Digital Social Hour - Why Top Tech Talent is Fleeing the US: CEO Reveals Truth | Anthony Constantino DSH #1086

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

🚀 Discover why top tech talent is leaving the US! 🇺🇸 Anthony, CEO of Sticker Mule, spills the beans on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly. 🎙️   Get ready for an eye-opening conversation about: • The exodus of rational programmers from America 💻 • How woke culture is impacting the tech industry 🌎 • Why Europe and South America are becoming tech hotspots 🌍 • The secrets to hiring and retaining top talent in any situation 🔑   Anthony shares his journey from a small-town entrepreneur to running a global company with 1200+ employees across 39 countries. Learn how he's pioneering remote work and why he believes having a "cool company" trumps all in the hiring game.   Don't miss out on this candid discussion about tech, talent, and the changing landscape of the industry. Tune in now for insights that could reshape your perspective on the global tech workforce!   Watch, like, and subscribe for more insider stories on the Digital Social Hour. Join the conversation and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of tech and business! 🚀📺   #globalengagement #workfromhomejobs #techtalentmigration #managingremoteteamsbestpractices #challengesofworkingremotely   #techtalentmigration #ceoinsights #leadershipremotework #remoteworkbestpractices #remoteworkchallenges   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:25 - Anthony’s Crazy Week 02:07 - Hiring and Paying Well 04:25 - Running for Congress Campaign 07:44 - The Significance of Political Signs 10:24 - New York's Political Landscape 12:16 - New York Needs to Go Red 15:32 - How to Support Anthony's Campaign 16:09 - Anthony’s Campaign Fund 16:50 - Outro   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Anthony Constantino https://x.com/ac132 https://www.instagram.com/ac132   SPONSORS: Prolon: http://prolonlife.com/DSH   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/

Looking for the ultimate online casino experience? Step into the BetMGM Casino app, where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement into the palm of your hand. Take your seat at Premium Blackjack Pro, where strategy meets top-tier gameplay. Hit the ice with Gretzky Goal Lucky Tap, inspired by the great one himself. Or play the dazzling MGM Grand Emerald Nights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM. With so many games, it's time to make your move. Download the app and visit BetMGM Ontario today to experience the next level of gaming. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions, 19 plus to wager, Ontario only.

Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact CONNECTS ONTARIO at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM, and no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your hockey home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM, a sportsbook worth a celly, and an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions.

Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. in Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and South America. It must be hard to hire in America right now, right? I'd say if you have a good company, people want to work for you. If you have a cool company, if you have a great company,

it's easy to hire no matter what situation. That's a good point. Okay, so we've got Anthony here, CEO of Sticker Mule. Thanks for coming on today, man. Happy to be here. Yeah, it's been a really cool event. I met some great people. Yeah, great time. I'm happy. I showed up last minute too. I was in New York City at the

County American Civil Rights League got the I got the Vincent Bardi award and I flew to Mar-a-Lago I was there for a week with my girlfriend and then we flew here with Roger songs. It's been a whirlwind. What's one week? We had Roger on yesterday. That was a good one. Roger's the best man. He's been canceled to the to the max Yeah, I know actually. Yeah, I'm a big fan of his. I like to bring up, he was one of the first people kicked off of, um, Twitter. So, you know, I always remembered that. And that was one of the first signs to me, uh, how troubling of a person Jack Dorsey was that he kicked Roger Stone off Twitter. I said, what do you agree with Roger or not?

He's a historical American figure and we want to hear from important voices in America, doesn't matter what the perspective is. So when Jack Dorsey kicked him off, that was one of the first things. First signs I saw that he had some, some sort of problem going on. His perspective on life. How was Mar-a-Lago? I've never been beautiful. So I believe it or not, it's really, people find it funny.

I've had, I've had a membership since the 2020 election. Almost as soon as Trump vacated the White House, I immediately wanted to find a way to show support, so I went and I bought a membership then, but I never used it. I'm not, uh, I don't like socializing just to socialize. So, uh, I didn't use that and use it for four until, uh, for four years. I didn't use it until, um, very recently. When, uh, at least the final got appointed to the U.N. ambassador role.

Yeah. I happened to be in Fort Lauderdale to get dinner with Roger Stone. He wanted to thank me for all my activity on behalf of president Trump during the election. And people were saying he should consider running for Congress. Roger thought it was a great idea. Next thing I know, he said, well, we should get dinner at Mar-a-Lago. I said, Roger, that'd be great. I have a membership I've never used. I love it, man. CEO of Sticker Mule, giant company now, right?

1200 people. We're in 39 countries. Wow. Very funny. Sticker Empire. Yeah. So we were one of the pioneers of remote work. I built the company, I'm from a small town, and we're from a small town in upstate New York called Amsterdam, New York. And we had to build it remotely. So we were one of the pioneers of remote work.

We wanted to get the best people there were to build the company. And we had to go hire people from all over the place. So we started hiring people over the United States of America and all over the world really to get talent. Believe it or not, I mean, well, you probably know there's a lot of woke people and tech, tech's filled with woke people, especially in the United States of America. So many of the best programmers that are a little more rational are actually in other countries. They're not, they're not poisoned with the woke mind viruses as severely as the American developers. India, right? We don't have anyone there, believe me.

Oh, really? No, we like South America, we like Europe. Okay. Yeah, a lot of great talent in Europe and in South America. We actually have a hardware engineering facility in Italy, 20 hardware engineers. Nice. Yeah, we have a lot of talent in Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and South America. It must be hard to hire in America right now, right?

I say if you have a good company, people want to work for you I say if you have a good company, people want to work for you. So if you have a, you know, people want to work for you, if you have a good company. In fact, I stood up and I endorsed President Trump immediately after the assassination attempt and it went viral and people thought it was going to hurt the company. It wasn't a great marketing strategy, but it was a great strategy for getting talent. So if you have a cool company, if you have a great company, it's easy to hire no matter, no matter what. That's a good point. If you're like a Charlie Kirk, if you're a great company, it's easy to hire no matter what situation.

That's a good point. If you're like a Charlie Kirk or someone with a good leadership style, they'll come to you. Yeah, exactly. If people want to work at Sticker Mule, they would pay well too. You know, the trick is I tell people with hiring, people want two things. They want better income and they want more fun. They want a better life. And so some companies, they say, well, we pay you really well, but we make you miserable. Right? Another company say, we're a lot of fun, but we don't pay that well. And I said, we try to do both. So we pay really well. We pay in engineering. We pay the same rates as Tesla. You know, I'm like the gold standard for good pay.

We pay very well. And then we try to let people have a lot of fun. Yeah. Well, happier employees will probably work harder. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Happy people. You know, you want people doing things out of the goodness of their heart, not because of, uh, I don't know, not because they feel like they have to. When people enjoy working, they do a lot better. Absolutely. So you're running for a position right now? Yeah. I mean, in Congress. So what happened is some people know my story, some

people don't, but, um, you know, I was one of the first people canceled in 2016. I woke up one day. I gave a $500 donation to president Trump. I had one or two tweets supportive of Trump. Some Democrat activists found out, and they used it to try to destroy my company in 2016. We only had 300 or 400 employees back then. I don't remember. And I sort of just took it on the chin back then. I couldn't really do anything. I just took it on the chin, you know, remained a quiet Trump supporter,

respectful, quiet Trump supporter, did what I could to help on the sidelines. But I said to myself, look... Looking for the ultimate online casino experience? Step into the BetMGM Casino app, where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement into the palm of your hand. Take your seat at Premium Blackjack Pro where strategy meets top-tier gameplay. Hit the ice with Gretzky Goal Lucky Tap, inspired by the great one himself, or play the dazzling MGM

Grand Emerald Knights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM. With so many games, it's time to make your move. Download the app and visit BetMGM Ontario today to experience the next level of gaming. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement

with iGaming Ontario. Get ready for Las Vegas style action at BetMGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for. When you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette with our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games, and signature BetMGM service, there is no better way to bring the excitement and ambience of Las Vegas home to you than with BetMGM Casino. Download the BetMGM Casino app today. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly.

BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Shout out to today's sponsor Prolon. If starting the year with a fast feels a little daunting, you're not alone. operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. program to set you up for fasting success. Prolon's fasting mimicking diet is a revolutionary plant-based nutrition program that nourishes the body while making cells believe they're fasting.

I got all five boxes here and I'm starting day one tomorrow. It's researched and developed for decades at USC's Longevity Institute and backed by leading US medical centers. It helps promote healthy blood sugar, enhanced skin appearance, fat loss, and improved energy and focus. It all starts with their five-day program which contains snacks, soups and beverages designed to keep the body in a fasting state, no guest work or planning required, which is a relief after a busy holiday. If you guys are ready to make 2025 your healthiest year yet,

order your Prolon five day kit at prolonlife.com slash DSH. And they're offering digital social hour listeners 15% off their five day nutrition program. Use the code DSH at prolonlife.com slash DSH. I want to build myself, my company to a point where if I do want to speak up I don't have to fear the mob, fear the cancellation mob. And so over the last eight years I've built a company from three or four hundred people to twelve hundred people. We're doing really well. And so when a bullet hit President Trump, I just immediately fired off an endorsement. I put on X and went viral got 12 million views And then I emailed it to our 5 million customers. That blew up.

We got a massive social media firestorm. Nice. Media firestorm, you know, media firestorm, but a lot of positive coverage, believe it or not. But we got a lot of good coverage then when, a lot of hate on social media, but a lot of good coverage in nutritional media. When the backlash died down, with regards to that,

everybody said, look, you know, you made your statement, you made, you proved your point point you should get back to work get back your CEO get back to building your company and I said look it based on the the online backlash advice if I go back to work the perception will be that the activists once again silenced the Trump supporters I said I have to continue showing I support them I can't just let the statement stand on its own so I just kept doing more things I could do to show I support them I ended up printing stickers I made stickers that said Trump for peace.

Awesome people love Trump. I printed millions of stickers, put them all over the place and then I said, what else can I do? What else can I do? I kept doing different activities, ultimately leading to putting a giant vote for Trump sign on top of my tallest factory building in upstate New York. The Democrats went nuts. They immediately, they declared the sign was a public safety hazard. Yeah, it was crazy. They got all these huge billboards, but your sign is a public safety. Yeah.

I mean, and they tried to throw me in jail over it, which was crazy. You're having a Trump sign. So the people that know the story, like, yeah, some people know stories. Some people don't, but it was wild. Like I woke up, I put the sign up and they tried to throw me in jail over it. And yeah, it was, it was, it was crazy. Well, New York is very, I heard that's the worst place to like get arrested. Oh yeah.

It was, it was definitely a stressful experience. You know, I woke up, so we did this. I said, I wanted to promote the sign. I mean, I wanted to get positive energy for, for, for president Trump. I wanted to sign to become a national story. The, uh, the local Democrats, they couldn't think outside of their little zone of control and so they were very offended by the sign and they wanted to beat me cause they thought it was a local battle, but really I was

fighting nationally, I want to get the positive message out for President Trump nationally, which is why I built a giant $250,000 sign. And when the Democrats went to war with me, really, it ended up helping the cause. They ended up helping President Trump because it turned into a national story. Ended up getting into New York Times. New York Times actually wrote a sympathetic article. But what I did was I put the sign up. I threw a huge party.

The Democrats found out about the party. They went nuts. They went to a judge saying it was I was I was threatening the sign up, I throw a huge party. The Democrats found out about the party. They went nuts. They went to a judge saying it was, I was, I was threatening the public safety that I had to be banned from displaying my sign. If I showed it, I was going to go to jail. And so 5,000 people showed up. I was under a court order not to display it.

If I was displayed, I was going to go to jail. The police were on standby to arrest me. My lawyers, I had two, I had an opportunity to hire two really great lawyers. They begged the judge for an emergency session, which we weren't even sure if we were going to get. They said, look, he's got 5,000 people here. You know, he's a great member of the community. Can you please give us an emergency session?

The judge did an emergency session. Listened to our lawyers. It took five or six hours and the judge finally agreed with us and said, this is silly, it's not a public safety hazard. And she dropped the order and I was able to display it without going to jail but literally it got dropped at five o'clock and I think I lit it up at 530 or so like yeah it was it was wild I did an interview with um red Kelly a news match just before I lit the sign up I remember and I was in front of the sign

doing an interview and he said so as I understand you're gonna have to pay a fine if you like that sign up I said no it's not a sign they're gonna throw me in jail and he said what are you gonna do? I said I don't know I got about an hour to decide to decide what to do it's a big decision. He said what are you gonna lie to? I said I really don't know and I ended the interview and then the crowd was getting ready to hear me speak and 20 minutes later my lawyer called me said I got great news for you the the judge listened to us and vacated the order which you know really this should have never been a restraining

order on us on a sign free speech is totally protected in election year and a sign isn't a public safety hazard it's a sign yeah people like it's a beautiful sign to people like beautiful sign that's so nice yeah we'll throw up a photo on the video yes we did that just so we decided that and then um the Democrat mayor kept it that way like 5,000 people showed up so then the Democrats they went it that way. Like 5000 people showed up. So then the Democrats, they went to Newsweek and they said, nobody showed up to my event. They said nobody showed up. So I said, OK, I'm going to do another event.

So I ended up doing three events in front of the sign. Every event had at least three to five thousand people leading up. We did an election day party, bipartisan party. I want everybody to get together on this side and party. A lot of Democrats did show up. Every single Democrat that showed up had a great time and learned a little bit more about what it means to be a Trump supporter. And then Trump wins and he nominates Elise Stefanik to Congress and people started asking me to run for a seat based on everything I had done. It wasn't really on my radar. I

just wanted to help President Trump win. But I said to myself, look, I operate on the basis of principles. I like to use my time to the best of my ability, Time's finite. We're only on this earth once and time's finite. So I said, look, there's probably a very good use of my time. And I also want the best people in government. That's why I've been supporting President Trump since 2016. Really happy to see people like Elon are helping him from the sidelines. And a lot of other very talented people are joining his administration. So I want the best people in government.

I looked at the people available for the role to fill at least the phonic shoes. She's got big shoes to fill since she's done a great job herself. And I said, I'm probably the best person available for the job. It's the best use of my time. So I decided to go for it. And Roger Stone ended up being the first person to encourage me to go for it. And so that's a big endorsement to exactly a big endorsement, big honor. Roger was in President Trump's corner in the beginning. So I have Roger in my corner and to a lot of notable presidents too, not just Trump. Exactly. So it's a big honor to have had Roger in my corner. He's good at identifying talent. So if he sees it in you, I would, yeah, we've run with it. Hopefully he's right on this one.

I think he will be, man. New York needs someone like you representing Congress. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, exactly. I think the biggest problem in New York is people are leaving because Democrats, I say like Democrats, whether they're incompetent or just corrupt, it's probably a little bit of both. They've been scaring people out of New York by the hundreds of thousands. We've lost over a million people since the pandemic and we need to fix that. We need to get people to come back. I tell people the Democrat voters love me. You got to appeal to both sides, I think.

But because we've lost so many Republicans in New York that if we don't get the Democrats to switch the vote Republican, we're never going to win. So I really, if I get this seat, I want to take the lead in turning New York red. I want to do everything I can to turn New York red. We got to do it for all of the citizens in New York. And really a lot of Democrats are starting to listen because a lot of Democrats voted for President Trump this last election. We lost about a million people, probably mostly Republican, but President Trump still got an 11 point improvement in New York State, because many Democrats are realizing that the Democrat Party doesn't serve their interests, doesn't serve the interests of the voters, serving the interests of the party. They're trying to secure power for themselves. They're not really thinking about the voters.

I also think New Jersey could go red in 28. Yeah, I think I would love to have, like, you know, I've become friendly to the guy named Mike Crispi. People are floating his name to run for governor for Congress, but he's a great guy too. I think he's gonna do a lot of good to turn New Jersey red. I think we should turn New Jersey red as well. Really at this point in time I mean that the Democrats have lost their minds over the last eight years. I don't know what issues they have that makes sense anymore They gotta go Seriously, I don't know they gotta go and they got to find some issues that make sense

They decided to try to win elections by using things like lawfare and censorship Which isn't the way to conduct yourself in a democratic country, right? So they got to go back to the wood shop or whatever you call it. And they got to start finding issues that the voters want like censorship and using government, abusing government power to win elections. That's not the way to do it. I think the voters have gotten totally sick of it. And yeah, hopefully New York turns red.

I want to do everything I can to turn New York red. I have no choice. I got a thousand people. I have a thousand person company in New York turns red I want to do everything I can to turn New York red I have no choice I got a thousand people have a thousand person company in New York I own about ten buildings I have no choice but to turn New York red I'm I live there you know and I have to do it for my own benefit and for the benefit of my friends and family members that live there as well but uh we got to turn New Jersey red I mean I think to the extent the country goes red at this point in time the better I would like to see the Democrats come back and start finding issues people care about.

But I can tell you turning little boys into little girls is not an issue. People like that's one of the Democrats' issues. In fact, I was really tough on the Democrats this last election. People don't even know, but they pushed a thing called Proposition 1 where they're encouraging little boys to become little girls in New York. It's a terrible thing. It actually got passed into law. It's horrible.

And I'm going to have to deal with this law. Everybody has to deal with this law now. But the Democrats don't have good issues. Their issues are censorship, using government power to punish people, and turning little boys into little girls, which nobody likes, except for, you know, maybe, I don't know, nobody really likes that. Yeah, dude, it's changing, man. MSG rally was crazy. So I think New York is definitely winnable in the future. Yeah. Yeah. I think so too. Like there was a lot of great energy there, a lot of positive energy. I got to meet a guy named Harry O the founder of death row records there.

I held an event just after that called the meet a Trump supporter through a big party and, uh, the flat iron lounge in Manhattan and I invited every intelligent Democrat to come and debate me. And so some people know that some people don't got a little bit of media coverage, but, uh, I held an event in Manhattan right after MSG. I did my own event, got on stage, did some standup comedy, and then I did Q&A from the crowd.

Every Democrat that came left voting for President Trump, including a Manhattan CEO who told me he wore a Trump for P shirt to the office the next day. He was a Democrat. He wore a Trump for P shirt to the office the next day. He said his employees were having panic attacks and he had to console them. But you know, he joined team Trump after talking to me. He was very proud to have done it. I talked to another person who actually just, they just got their citizenship. There was an Italian American woman from, from who I became friends with

from, from New York City. She rolled me and she said, thank you, Anthony. I decided to vote for President Trump because of you. And I'm so proud today to see that he won and America picked the right person. So, yeah, but I, you know, I've been doing everything I can to try to New York, turn New York red. I'm going to keep doing more. Let's go. Where can people support you? Check me out. I'm on social media. I wasn't even on social media until recently, but AC 132.

I try to entertain and educate as best I can. I also have a beautiful campaign website. Since I'm a tech guy, I want to use my technological skills to try to build up my own platform and also use it to support other candidates in the future. So I have a website, voteforanthony.com. You can use it with the number four, just the word four, but go to voteforanthony.com and the good thing you go there, you can click a button, get free stickers, you can get Anthony

Constantino stickers. They're fun stickers and we'll ship go there, you can click a button, get free stickers and get Anthony Constantino stickers. They're fun stickers and we'll ship them out to you along with a nice letter from me. So go there, sign up, get your stickers. And the other cool thing about me where I put two point six million dollars already in my campaign account, thanks to Elon Musk. I put a bet on Tesla when Elon bought Twitter and everybody was attacking him. Yeah. And that appreciated in value massively. So I put two point6 million in my account. Thanks to Elon.

I want to be the first candidate to win a congressional seat without having a donut donate button on his website. So we're going to have no donate button on the website. People argue, argue with me about this. I was just talking to a campaign consultants the other day, marketing consultants, they said you had to put a donate button. They said, I said, how much do you think I can raise? I said, you can raise a few hundred thousand.

I said, I don't give a shit about a few hundred thousand dollars. I said, we don't want a donate button. We're thousand dollars. I said, we don't want the only button. We're going to win the seat. I don't want to be beholden to anybody. I don't want to be bothering anyone for money. I want to win the seat, and I want to be in the position to do the right thing for the state and for the country and to support President Trump.

That's respect, man. We'll link your site below. Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much. Yup. Thanks for watching, guys. See you next time. popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games, and signature BetMGM service, there is no better way to bring the excitement and ambience of Las Vegas home to you than

with BetMGM Casino. Download the BetMGM Casino app today. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BEDMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario.