Setting A Good Example For Your Kids | Rob Schutz (Dad of 2, co-founder of Ro and Snagged)

Adam Fishman (00:01.354)

I would like to welcome Rob Schutz to the Startup Dad podcast. Rob, it is a pleasure having you on the show today. Thank you for joining

 

Rob Schutz (00:11.094)

It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me, Adam. I've been waiting for years for the invite, though this is very gratifying.

 

Adam Fishman (00:15.273)

Well, there is a long line to get into the Startup Dad podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you and I know each other professionally. We have spent some time together. We currently make some investments together, which is fun. But tell us a little bit more for those of you who don't know the Rob Shutz. Tell us a little bit more about what you do professionally.

 

Rob Schutz (00:20.3)

I can only imagine. I can only imagine.

 

Rob Schutz (00:33.293)

Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (00:42.638)

Yeah, what would you say you'd do? Yeah, so my background is in growth and startups. I'm most recently one of the co -founders of Robe, a telehealth company out of New York. We launched in 2017. Prior to that, I was one of the early employees, first employee, first marketing employee at Bark, BarkBox, treats and toys for dogs. And prior to that, I did a bunch of different things to kind

 

parlay my way into the startup world, including having a daily deal website back in the day called What's The Deal? And prior to that, I was in healthcare consulting, and that's kind of what pushed me into more of the entrepreneurial world, doing that for five years. Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (01:27.401)

Nice. You literally went from healthcare consulting to what's the deal, daily deals site.

 

Rob Schutz (01:32.978)

Yeah, it is the classic transition from healthcare technology consulting to daily deals. Yeah, I was there for five years. We would help hospitals go paperless, essentially install their digital systems and then help them with the backlog of millions of reams of digital physical records, kind of marry those two. So we work with big hospital systems. Deals took a long time to come together.

 

Adam Fishman (01:38.852)

Ha ha

 

Rob Schutz (02:02.094)

And I think for me, what I realized was once I figured out more about the internet, which is great by the way, I'm not sure if you've used it, just how quickly in other industries and like e -commerce when I discovered how quickly you can get the feedback, I kind of got addicted to that versus like, a two year deal selling this hospital in Denver required like hundred in -person meetings and dinners versus like putting something up on a website and someone buys it in 10 seconds. Like I really liked that shift.

 

That's where I kind of got hooked into this whole like digital e -commerce growth space.

 

Adam Fishman (02:31.976)

Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (02:37.321)

Cool, very cool. And what was life like growing up for you? What was Rob like as a

 

Rob Schutz (02:43.852)

That's a very deep question, first of all. I thought this was going to be like a light, chill podcast. So I grew up, I'm from Virginia. I'm from Northern Virginia, right outside DC. Burke, B unit as people call it sometimes. No one calls it that. But I grew up, have an older brother who now is a professor in Canada. He teaches at university called McMaster. He's a percussion, like a professional percussionist.

 

And we grew up in Virginia. My dad worked for IBM for many years. My mom was a learning disability teacher and then kindergarten for many years. And yeah, we grew up right outside DC. Pretty standard upbringing, sports, music. Was very into music from an early age. Up until I'd say right before college, going into college, I thought I would potentially be a professional trombonist. I was big into trombone.

 

Did marching band, symphony, orchestra, all state band, all that stuff. And then I did marching band in college at Penn State as well. But kind of realized maybe there's not as much opportunity or money at the right time. So I pleased. That was one of my better life decisions. But yeah, that's a pretty traditional upbringing. A small group of friends growing up that I'm still very tight with. And yeah, no major complaints.

 

Adam Fishman (03:43.133)

Wow.

 

Adam Fishman (04:00.851)

Ha ha

 

Adam Fishman (04:12.937)

Is your brother like that terrible guy in that movie that teaches the drums to the kid and is abusive? that like his? Okay.

 

Rob Schutz (04:22.648)

There's a lot of screaming. No, he is a very kind man. He has many degrees from many universities. He eventually kind of combined technology and psychology and percussion. And so he teaches called music cognition of McMaster. It's kind of this combination of how your brain interprets noises and sounds. And he also helps run the percussion studio up there. So he's one of the few like people

 

Adam Fishman (04:31.539)

Mm -hmm.

 

Adam Fishman (04:37.203)

Wow.

 

Adam Fishman (04:47.538)

Whoa.

 

Rob Schutz (04:50.306)

got all these music degrees and actually makes money from it. Very impressive.

 

Adam Fishman (04:52.993)

Wow, that's very cool. Well, I can tell you how my brain interprets people pounding on the drums, not usually. Interesting. Speaking of kids of people pounding on drums, this is a parenting podcast.

 

Rob Schutz (05:01.07)

Please tell me. Is it positive? That's good. Tell me more about

 

Rob Schutz (05:16.098)

Yeah, why are we not talking about being dads

 

Adam Fishman (05:19.146)

We're going to talk about it. was really, I was stuck on the fact that you almost pursued being a professional trombonist. That really threw me off my game.

 

Rob Schutz (05:27.852)

Mmm. Well, I'll throw curve balls. It won't be the first one in our conversation, my friend.

 

Adam Fishman (05:34.185)

I don't come across too many people who have found their way into the work that you do now, but we're like, you know, for a period of time, I was really all about the trombone. first time for everything on this podcast. So we're breaking new ground here. So parenting podcast, you have a family, you have a partner, you have two kids. How did you meet

 

Rob Schutz (05:45.516)

Yeah, well, it you know, it treated me well earlier in life, so.

 

We have fun around. We have fun around.

 

Adam Fishman (06:04.243)

partner and then tell me a little bit about your kids.

 

Rob Schutz (06:06.83)

Yes, yeah, in sequential order there. So Jamie is my wife. We met in 2006 in Washington, DC. We were both there after school. I moved from Penn State, she had moved from Cornell, and we met at a bar, and I'll be honest with you, barely remember that evening.

 

We were at a bar called Brass Monkey in Adams Morgan in DC. No longer exists. But we met really, you know, serendipitously and kind of hit it off and kept in touch. She then moved back to New York to go to grad school for psychology. She's a therapist. And then we started dating, you know, long distance. Eventually I kind of crept up to New York, not following her,

 

because New York was fun. And then we of rekindled from there and off to the races. So we got married in 2012. We had our first child, Jessica, in 2014. So she's now nine and a half. And Ryan, 2017, who's now seven. So we got a bunch of grownups living with us.

 

Adam Fishman (07:02.953)

Of

 

Adam Fishman (07:23.439)

Okay, yeah, your oldest is about the same age as my youngest, but we also have the girl -boy, I assume is Ryan is a boy. Yes, okay. Because I also grew up with a girl named Ryan who I knew, so I just had to confirm. Yeah, know, pronouns and all the, anyway, figured I would ask, don't want to assume. And so Ryan was born right,

 

Rob Schutz (07:34.466)

Yes, yes, go boy.

 

Rob Schutz (07:40.718)

I know plenty of girls named Ryan, it's a very fair question. I can't. Yes.

 

Adam Fishman (07:51.397)

around the time that you started Rowe. Is that right?

 

Rob Schutz (07:55.918)

Yeah, yeah, we wound up... There's never a good time in life to do anything.

 

Adam Fishman (08:02.825)

I was going to ask, mean, what was that conversation like with you and Jamie, where you're like, hey, we're about to have a second kid, you are nine months pregnant, I think I should start this company. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?

 

Rob Schutz (08:09.986)

Yeah

 

Rob Schutz (08:17.964)

Yeah, let's take a leap. Well, it was actually even more complex. I was coming up on five years at Barq and Barq had instituted this program, I think they still do where you get a paid three months of article once you hit five years. And I was like, I would like to do that. That sounds good. So I was coming up with that. In parallel, we're starting to have these conversations with Zian Sman about starting something. We also decided we were moving to New Jersey.

 

Adam Fishman (08:32.061)

Mm -hmm.

 

Adam Fishman (08:35.678)

Mm -hmm.

 

Rob Schutz (08:47.022)

at that point from great point. we bought a house as you do, as you do. Once you have your second kid, you're legally required to move out of Brooklyn. And so everything was kind of happening all at once. It was like job, we're having our second kid, we bought a house. And I remember sitting down with Jamie and I was like, yo, what do you think about doing this thing? And I do think that's one of the more important

 

Adam Fishman (08:48.751)

As one does. Yep.

 

Rob Schutz (09:16.344)

conversations and pieces of input you have. Like you can't do anything, I like, successfully unless you and your partner are on the same page. And she was incredibly supportive. She's always been supportive of my endeavors and the things that I kind of want to try. was, I was honestly more wavering, I think, than she was, because I was like, lot of responsibility and money and all these different things and nothing's guaranteed and three months off sounds great. And she, you know, she was like, are you going to look back and regret?

 

not doing this thing. I was like, it's a good way of thinking about it. And I was like, yeah, I definitely will. I feel like this is a good combination of people that I trust and I think we could build something good. And she's like, you should probably do it. I was like, okay, I guess we're doing it. So yeah, that was an interesting time of life. But like I said, I have taken away from that this philosophy of no good time to do anything.

 

That happens all the time. You're to startup founders. You're talking to people earlier in their career. It's like, I'm going to wait for this to happen so that I can do this or I'm going get married. It's like, nope. Sometimes you just got to be opportunistic and say, I'm going to do this thing because you might never get the opportunity.

 

Adam Fishman (10:30.205)

Yep. Just got to pull off the bandaid as they say, as, as they say. That's

 

Rob Schutz (10:32.536)

That's as they say in the business, if anyone's doing a business lingo bingo.

 

Adam Fishman (10:39.977)

This podcast is full of it, that and parenting lingo, bingo. Yeah. So Jamie is a therapist. She has many degrees, probably more than you. And what was the decision like if we even hit the time machine and go back to, you know, 2012 when you're getting married? What was the decision like to start a family? Was that something the two of you talked

 

Rob Schutz (10:40.11)

That's true. Yeah, there's a going

 

Rob Schutz (10:54.158)

Many more

 

Adam Fishman (11:09.919)

extensively or was it just sort of always assume.

 

Rob Schutz (11:13.442)

Yeah, you know, we must have talked about it specifically at some point. I would imagine that's something I would bring up. But it was always kind of understood that at some point, TBD, we'd like to have a family. She has, she's one of three, is very close with her family. I'm one of two. But both of us grew up in the suburbs. She grew up on the Long Island, outside DC in Virginia. But both very much wanted to start a family at some point. So.

 

We were very aligned there. think timing was the question, it was like how soon? Looking back, only two years married without kids. Maybe, would we do things differently? I don't know, doesn't really matter. But yeah, we were both pretty aligned from the jump on wanting to have kids.

 

Adam Fishman (11:54.141)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (12:01.637)

Okay. Any, percussionists or trombonists in Jamie's family that I should be aware

 

Rob Schutz (12:08.406)

Not that I know of. There's some guitar players. We could put a band together.

 

Adam Fishman (12:09.609)

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. The extended Shutz family is just full of musical talent. wow.

 

Rob Schutz (12:19.384)

Well, my dad also plays the trombone and his dad played the trombone. So it's kind of like a family legacy at this point. No pressure, children.

 

Adam Fishman (12:27.57)

It's a lineage, I see

 

Adam Fishman (12:32.359)

Maybe we'll get into whether your kids have any musical talents in a little bit. We'll see. What is the earliest memory that you have after becoming a

 

Rob Schutz (12:35.36)

Maybe you will. Let's see where the conversation takes us.

 

Rob Schutz (12:46.946)

I have two memories. One is after Jim gave birth and we were back, she went out giving birth, some complications initially and was kind of like emergency C -section, but everything was fine. And then we got back to the room and she was in her bed and I remember sitting down on the couch and I was like exhausted. I was up all night, whatever. And she always teases me about it. said, I'm sorry you were so tired. But I immediately fell asleep on the couch.

 

Adam Fishman (13:15.625)

Just doing your part.

 

Rob Schutz (13:16.172)

Doctor came in and talked to us and I wasn't kind of that awake and she's like, you need to be awake. Like I realize you are tired, but I also just gave birth to a baby. And I was like, that's fair. But then one of the memories that comes to mind is like as soon as we got home and I was, you know, two, three weeks in starting to help with, with like night feedings. And I remember I was very excited about to spend time

 

you know, Jessica, but also I made this structure where I would get to watch ESPN 30 for 30s. I would let myself watch 30 for 30s while I did the feeding. 30 minutes feeding, this is perfect. And so I watched like, you know, 30 of those over the course of the next couple months. And so I still, like anytime I see a promo or anything for 30 for 30 comes up, it still connects my mind back to like three o 'clock in the morning, holding a bottle with a baby.

 

Adam Fishman (14:11.431)

That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. I, I found that I was very productive while, bottle feeding because like, could just kind of get at a position where you're like wedging it in there and then you're like watching stuff and do, yeah, yeah, it was, it was amazing.

 

Rob Schutz (14:21.688)

and then you're in your house.

 

I've thought before kids, had this perception of like, you know what? I'm gonna be super productive because I'll just be like up more. I'll be like up and around, I'll be up early. Maybe I'll get up and I'll work out early. And then it happens and you're like, I'm very tired. I'm not gonna be adding things to my

 

Adam Fishman (14:42.537)

Yeah.

 

Nope, nope, unless it's 30 for 30 at 3 a

 

Rob Schutz (14:49.516)

Unless, yes, I mean there's some really good ones in there.

 

Adam Fishman (14:52.189)

very important. So I wanted to jump to something that you brought up in the prep for this show. And one of the things that you mentioned was something that's really important for you is setting a good example for how you treat others. And that's a lesson that you really want your kids to observe and to kind of learn and adopt. And so how do you do that in your family?

 

Rob Schutz (15:21.518)

Well, one, you're giving away the fact that we did prep, which is going to raise the expectations for people. Prep is a loser. Word and words are a shared Google account. Yeah, and not to jump ahead to some of other things I'm sure we'll talk about, but that is kind of the one thing that both Jamie and I think about when we think about what our parenting style or philosophy is. I know some people

 

Adam Fishman (15:26.601)

Well, prep is a liberal term. It's a general term for how we prep.

 

Rob Schutz (15:49.506)

more structure and templates and sticker charts and things like that. We've kind of taken this approach of just like kids learn from, kids learn by example and they watch you and they absorb everything and they're very observant, they remember everything. And so we've just tried to really make it a point, like the way that we treat other people is one of the most important examples we can set for our kids. So, you know, we try and do that

 

everyday things, if it's people coming to drop off the mail and we have kids giving them water or if it's talking to cleaning people if they're coming by, like treating people like human beings. But then in bigger ways too, we really like them getting involved with service and giving back. I'm the chair of the board of a homeless shelter in New Jersey called Isaiah House. And Jamie is very actively involved with them as well. And

 

We bring the kids to events. We bring them out for a Juneteenth event. We go and pack bags. The kids help run a dance marathon that we do for Isaiah Haase. It raises money every year. And so it's really important that you feel like day -to -day interfacing, be kind, good human beings, but then in bigger ways, also try and make sure you're setting an example of giving back and also ingraining that, I would say, more into...

 

who they are and service and give you back as kind of a part of what you do.

 

Adam Fishman (17:21.481)

Is that somehow related to how you and or Jamie were raised or is it just something that you've kind of developed a perspective on over

 

Rob Schutz (17:32.398)

It's a good question. You're a good interviewer. You know, I think we're both involved in giving back. Like, I'm Jewish, my synagogue, always did, you know, mitzvah projects, giving back homeless shelters, etc. So we're always involved. I think a lot of the kind of like donating, donating time was probably more involved around like our religious school or like synagogue at the time.

 

probably true for Jamie as well, although she did more like Habitat for Humanity and she did lot with animals as well. So I think it was part of growing up, but I think what we also like is having something that's ours and is a bit more specific. And we were kind of, we were thoughtful about it. was saying there's one thing we actually spent time sitting down researching, thinking about from like a parenting and partnership perspective is like, we want to do something that we want to go a little

 

more all in on than kind of like spreading it around to a bunch of different stuff. so we had actually our it was Jessica, our daughter, she did a lemonade stand five, six years ago, and she wanted to give it to folks who didn't have homes. And so Jamie found this organization, Isaiah House sent a, you know, sent a check to them for a couple hundred dollars. And we got a note back from the executive director, so kind. She was like so complimentary

 

daughter and we realized like this would be a good one to just lean into like a lot of times these things are kind of sitting in front of you you just need to grab the opportunity so that was one where I said let's go meet them let's spend time let's get involved let's join the board let's see what we can do to help them you know it's been a it's been a really gratifying experience for us and then hopefully also you know planting that seed for the kids as

 

Adam Fishman (19:05.545)

Mm -hmm.

 

Adam Fishman (19:24.653)

Awesome. I love that. It's a great story too. So I wanted to switch gears for a second and talk about, dads, you don't talk to a lot of dads and hear them go immediately to the feelings or the emotions that come up when they have kids. The first time, the second time, like it's just not a topic that dads discuss very often. And so, yeah, feelings, exactly, feelings in general.

 

Rob Schutz (19:49.452)

Yeah, feelings in general.

 

Adam Fishman (19:53.947)

And so I'm curious to hear from you. What are some of the emotions that arose from you for you as kids came into your

 

Rob Schutz (20:05.272)

Yeah, I mean, I remember how exciting it was where you go into the hospital without kids and you leave and you're like a family. And that was an amazing feeling. I remember also almost getting pulled over on the way home because it turned down a long way street. But I feel like I had a good, I feel like I had a good excuse. It's like, we're a family.

 

Yeah, I mean, it was super exciting. And I think a lot of people go through the same thing where you're like really excited and then it kind of hits you. We're like, it's on now, right? It's like, there's the initial jolt of dopamine you get from welcoming a new family member. And then you're like, have to care for this child. And so I think there's that piece. then piece that I find, I probably talk more about this part with dads than like the emotional piece,

 

What I found really interesting and I didn't anticipate was just kind of like the dynamic change with you and your partner. Everyone goes through it, especially first kid, where it's like you think the difference is now we have a kid, but the difference is like you now both have different jobs and expectations and like you have to clearly communicate about those things and people are probably gonna get pissed off with each other a bit more. And then like, you know, your default is changing before you could like work out or take a nap

 

Adam Fishman (21:16.019)

Mm -hmm.

 

Rob Schutz (21:25.442)

you know, play a video game, and like, you don't have that type of time available anymore. So I thought that was a really interesting shift that I wasn't anticipating. was like, amazing having a kid. There's of course the work that goes along with it, the emotional joy and drain that comes along from like supporting a new human. But then there's also just like the partner piece, and adjusting to your new roles can take some time. And it just wasn't something I was thinking about. I don't know if you went through anything similar.

 

Adam Fishman (21:51.249)

Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (21:55.119)

for sure. I think we all do. Yeah, I have this sense now, even though my kids are older and a bit more independent, I always have this feeling if I'm doing something, like if I'm watching Netflix or I used to play video games a lot when I was younger, definitely don't do that now. If I would ever do that again, I'd always have this feeling of like, is there something else I should be doing right

 

my with my time. Right. And she's not wrong. Never, never wrong.

 

Rob Schutz (22:24.748)

Yeah, well there's something else that your wife thinks you should be doing. That's... She's not... Yeah, there's definitely that lingering guilt of like, I should be doing this stuff or I should be putting the lights up in kids' room or I should be fixing that bee's nest that's outside my house. But it's also that balance too where you have to have some time to breathe because if you don't, you know...

 

It's hard to sustain.

 

Adam Fishman (22:54.985)

Yeah. You know, I recently took out a wasps nest that was outside the house, you know, at like 20 paces with one of those sprays that they have. felt very accomplished in my.

 

Rob Schutz (23:07.894)

I have one, I mention that because I literally have one outside of my window and I called a guy this morning, but I told Jamie, I was like, maybe I can do that. She was like, call the guy. But you've given me hope. How did you do it? We don't have to go into it, but how did you use it?

 

Adam Fishman (23:15.177)

Yeah, call the guy. Well, it was a paper wasps nest and they have these sprays that you just, you can stand literally 20 feet away and you just nail the thing and it's just like, keep spraying. And so I did it and I'm like, no one else was around and I did it. And I think there were some pissed off wasps coming out of

 

but you spread and then you get out of there and a day goes by and then you can knock and then everything's dead and you can knock it down and you're good. And you're good. So yeah, this must exist for a bee's nest. So, you know, check it out. But also bees are very helpful. I don't know.

 

Rob Schutz (23:53.102)

That's pretty gratifying. That's like pretty, that's a dad move right there.

 

Huh, all right, well, I'll keep you updated. Right, no, you're actually in our town, you're not allowed to do that to honeybees. It's only for, I think, yellow jackets and wasps.

 

Adam Fishman (24:08.711)

Right, correct, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was definitely a wasp's nest and those guys needed to die a terrible death, so they did. All right, now back to parenting. Although destroying pests is a key element of fatherhood, so yeah. What are some of the more surprising things that you've discovered as a dad over the last, you know?

 

Rob Schutz (24:15.466)

Okay, yeah, yeah, you're fine. Don't worry. Good. I'm impressed.

 

Rob Schutz (24:29.976)

I've ruined

 

Adam Fishman (24:37.625)

nine and a half years.

 

Rob Schutz (24:41.486)

So many surprises. I think one of the surprising things that just came up the other day was how much kids remember. And like, just the smallest little things that are throwaway details, how much that can stick with them. Like, my daughter, we saw her at camp yesterday. She was at sleepaway camp for the first time. Seven weeks, yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, pretty different dynamic.

 

Adam Fishman (25:05.609)

fun.

 

Rob Schutz (25:11.31)

But before she left, you know, there was like a song that came on and she was like, I remember the song, like we listened to this, it was on at the ice cream store when we went bike riding. And I was like, what are you talking about? And then I realized that was like five years ago. I was like, she just remembers these like little, and same thing with my son. He's just like always observing things. He's better at like using things that he remembers against me, where he'll be like, you said this.

 

three years ago you said this thing and now you're doing something that is counter to that. And I'm like, it's old news, man. This doesn't make sense anymore. But they're just sponges. They're always listening, always observing, and kind of regurgitating information that you never know. They also do it, my son does this a lot, where we'll tell him a thousand times, put your plate in the sink and then you gotta put on your suntan lotion before camp or whatever. And then...

 

seeing him interact with other kids when we're not around, he'll be like, you have to put your plate in this thing. He's like, remember you have to put your suntan lotion on. We're like, it's interesting. He completely ignores us when we say it, but then he'll like internalize it and remember it and it to others.

 

Adam Fishman (26:21.797)

Yeah. It's part of his, part of his game. He knows. Yeah. Yeah. That they are. I remember one time I, I picked up a pan on the stove that had a metal handle. It was like a cast iron and it had been in the oven and I'd used a oven mitt to take it out and put it on the stove. And then I was distracted, whatever. And so I grabbed it and I ended up dropping it on the floor. Cause I was, I like burned my hand.

 

Rob Schutz (26:26.636)

I guess so. I guess so, yeah, but they're little

 

Rob Schutz (26:51.297)

my

 

Adam Fishman (26:51.645)

And my kids were, I mean, I was far, like, not serious. We weren't calling the fire department or anything. But my son remembered, he was really little, like two, three, something. He remembered that incident for years afterwards. He would be like, dad, do remember when you burned your hand on the pan on the stove? Remember when you hurt yourself with the pan? And I was like, yes, I do. But you remember it even more. So anyway, kids do, they remember

 

Rob Schutz (27:15.758)

Yes, I brought you. When I suddenly did that this morning, I was making him a pancake. I flipped the pancake, like a pretty good pancake flipper, no kidding. But he was like, remember that time you dropped the pancake? And I was like, dude, that was one time four years ago. I'm like 199 out of 200, but he always comes back to that one. It happens. Ugh.

 

Adam Fishman (27:25.478)

Okay,

 

Adam Fishman (27:36.201)

Yeah, he's gonna be a terrible boss. Remember that one thing you got wrong, employee? That's going to the TBR support. Speaking of boss and work and family, every dad talks about wanting to be more present with their kids, which is like, that's a theme that I would say is woven throughout this podcast series. What does being present look like?

 

Rob Schutz (27:44.098)

I'm gonna put it in the TPS report.

 

Adam Fishman (28:05.907)

for you and I'm especially curious because you your second kid was born as your startup row was being born and so yeah how did you how did you prioritize that or what does presence mean for

 

Rob Schutz (28:19.724)

Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna, I'll give you the raw answer here. I don't think that I'm the best example of always being present or I haven't always been throughout my career. I think especially early on with young kids commuting back and forth, New Jersey, starting a company, like, you know, there was days where kids would be asleep when I left and they'd be asleep when I got home and you wouldn't see them and that was not good. I think...

 

In my world now, I, and for context, I stepped back from Ro about two years ago. So I'm doing a variety of things. I'm doing consulting, I'm doing the nonprofit work. I also have a domain acquisition business called Snagged, which I'm sure, I'm sure you'll want to talk about later. yeah, yeah. Gotta get that SEO juice. But I have prioritized trying to actually physically be there more often for the kids. And I think I'm in a position now

 

Adam Fishman (29:04.753)

We're going to link to that in the show notes for sure, because it's so fun.

 

Rob Schutz (29:18.35)

I can do that. And so what does that mean? know, like I mentioned, my daughter's at summer camp right now, so I'm not like super present for her. I do write her a letter every day. But when my son comes home from camp, gets home at like 4 .30, we usually have like two hour play day. You know, we'll like go in the backyard, we'll throw a ball around. It entertains both of us. We'll go play video games. I just got a mega touch machine, like those photo hunt machines, if you remember. Yeah, it was my birthday.

 

Adam Fishman (29:44.966)

What? Wait, from a bar? Yes, where it was like, the match? Yes.

 

Rob Schutz (29:52.182)

Yeah, Jamie and I, when we started dating, we would go all over New York and we would just find these photo -hung machines. That was like our jam. And so recently I was like, I'm a grown man. I'm gonna spend some money and I'm gonna get one of these. And so every night we would go downstairs after the kids go to sleep, or actually, Ryan came down with us. We did it as a family. We just came back into it.

 

Adam Fishman (30:12.841)

Does it have to sit on a bar? Is it a requirement that it be on top of a bar? Someone has to be blowing smoke in your face or something like that.

 

Rob Schutz (30:16.526)

You do need to like be drinking and splash beer on it. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so we just have it set up down there, but we will play those games. We'll play board games or read. So I have kind of tried to prioritize now, like just spending a little bit more time. We were joking about it yesterday. He has these boxes. called, they're like these engineering boxes. They're called Crunch Labs. One of these every month, you got like a project to build whatever.

 

Adam Fishman (30:26.441)

That's amazing.

 

Rob Schutz (30:46.798)

And he loves them, but you have to sit and do them with him. And we were like, man, this is one of those boxes where you actually have to spend time with your children versus one of the ones where don't. But we're laughing because it's like, you know what? If you are able to do that, they're very entertained and it's quite a pleasant experience. But in the past, we've had like au pairs and babysitters and a lot of other folks that are kind of covering for us while we're working. And it's just harder to like really

 

Adam Fishman (30:56.169)

Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (31:16.18)

to get that quality time. So I feel like I'm cheating in the answer to your question that I don't think I great balance in presence before and now I'm probably like a little over indexed. One may say I have too much presence, but I think you kind of take it when you can get it.

 

Adam Fishman (31:33.073)

Yeah, I'm sure you'll hear about that presence when they're teenagers, right? They'll be like, you were good, dad. I'm gonna go do my crunch labs by myself.

 

Rob Schutz (31:38.38)

Yeah. Yeah, I don't need you. You're way too present. Yeah. he has said he's going to go next year, by the way. We're going to have our first potential summer four. yeah. you do?

 

Adam Fishman (31:44.753)

Okay, fine, you're both off to summer camp now, goodbye.

 

Okay

 

We just had that, but only for two weeks. Only for two weeks. Both of our kids went off to summer camp, sleepaway camp for a couple of weeks. We made the most of it. We went out of town for a few days. Actually, a couple of times went out of town for a few days. We went to LA, we went to Napa, we went out to dinner a few times. Like we just, you know, carefree, no.

 

Rob Schutz (32:12.206)

Where'd you go?

 

Rob Schutz (32:22.542)

That sounds great. That sounds great. I'm sure you wind up talking about your kids most of the time.

 

Adam Fishman (32:23.333)

No responsibility. Yeah, it was pretty awesome. We did. Yeah, yeah. And our daughter's actually back away at sleepaway camp, but a short one, like a four day sports camp. So she just got dropped off this morning. So yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (32:34.474)

that's cool. That's cool. It is funny when you get that alone time, you're like, finally, some alone time. like, what do you want to talk about? You're like, we should talk about the kids scheduled for the fall, you know? Like, is he going to do hip hop or not? You know, we can sign up by next

 

Adam Fishman (32:42.525)

The kids. Yep. Yeah. Never know. And the answer is yes, always gonna do the hip hop. All right. So if you could rewind the clock to the time right before you had your first kids, right before Jessica, Jessica was born, what advice would you give the younger version of

 

Rob Schutz (32:53.92)

I mean, both of the kids do hip hop dance.

 

Rob Schutz (33:06.68)

Jeff.

 

Rob Schutz (33:13.774)

Well one, you know, make sure you start finasteride early. It's easier to keep your hair than to grow it back. I think...

 

I think especially going into parenthood, and I feel like this comes up a lot when someone's having a second kid. My brother's about to second kid. I was talking about it yesterday where you don't know what you don't know when you're having your first kid and you really kind of are anxious about everything with the first child. You're like, what's going on? They're coughing or like they're not sleeping or like do I need the monitor? Like the heart rate monitor all the time. It's hard to accept this as advice, but you really...

 

just needs not sweat the small things and anticipate that vast majority of things are to face. And if you take a breath, you let it pass, it's going to be fine. It doesn't feel like that the first time through though. When you're having your second kid, you kind of know that. And I feel like the baby piece is a lot easier with a second kid. It's more of the older kid that's the challenge when you have your second. I'd also say

 

Adam Fishman (34:16.467)

Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (34:22.818)

We made so many good, we were in Greenpoint at time, we made so many good friends right after we had our first kid. Having a baby has a way of bringing people together in a way that you just wouldn't have those opportunities otherwise. So we made a really good group of friends that we still keep in touch with. But I wish we kept in touch better. think finding and identifying good people in your life and good relationships and maybe.

 

finding ways to invest in those, maybe that's a piece of advice. And then, you know, I think everyone knows that, like I said before, like your default is gonna change, right? Like you're not gonna have the same time you did, but allow yourself the flexibility to like evolve as a person. Like you are going to change, expectations around you are gonna change, work is gonna change, whatever. The good core pieces will still be there.

 

But you're going to become a different version as a parent than prior. If you're doing it okay, you're going to become a different version. And that's okay. And just kind of accepting that at a

 

Adam Fishman (35:31.273)

Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (35:36.387)

Awesome. What about, so did you get any advice from family, friends, other parents that you would tell yourself like, hey Rob, just completely ignore this advice. It's useless. Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (35:48.974)

Mmm, ignore all the advice. The whole like, get a lot of sleep beforehand, like bank it up. That doesn't work. I tried. I feel very tired.

 

Adam Fishman (36:00.05)

You tried in the delivery room, apparently.

 

Rob Schutz (36:02.902)

Yeah, I was, yeah, I guess not the theme, I'm just so tired. Let's see, if I say that for others, I thought was garbage, or turned out to be garbage.

 

You

 

Nothing sparking it for me. I think there's a lot of advice. I read a couple of these books. I still give people this one book that I like. They're gonna be a dad. But I think for me, the focus on your partner is a good one. just investing in that voice, you have whatever it is. I have a trainer and he comes over, he just had a baby, and I tell him, I was like, dude, just get your wife flowers on way home.

 

You will never go wrong being overly kind to your partner at that period in life. It may not actually make that much of a difference, but like little points here and there, I think those add up. And I think also if your partner is your wife, giving birth, whatever, like it's tough. That's a tough emotional hormonal moment for them as well. And so additional support, I'm sure, always appreciated.

 

Adam Fishman (36:52.125)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (37:09.809)

Yeah. What is the name of the book that you said you get, you get new dads that

 

Rob Schutz (37:16.606)

it's, it's startup debt. No. What is it? It's a, I have to. You should, based on all the things. It's called Be Prepared. It's pretty funny. It's like a funny illustrated book that doesn't take its health too seriously.

 

Adam Fishman (37:22.355)

Someday I'll write a book. Maybe.

 

Adam Fishman (37:28.503)

prepared.

 

Adam Fishman (37:35.785)

Cool, I'm gonna write that one down. We'll link to it. There are no affiliate links in the show notes, but you know, maybe I should, I don't know. I could get a whole dollar. Speaking of books, we get all the Amazon affiliate revenue. What is your favorite book to read to your kids?

 

Rob Schutz (37:39.596)

Yeah, yeah, gotta get that Amazon affiliate revenue.

 

Rob Schutz (37:48.366)

I mean, you can get a dollar. Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (38:05.07)

There's a book, it's a BJ Novak book. You probably know the book with no words. Yeah, it's good book. every time we read it, I'm like surprised, because I'm like, it's very simple. There's a book with no pictures, but it's just funny and they love it. And they're like, boo boo butt. There's like a hippo named boo boo butt. And they just laugh and they think it's so funny. It's actually kind of like heartening, I feel like, where it's like,

 

Adam Fishman (38:12.99)

We own this book, yes.

 

Rob Schutz (38:34.69)

You could just write something that is funny for that demo and they actually enjoy it. But both kids love that book still to this

 

Adam Fishman (38:42.653)

All right, BJ Novak, the book with no pictures. Okay, we'll link to that one too. I'm going to rack it up this episode. Have you developed any particular frameworks or guardrails for parenting?

 

Rob Schutz (38:46.562)

Sure. Sure enough.

 

Rob Schutz (38:58.99)

Another fine question, Adam, another fine question. You've done one or two of these. You know, as I mentioned before, we are not great at that game. We have tried. We have tried a couple different things. We have sticker charts for helping with chores. For a while, picking breakfast was a big challenge where we'd be trying to get them out the door and they wouldn't pick.

 

Adam Fishman (39:02.941)

I've done this before.

 

Rob Schutz (39:28.118)

screen read them, so we started doing like a chart of breakfast that they get to decide beforehand. We tried rewards for certain tasks. I bribed my daughter to learn from multiplication tables by getting her a Barbie. We've tried a bunch of different things, but honestly, we don't have a hard and fast system. We go back and forth over like, should be doing like, here's your chore list, and then you earn an allowance. And I've looked at green light and know, like cards and all of

 

I of have never really found something that has stuck. I'm curious, do you?

 

Adam Fishman (40:02.173)

You know, it's a good question. yeah, I think we're in the somewhat similar boat, which is like, I also think things work from moments in time, which I've found. Like tactics and tools and frameworks that work when your kid is six don't work anymore when your kid is six and a half. And so you're kind of constantly evolving. So I find

 

Rob Schutz (40:04.962)

Think I've done this before.

 

Rob Schutz (40:14.978)

Yes.

 

Rob Schutz (40:26.206)

Yes.

 

Adam Fishman (40:31.325)

there are moments for us in transition times, like, hey, it's the end of the summer and we're going back to school, or we're coming back from spring break or something, where we have to kind of put some things in place so that the kids are like, yeah, living in normal society requires doing these things again. But you

 

Rob Schutz (40:51.49)

Right, right, In times of transition, I think that's a good call, it requires a little bit extra

 

Adam Fishman (40:56.984)

Yeah.

 

But I think the other piece of it, and you hit on this with like, it's hard to stick with this stuff as parents. It takes a lot of time. Like if you want to do the sticker chart and enforce that and like do all the things, and you want to do that consistently for an extended period of time, like that's a lot of work as a parent. And if you already have two jobs and other things, just keeping your children alive and fed and things like that, like sometimes, you know, that falls by the wayside.

 

Rob Schutz (41:27.126)

Is there a business opportunity here? StickerChart .com and we just like create these different tours. I mean, not a good, not a good business I do, I do. It might not be a good business idea, but it's this idea. I would love to offload parenting to someone, to a startup, to a VC backed startup. yes. that's a good call. AI would be a

 

Adam Fishman (41:30.128)

The

 

Adam Fishman (41:33.469)

There might be, there might be. Do you know a guy who can buy domain names? Okay, okay. No, no, we'll try

 

Adam Fishman (41:47.849)

to an AI who just reminds your kids to do things. Yep. AI would be a great parent. There's a movie there somewhere. Yeah. So, okay. So I get it on the frameworks and things like that. I think this is related to my next question, which is, you know, one of the things that you've talked about is this idea that parents put a lot

 

Rob Schutz (42:00.234)

I think there is.

 

Adam Fishman (42:17.267)

pressure on themselves to have hard and fast rules and systems and things like that. And I think your approach with Jamie is let's not put as much pressure on ourselves. And so, how have you come to that conclusion or sort of how have you found that balance of like, we can't be completely laissez -faire parents, but also we can't be so, know, helicoptery and rule -based that

 

Rob Schutz (42:45.688)

Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think honest answers to work in progress, right? Like, think most people, if they're being honest, will tell you they're trying to figure it out as they go. I think one thing we try to do is just be complimentary as partners. Like if somebody doesn't fucking have it that day, other person picks it up. You know, it's like, we also try hard.

 

Adam Fishman (42:46.353)

It feels like a police state in our house.

 

Rob Schutz (43:14.036)

not always, but to not criticize each other on the parenting side, that is just a losing effort all the way around. Even if you're right or they're right or whatever, because parenting is hard and it is stressful and there's history and you're just trying to kind of keep it together and keep things calm. So we try to be complimentary in that way and if somebody needs help to kind of dip in.

 

Adam Fishman (43:18.355)

It is.

 

Rob Schutz (43:42.75)

this morning, for example, for whatever reason, I'm great at waking up my son usually. He was not having it. And he was like screaming at me and I hate you and all this, I don't know where this is coming from. I don't know. I wake up in all these random places. I think I was here. But Jamie kind of swooped in. She got him ready. I worked on breakfast. It fine. You just try and avoid having things escalate too much.

 

Adam Fishman (43:54.685)

Were you sure you weren't in my household?

 

Rob Schutz (44:11.5)

And then, yeah, I think it's really just that balance of trying to make sure you're setting a good example, you're not getting to the point where you're screaming at the kids. And we've gone through the like, there's the online classes on, know, what is it like, big feelings, you know, there's one called big feelings, where it's talking about what they're going through and asking them questions and prompting them and like, you try to do those things, but then in practicality, it's

 

Adam Fishman (44:30.696)

Mm -hmm.

 

Rob Schutz (44:40.898)

Just eat the goddamn green beans, you know? You try and balance doing the things you feel like you should or doing in a way you know you should with also getting them done in a timely manner, but not blowing a gasket at the

 

Adam Fishman (44:56.903)

Yep, makes total sense. Eat the green beans. Actually, know, our kids love green beans and broccoli. This is really, this is strange. Cause I didn't, I didn't like vegetables growing up, but it's probably because I grew up in the Midwest where the vegetables were served in a steamed microwave bag. As opposed to like cut in the yard lovingly from like a stock of green beans. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (44:59.114)

Eat the goddamn green beans out.

 

Rob Schutz (45:07.362)

That's good, that's a good one.

 

Rob Schutz (45:17.239)

And not

 

Rob Schutz (45:22.796)

That's right, children love things from a bag.

 

Adam Fishman (45:26.397)

They do. So how has your parenting evolved from child to child? have you also noticed that that's changed how you lead companies like your experience at Roe or other businesses that you've worked on? that changed? those two things related?

 

Rob Schutz (45:49.112)

It's interesting, I think everyone who manages people will tell you that there are overlaps and similarities. You're not exactly clear where the lines are between those two, but there's certainly similarities where it's like, hey, you need to be clear and you need to be consistent in your acts, right? And like sometimes without notice, an employee or a kid will just go to the bathroom. You need to be prepared for anything.

 

Adam Fishman (46:16.233)

Yep.

 

Rob Schutz (46:17.41)

But I think in terms of evolution, like as I mentioned, I think that first kid, at least for us, you're really nervous. What's this rash? Why they breathing like that? my God, they're, you know, they threw up. Everything kind of feels like it could be a huge deal. Into second kid where you like mostly are like, eh, they're fine. And it got to be your third kid, you're like, what's their name again? But I think from a parenting style, like, first of all, I will say having

 

Adam Fishman (46:39.527)

Yeah, that's right.

 

Rob Schutz (46:47.052)

this summer without our oldest, such a different world. Like we've never really spent this much alone one -on -one time with our youngest son because you never got the opportunity, right? So that's one been very, it's been great to kind of get to know him in a way outside of how he acts with his sister because when they're together it is a very different dynamic. So I think that that's just been generally positive and helpful. But I think the difference between parenting, I think like,

 

very different when it's the two of them together and getting them to kind of listen to you as a group versus one -on -one. One -on -one much easier. And I think, you know, we're certainly a little more relaxed with a second in terms of like rules that were maybe hard and fast for Jessica about how old she had to be to get, we got her an iPod because she wants to listen to calm. That was like sleep stories. So then Ryan got an iPad and she's like, well.

 

Adam Fishman (47:40.925)

Mm -hmm.

 

Rob Schutz (47:46.048)

I didn't get one till I was eight and he's getting one when he's six. And we're like, it's fine. It doesn't really matter, but it doesn't feel that way to them. It feels like it's so unfair and how could we have done this? And so, you know, it's the same thing where they both kind of want what the other one's having and they feel like it's unfair. But I think we've gotten a little more relaxed, I would say, as we've had more kids in terms of maybe hard and fast rules.

 

Adam Fishman (47:47.688)

right.

 

Adam Fishman (47:53.021)

Yeah. Yep.

 

Rob Schutz (48:14.542)

not relaxed in terms of anxiety, so it's obviously through the roof. But I think it's natural too, where they kind of wear you down. And I was the same way. I remember my brother didn't get to drive to school. That was just a thing. My parents didn't want him driving to school. And then when I was 16 in Virginia, I was like, I would like to drive to school. And they were like, yeah, it's fine. It's just so much easier. It's just so much easier. And he's like, what the fuck?

 

Adam Fishman (48:22.095)

Yep. Yep.

 

Adam Fishman (48:37.766)

It's tough, here you go. Here you go,

 

Rob Schutz (48:43.128)

This is not fair, you're just kinda like, again, I think it just comes back to being tired. They're like, we're tired.

 

Adam Fishman (48:47.879)

Yeah, yeah. So then your brother just went in his room and pounded on the percussion instruments for a while. And then look, look at where that's gotten him, you

 

Rob Schutz (48:52.237)

That's

 

I don't know if that was meant as a euphemism or as a real percussive descriptor, but it works either way.

 

Adam Fishman (49:02.409)

Yep, there you go. So I wanna talk about partnership for a second, which we have established is very important when you have kids, that communication, you've brought up a lot of that. But it is also hard to agree 100 % of the time with your spouse. What is an area or what's something that you and Jamie don't agree on when it comes to

 

Rob Schutz (49:12.203)

and

 

Rob Schutz (49:20.993)

Rob Schutz (49:29.326)

you know, I think that we have a slight difference of, I think it's somewhat how we were brought up, but think I was like, Jamie is more encouraging with the kids to kind of tell them, tell them everything, things that maybe aren't great that they did that was bad and does it in less of like a judgmental way, which now that I'm saying it out loud, probably much more of a grown up way to do it.

 

Adam Fishman (49:58.289)

She is a therapist, recall. So, you know, she has some reps.

 

Rob Schutz (49:59.554)

She is a therapist. I'm more like, why did you do that? Like, why did you hit that kid? Like, that doesn't make any sense. Don't hit the kid. And she's like, well, first of all, just tell us what happened. And her point is like, I want the kids to be comfortable telling us everything. And even if it's a bad thing, I want them comfortable telling us because there will be more bad things that happen. And I want them to think that they can't talk to

 

which I totally think makes sense. I think where, I wouldn't say it's a disagreement, I think where we have slightly different implementations of that is I also want to focus on not doing a bad thing anymore because it's bad. And I feel like they need to be told and understand they shouldn't do those things anymore either. Don't hit the kit.

 

Adam Fishman (50:48.089)

Yep, Yeah, don't do it. Don't put the dog's foot in your mouth or what. Right, yeah, who knows whose dog that is? Yeah, yeah. My favorite is when the kids come to you and they're like, okay, dad, I'm gonna tell you something, but don't get mad. And I'm like, well, I reserve the right.

 

Rob Schutz (50:54.03)

especially because we don't even have a So, whose dog's foot is that? It's one thing if it's your dog.

 

Adam Fishman (51:14.365)

to get mad, but I will do my best not to. But then they tell you and it's fine usually. It's like I spilled some milk, but then I cleaned it up and I'm like, great, I'm happy about this. Yeah, that's right. Don't ever spill and don't ever clean it up. Okay, a couple tougher, one tougher concept is, I wanna talk about technology and the relationship that you want your kids to have with it.

 

Rob Schutz (51:14.369)

and

 

Rob Schutz (51:20.022)

It's usually pretty.

 

Rob Schutz (51:25.944)

You're grounded forever. Those are special milk.

 

Adam Fishman (51:44.199)

Your entire career is steeped in technology. We've learned a lot more about it as we've become adults. What's the relationship that you want your kids to have with technology as they get older?

 

Rob Schutz (51:49.602)

Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (52:01.538)

Yeah, this is one, and I know I told you before we were doing the interview, but obviously talked about a lot of this with Jamie. And this is one we actually spend a fair amount of time talking about, because it's pretty important. Technology, and the way that we delineated it is almost like technology versus social media. And I think technology in general is great. There's a lot of good things. They can listen to their Alexa in their room.

 

Adam Fishman (52:19.94)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

 

Rob Schutz (52:30.722)

FaceTime with grandparents, it's amazing. I think for us where we don't have a, believe it or not, we don't have a hard and fast framework set aside, but where we are more concerned is just the unbridled access to social media and Snapchat and TikTok. And Jamie's a therapist, she mostly sees adolescents, teenagers, college kids, et cetera. And so I've heard a lot

 

just secondhand about the negative impacts of social, right? It's like, one, there's a lot of body issues. Everyone looks perfect, know, everyone is happy. There's mental health and like, why is everyone happy? I don't feel happy all the time. Am I so abnormal? Like there's being left out of stuff, you know, where you see friends that are posting about things, et cetera. And so, you know, there's this...

 

I'm not sure if we're officially signing up for yet, but we were looking at this pledge, it's called the wait until eighth pledge, I don't know, yeah, I know, would love to hear your experience with it, but the concept was just delaying access to smartphones or social until after eighth grade, if a certain number of other families in the grade at the school are also on board, so it's not just you. But I worry about that, honestly. think it wasn't meant

 

Adam Fishman (53:33.735)

Yeah, I'm familiar. Yeah.

 

Rob Schutz (53:55.81)

I don't think anyone planned this out, you know, social in a way where they're like, this is how it will impact kids. We're going to put safeguards in place. Like the incentives aren't really there for that to be done properly. And so we just want to be really cautious about introducing the kids to that. And we don't want them to be left out of stuff. We don't want them to be left on the sidelines and feel like because they don't have access to Snapchat, now they can't be with their friends. We're going to have to find a good balance to.

 

being able to access some of this technology, also being like, I think one of our more important jobs as parents is not just like throwing them into the deep end on this stuff and letting them figure.

 

Adam Fishman (54:33.041)

Right, right. Yeah, I wouldn't say we haven't figured out either. I do think that delaying is better. I think that there are ways that you can ease kids into being connected without giving them full access to the town square, for example. Well, our kids are not quite old enough for social media. Our daughter has an Apple Watch.

 

Rob Schutz (54:50.614)

Yeah. What do you guys do?

 

Adam Fishman (54:59.561)

which we found very valuable. She can pay for things with it. We can call her in a pinch and communicate. But that's kind of all that they really need for a while. And so we're going to definitely postpone the smartphone. You know, I've read about maybe it's a good idea to postpone it until kind of like puberty happens because of all the developments and stuff that happened in

 

Rob Schutz (55:04.728)

Yeah, you know where she is. Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (55:27.795)

phase of life but but certainly waiting eighth grade maybe maybe a little bit older even than that i don't know but it is a collective action problem it's challenging because once one kid has it and they are the some of them already do

 

Rob Schutz (55:38.786)

Yeah. Yeah. And you're not going to be able to keep everybody from having it. it is this like, yeah, tough, tough balance to figure out. And honestly, you know, I actually know there's a couple of companies that are starting to explore this space as well. I think it's a fascinating space because it's like a real, it's like a real problem and no one really knows what the answer is. And you can't control many of the factors that are involved with it. So you'd be curious, but I agree with you. think it's like

 

Adam Fishman (55:43.897)

Exactly. Exactly.

 

But

 

Rob Schutz (56:07.554)

Let's kick that can as far down the road as we can and we'll see how they come out on the other side.

 

Adam Fishman (56:09.001)

Exactly.

 

Yeah. So we're getting close to our time and I do want to get into our rapid fire round, our lightning round. So I wanted to end with what's a mistake that you think you've made as a

 

Rob Schutz (56:20.597)

That's what the people are here

 

Rob Schutz (56:31.502)

How much time do we have left?

 

Rob Schutz (56:35.679)

I don't know.

 

I think the mistakes that I think about

 

I I think there's like cute incident mistakes and I think more broadly, like something that I challenge with, I'm sure other people challenge with, but like I'm just inconsistent. I'm inconsistent, especially when it comes to discipline, where it's like, you don't do this thing, you're not getting dessert. You know? And then they don't do the thing or they don't or they drag their feet and they clearly are not abiding by what they should do. And then you wind up giving in.

 

Like I do that way more often than I am proud of because it's easier and like there's just less conflict. I don't think that teaches great lessons. but I wish I, I wish I was more consistent with that

 

Adam Fishman (57:30.119)

Yeah, yeah, consistency. All right, I like that. That's a good one to end on. Good lesson too.

 

Rob Schutz (57:37.034)

I'm going to go to lessons here. hope people are writing it down.

 

Adam Fishman (57:40.393)

I mean, I've taken extensive notes, so yeah. yes, yes. We'll do, we'll do. I'll send this to Darius afterwards, who has been an early guest of the show. That's right. How can people follow along or be helpful to you and your journey?

 

Rob Schutz (57:41.96)

yeah, well, author .ai also might take

 

Link your affiliate link. Yep. the riotness.

 

Rob Schutz (58:02.958)

Who had the GoFundMe? No. You can always just follow, I'm just Ed Robb on Twitter. You can always grab me there. Or email me hi at robb .com. Always available there. Or check out snag .com, the domain acquisition website. Those are probably the best ways to hunt me down.

 

Adam Fishman (58:25.541)

Okay. I didn't know that you were at Rob on Twitter. That is impressive and a testament to snagged

 

Rob Schutz (58:33.046)

I mean, yeah, I mean, feel like it's important. It's important for the best, you know, it's good. Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (58:37.929)

Yeah, you gotta walk the walk. So, all right, well, are you ready for rapid

 

Rob Schutz (58:44.97)

I'm sure. Let's do it

 

Adam Fishman (58:46.825)

All right, here we go. Here are the rules. I ask you a question, you say the first thing that comes to mind, and then we move on. Judgment -free zone. It's very dangerous. All right, here we go. What is the most indispensable parenting product that you have ever purchased?

 

Rob Schutz (58:55.15)

This is dangerous.

 

Rob Schutz (59:03.726)

Mmmmm

 

Adam Fishman (59:05.863)

What is the most useless parenting product that you've ever purchased?

 

Rob Schutz (59:16.398)

Let's say cloth diapers.

 

Adam Fishman (59:20.713)

Waf diapers. I'd say you have a lot of stronger agreement there. Which is the crazier block of time in your house? 6 a to 8 a or 6 p to 8 p

 

Rob Schutz (59:32.078)

6 p to 8 p Kids are good

 

Adam Fishman (59:34.481)

Okay good. Do your kids own their own domain names? Okay.

 

Rob Schutz (59:38.636)

Absolutely. Both are first names and both have wanted to build businesses, so we've got them their own domain names.

 

Adam Fishman (59:45.499)

Excellent, also a testament to Snagged. Finish this sentence. The ideal day with one of my kids involves this one activity. Okay, which one of your kids is your favorite? The appropriate answer to that is my wife. What is the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to you as a

 

Rob Schutz (59:47.928)

Thanks.

 

Rob Schutz (59:55.64)

taking a

 

Rob Schutz (59:59.928)

Pass. What kind of podcast is this?

 

Rob Schutz (01:00:14.158)

One time my daughter was at a birthday party on one of those gymnastics birthday parties and she ran up a thing. She was at the very top and you had to slide down a pole to get to the bottom and she just freaked out. She wouldn't come down. And the people that worked there were like, for liability reasons, we can't get your child. And it was like, so I have to go up there? How do I get up there? They're like, you have to run up the ramp like the children did. So in front of all these parents,

 

I had to take my jacket off and my shoes and had to run up the ramp and grab and pull myself up and then hold her and slide down the pole like a fire

 

Adam Fishman (01:00:54.781)

Yep, I have a similar story. Maybe I'll tell it someday to myself. What is your go -to dad

 

Rob Schutz (01:00:58.286)

what a tease. Come back, listener.

 

Rob Schutz (01:01:05.742)

T -shirts from 1999 and very inappropriately short gym shorts.

 

Adam Fishman (01:01:13.321)

How many parenting books do you have in your house?

 

Rob Schutz (01:01:18.306)

Five.

 

Adam Fishman (01:01:19.081)

How many parenting books have you read cover to cover?

 

Rob Schutz (01:01:23.022)

Zero.

 

Adam Fishman (01:01:24.101)

Excellent. We're batting a thousand on this answer on Startup Dad. What is a favorite age is for your kids?

 

Rob Schutz (01:01:31.918)

That's tough. There's so many good ages. I'm gonna say like 18 months. Right after they kind of start to give you feedback and be a human and right before they become just emotional.

 

Adam Fishman (01:01:50.215)

Yeah, least favorite age.

 

Rob Schutz (01:01:58.764)

No least favorite age.

 

Adam Fishman (01:02:00.049)

Okay, okay. How many dad jokes do you tell on average each day? Just a million. What was the most embarrassing thing that you've ever done in front of one of your kids?

 

Rob Schutz (01:02:04.834)

Yes.

 

Rob Schutz (01:02:08.974)

Yes.

 

Rob Schutz (01:02:17.582)

One time, I forget where it was, maybe it for camp or drop off or something, music started playing and I just went ham, really uncomfortable dancing, thinking I was being funny. My daughter was like, daddy, never do that again. Yeah, I thought it was actually pretty good, but she disagreed. I mean, it felt good, it felt good.

 

Adam Fishman (01:02:27.497)

Yeah.

 

Adam Fishman (01:02:31.771)

mortified.

 

Adam Fishman (01:02:35.785)

I'm sure it was, I'm sure it was. Have you ever secretly thrown away a piece of your kid's artwork?

 

Rob Schutz (01:02:42.636)

not even secret, they see it in the trash. And they're like, why did you throw that out? And we're like, we have so much, so much garbage.

 

Adam Fishman (01:02:50.223)

What is the most absurd thing that one of your kids has ever asked you to buy for

 

Rob Schutz (01:02:57.004)

My son yesterday asked me to buy him a Tesla. He's seven years old. No, no

 

Adam Fishman (01:03:00.819)

Sure. Yeah. No. What is the most difficult kids TV show that you have ever had to sit

 

Rob Schutz (01:03:14.904)

This is nuanced because I love the show. We all love Is It Cake? Great show. The difficult part was my son can sometimes be very emotionally captured by things that are going on and he cried. He was crying because somebody got kicked off and he was very sad about it. And we were all having fun and then very sad because he said that they were no longer in the cake. I mean, cuts deep.

 

Adam Fishman (01:03:32.2)

no.

 

Adam Fishman (01:03:36.993)

poor Ryan, poor Ryan. It does, literally, yes. What is your favorite kids movie?

 

Rob Schutz (01:03:53.742)

We just rewatched Mighty Ducks 1, and the kids are big fans of Mighty Ducks franchise.

 

Adam Fishman (01:04:00.947)

Great film. As a hockey player, I'm a big fan. Yep, the knuckle pocket's a good one. What is the worst experience that you've ever had assembling a kid's toy or a piece of furniture?

 

Rob Schutz (01:04:03.895)

Napa Pag.

 

Rob Schutz (01:04:18.254)

There's a lot there. mean, some of these toys are so complicated. I had this one princess canopy toy that there was like, it comes in the box and there's 500 bars. There's like 500 bars and a canopy. And I was in the basement trying to put these things together for like two hours. We had company over, it was somebody's birthday. And then I came up and people were like, is it done? And it was not done. It was nowhere close to done. And it was a

 

Adam Fishman (01:04:48.457)

So how long can a piece of food sit on the floor and you will still eat

 

Rob Schutz (01:04:54.67)

I would say depends on the food and the deliciousness factor, but I think like two minutes probably about

 

Adam Fishman (01:05:02.141)

Okay, cool. What a nostalgic movie can you just not wait to force your kids to

 

Rob Schutz (01:05:10.344)

I'm waiting for Goonies, because Goonies is one of my favorite movies, but we're not quite there yet. I think the sloth and chunk part might be a little bit too much.

 

Adam Fishman (01:05:12.635)

great film.

 

Adam Fishman (01:05:21.429)

and probably the low -key racism, it hasn't aged well.

 

Rob Schutz (01:05:23.97)

I don't think they'll pick up on that. I don't think. I'm not scared of that part, but we'll

 

Adam Fishman (01:05:29.697)

Our kids have watched Goonies and they loved it. How often do you tell your kids back in my day stories? Okay.

 

Rob Schutz (01:05:32.15)

It's fine film, fine film.

 

Rob Schutz (01:05:38.582)

all the time. I was wearing a Blockbuster t -shirt yesterday and I had to explain to Ryan, it was very sobering because I was like, it's not that long ago that you'd have to go and rent a movie, but this concept just blew his mind that you had to go to a physical place to

 

Adam Fishman (01:05:52.854)

yeah,

 

And finally, you only have two kids, but you do live in New Jersey. What is your take on minivans?

 

Rob Schutz (01:06:04.43)

Eh, nah. I think there's enough like SUV crossovers now where you can get away with it. When we were growing up though, that was not really a thing. You basically had to get a minivan. I think now you can kind of like, you can cheat.

 

Adam Fishman (01:06:06.469)

No, that's a

 

Adam Fishman (01:06:20.603)

Okay, well on that note, Rob, it has been a pleasure having you with me on Startup Dad. This was a fantastic conversation. Thanks for taking the time.

 

Rob Schutz (01:06:27.928)

Thank you for having me. This was great. I appreciate that. I appreciate having me on.