Speaker 1: Welcome back to all the smoke.
Speaker 2: We're here at the Beautiful Win Hotel, at the Excess Nightclub. Man,
Speaker 2: we got a really good guest. I've been chasing this
Speaker 2: guy down for a long time, but it's rare in
Speaker 2: this business, in this game to meet real, genuine good people.
Speaker 2: And this dude that we have here today is at
Speaker 2: the head of the class when it comes to that.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show, Rich Climbens.
Speaker 3: My man.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, Bro, appreciate you. Thank you for coming.
Speaker 2: Co founder of Boardroom, thirty five ventures, serial entrepreneur, just
Speaker 2: a really head smart business monster. We gotta do something together, Bro, sure,
Speaker 2: something something. How's life right now? Obviously out here for
Speaker 2: some of league, you guys are doing boardroom stuff. You
Speaker 2: guys have a party tonight. Yeah, what's going on?
Speaker 3: Life is good, man.
Speaker 4: I'm enjoying what I do, which I think is like
Speaker 4: the biggest blessing for all of us. I got an
Speaker 4: event out here tonight celebrating.
Speaker 3: The WNBA Boardroom.
Speaker 4: Coinbase hosting it with Jewel Lloyd, Sabrina and Escu and
Speaker 4: Sue Byrd And you know, for me, it's just about
Speaker 4: extending the brand. Kevin and I started together and helping
Speaker 4: formulate what his business was going to be and starting
Speaker 4: to set the foundation for the rest of his life.
Speaker 4: And that meant building him a family office, and that's
Speaker 4: what thirty five Ventures was.
Speaker 3: But as we were building.
Speaker 4: It, there was this void for a storytelling vehicle to
Speaker 4: tell the world what we were doing, but also something
Speaker 4: that embodied the two of us in our partnership and
Speaker 4: the uniqueness of it.
Speaker 3: And that's kind of what Boardroom was from the beginning.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we're going to get to Boardroom in a little bit.
Speaker 2: Thoughts on the New Look Suns. You were able to
Speaker 2: acquire Bradley Beal, him Katie book building a supporting cast still,
Speaker 2: but you know, what are the.
Speaker 1: What's the vib over there? What's look alike?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean, well I didn't acquire Bradley Beal, but.
Speaker 1: KD did, so you're a part of KD.
Speaker 3: But I'm happy for him, man.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think that's been our journey the last
Speaker 4: ten years is you know, I haven't repped other players,
Speaker 4: so our business, in our life and everything was very
Speaker 4: much a mess with one another.
Speaker 3: And the one thing that I.
Speaker 4: Always clearly defer to was his vision with basketball and
Speaker 4: the same thing happened in the Hamptons when we were
Speaker 4: sitting there choosing the team to leave Thunder to go
Speaker 4: play for the Warriors, and as he looked at New
Speaker 4: York and looked at other options. It's always been about,
Speaker 4: like me, understanding his point of view and supporting it
Speaker 4: and then going and helping him execute it. And he's happy.
Speaker 4: And if he's happy, you know, it's infectious. When he's happy,
Speaker 4: everyone in our organization's happy. And I just, you know,
Speaker 4: you guys, I'm sure feel the same way. I just
Speaker 4: want Kevin to win. I want him to be successful,
Speaker 4: and I think he's in a really good place right now.
Speaker 1: Love it.
Speaker 5: When did the wheels start to turn when you started
Speaker 5: thirty five inchant? And what was the goals for Katie
Speaker 5: early on? Two questions.
Speaker 4: I guess, well, the wheels for me probably started turning
Speaker 4: from the time I was like a kid in New York.
Speaker 4: I've been obsessed with sports culture, hip hop culture. I
Speaker 4: grew up in New York in the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 4: so I watched it explode and I was a fan.
Speaker 4: I observed it, and you know, I took many steps
Speaker 4: to get there, but by the time I was able
Speaker 4: to meet Kevin, and I was at a point in
Speaker 4: my career at Rock Nation where I had such great
Speaker 4: information from watching Jay, from watching the way they built
Speaker 4: their business, and even from before I got to Jay
Speaker 4: being an entrepreneur at nineteen twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: Just hustling all of those experiences put me in.
Speaker 4: A position where, in my opinion, I became the perfect
Speaker 4: partner for Kevin. And what that meant was he was
Speaker 4: at a place in his career where he was like,
Speaker 4: I want to do less and.
Speaker 3: I want to accomplish more.
Speaker 4: I have commercials on where I'm twelve feet tall, and
Speaker 4: that's not who I am, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And I think a lot of young athletes find themselves
Speaker 4: sometimes in the beginning of their career doing things that
Speaker 4: just part of the system.
Speaker 3: But Kevin all of a sudden looked at me and
Speaker 3: was like, what more can we do?
Speaker 4: And I came from hip hop, where like you're always
Speaker 4: making something out of nothing. You know, if you're an
Speaker 4: artist building your brand, you're doing it from day one
Speaker 4: with no fans. You have to put out a mixtape,
Speaker 4: you have to get your neighborhood behind you. So I
Speaker 4: understood how to like turn down money to make money
Speaker 4: later on, or to build community and fan base and
Speaker 4: build brand and it'll ultimately come with money down the road.
Speaker 4: And Kevin was down with that because he wanted to build.
Speaker 4: And he marveled at the jay Z's of the world
Speaker 4: and the Doctor Dres as well, that imprint that you know,
Speaker 4: hip hop informed.
Speaker 3: Then obviously Lebron.
Speaker 4: Had started to put like the most like meticulous set
Speaker 4: up in front of him and all that was really
Speaker 4: inspiring for us.
Speaker 1: How did you and Kevin meet?
Speaker 2: Because obviously being professional athletes, there are always a bunch
Speaker 2: of people in the business world, but it's hard to
Speaker 2: kind of find the right fit. And once you guys
Speaker 2: locked in, you guys have been hand in hand ever since.
Speaker 1: So how did that relationship start?
Speaker 3: I met him?
Speaker 4: Crazy story was I met I was managing LA I
Speaker 4: used to be a music manager, wile Meek Mills, Solange,
Speaker 4: no Id.
Speaker 3: I had a handful of artist at the.
Speaker 4: Time and wile A's from DC, Maryland, Virginia area, same
Speaker 4: as KD and jay Z had a show at the Garden.
Speaker 4: He was like, Katie's in town and wants to go
Speaker 4: to the j show. You should meet up with him.
Speaker 4: I'm a hoop fan, so even though Katie's ten years
Speaker 4: younger than me, like this is the Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 4: He was in town to get the Rookie of the
Speaker 4: Year trophy. So I met him, took him to the show.
Speaker 4: And I've said this before, but one of the things
Speaker 4: I marveled at, and I'm sure you guys can relate
Speaker 4: this knowing KD the way you do is I think
Speaker 4: Jay or his manager, had said, Yo, bring Ka back
Speaker 4: to the dressing room after the show, and he was like,
Speaker 4: I'm yo, I'm not even ready to meet Jay yet,
Speaker 4: Like I have more to do, and like what eighteen
Speaker 4: year old will even have that thought process, right, He
Speaker 4: was just like it's not time.
Speaker 3: And we stayed in touch, like.
Speaker 4: We talked ball and again, like looking back on it,
Speaker 4: obviously that's what Kevin loves to do, so me having
Speaker 4: that outlet to just build a relationship with him talking basketball.
Speaker 4: By the time it came to us at Rock Nation
Speaker 4: looking to get in the sports world and Kevin at
Speaker 4: a point in his career where he was looking at
Speaker 4: something different, it was timing and I think every great
Speaker 4: partnership and I've really explored this, like I've talked to
Speaker 4: Jimmy and Dre about this and really tried to dissect,
Speaker 4: like what makes a partnership works, Like why are the
Speaker 4: two of you so perfect together?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 4: It's like something that you have that you don't have
Speaker 4: as well. Jack makes up for you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 4: And there's something that balances KD and I out that
Speaker 4: allows us to succeed on this level. And then rooted
Speaker 4: is just just like inherent trust that we have one another.
Speaker 1: That's the most important.
Speaker 2: Describe the journey for you guys, Like you said, you've
Speaker 2: been there since the beginning. There's been a lot of ups,
Speaker 2: there's been downs, there's been media situations, there's been championships.
Speaker 2: How do you, guys, or how do you kind of
Speaker 2: keep it even keeled? And how much does he lean
Speaker 2: on you when things are going whether good or bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think we lean on each other.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, we also have such great perspective.
Speaker 4: No matter how crazy certain things have appeared or the
Speaker 4: narrative has appeared throughout the last decade, the joke was
Speaker 4: always we were at home kind of laughing at it,
Speaker 4: even when it was like, shit, I wish this didn't
Speaker 4: happen right, or I didn't know what was going to
Speaker 4: happen like this. It was still with a little bit
Speaker 4: of an understanding of how blessed he was to be
Speaker 4: in the situation.
Speaker 3: And Kevin really does have that mindset.
Speaker 4: And there were times where like it was insane, especially
Speaker 4: as social media was growing and it was new, it
Speaker 4: was almost new to.
Speaker 3: See some of these reactions.
Speaker 4: And I think we've talked about this, like even after
Speaker 4: he left Oklahoma to the Bay, I mean, I think
Speaker 4: we all knew that there would be.
Speaker 3: Pushback.
Speaker 4: We all knew that the fans would be emotional. But
Speaker 4: I think that was like an inflection point in sports
Speaker 4: media as well where it went like really dark, it
Speaker 4: went really visceral, where like after that happened, people were
Speaker 4: like coming for his head and he could have reacted
Speaker 4: like with his fist up, or he could have reacted
Speaker 4: like I just gonna go hoop, right, and he just
Speaker 4: was like, let me just go hoop. And I know,
Speaker 4: if I continue to put the work in, these things
Speaker 4: will be distracted, won't be a distraction, and we'll keep
Speaker 4: it moving. And that's kind of how we've approached all
Speaker 4: of it.
Speaker 2: That's the great escape for him that two and a
Speaker 2: half hours to get out and be one of the
Speaker 2: greatest to ever do it is always a great escape.
Speaker 2: The Hampton Five we had a chance to talk to Draymond,
Speaker 2: Steph and Clay how that went down.
Speaker 1: What is your version of it?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, looking back on it, it was
Speaker 4: like such a spectacle, like it was so over the
Speaker 4: top to have like a house in East Hampton and
Speaker 4: having like pat Riley and Greg Popovich and Steph and
Speaker 4: Tom Brady flying in.
Speaker 3: But then the flip side is it's like makes for.
Speaker 4: An incredible moment and an incredible story in our careers.
Speaker 4: The backstory though, is I was going through some shit
Speaker 4: in my own family life and to show you how
Speaker 4: selfless Kevin is, this was his moment and I was like, bro,
Speaker 4: I have to be in New York, Like, I have
Speaker 4: to be close to New York. Some shit's going on
Speaker 4: with my family. And he was like, well, then we're
Speaker 4: doing it near your family, And that was it. I
Speaker 4: knew I went out to find the best scenario for
Speaker 4: getting him some kind of peace of mind, but also
Speaker 4: so he understood that if I wasn't close enough and
Speaker 4: had that balance to take care of what I needed
Speaker 4: to that I wouldn't have been locked in. And it
Speaker 4: really was like ten hours a day at the house
Speaker 4: in the Hampton's going through these just like insane meetings
Speaker 4: for like a young hoop fan growing up to be
Speaker 4: sitting across from pat Riley was wild. But then going
Speaker 4: home and dealing with something And that's who Katie is,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. That's the side of him
Speaker 4: he won't talk about, or the side of him that
Speaker 4: he doesn't have to talk about. But you know that
Speaker 4: moment right then, when he had every right to make
Speaker 4: it all about himself, he was just like, yo, bro,
Speaker 4: where you need to do this?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, give us some shit.
Speaker 2: Was there anyone else he really considered when he was
Speaker 2: leaving Okce? Was it Golden State the whole time? You
Speaker 2: mean you mentioned pat Ryley, that's obviously the heat. Any
Speaker 2: teams that he really gave a Hey, this can possibly
Speaker 2: work as well.
Speaker 4: Well, I'll give you a funny story that I actually
Speaker 4: just talked about with Tom Brady at Ruben's party, just
Speaker 4: like a super flex, right, But I remember when the
Speaker 4: Celtics came, like so the Warriors came with Steph Draymond Andre, Bob,
Speaker 4: Joe Laka. I mean, they brought everybody, and then the
Speaker 4: Celtics came and had a younger team at the time,
Speaker 4: so it was the Celtics ownership and Danny Ainge and
Speaker 4: then like Jay Crowder and I think Kelly Olennok was there,
Speaker 4: so I mean, you know what I'm saying, Like already
Speaker 4: it was like, Okay, the Celtics is a different cell, right,
Speaker 4: but here came Tom Brady, so it was like, all shit,
Speaker 4: they're really trying to level the playing field.
Speaker 3: So they went to take a walk together.
Speaker 4: I think Brady and yeah, and then later on Katie
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, yo. So he told me I should
Speaker 4: bottom line, look for the best team, best organization, best
Speaker 4: chance to win, no matter what. And I was like,
Speaker 4: paused for a second. He's like, I think Brady told
Speaker 4: me to go to the Warriors. So like that whole
Speaker 4: trip was about understanding what was out there. It was
Speaker 4: an incredible experience to listen to these guys speak and
Speaker 4: honestly like they were there for Kevin, but for me,
Speaker 4: I was like, damn, this guy's given me the seat.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying. This was like a wind
Speaker 3: at my sale.
Speaker 4: I was like, Wow, Like I'm gonna talk to pat
Speaker 4: Riley the way I envisioned talking to pat Riley when
Speaker 4: I was a kid. This is incredible, And I felt
Speaker 4: like we all stepped up, and I think Kevin ultimately
Speaker 4: like truly listened to everybody. He was open minded. It
Speaker 4: was so painful for him to leave Oklahoma City, so painful.
Speaker 4: We documented the whole thing, not that I'd let it out,
Speaker 4: but like there's moments where you could see this was
Speaker 4: not some easy thing for KD, Like, Yo, where's the
Speaker 4: seventy three win team? Like this shit was about him
Speaker 4: really going inside his mind and he relies on the game,
Speaker 4: and he made the decision based on basketball and it
Speaker 4: all happened there and there was never really anyone else
Speaker 4: because once he went through all of that, it was clear.
Speaker 5: Clear talk about your upbringing growing up in a big Apple.
Speaker 4: Grew up in New York back in the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 4: There was like a middle class in New York. So
Speaker 4: I really had an understanding of like all walks of life,
Speaker 4: and I really prided myself on that. And the one
Speaker 4: thing that I took advantage of was a network. Always
Speaker 4: didn't do well in school, wasn't focused ever. Family life
Speaker 4: complete chaos, and the way I was able to fill
Speaker 4: that void was having as many people around me as possible.
Speaker 4: And it didn't matter. It wasn't about the most popular
Speaker 4: dude in the park or the prettiest group of girls.
Speaker 4: It was just I want to have as many people
Speaker 4: in support around me, because I knew that if I
Speaker 4: didn't have a real currency in education, I didn't have
Speaker 4: anyone that was going to direct me somewhere, that at
Speaker 4: the very least this group of people around me we
Speaker 4: would all support each other. And I always felt that way,
Speaker 4: and as I got older in New York, at different
Speaker 4: points in my life, I.
Speaker 3: Was always able to pull from that.
Speaker 4: So even if it was like going up to Riverside Church,
Speaker 4: where I had no business playing as a kid, but
Speaker 4: I was like, but kareem reads up there, the young
Speaker 4: hoopers are up there.
Speaker 3: I have to be up there. I have to just
Speaker 3: be around and watch.
Speaker 4: And even if no one even knew I was in
Speaker 4: the gym, I was just watching and observing it all,
Speaker 4: and I got to know so many people that you know,
Speaker 4: by the time I started my journey. It was unconventional,
Speaker 4: but I had like an army of people that I
Speaker 4: felt would be there in my corner. And it wasn't
Speaker 4: like famous people. It was just people that would ride
Speaker 4: for me, just a s of support.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Back to I tell people all the time, the
Speaker 5: Church is the best AAU team of all time. You
Speaker 5: have run Test, you have Eric Barkley, you have Lamar Oldham,
Speaker 5: you have Reggie Jesse, you have Elton Brand, you have
Speaker 5: Speedy Clax and Kevin Marris. This is the Church. This
Speaker 5: is all on one team in want Something.
Speaker 3: And Kevin Marris he was not No, this is.
Speaker 5: All on one team in one summer though. Bro, they
Speaker 5: were scared.
Speaker 1: FORTI yes, you're in our age.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why I did point gods though, because those
Speaker 4: were my idols, Like I idolized all those guys growing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh my guys, so we all know you was
Speaker 5: boring hustler, I mean selling all kind of stuff from
Speaker 5: wrestling figures? Was that just natural?
Speaker 4: I heard, like I heard people fight about money all
Speaker 4: the time, like people fought about money. So it made
Speaker 4: me realize that like shit, if you don't have it,
Speaker 4: or if someone doesn't have it, or if like they're
Speaker 4: always fighting about money, if this is all my parents
Speaker 4: is talking about. Then it just like clicked in me
Speaker 4: that I had to figure that.
Speaker 3: Out in some way.
Speaker 4: And then on top of it, there was like three
Speaker 4: people I idolized, basketball players, anyone from the world of
Speaker 4: hip hop, and anyone that had a business anyone. So
Speaker 4: the guy with the hot dogs saying, the bodega guy,
Speaker 4: I just thought it was incredible that they got up
Speaker 4: every day take out that not like the hot dogs
Speaker 4: saying not used to get out. My mind was blown.
Speaker 4: I'd be like, he worked here all day and it
Speaker 4: was just singles. But that feeling of like fulfillment. I
Speaker 4: saw that and I didn't get it in school. I
Speaker 4: didn't really feel it anywhere else. So I saw these
Speaker 4: people and I'm like, damn, these people get up every day.
Speaker 3: And the energy in New York, right, you grow up
Speaker 3: in New York City.
Speaker 4: If you go by like the business district or where
Speaker 4: people are going to work, you you see like hundreds
Speaker 4: of people piling off.
Speaker 3: The train, and that just felt like the action to me.
Speaker 4: So as soon as I thought of a way to
Speaker 4: make money, if I was like, oh, someone just got
Speaker 4: me these new wrestling figures, those joints that everyone had
Speaker 4: with the dumb I'm like, everyone in my school wants them.
Speaker 4: So my thought instantly was like how much can I
Speaker 4: sell these? For it everyone in my school. And that's
Speaker 4: just the way my brain worked, for better or worse.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's why I got into gambling and
Speaker 4: like booking at such a young age, because without an
Speaker 4: education and without any direction, it was I wasn't built
Speaker 4: to hustle.
Speaker 3: I wasn't going to sell drugs. It wasn't my environment.
Speaker 4: But what I saw when I started to get out
Speaker 4: there was like, I can be entrepreneurial. I just gravitated
Speaker 4: towards like the wronger, wrong things earlier, but I quickly shifted.
Speaker 5: That so programs outside the Garden New York's big time
Speaker 5: New York sports fan. Who is some of the guys
Speaker 5: that you love watching growing up.
Speaker 4: Anyone who knows me knows that I was upset when
Speaker 4: Mark Jackson as a kid man, that was my favorite player,
Speaker 4: and he's become one of my favorite people because nineteen
Speaker 4: eighty seven he was drafted as a rookie, won Rookie
Speaker 4: of the Year, it took the city over, nineteen eighty eight,
Speaker 4: made the All Star Game. They drafted strict, so it
Speaker 4: started getting like a bit controversial, and then all of
Speaker 4: a sudden he had a few tough years in New
Speaker 4: York and it was right during like a really tough
Speaker 4: time in my life, and I don't know, everyone finds
Speaker 4: something to connect to, and somehow that became my reprieve.
Speaker 4: I would just like, let me go watch Mark. I
Speaker 4: would sneak out of my house and watch him playing
Speaker 4: Clipper games and sports bars at thirteen and take that
Speaker 4: money from selling toys and say to the guy, let
Speaker 4: me go watch the Clipper game and they would get
Speaker 4: it on pay per view there was or whatever satellite
Speaker 4: back then. And then obviously Starks in Oakley and Ewing
Speaker 4: that whole team. That whole period of my life. It
Speaker 4: was always about that mob. Even now and Nick fans
Speaker 4: from that era are like, we're so emotionally confused because
Speaker 4: we swear that that was like one of the greatest
Speaker 4: runs in basketball history. But then you step out of
Speaker 4: New York and people are like, yo, y'all talk about
Speaker 4: the nineties Knicks like you want three chips, Like we
Speaker 4: get it, We've all been to the conference finals. But
Speaker 4: you guys know, you were around then, like it was
Speaker 4: just that whole feeling around those pacer Nick series, the
Speaker 4: Heat Knick series, Bulls Knick series, all of it was incredible.
Speaker 5: In your early twenties, you was in college dropout. I
Speaker 5: tell people all the time, collegefit don't necessarily make you
Speaker 5: be successful. They gotta help you, but it don't hurt
Speaker 5: you too if you don't go. But you had the
Speaker 5: illegal sports gambler ring. I would have loved to have
Speaker 5: been a part of that. For man, Yeah, I want
Speaker 5: to hear about that. When I saw that in the rundown,
Speaker 5: I'm like, what hind of clients? Can you talk about that?
Speaker 3: Yes? I love talking about Well.
Speaker 4: I probably shouldn't have went to college, by the way,
Speaker 4: I wasn't even ready to go, so like, I just
Speaker 4: ran off to the only school that let me in
Speaker 4: straight up.
Speaker 3: And when I got there, I tried for a quick minute.
Speaker 4: I was like, maybe this is like my life, Like
Speaker 4: I'm going to figure this out. And then I went
Speaker 4: to watch Yankee Yankees Mariners nineteen ninety five. And I'm
Speaker 4: sitting in this bar in Boston with a bunch of
Speaker 4: guys and everybody's taking the Yankees, but they're all looking
Speaker 4: for a bookie to put the bet in with, cause
Speaker 4: like you know if you all from New York, you
Speaker 4: always bet on your team. The Mariners had like a
Speaker 4: Rod and Junior and Tino Martinez.
Speaker 3: So everyone's like, Yo, we need a bookie. We need
Speaker 3: a bookie.
Speaker 4: Someone's got to put a bed in, Like we got
Speaker 4: to get this, We got to get these bets in.
Speaker 4: So I was like, well, hold up, I think I
Speaker 4: have a bookie. I called my brother and I was like, Yo,
Speaker 4: that bookie you have in Atlanta. You got to put
Speaker 4: all these bets I'm taking in from this guy. He
Speaker 4: was like, man, that bookie, come me off right. So
Speaker 4: I'm like, we don't have a bookie. The game was
Speaker 4: starting in a few minutes. My brother hit me with
Speaker 4: the like you could always take the bet. I'm like,
Speaker 4: what was that mean. I didn't even really know, like
Speaker 4: the verbage. It was like Mariners are like minus one
Speaker 4: ten or whatever. It is like you'll win this if
Speaker 4: the Mariners win. And I'm like all right. So I
Speaker 4: went in there. I said, guys, I put all your
Speaker 4: bets in. I write it. I wrote it down on
Speaker 4: like a notebook from the from the bar. Mariners won.
Speaker 4: They all paid me on Friday. Was this was like
Speaker 4: a Thursday and Sunday morning phones ringing.
Speaker 5: I was open.
Speaker 4: They thought I was a bookie, and from that point forward,
Speaker 4: I was just like shit. I went and got one
Speaker 4: of those like composition notebooks because there was no technology.
Speaker 4: I had my pencil out number two pencil at like
Speaker 4: eight in the morning. I had this girl I was
Speaker 4: dating that would help me when the phones ring security
Speaker 4: at Boston would help me sometimes pick up money. And
Speaker 4: then like a few other friends at other schools started
Speaker 4: sending clients in and at one point I had, you know,
Speaker 4: like one hundred different people betting all day and people
Speaker 4: will come to me and be like, man, I got
Speaker 4: the more money, here's my television.
Speaker 3: It was. It was insane. R I was just like
Speaker 3: that guy at college that.
Speaker 4: Time eighteen nineteen twenty. And then I went back to
Speaker 4: New York. When I was I had to leave boss.
Speaker 4: I went to I tried to flip it and go
Speaker 4: to BC Night School for a semester and was like
Speaker 4: found myself trying to get the marketing professor to bet
Speaker 4: with me. I'm like even I knew, like the one
Speaker 4: thing I always had was a level of self awareness,
Speaker 4: even when I was fucked up. I was like, I'm
Speaker 4: fucked up, Like I'm not supposed to be a bookie.
Speaker 4: So when I went back to New York, I was like,
Speaker 4: let me try this for a minute. And it's harder
Speaker 4: in New York. That's I got my bookie operation got
Speaker 4: shut down in three weeks, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Three weeks someone caught wind of the kind of action
Speaker 4: I was taking. My brother went to collect. It was
Speaker 4: a little bit of a gotcha moment, Yeah, and I
Speaker 4: just ended it that day. I didn't think twice.
Speaker 2: At the peak how much at one time? What was
Speaker 2: the most money you'd got during that run?
Speaker 4: When I was nineteen, I left Boston about two eighty
Speaker 4: in cash.
Speaker 5: That's tough, Yeah.
Speaker 1: For real? Quarter million?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's safe like this, like thinking I had a
Speaker 4: safe when really.
Speaker 3: Like the safe could just be picked up anyone. I'm
Speaker 3: an idiot.
Speaker 4: I had that shit in my closet. Everyone in school knew.
Speaker 4: But it was reckless.
Speaker 2: Anyone along the way mentor you or put their arm
Speaker 2: around you. Or was it just trial and era hard nuts.
Speaker 4: No, A lot of people have I always say that,
Speaker 4: like I never had a business mentor so to speak,
Speaker 4: like somebody that.
Speaker 3: Was like, hey, young man, I see something in you.
Speaker 4: But what I did always get was special, special talent
Speaker 4: that gave me a shot. So Mark Ronson in nineteen
Speaker 4: ninety nine in New York City would be jumping from
Speaker 4: DJing Biggie Small's birthday party to a Tommy Hill figure
Speaker 4: fashion show and him and Q Tip and this whole
Speaker 4: like celebrity DJ scene grew up. I blew up in
Speaker 4: New York at the time, and you know, I started
Speaker 4: managing these guys. And when I was managing Mark, all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, I was like, oh, you know, I
Speaker 4: got a little bit of confidence. Like that infused a
Speaker 4: little bit of confidence in me. Then when all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, I was signed to other artists and we
Speaker 4: had Amy Winehouse working in our studio, and I was
Speaker 4: around just like such a greatness, like this woman was
Speaker 4: recording one of the most incredible albums of all time.
Speaker 5: And I found.
Speaker 4: Myself fitting in the more and more I was around talent.
Speaker 4: I understood how to fit in. And I think a
Speaker 4: little bit of the chaos that I grew up around
Speaker 4: allowed me to have this feeling of I could solve anything.
Speaker 3: I could fix anything. Anyone needed me, I'll do I'll
Speaker 3: do it right. Away for you. And that's how I
Speaker 3: was conditioned.
Speaker 4: I just felt like, as a kid, if something was
Speaker 4: broken in my house, literally or figuratively, no matter what
Speaker 4: age I was at, I'll step up and do it.
Speaker 4: So that carried that over and it worked with talent.
Speaker 4: And then when I was able to meet Jay and
Speaker 4: you know, and got the vote of confidence from him
Speaker 4: to work on Fade to Black and be a part
Speaker 4: of that, that was like a new level of mentorship.
Speaker 4: But it wasn't like Jay was like heyo, Rich, I
Speaker 4: want you to produce my film, bro, and I see
Speaker 4: something in you. It was just getting a little bit
Speaker 4: of a crap and then that was all they really
Speaker 4: needed to do, was give me that little bit of confidence.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean had a similar upbringing as far as chaos
Speaker 2: and I you know, I got to a point where
Speaker 2: I was comfortable within the chaos. You know, you can
Speaker 2: still function, you can still move because chaos fucked some
Speaker 2: people up. But being able to be comfortable and still
Speaker 2: at peace within the chaos or something special you just mentioned. Jay,
Speaker 2: How did the Rock Nation partnership come about?
Speaker 3: Well after we did Fade to Black, I had like,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: Hold on, let me run, not to cut you off
Speaker 2: talk to us about how the Fade to Black came
Speaker 2: and what you actually did on that project.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I met Jay's manager at the time, and I was
Speaker 4: consulting with this company, Radical Media, because I was doing
Speaker 4: music supervision for TV shows on ESPN and VH one,
Speaker 4: and there was just show The Life on ESPN.
Speaker 3: You guys remember that you were you on it? No,
Speaker 3: we did it on edobannit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I put this theme song together between Fraul
Speaker 4: Maunch and Styles Pete called The Life that j Cole
Speaker 4: actually ended up like redoing a bit on his last album.
Speaker 3: Sorry Cole, but you did.
Speaker 4: And after that, like I I started building this library
Speaker 4: of unsigned artists and unsigned producers to put on all
Speaker 4: these different TV shows, and I was kind of like
Speaker 4: in this little purgatory.
Speaker 3: Now I was managing some people.
Speaker 4: I was doing some music supervision, and that was that
Speaker 4: moment where sometimes I feel like in my career I
Speaker 4: pedal as.
Speaker 3: Fast as I can.
Speaker 4: Then I got a chill and like let it glide
Speaker 4: and be able to just see, like see what I'm
Speaker 4: doing because I'm really aware of who I am and
Speaker 4: who I'm not. I never try to pretend i'm the biggest, baddest,
Speaker 4: most successful. I just know I'm uniquely meet and I
Speaker 4: try to like follow that, so sometimes I just pause
Speaker 4: on it. And at that point it was like, oh shit,
Speaker 4: Jay Z's manager wants to come in and meet, and
Speaker 4: I was like, but if he comes in and meets
Speaker 4: with me, I don't know what to say yet.
Speaker 3: And I knew that. I was like, I'm not going
Speaker 3: to be able to sell him.
Speaker 4: But this guy Radical Media will this guy that I
Speaker 4: have here that's running this company. And that was part
Speaker 4: of the lessons that I always realized while I was growing.
Speaker 4: It is like just being in the room at certain
Speaker 4: times is the win. You don't always have to run
Speaker 4: the room.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 3: You got to know where your time is.
Speaker 4: And for me, I was like, now I have a
Speaker 4: part of bringing this film together. And I raised my hand.
Speaker 4: I said I want to be a producer on it.
Speaker 4: And at that point that meant like music clearances. If
Speaker 4: someone was wearing a Von Dutch hat in the film,
Speaker 4: because Jay was wearing I had to call Von Dutch
Speaker 4: and clear it. We had to get clearances from everyone
Speaker 4: that was backstage because when they shot it, they didn't
Speaker 4: know they were going to do the film, and then
Speaker 4: like working with the editor, his first time ever editing
Speaker 4: a film, and he puts together like Fade to Black,
Speaker 4: and then watching Jay come in no joke and do
Speaker 4: the vo for the film and like one take insane,
Speaker 4: just like see the film and just start spitting and
Speaker 4: the vo is the story.
Speaker 3: It's like epic. And just playing that part in it.
Speaker 4: Being able to be a producer on it once again,
Speaker 4: no one was like heyo, Rich, you are producing my film.
Speaker 4: I just saw the crack and I found my way
Speaker 4: in and I though did the work, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. And then from there I always saw it
Speaker 4: as like these like building blocks. And then when I
Speaker 4: had the opportunity to go over to Rock Nation, it
Speaker 4: was the right time, Like I had the foresight to
Speaker 4: know that even as an entrepreneur, I was going to
Speaker 4: need some institutional knowledge, like really be around people that
Speaker 4: were doing it. And that was my journey and I
Speaker 4: learned like endless, limitless what I learned from being there
Speaker 4: for nine years.
Speaker 2: So you started on the Rock Nation side, but then
Speaker 2: you help Rock Nation sports as well.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about it a little bit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I started on the music side and I was
Speaker 4: managing you know, like I said before Meek while at
Speaker 4: mark Ronson, I was a and R.
Speaker 3: I hate whenever I say this.
Speaker 4: I know that I had nothing to do with making
Speaker 4: this album, but I was listed as an an R
Speaker 4: and j Cole's first album.
Speaker 3: I'm just can't continue to talk about Jake Cole here.
Speaker 4: But I was doing dope shit like I was around
Speaker 4: all of this, but it wasn't given me that feeling
Speaker 4: that I had when I was like have my studio
Speaker 4: downtown on Mercer and or I was a bookie, or
Speaker 4: I was managing DJs.
Speaker 3: I just didn't have that feeling anymore.
Speaker 4: And these guys knew that I was a sports fanatic
Speaker 4: and loved sports. They always gave me an opportunity. They
Speaker 4: always gave me more space. So as soon as I said, like, yo,
Speaker 4: I want to be in sports, he was like, all right, Yo,
Speaker 4: we start in a sports agency. And you know, I
Speaker 4: guess sometimes that's the version of like mentorship. It was
Speaker 4: just a chance, Like I didn't need any guidance, I
Speaker 4: just need a chance. So as soon as that happened,
Speaker 4: I had to reluctantly just stop everything in music. I
Speaker 4: knew right then that these were two different worlds. And
Speaker 4: even though ten years later they're more a mess than
Speaker 4: ever and Boardroom is really, in my opinion, like.
Speaker 3: A reflection of that.
Speaker 4: But I knew in order to go into the sports world,
Speaker 4: I couldn't now try to be who I wanted to
Speaker 4: be without locking all the way in and being on
Speaker 4: the ground and doing the work. Like literally, you saw
Speaker 4: me with Kevin everywhere he was for the first six
Speaker 4: seven years, charity event, a deal, we're closing.
Speaker 3: Anything he had to do, I had to do. That's
Speaker 3: how I looked at it.
Speaker 4: So when I went into sports, it was like just
Speaker 4: studying it as a kid, hearing the language and honestly
Speaker 4: being obsessed with the deals around on sports even as
Speaker 4: a young person I could speak that language. And then
Speaker 4: coupled with the back I had at Rock and their
Speaker 4: institutional knowledge, and then just seeing that the sports world
Speaker 4: was actually craving more and more of what was coming
Speaker 4: from music, not the old guard of how sports was
Speaker 4: being built around athletes.
Speaker 3: It was the right time and it worked.
Speaker 5: So back to thirty five ventures you invested in Postmates,
Speaker 5: see Greek their about it. Just name a few if
Speaker 5: entrepreneurs right here and ask you for some advice. What
Speaker 5: would you tell.
Speaker 4: Them on investing, I guess, first of all, like figure
Speaker 4: out why you're doing it, and I continue to.
Speaker 3: Remind myself that too.
Speaker 4: My strategy early on was to learn to meet incredible
Speaker 4: founders and to take some chances on some really innovative companies,
Speaker 4: and we were making smaller bets and that was my
Speaker 4: kind of education into the world, and my instincts and
Speaker 4: Kevin's instincts I think, you know, benefited us, but it
Speaker 4: was really to get into the world, and that's why
Speaker 4: we spread out our investments and we made some reads
Speaker 4: early and we were fortunate. As we started to get
Speaker 4: further further into it, it started to be about like what
Speaker 4: do we want to own? You know, because that gets
Speaker 4: lost sometimes. There was a time six seven years ago
Speaker 4: where everyone was just like, I want equity, bro, I'm
Speaker 4: only about equity, and it was like, well, what are
Speaker 4: you talking about, Like you have to want equity and
Speaker 4: something you want to own, truly want to own. And
Speaker 4: I started reframing that, and that's why we started investing
Speaker 4: more and more into sports and into emerging sports leagues
Speaker 4: and into pickleball and women's soccer and women's volleyball, because
Speaker 4: it was like that's what we want to own.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 4: Obviously, if an investment comes that's incredible, too good of
Speaker 4: an opportunity and everything checks out, still look at it
Speaker 4: like a sound investment.
Speaker 3: But I think I would tell an entrepreneur.
Speaker 4: First to figure out what their reasoning for investing was, like,
Speaker 4: are you just doing it to make money, You're doing
Speaker 4: it to be safe with your money, You're doing it
Speaker 4: to try to make a big hit, or you're doing
Speaker 4: it because you want to build assets, And this is
Speaker 4: like what's your core build.
Speaker 3: Your business is going to be.
Speaker 4: I think it's important now, especially in this market, more
Speaker 4: than ever, to know that five years ago you probably
Speaker 4: could have cheated it. It's like you had money, you
Speaker 4: got deal flow, you'll invest, you probably make some money back.
Speaker 4: But now everything's been equalized, you know, and you have
Speaker 4: to really look at real companies, real revenue, real brands,
Speaker 4: and it's no longer about these like insane valuations or
Speaker 4: companies that are never profitable, but tell you that they're
Speaker 4: going to be twenty billion dollars and you've got to
Speaker 4: reframe your mind. And I think for people like us,
Speaker 4: it's going to benefit us because it's back to like,
Speaker 4: have you done the work. Is the business working, is
Speaker 4: it true? Is it making money? And that's how you
Speaker 4: got to look at companies.
Speaker 2: Now, you said something interesting when you first started talking.
Speaker 2: You said placing bets because at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: that's what it really is, right, I mean, you have
Speaker 2: to be comfortable losing the money that you're putting forward, Yeah,
Speaker 2: to be safe with that. But explain why you said
Speaker 2: bets because that's what it is.
Speaker 4: Because at our level, right, like I'm not andresen Horwitz,
Speaker 4: like you know. That's the other thing is like the
Speaker 4: scale of investing. It'd be like me saying I hoop
Speaker 4: to the two of you. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So it's like I do invest, but I'm not making
Speaker 4: fifty hundred million dollar investments.
Speaker 3: And I'm betting on founders.
Speaker 4: I'm betting on companies that sometimes I say, you know what,
Speaker 4: I think this company is going to make it, but
Speaker 4: I also see this company being really valuable and complimentary
Speaker 4: to what I do. And I also see that founder
Speaker 4: as a founder is going to be successful in what
Speaker 4: they do no matter what, and it's going to be
Speaker 4: incredible to have them in my network. Again, you know,
Speaker 4: like I said in the beginning because having that network,
Speaker 4: man is it's priceless. And I realized it during the
Speaker 4: pandemic because one of the reasons why my my business
Speaker 4: grew during the pandemic is because I can actually get
Speaker 4: people on the phone, because there's a difference between showing
Speaker 4: up to every party and being able to take pictures
Speaker 4: of everyone and be able to tap everyone up. But
Speaker 4: when you have to set a time to get on
Speaker 4: a zoom, the relationship has to be real now. And
Speaker 4: that was from the work I put in. And that's
Speaker 4: not from like just the superficial shit. That's from really
Speaker 4: developing relationships. And I think for me it's now like
Speaker 4: paying attention to every single thing that I do. And
Speaker 4: I'm like, all right, do I want to make a
Speaker 4: bet on this anymore? Or am I at the point
Speaker 4: of my career now where I have to start thinking
Speaker 4: about more like institutional things to set up for ourselves
Speaker 4: for the rest of our life. And for Kevin, you know,
Speaker 4: I really separated boardroom in thirty five Ventures, so I
Speaker 4: could say to Kevin, this is your family office, man,
Speaker 4: it's what you worked for.
Speaker 3: This is what you work for.
Speaker 4: You have a foundation, you have a standalone building called
Speaker 4: the Durant Center.
Speaker 3: We're building a Durant Athletics center.
Speaker 4: You have a Team Durant facility, your mother runs the
Speaker 4: Durant Family Foundation.
Speaker 3: You have a Nike lifetime deal.
Speaker 4: Like Kevin is built an incredible portfolio and business for himself,
Speaker 4: and I take pride in it because his great grandkids
Speaker 4: are going to benefit from this. But now Boardroom is
Speaker 4: where I bet right. Boardroom is where I'm still like, Yo,
Speaker 4: I want to pivot a bit, or I want to
Speaker 4: do a party in Vegas, or I want to do
Speaker 4: an event with CNBC in LA like I'm doing in
Speaker 4: two weeks. And for me, Boardroom is now the brand
Speaker 4: that we're going to take chances with. And you know, pickleball,
Speaker 4: it's a chance. But I didn't separate it. I said,
Speaker 4: anything we do is going to fall into this bucket.
Speaker 4: And I think that's where I'm having more fun. And
Speaker 4: then on the more institutional side, it's really looking at
Speaker 4: investments that you know can withstand the test of time.
Speaker 5: Now, what's the most riskiest investment?
Speaker 1: Thirty five is made, They paid that paid off.
Speaker 3: That paid off. That's a good one.
Speaker 4: Well, I would say early on the first few investments
Speaker 4: in hindsight were all risky because I didn't know shit right,
Speaker 4: like straight up didn't know anything. But there's something refreshing
Speaker 4: about that. I actually like missed that feeling a bit.
Speaker 4: I remember sitting one of my first meals, Kevin and
Speaker 4: I went to Tosca in San Francisco, remember the spot,
Speaker 4: And we were sitting with a famed angel investor, Ron Conway.
Speaker 4: Seed investor became a billionaire and like people have attributed
Speaker 4: their success to him over and over again, Facebook, Airbnb,
Speaker 4: He's behind everything. And we started asking me questions about deals,
Speaker 4: and like he said something very like trivial to start,
Speaker 4: like a series A round.
Speaker 3: And I remember thinking to.
Speaker 4: Myself, like, I got to ask this guy with series
Speaker 4: A means like I honestly don't know, or is he
Speaker 4: just gonna laugh me off this table? And I was like,
Speaker 4: I got to keep it real. I've never done this before.
Speaker 4: I have no idea told me about series A and
Speaker 4: round series B. And this is the same thing my
Speaker 4: basketball coach told me once when I was younger, which
Speaker 4: was like a major backhanded compliment, but he was.
Speaker 3: Like, every time you fuck up, you never do it again.
Speaker 4: I was like, what the fuck does that mean man,
Speaker 4: but it meant that, like you tell me something one
Speaker 4: time and I'm just not gonna forget it, and I'm
Speaker 4: not going to do the same thing again. So I
Speaker 4: just sat and consumed all this information, and I think
Speaker 4: it was like risky, but it was pure how we
Speaker 4: approached in the beginning, because Kevin and I would have
Speaker 4: these founders come meet with us. I don't even know
Speaker 4: what we were asking, but we were asking these like
Speaker 4: personal questions and really getting to know them. And you
Speaker 4: realize sometimes, especially early on, and if you're a good
Speaker 4: reader people, and I think to your point before, if
Speaker 4: you grow up around some chaos at times too, you're
Speaker 4: hyper aware, so you read people.
Speaker 3: And I'm always.
Speaker 4: Reading people, and I really feel like I can read
Speaker 4: people's body language better than some. And I would look
Speaker 4: at these founders and be like, can I see this
Speaker 4: woman or this man building what they say they're going
Speaker 4: to build.
Speaker 3: And do I get it? Like straight up? Can I
Speaker 3: repeat it?
Speaker 4: Can I come see Matt and Stack and tell them
Speaker 4: what I just invested in. If I can't repeat it,
Speaker 4: I should not be investing in it. And some of
Speaker 4: those early principles that weren't complicated actually really probably were
Speaker 4: really beneficial to the process without all the noise.
Speaker 5: Biggest return on investment you had today, if we're not being.
Speaker 4: Nosy, No, it's cool. I mean, you know, Postmates was
Speaker 4: great in the beginning. Coinbas was great in the beginning.
Speaker 4: We have one now even amidst this market that we
Speaker 4: invested in company hugging face that I.
Speaker 5: Saw what they do.
Speaker 4: They're AI technolog So it ended up really benefiting us,
Speaker 4: as you know, as they've grown into it, because at
Speaker 4: the time it was like loosely rooted in AI. But
Speaker 4: there's been other good ones. There's some good ones on paper.
Speaker 4: There's some ones that if you asked me a year ago,
Speaker 4: were through the moon, and you know now they're back down.
Speaker 3: But I still believe in the business.
Speaker 4: But you know, I think, to be honest, the greatest
Speaker 4: investment we've made has been in building boardroom ourselves.
Speaker 3: Whatever happens with it.
Speaker 4: It's been really amazing to and I'm sure you guys,
Speaker 4: I mean, look what you guys at built right from scratch,
Speaker 4: from the two of you being like, let's do this
Speaker 4: show to people knowing it. That's the hardest thing in
Speaker 4: the world to do in business, to build a brand.
Speaker 4: So every like people all over Vegas know what all
Speaker 4: the smoke is independently of the two of you. That's
Speaker 4: incredible And for me, it's like, whatever happens now, I
Speaker 4: wanted to do this. I remember the day I thought
Speaker 4: about creating this. I still have miles and miles to go.
Speaker 4: But the fact that like resonating.
Speaker 3: And it's working, absolutely that feels different than anything else
Speaker 3: I've ever done.
Speaker 1: Absolutely dope.
Speaker 2: Another pillar of thirty five ventures is the documentary side
Speaker 2: Oscar Award winning did Two Distant Strangers. We had Van
Speaker 2: Lathan and treyvon Free speak to it. How did that
Speaker 2: partnership come about and how was it winning your first Oscar?
Speaker 4: Well, it was incredible winning our first Oscar. Unfortunately for
Speaker 4: short form doc EPs don't get a trophy, but it's
Speaker 4: all good.
Speaker 3: It was cool to be associated with it. You know.
Speaker 4: It's funny because every film we've worked on, I've done
Speaker 4: ten of these now and I would never refer to
Speaker 4: myself as a filmmaker. From Fade to Black to Katie's
Speaker 4: the Off Season on HBO, and we did a show
Speaker 4: q Ball that was on San Quentin Prison when you
Speaker 4: were in obey But it was always just like a
Speaker 4: story we wanted to tell. So PG County obviously was
Speaker 4: a story we wanted to tell. This was sent to
Speaker 4: me my friend Samir during the pandemic and he was like,
Speaker 4: just read the script and tell me what you think.
Speaker 3: And that was the first time we read a script.
Speaker 4: And all we really needed from or they needed from us,
Speaker 4: was financing it first and like you know, attaching our
Speaker 4: names and giving them their support and they did the
Speaker 4: rest and we in that sense, we read it right
Speaker 4: right because the script was incredible. Sometimes, like with Swagger,
Speaker 4: similar that was an idea Kevin and I had because
Speaker 4: you know, all Kevin talked about when I first met
Speaker 4: him was this rec center he grew up in, and
Speaker 4: it was amazing to me how Formula Live that rec
Speaker 4: center had been in his life. So the idea came
Speaker 4: about about like the rec center in some ways, or
Speaker 4: PG County being the backdrop to this like Friday Nights
Speaker 4: like story about youth basketball and what went on. And
Speaker 4: Reggie who's the director of Swagger, just knocked it out
Speaker 4: the box. But you know, that was a partnership with
Speaker 4: Imagine and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and it went
Speaker 4: to Apple and again like I had the self awareness
Speaker 4: to go I can't make a big budget ten episode
Speaker 4: series yet on Apple, but it's our idea. We're gonna
Speaker 4: bring it to the right people. And then there's sometimes
Speaker 4: like with Point Guards, where I was like, shit, like
Speaker 4: this is my baby, like I speak this language, and
Speaker 4: we rolled up our sleeves and got involved in that one.
Speaker 4: And I think it's fun to tell these stories. It's
Speaker 4: a great extension of our brand. I think it's still
Speaker 4: like incredible when you see something up.
Speaker 3: On the screen or on television like that.
Speaker 4: Right, it's nothing like it, but it's got to be
Speaker 4: something that connects with us. Like right now, I'm working
Speaker 4: on a dock on an artist from New York and
Speaker 4: it's like, you know, I would do this.
Speaker 3: I'd pay to do this. You know. It's like that
Speaker 3: type of stuff is just rewarding for me.
Speaker 2: So you did two particular projects, In the Water and
Speaker 2: Point Gouds that land in here at showtime. What made
Speaker 2: those two so special? You've been kind of touching on
Speaker 2: Point Guards throughout the documentary or excuse me about throughout
Speaker 2: the interview talk to us about that.
Speaker 1: And then in the Water, well, in.
Speaker 4: The Water was just like every time I'd meet someone,
Speaker 4: Katie'd be like, yeah, he from PG County and I'd
Speaker 4: be like him too, he from PG County. And it
Speaker 4: was like, holy shit, like there is insane amounts of
Speaker 4: talent that has come out of PG County. And then
Speaker 4: some young filmmaker from PG sent me an email and
Speaker 4: it was a link and he had put this sizzle
Speaker 4: together of an idea to do this project on like
Speaker 4: the greatness of PG County. And the one thing I
Speaker 4: don't ever do is make a firm decision on something
Speaker 4: for Kevin and I, you know, a lot of managers
Speaker 4: will be like, nah, he I already know he ain't
Speaker 4: feeling that, But like, Kevin is a different thinker, so
Speaker 4: like part of what our partnership is is sometimes he
Speaker 4: surprises the shit out of me.
Speaker 3: So I'm like, let me never take.
Speaker 4: Any of this for Granted, I didn't think the sizzle
Speaker 4: was insane, but the passion there and the meaning was
Speaker 4: and I sent it to him.
Speaker 3: He's like, we got to do this film.
Speaker 4: And from then on it was just like the more
Speaker 4: stories we heard, the more stories we heard, it was
Speaker 4: like it just proved our point that there was something
Speaker 4: in the water in PG County. That we had to do,
Speaker 4: and then New York It's like for me, Man Kareem
Speaker 4: read Kenny Anderson, God Sham Guy Rod Strickland, like, that's
Speaker 4: Michael Jordan to me.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Those guys were God and I always felt like point
Speaker 4: guards in New York City in the early nineties in
Speaker 4: a lot of ways, were like the first reflection of
Speaker 4: hip hop.
Speaker 3: And sports like this molding together.
Speaker 4: It came out in the form of Skip to My
Speaker 4: Lou and God Shambo. Yeah, Stefan Marberry like that to
Speaker 4: me because they were superheroes. But in New York City,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, and it resonated. But when
Speaker 4: you looked at their careers, they weren't all Hall of famers,
Speaker 4: but the impact they had in New York the Mecca
Speaker 4: was off the charts to this day, to this day.
Speaker 5: How much basketball do you watch nowadays?
Speaker 4: A lot, a lot, always, yeah, always, I keep up
Speaker 4: with everything. First of all, it's overwhelming the amount of
Speaker 4: information there is in general. But it's like, I want
Speaker 4: to get more involved in the WNBA. I want to
Speaker 4: watch women's soccer because we invested in it. I want
Speaker 4: to watch MLS because we invested in it. I'm a
Speaker 4: Met fan. I'm a diehard Giant fan, Rick Patino's coaching,
Speaker 4: Saint John's.
Speaker 3: I like to watch sports.
Speaker 4: I also have a family, also socialize, also go out,
Speaker 4: also work, So it's unbearable how much there is to watch.
Speaker 4: Basketball is one that I'll never cheat. I have to
Speaker 4: keep up a because it's like my partner is a savant,
Speaker 4: so if I don't know what I'm talking about, he
Speaker 4: may be like, get out this room, man, So I
Speaker 4: always can keep up. I love the Nicks and Nets
Speaker 4: like I watch them. I'll always watch them. I always
Speaker 4: watch Katie games. And then like there's just so much
Speaker 4: greatness in the league. You know, there's team like I
Speaker 4: didn't want to miss Memphis this year. I like watching Orlando.
Speaker 4: I always want to watch bron and watch the Lakers play.
Speaker 4: So it's like it's the only television that still has steaks,
Speaker 4: that still has some uncertainty, that still has like a
Speaker 4: narrative and something that's bigger than all of us.
Speaker 3: You know, you can't pause at all. It's just happening
Speaker 3: in real time.
Speaker 4: So like I was watching Wimbledon before I came here
Speaker 4: to watch the Alcoraz match, like it's still the best
Speaker 4: entertainment on TV.
Speaker 5: Is sports outside of KD. Best three in the game right.
Speaker 4: Now, best three players, Jokic of course, let me think
Speaker 4: about that. Giannis bron who you like watching the most
Speaker 4: besides KT book.
Speaker 1: You get to watch that every night?
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like watching Jokic, I like watching Denver.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think that was like a refreshing thing
Speaker 4: to see because growing up, it always felt like teams
Speaker 4: had like major superstar center of galaxy and then like
Speaker 4: everything working on all cylinders for that person, and the
Speaker 4: whole system works and there's continuity and the team goes
Speaker 4: every year. That might not work for every organization, but
Speaker 4: it was fun to watch that, like to see people
Speaker 4: enjoying the hell out of being the ninth man on
Speaker 4: that team and coming in the game. But I actually
Speaker 4: really love watching like Orlando's been fun to watch because,
Speaker 4: like I like to watch development and some of these
Speaker 4: guys too, So like I liked watching Palo's game early
Speaker 4: on and then you know, midway through the season, and
Speaker 4: then seeing how he would adjust towards the end of
Speaker 4: the season.
Speaker 3: So you know, I'll watch whatever's.
Speaker 5: On what's next for board two Questions what's next for
Speaker 5: board Room And how was it working with Sabrina on
Speaker 5: escul amazing.
Speaker 4: I mean Sabrina, you know, she's her agent. Duffy has
Speaker 4: been incredible to me, so he really was like open.
Speaker 4: Not many people would have been open to what I
Speaker 4: was envisioning early, which was that I'm building this brand
Speaker 4: in this platform. I wanted to embody the business of
Speaker 4: sports and music and all these things that were compelled
Speaker 4: by And there's deal flow, and there's access and opportunity
Speaker 4: and storytelling.
Speaker 3: And I really want Sabrina to be a part of it.
Speaker 3: But I'm not getting in the way of what you
Speaker 3: guys do. Just want her to be a part of it.
Speaker 4: And it's worked out because you know, she's been She's
Speaker 4: given us ideas, she's heard ideas from us, she supported
Speaker 4: the brand, and just having her, you know, as somebody
Speaker 4: that's like part of the fam has been been powerful.
Speaker 4: And I think that's a big part of where we're
Speaker 4: going now. It's like Boardroom has the digital media platform.
Speaker 4: We have, you know, our newsletters and our pods and
Speaker 4: our shows, and we're doing more and more in the physical.
Speaker 4: Our conference with CNBC should be a hit. We got
Speaker 4: Travis Scott kd speaking, Paolo, David Blitzer, a ton of people, Tamika,
Speaker 4: and I think also it's going to be time for
Speaker 4: us to start aligning ourselves with more talent and building
Speaker 4: out you know, an element of boardroom that's an advisory
Speaker 4: where we can work with more athletes and you know,
Speaker 4: and similar to what we were able to do with Sabrina,
Speaker 4: but a bit more formalized to have more in our
Speaker 4: in our camp. And I also think we can be
Speaker 4: a benefit to agents, Like I don't see this as
Speaker 4: a competitive thing. I see that you know, this, this
Speaker 4: vehicle we built and the access we have and the
Speaker 4: brand we build can only compliment to other people's business.
Speaker 5: Who is rich outside a business, cool as a motherfucker,
Speaker 5: cool as a motherfucker, could throw the football a little bit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could throw the football. I love the shit
Speaker 4: out my family. Like everyone says that, but I you know,
Speaker 4: you know, I really really really try to form a
Speaker 4: perfect balance for me, you know what I'm saying. Like,
Speaker 4: I know that I started doing this at like sixteen,
Speaker 4: Like I was in the clubs in New York at sixteen.
Speaker 4: I know I'm not the richest dude in the room.
Speaker 4: I know I'm not the most successful dude in the room,
Speaker 4: but I know that I have my spot, and I've
Speaker 4: been doing it for so long that I feel like
Speaker 4: I have a perspective and I feel like I'm moving
Speaker 4: in slower motion now and I'm aware of what is happening,
Speaker 4: and I know where I can impact the game down
Speaker 4: for you, the game is slowed down for me. So
Speaker 4: I go back home and get that balance from my
Speaker 4: family because it keeps me slowed down. And now for me,
Speaker 4: it's really just about like continuing to build and continuing
Speaker 4: to find things that inspire me.
Speaker 3: But like when.
Speaker 4: I check out, I check out, I'm playing pickleball, I'm
Speaker 4: with friends, I'm socialist. Shit, I like to be in
Speaker 4: the mix. At forty six, I try to balance like
Speaker 4: being forty six, but being in the mix, because the
Speaker 4: last thing I tell everybody that's my age is like,
Speaker 4: do not get out of touch.
Speaker 3: Don't try to act all like you bigger than social media.
Speaker 3: It's bad for you.
Speaker 4: You have to stay connected or you'll get old, right,
Speaker 4: and I'm not trying to get old at all.
Speaker 5: I'll damn sure I ain't all right.
Speaker 1: We want in this down right now.
Speaker 2: Quick hitters first, thing to come to mind. Let us know,
Speaker 2: Stuck in an Island. Three shows or movies in rotation.
Speaker 4: Succession, Casino and Juice, because I just watched.
Speaker 3: It the other day and I'm hooked.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Casino, I just played in the NBPA golf
Speaker 2: tournament on Monday and it was at the golf course
Speaker 2: the Las Vegas Country Club and they still have the
Speaker 2: little playing inside the little thing and I took my
Speaker 2: god no because I was it was weird because we
Speaker 2: were playing. I'm like, damn, this course is kind of
Speaker 2: seeing it didn't It didn't show a ton of the movie,
Speaker 2: but I just kind of felt like the houses and
Speaker 2: then it looks like is that an airplane? I was like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, this really shot to see them, like what
Speaker 2: the for the feds?
Speaker 1: R remember? And they crashed and the thing it bounced
Speaker 1: bru It was hell of cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if you ever decided to do a movie rich
Speaker 5: with some gangster ship, I gotta have a role.
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, played Hoops?
Speaker 5: Who you compare your game.
Speaker 3: To h if? If I was playing Hoops? A shooter,
Speaker 3: definitely a shooter.
Speaker 4: When I was younger, I definitely like tried to get
Speaker 4: a little bit of the like New York City point
Speaker 4: guards ship, so I'd make it like a pointless no
Speaker 4: look past. But I was shot the ball a little
Speaker 4: better than New York City point guards.
Speaker 3: Like you understand this. I'm more of like a two
Speaker 3: three from back in the day.
Speaker 5: Now I don't.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have worked in positionless basketball. I would have
Speaker 3: had to play.
Speaker 5: Were you nice like Willy dirsh even? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean really was smooth, bro. Yeah, I didn't have that.
Speaker 3: I didn't have that.
Speaker 4: I didn't have that, and I hit big shots, big shots.
Speaker 1: So maybe this call you J. J.
Speaker 5: Reddick may love depression.
Speaker 2: Top three business moguls you know outside of you and
Speaker 2: your team?
Speaker 3: Did I know personally? Loreen Jobs.
Speaker 4: Incredible businesswoman, incredible philanthropists, Jimmy Iveen monster love everything about
Speaker 4: that man, and we think, uh did he.
Speaker 5: Did he?
Speaker 3: Because I think that.
Speaker 4: The one thing about being an entrepreneur that you have
Speaker 4: to be able to do more than anything is like
Speaker 4: wins and losses, just keep going. And I've never seen
Speaker 4: any human being as relentless and keep going as him.
Speaker 4: I would put an asterisk now and add Michael Rubin
Speaker 4: just because it, like I was saying earlier about everyone.
Speaker 3: Being uniquely them.
Speaker 4: I've never ever seen anyone like him. What he's built
Speaker 4: is beyond inspiring. And something I noticed at his party
Speaker 4: last week, and my wife and I noticed it is
Speaker 4: special quality, is that he took time to really say
Speaker 4: load everybody at the party.
Speaker 3: And I watched it.
Speaker 4: Because he knows me very well, knows my wife a
Speaker 4: little bit. But I saw you know, you always pay
Speaker 4: attention when you're with your girl out. You want to
Speaker 4: make sure she good, everyone good. And I saw him
Speaker 4: just like reach across the bar and make sure he
Speaker 4: made eye contact. And that's what works in business, right,
Speaker 4: So if you don't do that when you're at your
Speaker 4: own party, or do that amongst people, it will end
Speaker 4: up being a detriment in business. And you could see why,
Speaker 4: even as relentless as he is, he clearly has a
Speaker 4: level of empathy.
Speaker 3: And I think that's what's made him really special.
Speaker 5: If you had to be watched one game in history courtside,
Speaker 5: what would it be? Would be?
Speaker 4: Oh, man, that would definitely be well, one game courtside,
Speaker 4: because some of them I was courtside, but it's a
Speaker 4: nick games. It would probably be it would probably be
Speaker 4: a well, now I'm thinking about all the ones that didn't.
Speaker 5: Go our way.
Speaker 3: I was about to say the Charles Smith game, but.
Speaker 5: Why would a bunch of games.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't probably say Starks is dunk, Starks is dunk,
Speaker 4: Starks is dunk on the bulls. If I was sitting
Speaker 4: right there on the floor, I probably would have lost
Speaker 4: my mind. By the way, when KD hit the shot
Speaker 4: with the line, I went out of body, like it
Speaker 4: sucks that they that that for many reasons, but my
Speaker 4: reaction I had to kind of like push it aside
Speaker 4: because we didn't win the game.
Speaker 3: But I went like mosh pit extra.
Speaker 5: I went wild, yeah, because that was that was the finals,
Speaker 5: That was a championship. Was everything one.
Speaker 2: Inch long, toast five dinner guests, dead or alive. You
Speaker 2: plus five at the dinner table.
Speaker 3: Me plus five at the dinner table.
Speaker 2: You and KD plus five. Because I don't want him
Speaker 2: to take out an extra seats.
Speaker 3: I would definitely have to five.
Speaker 1: No, but I'm saying you two together and then you're.
Speaker 4: Five, Okay, us two together are five, You're five. I'm
Speaker 4: just gonna freestyle clearly because I would say, uh, Quincy Jones,
Speaker 4: Muhammad Ali, Jimmy and Dre and Serena.
Speaker 5: Nice one, guess you would like to see on our show,
Speaker 5: But but you have to help us get your answer
Speaker 5: on the show, the award winning show.
Speaker 1: So someone in that rolodex of yours that I.
Speaker 3: Have to help get on this show, would like to.
Speaker 2: See someone you're cool with, someone you could you know
Speaker 2: you said picking up the phone or getting on the
Speaker 2: zoom jay Z. Excuse me wash that down with our messcounts.
Speaker 3: Someone else would have to make that call.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I think about Rich, he's very self aware.
Speaker 5: You know, you know what you do good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you may get him before me. Ship. Let me
Speaker 3: think about that. I mean, who have you not had
Speaker 3: on that you want? Why don't you give me a job?
Speaker 3: Give me someone, I'll go get it. I'm better that way.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna make I'm gonna give you a hit
Speaker 2: list of like three or five.
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, give me.
Speaker 3: I like to work for free.
Speaker 5: I like that guy at his dinner that we didn't have, Serena.
Speaker 5: We'll talk about what we had.
Speaker 1: Serena. You're talking to William.
Speaker 3: Inviting her to my dinner, not because I can get her.
Speaker 2: Man, you don't get to know her a little bit, right, Well, Rich, man,
Speaker 2: we appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: I've always been a big fan of you.
Speaker 2: Again, one of the real genuine people in this space
Speaker 2: and that's hard to come by. Wish you continue success
Speaker 2: with the Venture boardroom. We got to find something to
Speaker 2: do together before we get out of there. You got
Speaker 2: a shout out one of the best companies in the
Speaker 2: world and my guy Scott with Legends. We got a
Speaker 2: little Legends All the Smoke gift bag.
Speaker 5: And also let them know what we beveraging. Matt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, you've been drinking on our mescal coming out soon.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do we have a name for it yet? What does
Speaker 1: that means?
Speaker 5: That means rings in Spanish? Okay, you learn something new
Speaker 5: every days in Spanish. Championship rings in Spanish.
Speaker 1: We do that here.
Speaker 2: We definitely want to shout out Excess Nightclubring the Win Hotel,
Speaker 2: thank you for hosting us again. Shout out to Legends,
Speaker 2: Rich We appreciate your time. You can catch this on
Speaker 2: Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the iHeart platform Black Effects.
Speaker 1: We'll see y'all next week.