I met the co-creator of the music, artists, and brands that I loved growing up — Evening with Jay Brown, the co-founder & CEO of Roc Nation
[Originally written in March 2017; Published in June 2020]
Last week, I attended Network member Fund, Wavemaker Partners’ Speaker Series evening with Jay Brown, the co-founder of Roc Nation and long-time business partner of Jay-Z. It was pretty cool to meet the business, branding, story-telling, artistic mastermind behind many of the music and brands that I loved growing up.
He knew he wanted to work in the music industry…worked his way up as an intern. Through Def Jam records, he and Jay-Z always had traded and shared beats with one another
At a tech event filled with investors, startup founders…Surprisingly, the lessons that stood out to me were…
Business and Branding 101 with Brown
- Content is king (and Queen!). The artists have documented their lives and own 100% of it
- Don’t go into a business deal where you aren’t 100% genuine. Your fans will see your a poser, faking it
- 25% of his time is with people-inspiring and leading the team, 25% with the artists; 50% how to grow the business
- Don’t give away your business so easily just for a celebrity endorsement… go into deals where your baby can make you more babies
- About an artist — what stands out about them…what they wear, their image. something in their look.
Human Lessons
aka lessons that I find are quite often lost in business, technology, the hype, and just life…)
While the business and branding mastermind swooned the Silicon Beach crowd with his lessons on content, interacting with celebrities, strategic partnerships, the future of Roc Nation and staying relevant…
I personally found his human lessons even more remarkable and was absolutely blown away by his humility.
- Your title is just your title in the office. When you step out in the street none of that matters
- The biggest commodity you have is time
“Don’t chase the dream. Chase happiness.” -Jay Brown
Meeting Jay Brown was definitely a highlight of my 2017 thus far. May it be a benchmark and reminder for me to continue to strive for happiness and my personal vision of success while doing some real good for others in this universe simultaneously.
