#193: Ryan Schreiber (Streamline) — The One-Stop Streaming Guide

Ryan Schreiber [00:00:00]:
We think that creating a one stop shop for all of your sports shows and movies and where to watch them is part of what's compelling relative to what is out there and part of the underlying problem and promise, you know, we're trying to make to our customer that we're solving, and that these aren't disparate, you know, issues. Right? What you're gonna watch is more compelling than where you're gonna watch it, but you need to know where you're gonna watch what you're gonna watch. And so it's like these problems kinda have to be solved together to be impactful. Right?

Jeffrey Stern [00:00:34]:
Let's discover what people are building in the Greater Cleveland community. We are telling the stories of Northeast Ohio's entrepreneurs, builders, and those supporting them. Welcome to the Lay of the Land podcast, where we are exploring what people are building in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio. I am your host, Jeffrey Stern. And today, I had the real pleasure of speaking with Ryan Schreiber. Ryan is a long time Clevelander and major supporter and lover of the city, as well as the founder and CEO of Streamline, an innovative mobile platform that's tackling one of the streaming industry's most pressing challenges, helping users navigate the increasingly fragmented world of content and entertainment, from sports, shows, and movies across what now amounts to over 200 streaming platforms. With over 1,600,000 in funding raised since founding the company earlier in 2024, Ryan is on a mission to transform how we discover and share content. Before launching Streamline, Ryan played a pivotal role in building Vertical Knowledge, another Cleveland based company which recently was acquired by Babble Street, a leading identity intelligence and risk operations organization.

Jeffrey Stern [00:01:48]:
Beyond entrepreneurship, Ryan was an investment banker with KeyBank Capital Markets here in Cleveland after graduating with honors from Middlebury College in 2013. He is a board trustee at University School and captain of Spin4Stew, a cycling initiative that's raised nearly $1,000,000 for cancer research. In our conversation today, we will explore Ryan's journey from finance to tech entrepreneurship, overcoming the fear of failure, exploring the problems Streamline is solving in the streaming landscape, and unpack how the proverbial Cleveland ship on Ryan's shoulder has shaped his approach to building a consumer technology company. So with that, please enjoy this awesome conversation with Ryan after a brief message from our sponsor. Lay of the Land is brought to you by John Carroll University's Boulder College of Business, widely recognized as one the top business schools in the region. As we've heard time and time again from entrepreneurs here on Lay of the Land, many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University, success in this ever changing world of business requires a dynamic and innovative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technologies and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen, all qualities nurtured through the Buhler College of Business. With 4 different MBA programs of study spanning professional, online, hybrid, and 1 year flexible, the Bowler College of Business provides flexible timelines and various class structures for each MBA track including online, in person, hybrid, and asynchronous. All to offer the most effective options for you, including the ability to participate in an elective international study tour providing unparalleled opportunities to expand your global business knowledge by networking with local companies overseas and experiencing a new culture.

Jeffrey Stern [00:03:36]:
The career impact of a bowler MBA is formative and will help prepare you for this future of business and get more out of your career. To learn more about John Carroll University's bowler MBA programs, please go to business dotjcu.edu. The Buller College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a college of business can have. So it was about a year ago, I think, when we first connected. And as we were, you know, mentioning before we we turned on the mic here, originally through the the podcast itself almost and and Caleb Dumont, who I believe shared his story on, episode 151. And around then, you had made concrete something that I was genuinely hoping would be a long term, you know, consequence, of this podcast and the community building work that I feel I'm genuinely passionate about. And it's really around the importance and the impact of having a more connected community in Cleveland. And so I I wanted to start by thanking you for making it, you know, clear how this kind of work can begin to take root, begin to take a life of its own, and create, you know, all these real positive developments that that I wasn't even aware of.

Jeffrey Stern [00:04:57]:
Yeah. That would be as good of a place to start as any.

Ryan Schreiber [00:05:00]:
Yeah. No. That's awesome, Jeff. Well, first of all, on my end, I just wanna thank you obviously for having me today. I'm really excited to be here. As you know, I'm a big fan of yours and the podcast, but it's it's also, like, to me, been one of my real highlights of the past year in navigating kind of the Cleveland startup community. I think, you know, what you've built is resourceful and useful in and of itself, but the events and the community component are what makes it really special. So I'm grateful to be a part of part of that community.

Jeffrey Stern [00:05:31]:
Awesome. So with that, I you know, again, a a bunch of different places we we could start the exploration of of your story and journey. But like the podcast, thought Cleveland would be as good of a place as any to do that, knowing it's a factor with huge influence in the work you're doing, have done now with Streamline, you know, prior in your professional career, really at the heart of of how we got connected in the first place. But, you know, tell us about your your Cleveland journey.

Ryan Schreiber [00:06:04]:
Yeah. No. So, I mean, I'm a lifelong Clevelander outside of my my 4 years away from here for college. I've I've lived here my whole life. My family goes way back here. You know, I'm I'm lucky to have kinda great roots and friends here. And kind of the past 9 years, you know, my job took me elsewhere, you know, more often than than I'd like. And and and this job is already taking me elsewhere, and I know we'll continue to do so.

Ryan Schreiber [00:06:29]:
But in kind of making the pivot to to start, you know, streamline, you know, I really wanted to lean into the Cleveland start up community and build new connections here, really build an investor group here, a team here, a culture here here, and really just delve into everything Cleveland has to offer. And I think that's been you know, even though we haven't really proved anything as a business yet, that's that's been rewarding from the start to kinda take that approach.

Jeffrey Stern [00:06:57]:
And where do you find your entrepreneurial inclination comes from?

Ryan Schreiber [00:07:03]:
Yeah. So it definitely was there kinda day 1. You know, my dad was an entrepreneur, so so it was that that seed was definitely planted. You know, I worked at at a really big company, KeyBank, right out of school, and then I I I quickly kinda realized that I wanted to be in an entrepreneurial environment and, you know, had the opportunity to go work at Vertical Knowledge and with Matt Carpenter, who I really view as, like, my kinda entrepreneurial, you know, mentor, the person I've worked for the last 9 years that's that's been very supportive of of this new journey for me. And so I I've been lucky that I was just surrounded by great entrepreneurs and kind of found myself with a problem that I found compelling enough now to to go solve that I wanted to make that that jump.

Jeffrey Stern [00:07:52]:
And we'll we'll certainly unpack what that that problem is. But I I'd love to if you'll indulge me on a a brief detour.

Ryan Schreiber [00:08:00]:
Sure.

Jeffrey Stern [00:08:01]:
Just for for those who don't know, you know, the vertical knowledge story a a bit. It's been, you know, one of these under the radar, but, you know, I think real Cleveland successes in the startup world. And so, you know, just 9 years is a long time. You know, share a bit about that journey and and how it set the stage for, you know, you ultimately to embark on your own entrepreneurial journey.

Ryan Schreiber [00:08:25]:
Yeah. So like I said, I was lucky enough, you know, to go work for Matt Carpenter in vertical knowledge and be part of really a great company and an incredible culture and work with people that that, you know, wanted to solve our clients' problems and really lived and breathed that. You know, VK was really on the tip of the spear from kind of the big data in the big data revolution collecting public data at scale and and serving public sector customers. And then I ended up working closely with our financial services customers as as we grew that business, you know, with a great team. And so VK was a very entrepreneurial environment. We were really, like I said, focused on solving our our customers' problems versus, you know, going and building things we wanted to build, which I think was kinda core to who we were, you know, built great relationships with those customers. And it was a great outcome too. Right? The business, you know, raised money multiple times from institutional investors, was able to exit at a at a decent number, and, you know, people people were able to do well.

Ryan Schreiber [00:09:28]:
So it was it was a really, great journey, great people more than anything. Community, you know, was definitely core there and and and really just learned so much from Matt Carpenter and the team there. So I was fortunate to spend almost the last decade of my life there and was also able to, like, become a person you know, become an adult there. I went there when I was 24 and, you know, was still live downtown. And in in the time I worked there, I met my wife and had kids and and bought a house and all that good stuff. So it was a a place that kinda gave me the space to grow as a person too, which I think is sometimes hard. So it's a really special place.

Jeffrey Stern [00:10:05]:
So coming out of it, I imagine, you know, you have your greenfield, you know, set of diverse options. You know? Why opt to go back and, start a company?

Ryan Schreiber [00:10:17]:
Yeah. So it's funny. So I I mean, the the problem was compelling, but it was about a year ago. I was traveling still at BK with my boss, and we were at dinner and kinda talking about life and career. We it's pretty deep conversation. But I kinda, you know, made the comment at that dinner, like, yeah. I don't really wanna go get another job, you know, if if I'm going to ever make a change. And I think that my decision to go to BK in the first place was really tied to that, leaving, like, a investment banking job to go work in an entrepreneurial tech company.

Ryan Schreiber [00:10:53]:
I think with kind of my roots, you know, whether it was fully conscious or or a little bit subconscious at the time, you know, that decision kinda laid the groundwork, and I was able to kinda touch all parts of that business over the years. And then, you know, I I think once the problem that I discovered became compelling enough and it became in the business model became compelling enough to me is where I really was like, okay. Let's start to figure out how we get this built and start to validate this a little further, if that makes sense.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:26]:
Sure. I mean, sometimes the path to entrepreneurship is one of not wanting to find a job. So

Ryan Schreiber [00:11:33]:
Yeah. There's there's no doubt about that.

Jeffrey Stern [00:11:36]:
So tell us about the idea. You know, what what was, what was this this problem that was eating at you that inspired, you know, going out and starting a whole company to solve it?

Ryan Schreiber [00:11:46]:
Yeah. So it's actually more like 2 years ago that I I was sitting on my couch one night trying to figure out what to watch. I was just like, this has become so frustrating that I'll spend 20 minutes scrolling on Netflix, don't even end up always finding something to watch, and I it's one of 6 apps that I pay for. So I'm like, okay. This is this is annoying. Are there solutions out there that that solve this problem? Is there, like, an app that the the way that idea really first hit me was, like, I wish all of the shows I love and sports teams that I follow were all just on my calendar when when there's new shows out and when there's, you know, game on with a link to where to watch. That was kinda like the idea. I was just like, oh, that'd be really nice.

Ryan Schreiber [00:12:31]:
Wasn't even thinking of it of a business, You know, start to look for apps and, like, there's some content discovery apps and stuff that gives you, you know, notification on when your shows are back. But what I found was what was out there really had missed servicing the sports fan and hadn't really built, you know, a social environment the way, like, Goodreads has for books or many way ways Spotify is doing for music. So I'm like, you know, ultimately, people just wanna know what their friends are watching. And that's what I kept hearing from people as I talk to people. It's like, think about your dinner and the conversation is, what are you guys watching right now? And maybe you make a note in your phone and then you have to Google where to watch it, but there's kinda it's kinda this frustrating thing. Sometimes you don't even remember what people told you, and you certainly don't remember where to watch it. Right? So I like, Jeff, do you have that experience as a consumer?

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:20]:
Yeah. There's a lot to keep track of. That that is for sure.

Ryan Schreiber [00:13:23]:
It it right. So it's it's this kind of frustrating discovery problem, management problem, social problem. And so I'm kinda looking at at what's out there. I'm like, there's nothing really there. I I actually watched this documentary about the founding of Spotify called the playlist that's on Netflix. You can find that in streamline our app. But,

Jeffrey Stern [00:13:43]:
it

Ryan Schreiber [00:13:43]:
and that kinda was like, oh, there are so many more barriers in that industry to try, you know, to try and aggregate music versus versus streaming content, right, versus streaming video content, like, I kinda had in mind. And so kinda from from there, from talking to people, looking what was out there, I was like, alright. There's something really here. Now that wasn't quite where where I was like, okay. There's a business model, and I'm gonna start spending money to get it developed. So there were definitely some additional there's some additional time and layers before we got there.

Jeffrey Stern [00:14:15]:
But people, you know, it is a problem that was not unique to yourself.

Ryan Schreiber [00:14:19]:
No. Right. It's a it's a pretty wide addressable market problem that we're trying to solve.

Jeffrey Stern [00:14:25]:
Right. So how did you go about, you know, trying to understand and validate knowing that it's a problem, it's something that people experience? I mean, I I can personally attest. You know?

Ryan Schreiber [00:14:37]:
I I

Jeffrey Stern [00:14:37]:
have experienced that problem. But what what's kind of the moment that led you to believe that there is an opportunity to try and solve it from a business standpoint?

Ryan Schreiber [00:14:48]:
Yeah. I don't think it was one thing from a business standpoint. I think it was more like a series of things and conversations. And I'd say that some of those things some of those, you know, things I quickly started to come up with from a business model perspective or talk to people about, it was kinda like, okay. Maybe something's there. And then I just kinda found that I was getting deeper in the conversations with more strategic industry focus people were getting longer. Right? And so I was like, okay. Maybe we are onto something.

Ryan Schreiber [00:15:20]:
And as people kinda in the space started to validate the idea to some extent, in in there, there were so many articles in The Wall Street Journal written during this time. I think that became part of it. And then there was a series of kinda, like, data information I discovered about sports com kinda coming to the head of this problem, which was more like a year ago. Right? If you remember, like, there was that Dolphins, Chiefs, Peacock playoff game that was the 1st NFL game outside of the standing Thursday night games. Like, 1st playoff game to go streaming exclusive. And with that point of frustration for the consumer combined with kinda having the of, oh, the sports fan is the biggest consumer of streaming by time spent and, you know, does it live in a more monetizable way and kinda like, is it the center of this problem is probably where I I was like, okay. There's gotta be a business around this too, and that's who we should focus on solving, you know, this problem for first.

Jeffrey Stern [00:16:16]:
It's funny. There's one of these, like, old business aphorisms from, I believe it's it's Barksdale, but he talks about, you know, there's basically 2 businesses. There's bundling and unbundling. And, you know, the pendulum just kinda swings back and forth. But, you know, when as you described the original problem, it's like, well, didn't we used to have We had cable. The content? And,

Ryan Schreiber [00:16:39]:
No. Totally. Yeah. And I still I actually still get cable. I'm probably the youngest person that still gets it because I live in market with my team, so it's still the easiest solution for me to watch all my teams in one place. Like, I end up on the phone with Spectrum every 2 months to get my bill back down because it goes up, like, you know, how quickly they rate that. But, you know, it is so funny how it's like this solution existed. And and but what's what's what you kinda see now with the sports rights being bid out for the next 10 years and the size of these companies, right, that I think early on when the streaming thing happened, it was like, okay.

Ryan Schreiber [00:17:16]:
There will be consolidation. Right? There'll m and a or joint ventures. Right? Even though right? The way Hulu started. And, you know, these are too big of companies to acquire each other. Right? And that ESPN Fox joint venture for a college football app got struck down. And so there is this kind of disparate environment is what we're stuck in for the next decade. So we gotta find a way to navigate it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:17:40]:
Yeah. So with with that context, you know, and the the framing of the fragmented streaming market, you know, how how set the stage for for Streamline and, you know, what what this market looks like, how has it evolved over time, and, you know, really, what what is the problem now that you're you're setting out to solve?

Ryan Schreiber [00:17:58]:
Yeah. So so Streamline is the only app you need to find the sports shows and movies that you and your friends love to watch. Right? It allows you to navigate discovery across platforms, allows you to see what your friends are watching and curate lists, puts it all on your calendar like my initial little little funky idea.

Jeffrey Stern [00:18:17]:
Yep. Yep.

Ryan Schreiber [00:18:17]:
But, you know, really, I view this and the team today use this as a problem set that I just described. And I think what we've seen is that there's been really solid fragmented solutions for shows or even, like, ESPN launched their kinda where to watch platform within the website now. So they've they've acknowledged this is a problem. I think the challenge is that a lot of the early apps to solve this around shows or movies were were were built more for film fans pre the problem of today. So in looking at this as a problem set, you know, we think that creating a one stop shop for all of your sports shows and movies and where to watch them is part of what's compelling relative to what is out there and part of the the the underlying problem and promise, you know, we're trying to make to our our customer that we're solving. And that these aren't disparate, you know, issues. Right? What you're gonna watch is more compelling than where you're gonna watch it. But what if but you need to know where you're gonna watch what you're gonna watch.

Ryan Schreiber [00:19:21]:
Right? And so it's like it's like these problems kinda have to be solved together to be impactful. Right? And and I think we've seen that, you know, adding the social layer to that is where it becomes, I think, exponentially more valuable. Right? People see ratings, platforms, or algorithms recommend things, but they're disparate. And so consolidating that and adding a layer of what your friends actually like and being able to look at shared preferences of groups of people and and couples and families, you know, we think will be a great way to kinda bring people together and create community and social discourse around content versus, you know, the more toxic, you know, conversations on other social platforms.

Jeffrey Stern [00:20:05]:
So when when you and I had had first met and you were, you know, telling me about this journey you were about to embark on, you know, more formally at the time prior to the north of, you know, 1 and a half 1000000 in funding that you've since raised and and secured for the business, I'm curious what the most salient learnings over the last, you know, year or so have been since when you really set out to address this problem and where you've kind of arrived at as the right strategic approach to go about solving it.

Ryan Schreiber [00:20:36]:
There's probably hundreds of things, Jeff, that I could go to. I mean, look. This is a very different business than I've been in before. So, you know, I haven't been in a b to c business before. So there's all sorts of, you know, consumer distribution, marketing things that I that I've learned. You know? I'm by no means the expert. I'm working with people a lot smarter than me on those fronts. But, you know, I think I've learned a lot in terms of product development, iterating, how you synthesize user feedback.

Ryan Schreiber [00:21:08]:
But there isn't necessarily one thing because it's all just so incremental. And when you're stuck in it day to day, it's like it doesn't feel like there's been any Just feels like we're just kinda running through one wall and into the next wall and trying to make sure we look around to do that somewhat strategically, if that makes sense.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:26]:
Absolutely. So may maybe just take us through then what, you know, the streamline experience looks like. And, you know, I mean, I I believe there's probably north of 200 streaming applications today. And so when we talk about, you know, the fragmentation and kind of being over inundated with with, you know, where to go find these shows, what the shows even are.

Ryan Schreiber [00:21:50]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:21:51]:
Just the what is the experience?

Ryan Schreiber [00:21:53]:
Yeah. I think the the current experience. Right? Like, there's multiple layers to it. Right? Because there's multiple kind of problems we're we're trying to solve. But, like, so much of it starts just like the what should I watch right now and people going and scrolling around. And and and, you know, whether it's on Netflix or they go to other apps or they still get cable and flip around. And we really wanna solve for that by being, you know, you look at your calendar first. If you don't have something on tonight you wanna watch, you know, that you can then take it to this discovery.

Ryan Schreiber [00:22:25]:
Right? But there's this kind of discovery experience that is with your remote on, you know, apps that aren't where you find any other information in the world. Right? Like, all other information in the world today, if you need to quickly find out, you go to your phone and your handheld, where with this medium, we use a remote we use for nothing else in a variety of different apps that don't consolidate. That's right. So it's kind of this funky experience relative to the world we live in. You know, there is absolutely word-of-mouth and other social conversation around this, but like I've kinda said, it's not systematized. Right? There's no systematic way to kinda see the sorts of truth on what your friends are watching and get those recommendations. So you're kind of in a in a box doing this. Right? The streaming platforms to promote and distribute their content, send emails now.

Ryan Schreiber [00:23:20]:
Right? I don't know if you get those from your streaming from the platforms you subscribe to. Did you get those, Jeff?

Jeffrey Stern [00:23:25]:
Oh, sure. Yeah.

Ryan Schreiber [00:23:26]:
Yeah. So, you know, they are struggling with distributing and letting you know when your favorite show is back and how to do that. Right? Because you don't really go there first. Outside people go to Netflix first, but if, like, you're Hulu or Prime or Apple TV plus or Peacock or Paramount, right, like, you're not the place people are necessarily going to look night tonight. So so kinda connecting with the the consumer on when they're in that moment is really hard. And when you look at it, the streaming industry is really struggling, the media industry, to to turn these into profitable platforms. Right? They're struggling with churn. They have high single digit monthly churn.

Ryan Schreiber [00:24:03]:
Netflix is the exception. Prime's also an exception because of other service you get from it. And so they've kinda what what the streaming platforms have said is we know our experience isn't sticky, and we're looking at sports, you know, as the way to stop churn because you can binge through a shit a season of a show. You cannot binge through the NFL season. Right? Like, peacock is spread these streaming exclusive games out. So what the NBA is gonna do next year, you know, with Prime and Peacock exclusive games too is their rights shift. So this experience is only becoming kinda more fragmented and disparate as I'm kinda describing. And then there's the, like, just where is something to watch people Google for that.

Ryan Schreiber [00:24:45]:
Right? And it it kinda gives you Yep. Yep. An unclear answer. Right? It's not, for lack of a better word, streamlined. And so, you know, the notes to Google thing, we're we we think is, like, a weird layer to this thing you're kinda doing on your TV. You kinda try and find a way to track it on your phone. You know, we've found there's very little brand awareness and usage of the, you know, of the competitive platforms. While they have some, you know, audiences, it's more outside of the US, and it's really in a nicheier film loving market than kind of your mass consumer, your sports fan who loves reality TV and is an avid social media user, who's kind of our, you know, target persona here out of the gate.

Jeffrey Stern [00:25:30]:
To me, it it feels like out of the gate, the partnership strategy is very kind of integral to the the overall business and that the MVP for, you know, Streamline's vision is actually, you know, quite a robust offering just to to get started. How have you thought about partnerships navigating the whole, you know, licensing and IP side of of this space? Yeah. What what what does that look like?

Ryan Schreiber [00:25:57]:
Yeah. So I guess to start with the data and the licensing, I mean, the first underlying point here is unlike the music industry with Spotify, you know, we are trying to promote other people's products and drive sign ups and usage Yeah. To the streaming platform. So we are trying to help them. We think we can monetize helping them per the problem they have. So there's affiliate marketing deals we're implementing to drive sign ups to the streaming platform so that when you find something on our app and go and sign up for that platform, we get a kickback. We'll do native ads promoting content in our discovery feed. We'll promote adjacent products with advertising and do partnerships around events moving, you know, to to streaming platforms in in in new places to help the consumer navigate that that industry distribution problem.

Ryan Schreiber [00:26:47]:
How we've properly licensed that data has been actually kinda where my Vk experience is helpful a little bit and that I have to license 4 different datasets. And so we we work with Gracenote Nielsen. You know, obviously, you know the Nielsen name and then a couple other European providers and one other US provider to kinda build our own database of content, right, to make sure we have the broadest coverage. So even if you're only a sports fan or a reality TV fan, you can find all of your shows, movies, and sports in this one place. And so we've licensed that through those providers, stitched it together, built our own database that we're gonna build some really cool tools on top of to make it even more dynamic and searchable. You know, right now, when you search on a streaming platform, you're pretty limited to search by title. We're going to do some really cool things in terms of making it so you can search by actor and genre and era and and are finishing kinda aggregating that data to make it all the more dynamic. So we feel really good about how we've gone about approaching the licensing.

Ryan Schreiber [00:27:49]:
We think that as we build a user base, we're gonna be a really valuable partner to the streaming platforms longer terms. But on the way up, kinda smaller streaming platforms and more, you know, local type of efforts like sports teams. Right? If we can drive viewership, you know, on the fringes, right, then then, you know, that can be kind of our proof point to go do it at scale.

Jeffrey Stern [00:28:13]:
Lay of the Land is brought to you by Impact Architects and by 90. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations in Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio, Impact Architects has helped 100 of those leaders, many of whom we have heard from as guests on this very podcast, realize their own visions and build these great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love. If you 2 are trying to build great, Impact Architects is offering to sit down with you for a free consultation or provide a free trial through 90, the software platform that helps teams build great companies. If you're interested in learning more about partnering with Impact Architects or by leveraging 90 to power your own business, please go to ia.layoftheland.fm. The link will also be in our show notes. You had mentioned that, you know, Streamline incorporates social features, you know, the the kind of shared friend, you know, the social part that maybe has been absent from streaming that is present in all these other, you know, very online markets at the moment. What is the the community building strategy look like? How have you thought about that, you know, and, to drive engagement, retention, and and really just in the aftermath of actual launch of of Streamline, how have you thought about the social component of it?

Ryan Schreiber [00:29:46]:
Yes. So we actually released an update to the App Store today, you know, still in our kind of beta phase, but the big change is that we added, like, a 5th landing page in a in a item in our tray at the bottom that is friends. And so now, you know, you have a place of of discovery to find your friends that are already on the app. We've integrated a cool algorithm that is pretty accurate in understanding network, you know, connections. And then that that feature also layers in all the activity and posts and usage of your friends so that you can comment and like and see it. And then it enables you to go share the app with your friends very quickly as well. Right? And that's also in our sign up flow now. So we've just you know, we've tried to integrate into the product, right, those abilities to get people on the flywheel quickly.

Ryan Schreiber [00:30:37]:
We're also launching all of our social media accounts, right, which will be really easy ways for people to kinda hear our voice, see what we're saying, but also share it with friends. So we're just trying to give people all the mechanisms to kinda hop on the wheel and share it with their communities because we really think that for for this to be what we want it to be, it has to be a place of community. It has to be where you can tell your mom what you're watching or you and your buddies have a group playlist or a group chat about what to watch next, and and and that this that our home page and news feed is is that source. And so, you know, there there's all those kinda little elements that have become a point of focus in our UX design to try and make sure we're making it as easy as possible to share it and find your friends and see what they're watching and what they wanna watch. And and so that's even something we've added to people's profiles. Right? That that enables you to see all that information, which is, you know, we we think can be really exciting for users to streamline.

Jeffrey Stern [00:31:37]:
So I would imagine one of the elephants in the room, you know, maybe there's a few, but would would be that, you know, when you think about, you know, Netflix or HBO, I mean, they are organizations capable of, you know, spending 1,000,000,000 of dollars investing in that recommendation algorithm, you know, that they've really fine tuned and, and, you know, put the smartest, brightest, you know, most passionate people about making that, that algorithm as effective as it can be. How do you begin to think about, you know, how to differentiate in this content discovery lens when you have those kinds of organizations with the resources they have, you know, investing orders of magnitude more than than you'll be able to in the near future

Ryan Schreiber [00:32:23]:
on that kind

Jeffrey Stern [00:32:24]:
of stuff?

Ryan Schreiber [00:32:25]:
No. It's a great question, Jeff, and there's so many questions around how to interact with and how to navigate big tech here. But but I think the fundamental piece of it is so many of those folks are players in the streaming wars, and so they're not necessarily trying to position themselves to promote content to their competitors. That's not universally true. Right? Like, we've seen Amazon's willing to kinda play the aggregator role more than the others, and some of the hardware providers like the Apple TVs and Samsung TVs and Roku's, you know, attempt to do that. I think what fundamentally we can do different is be, you know, in your handheld, like I talked about, right, where you find information. We're leaning into that, that this is a mobile app, and that's what the consumer wants and the social piece. Right? Like, Netflix isn't gonna become a social media company overnight.

Ryan Schreiber [00:33:18]:
They have while while there's lists and playlists, you don't follow your friends on there. It's not a point of social interaction, and and your TV remote and your TV are not gonna entice you to do that, we don't think. But but but, you know, we also think that big companies by nature aren't always the most, you know, innovative. Right? We were at a Cleveland event recently together, right, at Nottingham Spurt, which is a testament to the fact that big companies by nature aren't always innovative. Right? Like brings all these big companies into Cleveland for an it to an innovation center. Big companies end up acquiring for innovation, right, which, you know, god willing, things go well. Right? And could could be part of what happens here. But, you know, I I think that there's a lot of reasons this hasn't been solved, and and some of it is the competitive positioning and and and ability to kinda tap into the social element.

Jeffrey Stern [00:34:11]:
Tell us a bit more about the the company, you know, itself. Again, when when you and I first, you know, chatted about it, since then, you know, the you've really rounded out the founding team. Obviously, you've you've embarked on this fundraising journey. You know, how has that gone? You know, tell us about about what that looks

Ryan Schreiber [00:34:29]:
like. Yeah. So what I'd say is those those were like the those are kind of the 2 kinda pillar questions out of the gate when you're going to start your own company and you kinda have your fear fear of failure, which I can assure you is is very much, you know, still there right here. We have not gotten this thing off the ground. But, you know, I kinda have these two questions. Am I gonna be able to raise the money, and am I gonna get people to work on this? And, frankly, you know, given kind of my sales background, being in a company that raised a lot of institutional money, being around other founders, and being kind of a part of other fundraising efforts, I I was, you know, fairly confident there that that my skill set and my network would allow me to do that. It was much much harder than I thought it would be, though. So I I I probably thought that would be a little easier than it is, and and maybe that that's been a little humbling.

Ryan Schreiber [00:35:20]:
But, you know, on the other side of things, I've been floored by how quickly really, really talented people, you know, got excited about streamline and wanted to dive in and work on it. And, you know, our friend that introduced us to to each other, you know, Caleb Dumont, has has been integral there. You know, he's a very well known tech VC recruiter and has introduced me to some incredible people, including now my cofounder and CTO, Don Pawlowski, who you who you know as well. Jeff, who's full time with us here now, is incredible talent and and really, you know, well known person in the Cleveland Tech community. Brandon Wetzle, who's our full time senior engineer, is just he's incredible, man. Like, this guy's ability to deliver quickly is why we've been able to move at the pace we have with the cost structure we have. And and so those guys, along with me, are are are the full time team right now, and we've got a lot of incredibly supportive folks, you know, on the marketing side, on the UX side, and then a kind of a board adviser level that that have jumped in as well. Some really accomplished people in the streaming industry and the tech world with all of Cleveland connections kinda, which is the funny thing.

Ryan Schreiber [00:36:33]:
Like, that's kind of been somewhat somewhat the glue here both on on the investor side and on the team side. That's really, like, you know, what I've leaned leaned into and and kinda think we should we we will continue to do that. Right? Even it's become a more central part to our go to market efforts. Right? We're really gonna lean into trying to build density in this market. So there's been a lot of learning in the journey of raising money and putting a team together, but both have been rewarding. Both have not been easy, and both will continue to not be easy. Right? Like, I'm not really done raising money. I'm already, like, kinda working on the next round, you know, networking with VCs a little bit.

Ryan Schreiber [00:37:12]:
And, you know, and and on the team front, right, like, it's gonna be a constant evolution of of kinda what we're gonna need. And, hopefully, we're on a path where it makes sense to continue to grow that team. But those are both things that I've enjoyed doing, and I'm I'm really excited about where we are on both fronts.

Jeffrey Stern [00:37:29]:
Yeah. One of the funny and and often repeated bits from the startup community is that, you know, if you knew how hard it was gonna be at the beginning, you you you may not have done it. So I'm glad you, you know, have have since learned how difficult it is in that that you're doing it anyway.

Ryan Schreiber [00:37:46]:
Yeah. And and and the the other thing I can't say enough is, like, my wife, like, on those hardest days has been so central to this. Like, I couldn't have quit my very good job to come do this if she wasn't all in on it. I mean, she for a while, I was saying she's the closest thing I have to a cofounder. She came up with the name. She came up with kind of the home page news feed feature. Like, she is so all in on this in the meantime while we're having young kids. Right? Like so she's she's just been, like, so critical to me being able to do it because I I could not do it without her being all in.

Jeffrey Stern [00:38:25]:
How has fundraising been?

Ryan Schreiber [00:38:27]:
You know, in many ways, it's been great because it's forced you know, while I have raised from a lot of people I already knew, I have met so many great people, especially here, also elsewhere in the process. So I think it it was part of forcing me to network. And, you know, in any conversation now, my perspective is, you know, you never know if someone's gonna be an investor, adviser, someone that can contribute to the team. And then, you know, as I've heard it said on on your podcast, different ways. Like, I always wanna make sure it's a two way conversation too. Right? Like, what do I have to offer that person as well? Like, I feel like I've been so fortunate to have so many people lend a helping hand to me trying to get this started and funded and you know, which is amazing to see. So, like, I think that's an important thing in those conversations is is to make sure they're they're 2 ways, and that makes it all the more rewarding. So I've just I've art I've made so many new friends this year and met people on all sides of town here in terms of leading into that.

Ryan Schreiber [00:39:28]:
Like, I was talking to people about how I wanted my office to be closer to the to the highway here because I feel like I'm on the west side a couple times a week. And, like, I grew up on the east side. I live on the east side. My network's more on the east side, but I've got, like, a lot of good friends on that side of town. Even yesterday, I was I was with someone that you had lunch with earlier this week, and it's just amazing how people in this town wanna help others succeed, how they have a team and community mentality. And so I I think that's what's been most rewarding. But, yeah, I mean, fundraising in itself is not easy. Right? Like, you don't always know until you know.

Ryan Schreiber [00:40:06]:
And I probably, out of the gate, made some assumptions. Right? And you think, oh, you know, you gotta make sure check all boxes, continue the conversation, paperwork's gotta be signed, the money's gotta come in. Like, there are those elements to it. And I think having worked in sales kinda for a good chunk of my BK time was was good training for that, frankly.

Jeffrey Stern [00:40:27]:
Yeah. I love I love to hear all that. You know, knowing it's a bit imaginary and, you know, to project out how you envision the progress of the company evolving and and ultimately the way it all transpires. But, you know, as you made your way through fundraising, I I imagine that's, a lot of what, you know, you're you're doing is painting a picture for for what the future looks like. And I I think it would just be really interesting to hear how you have thought about, you know, what the chapters of of Streamline might be as you go to market and, you know Yeah. From a place of retrospect, does success actually look like for for this company, for for the business overall? And, you know, we we can talk separately about what it means for you personally and what's motivating you, but just a bit of a forward looking perspective.

Ryan Schreiber [00:41:13]:
Yeah. Totally. And it's so it's it's really funny, Jeff. I've had this conversation a couple times recently, and I remember, like, advice I got that's probably, like, a year old was, like, how you constantly have to be evolving. And for something like this to work, there always has to be the next feature that has to be sticky, partially because of the potential for competitors and big competitors like we were just talking about. And I really, like, a year ago, struggle like, like, thought of this as kinda like this end state product that I wanted to go build, right, in this solution, this finite solution. And it's so funny now that we're actually in it and have our beta out and we have a list of 500 other things we wanna build. It's like, this could go a lot of different directions, and that's what's exciting about it and what's been so great about our beta.

Ryan Schreiber [00:41:56]:
I mean, we've gotten some great new ideas from users, but it's been so useful in terms of force ranking and prioritizing. What do people need to be able to use this and rely on it? Right? And so now looking at it, there are, like, endless kinda feature and upgrades that I that I can see over a period of years making this product more compelling and more tied into your, you know, hardware or how you create, you know, your bundles potentially

Jeffrey Stern [00:42:23]:
or a marketplace for

Ryan Schreiber [00:42:23]:
the streaming industry. Right? Those things are dependent on our streaming industry. Right? Those things are dependent on our user acquisition and building some scale, but there's some fun ways to navigate that industry that I see. I also think that, like, while we're solving this streaming consumer and industry problem first, there's no reason that that streamline couldn't become the way that, you know, my friends learn that my favorite podcast is lay of the land. Right? That it becomes Mhmm. You know, the way you see who's going to the Cavs Lakers game tonight at rocket rocket mortgage arena. Right? Like, this kind of social navigation of entertainment and consumption, I think, is where this could go. It's we're we're even talking now with some some strategic folks in the team of just like, how do we orient the product to make sure it scales around those use cases? To your question on what is success here, I mean, success to me is building a community.

Ryan Schreiber [00:43:21]:
Right? It's solving a problem. It's doing it with simplicity. Those are our core values. And so that is what's fundamentally important. To do that, we need to go acquire some users at scale. You know? To do good, we need to do well. Right? Like, I wanna, you know, I want Streamline to be a a a great source for the community, and I think we can build a business model behind it to make it a super profitable business and, you know, not focus too much on the outcome, focus on solving the problems, focus on our user product led growth, and see where that goes. You know, investors obviously wanna know where it goes and what that means from a return perspective.

Ryan Schreiber [00:44:02]:
So, you know, there is there is potential for acquisition. But like I've kinda described, I think there is some stand alone scale potential to this business. You know? So it's it the user conversations we kinda need to continue to have as a team with the board that's coming together and and and and allow ourselves to kinda read the data and allow the user to tell us what they want. I don't wanna overproject a a vision of 2 years out when, you know, we got an election next week that we have we have no clue where the world's going a week from now. So we gotta we gotta kinda tackle one thing at a time.

Jeffrey Stern [00:44:38]:
Mhmm. There there is a lot of uncertainty out there. Well, I guess I I'll frame the question in a different way, because I

Ryan Schreiber [00:44:46]:
Yeah. Hit me again.

Jeffrey Stern [00:44:47]:
So in the scenario where Streamline is successful, what what changes about the streaming industry writ large and the the dynamics of the the business?

Ryan Schreiber [00:45:00]:
Yeah. I so so I think that's a that's a great question. Right? So for the user, right, we quickly can impact their experience, but we can help the industry with with distribution. Right? And, you know, making sure the eyes they wanna get their product in front of you know, see their product and are able to navigate up to other content. Right? And so I I think there is an opportunity to help the industry stabilize. Right? And instead of it being kind of this been through on thing, go here. You know, help with distribution. How that comes together, whether it's through new, you know, packaging and bundling, whether it's through creating a marketplace in our app for them to publish their content, you know, I don't know.

Ryan Schreiber [00:45:46]:
We have to kind of allow that to play out a bit, but I think there is, you know, a real opportunity for this to be the way that we kinda rebundle. And, you know, what that means for for rights and other things, I think, is a long time out. But, you know, I I I really am excited to kinda continue to navigate the space as it evolves and do it in a way that benefits our user first and foremost. Right? Like, while we wanna solve the industry problem and we think that's how we'll build a business model, Like, we wanna solve the the consumer and user problem first and then kinda go from there, if that's fair.

Jeffrey Stern [00:46:27]:
That's fair enough. What what do you find is is motivating you, and and what does success look like from that perspective?

Ryan Schreiber [00:46:36]:
Yeah. That that's a great question, and it's loaded. Yeah. So I think would probably one of the things that held me up out of the gate was probably my fear of failure. Right? Like, I felt like I really established myself in a job and in an industry and loved the people I worked with, both internally and externally, loved the conferences I went to, and and had a had a great lifestyle with that. And so, you know, the fear of losing that and and of just failure and shame and embarrassment for trying something definitely was something that, like, wait on me. It still does. Like, I could feel it when I talk about it.

Ryan Schreiber [00:47:18]:
Okay? But it got to a point and I would say this. It got to a point for my wife and me, not just me, where the fear of seeing this problem solved exceeded that fear of embarrassment and failure. And so, I guess, to me, it it kinda came from that that, like, I definitely have this deep desire in inside of me to to start a business. I never would have done it or put a significant amount of my own money or asked other people for money if I didn't fundamentally believe it was solving a problem. There's a real business model behind it. And so, you know, I think the motivator there is that I really did wanna do something like this. I needed to check a lot of boxes to kinda let myself do it, if that makes sense. But I think it's just one of those challenges and one of those things that, you know, selfishly, like, I wanna prove to people also that you can do it from Cleveland and build a high profile successful b to c tech company from here.

Ryan Schreiber [00:48:21]:
Like, that's one of the the kinda chips I chips on my shoulder that as I heard on a a Jeff Stern podcast to keep keep the chip in your pocket. But, you know, that is something that motivates me is is building something great for here and and creating opportunity for for other, you know, outcomes here. And and I was afforded that and want wanna kinda pass that along and engage with the community to enable that. So there's a lot more there that we can expect.

Jeffrey Stern [00:48:48]:
I I can imagine. I I don't know. That's one of my favorite motivations in people is, because to the degree that the fear of failure prevents you from pursuing the thing that, you know, might might cause the regret later in life for not having tried. Yeah. I love when when people figure out how to try.

Ryan Schreiber [00:49:09]:
When in doubt, on the days where I'm really like, what am I doing? I'll listen to that, to the Steve Jobs Stanford commencement, right, where he's like, you are already naked. You know?

Jeffrey Stern [00:49:20]:
Yeah.

Ryan Schreiber [00:49:21]:
You know, go you gotta go live life today because tomorrow is not guaranteed. So that definitely resonates.

Jeffrey Stern [00:49:27]:
And, of course, I love the, you know, prove that you can do it in in Cleveland chip on your shoulder. Yeah. That was already there.

Ryan Schreiber [00:49:34]:
That's not even a new thing. That was like a you know, I went to school on the East Coast. So a lot of a lot of people I grew up with here, you know, didn't come back at least immediately more coming back now that, you know, see what can be done here. But, like, there's this fundamental culture of entrepreneurialism here. Right? Like, Rockefeller started here, and, like, there are so many and you and and, frankly, when you look at, like, some of our investors and, like, the incredible and and everyone that's been on your podcast, tech and otherwise, like, there is an incredible culture entrepreneurialism. I think I said this to you, but one of my best friends who lives in New York, works in finance is like everyone I grew up with, their, you know, their parents that are that you when you hear about successful people, it's in finance world. Everyone that, like, you tell me about a successful story in Cleveland, it's like a story about them being an entrepreneur. And so, like, that is deeply ingrained in the culture here.

Ryan Schreiber [00:50:28]:
I think it, like, hasn't shown its head as much in tech as, like, other places, not to say it hasn't. Right? There are some great tech stories

Jeffrey Stern [00:50:36]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Schreiber [00:50:37]:
Here, and there's more and more coming. But I think, like, the perception from the outside is it hasn't. So it's definitely, like, one of my fundamental, like, things that gets me up in the morning. I'm wearing my Cleveland vest here as you can see.

Jeffrey Stern [00:50:51]:
Represent.

Ryan Schreiber [00:50:52]:
Yeah.

Jeffrey Stern [00:50:53]:
Well, as we, you know, work to to bookend the conversation here, I always like to leave a little space for the thing unsaid, you know, that over the course of our conversation, maybe you wished I had asked you about or just feels topical and, top of mind at at the moment.

Ryan Schreiber [00:51:11]:
That's a great question, Jeff. Yeah. What shows are coming back soon? Right? I think that that's a good topical thing. Right? That's the thing that, you know, we think people will be really excited about when they get into our app that they're like, oh, this person follows that, follow that, and then they see on their news feed and on their calendar it's coming back. We've already seen that during our beta with shrinking, which just came back. Yellowstone's coming back soon. So, you know, Outer Banks just came back. So some good shows, and, obviously, you know, you got the World Series right now to watch and NBA season and NHL getting going and football heating up.

Ryan Schreiber [00:51:47]:
So I guess those are no. That that's that's kind of the cue to go download streamline, you know, in the Apple App Store now will be in Google Play soon too because, you know, you can go figure out what you're gonna watch next. You know, Streamline is the only app you need to find the sports shows and movies that you and your friends love to watch.

Jeffrey Stern [00:52:06]:
Yeah. I mean, it real it really resonates just almost like ideologically at this point because, I mean, we're just curation in the world of just exponentially more content is, is super important. Like it's, it is overwhelming and directionally, it just feels like the right undertaking at the moment.

Ryan Schreiber [00:52:31]:
Well, and I think to your point too about big tech, right, solving it, being able to solve things in a more sophisticated way. Right? Like, there's the question of what what what is a big enough problem or what they're gonna spend their time on solving. But I think there's also, like, this fundamental consumer trust issue, right, that, like, you would rather get a recommendation from your friend than an algorithm. Right? And so I think that's part of where we wanna sit here is that, like, that basic community and trust is worth more than every, you know, ounce of AI that the world has to offer.

Jeffrey Stern [00:53:09]:
Well said.

Ryan Schreiber [00:53:10]:
Well,

Jeffrey Stern [00:53:10]:
let's let's wrap it with, with Cleveland. I think you know our our traditional closing question here.

Ryan Schreiber [00:53:16]:
Oh, I love it.

Jeffrey Stern [00:53:18]:
But, yeah. Tell us about a hidden gem. Something that other folks may not know about, but perhaps they should.

Ryan Schreiber [00:53:24]:
Yeah. I could I could give you a list of a 1,000, but probably my number one go to, and this is, like, this is a place I've been going with my family my whole life. But it's Jack's Deli, which is just like your classic Jewish deli in Cleveland. Best place to get, you know, lox and and good deli meat, and it's just a kinda institution and and good people running it that have, you know, run it for a long time and go back to my family and stuff. So great place. If you haven't been, I would highly recommend it. It's on DoorDash too if you if you don't feel like going and checking it out. So it's definitely a winner of a spot.

Jeffrey Stern [00:53:59]:
Amazing. Alright. I just wanna thank you for for coming on, for sharing your story. I knew at at one point you would you would make your way on on the show here, and I'm excited that that time has come.

Ryan Schreiber [00:54:11]:
No, Jeff, I'm so grateful to be here with you. I'm such a fan of yours and what you're doing, and just continue doing it because you're you're doing great things here and and elsewhere, and and you're just an incredible leader and and resource for the community. So very, very grateful that you've made Cleveland your home.

Jeffrey Stern [00:54:28]:
Well, thank you. That does mean a lot. Well, if people had anything they wanted to follow-up with you about, if they wanted to experience Streamline for themselves, where would you point them?

Ryan Schreiber [00:54:39]:
Yeah. So so, you you know, search it in the Apple App Store. Like I mentioned, you can search Streamline. And as of today, it's the first thing that comes up after an ad. You can go to streamline.watch, which is our website. If you wanna reach out to me, you can find me on LinkedIn. My email is rshreiber@streamline.watch. You know, love to connect with new people, so, you know, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Jeffrey Stern [00:55:02]:
Amazing. Well, thank you again, Ryan.

Ryan Schreiber [00:55:04]:
Thank you, Jeff.