Venmo John from The Bachelorette spills all
[MUSIC]
Hello, John.
Hello, thanks for having me.
And hello to the CNET family, we have a very fun interview happening right now, with John Graham from The Bachelorette.
For viewers that may not know who you are, can you give a quick, 30-second rundown of who you are?
All that kind of fun stuff.
Yeah, I grew up in the Midwest I grew up in Chicago.
I went to school in New York and then after work, I started working at a small startup called Venmo.
At the time it was a smaller startup.
[UNKNOWN] small.
[LAUGH]
And then I worked there for about five years.
And then I moved to San Francisco about two and a half years ago.
And I now work at this new startup, Fin.
And a few months ago, I sort of just randomly applied to be on The Bachelorette, and I was selected to be a cast member.
So, some people might have seen me on that show.
Wow.
That's now airing.
So you'd seen previous seasons, so you kind of knew what you were getting into, or?
Honestly, I haven't seen that many previous seasons.
Really?
But I found out.
Becca was trying to be the bachelorette.
I tried to binge watch a couple of the final episodes.
I was like why is everyone just making out on TV?
I don't get this.
Am I ready for that?
My parents are going to see this.
I mean, it's such a huge cultural thing that happens every week.
I mean, it's constantly trending on twitter, and You know, everybody sits down and shares their views.
And you know, you kinda found this rise of popularity.
You know, everybody was loving you the first episode after your cute intro line.
So I'm a software engineer.
Okay.
I made the app for Venmo.
What's that like being the sort of internet icon.
I think one of their Most fun things about this is that, every once in a while, I'll be walking on the street or I'll go running and someone will be, hey, [UNKNOWN] John.
[UNKNOWN] John.
And it's like, wow, you actually recognize me.
And so, I'm always happy to stop for photos and say hi or something.>> Sure, that's great.
And I think that's just one of the most exciting things.
My family and my friends are still like
[LAUGH]
They're like whatever, like this is a get-over-yourself kind of thing.
I'm glad they're keeping you humble.
So, your time at Venmo, you were there for five years.
Mhm.
How do you think that, working at such a sucessful start-up, do you think that helps you on the show, or do you think that was just like a great back story?
How did the two intersect?
I don't know.
The biggest thing I could think of right now is having to put yourself out there and take risks.
So I remember at Venmo, I felt like we were just working all the time and it never felt like work.
And so were just constantly focusing and I remember I'd probably get there like 10 in the morning, and I often work till 10 PM, or 11, or 12 at night.
And I was just so absorbed with Venmo that I was totally focused at work.
And for several years, that was my lifestyle.
But I also realized it's not that sustainable.
And then on the Bachelorette, a lot of that, you just have to be very present and sort of focus on the whole experience.
If you're trying to Bringing parts of your life that aren't like part of the bachelorette right now.
If all you do is like talk about your work or if you're trying to promote your brand.
Yeah.
Or if you're trying to like do things that aren't part of the show.
You probably just gonna be worse and like not enjoy the experiences.
Much so, maybe the.
The best intersection I can is like totally being all the way in on something and embracing that lifestyle for a bit and then, when it's over think about something else in a different context.
So who do you wanna see Becka end up with?
I have to ask.
I know it couldn't be use I'm so sorry.
Who do I wanna see Becka end up with?
I'm gonna give a lame answer but I wanna see her With the person who makes her the most happy.
All right, and then last but not least, what are you doing now?
You know, it's like wrapping up, Paradise is wrapping up, you kow, what's going on?
Yeah, what am I doing now?
So I work at Ed Zinn as just a software engineer, so my day-to-day is at my computer.
Coding away, and on the side, just for fun, and I've been doing this for years.
I make these episodes where I cook on and like I selfie film it and I like, cook random meals.
And I call the show Kitchen Talk.
Yeah, so work, cooking, And I'm actually a pretty bad chef.
[LAUGH]
I just do it for fun.
Thank you for coming.
I'm so excited to watch you on Paradise.
And I'm definitaly gonna have you back when Paradise airs.
I'd love to be back.
Awesome, well thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
[MUSIC]
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