Joel Russell === Daniel: [00:00:00] Have you guys been following the whole bar stool sports? I do not. Buyback thing, Vince: I saw the news, but I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to it. I'm curious to know, and maybe it was in one of the articles I didn't read, he sold it for a boatload. Yep. Bought it back. Did he buy it back on pennies On the dollar. Oh, he didn't. Or Daniel: so everything I've seen, he exchanged no money to buy it back. Okay. Basically, uh, pen gaming. What's the executed a huge deal with E S P N for e s, ESP N to have their own like, You know, bespoke, uh, sports betting app. And so, um, and ESPN and Barstool Sports are kind of competitors. And so they, uh, they basically just gave him back full control. Uh, didn't have to do, didn't have to stroke a check to, to, uh, to, to buy it back. The only caveat is on the, if they were to sell it again, Penn gets 50% of whatever they sell it for. So, but he got paid 500 million once. He got it back for free. Now he's back in control. I will say his A million [00:01:00] dollars the next time. Yeah, exactly. Joel: Yeah. Even at 50%. Daniel: Yes. Yep. And so, uh, it's been, uh, very funny to watch his social media and Barsol sports, social media coming back at this point. And, um, McAfee's Joel: on that, right? Daniel: Uh, he was, I don't know if he still is Vince: actually now that he has a, now that he's an, the S p N employee, I think he's out that I think, but don't quote me on that. Daniel: Just a very interesting Turn of events for a somewhat controversial person that has seemed to lock into a lot of different things, but congrats Dave Yeah, oh, we're still looking for sponsors. So I mean we could well, yeah, Vince: we're easy nice nice Clemson Yeti there, buddy. Joel: Gotta rep it, man. Yeah. I spent about 45 grand a year there. I feel like I should get a Yeti and maybe a thank you somewhere along the check. Vince: Here's a free Yeti. Oh, that makes Joel: it all worthwhile. I think we had to buy the Yeti. I was gonna say. Did you? I don't think it's free there. But [00:02:00] the sticker's free. Yeah. Vince: Maybe. Yeah, maybe. It's a very expensive sticker. Very expensive. Joel: Yeah. Good school though. Yeah. At least I think it is. Uh, is Vince: Alex back? Joel: Is he? He leaves Monday. Monday? Yeah. Yeah. He leaves Monday. Girls back. Uh, Maddie's Vince: at Tennessee this week, or as of this week, two days ago, yesterday, whatever it was, uh, Mia goes down next week. Yeah. So, back to reality. Getting old, Joel: man. Yeah. Vince: Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Summit's podcast. Thank all of you guys for joining us from wherever you get your podcasts, or if you're tuning in from the Heroes Foundation YouTube channel, thank you for doing so. Hit that little subscription button if you haven't done so, hit the little notification bell icon so you can be notified when new episodes like this [00:03:00] very one drop. That would be great. It doesn't cost you a single penny. So, uh, appreciate you. Uh, today's episode, we are joined by a longtime friend of mine and longtime friend and partner of the Heroes Foundation, Mr. Joel Russell. Joel, welcome to Joel: Summit's Vince: podcast. Thank you Um, why don't you open us up and give everyone a little bit of background Joel: on yourself? Sure, yeah. So again, my name is Joel Russell. I am the founder and CEO of a company called eImagine Technology Group here in Indianapolis. We serve customers really across the country, primarily though in the state of Indiana. I'm doing software consulting services. I'm really trying to bring value to our customers. And chatard perspective. Um, but, uh, season kicks off tonight, so we're really excited about that. How are you guys having tonight? Uh, we scrimmage Westfield tonight. Uh, my buddy Kevin Scanlon's their coach, so we, him and I have a good time on the sideline, but... That's probably a Vince: pretty big, I mean, it's a scrimmage, but it's a Joel: big game, right? Yeah, Westfield's, Westfield's a good [00:04:00] team. Scanlon always does a really nice job up there, so it's, uh, it's a good first scrimmage. It technically doesn't count towards our record, but, uh, we get moving from there, yeah? Daniel: You want to win it Joel: either way though, right? Definitely like beating Kevin, although he's kicked my butt the last couple of years. So I owe him one this year. Good. Vince: Um, I'm going to, cause I know more than the average bear about you. Um, and some stuff we won't make this episode, which is probably best. We're going to reel it back. Let's, let's go back to where you hail from. Let's go back to Motor City. Yeah. Joel: And I appreciate that. You got to rep the three, one, three. So I grew up in, uh, just outside of Detroit, um, in Rochester, Michigan. And my dad taught. college chemistry at Oakland University for 50 years. Um, and really having grown up in Michigan, um, at the time they didn't have a soccer team. Michigan state was the only D one soccer program in Michigan. And I was a, was a college soccer player. I grew up in Michigan playing at Detroit country day was recruited to go down to IU. I played for coach Akeley down at IU. Um, so I was there for [00:05:00] two years, my freshman and sophomore year at IU and after my sophomore year I think I had my third knee surgery and at 5'9 you better be fast and I went from fast to not fast. Um, and ended up transferring after my sophomore year to Stanford. So I went to Stanford University in California my last two years, played soccer out there. Um, but when I was at IU, I started, um, I was introduced to Jenny Marshall, who's now Jenny Russell for 26 years, God love her. Um, and so I, after I left Stanford. Um, I did investment banking out in New York City. Um, candidly, wasn't a very good investment banker. Um, allegedly, they were going to teach me how to be a good one. Um, I didn't really do the job long enough to, to be taught that. Our company got sold. Um, then during that time frame, I took a job in Chicago, which is a, for a company that's now called EnRule. For you technology folks out there, it's a great company. I'd highly recommend them. Um, and then I moved to Indy. Um, and I've been here since 1996. I started E Imagine in 1998. What brought you to Vince: Indy initially? [00:06:00] Joel: I would be honest, Jenny did. It was kind of at that time where do you continue dating, do you move to Indy to get engaged, and you know, I played soccer at IU. She was here though, right? Yeah, so she left IU Bloomington and went to IU Dental School, which is actually in Indianapolis, and so it just made a lot of sense to move to Indianapolis. I didn't really know anything about Indianapolis. Um, other than my very first game at IU, we played Notre Dame up at Coons Park. Um, and I think I'd been to maybe an Indians game along the way, but I didn't know much about Indy. Um, went to a couple of Indy 500s when I was at IU, but, uh, it, it just made sense because Jenny was here. And I really never thought we were going to call Indianapolis home. I thought once she got out of dental school. We were going to move from Indiana, and lo and behold, I'm still here. So, um, once we settled here, we now have four children. We have three boys and a girl. My oldest son's at Clemson. Um, go Tigers. I've got two at Cathedral and then one at Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is the, um, [00:07:00] fortunate or unfortunate location of where I had the pleasure of meeting Vince Todd. So, uh, maybe we should have been St. Luke's family and never would have had the pleasure. Vince: That's right. You wouldn't have had the pleasure. Yeah. Correct. Correct. Um, so you, when you moved here, what, did you already have the idea for, you imagine at the time? You know. What triggered that? Yeah. Joel: I mean, just being a, a soccer guy and then really being a teams guy, I've always liked to build, I like to invest in people and like to build teams. And so I knew I wanted to start my own business. I wasn't really sure what business to start and really through Lauren Goodman at Calypso, which is now in rule, kind of opened my eyes to technology. And so I thought, well, hey, why don't I have the intersection of investing in people, building teams and consulting and doing it with technology? And so, you know, I joke, Josh, my buddy has to come over to fix my Sonos. I'm not very good technically. But, um, I knew I wanted to build teams and that's, that's why I think that's one of my skills. And so, at that point, I was 23, [00:08:00] 24, and thought, you know, Mr. Clark, when a good friend of mine's father, and we'll get to why, one of the reasons why I'm in Heroes, said I need job security like I need a hole in my head. And he's like, go for it, Joel. And so at 24, I started E Imagine, might have been 23. 24. And, um, and really have not looked back, but I thought if I'm going to, if I'm going to fail, fail early. Right. But if I'm going to succeed, let's get it going. And so through a lot of other counsel on that, I started eImagine and I've really enjoyed it ever since. Yeah. Vince: Shout out to Josh on the, uh, Sonos help. I know Josh. He's Joel: big time. Yep. He's a doctor on the side, but he's a Sonos expert in the, in the Daniel: day. Right. Where did, uh, how'd you come up with the name eImagine? You Joel: know, so obviously I started the company in the nineties because everything was named E something back then. Um, I was up at then Barnes and Noble. I think it's a district tap maybe, or real close up there in Castleton. And again, I, I was kind of drawn to this. Imagine the possibilities, imagine what you could do in your life if you invest in these things. And then of course, being in the nineties, it was E. Um, and so, you imagine. That was it? Yeah, that was it. Daniel: [00:09:00] And the domain was available? Joel: It was not. Oh, it wasn't? So we initially started with, uh, think ETG, uh, which was a horrible domain. And we ended up having to buy the domain many years later. Um, and it is what it is. But, uh, wow, what a, what a job that would have been. Register every domain out there. Oh, I know. Just sit back and wait for people to buy them. So we ended up paying the guy a lot less than he wanted, but it was still more than I wanted to spend. Yeah. And then he wanted to sell us the Twitter handle. Of course. All of the add ons. Beautiful thing. Vince: I vaguely remember when there was a run on domains and like probably a lot of people, I was the dork that literally sat down and made a list of hundreds and then just went in and just kept checking and checking and of course I was, you know, a day late. A day late in Joel: the dollar store. Yeah. MichaelJordan. com was taken weird Vinny. Vince: It's like, I just found that one. But, oh well, uh, so, you kind of, uh, alluded to this earlier, we, we get connected, like, like Indianapolis, you know, it's two ways back to Kevin Bacon, it says 7. [00:10:00] Uh, mutual friend, um, connects us, I want to say it was around Halloween. Yep. Um, which, it was probably a late night, I'm sure. And, and, you know, we've never looked back since then. Yeah, Joel: I mean, so, so Corey Lewis was my neighbor across the street and, uh, Corey's a pretty focused guy on stuff. He allegedly thinks he's a good cyclist. I'm a much better cyclist than Corey. So we were out riding one day and he's like, Hey, you've got to meet my buddy Vince. I think with the stuff that you're doing, and my oldest is diabetic, and so I was pretty active in JDRF at the time. He's like, hey, I think you've got to meet Vince. I think there's some intersection of what you guys are, are passionate about. And, um, and then he introduced you to, er, me to you, and I thought, well, the disappointment of that. Um, and really a friendship's grown ever since, and then, you know, been involved with Heroes pretty much after that introduction. Right, yeah, so Vince: we, we met, I don't know what year that was. It's been, it's been a while. Obviously, kids going to the same school, same neighborhood, um. [00:11:00] I don't recall what was that first step. Maybe you guys came to one of, one of, one of the events. Maybe it was the, the gala that was, you know, a few, few months after we had met kind of in October. Um, but to your point, you, you pretty much jumped in and, and, and supported us, you know, pretty much from the beginning. Um, Why don't you talk about from a company perspective, I mean you guys aren't don't just support heroes you support other organizations you mentioned JDRF What when you guys look to partner with an organization? What what is it that usually triggers that? Joel: Yeah, I mean, unfortunately Or fortunately because I think it's positively shaped my life There's always something in your life that people are drawn to mine is diabetes because Alex is diabetic So for me as a company, you know, we, we, we focus a lot on what we call our IC3 values. So when I look at our business and we, we start inside and say, are we making the individual better? And then we grow to our, we make an, are we making our company better than our clients and our community? So there, we start inward and work our way outward. [00:12:00] Ultimately, though, there's a personal connection, there's a tie back that, that wants to make you get involved. And so. I have to be real careful that I don't just champion diabetes because that's maybe what I'm passionate about. Um, but when I look at it, there's so much energy and drive on people when you find that one thing. And so for our company, You know, what we try and do is open that up to say what are people passionate about. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, my wife's mother was diagnosed with cancer sometime in that, in that time frame when we first met. It was actually, I think it was two years after we met. And so that kind of brought me more forefront in the cancer community. Um, and so when we look at it, you know, I do think things happen at a national or international level. I mean, Alex has a closed loop system on diabetes. That wouldn't have happened. Without a lot of global support, let's bring that back local. You know, it's kind of like, um, how do we support locals? So what we look to do when we partner is, who's making an impact in that last seat, in our [00:13:00] community? And it's great when we're doing it on a larger scale, but sometimes you just need to be at home. And, um, so we look at how do we positively impact our local community and I think the heroes completely fit that mold and, uh, and so for us, it was a natural progression to partner with heroes. Vince: Yeah. Well, we certainly appreciate it. Um, and both you guys, your guys companies are. Really partners in the truest sense of the word because it's, it's easy to write a check, right? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's very important, but it's easy to write a check. But you guys go beyond that in terms of, I mean, you serve as board members. Um, you have done, you have dressed up as a character for Team Joey, Lego Gives at various hospitals. Um, didn't mean to out Joel: you on that. No, BS Kelly, I'd like to talk more on that. I've got some ideas, so yeah. Okay. All right, Kelly. Vince: Yep. Um, and then, and you guys partner at the highest level. So... Not just from a financial standpoint, but a commitment standpoint, you guys are present at the events. Um, and then you also do a Lego [00:14:00] drive around the holidays internally at the company to have people bring in Legos. And Emily was talking about that the other night at actually at the board meeting. Um, those are huge. Joel: And, and I think what gets missed, I mean, all of that sounds great, but I, I try and break things down always into personal stories. I mean, you might think, Hey, I'm at Target. There's a 40 Lego. Is this really going to make a difference? Right. I'll buy it. We've got the, you know, the team Joey thing at the office. What a lot of my staff hasn't seen, and some of them have, is the actual giving of that LEGO. to a cancer patient, and the look on his or her face, it really does make a difference. And you might say, well, in the moment, but you know what? It's their moment. And they're in there getting chemo, and their, their life sucks at that moment. And you're doing a little bit to make their life better by dropping 40 bucks at Target. And that's that. impact in that local community that we look for. And I think Heroes does an amazing job. Kelly does an amazing job running Team Joey. Um, and a little shout out, it's easy to participate. So for those that [00:15:00] want to do a Lego donation, you can drop them off at the Imagine office. We're happy to include them, but I would say definitely participate in that. Yeah, for sure. Daniel: I mean, anyone listening can sign up or reach out and get signed up to participate and volunteer for one of those events. They're happening fairly regularly. Yep. There'll be some fun announcements around that here soon. Right, yeah. Vince: And then as part of your guys Everest partnership, your Everest Summit partnership, I should say, um, part of that is being the presenting sponsor of the PIF party, which is coming up at the end of this Joel: month. Right, yeah. I remember, I want to say I remember when you were really getting PIF out of your head and into the reality or the real world. Um, it's a great event and I think it's one of those to celebrate. I mean, I love the idea of Pay It Forward Friday, right? And so you're, you're trying to bring people together and really focus on how we improve. Again, that local community, uh, through the Heroes Foundation and we, we enjoy it. It's a great time to get people together. Um, I, I love to get folks together outside of work. I know we're, we've got a lot of employees outside of, out of Indiana now, just with COVID and the way that that's [00:16:00] created some unique opportunities, but it's great to pull people together. It's great to break bread. Um, and be with some folks. And as we Vince: continue to get older, it's, it's another avenue to try to get some of the younger crowd into the organization. Joel: I still feel incredibly old, Vince. No, I'm with you though. I mean, it, it, it is a great, it's a great way to introduce heroes to a 24 year old who says, well, a gala ticket and, uh, what, it's just, that's a whole different event. I can relate to a piff party. I can, hey, this is a cool organization. And then, and then boom, we get them hooked. Exactly. Vince: Yeah. So, we'd be remiss not to talk about, um, cancer stories because that's really the foundation for this podcast, but, so Joel, what, what, what is your cancer story? Joel: Yeah, I would say really it's, it's a two fold story, so, um, for those of you that know me, you're like, well, I probably need more of these, but, you know, uh, Mrs. Clark and then Jenny's mom were really, um, great mother figures in my life that I think had a very positive impact. Both of them ended up, you know, dying from [00:17:00] cancer. And so, um, Jenny's mom was diagnosed, um, again, a couple years after we met, so maybe Alex was in second or third grade, um, and then Mrs. Clark passed a few years after that, um, from brain cancer. Both were, were really, uh, important women in my life. I've known Mrs. Clark pretty much since I can remember. Um, and just had great experiences. Her, her son Mike was a, you know, best man at our wedding. Skip, Skip's a great friend of mine today. Um, and growing up in Michigan, she was, I really grew up with their family. And so, um, and she was so vibrant and so competitive and just a wonderful woman. And then all of a sudden, to find out she has cancer and all of a sudden then she's gone. It just seemed that, like, it was unfair. She had so much more to offer the world and just left the world a better place. And so, um, and then you, you go to Jenny's mom and you think, well, one, she had to put up with me as a son in law, which had to be a nightmare for, for everybody. Uh, but just couldn't have been a more gentle, nicer person. And, and then again, all of a sudden. And hers was a little bit different in that, [00:18:00] um, you know, she was, she was really impacted for years and, and was in and out of the hospital. I think she went in and didn't come out for almost two full years and then died. And that, that whole experience was just, was terrible and, and, and I still think it impacts Jenny today. I know I. Impacts me in, in, not in a positive way. And so, um, you think, well, how can we help families like that, um, who are impacted by that? And unfortunately, that story's not unique. I was at today's, uh, Thursday. I was in the office, I think, on Monday or Tuesday. And out of the blue, one of my employees walks up and says, Um, I just had this thing cut off, you know, my foot. I had cancer. And, you know, where's this coming from? And, and everything's good. And knock on wood, she, she's clean. Um, or cancer free, I should say, but, um, it happens to everyone and, and then you're just like, uh, you know, and, and it was, it was a good story and we hugged and I'm very happy for her and her family. But that happens too often. Yeah. For sure. Well, Vince: thank you for [00:19:00] sharing. I knew, certainly knew about, uh, Jenny's mom. I may have known about Skip's mom as well, but thank you for sharing that. Um, with the PIF party coming up, uh, Thursday, August 31st, uh, it's a PIF party, uh, paid forward by eImagine. Uh, Thursday, August 31st, guys, at the Vogue Theater here in Indy, um, Sixteen Candles band, which I, I think I've, it's been a while, but they're a very popular 80s band, we're old enough to remember the 80s, you're, you're young enough not to remember the 80s, but you know the 80s music, it's coming back around, and it was a Daniel: decade before I was born, right? Joel: We can get movie quotes from Sixteen Candles if you like. Vince: It's a lot of songs that you can actually understand the words to. Oh, Daniel: interesting. If that helps. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Vince: But we'll put the link in the description, guys, to where you can find tickets for the event. They're still plenty on sale. Uh, again, Thursday night, August 31st. For you young folks that still go out on Thursdays, us 50 somethings don't always go out on Thursdays. Well, Joel: [00:20:00] I'm coaching against Columbus North that day. We lost to them in a state semi, so hopefully we'll return serve this year. So I'll be coming in. A little late and a little hot, but we'll, we'll, Vince: we'll get there. There you go. Yeah. Um, or just go to the events page on, at, on the Heroes Foundation website at heroesfoundation. org. All spelled out. H E R O E S foundation. org. Um, you can find, uh, a link to the tickets on the events page there. Um, what did we miss? I know there's a lot we could go into. You and I have done multiple trips together. I left all the Oktoberfest stuff out. Joel: Which is probably appropriate. What stays in Munich or what happens in Munich stays in Munich. No, I mean, I, Vince: um. Let me ask you this. As a long time partner of the foundation, this is really for both of you guys. What, what advice, I don't know if advice is the right word, but what advice would you give? How would you encourage a prospective partner who hasn't partnered with the Heroes Foundation yet? Daniel: I think, I mean, I think one of the things that hears as well as, as [00:21:00] the events and being there to see those and meet the people that are involved with it is, uh, is a, is a unique experience in some ways. It's, it's not just your typical, you know, gathering for things. Not to say there's anything wrong with that, but, um, that's what I've always liked about it. That's how, you know, you know, Brookfield Group's been involved for a while, but I started out just going to the events when I was in college and I'd have like, hey, I have tickets to go to, you know, this event or this thing or whatever. And it's like, okay, yeah, we'll go. And that's how I really got involved with it, um, from that standpoint. So go to the events, um, they're, they're a ton of fun. This one in particular, PIF's a ton of fun. I really enjoy the gala. It's, uh, it's, um, it's, it's done really well. Um, and then obviously the golf one is always probably my favorite one, but that's, that's a little personalized, Vince: so. Joel: I mean, I, I think the, one of the cool things about Heroes is the breadth of the opportunity to get engaged. You know, there's, there's a lot of different events. That, uh, I mean, events are code for fundraising opportunities. But there's a lot of, [00:22:00] um, great events. So as a corporation, if you're thinking about being a corporate sponsor, there's, you know, dress up things like the gala. There's dress down things like the piff party. There's the, the, um, Team Joey, which is easy to participate. There's the golf, and there's a lot of different things that you can do. And then the cool thing then is, well, all of that money, where does that translate? Well, you know, just that, at the, um, Um, it was at the Peachy event or the event on Monday and, and the funding of research and the helping of research that you actually see your funding get put to work locally. And I think that's one of the neat things is like, Hey, I went to this event. It's great. We raised all this money. Now what? Right. Well. You know, Vince and Crudo do a great job of explaining what the what is, and usually nine times out of ten that what is in Central or in Indiana. It doesn't really leave our state. Yeah, we're focused on the state of Indiana for sure. Which is a wonderful thing, and I think that's, that's a nice tying to know that I did make an impact. Um, I do like the breadth of stuff from a corporate perspective, and I also like that it's, it's here in Indiana. Vince: [00:23:00] Perfect. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you guys, uh, partnering. We look forward to many years to come. Sounds great. And, uh, as much as it pains me to say this, I appreciate our friendship as well. Mm hmm. Joel: Get that on recording. Yeah. You can hold that one Daniel: over his head for a while now. Yeah, it's, it's gonna be there for a while. Chris will clip that one out Joel: for you. That clearly cuts both Vince: ways. Great. Thank you, Vince. Uh, thanks for dealing with the, uh, traffic to get here this morning. Ah, sorry about being late. No, all good. All good. Cool. Hey guys, thank all of you for joining us on this episode of the Summit's podcast from wherever you're podcast or if you're joining us on the Heroes Foundation YouTube channel. Thank you for your time in doing so. And don't forget, beat cancer.