Travis Montaque is optimistic that one day, a dream scenario will unfold across the media, marketing and general business community: he calls it the “inclusion age,” a utopian time when DEI initiatives are so firmly and seamlessly integrated into daily life that they no longer become necessary. That’s the vision and ambition of Group Black, the media collective and accelerator focused on the advancement of Black-owned media properties, of which he’s co-founder and CEO. We sit down with him to discuss how he believes we can build a more inclusive corporate America. Plus, he talks to us about Holler, the messaging technology company he founded which focuses on conversational media; we also touch on mentorship and his path to entrepreneurship.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. We
believe that we've achieved our mission that Group Black where
we're no longer necessary. Hi, I'm Michael Casson. Welcome to
Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media, entertainment and
tech are intersecting, transforming our lives and the way we
(00:22):
do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be joined by
some of the greatest business minds and strongest leaders who
will share how they build companies from the ground up
or transform them from the inside out. My bed is
you'll pick up a lesson or two along the way.
It's all good. It's a great pleasure to welcome a
(00:43):
good friend and a new partner, Travis Montague, to Good Company. Travis,
I want to thank you for joining me today. Michael
is always good to get it invite from you, Well,
there you go. Just by giving our listeners a little
bit of background. Travis is the founder and CEO of
Holler and the co founder and CEO of Group Black,
and I'm certain when I can elicit a view into
(01:06):
his strategy and who he is as an important member
of our marketing and media and advertising and technology community,
you're all gonna know why I was excited to not
only welcome Travis to good Company, but to be a
partner with Group Black in the marketplace. Travis, You've had
a remarkable journey as an entrepreneur in a relatively short
(01:29):
period of time. Can you just kind of riff a
bit and tell us how it all got started? Yeah, So,
I think the inspiration came because my mom was like
a way better entrepreneur than I could have ever imagined.
I'm kind of first generation. She moved here from Jamaica,
started multiple hair salons, like really phenomenal, and I always
(01:50):
occur example with wanting to do something for myself at
some point in time. Quick story on me, Like I
when I started, I actually was working in restaurants. I
worked in at Chick fil A at fifteen, got promoted
there by first year to my person management position at fifteen,
and then by the time I was seventeen, was a
(02:11):
GM and training director managing about a D twenty people
and helping with South Florida expansion, and got to know
the CEO of Chick fil A really well. They gave
me a scholarship to go to college, like it was
really a phenomenal situation. And then I realized while in
college I wanted to kind of do something or expand
my horizons and think of something else. While I was
(02:32):
in college, I got really fascinated about what was happening
in the world of technology, more specifically big data and personalization.
And you know, at the time, I started a company
called Spliced, built an app that levelage machine learning to
deliver people personalized and using video content, raised a friendship
(02:52):
family round while I was in college to get that
journey started. That company eventually became a moji, which became
Holler and at this point is raised over fifty million
dollars for Holler. And and that's kind of how my
entrepreneur journey began. It was when I started the company Spliced,
I actually wanted people to share more with each other
on that application. And so while I was building an app,
(03:14):
I had an epiphany which was, well, maybe the reason
why people don't share content is because they don't have
anything to say per se. But everything you see makes
you feel a certain way, So what if you just
shared that? And so at the time, I've removed all
words from the platform, allowed people to react with one
of twelve emoji, and that's all that people did, and
so the world where as many places to get using
(03:36):
video content. This notion of digital communication or visual expression
was novel and important as more of our conversations we're
moving online, and that was the birth of my desire
to create this new space called conversational media and doing
all the innovative work that we're doing today with Holler.
Holler has over seventy million users and over one point
(03:58):
four billion messages a day um, and so it's been
an incredible journey to build build a business today. What
I love about that is you started the story with
your mom, So that makes me like you even more
that your mom was your model to show you the
entrepreneurial spirit and the and the road ahead. So you
had me at hello on that, and I know so
many people will share that anybody who uses their mom
(04:20):
is their guide. Good luck, You're gonna be in much
better shape. So thank you for that little journey. Travis.
Is you're thinking about the influence that somebody like you,
with your great success at such a young age, had
and continues to have. Are there particular lessons that you've
learned along the way A and you know those that
jump out at you. One question I always like to ask,
(04:42):
is were there any I know one is your mom,
but were there any other particular people that were mentors
or role models for you that you said I can
learn from that person. Are there any names or people
or experiences that jump out at you that helped you
on that journey. Yeah. So one of the kind of
philosophies that I've adopted in every single thing I do.
(05:04):
And you'll see this in both the companies that I
got it are co founded and manage, which is to
build a good business in this day and age means
that you're building businesses that look at profits and outcomes
in context of their values. Right. And so you know,
when I think about what other what the work that
we're doing in Holler, I'm building a business that lives
(05:25):
inside of the messages that people said every single day. Right.
And so we have an incredible system, and we made
an incredible amount of investments in privacy tech, and we
wanted to make sure that we had data practices and
protected consumers long before it was in vogue. Or when
you look at what we're doing at Group Black, how
do we build something that helps various communities in different ways?
(05:48):
And so you'll see a common thread with respect to
the ethical nature of the businesses that I seek to build.
I desire to build I work in every single day
and that and and I think from an entrepreneur perspective,
if I gave anyone advice, I believe that you know,
just building a business with values in mind and with
(06:10):
a firm understanding of how it impacts society, then the
community at large is important. The second thing that I
would say is a lot of people look at the
performance of a company asked how much revenue is it making? Right,
Whereas the performance or direction of a company is seen
(06:31):
way before that moment in time. Revenue is a trailing
indicator of value or performance. A little further up is
the products, right that it's it's launching, but way at
the highest level, it's the people. When I want to
understand the direction that I company is taking, I look
at the people it's hiring, right as the first indicator
(06:54):
of a businesses outcomes. And so if that's the case,
then if we're building big, this is we have to
have the most robust people strategy period, right. And so
people first strategy is how I've driven how I've built businesses,
and it's really, it's really not just you know, hey,
we treat our people well, it's like, how do we attract,
(07:17):
retain developing all of those things and how do we
design culture? Yeah, Travis, I can't agree with you more.
And let me give you a little anecdote that I share,
and I always will give credit to the person that
I learned this from. I was conducting an interview with
a guy named Justin Smith who runs Bloomberg Media and
previous to that, he ran The Atlantic and he's a
(07:37):
well known executive in our industry. And I was interviewing
him at a conference years ago and he said, you know,
I'm CEO of Bloomberg Media, but my real title should
be ct O. I said, I didn't know you were
a tech guy who is no, no, no, chief talent officer.
I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I
think the role of a CEO is to be able
to identify the right talent to surround yourself with, to
(07:59):
populate your enterprise with. And so therefore I think the
role of the CEO is as much to be that
chief talent person. And it sparked and it resonated with
me because I believe it, and what he said was,
and it was such an instructive comment. He said, if
you're lucky enough to stumble on a strategy as a
(08:20):
CEO without the right talent, okay, good good on you,
But there's no freaking way you're ever going to get
it executed if you don't have the right people around you.
So if you're lucky enough to land a strategy without
the right people, that could happen, You could have a
lightning bolt, But to make it actually come to fruition,
you need the right people. And to me, that was
(08:41):
a really important lesson. And you just articulated companies are
about profits and revenue and EBITDA and all the buzzwords,
but it's really about the people. Whether you're in the
widget business or the service business or the technology business,
none of that happens without the people. Right. Well, Michael,
the thing here, what you're saying, why it's extremely salient
(09:02):
to me, is that you know, I'm still a twenties something.
You're old an entrepreneur, right And you know I liked
you at the beginning. I forgot you were still that young.
I'm not sure about you anymore. And the thing here is, um,
you know, when I started my first business. When I
was in college, I didn't know I studied finance, I
(09:22):
didn't know product, I didn't know technology, I didn't know advertising.
I didn't know me yet. I didn't I didn't know
a lot of things. Right. What I did know was
what the opportunity was. I understood our vision well, and
I was able to get a lot of people, really smart, awesome,
talented people who didn't know all those things to come
help me build the kind of machines that we've built.
(09:45):
I physically had to write focus on getting the best talent.
And I actually think that even as I've become in
working with all the people that I've worked with over
the last several years, I've become, you know, a lot
more knowledgeable about all these different spaces. But I actually
want to continue to keep that spirit of I am
the young kid in college trying to attract all the
(10:08):
smartest people who know a lot more than me. Yeah. Now,
trust me on that, and keep that up, my friend,
because shortly I'm going to turn seventy one years old
and I still think I'm the young guy. So you know,
it's a mindset we have all heard people talk about.
G I used to be the youngest. Now I'm the oldest.
There's a secret. Somebody told me years ago the way
to feel young is to hang around with really old people.
(10:31):
So you're the most youthful one out of all of us. Michael, Well,
there you go. And by the way, I've always been
a believer in chronology is just a number. You can
learn from and be mentored by people at all stages
of their careers if you pay attention and if you
identify you know things. To me, that's part of mentorship,
just watching and learning and one of the things. So
(10:52):
you know, there's the there's the team, the teams that
I've build, I've actually I've maintained such great relationships with
the exact gives and warded all these people because they
I built trust with them and you know, they know
I respect them for their capabilities, etcetera. Um. The other
thing too, is, like I say, my co founder Richelieu Dennis,
(11:16):
who is the co founder and chairman of Group Black.
You know he's been a he's been a tremendous mentor
and backer of mine for a long time. He was
actually one of our earliest investors and at Holler Right
and he supported me. Then, um, you know, he's he's
taught me a lot about how do you build businesses
that have kind of sustainable ways of existing. Like if
(11:40):
I look at what he did with Sundial, the business
that he sold to Unilever, he reinvented like how the
whole supply chain for that business, and in such a
way where he created so many jobs for women in Africa.
He put eighty tho over eighty thousand women in school, right, Like,
there's all of these Really, there was so many great examples.
(12:02):
You know, Rich being a veteran entrepreneur and me that's
an early entrepreneur that he was backing, had taught me
about how to to build build businesses and how to
build businesses that are good to people. Uh, And so
you know, I think I would from a mentorship perspective,
I've really always admired the way he's approached conducting businesses.
(12:23):
Rich is a superstar. And if you had to pick
a mentor or a primary mentor, he would certainly be
high on my list of somebody that you could learn
from and that I could learn from. And I continued
to as we get a chance to work together, let
me switch gears for a moment, Travis to an area
that is is you know, extremely important to me, but
I know it's something that you are extraordinarily passionate about.
(12:47):
And and that's the D and I that we are
all so appropriately focused on right now in terms of diversity, equality,
inclusion and for people of color, but for every buddy.
I look at diversity through the lens of ethnicity or preferences,
but I also look at it through the lens of
(13:09):
skill sets. I'm glad you bring that up. So what's interesting,
Like I think some people think that the work that
we're doing a group Black has been the beginning of
a lot of the work that I do around diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, right,
It's actually started way before that. So, like you, if
you look at where the platform that I've built over
the last several years, it's been really about how do
(13:32):
we drive in our society in different ways, whether it's
corporate America, whether it's in our products, whether it's from
all these these different asks facts, How does diversity touch
these things. I actually did a piece that I it
was I think it wasn't Ink or Fortune or I
think it was a Fortune article that I did during
the time around George Floyd that talked about how just
(13:54):
achieving diversity and the organization it shouldn't be our end goal.
Changing the current corporate culture should right. And one of
the things that I called out in that particular piece
is that a lot of times when we think about diversity,
especially from a corporate culture perspective, we treated us a
bolton right and saying we have a diversity practice, we
(14:17):
are working to get our kind of ratios right, But
we didn't think about how do we fundamentally change the
organization to be more inclusive, diverse, and where people belong.
And so that's the key objective, and it needs to
be a situation where the organization is bought it in
that change. I was on a panel where somebody asked, well,
(14:39):
whose responsibility is it in the organization? And I said, well, literally,
that's everybody, right, I mean, it's not just your chief
diversity or officer or HR, it's everybody. I couldn't agree
with you more. It's everybody. And then the second thing
is diversity. You said it right, which diversity isn't all male, female, black, white,
(15:04):
Hispanic like any of that. Diversity is diverse, and I
treat that in every aspect of what we do. There's
even situations where you look at certain types of organizations
and it's lacking males, right, Like, you have to look
at how we designed the system to make sure that
we're giving it the opportunity to be truly diverse. And
(15:25):
it even goes as far like I mean that Holler,
We've even gone as far as looking at what holidays
are we celebrating, right Like, how are we creating space
for people to appreciate and actually celebrate differentness? One of
the things that I did at Holler too, Like we
have such a strong focus on this, and we realize
that large companies have a lot of resources to be
(15:47):
able to build organizations and people to focus on this specifically.
But if you're a smaller organization, what can you do
to ensure and instill that diversity is happening? Right and
you're building the right type of culture that is going
to achieve those outcomes, especially since small businesses drive most
of the workforce, rightly, if we're going to make change,
(16:10):
So I've built a platform called dib source where small
businesses and an open source fashion could contribute things that
they are doing at their organizations, and so they could
share information and learn, and I thought that was an
important project because you know, there wasn't really a lot
of great information out there for smaller businesses and startups
and stuff like that, just to exchange ideas around what
(16:33):
they could be doing to drive diversity and inclusion. So
we did that. But even when I look at from
a black perspective the conversation around diversity, a lot of
people have the perspective that even though the Group Black
is focused on black owned media, we are diversed there too.
Write you build a black owned business the same as
you build a white owned business or any other kind
(16:53):
of business. That should be reflective of the general population.
So let me say it proudly our work together at
Group Black. Last time I looked in the mirror, I'm white,
yet I'm part of that team in a meaningful fashion.
I feel like that that I embrace our opportunities. So
there you go, exactly. Yeah, it's a diverse voice. I'm
an old white Jewish guy and here I am, you know,
(17:14):
partnering with Group Black. So I don't know how we
qualify that. Look, hey, it's a shared vision and mission, right,
Let's talk about that shared group mission and vision for
Group Black, because where I'd love to bring our conversation
is to what are your building and what excites you
most about the opportunities that are in front of you
at Group Black. I mean, I think it would be
(17:34):
good to talk about the mission and the goals. Yeah,
I'm happy to talk about that. So one of those
things that we've realized one of the things that firm
mentally believe given all the events of I believe that
our collective consciousness has been raised. That's the society right.
And what I've been inspired by is the amount of
(17:58):
people and organization who have been putting energy behind driving
equity and looking inwards. And that's been really fantastic, and
we've had a lot of really great partners in our journey.
I think the key thing has been for us is
like we believe that media is a fundamental part of
(18:19):
driving the perceptions and the stereotypes and things that exist
in society. Right. Media is the types of content that
people consume, in the way people are portraying, ecetera, drive
that overall perspective. And we fundamentally believe that monopolistic media
is dangerous for society, right, and so we need to
drive diversity and ownership of media. We need to support
(18:42):
diverse voices, and therefore we're creating an environment that creates
a media ecosystem that drives the society that where we
are right and how how things actually behave. And so
that's why we fundamentally, that's why we start there at
Group Black Right Now, the fact that only point five
percent of media dollars is invested in black owned media,
(19:04):
we thought was inappropriate, right, and so we wanted to
work with the industry to do a couple of things. One,
build the next generation of innovative media brands that are
black owned right because at the core, the black owned
media industry is still very nascent and it was has
been heavily underfunded, and it needs more acceleration to grow
to or drive a scalable investment into black owned media.
(19:26):
And you know, we saw the semi five million dollar
announcement we had with Group Them. We continue to work
with the industry for relationships of similar word greater scale
and it's been really great. And the next thing is
equipped black owned media companies with technologies and things that
drive innovation. And then lastly, we invest from a Group
(19:47):
Black Ventures perspective and investment means we invest physical capital
and black owned media companies. But is is everything. And
you know what we describe Group Black is the home
for Black owned media. And our mission is very simple.
It's to dream we transformed the face of ownership, investment,
and investment in media because we believe in this broader
world called the inclusion age. Right, what is the inclusion age?
(20:10):
The inclusion age is a place where we don't need
diversity and inclusion initiatives anymore. It just is right. And
that's not just for black, that's for everyone, right, Like,
we really believe in this future world where women and
LGBTQ plus and black and other people of color, Like,
we're tired of hearing the conversation, and so we believe
(20:32):
that we've achieved our mission that Group Black, but we're
no longer necessary. Well, to me, that is the goal.
That is the holy grail. That is the touchdown, the
field goal, the Grand Slam home run. If we can
get to a point where it's just the way we
do what we do, we don't need to make it
a separate line item for diversity, inclusion and equality. It's
(20:57):
just what we do. Yeah, Well, Michael, look here's what
I'll say, is we need a lot more of us. Right.
There's many people who look at the world the way
you're looking at it. There's also people who don't, right,
and so in our mind, we need to how do
we continue to create an environment where there's a lot
more of the former? Right. The second thing too, is like, look,
(21:19):
I think that and we're heavily involved in a lot
of it. I think that the industry is working on
some really significant work to drive change right now. And
I have you know, I haven't know that. You obviously
we work together a lot of stuff, so we know
we know some of this work that's going on. But
the types of actions and involvement and learning that I
(21:41):
think the industry is doing right now is more significant
than I've ever seen. And the thing the thing there too,
you know, we've been invited into a lot of organizations
to help explain, right, like what we mean by black
ohn defined it? What is it? Black owned doesn't mean
black targeted? Black owned companies could be rod market Like,
(22:01):
there's like there's a lot of things that we've been
teaching people and that people are learning and getting it,
which has been great. It's education and and look, Travis
what you said is what we all hope we get to.
It's people like you and rich and I'd like to
include myself in that that are helping the industry address
these issues in a meaningful way and knowing that when
(22:24):
you're behind, you need to catch up. So yeah, you
may need to be overcorrecting in places and overcompensating for
things that haven't been done right previously. What I grew
up with being Jewish was my grandmother taught me again
being in a minority and sometimes being discriminated against in
the context of that, I was always taught that you
(22:46):
had to stay ahead to keep up. So it's not
something that I'm unfamiliar with. And I know that sounds
kind of hollow when it comes from somebody of my
vintage and whatnot, but it's not hollow at all. It's
there's truth to that. And so over correction and the
things we need to do to right size these issues.
(23:06):
That's gonna take effort, but it's going to take education first,
and if you don't educate people, the effort may be
misguided or what have you. So we all have a
responsibility to educate and to illuminate and to shine pleague
lights on this topic so that people make it part
of their daily bread. That's it, and that's still you know,
(23:29):
if I look at some of the most tightly aligned
partners that we've had, that is the core of it, right, Like,
we're not We're not saying and this is one of
the big things that I make sure I talk about
to any of our strategic partners. We're not trying to
say that we want you to invest in black old
media and not work, right, That is not what we're saying.
(23:54):
What we're saying is is that there are real challenges
that are as a lack of investment for a long
time exist and we're gonna work together and change that.
We're gonna do innovative work together. We're going to figure
out how do we widen the opportunities. We're going to
figure out how do we make it work for brands.
We're going to figure all those things out together. And
(24:16):
it's about data sharing and insights that allow us to
do that. And we're putting together kind of mobilizing some
of the most sophisticated people in the industry to help
tackle this well. Travis, Look, here's the sad part of
a podcast. I could just chat with you forever, and
I'm hoping we will have that opportunity as partners and friends,
but unfortunately we're gonna have to come to a close
(24:37):
on this conversation, at least part one of it. Let's
say that I'm an optimist, but Travis Montague, you are
somebody to be admired for your age and stage. What
you've accomplished is nothing short of magic. And I know,
for one you've got a lot of magic You're going
to deliver to your partners and to this industry and
(24:58):
to the world at large through the lends of Holler,
and through the lens of Group Black, and through the
lens of Travis Montague. And I'm proud to say friend
and partner, and more importantly, I want to say thank
you Travis for joining me on Good Company. You've been
extraordinarily good company. No, thank you, Michael. This has been
a great chat, always a blast, and thanks for having me.
(25:21):
You haven't heard the last of me, Baby, you just
holler go. I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company.
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio Special
Thanks to Lena Peterson, chief brand Officer and Managing Director
immediately for her vision, I'm good company And to Jen Seely,
(25:42):
vice President Marketing Communications immediately for programming amazing talent and
content
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. We
believe that we've achieved our mission that Group Black where
we're no longer necessary. Hi, I'm Michael Casson. Welcome to
Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media, entertainment and
tech are intersecting, transforming our lives and the way we
(00:22):
do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be joined by
some of the greatest business minds and strongest leaders who
will share how they build companies from the ground up
or transform them from the inside out. My bed is
you'll pick up a lesson or two along the way.
It's all good. It's a great pleasure to welcome a
(00:43):
good friend and a new partner, Travis Montague, to Good Company. Travis,
I want to thank you for joining me today. Michael
is always good to get it invite from you, Well,
there you go. Just by giving our listeners a little
bit of background. Travis is the founder and CEO of
Holler and the co founder and CEO of Group Black,
and I'm certain when I can elicit a view into
(01:06):
his strategy and who he is as an important member
of our marketing and media and advertising and technology community,
you're all gonna know why I was excited to not
only welcome Travis to good Company, but to be a
partner with Group Black in the marketplace. Travis, You've had
a remarkable journey as an entrepreneur in a relatively short
(01:29):
period of time. Can you just kind of riff a
bit and tell us how it all got started? Yeah, So,
I think the inspiration came because my mom was like
a way better entrepreneur than I could have ever imagined.
I'm kind of first generation. She moved here from Jamaica,
started multiple hair salons, like really phenomenal, and I always
(01:50):
occur example with wanting to do something for myself at
some point in time. Quick story on me, Like I
when I started, I actually was working in restaurants. I
worked in at Chick fil A at fifteen, got promoted
there by first year to my person management position at fifteen,
and then by the time I was seventeen, was a
(02:11):
GM and training director managing about a D twenty people
and helping with South Florida expansion, and got to know
the CEO of Chick fil A really well. They gave
me a scholarship to go to college, like it was
really a phenomenal situation. And then I realized while in
college I wanted to kind of do something or expand
my horizons and think of something else. While I was
(02:32):
in college, I got really fascinated about what was happening
in the world of technology, more specifically big data and personalization.
And you know, at the time, I started a company
called Spliced, built an app that levelage machine learning to
deliver people personalized and using video content, raised a friendship
(02:52):
family round while I was in college to get that
journey started. That company eventually became a moji, which became
Holler and at this point is raised over fifty million
dollars for Holler. And and that's kind of how my
entrepreneur journey began. It was when I started the company Spliced,
I actually wanted people to share more with each other
on that application. And so while I was building an app,
(03:14):
I had an epiphany which was, well, maybe the reason
why people don't share content is because they don't have
anything to say per se. But everything you see makes
you feel a certain way, So what if you just
shared that? And so at the time, I've removed all
words from the platform, allowed people to react with one
of twelve emoji, and that's all that people did, and
so the world where as many places to get using
(03:36):
video content. This notion of digital communication or visual expression
was novel and important as more of our conversations we're
moving online, and that was the birth of my desire
to create this new space called conversational media and doing
all the innovative work that we're doing today with Holler.
Holler has over seventy million users and over one point
(03:58):
four billion messages a day um, and so it's been
an incredible journey to build build a business today. What
I love about that is you started the story with
your mom, So that makes me like you even more
that your mom was your model to show you the
entrepreneurial spirit and the and the road ahead. So you
had me at hello on that, and I know so
many people will share that anybody who uses their mom
(04:20):
is their guide. Good luck, You're gonna be in much
better shape. So thank you for that little journey. Travis.
Is you're thinking about the influence that somebody like you,
with your great success at such a young age, had
and continues to have. Are there particular lessons that you've
learned along the way A and you know those that
jump out at you. One question I always like to ask,
(04:42):
is were there any I know one is your mom,
but were there any other particular people that were mentors
or role models for you that you said I can
learn from that person. Are there any names or people
or experiences that jump out at you that helped you
on that journey. Yeah. So one of the kind of
philosophies that I've adopted in every single thing I do.
(05:04):
And you'll see this in both the companies that I
got it are co founded and manage, which is to
build a good business in this day and age means
that you're building businesses that look at profits and outcomes
in context of their values. Right. And so you know,
when I think about what other what the work that
we're doing in Holler, I'm building a business that lives
(05:25):
inside of the messages that people said every single day. Right.
And so we have an incredible system, and we made
an incredible amount of investments in privacy tech, and we
wanted to make sure that we had data practices and
protected consumers long before it was in vogue. Or when
you look at what we're doing at Group Black, how
do we build something that helps various communities in different ways?
(05:48):
And so you'll see a common thread with respect to
the ethical nature of the businesses that I seek to build.
I desire to build I work in every single day
and that and and I think from an entrepreneur perspective,
if I gave anyone advice, I believe that you know,
just building a business with values in mind and with
(06:10):
a firm understanding of how it impacts society, then the
community at large is important. The second thing that I
would say is a lot of people look at the
performance of a company asked how much revenue is it making? Right,
Whereas the performance or direction of a company is seen
(06:31):
way before that moment in time. Revenue is a trailing
indicator of value or performance. A little further up is
the products, right that it's it's launching, but way at
the highest level, it's the people. When I want to
understand the direction that I company is taking, I look
at the people it's hiring, right as the first indicator
(06:54):
of a businesses outcomes. And so if that's the case,
then if we're building big, this is we have to
have the most robust people strategy period, right. And so
people first strategy is how I've driven how I've built businesses,
and it's really, it's really not just you know, hey,
we treat our people well, it's like, how do we attract,
(07:17):
retain developing all of those things and how do we
design culture? Yeah, Travis, I can't agree with you more.
And let me give you a little anecdote that I share,
and I always will give credit to the person that
I learned this from. I was conducting an interview with
a guy named Justin Smith who runs Bloomberg Media and
previous to that, he ran The Atlantic and he's a
(07:37):
well known executive in our industry. And I was interviewing
him at a conference years ago and he said, you know,
I'm CEO of Bloomberg Media, but my real title should
be ct O. I said, I didn't know you were
a tech guy who is no, no, no, chief talent officer.
I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I
think the role of a CEO is to be able
to identify the right talent to surround yourself with, to
(07:59):
populate your enterprise with. And so therefore I think the
role of the CEO is as much to be that
chief talent person. And it sparked and it resonated with
me because I believe it, and what he said was,
and it was such an instructive comment. He said, if
you're lucky enough to stumble on a strategy as a
(08:20):
CEO without the right talent, okay, good good on you,
But there's no freaking way you're ever going to get
it executed if you don't have the right people around you.
So if you're lucky enough to land a strategy without
the right people, that could happen, You could have a
lightning bolt, But to make it actually come to fruition,
you need the right people. And to me, that was
(08:41):
a really important lesson. And you just articulated companies are
about profits and revenue and EBITDA and all the buzzwords,
but it's really about the people. Whether you're in the
widget business or the service business or the technology business,
none of that happens without the people. Right. Well, Michael,
the thing here, what you're saying, why it's extremely salient
(09:02):
to me, is that you know, I'm still a twenties something.
You're old an entrepreneur, right And you know I liked
you at the beginning. I forgot you were still that young.
I'm not sure about you anymore. And the thing here is, um,
you know, when I started my first business. When I
was in college, I didn't know I studied finance, I
(09:22):
didn't know product, I didn't know technology, I didn't know advertising.
I didn't know me yet. I didn't I didn't know
a lot of things. Right. What I did know was
what the opportunity was. I understood our vision well, and
I was able to get a lot of people, really smart, awesome,
talented people who didn't know all those things to come
help me build the kind of machines that we've built.
(09:45):
I physically had to write focus on getting the best talent.
And I actually think that even as I've become in
working with all the people that I've worked with over
the last several years, I've become, you know, a lot
more knowledgeable about all these different spaces. But I actually
want to continue to keep that spirit of I am
the young kid in college trying to attract all the
(10:08):
smartest people who know a lot more than me. Yeah. Now,
trust me on that, and keep that up, my friend,
because shortly I'm going to turn seventy one years old
and I still think I'm the young guy. So you know,
it's a mindset we have all heard people talk about.
G I used to be the youngest. Now I'm the oldest.
There's a secret. Somebody told me years ago the way
to feel young is to hang around with really old people.
(10:31):
So you're the most youthful one out of all of us. Michael, Well,
there you go. And by the way, I've always been
a believer in chronology is just a number. You can
learn from and be mentored by people at all stages
of their careers if you pay attention and if you
identify you know things. To me, that's part of mentorship,
just watching and learning and one of the things. So
(10:52):
you know, there's the there's the team, the teams that
I've build, I've actually I've maintained such great relationships with
the exact gives and warded all these people because they
I built trust with them and you know, they know
I respect them for their capabilities, etcetera. Um. The other
thing too, is, like I say, my co founder Richelieu Dennis,
(11:16):
who is the co founder and chairman of Group Black.
You know he's been a he's been a tremendous mentor
and backer of mine for a long time. He was
actually one of our earliest investors and at Holler Right
and he supported me. Then, um, you know, he's he's
taught me a lot about how do you build businesses
that have kind of sustainable ways of existing. Like if
(11:40):
I look at what he did with Sundial, the business
that he sold to Unilever, he reinvented like how the
whole supply chain for that business, and in such a
way where he created so many jobs for women in Africa.
He put eighty tho over eighty thousand women in school, right, Like,
there's all of these Really, there was so many great examples.
(12:02):
You know, Rich being a veteran entrepreneur and me that's
an early entrepreneur that he was backing, had taught me
about how to to build build businesses and how to
build businesses that are good to people. Uh, And so
you know, I think I would from a mentorship perspective,
I've really always admired the way he's approached conducting businesses.
(12:23):
Rich is a superstar. And if you had to pick
a mentor or a primary mentor, he would certainly be
high on my list of somebody that you could learn
from and that I could learn from. And I continued
to as we get a chance to work together, let
me switch gears for a moment, Travis to an area
that is is you know, extremely important to me, but
I know it's something that you are extraordinarily passionate about.
(12:47):
And and that's the D and I that we are
all so appropriately focused on right now in terms of diversity, equality,
inclusion and for people of color, but for every buddy.
I look at diversity through the lens of ethnicity or preferences,
but I also look at it through the lens of
(13:09):
skill sets. I'm glad you bring that up. So what's interesting,
Like I think some people think that the work that
we're doing a group Black has been the beginning of
a lot of the work that I do around diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, right,
It's actually started way before that. So, like you, if
you look at where the platform that I've built over
the last several years, it's been really about how do
(13:32):
we drive in our society in different ways, whether it's
corporate America, whether it's in our products, whether it's from
all these these different asks facts, How does diversity touch
these things. I actually did a piece that I it
was I think it wasn't Ink or Fortune or I
think it was a Fortune article that I did during
the time around George Floyd that talked about how just
(13:54):
achieving diversity and the organization it shouldn't be our end goal.
Changing the current corporate culture should right. And one of
the things that I called out in that particular piece
is that a lot of times when we think about diversity,
especially from a corporate culture perspective, we treated us a
bolton right and saying we have a diversity practice, we
(14:17):
are working to get our kind of ratios right, But
we didn't think about how do we fundamentally change the
organization to be more inclusive, diverse, and where people belong.
And so that's the key objective, and it needs to
be a situation where the organization is bought it in
that change. I was on a panel where somebody asked, well,
(14:39):
whose responsibility is it in the organization? And I said, well, literally,
that's everybody, right, I mean, it's not just your chief
diversity or officer or HR, it's everybody. I couldn't agree
with you more. It's everybody. And then the second thing
is diversity. You said it right, which diversity isn't all male, female, black, white,
(15:04):
Hispanic like any of that. Diversity is diverse, and I
treat that in every aspect of what we do. There's
even situations where you look at certain types of organizations
and it's lacking males, right, Like, you have to look
at how we designed the system to make sure that
we're giving it the opportunity to be truly diverse. And
(15:25):
it even goes as far like I mean that Holler,
We've even gone as far as looking at what holidays
are we celebrating, right Like, how are we creating space
for people to appreciate and actually celebrate differentness? One of
the things that I did at Holler too, Like we
have such a strong focus on this, and we realize
that large companies have a lot of resources to be
(15:47):
able to build organizations and people to focus on this specifically.
But if you're a smaller organization, what can you do
to ensure and instill that diversity is happening? Right and
you're building the right type of culture that is going
to achieve those outcomes, especially since small businesses drive most
of the workforce, rightly, if we're going to make change,
(16:10):
So I've built a platform called dib source where small
businesses and an open source fashion could contribute things that
they are doing at their organizations, and so they could
share information and learn, and I thought that was an
important project because you know, there wasn't really a lot
of great information out there for smaller businesses and startups
and stuff like that, just to exchange ideas around what
(16:33):
they could be doing to drive diversity and inclusion. So
we did that. But even when I look at from
a black perspective the conversation around diversity, a lot of
people have the perspective that even though the Group Black
is focused on black owned media, we are diversed there too.
Write you build a black owned business the same as
you build a white owned business or any other kind
(16:53):
of business. That should be reflective of the general population.
So let me say it proudly our work together at
Group Black. Last time I looked in the mirror, I'm white,
yet I'm part of that team in a meaningful fashion.
I feel like that that I embrace our opportunities. So
there you go, exactly. Yeah, it's a diverse voice. I'm
an old white Jewish guy and here I am, you know,
(17:14):
partnering with Group Black. So I don't know how we
qualify that. Look, hey, it's a shared vision and mission, right,
Let's talk about that shared group mission and vision for
Group Black, because where I'd love to bring our conversation
is to what are your building and what excites you
most about the opportunities that are in front of you
at Group Black. I mean, I think it would be
(17:34):
good to talk about the mission and the goals. Yeah,
I'm happy to talk about that. So one of those
things that we've realized one of the things that firm
mentally believe given all the events of I believe that
our collective consciousness has been raised. That's the society right.
And what I've been inspired by is the amount of
(17:58):
people and organization who have been putting energy behind driving
equity and looking inwards. And that's been really fantastic, and
we've had a lot of really great partners in our journey.
I think the key thing has been for us is
like we believe that media is a fundamental part of
(18:19):
driving the perceptions and the stereotypes and things that exist
in society. Right. Media is the types of content that
people consume, in the way people are portraying, ecetera, drive
that overall perspective. And we fundamentally believe that monopolistic media
is dangerous for society, right, and so we need to
drive diversity and ownership of media. We need to support
(18:42):
diverse voices, and therefore we're creating an environment that creates
a media ecosystem that drives the society that where we
are right and how how things actually behave. And so
that's why we fundamentally, that's why we start there at
Group Black Right Now, the fact that only point five
percent of media dollars is invested in black owned media,
(19:04):
we thought was inappropriate, right, and so we wanted to
work with the industry to do a couple of things. One,
build the next generation of innovative media brands that are
black owned right because at the core, the black owned
media industry is still very nascent and it was has
been heavily underfunded, and it needs more acceleration to grow
to or drive a scalable investment into black owned media.
(19:26):
And you know, we saw the semi five million dollar
announcement we had with Group Them. We continue to work
with the industry for relationships of similar word greater scale
and it's been really great. And the next thing is
equipped black owned media companies with technologies and things that
drive innovation. And then lastly, we invest from a Group
(19:47):
Black Ventures perspective and investment means we invest physical capital
and black owned media companies. But is is everything. And
you know what we describe Group Black is the home
for Black owned media. And our mission is very simple.
It's to dream we transformed the face of ownership, investment,
and investment in media because we believe in this broader
world called the inclusion age. Right, what is the inclusion age?
(20:10):
The inclusion age is a place where we don't need
diversity and inclusion initiatives anymore. It just is right. And
that's not just for black, that's for everyone, right, Like,
we really believe in this future world where women and
LGBTQ plus and black and other people of color, Like,
we're tired of hearing the conversation, and so we believe
(20:32):
that we've achieved our mission that Group Black, but we're
no longer necessary. Well, to me, that is the goal.
That is the holy grail. That is the touchdown, the
field goal, the Grand Slam home run. If we can
get to a point where it's just the way we
do what we do, we don't need to make it
a separate line item for diversity, inclusion and equality. It's
(20:57):
just what we do. Yeah, Well, Michael, look here's what
I'll say, is we need a lot more of us. Right.
There's many people who look at the world the way
you're looking at it. There's also people who don't, right,
and so in our mind, we need to how do
we continue to create an environment where there's a lot
more of the former? Right. The second thing too, is like, look,
(21:19):
I think that and we're heavily involved in a lot
of it. I think that the industry is working on
some really significant work to drive change right now. And
I have you know, I haven't know that. You obviously
we work together a lot of stuff, so we know
we know some of this work that's going on. But
the types of actions and involvement and learning that I
(21:41):
think the industry is doing right now is more significant
than I've ever seen. And the thing the thing there too,
you know, we've been invited into a lot of organizations
to help explain, right, like what we mean by black
ohn defined it? What is it? Black owned doesn't mean
black targeted? Black owned companies could be rod market Like,
(22:01):
there's like there's a lot of things that we've been
teaching people and that people are learning and getting it,
which has been great. It's education and and look, Travis
what you said is what we all hope we get to.
It's people like you and rich and I'd like to
include myself in that that are helping the industry address
these issues in a meaningful way and knowing that when
(22:24):
you're behind, you need to catch up. So yeah, you
may need to be overcorrecting in places and overcompensating for
things that haven't been done right previously. What I grew
up with being Jewish was my grandmother taught me again
being in a minority and sometimes being discriminated against in
the context of that, I was always taught that you
(22:46):
had to stay ahead to keep up. So it's not
something that I'm unfamiliar with. And I know that sounds
kind of hollow when it comes from somebody of my
vintage and whatnot, but it's not hollow at all. It's
there's truth to that. And so over correction and the
things we need to do to right size these issues.
(23:06):
That's gonna take effort, but it's going to take education first,
and if you don't educate people, the effort may be
misguided or what have you. So we all have a
responsibility to educate and to illuminate and to shine pleague
lights on this topic so that people make it part
of their daily bread. That's it, and that's still you know,
(23:29):
if I look at some of the most tightly aligned
partners that we've had, that is the core of it, right, Like,
we're not We're not saying and this is one of
the big things that I make sure I talk about
to any of our strategic partners. We're not trying to
say that we want you to invest in black old
media and not work, right, That is not what we're saying.
(23:54):
What we're saying is is that there are real challenges
that are as a lack of investment for a long
time exist and we're gonna work together and change that.
We're gonna do innovative work together. We're going to figure
out how do we widen the opportunities. We're going to
figure out how do we make it work for brands.
We're going to figure all those things out together. And
(24:16):
it's about data sharing and insights that allow us to
do that. And we're putting together kind of mobilizing some
of the most sophisticated people in the industry to help
tackle this well. Travis, Look, here's the sad part of
a podcast. I could just chat with you forever, and
I'm hoping we will have that opportunity as partners and friends,
but unfortunately we're gonna have to come to a close
(24:37):
on this conversation, at least part one of it. Let's
say that I'm an optimist, but Travis Montague, you are
somebody to be admired for your age and stage. What
you've accomplished is nothing short of magic. And I know,
for one you've got a lot of magic You're going
to deliver to your partners and to this industry and
(24:58):
to the world at large through the lends of Holler,
and through the lens of Group Black, and through the
lens of Travis Montague. And I'm proud to say friend
and partner, and more importantly, I want to say thank
you Travis for joining me on Good Company. You've been
extraordinarily good company. No, thank you, Michael. This has been
a great chat, always a blast, and thanks for having me.
(25:21):
You haven't heard the last of me, Baby, you just
holler go. I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company.
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio Special
Thanks to Lena Peterson, chief brand Officer and Managing Director
immediately for her vision, I'm good company And to Jen Seely,
(25:42):
vice President Marketing Communications immediately for programming amazing talent and
content
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.