were built on flawed characters. And he said that was, there was a legitimate reason why Marvel was more successful in his eyes than DC Comics. And he said, because people could relate. He said, If you looked at the DC Comics Pantheon, they were built on characters from Gods and Goddesses. And he was like, you couldn’t relate with that. But he said, but Marvel you could relate with, you know, human flawed characteristics and traits. And he said, That’s what sold. And he said, in particular, X Men, you know, he would say, Remember NIH, that was an allegorical tale for the civil rights movement. What folks don’t realize, if you ever look at the history of X Men comics, when it came out in the 60s, it was an allegorical tale to the civil rights movement to get people who could not relate to be able to relate to the concept of struggle and feeling like not belonging and wanting to belong in a community that didn’t want you. Professor Xavier was, you know, was written as an allegory to Martin Luther King, and Magneto was written as an allegory to Malcolm X if you look up the back history, you’ll see

Curt Anderson  54:36

it, no, no, no, you’re Yeah. That is power that yeah, that’s powerful stuff, like moment right there. G,

G. Nagesh Rao 54:43

yeah, right. You know, Stan Lee, at the time, was trying to get folks to relate, yeah, right. I need you to, I want you to relate with the struggles that are happening in our community around civil rights, yeah, and just in the disenfranchise and disenfranchisement that’s happening to people of of minority status, right? Yeah.

Curt Anderson  54:59

Great, alright, powerful stuff. Read the room. Absolutely love it. Molly drops a comment. Such a great interview. Thank you for your valuable leadership. G, and so big shout out to Molly so. G, first off, I want to give a huge, tremendous Thank you. I Maybe I’ll put you on the spot. So acting, you’re acting director of the MEP network. Is that correct?

G. Nagesh Rao 55:21

That is correct, sir.

Curt Anderson  55:22

When are we removing the acting when

G. Nagesh Rao 55:26

we’ll see after November? All

Curt Anderson  55:28

right, I’m just putting you on the spot. So first off, we thank you. We applaud you. We commend you. Your background, your passion, mom and dad, you know what they’ve done, what you’re doing for your two young guys, you’re laden leading the foundation for just can’t see where your guys thank you for your leadership at the MEP network and how you’re making such a difference with manufacturing, our manufacturers, our heroes of our community. And so we just applaud everybody at the MEP network for everything that you’re doing. Damon, your parting thoughts as we close out today with this conversation. Oh, I

Damon Pistulka  56:04

just so happy we could have you here today. G and listen to you. Man, that the your background, how you related into manufacturing. I can see why you’re now the acting director. I can see why they’ve got you there. You got you got the you are the right person. That’s all. I’ll say, thank you. Thank you, because it’s going to make a difference. But

G. Nagesh Rao 56:28

look, we’ve got a lot to offer, and in a globally competitive world right now, like we have got to make sure we get maintain our a game status, yep, yep,

Curt Anderson  56:38

I’d say. And you mentioned, you know, all the cool kids are going into manufacturing these days. Are they not? Is that on the record? Are you in the record for that one?

G. Nagesh Rao 56:46

Absolutely on the record for that. In fact, they got a lot of friends who’ve who’ve pivoted their careers into that because they realized the new if we’re going to be really competitive, this is our this is that opportunity for that next round of moonshot, right? You think about how we dominated back in the 20th century. It was because of two critical milestone moments in American history, post World War Two, Brown versus Brown versus Board of Education decision from the Supreme Court Sputnik. Those coinciding things happen at the same time, Sputnik got us scared and engaged in the Cold War to like, go at a whole new level of like whoa and Brown versus Board of Education, unlock that diaspora of capital of development because you now desegregated schools, and got people to actually diversify in in cross cross culturally, communicate and engage with each other and relate with each other, rather than operate in silos. Yep,

Curt Anderson  57:45

Wow. I’ve never, I’ve never thought of that. And I think, you know, we’re on the, really on the cusp of a massive renaissance right now. There’s just so much enthusiasm, so much positivity going into manufacturing, so much investment. You know, the chips act, everything that MEP networks doing, it’s just guys the limit right now. So that’s a perfect time to get into manufacturing. So G again, thank you. How about everybody out there? Thank you for everyone in the chat box. Thank you for dropping your comments today. Everyone. Diane, Molly, Buckley, every Mike, all you guys. Bernadine, thank you for dropping your comments again. Connect with G on LinkedIn. Follow the MEP network. Connect with your manufacturer, stop by and reach out to your local MEP provider, consultant, whatever they are there for you. So we’re going to close out Hangouts. Hang out with us for one second G, and hey, Damon, how about everybody give a big round of applause for G for just absolutely crushing it today and just hitting the bottom of the park and you know what? And we’ve had Carol Thomas on the show pretty a couple of times. So G we might, maybe we’ll have you and Carol back on this. Yeah, Bernadine

Damon Pistulka  58:49

on there.

G. Nagesh Rao 58:50

I’ll tell you, man, it’s gonna

Curt Anderson  58:54

be like a powerhouse panel my heart pills that day. So we’ll, we’ll get that lined up. So guys, thank you. Have an amazing, incredible rest of your week. It’s manufacturing month. Go out and thank and high five your local manufacturers, and we will see you guys soon. Great.

G. Nagesh Rao 59:10

Thank you all. Have a good one.

59:11