welcome to hit mojo show 24 I’m your
host Ashley uncover solutions CT more
again is not here so replacing him is
none other than Rebecca trading from
watchmojo so Rebecca yes busy week as
always as always running around filming
everything under the Sun okay before we
get on with the show i’m very curious
you didn’t read a lot of people what’s
your favorite all-time interview done at
watch munjal well we did uh I mean I
encounter a lot of different types of
people I’m always surprised at you know
the office alone i configure uh you know
just I’m always surprised at how kind of
just genuine and nice some of the the
music acts that we injure you are but
one of the nicest people I’ve ever
interviewed is actually a sports anchor
on TSN miss Odysseus it is sounds James
Duffy he wrote a book called the day
almost killed two Gretzky’s I believe it
was called and he’s just a really
genuine guy really nice guy and it was
great interview did he also try to pick
you up like everyone else that you
interviewed now okay good maybe that’s
why you married with kids alright sorry
about that James ok so it’s funny I when
I was with my old life at ask man I did
a lot of interviews now I think your
interviews are more glamorous because
they’re live and in person that’s very
different and they’re recorded I used to
do most of my interviews over the phone
one time I remember interviewing Carl
Cox the DJ in his hotel room which was
rather eerie um sketchy indeed my
favorite interview i interviewed gene
simmons of kiss twice the first time was
in 2003 right as iraq had started but it
was already going pretty bad and i just
asked him naively you know most rock
stars were anti-war so you know at the
end of a 30-minute interview I was like
so what do you think of the Iraq war
he’s like it’s amazing i love it i was
like what I’m like what about the
carnage and destruction and so after the
30-minute interview we went on for
another 30 minutes and i was actually
recording that over the phone but in a
radio station where I was also anyway so
it was interesting and then what’s funny
is when i re-interviewed gene simmons in
2005 and by now iraq was a disaster I
was like you do recall we’ve spoken
before he’s like yes I was like so what
do you think of Iraq now and he didn’t
answer he just went straight to so the
new album is so and so anyway so but I
knew it was time for me to leave the
interviewing game
when I interviewed ja Rule a third time
that’s when I was like enough’s enough
I’ve done this okay so let’s get to the
show okay so you were a follow-up
article on entrepreneurship and
fundraising called things entrepreneurs
should avoid when fundraising would you
mind me yes yes I mean what I started
that whole TechCrunch series I was
mainly writing about the video industry
and I remember telling telling Eric
Schoenfeld the great editor in chief at
TechCrunch that you know I used to write
these young pro articles I’d like to do
this kind of stuff and he was like no no
let’s do the video stuff you have all
these stats they do well but now because
I’ve covered every nook and cranny of
online video lo and behold the articles
are evolving into that young pro advice
so what what are the main things i think
you know most of the mistakes that
entrepreneurs make I think boil down to
not so much VCS being these vultures I
think a lot of it is actually
inexperience and basically thinking that
so long as I maximize the valuation that
these investors put on my company then
it’s smooth sailing and actually think
that’s the mistake I think a lot of this
the things that are obvious like you
know investors like preferred shares
versus common shares which is basically
just they get their money before you do
or the fact that vc’s like to get their
legal fees reimbursed with the money you
raised which is a bit odd you’re like
wait a second this is money I’m raising
to grow my company why are you taking
your legal fees from the and you know
these are things that entrepreneurs just
have to accept as I say it it’s part of
the system and lastly it’s just a
reality you have one baby your company a
VC has like 20 companies he’s invested
in he just won’t care so much so so
that’s like the main thing goes
involving the system things that i think
is an entrepreneur you shouldn’t try to
fight it’s not worth it right so bullet
point number two it’s them yeah ok so
then there’s these other things where i
do think that you as the entrepreneur
should maybe fight and they’re very
subtle points for example the board you
know i personally have maybe 10 to 20
great advisors my board is pretty light
to put it mildly that’s fine i do look
forward to building a board one day but
you have to be careful you can’t invite
every person in the world to sit on your
board because ultimately the board
decides who the CEO is and the board
decides if they approve a budget or not
so for example like if I were to
construct a board and I bring on an
investor okay let’s say they get twenty
percent of the company well they should
have one board seat out of 5 for example
and mainly you should make sure that
there’s a couple guys that you trust who
may push you you don’t want lackeys this
isn’t like Rupert Murdoch but you don’t
want them to then turn around and screw
you just because it’s convenient for
them and so basically when an investor
comes on you basically each a point your
guys and then there’s Anna pendant guys
but you should always make sure that you
protect yourself because you know there
are tits it’s called boardroom
shenanigans for a reason so that’s
that’s one of them the other one is the
chairmanship I mean for example like I’m
a business person so I may want to be
chairman because I think I know what to
do and how to steer the ship but I don’t
have really the experience to be
chairman and I recognize that I think if
your technical founder you probably
don’t have the interest or the
experience and even like a business
person at some point you’re big enough
that you might want to bring on an
industry heavyweight like we’re a media
company if we could land like a great
media you know executive who’s built
five companies and sold them obviously
then it makes sense to give up and then
the last two things in terms of like the
things you should try to fight to get
fair don’t be unreasonable one is
liquidation preference what is the
liquidation preference it just means how
the pious split up you want to make sure
that yes investors get their money out
before the common shareholders get their
money out but if investors get like a 3x
or 2x or 5x and these are things that I
explain a bit more in the article I
think you’re going to be screwed and
then lastly there’s this concept of
vesting best thing is the notion
basically that you know if I have an
idea on a piece of paper and I raise
money for it the VCS are going to say
well you got to stick around for 34
years before you earn all of these
shares that’s fine but like let’s say if
i compare that to watch module which
I’ve been running for six years if
investors come and say well you’re going
to have to basically wait another three
years before you vest I’d be like hold
on maybe a year I consider to if it made
sense but why would I wait three four
years I’ve already put in six years so
these are the things that a lot of
entrepreneurs don’t realize they just
say oh my god this VC gave me a term
sheet we’re worth you know we’re rich
bitch we’re rich bitch you’re not and
you’re going to be poor and you going to
be out of a job well that’s the second
one where I think it’s things that the
VCS do try to push for and you have to
be careful right so it’s not them it’s
you yeah and then there’s word I think
the reason why the article did very well
is because I was very candid to say you
know entrepreneurs we make a thousand
mistakes like
much time do you have you know i can
tell you one hundred mistakes i’ve done
today so to speak I think the areas
where entrepreneurs do mess up is
sometimes when you do get interest you
go on your raise way too much money so
if you raise too much money the
expectations are too hot you think
you’re king of the mountain but you
really have unreasonable expectations to
overcome to you have to raise money when
you can not when you want to so I don’t
think you should wait till you’re you
know drowning in you know costs and
short runway before you go out there and
try to raise money and then the last two
things are basically fear and greed I
think like personally I’m always Pat and
that’s why I don’t want to be a
hypocrite when I tell entrepreneurs this
but I think we always fear about the the
vulture capital the guy was going to
come and screw you out of your business
you know at the end of the day all
partnerships can go sour I had a great
partnership with my old partners but
they sued me in the end and I want but
I’m just saying like that goes sour your
marriages can can end up in divorce so
you do have to go in somewhat with
positive you know in you know positive
thoughts because sure things can go or
you know off the rails but that’s not
the way you should start a relationship
and then the last one I think is you
can’t be greedy either I think you have
to make sure that investors get a chance
to get a positive return on their
investment and if ultimately they have
all this money it’s like they have the
ball they can choose where they’re going
to go and play so they have all this
money if you want them to come in back
you you do have to give them both the
roadmap to how they’re going to make a
lot of money but also mathematically you
know if I’m coming in at this level and
I want to make sure i get a 5x or 10x
return if you can’t convince yourself
that your company is going to do that
why would they buy into that so that was
the article I’m going to you know that
this trend is doing well so we’re going
to shift gears and probably do a
follow-up this upcoming link again to
continue this series on TechCrunch well
let’s shift gears now to talk about a
major companies one in particular is
hulu pivoting yes I mean we’ve heard
this term pivot which is companies
changing models the most well-known one
is groupon which one from like a let’s
get together and raise money for a
charity to oh my god we’re giving away
lobsters for fifty percent off and if
we’re 500 people that want to eat
lobsters then giddyup so I mean it’s
like a successful hibbett I actually
think that hulu
seeing what’s happening with Netflix as
well as Google funding all this content
and getting in the content business what
you are seeing is hulu which is an
aggregator and distributor starting to
basically get into content so they’re
going to start doing their own
productions it’s ironic because
distribute I mean I’m a Content guy but
I’d be living in denial in an Africa
basically if I thought that content had
beaten distribution content it might be
battered bruised kicked on spat on
mocked ridiculed but content is still
king but distribution won the dynamic
the the number one distribution company
is worth a lot more than you know the
top 10 content companies but what this
shows is that it’s a very lack of
defensive you know space to be in so
with Netflix getting hammered this year
and realizing that the cost of licensing
content goes up and with google youtube
funding 100 to 250 million dollars of
original content hulu has no choice but
to get in the content business and
they’re going to spend 500 million
dollars to pay out to content partners
like watchmojo but they’re going to get
in the content business so I think you
are seeing a pivot we’re basically every
distribution company is going to get
into content one or another people
thought Google would never become one
they are now they bought the Zagat as
well and I think even Facebook you know
I mean Facebook and all these other
companies that in Twitter to Twitter’s
now putting on live shows you know
Tiesto was putting on a live show at CES
we know we you know a few friends who
work there you’re going to see more and
more original content so you know for
six years some of us have insane content
is king it is I think you still want to
own the throne or the castle which I’ll
pass any one king but but isn’t it is
interesting to see these companies pivot
very cool that was show 24 we promised
you CT may be back next week and we’ll
catch you the same time same place
host Ashley uncover solutions CT more
again is not here so replacing him is
none other than Rebecca trading from
watchmojo so Rebecca yes busy week as
always as always running around filming
everything under the Sun okay before we
get on with the show i’m very curious
you didn’t read a lot of people what’s
your favorite all-time interview done at
watch munjal well we did uh I mean I
encounter a lot of different types of
people I’m always surprised at you know
the office alone i configure uh you know
just I’m always surprised at how kind of
just genuine and nice some of the the
music acts that we injure you are but
one of the nicest people I’ve ever
interviewed is actually a sports anchor
on TSN miss Odysseus it is sounds James
Duffy he wrote a book called the day
almost killed two Gretzky’s I believe it
was called and he’s just a really
genuine guy really nice guy and it was
great interview did he also try to pick
you up like everyone else that you
interviewed now okay good maybe that’s
why you married with kids alright sorry
about that James ok so it’s funny I when
I was with my old life at ask man I did
a lot of interviews now I think your
interviews are more glamorous because
they’re live and in person that’s very
different and they’re recorded I used to
do most of my interviews over the phone
one time I remember interviewing Carl
Cox the DJ in his hotel room which was
rather eerie um sketchy indeed my
favorite interview i interviewed gene
simmons of kiss twice the first time was
in 2003 right as iraq had started but it
was already going pretty bad and i just
asked him naively you know most rock
stars were anti-war so you know at the
end of a 30-minute interview I was like
so what do you think of the Iraq war
he’s like it’s amazing i love it i was
like what I’m like what about the
carnage and destruction and so after the
30-minute interview we went on for
another 30 minutes and i was actually
recording that over the phone but in a
radio station where I was also anyway so
it was interesting and then what’s funny
is when i re-interviewed gene simmons in
2005 and by now iraq was a disaster I
was like you do recall we’ve spoken
before he’s like yes I was like so what
do you think of Iraq now and he didn’t
answer he just went straight to so the
new album is so and so anyway so but I
knew it was time for me to leave the
interviewing game
when I interviewed ja Rule a third time
that’s when I was like enough’s enough
I’ve done this okay so let’s get to the
show okay so you were a follow-up
article on entrepreneurship and
fundraising called things entrepreneurs
should avoid when fundraising would you
mind me yes yes I mean what I started
that whole TechCrunch series I was
mainly writing about the video industry
and I remember telling telling Eric
Schoenfeld the great editor in chief at
TechCrunch that you know I used to write
these young pro articles I’d like to do
this kind of stuff and he was like no no
let’s do the video stuff you have all
these stats they do well but now because
I’ve covered every nook and cranny of
online video lo and behold the articles
are evolving into that young pro advice
so what what are the main things i think
you know most of the mistakes that
entrepreneurs make I think boil down to
not so much VCS being these vultures I
think a lot of it is actually
inexperience and basically thinking that
so long as I maximize the valuation that
these investors put on my company then
it’s smooth sailing and actually think
that’s the mistake I think a lot of this
the things that are obvious like you
know investors like preferred shares
versus common shares which is basically
just they get their money before you do
or the fact that vc’s like to get their
legal fees reimbursed with the money you
raised which is a bit odd you’re like
wait a second this is money I’m raising
to grow my company why are you taking
your legal fees from the and you know
these are things that entrepreneurs just
have to accept as I say it it’s part of
the system and lastly it’s just a
reality you have one baby your company a
VC has like 20 companies he’s invested
in he just won’t care so much so so
that’s like the main thing goes
involving the system things that i think
is an entrepreneur you shouldn’t try to
fight it’s not worth it right so bullet
point number two it’s them yeah ok so
then there’s these other things where i
do think that you as the entrepreneur
should maybe fight and they’re very
subtle points for example the board you
know i personally have maybe 10 to 20
great advisors my board is pretty light
to put it mildly that’s fine i do look
forward to building a board one day but
you have to be careful you can’t invite
every person in the world to sit on your
board because ultimately the board
decides who the CEO is and the board
decides if they approve a budget or not
so for example like if I were to
construct a board and I bring on an
investor okay let’s say they get twenty
percent of the company well they should
have one board seat out of 5 for example
and mainly you should make sure that
there’s a couple guys that you trust who
may push you you don’t want lackeys this
isn’t like Rupert Murdoch but you don’t
want them to then turn around and screw
you just because it’s convenient for
them and so basically when an investor
comes on you basically each a point your
guys and then there’s Anna pendant guys
but you should always make sure that you
protect yourself because you know there
are tits it’s called boardroom
shenanigans for a reason so that’s
that’s one of them the other one is the
chairmanship I mean for example like I’m
a business person so I may want to be
chairman because I think I know what to
do and how to steer the ship but I don’t
have really the experience to be
chairman and I recognize that I think if
your technical founder you probably
don’t have the interest or the
experience and even like a business
person at some point you’re big enough
that you might want to bring on an
industry heavyweight like we’re a media
company if we could land like a great
media you know executive who’s built
five companies and sold them obviously
then it makes sense to give up and then
the last two things in terms of like the
things you should try to fight to get
fair don’t be unreasonable one is
liquidation preference what is the
liquidation preference it just means how
the pious split up you want to make sure
that yes investors get their money out
before the common shareholders get their
money out but if investors get like a 3x
or 2x or 5x and these are things that I
explain a bit more in the article I
think you’re going to be screwed and
then lastly there’s this concept of
vesting best thing is the notion
basically that you know if I have an
idea on a piece of paper and I raise
money for it the VCS are going to say
well you got to stick around for 34
years before you earn all of these
shares that’s fine but like let’s say if
i compare that to watch module which
I’ve been running for six years if
investors come and say well you’re going
to have to basically wait another three
years before you vest I’d be like hold
on maybe a year I consider to if it made
sense but why would I wait three four
years I’ve already put in six years so
these are the things that a lot of
entrepreneurs don’t realize they just
say oh my god this VC gave me a term
sheet we’re worth you know we’re rich
bitch we’re rich bitch you’re not and
you’re going to be poor and you going to
be out of a job well that’s the second
one where I think it’s things that the
VCS do try to push for and you have to
be careful right so it’s not them it’s
you yeah and then there’s word I think
the reason why the article did very well
is because I was very candid to say you
know entrepreneurs we make a thousand
mistakes like
much time do you have you know i can
tell you one hundred mistakes i’ve done
today so to speak I think the areas
where entrepreneurs do mess up is
sometimes when you do get interest you
go on your raise way too much money so
if you raise too much money the
expectations are too hot you think
you’re king of the mountain but you
really have unreasonable expectations to
overcome to you have to raise money when
you can not when you want to so I don’t
think you should wait till you’re you
know drowning in you know costs and
short runway before you go out there and
try to raise money and then the last two
things are basically fear and greed I
think like personally I’m always Pat and
that’s why I don’t want to be a
hypocrite when I tell entrepreneurs this
but I think we always fear about the the
vulture capital the guy was going to
come and screw you out of your business
you know at the end of the day all
partnerships can go sour I had a great
partnership with my old partners but
they sued me in the end and I want but
I’m just saying like that goes sour your
marriages can can end up in divorce so
you do have to go in somewhat with
positive you know in you know positive
thoughts because sure things can go or
you know off the rails but that’s not
the way you should start a relationship
and then the last one I think is you
can’t be greedy either I think you have
to make sure that investors get a chance
to get a positive return on their
investment and if ultimately they have
all this money it’s like they have the
ball they can choose where they’re going
to go and play so they have all this
money if you want them to come in back
you you do have to give them both the
roadmap to how they’re going to make a
lot of money but also mathematically you
know if I’m coming in at this level and
I want to make sure i get a 5x or 10x
return if you can’t convince yourself
that your company is going to do that
why would they buy into that so that was
the article I’m going to you know that
this trend is doing well so we’re going
to shift gears and probably do a
follow-up this upcoming link again to
continue this series on TechCrunch well
let’s shift gears now to talk about a
major companies one in particular is
hulu pivoting yes I mean we’ve heard
this term pivot which is companies
changing models the most well-known one
is groupon which one from like a let’s
get together and raise money for a
charity to oh my god we’re giving away
lobsters for fifty percent off and if
we’re 500 people that want to eat
lobsters then giddyup so I mean it’s
like a successful hibbett I actually
think that hulu
seeing what’s happening with Netflix as
well as Google funding all this content
and getting in the content business what
you are seeing is hulu which is an
aggregator and distributor starting to
basically get into content so they’re
going to start doing their own
productions it’s ironic because
distribute I mean I’m a Content guy but
I’d be living in denial in an Africa
basically if I thought that content had
beaten distribution content it might be
battered bruised kicked on spat on
mocked ridiculed but content is still
king but distribution won the dynamic
the the number one distribution company
is worth a lot more than you know the
top 10 content companies but what this
shows is that it’s a very lack of
defensive you know space to be in so
with Netflix getting hammered this year
and realizing that the cost of licensing
content goes up and with google youtube
funding 100 to 250 million dollars of
original content hulu has no choice but
to get in the content business and
they’re going to spend 500 million
dollars to pay out to content partners
like watchmojo but they’re going to get
in the content business so I think you
are seeing a pivot we’re basically every
distribution company is going to get
into content one or another people
thought Google would never become one
they are now they bought the Zagat as
well and I think even Facebook you know
I mean Facebook and all these other
companies that in Twitter to Twitter’s
now putting on live shows you know
Tiesto was putting on a live show at CES
we know we you know a few friends who
work there you’re going to see more and
more original content so you know for
six years some of us have insane content
is king it is I think you still want to
own the throne or the castle which I’ll
pass any one king but but isn’t it is
interesting to see these companies pivot
very cool that was show 24 we promised
you CT may be back next week and we’ll
catch you the same time same place
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