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Speaker 1: Turn Sheets the afro Tech mini series available on YouTube.

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Speaker 1: About venture capital in New York City February, I'm talking

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Speaker 1: to Mysia League, head of Founder and studio operations at

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Speaker 1: Human Ventures, a venture fund, part studio, part enterprise agency.

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Speaker 1: During our conversation in her Park Avenue office, I asked

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Speaker 1: my Asia about the differences between doing ventor capital in

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Speaker 1: New York City versus venture capital anywhere else. What are

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Speaker 1: the pluses and minuses in the ecosystem? Started up capital

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Speaker 1: in the Big Apple? UM? I think that UM, what's

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Speaker 1: good about New York UM is the companies that we build.

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Speaker 1: They tend to be further ability beyond like team and dream.

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Speaker 1: I think that has to do with New York's personality

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Speaker 1: as a city right UM with ancial capital world where

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Speaker 1: fast UM, the expectation of it being done yesterday is

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Speaker 1: a very real thing that seats into UM this community,

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Speaker 1: and so people are more inclined as opposed to in

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Speaker 1: the Valley, to show it with a thing. This is

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Speaker 1: the core idea flushed out is how much money? I

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Speaker 1: think that the investors are much more aggressive about proving

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Speaker 1: getting an entrepreneur to prove out what they're doing before

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Speaker 1: they write a check. I think that's good, right, that

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Speaker 1: sort of validates what's being built. UM. I think the

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Speaker 1: downside of New York is that is also our personality.

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Speaker 1: We are a town that in one hand is really

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Speaker 1: good about UM. We have the financial industry, we have entrepreneurship,

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Speaker 1: we have hustle. We also have UM, I'm gonna try

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Speaker 1: not to care. We also have the bs of press.

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Speaker 1: We're we're a community that marketing and branding is a

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Speaker 1: thing that that is uh, that's a part of our world.

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Speaker 1: So I share that to say that there's a lot

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Speaker 1: in this community that is held up in the press,

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Speaker 1: as successful company, as a strong venture capital firm, as

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Speaker 1: people who care about university. As it's all just about

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Speaker 1: the matter, all just an indicator the last reporter they

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Speaker 1: spoke to, not what it actually done. I'm will Lucas

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Speaker 1: Mrs Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna ensw this you

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Speaker 1: to some of the biggest names, some of the brightest

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Speaker 1: minds and brilliant ideas. If your black and building simply

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Speaker 1: using tech to secure your back, this podcast is for you.

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Speaker 1: Jay Carter is co founder and chief marketing officer at

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Speaker 1: the One Music Fest, one of the only existing black

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Speaker 1: owned live music events in the country, and he's found

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Speaker 1: a ton of success with his events expertise, finding partnerships

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Speaker 1: with some of the biggest global brands like Adidas, Milik Cours, BMW, Heyneken,

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Speaker 1: and more. I ask Jay Carter about the representation of

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs in the festival space, being one of the

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Speaker 1: few remaining that's black owned. What hurdles does he consistently

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Speaker 1: find himself and others like him working to overcome. When

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Speaker 1: I first had the concept of an idea back in

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Speaker 1: over the way, you know, I mean, I think the

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Speaker 1: first thing that I do I look for mentor ship

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Speaker 1: a little direction at a at a brand marketing agency.

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Speaker 1: I owned two clubs, but one was more live music venue,

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Speaker 1: one was more of a club. But the festival is

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Speaker 1: just a different monster man, and I just needed to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to maneuver through it all. And I

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Speaker 1: really couldn't find when I really could, I couldn't find

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Speaker 1: anybody that looked like us, uh in that space. So

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's it's the old old adage

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Speaker 1: of sometimes instead of looking above, you gotta you gotta

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Speaker 1: look lateral, and uh, you really just kind of linked

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Speaker 1: up with the people around me that that that shipped

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Speaker 1: my my vision and and embrace my idea and we

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Speaker 1: just kind of linked up and pushed forward man, and

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Speaker 1: try to make as much noise until until the big

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Speaker 1: boys noticed. Yeah, and and and to that point, Um,

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Speaker 1: what did you learn specifically about finding success early? Or

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Speaker 1: maybe not early, you know, because I took it did

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Speaker 1: take some years to actually break through, Like, yeah, so

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Speaker 1: what did you learn about finding success that if you

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Speaker 1: look back fifteen years to that Jay Carter, that you

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Speaker 1: wish he would have known then because there are other

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Speaker 1: people who are trying to make it in this business

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Speaker 1: just like yourself, and likely a lot of that you

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Speaker 1: know learning maybe relatable to other industries. So what did

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Speaker 1: you learn? M ask A great question, man, I think, Um,

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Speaker 1: something that we don't do enough is I think we

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Speaker 1: we like finances. It's so taboo to us, right, and

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Speaker 1: we and we we keep information close, right if we

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Speaker 1: don't want to share it, somebody may steal it or

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean that the people we don't realize

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Speaker 1: is that like you're the sauce, you're you're you're the

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Speaker 1: secret sauce. So we have to learn how to kind

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Speaker 1: of be more vulnerable and open and talk about our plans,

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Speaker 1: our business and our ideas with with folks who can

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Speaker 1: potentially help us. It's not that I didn't do that.

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Speaker 1: Actually I did. That was the way we were able

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Speaker 1: to get off the ground. But what I did not

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Speaker 1: do I didn't ask anybody for financial assistance or help

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Speaker 1: on investment money. So you're saying that that was important

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Speaker 1: to ask for not just guidance on how to spend it.

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Speaker 1: Uh you know, there there's there's folks out there that

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Speaker 1: have the access to capital, h that not to get capital,

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Speaker 1: but a lot of times we we with projects that

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Speaker 1: were so passionate about what we say, you know, just

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Speaker 1: to get out of the way, I'll do it myself, right,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, like, you're not gonna go

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Speaker 1: about it with the same figure as as I or

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Speaker 1: the same care as I. Uh So I would just

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Speaker 1: kind of such into a zone. I was just all

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Speaker 1: about pushing forward where I probably should have stopped and said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I probably should raise a little bit

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Speaker 1: of capital and go into this with maybe some financial

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Speaker 1: qualments as well, because I mean it took years for

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Speaker 1: this thing to turn to profit and was it was

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Speaker 1: a passion project. It still is a passion project. But

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Speaker 1: it definitely was a passion project just because I felt

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Speaker 1: it was something that was needed and it was just

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Speaker 1: a huge void and just a programming of black music,

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Speaker 1: uh in the festival space. So probably should have looked

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Speaker 1: for financial partners and support earlier on. I may not.

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Speaker 1: I may have experienced fast growth, but I guess it's

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Speaker 1: all part of the story though that what was it

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Speaker 1: about that that took so long? Was it because you

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Speaker 1: wanted to keep more of it for yourself or you

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Speaker 1: just didn't know how to go about getting those partners?

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Speaker 1: It's that really, you know, And I think it's also

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Speaker 1: you know, with with with certain folks. I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: say it was. It was prideful, but and I just

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Speaker 1: had a conversation with someone earlier about that, Like sometimes

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Speaker 1: we find it difficult to ask people for money. There's

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Speaker 1: conventional money out there and there's you know, non traditional

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Speaker 1: money out there. But folks can can cool, you know,

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Speaker 1: invest in a certain amount of money and then just

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Speaker 1: being a part of the growth plan and they're not

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Speaker 1: looking for a quick return, and you know later on

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Speaker 1: that year that they are willing to to wait it out.

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Speaker 1: Three four, five, five years, uh, and or borrow money

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Speaker 1: the traditional way, uh, conventional way. So you know, I

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Speaker 1: ran into that probably about year four or five when

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Speaker 1: people started saying, you know, you know there's money out

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Speaker 1: there for for folks that's doing things like you. And

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Speaker 1: actually there's banks out there that have billions of dollars

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Speaker 1: set aside for like entertainment funds, adventures. Uh. You just

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Speaker 1: gotta have to you just have to know how to

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Speaker 1: get after it. So you know, it probably took about

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Speaker 1: five years for somebody really kind of helped me and

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Speaker 1: guide me through that process. But yeah, I want I

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Speaker 1: want to dig in there because it's such a key

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Speaker 1: on to to the point of both those being an issue.

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Speaker 1: One wanting to hold onto more of the pie so

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Speaker 1: that you can own it a number to not knowing

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Speaker 1: how to get the capital from the people who have it.

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Speaker 1: But I want to dig in on a couple of

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Speaker 1: things you said there. And being able to know how

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Speaker 1: to go reach those people is one thing, but having

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Speaker 1: what they need to believe that your thing is gonna

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Speaker 1: pop could be wholly different. Um in tech, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you're building an app, you know a lot of investors,

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Speaker 1: depending on at which stage they want to see, Okay, well,

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Speaker 1: how many people are using it? You know, how how

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Speaker 1: often are they coming back to use it in etcetera.

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Speaker 1: In the space of live event production, what success indicators

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Speaker 1: do you find investors are looking for to say, Okay,

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Speaker 1: Jake Hard is the guy we want to put some

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Speaker 1: fuel in the take versus you know Joe over here

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Speaker 1: who hasn't even started yet. Man, it's it's the car

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Speaker 1: in front of the horse, right, because they want to

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Speaker 1: see they want to see success. They want that's solely

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Speaker 1: about numbers, right. I mean if you go to a bank,

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Speaker 1: I mean the first thing they don't know is school,

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Speaker 1: how much collateral you got, you know what you got

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Speaker 1: in the bank? You know when when you do a

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Speaker 1: personal guarantee of this. So you have to have history, right.

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Speaker 1: So this was a concept and the idea that had

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Speaker 1: no history right when I first started. And then in

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Speaker 1: your earlier years it's kind of like you're not hitting

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Speaker 1: your financial numbers, right, So how do I take this

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Speaker 1: to a bank and say, I need you to believe

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Speaker 1: in me. Let me have a million dollars. So then

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Speaker 1: you would have to go probably the non traditional way

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Speaker 1: to find to find investors. But still and yet those

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Speaker 1: investors want to see your books, right, So it was

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Speaker 1: one of those things. It's not really that I want

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Speaker 1: more of the path for myself, but I have to

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Speaker 1: build a story that is proven in order to get

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Speaker 1: people to come on board or to invest in me.

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Speaker 1: So I almost have to invest everything that I have

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Speaker 1: in it for people to believe and see, Okay, this

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Speaker 1: is a this is a viable brand to to invest it.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I did not have the track record. I

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Speaker 1: ain't have the numbers and financial history to to really

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Speaker 1: ask folks for money unless you know they they believe

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Speaker 1: in in me, they believe in the concept and want

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Speaker 1: to come come along for the ride. Uh. But that's

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Speaker 1: that's that's a difficult that's a difficult thing to sell.

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Speaker 1: And so and so I've talked to a lot of

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Speaker 1: investors over the years, and and many of them, when

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Speaker 1: they make investments, they've communicated that they're often betting on

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Speaker 1: the horse, not the jockey, not the horse. So it's

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Speaker 1: if they're betting on that entrepreneur, not necessarily the product,

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Speaker 1: because so many times the product evolves and it changes

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Speaker 1: and it morson it becomes something else. But if they're

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Speaker 1: invested in Jay Carter. They believe Jake Carter is the

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Speaker 1: guy who's gonna figure it out no matter what the day,

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Speaker 1: end of the day product looks like. In your space?

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Speaker 1: What are they What are investors investing in? Are they

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Speaker 1: investing thing in just Jake Harter the person. Are they

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Speaker 1: investing in your contact book that you're gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to get to chains, the common that you're gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to get outcasts to show up, or you're gonna

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Speaker 1: be able to do this, or are they investing in

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Speaker 1: the idea we just need a conference here, we're looking

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Speaker 1: for somebody a festival here, and we're just looking for

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Speaker 1: somebody who's putting one on. What are they investing in? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a little bit of both.

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Speaker 1: So that's what people say that people invest in people.

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Speaker 1: They don't really invest in companies. I gotta believe in you,

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Speaker 1: so at this point they would be invested in me.

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Speaker 1: But but also they investing in the future, right, the

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Speaker 1: investing in the culture? We did thing now? Man, like

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Speaker 1: everybody want a piece of black culture, right, uh? They

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Speaker 1: and they got to figure out a way to reach

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Speaker 1: the people, the communities and talk to us um and

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Speaker 1: and how do I do that in a in an

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Speaker 1: authentic voice. So we are a truan thrue, authentic African

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Speaker 1: American black owned music festival. Right that that that through

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Speaker 1: our our marketing campaigns and media, uh could can can

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Speaker 1: reach a billion impressions a year. Um. So it's okay,

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Speaker 1: these these these folks have they got some legs. But

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Speaker 1: what's your plans? Are you guys expand to other cities?

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Speaker 1: Like what else are you all doing? Right? So? Um?

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Speaker 1: And that's we spent a lot of time during the

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Speaker 1: pandemic new doing is what's next? Right? Where are we

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Speaker 1: going next? The cities? I mean we uh we we

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Speaker 1: We launched our brand agency, a second brand agency, So

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Speaker 1: we were doing a lot of building during during the pandemic. Um.

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Speaker 1: And that's when investors want to see, Okay, I see

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Speaker 1: what your books look like for one festival. But you know,

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Speaker 1: if your capacities fifty thousand, where's to grow up fifty

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Speaker 1: thousand and fifty thousand? Right? And that's what we've been

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Speaker 1: putting together is the growth plan for a f and all.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, you mentioned it, which which I love the

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Speaker 1: concept of. You know, black people are the thing that

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Speaker 1: people are trying to find or take advantage of you

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Speaker 1: know that, um, that impact and so um. You're in Atlanta. Now,

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Speaker 1: you've been in Atlanta for a long time. But you're

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Speaker 1: from New York, right, And could you have done what

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Speaker 1: you're doing today as easily? Maybe it wasn't easy, but

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Speaker 1: as easily as you're doing it in Atlanta had you

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Speaker 1: stayed in New York, Like what unique value that being

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Speaker 1: in the South provide to you that you might not

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Speaker 1: have got anywhere else? I mean the short answers, Hell, Uh,

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Speaker 1: Atlanta is special. Atlanta is a special place. And you

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Speaker 1: know I worn to raise in Halem and you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure even counted more than enough New York people.

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Speaker 1: Uh either we rubbed you the wrong way or or

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Speaker 1: you love us to death. Um. But you know, folks

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Speaker 1: from New York, man, you know they they think that's

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Speaker 1: the percent of the world. Uh, and some some some

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Speaker 1: aspects it is. But I'm gonna tell you Atlanta is special.

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Speaker 1: You can't travel anywhere in the world and say, you

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Speaker 1: know what this place feels like a man? That the

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Speaker 1: hell it does? I mean from your black mayors, your

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Speaker 1: black chief leads to the fire department. I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: a black a black Man brought the Olympics to you know,

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Speaker 1: put Atlanta on on the world map and nineteen you know,

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Speaker 1: n six. You know, it was a team of folks

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Speaker 1: that look like like us. And when we moved throughout

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Speaker 1: the city and look at the business owners and entrepreneurs

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Speaker 1: and and and the city councilman. Uh, you know, I

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Speaker 1: don't care if you're in the you know, in in

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Speaker 1: in the throes and in in in the back of

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Speaker 1: the restaurant's tome, to the bus boy or the person

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Speaker 1: who actually owns the entire building. A lot of them

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Speaker 1: are black, you know. Uh. So I just say it's

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Speaker 1: it's a special place and where if you are within

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Speaker 1: the right circles, everyone that you need is a call

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Speaker 1: into a way, right, Um, could I could? I could?

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Speaker 1: I have schedule to sit down with the mayor. In

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Speaker 1: New York it's been tough. Probably not, it's a hard

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Speaker 1: lot harder, amt hard? I'm sure you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: In Atlanta, we can go off for drinks. Right, It's

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Speaker 1: just a different it's a different it's a different beast man. Um.

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Speaker 1: So maybe it could have gotten done in in New York,

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Speaker 1: but I think Atlanta as far as the culture embracing ideas,

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Speaker 1: especially around music and culture of fashion and art, like

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Speaker 1: Atlanta is hungry for it, man, um, and uh, you

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Speaker 1: know it's it's it turned the pandemic ship Atlanta turned

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Speaker 1: into its can cool man, everybody's coming to Atlanta. Atlanta

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Speaker 1: was wide open, just in the clubs. And it's just

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Speaker 1: a social spot and and and and despite what they're

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Speaker 1: having the news, it is a safe place for black

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Speaker 1: folks to thrive and grow, find find who they are,

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Speaker 1: and develop and launch ideas you mentioned COVID, And I wonder,

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Speaker 1: like I do, believe every crisis presents opportunities that we

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Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have foresaw otherwise. Um, what did this pandemic

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Speaker 1: provide to the events space that otherwise you wouldn't even

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Speaker 1: be considering? I told told the team, I said, this

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Speaker 1: pandemic will expose your weaknesses. It will expose the things

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Speaker 1: that you should have been paying attention to that now

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Speaker 1: you're forced to pay attention to. All Right, for years,

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Speaker 1: we have been talking about streaming, developing digital platforms, uh,

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Speaker 1: for years, And I will get to it, right, We'll

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Speaker 1: figure out all right, We're good, We're good at all

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Speaker 1: the alive events we're doing to pop in and moving uh.

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Speaker 1: And then it was like, oh, you just got punched

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Speaker 1: in the face. As I sit down, slow down a

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Speaker 1: little bit and uh and show up in your tools

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Speaker 1: and figure out other components and aspects of your business.

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Speaker 1: I think it made us hone in on tightening up

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Speaker 1: our quote unquote system internally. It made us get creative

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Speaker 1: in ways that we should have gotten created with earlier.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we launched a a virtual festival event during

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Speaker 1: COVID that it's actually doing the streaming well and now

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Speaker 1: it's going to turn into a live event in UM

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Speaker 1: and properly called at the crypt Fest. You've had everybody

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Speaker 1: from Toby we we too are we Lenox to Roe

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Speaker 1: James a lucky day. I mean, it was incredible. We

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Speaker 1: tached one of our brand partners to it, uh and

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Speaker 1: it's one of their leading digital platform that they used

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Speaker 1: to kind of you know, reach the reach a black community.

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Speaker 1: And the other part of that conversation we said it's

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Speaker 1: it's gonna expose our weaknesses, but I also said that

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Speaker 1: the creatives will be the ones that's gonna win during

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Speaker 1: the spand people that can kind of think outside of

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Speaker 1: the box and do some different ships. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to somethin Yeah, and and to that point, you know,

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Speaker 1: how do you imagine UM technologies like virtual reality and

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Speaker 1: augmented reality UM might create unique opportunities for black festivals

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Speaker 1: going forward. I mean the numbers are arising on the

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Speaker 1: you know, the headsets. I listen all that stuff and

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Speaker 1: VR UM, because that's something you're paying a lot of

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Speaker 1: attention to these days, or is it? You don't may

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Speaker 1: be anticipated to be disruptive in like the near term.

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Speaker 1: I mean, between you and I, we filed you know,

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Speaker 1: nineteen and three six TVR, right, so we filmed it

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Speaker 1: on regular camera, but we also filmed it in three

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Speaker 1: six TV. You can't find any hip content in three SVR,

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Speaker 1: but we got it. You know, you can't find glocy

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Speaker 1: Man on three six TV. You can't find a three

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Speaker 1: six Mafia union, you know on three six TV. But

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Speaker 1: but um, but we got it. UM. So we we

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Speaker 1: we have been interested in that space for for a while. UM,

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Speaker 1: but we're not buying the harder it, man. That's the thing,

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Speaker 1: you know, we I don't know how many friends you

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Speaker 1: got that that looked like us? You roll the crab

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Speaker 1: when you see you know, VR headsets just laying around.

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Speaker 1: I have it, but not a lot of friends, Yeah yeah,

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Speaker 1: or consuming that kind of content. Uh So, I think

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Speaker 1: the it's kind of like the people have to catch

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Speaker 1: up to the technology. But if you're building a database

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Speaker 1: of this kind of content and information, it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: worse something. Yeah, let let's let's go in there. Because

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Speaker 1: I wonder how much should you people and people in

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Speaker 1: your shoes, particularly black folks who are looking to capitalize

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Speaker 1: on the long term of these opportunities. How much should

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Speaker 1: we be paying attention to something that might be nacent

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Speaker 1: today but will tomorrow be humongous Because I think if

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Speaker 1: you think about to your point, if you were doing this,

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Speaker 1: you got twenty nineteen Gucci, Main and VR, and you've

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Speaker 1: got three sixty degree VR, that's gonna be worth something.

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Speaker 1: You know after a period of time. It's worth something today,

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Speaker 1: but you know in the grand scheme, this is something

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Speaker 1: nobody else has um and that's a moment in time

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Speaker 1: that you can't replicate, right, And so how how should

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Speaker 1: we be thinking about the opportunities that will be that

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Speaker 1: are available now but will be valuable going forward as

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Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs and innovators. Yeah, and and we we have

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Speaker 1: to get better at doing that as well. I mean

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Speaker 1: a lot of times we look for a quick hit,

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Speaker 1: um rather than the ten, the five, ten, fifteen year

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Speaker 1: plan um. But we we got to look at what's

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Speaker 1: coming and get in front of that wave because we

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Speaker 1: already create the culture. We already create all the cool

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Speaker 1: ship you know. I mean they used to laugh at

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Speaker 1: us when we put TVs in our car and and

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Speaker 1: and in twenty one rams. You know what I'm saying

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Speaker 1: that everything comes that way? Yeah, do you do you

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Speaker 1: want the luxury package? Do you want the package with

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Speaker 1: the TVs and alloys? Right? Right right? And doing that? Man?

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Speaker 1: But we just we have the ideas, we have the creativities,

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Speaker 1: but we got to figure out how to how to

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Speaker 1: own it right, how to get get get in front

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Speaker 1: of the wave that's coming. So it is understanding business,

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Speaker 1: the fundamentals of business, and and and positioning yourself to win,

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Speaker 1: you know. So how do you do that? That's a

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Speaker 1: great question, man, um. But but it's I mean stay

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Speaker 1: I mean staying abreast on on technology, what's coming down

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Speaker 1: the pipeline. I mean we all called Elon must insane,

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Speaker 1: you know, but uh, I mean he's he's thinking twenty

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Speaker 1: years down the road into the future, man um and

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Speaker 1: so and and sometimes you don't have to own it.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you just want to buy a little piece of it,

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Speaker 1: you know. Uh So, read the digest, read the the

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Speaker 1: the technology digestive of what's coming to see who's invested

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Speaker 1: in what, and a lot of times, just just being

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Speaker 1: close to the conversation, we'll help you win, right Like

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's Elon ain't in the business of losing.

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Speaker 1: Folks like Jay z ain't into the business of losing.

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Speaker 1: You know, what is he building out? What does he

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Speaker 1: invested his money into? You know, three thousand dollars at

393
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Speaker 1: the club, take your three thousand dollars man and investing

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Speaker 1: into that cannabis company that that that he just launched.

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Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, We're not just launched, but

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Speaker 1: you know, align yourself with with with with forward thinking

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Speaker 1: folks that are that are used to win it. Entrepreneurs

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00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,600
Speaker 1: often dabbled their way to finding their success, even if

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Speaker 1: they aren't intentionally dabbling there, they're trying things, hoping, hoping

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Speaker 1: that the thing that they're working on is the thing

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00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,200
Speaker 1: that makes it right. And your journey includes things like

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Speaker 1: you know, putting on these dj you know, many DJ festivals,

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Speaker 1: gathering DJs from different backgrounds and music verticals, and UM,

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Speaker 1: that's what soul Fusion was, correct, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: soul Fusion and UM even the early days of you know,

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Speaker 1: you're doing UH music, live music promotions, and I wonder,

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Speaker 1: even with none of those being the thing that you

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Speaker 1: ultimately did, how did you know early that the one

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Speaker 1: music fest was the thing that while it didn't have

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Speaker 1: wild early successes, you knew that this was the thing

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Speaker 1: that you should be doing longer term versus the other

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Speaker 1: things that you were trying to make work over a

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Speaker 1: longer period of time, and ultimately you kept you figured

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Speaker 1: out that it wasn't it. How did you know to

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Speaker 1: keep going here? Growth growth UH and listening to the

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Speaker 1: audience UM every year, group every year, for for for

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Speaker 1: ten years, it just the attendance group UM. More sponsors

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Speaker 1: and brands are knocking on the door looking to get involved. UM.

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Speaker 1: And then also just you know, you got to audit

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Speaker 1: your audience as well, man, you know, and getting the

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00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: feedback and listening to them it we automatically knew that

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Speaker 1: we had something different and something that's special. UM. And

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00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,480
Speaker 1: so everyone's trying to get into Atlanta. So if you

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Speaker 1: can build this, because if we didn't build it, somebody

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Speaker 1: from another city would have came in and just dropped

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Speaker 1: a black vessel right in the middle up plan right.

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Speaker 1: And I've seen it happens far too much where we're

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Speaker 1: outside businesses and forces come in and then they just

429
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: buy a Atlanta, eat it up, and they spit it

430
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: out and move on. So I said, well, you know what,

431
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: we need to have something home based here that is

432
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,560
Speaker 1: it's ours. But the doors of the church are over.

433
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,680
Speaker 1: Everyone's invited, you know what I'm saying, But have but

434
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,399
Speaker 1: have it based and rooted in Atlanta and Atlanta culture.

435
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: I mean when we first started it, man, I would

436
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: say the first three four years, every year the numbers

437
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 1: were double. Right, we get more media hits, we get

438
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: some bigger artists, biggest sponsor will come on board. It

439
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 1: was still wasn't turning the profit, but it was the growth.

440
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: I mean just looking at the steady line of growth.

441
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: Because I was about to quit. I mean, I tell

442
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 1: the story a lot. I seriously was about to quit

443
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,520
Speaker 1: after two fourth team. You took a big hit um,

444
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 1: but we spent more on artists, and we've ever done.

445
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 1: We moved into a bigger venue. The expenses look crazy. Okay,

446
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:20,119
Speaker 1: I just like, what this is insane? And we we

447
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 1: rolled the dice. Man it was I felt like a

448
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: great event, but it lost money man um. But it

449
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 1: was my wife that that really kind of grounded me.

450
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:32,960
Speaker 1: And she just said, look, you know you can look

451
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:34,719
Speaker 1: at it as a loss, so you can look at

452
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 1: it as an investment, all right, that money that you lost.

453
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 1: Look at that as you putting that money into building

454
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: this um. You put too much into it as far

455
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: and and and the numbers are shown the growth at me,

456
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 1: it's there. So she was like, I wouldn't quit right now.

457
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 1: I think you should keep going ship. Yeah, ain't you

458
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,320
Speaker 1: got the house knows that's such a valid point. And

459
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,720
Speaker 1: and this is I'm opposes as a comment first, but

460
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: then I'm I'm gonna throw up to you as a question.

461
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: I would I would imagine, you know, because I've done this.

462
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,400
Speaker 1: You know, I've I've looked at things that I've dealt

463
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 1: with in my history trying to build my thing. And

464
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a very irregular journal er, like I'll

465
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: write things down like what I'm going through in my life,

466
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: on my entrepreneurial journey. And then I look back six months,

467
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: a year or two years later, and I'm like, I

468
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 1: was dealing with that and that was frustrating. That little

469
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 1: thing was frustrating, But at the time it was the

470
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,960
Speaker 1: biggest thing in the world. And I would imagine, just

471
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,719
Speaker 1: based on what you just said, the expenses were crazy

472
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: back in two if if you had those problems now,

473
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: they would be small, fright problems, I would imagine, Right,

474
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 1: that's real, that is real. Yeah, you gotta you gotta

475
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: push through, man, Sometimes you just gotta push through. Uh.

476
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,160
Speaker 1: And light is right on the other side of that struggle,

477
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 1: on the other side of that door. And that next

478
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: year was a year we flipped and and turn the

479
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 1: profit and then look back since so so I would

480
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 1: bet you would take expenses that you thought were humongous

481
00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,679
Speaker 1: at the time and today I would. I'd embrace the man.

482
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,359
Speaker 1: I would embrace it over and on. Man, I wish

483
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:21,120
Speaker 1: so hey, it's uh, but that's and that's the nature

484
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 1: of the festival business too, man, that you get caught

485
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: up in Man's it's continuous growth. So with that, of course,

486
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,480
Speaker 1: your your your risk. It's more risk it's more expenses,

487
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: but yeah, you don't know once you see be the

488
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 1: same every year. It's like what's especially with all these

489
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: new festivals kind of popping up and then you just

490
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,719
Speaker 1: gotta keep refreshing it. Yeah, And to your to your

491
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: point about you know, continuing to push and continuing to

492
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: get better and etcetera. Out I'm gonna ask you to

493
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: put on your motivational hat for a second, because you know,

494
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: just in having the challenges of being an entrepreneur, to

495
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 1: your point of you always got to be pushing those expenses.

496
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: We're massive for that day, for that step in your journey.

497
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: And I would imagine your expenses today are in the

498
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 1: step massive in the step of your journey. And if

499
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 1: you think about it, it never really gets easier, like

500
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: you're always leveling up and you're always being challenged. And

501
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: do you think too many of us look for the

502
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: day where this is nothing like I can write that

503
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 1: check easy. And if you get to that place, are

504
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: you in the wrong place or should it always be challenging.

505
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: That's where you find growth and in the challenges. And

506
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 1: I tell my sons that man I said, if it's

507
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: too easy for you and what you're doing it, you know,

508
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: I mean you want to be challenged. I think I

509
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: think going through a little bit of struggle is where

510
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,040
Speaker 1: you is, where you truly truly learned. Now, do I

511
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 1: think life should be tough? No, I'm not saying that, um,

512
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 1: but I think the moment, the moment it gets too

513
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: easy typically is a moment things get snatched away for

514
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: some reason in life. You're not really going to know

515
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 1: what you're what you're made of, or what you're able

516
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: to accomplish if you don't just just just try something new.

517
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: I mean, there was a quote I saw the other day.

518
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, courage or bravery. I think it

519
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,719
Speaker 1: says is understanding that it's it's okay to suck at

520
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: something because the first time you do anything, you're not

521
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 1: going to do it well. Right, So you gotta be

522
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:33,960
Speaker 1: okay with sucking at something in order to get good

523
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: at something. Right. But but once you get to that

524
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: one level and it does start getting easy, right, it's

525
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 1: time to go to the next level where you're gonna

526
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: suck again. Right, that's right? Yeah. So but the one

527
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: the one music fest model is unity through music and

528
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,560
Speaker 1: which implies, you know, on on its face that you're

529
00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 1: working to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and

530
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 1: etcetera to all have you know, a good time, sit

531
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: on this wavelength of happiness and you know, and cultural

532
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: impact through music. And far too often people don't believe

533
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: that we can do it for everybody, that we can

534
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: do them, that we can serve the mass market. And

535
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,120
Speaker 1: what is it that you are very conscious to do

536
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: inside your daily work, your you know, current career objective

537
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:31,479
Speaker 1: to be intentional at making your festival welcoming to all

538
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: people so that it is mass market and culturally impactful

539
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: across backgrounds. From day one, that was our model was

540
00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: union through through music. And initially it was I guess

541
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 1: being from me as a child, I listened to everything

542
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: man like you know, I was listening to to rock, house,

543
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,479
Speaker 1: hip hop. Uh. I was just exposed to a lot

544
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: of different different music. And then and move into around

545
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, what I saw was, you know, it'd be

546
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 1: white night at this club on Friday, and it's Black

547
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: Night on on Saturday, and then it's it's Asian on

548
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 1: on on Sunday, and then this club play trap music

549
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: and then this club only played house, you know, and

550
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,000
Speaker 1: sometimes you would move into these different little pockets and

551
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 1: you'll see about five of the same people that kind

552
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: of know how to float and bouncing and out of

553
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: different different spaces. And then I was like, you know what, man,

554
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,960
Speaker 1: But you know, if if I know, if I took

555
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,880
Speaker 1: any one of these, you know, this white guy, this

556
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: white girl's phone and went through the playlist, I bet

557
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:48,080
Speaker 1: you it probably would be about overlap in some of

558
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: the music we listen to, but we'd like to listen

559
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: to it in our own pockets and spaces, right, So

560
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,520
Speaker 1: I said, well, let me try this first in the black, right.

561
00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 1: Let me take the people that just listen to trap

562
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 1: music and people that just listen to so wool it.

563
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 1: Let me put all these artists together, all right, and

564
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: and see and just see what happens. Because I do

565
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: think there's there's wealth and power that comes to us

566
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 1: all connected and uniting. Right. Um, you know, call it kumbaya,

567
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 1: call it you know some some uh some hippie mentality.

568
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: But I said, you know what, you know, I think this,

569
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: this will work. I think the same. I mean, help, jeez,

570
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,959
Speaker 1: listen to sand you know what I'm saying. I mean,

571
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 1: you know, there was a group called Quadrant I don't

572
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: know if you google uh out of Belgium having back

573
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 1: in two thousand thirteen, I think Quadra white soul group.

574
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: M think, yeah, I had, I had, I had Joey Badass, right,

575
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,760
Speaker 1: And I walked into the trailer of Quadrant because it

576
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 1: was about to hit the stage. I see, I see

577
00:33:54,640 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 1: Joey in it. What I said, A name vinal each

578
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: other taking pictures, and I said, what you know about Quadrant?

579
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: So he was him on this Belgium soul band, right,

580
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,800
Speaker 1: and she was a fan of Joey Badass. This this

581
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,320
Speaker 1: eighteen year old kid out of Brooklyn, right, But you

582
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 1: would have never known that, right, just just from outside

583
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,440
Speaker 1: looking in. So I was like, well, now I get it.

584
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: I get it. Like music is one of the main

585
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:28,240
Speaker 1: things that kind of brings folks together. Uh So instead

586
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 1: of it always been the white man letting us come

587
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 1: play in his house, I said, all this this this,

588
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 1: this this the black house, Alola, welcome to kick it.

589
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 1: But but understand this is this is about black culture.

590
00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,839
Speaker 1: But sure invited too, you know, just you know white

591
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 1: the shereet at the door and then the act of

592
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: corse um. So you know that that has always been

593
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 1: our mission and even without kind of just shoving it

594
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 1: down people's throats. Uh, don't even have to talk about

595
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 1: it no more. It's it's almost accepted and known. Right, Like, Yo,

596
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:02,840
Speaker 1: you gotta want to miss festival, it's gonna be like this.

597
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 1: It's gonna be on some old HBCU Homecome and meet

598
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 1: your woodstop. That's that's what you're gonna get. And and

599
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 1: to this day, you know, not knock on wood. We

600
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: we've never had any intense love it. Yeah. Um, I

601
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: am a very intentional app delet like I will delete

602
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,240
Speaker 1: an app like at the minute it no longer becomes

603
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: useful to me, right, And um, you spend some time

604
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,640
Speaker 1: over the past fews like building you know, native applications

605
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,799
Speaker 1: for your your festivals, and um, a lot of people

606
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time and a lot of money

607
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,960
Speaker 1: building apps that serve the purposes of that thing, that service,

608
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:50,040
Speaker 1: that particular service, that particular product. And I wonder, what

609
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: did you learn or what are you learning about how

610
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,319
Speaker 1: to keep people engaged and involved after the conference is over?

611
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 1: If I see anything you spend time thinking about a

612
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,800
Speaker 1: little bit, not not via the app though, but that

613
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 1: is a thought. I mean, it would be great if

614
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: we could keep folks engage through through the app and

615
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 1: we may try to mean, hell, we don't paid for

616
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: it at this point, right, Um, but we we have

617
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,240
Speaker 1: other programming that we do all throughout the year. Um. Again,

618
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 1: we were a brand agency first and One Music Fest

619
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,680
Speaker 1: was actually an activation we created for a brand and

620
00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,440
Speaker 1: it just turned into a monster of its own. Uh

621
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:30,800
Speaker 1: So through the brands that we worked with, we do

622
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 1: create culturally engaging events and activation both throughout the year.

623
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: So um, we probably do at least twenty events throughout

624
00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 1: the year, but one Music Fest is just the biggest one.

625
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 1: Just because you're winning externally doesn't always mean you're winning internally.

626
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: And I was reading this interview you did some years

627
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: ago and you and you were looking back, um at

628
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,360
Speaker 1: the event that you did, and there was the article

629
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: talked about it had like more than people there, an

630
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 1: impressive number. And but you said in an interview, we

631
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 1: took it on the chin that year. Um, we took

632
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:09,439
Speaker 1: it on the chin for five years actually. But that's

633
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:12,800
Speaker 1: some advice that we got from the folks at Bonarue, like,

634
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 1: if you can just survive for five years, you might

635
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: see daylight. Another person told you if you don't have

636
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,160
Speaker 1: two million dollars in the bank to lose. Don't do it.

637
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 1: And you did not have two million dollars in the

638
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 1: bank to lose. Looking back, how were you holding on

639
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:32,359
Speaker 1: to some stitch of thread to keep from falling? Because

640
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 1: there's so many entrepreneurs who get into industries, particularly tech,

641
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:41,160
Speaker 1: you know, trying to build technology, build events, build you know,

642
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:43,360
Speaker 1: activations or whatever it is that they're trying to do,

643
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,360
Speaker 1: and they see this mountain in front of them. And

644
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 1: it may be lofty goals that they have, but if

645
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: the expenses are mounting, the challenges are mounting, people aren't

646
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 1: signing up as fast. Externally things look fine, they look

647
00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 1: like the man they you know, on the cover of

648
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: the magazines and what ever, right, and but internally they

649
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: see the issues that plague their business. What it What

650
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 1: was it that you were doing that allowed you to

651
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: hold onto the threat, to see this thing through to

652
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 1: the other side to where its actually becoming viable. Mhm.

653
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 1: That's a great question, man. It's just me a resolute man, uh,

654
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: and persevering through. I guess the defeat is really when

655
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 1: you just give up. I mean, we took it on

656
00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 1: the chin, but that was round one, I got a

657
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,759
Speaker 1: whole lot more rounds to fight. So you know, it

658
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 1: was a learning experience. I think, where if I knew

659
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 1: what I know now ten years ago, but we all

660
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,839
Speaker 1: said that, I mean as parents, as as adults, we say,

661
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 1: if I knew what I knew now then, but I

662
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: knew that then, I just said, Hey, I'm still learning

663
00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 1: this thing. Yeah, I don't have a mentor on this thing.

664
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 1: I got a bunch of folks around me that believe

665
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,560
Speaker 1: me and believe in the concept. Uh, and I'm not

666
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 1: gonna give up on this thing, right. So I had

667
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,520
Speaker 1: so much more to learn that I would be doing

668
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,799
Speaker 1: myself an injustice if I just stopped, right Because I learned.

669
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 1: I learned enough by by by the losses. I knew

670
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:13,239
Speaker 1: what I wanted this thing to become and be. I

671
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: didn't have room to stop, honestly, even after taking on

672
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: the chain yet one it was never It wasn't an

673
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 1: inkling of thought to be like, I ain't doing this

674
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: ship again. It was like, all right, how are we

675
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 1: gonna do this next ship? We're gonna take this, how

676
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 1: we're gonna grow this bad boy? You know? I mean,

677
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,279
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you if fourteen was the years like

678
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 1: I don't know. But but prior to that, I was like, nah,

679
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 1: man uh, it's there's too much possibility for this thing

680
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:47,360
Speaker 1: for me to pull out. Now, Man, I saw it.

681
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: I saw I saw the long term goals. Then I

682
00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:54,960
Speaker 1: think I would end up here maybe, but I saw

683
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:57,520
Speaker 1: a long term goal of the brand and what if

684
00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:00,719
Speaker 1: you mean to black culture and just said, man the job.

685
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Black of

686
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 1: the Afro Tech, Black Effect podcast Network and IR Media,

687
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,280
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Morgan Dubonne and me Well Lucas.

688
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,680
Speaker 1: Listen to production support by love Visha Ma Rissa Lewis.

689
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,280
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis since the Carl Savon

690
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 1: jan you know like the wine. Yes that's his real name.

691
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech disrupts and

692
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,239
Speaker 1: innovatives at afro tech dot com. The video version of

693
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,320
Speaker 1: this episode will drop the Black Tech Green Money on

694
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: YouTube next week. So tap in did joining Black Tech

695
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 1: Green Money leave us five stars on iTunes? Go get

696
00:40:54,120 --> 00:41:02,240
Speaker 1: your money, peace and love. Dodd