Domo Arigato
I'm writing this email newsletter the week of Thanksgiving. On a normal year holidays like this are challenging. Even if you are fortunate you have family, food in your refrigerator and health to be thankful for this holiday can still make even the most zen turn crazy. We have now added a pandemic and I'm living in a city bracing itself for quarantine "part two." What has been consistently consistent is that nothing is predictable and I have learned a very important life lesson during the pandemic to remain full of gratitude and it can literally change an entire mood instantly. So I offer that to you as an "intellectual piece of pie" because I'm not going anywhere.
Our last newsletter was early September. Case counts were up, my state of California was seeing a decline and Trump was still President of The United States. September 16th the current President was bragging about working with Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Warren to bring football back.
90 days later we would go through one of the worst election seasons this country has ever seen, elect a new President Joe Biden and Alpha Kappa Alpha and Howard Univ's Kamala Harris, argue with our friends about whether Gucci Mane or Young Jeezy won Versuz and be staring at record numbers in the same states where BIG 12 Football is played and where our current President was pushing because it was "important to have."
The last three months while I have not had much time to write, we have been producing more content than I have done in the longest time.
You can find us producing a weekly show called "Culture & Code."
We do a show with Peace Inside Live about racial justice and equity called "Other America."
Been back on the 1's and 2's djing a few classics, new wave, afro, latin, 90’s hip hop
We produced our second "Culture & Code" and went pretty deep in eSports, Gen Z and Dubai.
We are opening up admission to The Authenticated. We are a 350 person cultural souk and a bodega, a salon and a studio. Our invite only community are the creatively talented founders, companies and ideas driving the culture and the code in cities around the world. If you are interested click here to find out more.
Would You Rather Be A Hallway or A Room
Between May and September the place where I logged in the most hours was by far Clubhouse. With the help (and heavy nudging) of Stephanie Simon, who is by far the best move and hire Clubhouse made, I made the new platform a place we decided to invest a significant amount of time, creative energy and transition of our existing community. We now have a “residency” at Clubhouse with a very robust and engaged Authenticated community, the majority of which were made up of my new and old friends. Our "original programming" and "shows" have produced industry reunions, old school legendary conversations, education on alternative investments, celebrations of local entrepreneurs and explored subjects ranging sexuality and politics.
I appreciate the team and investors who invited me and the space we have created with so many amazing old and new friends. Our company has been fortunate to be involved at the start of many startups and early stage technology companies. Our superpower at Authenticated Ventures, if we have one, is that we are often called upon to lock in "your first 1000 cultural force multipliers” and early investors. The force multipliers are those who have a combination of viral networks, creativity and cultural credibility. Often times their co-sign and capital contribution is the fuel needed to launch successful businesses. Clubhouse has benefited from a Force Multiplier effect in a way I think many companies moving forward will start to strategize around.
There was an initial cohort of us involved early in the platform and some of our networks "jus hit a little harder" a known fact when the “investor-i-choose-to-not-name” reached out to me in May. In full transparency we are not investors, they are not a client and we have not been invited to participate in their last round.
I think what Paul Davison and Rohan Seth are doing at Clubhouse is happening at a unique time in society and they will be successful with this as they help define a new category in media and culture. There have been many special moments on the platform that I’m grateful for, but there have also been a few triggering conversations by some really bad actors. From hosting legendary rooms to supporting a political PAC start over a conversation the cultural impact within Clubhouse is neither shocking or surprising to those of us who have been a part for awhile. I don't think there's yet a platform that has launched with this strong of support of the black creative economy and raised this much money because of.
I am clear that I’m on the platform to help provide the next generation of leaders in the culture the network, opportunities and wisdom to build the type of community platforms that seemingly Silicon Valley is signaling they would invest in. If Clubhouse is valued at $100m on the backs of black creativity then I expect nothing less from a black or marginalized founder.
In October I took a month off of most social platforms to focus on building our business and advising our companies and clients. One night I was asked by an investor "would you rather be a hallway or a room" and I went back in my cave to build our company.
Here's what I reflected on about Clubhouse while regaining my cognitive surplus.
There's some really brilliant minds out there thinking about a wide variety of interests.
Lupe Fiasco is super smart in a lot of categories.
Spending 4 Hours with George Clinton on our first show "The Originals" might have been one of the most amazing 4 hours of my life.
White supremacy is not just white southerners or midwest white men, I encountered white supremacist men with Stanford and Sand Hill Road connections and protections.
Fadia Kader is someone I kinda knew in my early Atlanta days and is totally worth all the hype she came with before we reconnected.
There's levels to Con-Artistry and the more they talk you end up figuring out who they are. This is true on Clubhouse and in real life.
Women are amazing, Black women are my g'd heroes.
I need to host a proper Blacks & Jews conversation. That deserves the space
Having worked in the "Roaring 90's Culture Business" now officially makes me legendary and I have access to "cheat codes" that people used to tell us didn't matter.
I need to build a product with my community and reimagine more equitable capital structures to insure congruence between my investors, executives and users.
Let's Talk Cities & Innovation: December 3-5
The Authenticated has spent the last year working with an organization called 2020 Visions to produce a multi-platform, virtual experience around cities and innovation called The New City. The New City Conference in conjunction with Union Theological Seminary is gathering leading innovators presenting aspirational models of solutions to city challenges. Sessions will feature global and civic world leaders, creatives, and innovators working to solve problems and design cities of the future. Andrew Yang, Sir David Adjaye, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, Karenna Gore, Jessica Mathews and many others. For more information text me "cities" to 415-843-8100
Atlanta: A Love Story
I consider my self spoiled AF for the opportunity I had to live in Atlanta during the time that I did. Some people pass thru ATL for college, a quick stint at a job or a convention, party or sporting game. That was me for the most part until early 2000's. I committed to Atlanta early and it became an incredible "co-founder" in the story of my career pivot #3. Atlanta was always my "backyard city," and because of the time I spent in the music business along with my family I was there often. Not until I lived in Atlanta would I really come to understand the Atlanta Way. Atlanta was an unfair advantage because of the opportunity I had to be a part of building the new Atlanta you now see.
I grew up in the Bay Area, the son of a activist Italian, German Jew mother and social justice warrior aunt and an absentee west indian father. Equal parts Oakland / Berkeley and Palo Alto I moved through the bay area with eaze and the 80's and 90's Bay Area still remains a time period that I am grateful to have grown up in. Culturally, I have always said that "Growing Up In The Bay" is an unfair advantage. Musically there is no comparative to the diversity of music that has come out of the communities. From Tower of Power, Carlos Santana, Michael Franti to MC Hammer, Digital Underground, En Vogue, Toni Tone Tony to Dru Down, Mac Dre, Goapele, and Sheila E.
I found my "creative town center" in Atlanta which is a term I use for that “erogenous zone” that contains the parts you most love about a city. I have this theory around cities that our relationships with them become like love affairs. We remember those places like a sweet kiss. That sunset in Paris, the safari in South Africa, the music in Havana and the gumbo in New Orleans. Whether in town for a weekend get away, a year or for many years I travel through cities looking for those parts of cities that have inspired me through the people, ideas, design, food and music.
At the beginning of the Pandemic, I had to focus on The Authenticated and realized that this was not just my community but my “city in the cloud.” The community is reflective of the best of all those experiences I had while traveling the world. Having my network in one mobile app, text, virtual platform allows me to make my current connections stronger and I’m always meeting new people through our virtual events and community conversations.
We are opening up admission to The Authenticated. We are a 350 person cultural souk and a bodega, a salon and a studio. Our invite only community are the creatively talented founders, companies and ideas driving the culture and the code in cities around the world. If you are interested click here to find out more.