October 30, 2025 • 12 mins
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):
It's so interesting you talk about equity. I was watching
your live stream with with your main dupree and I
had this conversation years ago with b Cox on Brian
Michael Cox on equity, and when you mentioned stuff like that, many,
particularly unfortunately black creators, don't understand what equity is. They
want to see cash today. And so you've got like
(00:21):
this dual challenge of number one, explaining that why equity
is important and getting people to use the app. So
getting people to use the app is a challenge in
and of itself, but now you've got to explain why
why it's important economically. So can you talk about like
what do you hear, Isaac when you hear people say,
you know, equity, Like I don't know what that is?
You know, give me the bag, and like that's got
(00:43):
to like make you feel a way.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, like, so I think it's a learning curve. But
I also understand that when you're building businesses, and especially
maybe like the managers of people that represent these artists
or these personalities themselves, like ninety nine percent of businesses fail,
Like you know, so say you're gonna give somebody in equity,
it's not gonna mean anything of the business fails. The
(01:09):
uniqueness about equity and ownership and social media is the
very thing that gives social media it's value is the
ability for people to move people where you want them
to go, to increase users and grow the platform. So
for something like fan base, you're in control of your
own success. You're in the driver's seat. If you bring
a million people to fan base, fan Base's value goes
(01:32):
from what it is today, which is one hundred and
sixty million dollars, to it could be five hundred million dollars,
it could be eight hundred million dollars, and we could
continue to do that and even bring in more people
and offer equity. So the understanding of equity in our
community is just a lack of financial literacy that we've
always had. And so we know cash, we know what
that does. We know you know what kind of opportunity
(01:54):
it provides. It's immediate influx of capital that you can
decide what you want to do with in a leisurely
way or a responsible way in investing. So I understand
why cash is important to young people because you know,
it's a very it's a very materialistic society nowadays. I
mean a lot of things that people are into cars
(02:15):
and clothes, and you know what I'm saying, lifestyle is
a big part of that. But when you're thinking about
what life is going to be for yourself, five, ten,
fifteen years from now, you got to start thinking about
that because all of this can change in an instant,
but having ownership of something that will continue to grow
is It's something that I think more people need to
learn about. And I thought that was striking that a
(02:36):
lot of the white creators have equity, have been offered
equity in these companies, and a lot of black creators
have been offered cash and not equity, And that's a
big that's a big thing. Like okay, like like Academics
doesn't have equity and Rumble Constant doesn't have equity in Twitch,
but Aiden Ross has equity and kick you know what
I'm saying, Chargie Amelia has equity in the step cards.
(02:57):
So I'm like, oh, okay, So either you know, I'm
going to set that trend for us. But I hope
even with creators on other platforms like Twitch and Rumble
that are black, start asking for equity ownership of these
companies as well.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
So it's one thing for Isaac to you know, evangelize this,
which I think is a worthy thing to do. How
has the community responded? You know, what impact does this
have on engagement when people start, when their mind changes
about you know, ownership.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Well, I think the fact that we have investors already
we've invested their equity owners in fan base. So we
have about fifteen thousand investors that have you know, invested
through fan base on start Engine. So that's awesome. So
then that's another level, right, and then there's other people.
There's celebrities that have invested in fan Base that we
keep quiet for you know, very very smart reasons. I think,
(03:51):
you know, I don't I don't like people to really
know about that. I want people to I want all
of us to be able to benefit from this without
the bias of how we may feel about one another
in this space, because sometimes I feel like wealth is
a competitive thing in the black community, and I much
rather a bunch of people have equity and something that
they don't know who else has equity, and then when
the time is done, everybody's rich and it's like, oh,
(04:13):
I didn't know you was in on that too. Yeah. Cool.
But for the younger creators, It's been tough for me
because I feel like there are some gatekeepers to those people,
and sometimes those people are managers, and managers know that
cash is better than equity for them because they might
not see a return on their percentage of equity that's
even part of their deal. So if someone says, hey,
(04:36):
you're gonna get a two million dollar deal, or you're
gonna get two million dollars worth of stock, they're gonna
take the two million dollars worth of money, so they
get that cash in their hand too. So I think
sometimes that also plays a role. So but all I
can do is educate. All I can do is is
continue to do that, and there are some different interested
parties that understand the value of equity. But again I'm
(04:58):
running into like I'm running into those roadblocks or the
gatekeepers that are like yeah, and I'm like, you know,
it's just something that I'm going to have to continue
to do. But there are things in the works that
allow people to you know, have an equity opportunity, a
fan base, and continue to grow eternally.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Before we talk about this seventeen million dollar round, I
want to talk about what crowdfunding is. I want to
make sure the audience is caught up on how this works.
And so previous two. A number of years ago, during
Obama's ere you and I couldn't get in on the
social media app investment opportunity, which is where the money's
made early. Can you talk about that era and what
(05:38):
it did for people like you and I?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, So from nineteen thirty three to twenty fifteen, I'm
the only way that anybody could invest in an early
stage company was being a credited investor. And your credited
investor rule was basically a rule that says only rich
people could have the best opportunity to invest in something.
So you had to have a network of a million
dollars minus your house or make two hundred thousand dollars
(06:04):
a year for two consecutive years. And so think about that.
That's coming out of the Great Depression. So even I
don't care what color you were, there weren't accredit investors
that were white in nineteen thirty three, so it doesn't matter.
So it's really just the rich trying to have the
best opportunity to have access to companies. So Obama and
Biden signing the Law of the Jobs Act, which wiped
(06:24):
out the accredited investor roles, so anybody can invest in
a company that's looking to raise capital regards to their network,
their annual income. So that opens up the door for
all these equity crowdfunding sites to pop up, one of
which is start Engine, which I was able to use
to raise capital. So I think, and especially in the
black community, when access to capital is so limited, especially
(06:44):
in tech. I think in twenty twenty three, less than
half of a percent of all VC dollars with the
black founders, which is crazy. And you know, banks aren't
necessarily giving loans, and there can be a lot of
a bias and racial discrimination when it comes to that.
So the opportunity for you and I to fund each
other's businesses and have equity in them at the same
(07:06):
time raised capital changes the game. And so that's why
I've been such a big advocate of equity crowdfunding because
as much as I've money that I've raised in fan Base,
I'm also invested in other people's companies that I've introduced
the start Engine to do the same thing, and they're
in all different sectors. There's you know, a brewery, a
(07:26):
bread company, software companies, things like that. So another app
so I want to be able to make sure that
I can invest in these startups the same way and
then AC point people in the direction that they can
actually raise capital, because it's kind of the information that's
not known. Actually had a chance to run into a
woman that I met when I went to this event
(07:47):
where where vice president Harris was the other day, and
she walked up me and she goes, I'm about to
raise five million dollars on Start Engine. And the only
reason I'm doing this because I saw what you did.
And I talked to the CEO, Howard Marks, and I said,
I'm here because Isaac Hayes came over here and raised
and I want to do it like that. And that's
the reason why, because this is a whole opportunity for
so many people that don't know how to raise capital
for their businesses. Now, what I will say is it's
(08:09):
not easy because you do have to have your business together.
It's not like you can just go to Start Engine
and be like, I'm gonna raise some money. I think
for me, even going through that process as a founder,
it made me a better founder because I had to
learn fan base from so many different directions, from the
financial side to the legal side and stock structure compliance
and everything about my business. And so it made me
(08:32):
a better founder and educated me in ways about my
business that I would not have known if I would
have just got VC dollars and trusted what these people
were saying. So that's what I encourage everybody to do,
is to force yourself to learn more about your business
through equity crowdfunding. Investigate egor count funding and learn about it.
Understand the Jobs Act and what you're able to do,
and then take advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So most of the people who will be investing are
not sophisticated investors and not only not derogatory it, I
mean educated and have a history of doing it. And
so what happens. So I give you you know, or
I shouldn't. I shouldn't I give you I invest one
hundred and fifty dollars two hundred three hundred dollars into
fan base. What happens next, Well, let me let me
(09:15):
dispel that. Let me let me combat that statement.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But equity crowdfunding first came on the scene, DC's were
very critical of it because they said, oh, you know,
these investors are not savvy investors, they're not educated, you know,
they don't know, they're not making the right decisions, and
we don't want them to invest their hard earned dollars
into some sort of business that will never succeed. But
it is no problem for any of those same individuals
(09:41):
to go to Vegas and gamble five thousand dollars or
by five thousand dollars with the lottery trickuts to try
to win the Mega Millions or Powerball. That's one aspect. Secondly,
what's further disproving this is and the time that I've
raised capital for fan Base, there have been multiple startups
that have been founded and funded by venture capitalists, given
(10:03):
more money than fan Base to start their business and
failed in faster time. So you don't know anymore than
the public does. Because you put thirty five million dollars
into this startup and they went out of business in
eighteen months. I don't want to hear that from y'all.
You put eleven million dollars into this startup. The VCS,
you vetted the company, you saw the business plan, you
saw the business model, and you put eleven million, thirty
(10:24):
five million, twenty million, and they failed. And fan Base
is back by a community of people that have put
their hard earned money, but not two hundred and fifty
three hundred thousand dollars four hundred dollars five hundred dollars
into the community and they have equity on the cap table. So,
first of all, I don't like the fact that vcs
are saying that because that was just a way for
them to kind of make sure that they did not
(10:46):
lose opportunities to be able to invest in a company
like fan base and get a better deal and sometimes
even a predatory type situation was what some of these
these these vcs come in and do when they invest
in your company to do so. So for me, I
just wanted to dispel that when someone invests in Fanise,
you get equity, you sit on the cap table of
(11:08):
a pre IPO company. So this is no different as
if you were investing into Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Uber Lift,
like any of these major you know, tech companies that
you are the difference the only the only difference is
that you're allowed to sit on the cap table. Pre
IPO as opposed to typically retail investors are people that
(11:30):
get access to buy stock after the company's gone public.
I mean it's way after everybody else has made all
the real money, the real big you know, multiples of
capital that have been raised as opposed to like like
uber was. Uber raised half a million dollars in their
seed round and one of the one of the investors
who was already a multimillionaire, put five grand and then
turned it into twenty four million in nine years. So
(11:52):
you see that right there. Those are the types of
opportunities that happen where you can say, oh, I'm on
the cap table of a unicorn before it goes pub
and so that's a pre IPO equity position on the
cap table of a company that you're able to do.
So that's what it is. And I think that that's
significantly important, and that it's educational, it's prideful, it's powerful,
(12:14):
and especially for black culture. In the space of social
media again I talk, I stay in my lane. I'm
talking about social media and tech. I think it's extremely
phenomenal because as a user, you have the ability to
actually increase the value of assets your own by simply
using it. And even some investors in fan base have
actually made the money that they've invested in fan base
by using fan base to monetize their content. So you
(12:36):
can't you can't even have anything bad to say about that, Like,
I put two and fifty dollars in fan base, but
I made two hundred fifty dollars monetizing my content in
fan base. And so that's that's the significance of being
able to sit on the cap table of a pre
IPO company
It's so interesting you talk about equity. I was watching
your live stream with with your main dupree and I
had this conversation years ago with b Cox on Brian
Michael Cox on equity, and when you mentioned stuff like that, many,
particularly unfortunately black creators, don't understand what equity is. They
want to see cash today. And so you've got like
(00:21):
this dual challenge of number one, explaining that why equity
is important and getting people to use the app. So
getting people to use the app is a challenge in
and of itself, but now you've got to explain why
why it's important economically. So can you talk about like
what do you hear, Isaac when you hear people say,
you know, equity, Like I don't know what that is?
You know, give me the bag, and like that's got
(00:43):
to like make you feel a way.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, like, so I think it's a learning curve. But
I also understand that when you're building businesses, and especially
maybe like the managers of people that represent these artists
or these personalities themselves, like ninety nine percent of businesses fail,
Like you know, so say you're gonna give somebody in equity,
it's not gonna mean anything of the business fails. The
(01:09):
uniqueness about equity and ownership and social media is the
very thing that gives social media it's value is the
ability for people to move people where you want them
to go, to increase users and grow the platform. So
for something like fan base, you're in control of your
own success. You're in the driver's seat. If you bring
a million people to fan base, fan Base's value goes
(01:32):
from what it is today, which is one hundred and
sixty million dollars, to it could be five hundred million dollars,
it could be eight hundred million dollars, and we could
continue to do that and even bring in more people
and offer equity. So the understanding of equity in our
community is just a lack of financial literacy that we've
always had. And so we know cash, we know what
that does. We know you know what kind of opportunity
(01:54):
it provides. It's immediate influx of capital that you can
decide what you want to do with in a leisurely
way or a responsible way in investing. So I understand
why cash is important to young people because you know,
it's a very it's a very materialistic society nowadays. I
mean a lot of things that people are into cars
(02:15):
and clothes, and you know what I'm saying, lifestyle is
a big part of that. But when you're thinking about
what life is going to be for yourself, five, ten,
fifteen years from now, you got to start thinking about
that because all of this can change in an instant,
but having ownership of something that will continue to grow
is It's something that I think more people need to
learn about. And I thought that was striking that a
(02:36):
lot of the white creators have equity, have been offered
equity in these companies, and a lot of black creators
have been offered cash and not equity, And that's a
big that's a big thing. Like okay, like like Academics
doesn't have equity and Rumble Constant doesn't have equity in Twitch,
but Aiden Ross has equity and kick you know what
I'm saying, Chargie Amelia has equity in the step cards.
(02:57):
So I'm like, oh, okay, So either you know, I'm
going to set that trend for us. But I hope
even with creators on other platforms like Twitch and Rumble
that are black, start asking for equity ownership of these
companies as well.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
So it's one thing for Isaac to you know, evangelize this,
which I think is a worthy thing to do. How
has the community responded? You know, what impact does this
have on engagement when people start, when their mind changes
about you know, ownership.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Well, I think the fact that we have investors already
we've invested their equity owners in fan base. So we
have about fifteen thousand investors that have you know, invested
through fan base on start Engine. So that's awesome. So
then that's another level, right, and then there's other people.
There's celebrities that have invested in fan Base that we
keep quiet for you know, very very smart reasons. I think,
(03:51):
you know, I don't I don't like people to really
know about that. I want people to I want all
of us to be able to benefit from this without
the bias of how we may feel about one another
in this space, because sometimes I feel like wealth is
a competitive thing in the black community, and I much
rather a bunch of people have equity and something that
they don't know who else has equity, and then when
the time is done, everybody's rich and it's like, oh,
(04:13):
I didn't know you was in on that too. Yeah. Cool.
But for the younger creators, It's been tough for me
because I feel like there are some gatekeepers to those people,
and sometimes those people are managers, and managers know that
cash is better than equity for them because they might
not see a return on their percentage of equity that's
even part of their deal. So if someone says, hey,
(04:36):
you're gonna get a two million dollar deal, or you're
gonna get two million dollars worth of stock, they're gonna
take the two million dollars worth of money, so they
get that cash in their hand too. So I think
sometimes that also plays a role. So but all I
can do is educate. All I can do is is
continue to do that, and there are some different interested
parties that understand the value of equity. But again I'm
(04:58):
running into like I'm running into those roadblocks or the
gatekeepers that are like yeah, and I'm like, you know,
it's just something that I'm going to have to continue
to do. But there are things in the works that
allow people to you know, have an equity opportunity, a
fan base, and continue to grow eternally.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Before we talk about this seventeen million dollar round, I
want to talk about what crowdfunding is. I want to
make sure the audience is caught up on how this works.
And so previous two. A number of years ago, during
Obama's ere you and I couldn't get in on the
social media app investment opportunity, which is where the money's
made early. Can you talk about that era and what
(05:38):
it did for people like you and I?
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, So from nineteen thirty three to twenty fifteen, I'm
the only way that anybody could invest in an early
stage company was being a credited investor. And your credited
investor rule was basically a rule that says only rich
people could have the best opportunity to invest in something.
So you had to have a network of a million
dollars minus your house or make two hundred thousand dollars
(06:04):
a year for two consecutive years. And so think about that.
That's coming out of the Great Depression. So even I
don't care what color you were, there weren't accredit investors
that were white in nineteen thirty three, so it doesn't matter.
So it's really just the rich trying to have the
best opportunity to have access to companies. So Obama and
Biden signing the Law of the Jobs Act, which wiped
(06:24):
out the accredited investor roles, so anybody can invest in
a company that's looking to raise capital regards to their network,
their annual income. So that opens up the door for
all these equity crowdfunding sites to pop up, one of
which is start Engine, which I was able to use
to raise capital. So I think, and especially in the
black community, when access to capital is so limited, especially
(06:44):
in tech. I think in twenty twenty three, less than
half of a percent of all VC dollars with the
black founders, which is crazy. And you know, banks aren't
necessarily giving loans, and there can be a lot of
a bias and racial discrimination when it comes to that.
So the opportunity for you and I to fund each
other's businesses and have equity in them at the same
(07:06):
time raised capital changes the game. And so that's why
I've been such a big advocate of equity crowdfunding because
as much as I've money that I've raised in fan Base,
I'm also invested in other people's companies that I've introduced
the start Engine to do the same thing, and they're
in all different sectors. There's you know, a brewery, a
(07:26):
bread company, software companies, things like that. So another app
so I want to be able to make sure that
I can invest in these startups the same way and
then AC point people in the direction that they can
actually raise capital, because it's kind of the information that's
not known. Actually had a chance to run into a
woman that I met when I went to this event
(07:47):
where where vice president Harris was the other day, and
she walked up me and she goes, I'm about to
raise five million dollars on Start Engine. And the only
reason I'm doing this because I saw what you did.
And I talked to the CEO, Howard Marks, and I said,
I'm here because Isaac Hayes came over here and raised
and I want to do it like that. And that's
the reason why, because this is a whole opportunity for
so many people that don't know how to raise capital
for their businesses. Now, what I will say is it's
(08:09):
not easy because you do have to have your business together.
It's not like you can just go to Start Engine
and be like, I'm gonna raise some money. I think
for me, even going through that process as a founder,
it made me a better founder because I had to
learn fan base from so many different directions, from the
financial side to the legal side and stock structure compliance
and everything about my business. And so it made me
(08:32):
a better founder and educated me in ways about my
business that I would not have known if I would
have just got VC dollars and trusted what these people
were saying. So that's what I encourage everybody to do,
is to force yourself to learn more about your business
through equity crowdfunding. Investigate egor count funding and learn about it.
Understand the Jobs Act and what you're able to do,
and then take advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So most of the people who will be investing are
not sophisticated investors and not only not derogatory it, I
mean educated and have a history of doing it. And
so what happens. So I give you you know, or
I shouldn't. I shouldn't I give you I invest one
hundred and fifty dollars two hundred three hundred dollars into
fan base. What happens next, Well, let me let me
(09:15):
dispel that. Let me let me combat that statement.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But equity crowdfunding first came on the scene, DC's were
very critical of it because they said, oh, you know,
these investors are not savvy investors, they're not educated, you know,
they don't know, they're not making the right decisions, and
we don't want them to invest their hard earned dollars
into some sort of business that will never succeed. But
it is no problem for any of those same individuals
(09:41):
to go to Vegas and gamble five thousand dollars or
by five thousand dollars with the lottery trickuts to try
to win the Mega Millions or Powerball. That's one aspect. Secondly,
what's further disproving this is and the time that I've
raised capital for fan Base, there have been multiple startups
that have been founded and funded by venture capitalists, given
(10:03):
more money than fan Base to start their business and
failed in faster time. So you don't know anymore than
the public does. Because you put thirty five million dollars
into this startup and they went out of business in
eighteen months. I don't want to hear that from y'all.
You put eleven million dollars into this startup. The VCS,
you vetted the company, you saw the business plan, you
saw the business model, and you put eleven million, thirty
(10:24):
five million, twenty million, and they failed. And fan Base
is back by a community of people that have put
their hard earned money, but not two hundred and fifty
three hundred thousand dollars four hundred dollars five hundred dollars
into the community and they have equity on the cap table. So,
first of all, I don't like the fact that vcs
are saying that because that was just a way for
them to kind of make sure that they did not
(10:46):
lose opportunities to be able to invest in a company
like fan base and get a better deal and sometimes
even a predatory type situation was what some of these
these these vcs come in and do when they invest
in your company to do so. So for me, I
just wanted to dispel that when someone invests in Fanise,
you get equity, you sit on the cap table of
(11:08):
a pre IPO company. So this is no different as
if you were investing into Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Uber Lift,
like any of these major you know, tech companies that
you are the difference the only the only difference is
that you're allowed to sit on the cap table. Pre
IPO as opposed to typically retail investors are people that
(11:30):
get access to buy stock after the company's gone public.
I mean it's way after everybody else has made all
the real money, the real big you know, multiples of
capital that have been raised as opposed to like like
uber was. Uber raised half a million dollars in their
seed round and one of the one of the investors
who was already a multimillionaire, put five grand and then
turned it into twenty four million in nine years. So
(11:52):
you see that right there. Those are the types of
opportunities that happen where you can say, oh, I'm on
the cap table of a unicorn before it goes pub
and so that's a pre IPO equity position on the
cap table of a company that you're able to do.
So that's what it is. And I think that that's
significantly important, and that it's educational, it's prideful, it's powerful,
(12:14):
and especially for black culture. In the space of social
media again I talk, I stay in my lane. I'm
talking about social media and tech. I think it's extremely
phenomenal because as a user, you have the ability to
actually increase the value of assets your own by simply
using it. And even some investors in fan base have
actually made the money that they've invested in fan base
by using fan base to monetize their content. So you
(12:36):
can't you can't even have anything bad to say about that, Like,
I put two and fifty dollars in fan base, but
I made two hundred fifty dollars monetizing my content in
fan base. And so that's that's the significance of being
able to sit on the cap table of a pre
IPO company
Host
Will Lucas
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