Meet The Disruptors: Jeremy Kasler Of CaskX On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

Be smart. Do your research, hire the best talent, and know your audience.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeremy Kasler.

Jeremy Kasler has more than 20 years of experience in specialty finance, alternative asset investment and corporate strategy. Today he serves as the CEO of CaskX, a company he founded in 2019 that combines his passion for whiskey with extensive expertise in pioneering innovative new investment platforms. Kasler is widely regarded as the foremost authority on tangible asset diversification, and through his organizations, he strives to build profitable portfolios for investors around the globe.

An entrepreneur from an early age, Kasler founded Art Futures Group (AFG) in 2010, bringing his extensive knowledge of finance and business to spearhead the company’s successful development and rapid expansion. AFG rose to prominence as the world’s leading investment broker for Chinese contemporary art, dedicated to helping its clients profit from portfolios containing the market’s most exceptional finds.

As the first in Asia to pioneer a complete end-to-end art investment service, AFG undertook to open up the market, bringing art investment from the high-cost playing field of the elite to middle-class working professionals and Gen Y investors. By connecting artists directly with purchasers through its innovative commercial platform, AFG enabled purchasers to bypass the traditional middlemen of galleries, museums and exhibition halls, bringing the world of art investment to a much broader sphere.

Prior to founding Art Futures Group, Kasler had 22 years experience in international marketing within the property and investment sector. This wealth of experience and his lifelong love of art empowered him with the ability to be a driving force behind the setup and subsequent success of AFG, one of the world’s largest art investment brokers. As CEO, he was responsible for leading the company’s strategic growth and directing the standard of excellence that defined all company operations. Kasler sold Art Futures Group to Hong Kong-based Macey and Sons in an all cash buyout in August 2019. (View press release here.)

In 2019, Kasler launched CaskX with the goal of bridging the gap between distilleries and investors to bring the financial benefits of whiskey investment to the global stage, all while helping distilleries withstand the cash flow pressures that are inherent with whiskey production. The company has grown to serve investors and distilleries through offices in Sydney, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. By offering unparalleled transparency and advanced technology, CaskX is ushering in a new era of investment into the whiskey industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I previously started and ran businesses that offered wine and art as an alternative investment. Whiskey was the logical next step as it is an asset people enjoy but increases in value over time.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Before we opened our doors it was near impossible for private investors to invest into barrels of new make whiskey. The opportunity was open only to industry insiders.

We have helped to open this opportunity up to retail investors all over the U.S.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I had organized a wine tasting in Singapore and flown over a world famous winemaker especially for the event.

He gave a brilliant talk and tasting going through multiple vintages of his best wines. What we didn’t realize until the end was that we had managed to get the order of wines wrong without him knowing, so that he presented the oldest wines as the newest and the newest as oldest. Nobody seemed to realize, until the tasting was over, and then when clarified it of course made sense.

I learned a lot from that. First, preparation is everything, and secondly, in the wine world, talking with confidence goes a long way.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

My greatest mentor has been my grandfather. He taught me the importance of hard work and treating everyone equally. He demonstrated that if you go to work every day and marry that work ethic with an entrepreneurial spirit, you will almost always end up with great success.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

If we take a look at the history of the bourbon industry, there were many men and women who moved the industry forward by disrupting the status quo. For example, in 1870, George Garvin Brown wanted to ensure his bourbon was quality and not tampered with, so he was the first to sell his Old Forester bourbon in sealed glass bottles. E.H. Taylor was another famous distiller who fought hard for consumer rights and helped with the passing of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897, which was one of the first consumer protection acts ever passed — long before the FDA was in existence.

I can’t think of a “not so positive” disrupting example. Maybe a few distilling companies over the years that have tried to fast-track the aging process of bourbon. That and wasabi-flavored vodka.

Can you please share 5 ideas one needs to shake up their industry?

1 . Be innovative. We’re giving everyday people access to new make bourbon, and that’s never been done before now.

2 . Be smart. Do your research, hire the best talent, and know your audience.

3 . Build a competent team. Instill excitement for the product and give your employees a reason to be invested.

4 . Marketing, marketing, marketing. You only have one shot at making a great first impression, so invest in solid marketing tools like branding, logos, website design, etc.

5 . Have fun.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

We plan to move into wine investment and then art investment here in the U.S.

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

I found the book Papillon inspiring. It is an autobiography and film written by Henri Charrier detailing his time spent at the French Devil’s Island penal colony in the 1930s. He goes through incredible hardship but always remains positive and never loses sight of his goals to escape to freedom. I always thought if he can do that, I can overcome my small issues by comparison.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“I’ve seen the future and it works” by Lincoln Steffens. I’m not sure why, but this always resonated with me. It just feels like a very positive statement.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The positive thinker movement. Educate kids on the power of positive thinking. Demonstrate to them in real terms how fortunate they are compared to others. Maybe ask them to read the book Papillon.

How can our readers follow you online?

CaskX Socials

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caskxofficial/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/caskxofficial

Website: https://caskx.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caskxofficial/

CaskX Website + Social

Website https://caskx.com/home/

IG- https://www.instagram.com/caskxofficial/?hl=en

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/caskxofficial/

Twitter- https://twitter.com/caskxofficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!