July 1, 2025 • 36 mins
Ep. 222 Isaac Hayes III is Founder and CEO at Fanbase.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Lucas here, Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
So glad to be with you guys, and for the
third time, you've probably been on the show more than anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I think you might as well be like co hosts
here on Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Isaac Hayes, the third record producer, songwriter, voice actor, entrepreneur,
CEO and founder of fan Base, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What man, Yeah, I'm just a tech founder now I
dabble in those places. But the history they got context
who you are fan based.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I love it all right.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So look, so we've been, you know, trying to make
this episode happen for a little while, and so much
has changed in the landscape of social media.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know, you've got social media, new.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Features come out on a whole lot of different apps,
apps still in other people's features. You've got TikTok being
I want to talk about TikTok. And there's a lot
of uncertainty which happens in an administration like this, not
just in the marketplace, but also in social media apparently.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
And so what is your read.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Currently on where this is going? When we here one
day may go away, then it gets delayed.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Where are we at.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know, honestly, I know that there's a deadline, I
think June sixteenth or summer seventeenth, somewhere where like the
next deadline for them to sell the company is. But
other than that, I really haven't paid too much attention
because whether TikTok stays or goes, there's still a shift
that's happening in social media that we're currently focused on
(01:31):
that you know, kind of overlaps with short form video,
but there's a bigger play involved. And I've really been
spending the last since February really just working hard on
what this next era of fan base is and a
lot of great things have been happening.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So if TikTok stays, the stays. If it goes, it goes.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
But I know that the deadline is just sometime June
sixteenth or seventeenth, then they'll probably extend it again, so
you know who knows from there.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, But like, no matter what happens there, it reshaped
the creator economy, So it creates opportunities for people like
you and your company, and I wonder like for particularly
for black creators who have built substantial followings, whether it
be TikTok or anywhere else. You know, how does how
do you hope this landscape shifts in our favor?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I think what I what I hope is that and
what I foresee is that every person that has a
social media page will be a content creator in some way,
shape or form, whether that is a you know, a
passive content creator or a professional content creator, right, and
they will they will do the same thing that they've
(02:42):
always been doing on social media, except there will be
this income just by participating in social media that users
get and or people take it really really seriously and
are able to produce content and garner the views and
attention that work television programming does, which is already happening,
(03:03):
but they're trying their best to kind of mask that
and you know, and kind of make it not seeing
that that's the reality. But the reality is is that
creators are now garnering the amount of visibility that network
programming has when they're spending hundreds and millions of dollars
on television shows, but they're doing it at a fraction
of the cost, but still gaining the same amount of visibility.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I think a lot about diversifying the audience and
how I get access to the autists, and I'm interested
in your thoughts on this is because just to bring
up some of the other platforms. So, if I have
a million followers on Instagram, right, I don't own that
audience necessarily, Like I don't have access to the email addresses.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I can't if I leave, they they still there.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And so I encourage creators as often as possible to
build a newsletter. Just start to collect email addresses and
things like that so that no matter what happens, I
can directly get to my audience. You're somebody who also
thinks a lot about and talks a lot about ownership
is so I wonder what your thoughts are on how creators,
(04:09):
no matter what happens in social media landscape, how should
we be thinking about being able to access the people
who said I want to follow what that guy is.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Doing, what that lady's doing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, if done the way that I intend and I'm
already doing, you will have access to that audience at
all times. The ability to communicate with those people, have
their email addresses, all those things will be part of
the future. I think the big differentiator between us and
all the other legacy platforms is these platforms have dug
(04:40):
the staking the ground on advertising, and that requires them
to kind of put a shield around your ability to
access the audience because then you can convert that audience
into your own advertising revenue stream. And so I'm not
concerned with that because fan Base is a free platform
to use. We don't run ads, and then the revenue
(05:00):
that you do make comes from either people tipping you
or you adding extra content that people subscribe to you.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So that added extra layer.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
So that's not really our focus, So it doesn't change,
it doesn't alter the way that we operate our business
as opposed to the way that other platforms operate their business.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So along that line is how do you position to
a potential user, how do you pitch fan Base now?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, well, fan Base is an all in one social
media platform that's free to use. You can post anything
you want those photos, videos, stories, live audio, chat rooms,
and additionally, like I said, for free, but if you
want to, people can support you by subscribing to you
for additional content that you create. So it's the best
(05:47):
of both worlds. We're positioning ourselves in the market as
a distribution platform, but community based. So think about how
all these other platforms that currently exists for.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
The exception of maybe YouTube, but.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Media companies are going to be faced with the realization
that they are no longer going to be places that
people come to look for their content, and they're going
to have to go to other places to distribute that content.
And so how I would pitch a creator is to say, hey, look,
you are your own distribution channel inside of fan base, right,
(06:27):
so you can distribute your content the same way that
someone distributes their music on Apple Music and Spotify. You
can deliver that content on fan Base, and anybody that
has a fan base account or access to that content
can watch that content or subscribe to that content.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And we want that to be frictionist.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's why we have in app purchase subscriptions, we have
web subscriptions, we have tipping, all those things. And so
I would position it as consider yourself a television network.
Consider yourself the same way that coysonnot considers himself as
he's a network. But the big, the big separator between
what he does and these other legacy media platforms is
(07:08):
he's doing it inside a community infrastructure like Twitch.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And so.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I really was was happy for Kai saying, look, you know,
Amazon Prime, Netflix, to b have been asking me to
take his recent streamer University and bring it to those platforms,
but they need him, he doesn't need them. And the
only way that that these platforms are going to survive,
(07:36):
like the Netflix and the Hulus and the Disney pluses,
is those platforms are going to have to distribute their
content through large social networks. That's the only way that
people are going to consume content in the future. You're
not going to people are not going to go to
their television and then open up Netflix or Hulu. People
want to experience content in a more immersive way, in
(07:57):
a more collaborative way, and a more community. That's why
chat is kind of like the part of the conversation.
The chat has become part of the show, and so
when you merge those worlds, younger audiences are not just
gonna want to sit in front of a line or television,
a sixteen by nine screen and just watch shows. They're
(08:17):
gonna want to talk to their friends, They're going to
send clips of those shows, They're gonna make extra content.
All these things are part about part of how we're
going to consume content in the future, and so that's
a big differentiator between US and the rest of these
platforms that we understand that in the future we would
welcome a platform like Netflix and a platform like Hulu
(08:38):
and tub to actually have fan based pages and people
subscribe to those platforms the same way they do now
on Apple TV, but subscribe subscribe to them through fan
base because now you have a community that's around the content.
None of these platforms have community around their content except
for YouTube, and that community exists on the video itself
the video. Then there's the comment section, but there is
(09:00):
no community around YouTube. There's no twenty four to seven
community around YouTube where people have profiles and they they
send content, they react to content, they share content all
the time. Amongst these pages, it's more like, Okay, you
post a video, people have a conversation on the video,
and that's it. The next step is the community aspects
(09:21):
of where large communities have people that distribute content, which
is why you even see people platforms like only Fans
that are up for sale, and some media corporations are
considering buying only fans to kind of probably get rid
of the pornography element but still have a community to
distribute content.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Through kind of monetize On day one.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And a great fact about fan Base, it's a big
separator from fan Base is it takes the average content
creator six months to earn their first dollar on other
social media platforms. We have people earning a dollar in
minutes on fan Base, you know, the day they sign up.
And it's not by even subscriptions, it's from people actually
tipping them for their content, for something that you say
(10:04):
in an audio room, or a comment that you leave
on a post, or something that you say in a DM.
And so we wanted to keep it wide open that
you yourself are creating content by commenting and sharing and
having these conversations, and so you earn money from day one.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So as a founder, and you got to think about that,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
User acquisition strategically, this is what you think about every day.
You know, you have a product that could be for anybody,
anybody and everybody, right, Who is the person you target?
Is it the creator? Is it the is it the
eighteen to twenty four year old?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Who is the person you spend the most time? If
I get them, everybody else will come along.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Well, I think first we're in this. That's a great
question because what we've been doing probably since February, I've
really focused on products in a way that we've never
had before. I've made some amaze hires here at fan Base,
two black women that are part of the fan Base team.
One is named Lauren Ward, who is over product at
(11:11):
fan Base now. She's formerly at Meta and Instagram and
she was over products like stories and reels and I
wanted to bring her in to really get the product
in a place that's competitive. And then we brought in
Ashley Adams's product marketing manager are who now is She
was formerly at Hulu and LinkedIn, but we brought her
(11:31):
over to make that relationship between the user base and
the product and how we communicate with those people. And
really you gather that information first and then you figure
it out. But you know, my ideal audience is someone
between the ages of eighteen to twenty four, just because
that gives us longevity. But we're in such a process
right now that we are simplifying the app, we are
(11:54):
building new features, We're doing a lot over these next
two quarters to kind of prepare fan Base for the
next level of where we need to be. And so
that's our target right now, is the youth right here
in Atlanta, Georgia. I want to target the culture because
wherever that goes, everyone else follows. You know, if you
get if you get the culture right, if you get
(12:14):
the culture, and if you get the youth, you get
everybody else because they are the coolest people, right, Kids
are the coolest people on the planet, and everybody wants
to be like them and be in the know, and
they kind of dictate the culture. So the younger generation,
it's always top of mind for me.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
How do you view your role as a very public CEO?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know, an opinionated CEO, a public facing one, one
who understands at some level the law, you know, considering
your copyrights and ownership and these sorts of things.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And you have.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I don't know unfiltered is the right word.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Maybe you'll say unfiltered, but you have a strong opinion
and you're not afraid to say it, and you're.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Also a CEO.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So how how do you think about that when you
wake up and more than like this, I chose violence.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well, it's not that I choose violence. I choose truth, right,
and I choose honesty that might make people uncomfortable in
ways that I think that we've been indoctrinated into as
black people, so it's like, don't say too much out
of fear of messing up an opportunity right or ruining
(13:29):
something or And I don't think as black people we
can live like that any longer. I've had the opportunity
to where with some amazing people that have worked at
Meta and Snapchat, and these are brilliant individuals, but I've
also simultaneously heard them talk about the frustrations and the
disappointment of being the most exceptional Black person that you
(13:51):
can be, but also at the same time having to
limit your excellence make other people in the company feel comfortable.
That is, I've never experienced that in my life. But
when I hear that from a corporate standpoint, and I'm
pretty sure that's no different than a lot of places
in corporate America. But I don't come from that world,
so I don't understand that world. I don't live by
(14:12):
those rules. I don't acknowledge those rules, and I don't
accept those rules, and I don't think that. I don't
think any person of any gender, race, ethnicity should alter
who they are, especially on an intellectual level or a
talent level, to make someone else feel comfortable just because
they are the majority in the situation and they need employment.
So for me, I'm always going to be honest in
(14:34):
saying that we need to be unapologetically ourselves. That is
why fan Bases brand statement is being you without limits.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
There's no.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Way in this company that anybody would not be able
to walk in here and be the most best version
of themselves and me or anyone in this company ask
them to limit that excellence, that that will never happen
at this company, but that happens every single day corporate America.
And so if that makes me a vocal CEO and
(15:04):
people consider that rocking the boat, so be it.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But there has to.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Be a change, especially in times like now, the administration
that we're in right now, that black people especially have
to own their power in ways that we never have
before and not be afraid to challenge that because now
we are in an era where distribution is digital, opportunity
(15:29):
is global, monetization is available for every single person. So
the means for you to be able to generate income
are not no longer based on you having to work
for an individual or a racist company or biggoty company,
or a company that wants to get rid of DEI
is shifting to where I am my own independent contractor
(15:51):
deciding how I want to live my life, how I
want to make my earn my money, make an income,
and no one can stop me from doing that.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
You know, I'm gonna ask this question in different words.
I I like that response, and I'm interested in how
you talk to you know, growing publicly in a way.
So what I mean by that is, you know there
is a thought to be had, and I've seen you
have to have these conversations online to where grace will
be given to companies not built by us on how
(16:23):
things work, you know, technically in an application. And I
remember you saying, is is an interview I was watching
and you said, you know, white people get canceled for
breaking the law. We get canceled for having a pinion effectively,
and you I've seen you have to you know, defend,
(16:43):
you know, explain, you know, just technical issues. But people,
you know, some in our community were just like, oh
it had a bug, I'm never using it again. I
want My question is how do you respond to that
and educate also so that people understand, like you know,
the number one is technology. Things happen if things break,
et cetera, especially when you grow it. Things for sure break.
(17:05):
When you're growing, you speak to that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I would speak to first and foremost is you have
to meet the moment and actually acknowledge the issues that
people have. Will I myself will only accept so much
grace as the company itself for us to not fix
issues that people have, right, I myself not because no
one asked, you know, no one asked me to build
(17:28):
a social media platform that is this complex, this complicated.
I decided to do this. I decided to take on
this challenge, and so we as a company have to
meet that moment and we can't run from that. So
we can't run from issues, we can't run from bugs,
we can't run from you know, anything like that. But
also remember that we are learning as we are growing,
and so that will happen and so over time those
(17:51):
issues that could exist in every app pass even Instagram, right,
we will face those challenges and just have to deal
with the bias that exists that because I'm black or
fan base is black owned, that it's some in some
way inferior to another app that has far more funding,
a lot more longevity and time on the market, and
(18:13):
we're just getting started, so you just have to meet
the moment. You can't make excuses, right, But that's that's
just that's just the way it is. So for me,
that is exactly why, like I said, we brought on
these new hires. I've got some I've got some some
some new people that have been giving me some great advice.
I've had the opportunity to talk to to Alvin Bowles,
who was formerly a Meta and people don't know he
(18:35):
was in he was there for over ten years. And
Tie my tailor, who comes from the Meta team and
it worked over at Snapchat, and and I've had some
amazing conversations with those two gentlemen too that really add
insight into what we're building. And what gives me the
best kind of calm in that is that those platforms
(18:55):
are no better than we are. They just had the
opportunity to make a lot of money, and so they
make so much money that they can they can mask
the mistakes with capital, right, you know what I'm saying.
So it's like people can overlook the fact that there's
a lot of glitches and bugs and stuff like that,
but they're.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Making so much money.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Number one, they really don't even don't care, Like if
you have a problem with it, it's like leave. You know,
they're not really here to address issues in a way
that are specific to users. We're small enough, we're nimble enough,
and we want to gain public trust in a way
that allows users to believe and have faith in what
we're doing. And so that's an opportunity there. So it
(19:37):
feels good to be able to talk to people that
have worked at these companies for years and get feedback
from them, saying in actuality, you guys are a little
bit more organized, and actuality your product is a little
bit better and actuality you know you are approaching this.
You have an opportunity to approach this a lot differently.
So I have the utmost confidence in faith in the
team and fan base and what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Excited about that. So we'll just meet the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You speak about this desire to merge culture and infrastructure,
and I'm interested in the culture part is obviously what
that means, Like, what does infrastructure mean when you say that,
because I imagine it's more than just an.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
App Well, well no, maybe, well it just means that
black culture is funneled through institutions of capitalism, right, But
it's the gasoline, it's not the engine. And so the
infrastructure component is extremely important because it generates, you know,
(20:39):
a thousand times ten thousand times more wealth than it
does for the people that benefit from being culturally relevant
or entertaining or things like that. So if you know,
if Lebron James and SGK and all these other you know,
all these Anthony Edwards, all these athletes are making you know,
(21:01):
millions of dollars, what is the NBA making? If these
artists are making millions of dollars? In the record industry,
what are the labels making? If these television hosts and
these actors are making millions of dollars, what are the
studios making? If these content creators and influencers are making
millions of dollars, what are the apps making? And so,
(21:22):
in all of those situations, black culture is really what
makes those things relevant and cool, but no one owns
those infrastructures. And so once you switch the conversation to
infrastructure ownership, it removes this exploitative relationship that exists between
black culture and infrastructure, so that it provides the opportunity
(21:43):
for us to invest in corporations and own our culture
by way of investing and owning infrastructure, which creates generational
wealth in ways that we've never imagined before. When there's
you know, over I think three or four thousand billionaires
on the planet, like maybe sixteen black ones, we need
(22:04):
to create opportunities to create more millionaires, more billionaires, more
one hundred thousand AARs, more people that can you know,
own their culture and own their their their life in
a way by just being part of something that owns infrastructure.
So black culture is just the it's the gasoline of cool, right,
(22:25):
It's just but it's in it. None of these things
work without it. And so until someone stops and says,
before we do this really cool thing to make this
thing that everybody talks about, what is the economic impact
of us doing this going to have on the back end?
And are we going to be getting compensated appropriately for
(22:46):
making this the coolest thing ever?
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So is Ryan Coogler is being compensated right for making
centers and imax in seventy millimeter, Like it's making it
cool in a way that no one else has made it.
I'max and seventy millimeter film has been around forever. I've
never heard anybody talk about seventy millimeter and I'max Films
morever than Ryan Coogler in this movie. So now, like,
(23:13):
how is he being compensated? And he's being compensated with
ownership of his film after twenty five years, But how
can other people be compensated for creating these these massive
institutions of wealth. I've mentioned this before, I'll say it again.
Even when you think of the success that Kay Sannot
(23:34):
and all these streamers are having on Twitch, there's a
direct correlation between Soldier Boy and bow Wow and Twitch.
And that is because Soljier Boy and bow Wow got
on a platform called justin TV, right, and the early
eight twenty tens, two thousand, I mean I'm two thousands,
you know, eight nine ten around that and justin TV,
(23:57):
with the success of Sojio Boy and Maowow, decided to
make a video video game streaming version of just TV
called Twitch. And so there would be no Twitch without
Soldiaboy and bow Wow. Right, And so how come Sogiaboy
and bow Wow don't own part of Twitch? Because again,
we run and make things really really cool. But we
have to think about before before I talk about this
(24:18):
brand before I join this platform. What impact is it
going to have on my community, my culture, and how
can we benefit the most from it?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You know, I see I've seen you know, these other
platforms put together effectively. If you're Adam Mosery or Evan
Spiegel or Mark Zuckerberg, you can put your thumb on
the scale and make a star tomorrow because you can
amplify that person.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Who you decide to choose.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And so I've seen these these these platforms put together,
these collectives or you know, we're going to support this
ten twenty one hundred, you know, creators with a little
bit of resources, and we're gonna, you know, amplify them.
I wonder what you think when you see things like
that and how you might approach them, if differently or
the same.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, the first thing that I try to approach is
for and this is always an open conversation and I
say this all the time, is with equity. You know, uh,
DJ Academics does not own part of Rumble. He doesne
have equity in Rumble. Kysanot does not have equity in Twitch.
Aiden Ross has equity, and kick Right Charlie Demilio has
(25:27):
equity in the in the financial company step, Bryce Hall
has equity and a company called Lolly and equity is
how you turn millionaires and people into billionaires and so
number one fan base having having the ability for people
to invest if they so choose, or you know, have
(25:49):
conversations about equity compensation the same way that Nike had
conversations with Magic Johnson when they were the little guy
in town, and Magic was like, I give me the
cash I can, but if you would have kept that,
if you would have took that stock, he would have
had six billion dollars in Nike stock. And I mean
Magic turned out doing fine, he did very, very well.
(26:09):
But the point is that I approached this because I
want to empower investors and users to own part of
fan base. It's part of the rays that we've we've
been so successful at. Right now, we have a seventeen
million dollar crowdfund. We're about to close that round pretty soon,
I think hopefully in the next few weeks. But again,
(26:30):
as many people that can own part of this company
and help it scale to to you know, multiple billions
of dollars, that is the part that I want to
be different, rather than just saying I can make you hot.
I want to I want to provide ownership and opportunity
and then monetization on the front end for people as well.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, I think about like what creates the fire in
your belly, like the thing that makes you want to go,
that sense of urgency. And I was, you know, reading
and you've been very vocal about you know, your father
could have missed out those seventy five million dollars in
copyright money. And so when you think about those kinds
of numbers, how do you think about the urgency that
(27:09):
gives you to make sure other creators don't miss these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I mean, I think about my other family members who
were not as fortunate enough to either grow up in
Atlanta or find their way into the music industry.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
My other brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Who had a father that generated you know, tens of
millions of dollars, and they should have been able to
go to college and go home and ask dad for
a little bit of a loan to help them start
their business, like a lot of these white kids do.
And so what happens is that there are other people
that don't look like us that took advantage of my father,
again based off his culture, Black culture that are seeing
(27:49):
the benefit of his hard work. And so that's always
been top of mind for me in anything that I did,
even before getting to building fan base. It was just
the way that I coach in music business, because that's
why I think I had such a brief, kind of
a brief, semi successful run as a songwriter producer, because
(28:09):
I just would not compromise my publishing and the ownership
of my music. And so it drove me to always
think about ways that we can return that wealth to
Black people by way of ownership and equity, as opposed
to just saying, hey, we're going to pick the three, four,
five of you guys that are the coolest and make
(28:30):
you very, very rich and make you stars, and the
rest of the other Black community should just be happy
that they made it, and that should be the aspirational goal, right,
The aspirational goal of the black community should not be
able to mimic the mimic the success of someone else
that was provided opportunity, as opposed to creating infrastructures that
generate wealth. I can't, you know, as happy as I
(28:53):
am for all of the wealthy and rich African American
people that exists in this country and around the world.
The larger conversation needs to be about ownership and an
ownership of that infrastructure of these platforms that they use.
When I speak about black culture, if you take black
culture and you treat it like water or some sort
(29:15):
of magical liquid, and you pour that culture into a
tennis shoe, you get a Jordan right. If you pour
that into a record company, you get hip hop. If
you pour that into a turntable, you get DJ culture.
If you pour that into a phone, you get social media.
So you pour that into the fashion industry, you get
streetwear and all these cool things that people do. And
(29:35):
so we can no longer exist as just an instrument
of wealth building without having massive amounts of ownership an
opportunity in the space.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
For the people who are winning on fan base, whether
they're getting all the likes the loves on the awareness
society engagement side and then making money on the other side,
what are they doing differently than the people who may not.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Be I think they just they actually believe or understand well,
actually they're just showing up.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
People are very very What I say about human beings
is we're transactional, we're generous, people will give you, we'll
tip you, right, and it doesn't seem like much. Like
I said, a penny doesn't seem like much until, like
you know, a million people give you one, and then
that's five thousand dollars your share of revenue on fan
base if a million people give you a penny. And
(30:34):
so I think we're getting into that phase where people
are understanding that the dopamine hit that you get from
likes and views and attention is one thing, but that
there's also the added layer which you can do that
on fan base, or the added layer that someone can
just tip you for what the content that you provide,
(30:57):
the humorous comment that you made that made them laugh,
that brought joy to their day, or the really amazing
gem that you brought in an audio room to a
conversation that someone feels like, Yo, what you just said
really inspired me. Here's fifty cents. Here's a dollar for
what you just said at scale over time. So I
just think they're living in the environment and understanding the
(31:19):
world and the opportunity that we exist in that content
monetization is just going to be the norm, and it's
not going to be something that people feel like guilty
over or feel forced to do. It's almost going to
be like customary, Like it's customary to tip somebody. Imagine
in the future, so it's like, man, they made a
really cool post, it's customary to throw them a couple
(31:39):
of cents because they contributed to that, to that conversation,
or they made something like that. And I think the
people on fan base are realizing that and they benefit
from that, and they live in that world because they
often talk about how they go to other platforms and
they're like, I love the attention that I get on
some of the other social media platforms, but I actually
make money off fan maatese.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I actually help pay my bills with.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
The money that I make having content monetized on fan base,
either through tipping or subscription. And it's only going to
get better as the community grows, because now if you
have people that are making hundreds of dollars a month,
thousands of dollars a month on fan base, and we
have one point four million users, but that's nothing in
comparison to platforms that have five hundred million users, a
billion users and stuff like that. So when you get
(32:20):
to that level of scale, you're gonna have people that
earn a living just by doing things that they normally
would do on other social media platforms, but really be
able to pay their bills and live a great life
just being themselves. Again, be you without limits is just
something that our brand statement is.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
And so the.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Ability to just be yourself, show up as your authentic self,
create content, comment like share, dm post whatever, and actually
from that the collateral impact of that as you're making
money on social media.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
And so that's the only thing that they're doing different
is that they are on fan Base. You're not going
to get that experience on any other platform that you
get on fan Base because they haven't built that into
the application, and they don't consider that because they care
about advertising. If the platform is not paying you directly,
which fan Base pays users directly, then you are what's
being sold.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
So you are the product.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So you are the product on TikTok, you were the
product on Snapchat, you were the product on Instagram, you
were the product on all these other social media platforms.
And on fan Base, you create the product. You create
the content, and you're able to be paid for that.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I'm actually let you close this out, so last time
you give me on the show a few times. The
last time you own you were beginning this round. The
first time you were on, I think you were in
your first round. What is the latest at fan Base?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
So we've done four equity crowdfunding rounds. This last one
is a seventeen million dollars round. We're getting close to
thirteen million dollars. But once we close this round, fan
Base will have raised twenty seven million dollars in equity crowdfunding,
which has never been heard of, no instant, titutional capital,
community driven owned by the users, you know, disruptive and
(34:09):
so anybody that wants to invest, I tell them go
to start engine dot com slash fan Base to invest
the minimum of its three hundred and ninety nine dollars.
I say that all the time. It's limited risk, right,
It's not like you have to put in ten thousand
dollars to actually get equity in the company. But it
gives you an opportunity to have a seat at the
table and then contribute to the value of what we're
building as a company. And so I'm proud of that.
(34:31):
These are things that have never been done. Will like
I talk about you know, my story is it's something
that I will continue to share, but I feel like
as the more success we get, people will really look
back on what's been done by way of innovation within
that purchase, peer to subscription, or content migration or equity
(34:52):
crowdfunding and allowing the users to own the app and
look at these are some real seismic shifts in the
way that people build old technology and corporations. Because twenty
seven million dollars inequity crowdfunding has never been done by
an African American person ever. So we've made history and
I want to continue to make history. So I want
to continue to be disruptive. I want to continue to
(35:15):
shape the way that I think media and the social economy,
as I call it, the combination of TV community, monetization,
and social media kind of merging together and making this
new way that we experienced media. It's a future. So
I would love to be having this conversation again somewhere
(35:35):
down the line year two, three, four years from now,
and we're like, yo, the world is exactly where you
thought it would be, Isaac, and fan base is the
person that led us to that new world.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Black Tech Green one is a production of Blavity Afro
Tech on the Black Effect Podcast Network in night Hire
Media is produced by Morgan Debon and me Well Lucas,
with the additional production support by Kate McDonald, sh Jayda
McGee special thank you Michael Davis in Lovebeach. Learn more
about my guessing other tech distructs an innovators at afrotech
dot com. The video version of this episode will drop
(36:07):
to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, so tap in
enjoy your Black Tech Green Money, share us to somebody,
go get your money.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Pace in Love
Well, Lucas here, Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
So glad to be with you guys, and for the
third time, you've probably been on the show more than anybody.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I think you might as well be like co hosts
here on Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Isaac Hayes, the third record producer, songwriter, voice actor, entrepreneur,
CEO and founder of fan Base, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What man, Yeah, I'm just a tech founder now I
dabble in those places. But the history they got context
who you are fan based.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I love it all right.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So look, so we've been, you know, trying to make
this episode happen for a little while, and so much
has changed in the landscape of social media.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know, you've got social media, new.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Features come out on a whole lot of different apps,
apps still in other people's features. You've got TikTok being
I want to talk about TikTok. And there's a lot
of uncertainty which happens in an administration like this, not
just in the marketplace, but also in social media apparently.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
And so what is your read.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Currently on where this is going? When we here one
day may go away, then it gets delayed.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Where are we at.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know, honestly, I know that there's a deadline, I
think June sixteenth or summer seventeenth, somewhere where like the
next deadline for them to sell the company is. But
other than that, I really haven't paid too much attention
because whether TikTok stays or goes, there's still a shift
that's happening in social media that we're currently focused on
(01:31):
that you know, kind of overlaps with short form video,
but there's a bigger play involved. And I've really been
spending the last since February really just working hard on
what this next era of fan base is and a
lot of great things have been happening.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So if TikTok stays, the stays. If it goes, it goes.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
But I know that the deadline is just sometime June
sixteenth or seventeenth, then they'll probably extend it again, so
you know who knows from there.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, But like, no matter what happens there, it reshaped
the creator economy, So it creates opportunities for people like
you and your company, and I wonder like for particularly
for black creators who have built substantial followings, whether it
be TikTok or anywhere else. You know, how does how
do you hope this landscape shifts in our favor?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I think what I what I hope is that and
what I foresee is that every person that has a
social media page will be a content creator in some way,
shape or form, whether that is a you know, a
passive content creator or a professional content creator, right, and
they will they will do the same thing that they've
(02:42):
always been doing on social media, except there will be
this income just by participating in social media that users
get and or people take it really really seriously and
are able to produce content and garner the views and
attention that work television programming does, which is already happening,
(03:03):
but they're trying their best to kind of mask that
and you know, and kind of make it not seeing
that that's the reality. But the reality is is that
creators are now garnering the amount of visibility that network
programming has when they're spending hundreds and millions of dollars
on television shows, but they're doing it at a fraction
of the cost, but still gaining the same amount of visibility.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So I think a lot about diversifying the audience and
how I get access to the autists, and I'm interested
in your thoughts on this is because just to bring
up some of the other platforms. So, if I have
a million followers on Instagram, right, I don't own that
audience necessarily, Like I don't have access to the email addresses.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I can't if I leave, they they still there.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And so I encourage creators as often as possible to
build a newsletter. Just start to collect email addresses and
things like that so that no matter what happens, I
can directly get to my audience. You're somebody who also
thinks a lot about and talks a lot about ownership
is so I wonder what your thoughts are on how creators,
(04:09):
no matter what happens in social media landscape, how should
we be thinking about being able to access the people
who said I want to follow what that guy is.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Doing, what that lady's doing.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, if done the way that I intend and I'm
already doing, you will have access to that audience at
all times. The ability to communicate with those people, have
their email addresses, all those things will be part of
the future. I think the big differentiator between us and
all the other legacy platforms is these platforms have dug
(04:40):
the staking the ground on advertising, and that requires them
to kind of put a shield around your ability to
access the audience because then you can convert that audience
into your own advertising revenue stream. And so I'm not
concerned with that because fan Base is a free platform
to use. We don't run ads, and then the revenue
(05:00):
that you do make comes from either people tipping you
or you adding extra content that people subscribe to you.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
So that added extra layer.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
So that's not really our focus, So it doesn't change,
it doesn't alter the way that we operate our business
as opposed to the way that other platforms operate their business.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So along that line is how do you position to
a potential user, how do you pitch fan Base now?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, well, fan Base is an all in one social
media platform that's free to use. You can post anything
you want those photos, videos, stories, live audio, chat rooms,
and additionally, like I said, for free, but if you
want to, people can support you by subscribing to you
for additional content that you create. So it's the best
(05:47):
of both worlds. We're positioning ourselves in the market as
a distribution platform, but community based. So think about how
all these other platforms that currently exists for.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
The exception of maybe YouTube, but.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Media companies are going to be faced with the realization
that they are no longer going to be places that
people come to look for their content, and they're going
to have to go to other places to distribute that content.
And so how I would pitch a creator is to say, hey, look,
you are your own distribution channel inside of fan base, right,
(06:27):
so you can distribute your content the same way that
someone distributes their music on Apple Music and Spotify. You
can deliver that content on fan Base, and anybody that
has a fan base account or access to that content
can watch that content or subscribe to that content.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And we want that to be frictionist.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
That's why we have in app purchase subscriptions, we have
web subscriptions, we have tipping, all those things. And so
I would position it as consider yourself a television network.
Consider yourself the same way that coysonnot considers himself as
he's a network. But the big, the big separator between
what he does and these other legacy media platforms is
(07:08):
he's doing it inside a community infrastructure like Twitch.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And so.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I really was was happy for Kai saying, look, you know,
Amazon Prime, Netflix, to b have been asking me to
take his recent streamer University and bring it to those platforms,
but they need him, he doesn't need them. And the
only way that that these platforms are going to survive,
(07:36):
like the Netflix and the Hulus and the Disney pluses,
is those platforms are going to have to distribute their
content through large social networks. That's the only way that
people are going to consume content in the future. You're
not going to people are not going to go to
their television and then open up Netflix or Hulu. People
want to experience content in a more immersive way, in
(07:57):
a more collaborative way, and a more community. That's why
chat is kind of like the part of the conversation.
The chat has become part of the show, and so
when you merge those worlds, younger audiences are not just
gonna want to sit in front of a line or television,
a sixteen by nine screen and just watch shows. They're
(08:17):
gonna want to talk to their friends, They're going to
send clips of those shows, They're gonna make extra content.
All these things are part about part of how we're
going to consume content in the future, and so that's
a big differentiator between US and the rest of these
platforms that we understand that in the future we would
welcome a platform like Netflix and a platform like Hulu
(08:38):
and tub to actually have fan based pages and people
subscribe to those platforms the same way they do now
on Apple TV, but subscribe subscribe to them through fan
base because now you have a community that's around the content.
None of these platforms have community around their content except
for YouTube, and that community exists on the video itself
the video. Then there's the comment section, but there is
(09:00):
no community around YouTube. There's no twenty four to seven
community around YouTube where people have profiles and they they
send content, they react to content, they share content all
the time. Amongst these pages, it's more like, Okay, you
post a video, people have a conversation on the video,
and that's it. The next step is the community aspects
(09:21):
of where large communities have people that distribute content, which
is why you even see people platforms like only Fans
that are up for sale, and some media corporations are
considering buying only fans to kind of probably get rid
of the pornography element but still have a community to
distribute content.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Through kind of monetize On day one.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And a great fact about fan Base, it's a big
separator from fan Base is it takes the average content
creator six months to earn their first dollar on other
social media platforms. We have people earning a dollar in
minutes on fan Base, you know, the day they sign up.
And it's not by even subscriptions, it's from people actually
tipping them for their content, for something that you say
(10:04):
in an audio room, or a comment that you leave
on a post, or something that you say in a DM.
And so we wanted to keep it wide open that
you yourself are creating content by commenting and sharing and
having these conversations, and so you earn money from day one.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So as a founder, and you got to think about that,
you know.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
User acquisition strategically, this is what you think about every day.
You know, you have a product that could be for anybody,
anybody and everybody, right, Who is the person you target?
Is it the creator? Is it the is it the
eighteen to twenty four year old?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Who is the person you spend the most time? If
I get them, everybody else will come along.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Well, I think first we're in this. That's a great
question because what we've been doing probably since February, I've
really focused on products in a way that we've never
had before. I've made some amaze hires here at fan Base,
two black women that are part of the fan Base team.
One is named Lauren Ward, who is over product at
(11:11):
fan Base now. She's formerly at Meta and Instagram and
she was over products like stories and reels and I
wanted to bring her in to really get the product
in a place that's competitive. And then we brought in
Ashley Adams's product marketing manager are who now is She
was formerly at Hulu and LinkedIn, but we brought her
(11:31):
over to make that relationship between the user base and
the product and how we communicate with those people. And
really you gather that information first and then you figure
it out. But you know, my ideal audience is someone
between the ages of eighteen to twenty four, just because
that gives us longevity. But we're in such a process
right now that we are simplifying the app, we are
(11:54):
building new features, We're doing a lot over these next
two quarters to kind of prepare fan Base for the
next level of where we need to be. And so
that's our target right now, is the youth right here
in Atlanta, Georgia. I want to target the culture because
wherever that goes, everyone else follows. You know, if you
get if you get the culture right, if you get
(12:14):
the culture, and if you get the youth, you get
everybody else because they are the coolest people, right, Kids
are the coolest people on the planet, and everybody wants
to be like them and be in the know, and
they kind of dictate the culture. So the younger generation,
it's always top of mind for me.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
How do you view your role as a very public CEO?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You know, an opinionated CEO, a public facing one, one
who understands at some level the law, you know, considering
your copyrights and ownership and these sorts of things.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
And you have.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I don't know unfiltered is the right word.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Maybe you'll say unfiltered, but you have a strong opinion
and you're not afraid to say it, and you're.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Also a CEO.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
So how how do you think about that when you
wake up and more than like this, I chose violence.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Well, it's not that I choose violence. I choose truth, right,
and I choose honesty that might make people uncomfortable in
ways that I think that we've been indoctrinated into as
black people, so it's like, don't say too much out
of fear of messing up an opportunity right or ruining
(13:29):
something or And I don't think as black people we
can live like that any longer. I've had the opportunity
to where with some amazing people that have worked at
Meta and Snapchat, and these are brilliant individuals, but I've
also simultaneously heard them talk about the frustrations and the
disappointment of being the most exceptional Black person that you
(13:51):
can be, but also at the same time having to
limit your excellence make other people in the company feel comfortable.
That is, I've never experienced that in my life. But
when I hear that from a corporate standpoint, and I'm
pretty sure that's no different than a lot of places
in corporate America. But I don't come from that world,
so I don't understand that world. I don't live by
(14:12):
those rules. I don't acknowledge those rules, and I don't
accept those rules, and I don't think that. I don't
think any person of any gender, race, ethnicity should alter
who they are, especially on an intellectual level or a
talent level, to make someone else feel comfortable just because
they are the majority in the situation and they need employment.
So for me, I'm always going to be honest in
(14:34):
saying that we need to be unapologetically ourselves. That is
why fan Bases brand statement is being you without limits.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
There's no.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Way in this company that anybody would not be able
to walk in here and be the most best version
of themselves and me or anyone in this company ask
them to limit that excellence, that that will never happen
at this company, but that happens every single day corporate America.
And so if that makes me a vocal CEO and
(15:04):
people consider that rocking the boat, so be it.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
But there has to.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Be a change, especially in times like now, the administration
that we're in right now, that black people especially have
to own their power in ways that we never have
before and not be afraid to challenge that because now
we are in an era where distribution is digital, opportunity
(15:29):
is global, monetization is available for every single person. So
the means for you to be able to generate income
are not no longer based on you having to work
for an individual or a racist company or biggoty company,
or a company that wants to get rid of DEI
is shifting to where I am my own independent contractor
(15:51):
deciding how I want to live my life, how I
want to make my earn my money, make an income,
and no one can stop me from doing that.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
You know, I'm gonna ask this question in different words.
I I like that response, and I'm interested in how
you talk to you know, growing publicly in a way.
So what I mean by that is, you know there
is a thought to be had, and I've seen you
have to have these conversations online to where grace will
be given to companies not built by us on how
(16:23):
things work, you know, technically in an application. And I
remember you saying, is is an interview I was watching
and you said, you know, white people get canceled for
breaking the law. We get canceled for having a pinion effectively,
and you I've seen you have to you know, defend,
(16:43):
you know, explain, you know, just technical issues. But people,
you know, some in our community were just like, oh
it had a bug, I'm never using it again. I
want My question is how do you respond to that
and educate also so that people understand, like you know,
the number one is technology. Things happen if things break,
et cetera, especially when you grow it. Things for sure break.
(17:05):
When you're growing, you speak to that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I would speak to first and foremost is you have
to meet the moment and actually acknowledge the issues that
people have. Will I myself will only accept so much
grace as the company itself for us to not fix
issues that people have, right, I myself not because no
one asked, you know, no one asked me to build
(17:28):
a social media platform that is this complex, this complicated.
I decided to do this. I decided to take on
this challenge, and so we as a company have to
meet that moment and we can't run from that. So
we can't run from issues, we can't run from bugs,
we can't run from you know, anything like that. But
also remember that we are learning as we are growing,
and so that will happen and so over time those
(17:51):
issues that could exist in every app pass even Instagram, right,
we will face those challenges and just have to deal
with the bias that exists that because I'm black or
fan base is black owned, that it's some in some
way inferior to another app that has far more funding,
a lot more longevity and time on the market, and
(18:13):
we're just getting started, so you just have to meet
the moment. You can't make excuses, right, But that's that's
just that's just the way it is. So for me,
that is exactly why, like I said, we brought on
these new hires. I've got some I've got some some
some new people that have been giving me some great advice.
I've had the opportunity to talk to to Alvin Bowles,
who was formerly a Meta and people don't know he
(18:35):
was in he was there for over ten years. And
Tie my tailor, who comes from the Meta team and
it worked over at Snapchat, and and I've had some
amazing conversations with those two gentlemen too that really add
insight into what we're building. And what gives me the
best kind of calm in that is that those platforms
(18:55):
are no better than we are. They just had the
opportunity to make a lot of money, and so they
make so much money that they can they can mask
the mistakes with capital, right, you know what I'm saying.
So it's like people can overlook the fact that there's
a lot of glitches and bugs and stuff like that,
but they're.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Making so much money.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Number one, they really don't even don't care, Like if
you have a problem with it, it's like leave. You know,
they're not really here to address issues in a way
that are specific to users. We're small enough, we're nimble enough,
and we want to gain public trust in a way
that allows users to believe and have faith in what
we're doing. And so that's an opportunity there. So it
(19:37):
feels good to be able to talk to people that
have worked at these companies for years and get feedback
from them, saying in actuality, you guys are a little
bit more organized, and actuality your product is a little
bit better and actuality you know you are approaching this.
You have an opportunity to approach this a lot differently.
So I have the utmost confidence in faith in the
team and fan base and what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Excited about that. So we'll just meet the moment.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You speak about this desire to merge culture and infrastructure,
and I'm interested in the culture part is obviously what
that means, Like, what does infrastructure mean when you say that,
because I imagine it's more than just an.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
App Well, well no, maybe, well it just means that
black culture is funneled through institutions of capitalism, right, But
it's the gasoline, it's not the engine. And so the
infrastructure component is extremely important because it generates, you know,
(20:39):
a thousand times ten thousand times more wealth than it
does for the people that benefit from being culturally relevant
or entertaining or things like that. So if you know,
if Lebron James and SGK and all these other you know,
all these Anthony Edwards, all these athletes are making you know,
(21:01):
millions of dollars, what is the NBA making? If these
artists are making millions of dollars? In the record industry,
what are the labels making? If these television hosts and
these actors are making millions of dollars, what are the
studios making? If these content creators and influencers are making
millions of dollars, what are the apps making? And so,
(21:22):
in all of those situations, black culture is really what
makes those things relevant and cool, but no one owns
those infrastructures. And so once you switch the conversation to
infrastructure ownership, it removes this exploitative relationship that exists between
black culture and infrastructure, so that it provides the opportunity
(21:43):
for us to invest in corporations and own our culture
by way of investing and owning infrastructure, which creates generational
wealth in ways that we've never imagined before. When there's
you know, over I think three or four thousand billionaires
on the planet, like maybe sixteen black ones, we need
(22:04):
to create opportunities to create more millionaires, more billionaires, more
one hundred thousand AARs, more people that can you know,
own their culture and own their their their life in
a way by just being part of something that owns infrastructure.
So black culture is just the it's the gasoline of cool, right,
(22:25):
It's just but it's in it. None of these things
work without it. And so until someone stops and says,
before we do this really cool thing to make this
thing that everybody talks about, what is the economic impact
of us doing this going to have on the back end?
And are we going to be getting compensated appropriately for
(22:46):
making this the coolest thing ever?
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So is Ryan Coogler is being compensated right for making
centers and imax in seventy millimeter, Like it's making it
cool in a way that no one else has made it.
I'max and seventy millimeter film has been around forever. I've
never heard anybody talk about seventy millimeter and I'max Films
morever than Ryan Coogler in this movie. So now, like,
(23:13):
how is he being compensated? And he's being compensated with
ownership of his film after twenty five years, But how
can other people be compensated for creating these these massive
institutions of wealth. I've mentioned this before, I'll say it again.
Even when you think of the success that Kay Sannot
(23:34):
and all these streamers are having on Twitch, there's a
direct correlation between Soldier Boy and bow Wow and Twitch.
And that is because Soljier Boy and bow Wow got
on a platform called justin TV, right, and the early
eight twenty tens, two thousand, I mean I'm two thousands,
you know, eight nine ten around that and justin TV,
(23:57):
with the success of Sojio Boy and Maowow, decided to
make a video video game streaming version of just TV
called Twitch. And so there would be no Twitch without
Soldiaboy and bow Wow. Right, And so how come Sogiaboy
and bow Wow don't own part of Twitch? Because again,
we run and make things really really cool. But we
have to think about before before I talk about this
(24:18):
brand before I join this platform. What impact is it
going to have on my community, my culture, and how
can we benefit the most from it?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
You know, I see I've seen you know, these other
platforms put together effectively. If you're Adam Mosery or Evan
Spiegel or Mark Zuckerberg, you can put your thumb on
the scale and make a star tomorrow because you can
amplify that person.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Who you decide to choose.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And so I've seen these these these platforms put together,
these collectives or you know, we're going to support this
ten twenty one hundred, you know, creators with a little
bit of resources, and we're gonna, you know, amplify them.
I wonder what you think when you see things like
that and how you might approach them, if differently or
the same.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Well, the first thing that I try to approach is
for and this is always an open conversation and I
say this all the time, is with equity. You know, uh,
DJ Academics does not own part of Rumble. He doesne
have equity in Rumble. Kysanot does not have equity in Twitch.
Aiden Ross has equity, and kick Right Charlie Demilio has
(25:27):
equity in the in the financial company step, Bryce Hall
has equity and a company called Lolly and equity is
how you turn millionaires and people into billionaires and so
number one fan base having having the ability for people
to invest if they so choose, or you know, have
(25:49):
conversations about equity compensation the same way that Nike had
conversations with Magic Johnson when they were the little guy
in town, and Magic was like, I give me the
cash I can, but if you would have kept that,
if you would have took that stock, he would have
had six billion dollars in Nike stock. And I mean
Magic turned out doing fine, he did very, very well.
(26:09):
But the point is that I approached this because I
want to empower investors and users to own part of
fan base. It's part of the rays that we've we've
been so successful at. Right now, we have a seventeen
million dollar crowdfund. We're about to close that round pretty soon,
I think hopefully in the next few weeks. But again,
(26:30):
as many people that can own part of this company
and help it scale to to you know, multiple billions
of dollars, that is the part that I want to
be different, rather than just saying I can make you hot.
I want to I want to provide ownership and opportunity
and then monetization on the front end for people as well.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, I think about like what creates the fire in
your belly, like the thing that makes you want to go,
that sense of urgency. And I was, you know, reading
and you've been very vocal about you know, your father
could have missed out those seventy five million dollars in
copyright money. And so when you think about those kinds
of numbers, how do you think about the urgency that
(27:09):
gives you to make sure other creators don't miss these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
I mean, I think about my other family members who
were not as fortunate enough to either grow up in
Atlanta or find their way into the music industry.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
My other brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Who had a father that generated you know, tens of
millions of dollars, and they should have been able to
go to college and go home and ask dad for
a little bit of a loan to help them start
their business, like a lot of these white kids do.
And so what happens is that there are other people
that don't look like us that took advantage of my father,
again based off his culture, Black culture that are seeing
(27:49):
the benefit of his hard work. And so that's always
been top of mind for me in anything that I did,
even before getting to building fan base. It was just
the way that I coach in music business, because that's
why I think I had such a brief, kind of
a brief, semi successful run as a songwriter producer, because
(28:09):
I just would not compromise my publishing and the ownership
of my music. And so it drove me to always
think about ways that we can return that wealth to
Black people by way of ownership and equity, as opposed
to just saying, hey, we're going to pick the three, four,
five of you guys that are the coolest and make
(28:30):
you very, very rich and make you stars, and the
rest of the other Black community should just be happy
that they made it, and that should be the aspirational goal, right,
The aspirational goal of the black community should not be
able to mimic the mimic the success of someone else
that was provided opportunity, as opposed to creating infrastructures that
generate wealth. I can't, you know, as happy as I
(28:53):
am for all of the wealthy and rich African American
people that exists in this country and around the world.
The larger conversation needs to be about ownership and an
ownership of that infrastructure of these platforms that they use.
When I speak about black culture, if you take black
culture and you treat it like water or some sort
(29:15):
of magical liquid, and you pour that culture into a
tennis shoe, you get a Jordan right. If you pour
that into a record company, you get hip hop. If
you pour that into a turntable, you get DJ culture.
If you pour that into a phone, you get social media.
So you pour that into the fashion industry, you get
streetwear and all these cool things that people do. And
(29:35):
so we can no longer exist as just an instrument
of wealth building without having massive amounts of ownership an
opportunity in the space.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
For the people who are winning on fan base, whether
they're getting all the likes the loves on the awareness
society engagement side and then making money on the other side,
what are they doing differently than the people who may not.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Be I think they just they actually believe or understand well,
actually they're just showing up.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
People are very very What I say about human beings
is we're transactional, we're generous, people will give you, we'll
tip you, right, and it doesn't seem like much. Like
I said, a penny doesn't seem like much until, like
you know, a million people give you one, and then
that's five thousand dollars your share of revenue on fan
base if a million people give you a penny. And
(30:34):
so I think we're getting into that phase where people
are understanding that the dopamine hit that you get from
likes and views and attention is one thing, but that
there's also the added layer which you can do that
on fan base, or the added layer that someone can
just tip you for what the content that you provide,
(30:57):
the humorous comment that you made that made them laugh,
that brought joy to their day, or the really amazing
gem that you brought in an audio room to a
conversation that someone feels like, Yo, what you just said
really inspired me. Here's fifty cents. Here's a dollar for
what you just said at scale over time. So I
just think they're living in the environment and understanding the
(31:19):
world and the opportunity that we exist in that content
monetization is just going to be the norm, and it's
not going to be something that people feel like guilty
over or feel forced to do. It's almost going to
be like customary, Like it's customary to tip somebody. Imagine
in the future, so it's like, man, they made a
really cool post, it's customary to throw them a couple
(31:39):
of cents because they contributed to that, to that conversation,
or they made something like that. And I think the
people on fan base are realizing that and they benefit
from that, and they live in that world because they
often talk about how they go to other platforms and
they're like, I love the attention that I get on
some of the other social media platforms, but I actually
make money off fan maatese.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I actually help pay my bills with.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
The money that I make having content monetized on fan base,
either through tipping or subscription. And it's only going to
get better as the community grows, because now if you
have people that are making hundreds of dollars a month,
thousands of dollars a month on fan base, and we
have one point four million users, but that's nothing in
comparison to platforms that have five hundred million users, a
billion users and stuff like that. So when you get
(32:20):
to that level of scale, you're gonna have people that
earn a living just by doing things that they normally
would do on other social media platforms, but really be
able to pay their bills and live a great life
just being themselves. Again, be you without limits is just
something that our brand statement is.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
And so the.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Ability to just be yourself, show up as your authentic self,
create content, comment like share, dm post whatever, and actually
from that the collateral impact of that as you're making
money on social media.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
And so that's the only thing that they're doing different
is that they are on fan Base. You're not going
to get that experience on any other platform that you
get on fan Base because they haven't built that into
the application, and they don't consider that because they care
about advertising. If the platform is not paying you directly,
which fan Base pays users directly, then you are what's
being sold.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
So you are the product.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
So you are the product on TikTok, you were the
product on Snapchat, you were the product on Instagram, you
were the product on all these other social media platforms.
And on fan Base, you create the product. You create
the content, and you're able to be paid for that.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I'm actually let you close this out, so last time
you give me on the show a few times. The
last time you own you were beginning this round. The
first time you were on, I think you were in
your first round. What is the latest at fan Base?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
So we've done four equity crowdfunding rounds. This last one
is a seventeen million dollars round. We're getting close to
thirteen million dollars. But once we close this round, fan
Base will have raised twenty seven million dollars in equity crowdfunding,
which has never been heard of, no instant, titutional capital,
community driven owned by the users, you know, disruptive and
(34:09):
so anybody that wants to invest, I tell them go
to start engine dot com slash fan Base to invest
the minimum of its three hundred and ninety nine dollars.
I say that all the time. It's limited risk, right,
It's not like you have to put in ten thousand
dollars to actually get equity in the company. But it
gives you an opportunity to have a seat at the
table and then contribute to the value of what we're
building as a company. And so I'm proud of that.
(34:31):
These are things that have never been done. Will like
I talk about you know, my story is it's something
that I will continue to share, but I feel like
as the more success we get, people will really look
back on what's been done by way of innovation within
that purchase, peer to subscription, or content migration or equity
(34:52):
crowdfunding and allowing the users to own the app and
look at these are some real seismic shifts in the
way that people build old technology and corporations. Because twenty
seven million dollars inequity crowdfunding has never been done by
an African American person ever. So we've made history and
I want to continue to make history. So I want
to continue to be disruptive. I want to continue to
(35:15):
shape the way that I think media and the social economy,
as I call it, the combination of TV community, monetization,
and social media kind of merging together and making this
new way that we experienced media. It's a future. So
I would love to be having this conversation again somewhere
(35:35):
down the line year two, three, four years from now,
and we're like, yo, the world is exactly where you
thought it would be, Isaac, and fan base is the
person that led us to that new world.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Black Tech Green one is a production of Blavity Afro
Tech on the Black Effect Podcast Network in night Hire
Media is produced by Morgan Debon and me Well Lucas,
with the additional production support by Kate McDonald, sh Jayda
McGee special thank you Michael Davis in Lovebeach. Learn more
about my guessing other tech distructs an innovators at afrotech
dot com. The video version of this episode will drop
(36:07):
to Black Tech Green Money on YouTube, so tap in
enjoy your Black Tech Green Money, share us to somebody,
go get your money.
Speaker 4 (36:15):
Pace in Love
Host
Will Lucas
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