Sorry. This sounds like a total fabrication. Who the hell brings up email as a dinner conversation? Why would using personal email at work be "transformative"? Even if one buys this conversation about using a personal email account, how does that morph into setting up your own email server? That is something the average person does not do. It is something most IT people don't even do. Why would you?
I asked the same question above. Meaningless buzzword he chose to use for this farce.