Discover how Dan Cobb, a 23-time Emmy Award-winning media executive, is challenging the giants of the streaming world with MyStreme, a revolutionary app designed to simplify your TV experience. Forget about juggling multiple apps; Dan's vision brings all your streaming subscriptions under one roof, making it easy to find the content you love. Hear about his journey from working with Disney and Warner Brothers to developing an AI-driven platform that promises to transform your viewing experience into something truly user-centric.
Ever wondered how AI could change the way you watch TV? MyStreme's cutting-edge features, like AI-powered content discovery and scene skipping, are set to enhance family viewing by filtering out inappropriate content and making movie nights more enjoyable. Dan shares insights into the struggles of navigating an industry dominated by heavyweights like Netflix and Disney, and how MyStreme is empowering families with more media choices. Plus, learn about Dan’s incredible mission to support global causes, such as improving access to clean water, and how he plans to disrupt the market through an innovative crowdfunding model.
Gain invaluable insights into the entrepreneurial journey as Dan discusses the resilience required to break through in a competitive landscape. From overcoming skepticism to building a team of industry veterans from Microsoft and Hollywood, MyStreme is a testament to the power of persistence and authenticity. Explore the challenges of distributing culturally sensitive content on a global scale, and the innovative strategies used to maintain compliance and relevance. Tune in for a compelling conversation filled with wisdom, humor, and the relentless spirit of a true pioneer in streaming.
ABOUT DAN
23 time Emmy Award-winning media executive, innovator and multi-patent holder of AI TV. As founder of national media companies, DBA Worldwide and AdBox.io, Dan Cobb brings 30 years of marketing tech experience, managing $500M in ad spend with world-class brands: Chick-fil-A, Disney, Warner Bros., Sony, ABC, NBC, CBS, Papa Johns and PizzaAndAMovie.com with Paramount, introducing social media for for Disney’s Tangled, Warner Bros., The Hobbit, Board Member at Missions.Me
LINKS & RESOURCES
00:00 - Revolutionizing TV Viewing With MyStream
08:35 - MyStream and Deep Linking Impact
15:12 - Bringing MyStream to Market Through Crowdfunding
24:21 - Global Content Distribution and Team Formation
29:58 - Overcoming Challenges in Entrepreneurship
36:38 - Engaging With Entrepreneurs Online
WEBVTT
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Hey, what is up?
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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.
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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and I am already honestly so excited about today's episode because if there's ever been an episode where we have an incredible entrepreneur and founder on where all of you literally I know, 100% of you listeners today are going to say out loud wait, someone's finally doing this.
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This thing that we all know needs to be invented is finally happening and an incredible entrepreneur is spearheading those efforts, then, yes, that is what you're going to find in today's episode, because we are being joined by the very incredible Dan Cobb, who I'm going to argue when you hear his credentials.
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I'm going to argue that he is the one who's uniquely positioned to bring this solution to the world.
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So let me tell you all about Dan.
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He is a 23-time Emmy Award-winning media executive, he's an innovator and he's a multi-patent holder of AI TV, which is a little bit of a spoiler alert about what his business does.
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As the founder of national media companies, dba Worldwide and Adboxio, dan brings 30 years of marketing tech experience, managing $500 million in ad spend with world-class brands like we've all heard of Chick-fil-A, disney, warner Brothers, sony, abc, nbc, cbs and so many others, including introducing social media for Disney's Tangled, warner Brothers the Hobbit.
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He's a board member at missionsme and I think that's really important, because what you're going to hear in Dan's story today is not only about the very cool thing that he's bringing to the world that's going to get you excited, not even from a business perspective, but as a consumer but I think what you're also going to hear is Dan's mission and his impact and the way that he believes that his work, and the work that we all do, can serve others.
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So I'm personally very excited about this one.
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Let's dive straight into my interview with Dan Cobb.
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All right, dan, I'm so excited that you're here with us today.
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First things first.
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Welcome to the show.
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Thank you much.
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Yes, dan, I've talked to you quite a bit.
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I'm already excited about all the things because I already have the spoiler alert.
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I know what your business is and what you're bringing to the world, but you've got to take us beyond the bio For listeners who don't know you just yet.
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Who the heck is, dan?
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How'd you start doing all these cool things?
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Oh gosh, let me first comment on your neon sign.
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Don't quit your daydream.
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That is absolutely a theme.
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It's been a daydream to change the way we view our television experience.
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I remember when I was a kid my mom used to say turn that thing off, that's bad for you.
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And I used to ask myself why does it have to be bad for you?
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Why can't it be good for you?
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There's so many good things on TV and it brings families together and it motivates you around things that you want to learn about.
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So we've been working on a solution for TV to actually make it good for you and actually an experience you want to have.
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Currently, the average user spends over an hour a week looking for their television or movie programming.
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Some people spend 40 minutes before they can find a movie and then their movie night is over by the time they find it.
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So we've been aggregating all of the content into one user experience and then filtering and curating that so the user gets what we call MyStream that's the name of the program MyStream, the television app.
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It brings you your stream.
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The thing you've been looking for should show up on your screen.
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Why does everything but what you want to watch Start on your screen.
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When you first your TV, turn your TV on, it's because you're being promoted to, you're being pushed agendas, you're being sold, you're being kind of aggregated around content that somebody is trying to get you to watch.
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And in reality, we just want to find what we want to find and it should be on the user side where that's being determined and that reality.
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We just want to find what we want to find and it should be on the user side where that's being determined, and that's what we're doing.
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We're bringing the user what they've been asking for.
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Yes, thank goodness, dan, that you are doing that, so I love it and obviously I've seen it.
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Listeners don't have that same advantage yet here in today's conversation.
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They're listening to us.
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They can't necessarily see your website and see your app and your solution, but what I think is incredible is you found a way to bring in all of the content from all of our subscriptions.
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I'm going to throw a little bit of shade.
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There is that we're all subscribed to Netflix and Hulu and Paramount Plus, and for those of us who are soccer fans we all have to have Peacock these days and sports fans in general, we all have a million subscriptions.
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You've brought all of that into one hub and made all of these things discoverable in a really cool way.
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So talk to us about that thought process, because instead of us opening 500 apps, I'm sure everyone you've talked to has said Dan, yes, I want this, I need this.
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Just invent it already, just make it a reality.
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You know I come from the media industry and even myself, knowing where the producers are located, I'll get into my television program and try to find where was I watching the latest Lord of the Rings series or where was I watching the latest television binge watching episode of the Old man or Stranger Things.
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Most people know Stranger Things is Netflix.
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But if you're not an expert you may spend five hours just trying to find who produces it, because you have to know where to look for it.
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You can't just search on your home screen in most environments.
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So what we thought first was let's just let people have a universal search.
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And what's the best way to do that?
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With the new technology we have, with artificial intelligence, we can offer that and we can offer a search beyond that.
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We can say okay, what mood are you in?
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I'm in the mood for, for example, an action film, or it's a date night with my, an action experience versus I need to know exactly what I'm looking for and where to find it before I even start the search.
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Yeah, and that's what I think is crazy, dan.
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I lived in LA and I always felt like when I was in Los Angeles, I was the least informed entertainment person.
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Because I don't watch.
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I'm obviously an entrepreneur, I love working on my businesses and so I don't watch a.
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I'm obviously an entrepreneur, I love working on my businesses, and so I don't watch a lot of TV and movies.
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But when I do, I want to search for, you know, I want to watch a soccer movie or a feel good sports documentary or those types of things, and I would often end up on Google and just by chance finding hopefully someone, by just the generosity, would write a blog post that would create these recommendations for me.
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Talk to me about the fact that recommendations it seems like that's such a part of what's behind my stream is.
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You realize we all want to watch things but we don't know what to watch Aside from just search.
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It seems like you've really honed in on a way to say, hey, here's what other people are watching, here's what your friends are watching, here's ways that match.
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I'd love to hear about how recommendations factor into my stream.
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Thank you.
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Well, there was a story that kind of applies to this.
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There was a streaming aggregator who did this first.
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Maybe you're familiar with the phenomenon of the race between the two.
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It was Pandora versus Spotify, and both of them were working at it.
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Pandora came out first and they offered an algorithm to help us find all of our music in one place, and before that you had to know where to look for it.
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And then Spotify came along and they offered, rather than an algorithm, they offered what they called a playlist, and now users could create user-generated, user-curated lists so people could follow it.
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Guess who won?
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The user-generated playlist won with Spotify, and so that's how we began to look at this and we said, okay, algorithms are going to be great, we're going to have algorithms, we're going to use AI, but more important than that is the user generated curation, the ability for me to create what I call a hype list, my list that I get to share with my friends my favorite documentaries, my favorite nerd programming, my favorite action adventure shows.
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Now, if I create these lists, share them with my friends.
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Now AI can watch that phenomenon and start building communities around content.
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That's what we believe the future will be User generated recommendations on your home screen.
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Yeah, dan, I love that and I love your excitement for you.
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I want to ask you this question early on in our conversation today, and that is about AI.
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Because, dan, I feel like everyone who's bringing tech solutions to the market is just saying, oh, it's AI powered, you know, and it's just a chat GPT layer and they've built it on top of that.
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You've incorporated AI in many ways to not only recommend it, but also to make sure that the content is family friendly, as one example.
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There's so many different ways that you've incorporated.
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Talk to us about what embedding AI into my stream actually looks like.
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So first there's layers.
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The first layer is at the top.
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You've got aggregated all your movies in one place.
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Now you got it's even harder.
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Imagine it was hard to find 5000 movies at Netflix to find the one you liked.
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Now you got it's even harder.
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Imagine it was hard to find 5,000 movies at Netflix to find the one you liked.
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Now you've got 100,000 movies on my stream to find one you like.
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You're going to need AI for that.
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So that starts at the top.
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Now you start finding a narrower list and you start narrowing that by curated lists that are coming from other users.
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Ai is watching that and AI is profiling you and saying, okay, you follow the line of this particular sports follower or this particular documentary follower, and now it starts categorizing you and personalizing your content around that.
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Now, once you find the one movie you want to watch, and you're watching it with your nine-year-old, your 15-year-old, your 18-year-old in the room and you've got issues because the nine-year-old really can't watch that one scene.
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Maybe it's a violent movie that has dinosaurs in it that everybody wants to watch, but you don't want your nine-year-old to see the particular scene that you remember.
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I don't know if they're ready for that.
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Now we add this AI technology that will skip that scene.
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Currently, we have a manually generated skipper that's actually in there and filtering out the scenes you don't want to see, and as we develop into the future, it will be AI doing that.
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Ai will look at the film and say there's a scene that's inappropriate for this family, because this family has set their dials that they don't want to see violence.
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And now the family can watch together a rated R movie for all that matters.
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And you've eliminated certain language, certain views, certain elements you just don't want the whole family to share.
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Yeah, dan.
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I want to ask you this because, knowing that you come from the world of media, it's fascinating to me that you don't just love the fact that my stream is making media and entertainment more accessible to end consumers.
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It just seems to me, the deeper I go into your business, the more it feels like you're doing this also to make the world a better place.
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When you talk about some of these family features, it just sounds like your work has impact and service is embedded in it.
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I know that you're a board member of multiple companies as well and you're a big believer in the impact, but along those lines, talk to me about how much that plays into my stream.
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We've been cause oriented.
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Really, this is a movement.
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It's been something that we've been playing for some time.
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We're actually working with some of our influencers to build what we're calling a movement of a million moms for media choice, and we know that there are a million moms plus that are saying I want choice in my home and I want safe choice in my home, and that's something that we're driving for because we believe those values are so important to moms who want to kind of control the content that comes in their home for their kids.
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That's really the number one educator in your family is your television set.
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So moms want to have some say as to what's going to educate their kids.
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And then, beyond that, we've been thinking about the profits of the company and what are we going to apply them toward?
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Well, a, it's our investors, because we've been invested by the crowd.
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We've got members who are users, who are investing, and they're going to get a return on their investment by being participants in the company itself.
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The makers, the owners and the curators of the content are all one in the same democratizing entertainment back to the crowd, back to the family, so that you can watch the content you want to watch and then, beyond that, the profits are going to what we're calling streams.
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Our streams of water cause that we have coming.
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I've been involved in World's Missions.
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I've been involved with missionsme for some time.
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It's an organization that helps with orphanages in India and building hundreds of those and hundreds of wells around the world, and we've seen that water is one of the biggest issues, and we just thought that one of the things we're going to focus on is giving back to the world and creating healthier communities through the profits of the company.
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Yeah, dan, I've got to ask you this question that I'm going to throw it out there.
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I'm sure you've been asked it before.
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It's a bit of a loaded question, which is why has this not been invented already?
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Because, hearing you talk about it, you're clearly excited about it, and I think every consumer is excited about the solution that my stream is bringing.
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So why hasn't it?
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And I know from an entrepreneurial perspective, there's a million considerations here.
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I'd love to hear some of them from you, because you're in the thick of it.
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You know how hard it is.
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It's easier said than done.
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So why has this not been done yet?
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Well, let's imagine for a second.
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You are Netflix and you've invested, I believe, $17 billion into content this year.
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You're now going to want that $17 billion worth of content to be on your home screen and you're going to want the content that people aren't watching to be promoted more often to make sure they watch it.
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So that's going to be your motivation.
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Are you motivated to share the latest Disney film?
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If you think about that realistically, you're not going to be motivated at all.
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As a matter of fact, you're going to want them to come over to your content in your library and you're not going to want them going over to the latest Disney film.
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So Netflix isn't motivated to do this.
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Neither is Disney, because they're not going to promote Stranger Things on their platform over at Netflix that's.
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The problem is, you have these walled gardens.
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Each one of these studios are promoting their content.
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They're not interested in helping the consumer find what the consumer wants.
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They're interested in profits and making sure that their company is selling you the content they've produced.
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It's really just that simple.
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Yeah, dan, I'll tell you this, though I'm obviously a business geek Just look at what I do for a living and so I'm so fascinated by the nuances of every single business model and business strategy and what I love about your and I appreciate this as well a little bit of backstory is that my first business was a soccer blog, and so that's really where I grew into.
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We had three and a half million visitors a month, and I was a 19 year old college kid who was running this business, and so I really gained a deep appreciation for how important content is and how my revenue came from people finding my content.
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But there's obviously fair use in the world of soccer.
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News is that other websites could glean from the interviews that I was doing with linking back to me, and I know that deep links it's a core part of your business strategy as well, and I don't think the end consumer fully appreciates the waters that you've navigated with regards to deep linking and what deep linking is and how it works for the customer's experience and how also, it doesn't actually take away from any of these other businesses.
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You talk about Netflix and Disney Plus as examples.
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Talk to us about deep links and how it actually works to layer on top of all these other businesses and brands that we all love and we're all customers of already.
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Right.
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A lot of people ask well, how do you do this?
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Well, the answer to that is how does Google do it?
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Google is currently offering you a deep link into Stranger Things on Netflix if you search that title.
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So Google already does this.
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It's called search engine, and when a search engine is providing you a link to that content, it's a deep link to the content itself, not to the homepage of Netflix.
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And so by offering the deep links, you're now creating this aggregated experience.
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The difference we offer is not only the deep link to that content, but the playback and even the filtering of that content to play it back in your own unique experience.
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How is that even happening?
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Well, there was a copyright act of 2005 that was enacted that was giving technologists like ourselves the ability to create a varied playback experience within the home of any user.
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That's a right of every user, because Congress created a law for that right.
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So now we're able to play that content in your home and filter it the way you want to watch it, just like you have control over the fast forward and the mute button in your own home.
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Congress can't stop you, and in fact, they've created a law to empower you to do that, and now they've given us new technology abilities to actually play back the movie the way we want to watch it, or search content or eliminate viewed content that we don't want to see in our family rooms, and by doing that, it gives us the ability to aggregate, curate, filter and present my stream inside the home of every user.
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Yeah, dan, I want to ask you this question and it's a rare question that I get to ask, and I'm really excited because I think that you've such a powerful vantage point here, and that is about your unique ability to bring this to market.
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Because I'll toot your horn for a second is that I selfishly believe that every single good solution in the world is obligated to be good at marketing, and so, in your case, I love the fact that you're a marketer at heart.
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I love the fact that you understand these things, because anyone can come up with a solution, but getting it to the world is the only place that it actually makes a difference, and so we could talk about the tech side of your business.
00:17:19.278 --> 00:17:30.431
But what I'm fascinated by is you're bringing this to the world, and I know part of it is you've got the evangelist, the end users, who are also your investors who are preaching it.
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Dan, everywhere I looked about MyStream, it just seems like your users and investors love the product and they're pumped to be a part of it.
00:17:36.701 --> 00:17:51.592
Talk to me about that unique ability and how much you view that obligation of marketing in bringing MyStream to the world yeah, that is, that is my background launching um entertainment properties, tv series, feature films and uh.
00:17:51.711 --> 00:17:59.723
We have been a part of a series of family uh oriented projects, everything from working with the raving fans of chick-fil-a to uh.
00:17:59.923 --> 00:18:11.551
We have partners who launched the passion of the christ with mel gibson and uh chronicles of narnia going back that long and then more recently launching, like you said, movies, including the Hobbit.
00:18:11.551 --> 00:18:30.134
We've been a part of these things using technology, using social media, building a crowd following, and we have a crowd following for this product as well, very much the family friendly audience that saying they want something in their home they can watch and they can feel comfortable, their family can watch and that group.
00:18:30.134 --> 00:18:31.520
We currently have a database.
00:18:31.520 --> 00:18:36.247
The database is reacting, activating many of them around the crowd investment.
00:18:36.247 --> 00:18:38.653
We're about to relaunch a crowd fund again.
00:18:38.653 --> 00:18:59.520
We had initially launched in the technology we have today was funded by the crowd and we're going back for a next round with the crowd as well, and so we're the first fan owned entertainment distributor of content and by being the first fan-owned content provider, we have marketing built into the system.
00:18:59.520 --> 00:19:05.525
The owners are the users, are the marketers, are the promoters and the influencers of our campaign.
00:19:06.275 --> 00:19:07.519
Yes, I love that.
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:14.125
I love the way that you've structured it and I love the way that you articulate it, because it shows in everything that you're putting out there.
00:19:14.125 --> 00:19:16.962
And I want a huge shout out the crowdfunding approach.
00:19:16.962 --> 00:19:24.507
You've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and you're well on your way to millions, because that powers and it obviously takes resources to do that.
00:19:24.507 --> 00:19:37.178
Talk to us about that crowdfunding approach because, dan, you have a million different options when it comes to finding those resources, and it's clear to me that it's also part of the strategy of building in those marketers, those users, and I love that aspect of it.
00:19:37.178 --> 00:19:40.599
Have you explored investments before in crowdfunding?
00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:45.163
Talk to us about that, because I know within the entertainment industry, it's a resource game.
00:19:45.202 --> 00:19:51.686
It's what everybody's looking for table with skin in the game.
00:19:52.146 --> 00:20:09.025
They're coming to the table as commenters, alpha testers, bot trainers, because they're in the system, using it and they're training the algorithm and so, by being in the system and being investors, they've got skin in the game for the success of this product.
00:20:09.045 --> 00:20:30.425
And one of the most important things for a technology is to have a really strong feed loop, feedback loop, and so when we have crowd investors getting involved and the crowd that we work with is wegoone that's at the URL wegoone O-N-E and at that website we built a fan base and that fan base is now engaging us at various levels.
00:20:30.425 --> 00:20:44.703
At certain levels of investment, they were able to become advisors and we've got a group of 400 advisors who are actually advising us on features and new benefits that it might offer and they're testing and using the system.
00:20:44.703 --> 00:20:50.748
That's a significant feedback loop and invested in the product itself.
00:20:50.748 --> 00:20:57.919
Many people work at having a really exclusive level of advisors, of having maybe a table of 20 who have big names.
00:20:57.919 --> 00:21:05.523
Our big names are those who invested $100 and they got involved in the product early on, when it was just a dream.
00:21:06.226 --> 00:21:14.106
Yeah, dan, I love that vision and that mission from you, and really that's your unfair advantage is we're all looking for real life feedback.
00:21:14.106 --> 00:21:20.496
You have it, and from people who care the most about the success of my stream, so I think it's a really smart and brilliant approach.
00:21:20.496 --> 00:21:50.144
I want to ask you about partnerships because, just thinking about all the waters that you've navigated through your career up to this point, you've worked with some of the biggest brands that we all know and love, and so I'm curious, from your perspective, if you're viewed kind of as an adversarial opponent of someone who's trying to completely change the way that the streaming world works, or as someone who you have the opportunity to go up to the Netflix's of the world and some of the other brands and say, hey, we want to work together, we want you to be part of an improved customer experience.
00:21:50.144 --> 00:21:55.247
How do partnerships and how do those relationships factor into the way you think about it with your CEO?
00:21:55.247 --> 00:21:55.667
Hat on.
00:21:56.655 --> 00:21:59.920
It's really important the partnerships and the studios.
00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:05.362
Really our content providers are such important partners and really we're a benefit to them.
00:22:05.362 --> 00:22:09.714
We're giving them that deep link, so they're getting at no cost to them, they're getting marketing.
00:22:09.714 --> 00:22:14.786
We're driving our customers to their front door saying this is content you should be watching.
00:22:14.786 --> 00:22:20.144
So we're a benefit to them, driving revenue and they should be excited about that.
00:22:20.685 --> 00:22:24.381
The other side of it are the technology device partners.
00:22:24.381 --> 00:22:30.642
Obviously you want to be on every device, you want this app to be everywhere, and so who's going to be first?
00:22:30.642 --> 00:22:37.106
Those who are going to join us first in that partnership are going to have the advantage of possibly exclusivity windows.
00:22:37.106 --> 00:22:53.528
Let's say, for example, we've got a device we're looking at right now that's based on a well, I'm trying to say it without giving away the device but it lets you get into the home through your internet connection.
00:22:53.528 --> 00:23:00.355
So let's say you've got the device that is now taking the internet into your home and then it distributes to your various TV sets.
00:23:01.097 --> 00:23:05.026
At that level we can offer the boundaries technology with that partner.
00:23:05.026 --> 00:23:25.663
So now it's providing internet safety across all devices on your Wi-Fi router and that creates a brand new level of safety for mom and when you're going out to reach a million moms, that device partner is going to want that relationship because now the device partner gets access to our million moms and they can sell that device in the home.
00:23:25.663 --> 00:23:28.657
So now it's not just the app, it's the device for certain.
00:23:28.657 --> 00:23:31.886
We'll call them exclusivity windows when we first start launching.
00:23:31.886 --> 00:23:37.827
So those partnerships are going to be really important, not only for us but for them, the partners who want to be a part of this movement.
00:23:37.827 --> 00:23:45.486
They're going to get the opportunity to have what we call a MyStream inside promotional window, where it's going to be exclusive for that device.
00:23:46.575 --> 00:23:50.486
Yeah, dan, I really appreciate those insights for two reasons that I want to call out.
00:23:50.486 --> 00:23:55.747
One it just so consistently shows how much you think about your end consumer and really your mission.
00:23:55.747 --> 00:24:03.306
You talk about these moms just as one example of who benefits from MyStream, and I love how powerfully that plays into the strategies that you're developing.
00:24:03.306 --> 00:24:12.946
And then two, what I really love about your entrepreneurial mind is just how big you think, and so obviously we're talking about the alpha and moving into the beta version of MyStream.
00:24:12.946 --> 00:24:16.665
But I want to ask you the bigger question of what's the long-term play here, dan?
00:24:16.665 --> 00:24:20.967
When you think about MyStream in the future, how big are we talking?
00:24:21.855 --> 00:24:26.674
Global and the lead global distributor of content.
00:24:26.674 --> 00:24:28.040
Because what will happen in?
00:24:28.040 --> 00:24:31.243
Let's go to, for example, india or the Middle East?
00:24:31.243 --> 00:24:39.321
They are currently blocking certain content being produced in America for various reasons that our culture can't even understand.
00:24:39.321 --> 00:24:50.019
For example, in India, they are not allowed to watch programming with smoking in it, and so if there's a smoking scene, they need that scene removed before they can watch it.
00:24:50.019 --> 00:24:52.125
And so what's happening is a lot of piracy.
00:24:52.204 --> 00:25:12.751
40% of distributed content globally is pirated because organizations are filtering for their cultural sensitivities, not because they're trying to steal content necessarily, just because they need to culturally make their content relevant on demand and at a country level.
00:25:12.751 --> 00:25:23.057
Now you can go into countries like China, which have certain restrictions on content, or in the Middle East, where they have sensitivities around sexual content.
00:25:23.057 --> 00:25:41.080
We can now provide content to those communities the way those communities want it, and we can provide all access to all content, staying compliant to all the licenses and the restrictions on writer changes and copyright, because it's changing in the home.
00:25:41.080 --> 00:25:48.882
It's editing in the privacy of a home, under the relationship that that user has with their content provider.
00:25:49.683 --> 00:25:52.196
Yeah, dan, I'll tell you what hearing you talk about these things.
00:25:52.196 --> 00:26:03.146
We're talking compliance, we're talking your customer avatars, we're talking about features from a technical perspective, we're talking about marketing, we're talking about revenue and partnerships and all of these things.
00:26:03.146 --> 00:26:09.618
So I've got to ask you, with your CEO hat on, because I always remind listeners that you're not coming on here just as a subject matter expert.
00:26:09.618 --> 00:26:16.778
You're one of us, you are a fellow entrepreneur, and so, with that in mind, how do you sift through all of these considerations?
00:26:16.778 --> 00:26:17.884
How do you sift through?
00:26:17.884 --> 00:26:19.771
What new features do we want to roll out?
00:26:19.771 --> 00:26:21.277
What direction do we want to go in?
00:26:21.277 --> 00:26:23.522
What strategies do we want to pursue at this time?
00:26:23.522 --> 00:26:30.778
I'd love to hear your executive mind here and how you think and how you sift through all these ideas that you have and that you solicit from others.
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:32.721
Funny, you should ask.
00:26:32.721 --> 00:26:34.424
I was Just before this call.
00:26:34.424 --> 00:26:42.592
I was putting together an email to our advisors with a list of our roadmap features for MVP, which plans to launch in 2025.
00:26:42.592 --> 00:26:59.041
And we went out to our advisors and again we've got 400 in the crowd and we've got another dozen that are in our investor level at the regulation D level and those investors are now advisors to say, okay, I want this feature in my own home.
00:26:59.041 --> 00:27:01.069
I imagine a lot of others will want that as well.
00:27:01.069 --> 00:27:03.378
So our first round is to go to our advisors.
00:27:04.102 --> 00:27:10.681
We also go out and we do survey work to find out what is it the customer in a broader sense is looking for.
00:27:10.681 --> 00:27:11.221
What are things?
00:27:11.221 --> 00:27:14.027
They're frustrated by 60%.
00:27:14.027 --> 00:27:25.988
According to an Accenture study, 60% of the population is frustrated by the multiple logins, so they don't want to have to log in and then log in again and then log in again every time they're watching a program.
00:27:25.988 --> 00:27:33.035
Our automation for the login is really an important feature that the customer is demanding and that's a global customer saying.
00:27:33.035 --> 00:27:35.845
60% of them are saying one login and I'm done.
00:27:35.845 --> 00:27:46.201
I do not want 200 logins for 200 services and that is one of the key features that is on our roadmap and we're looking at that at the device level.
00:27:46.201 --> 00:27:53.846
So for the early devices that will go out, we're planning to have auto login built into the system so they won't have to do all that.
00:27:53.846 --> 00:28:01.135
Those are the type of features we'll be discussing at each layer, and complexity is going to guide us as to when that can be introduced.
00:28:01.135 --> 00:28:02.921
But we put it on the roadmap.
00:28:03.622 --> 00:28:04.845
Yeah, dan, I'll tell you what.
00:28:04.845 --> 00:28:14.923
Not only are the end consumers going to be grateful for these types of features and this much thought, but the children of those end users and the grandchildren of those end users who help with logging in Gosh.
00:28:14.923 --> 00:28:19.499
We're going to be so grateful for that as well, dan, as we help our parents and our grandparents with all of those things.
00:28:19.499 --> 00:28:25.223
I want to ask you about the team that you've assembled, because, dan, I know that you have so many responsibilities on your plate.
00:28:25.223 --> 00:28:36.037
You are involved in so many different businesses as well as missions, and so, with that in mind, I know that your brain trust goes beyond just you and you've got so many incredible members of your team.
00:28:36.037 --> 00:28:42.000
Talk to me about the team that you've assembled to make my stream possible and bring it to the world, because we're talking about a big project here.
00:28:42.883 --> 00:28:48.304
Yes, we've had people that were involved with Microsoft for 14 years.
00:28:48.304 --> 00:28:55.355
We've had people that founded aggregating streaming services in Australia or Soho.
00:28:55.355 --> 00:28:59.759
We have members who again have launched movies all over Hollywood that you've seen.
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:10.003
Members that have produced campaigns with 50 million viewers of television or feature film programs in a single run.
00:29:10.003 --> 00:29:18.807
We have members of our team who own marketing firms, technology firms, who have invested in VC or managed VCs.
00:29:18.807 --> 00:29:27.952
Our group is significant in that we're involved with a group from the missionsme board that I've been on, a group called Love has no Limits.
00:29:27.952 --> 00:29:40.865
They put on the big Justin Bieber event at One Day LA, which was a massive rollout of a faith-based and family-friendly community involvement campaign.
00:29:40.865 --> 00:29:47.104
They are the ones who are behind what we're going to call the One Million Moms movement for family choice and media choice in their homes.
00:29:47.104 --> 00:29:57.127
We have members from our team that have been a part of entertainment since they started in the business 20, 30 years ago, some of them as much as 40 years ago.
00:29:58.009 --> 00:29:59.672
Yeah, dan, I love hearing that.
00:29:59.672 --> 00:30:07.196
I'm going to put you under the heat right now and I'm going to express this to you publicly which is, dan, hearing you talk about all of these things.
00:30:07.196 --> 00:30:14.342
You have such a calm and grounding energy and it's so evident in the way that you've shown up in our conversation here today.
00:30:14.342 --> 00:30:20.741
But I'm gonna call out the fact that, as with all of our businesses, we do face problems and there are obstacles along the way.
00:30:20.741 --> 00:30:25.122
So I wanna shake for listeners who are thinking, dan, you've been there, you've done that.
00:30:25.122 --> 00:30:26.701
You bring so much experience to the play.
00:30:26.701 --> 00:30:38.622
I wanna break some of that confidence that we're hearing today and I do want to ask you just for some of those transparent behind the scenes things of what are some of those obstacles that you faced along the way, because it's not all smooth sailing.
00:30:38.622 --> 00:30:40.142
It hasn't been up to this point.
00:30:40.142 --> 00:30:45.364
I know how much work your team has already put into it and you, of course, know how many challenges you'll face in the future.
00:30:45.364 --> 00:30:47.262
So what are some of those things already been?
00:30:48.395 --> 00:30:49.520
Well there's the real question.
00:30:49.520 --> 00:30:55.578
All of you have started a business, understand what a naysayer is and you've had your share of them.
00:30:55.578 --> 00:30:58.580
We've had our share of naysayers From the very beginning.
00:30:58.580 --> 00:31:05.826
They said it's not possible, it's not legal, the studios will never let you stream their aggregate, their content, yada, yada, yada.
00:31:06.626 --> 00:31:15.112
And many of these hurdles that were presented by the naysayers were real challenges and we had to talk through how we were going to get past each one of them.
00:31:15.112 --> 00:31:23.967
Interestingly enough, the naysayers, if you take them correctly, are going to refine and improve your product and your process.
00:31:23.967 --> 00:31:32.637
And so when we started listening to the naysayers and paying attention to what they were saying, we saw the challenges more early than we would have found if we weren't paying attention.
00:31:32.637 --> 00:31:39.482
And so we took on a lot of these challenges head on and dealt with them, and some days you just get depressed by them.
00:31:39.482 --> 00:31:42.444
Some days you just say, yeah, they're right, this can't be done.
00:31:42.855 --> 00:31:45.064
But then you look at it again from a different angle.
00:31:45.064 --> 00:32:00.636
You bring in a different attorney, you bring in a different expert who has done it before and they show you how they've been doing it for 20 years, some of these experiences out there.
00:32:00.636 --> 00:32:03.183
And when someone shows you yes, I've been doing this particular aspect for 20 years.
00:32:03.183 --> 00:32:04.426
I've been doing that particular aspect for 20 years.
00:32:04.426 --> 00:32:08.420
Now you have case history and you can say if I can take this piece, put it together with that piece.
00:32:08.420 --> 00:32:22.146
There's a way to get it done and it's about listening to the many voices from different backgrounds, different opinions, maybe even opposing opinions, and being willing to say, yeah, it's still possible, even though someone said it's not possible.
00:32:22.146 --> 00:32:24.068
There's someone over here that says it is.
00:32:24.068 --> 00:32:25.830
Let's listen to what they have to say.
00:32:28.214 --> 00:32:40.092
Yes, dan, I'll tell you what I made a huge claim at the top of today's episode that you are uniquely positioned to be one of the pioneers that brings a solution like MyStream to the world, and you have lived up to it here in today's conversation.
00:32:40.092 --> 00:32:42.340
I so appreciate all of these real life insights.
00:32:42.340 --> 00:32:59.107
I knew that time would fly by with you today, because I knew even from landing on MyStream's website and just watching your video demo which listeners we're going to drop the link in just a minute here, but you'll be able to see my stream in action, what they envision and what their alpha users are seeing of.
00:32:59.107 --> 00:33:00.549
Hey, here's how it works.
00:33:00.549 --> 00:33:02.142
Here's how this search feature works.
00:33:02.142 --> 00:33:05.923
If you want to search what movie said, show me the money.
00:33:05.923 --> 00:33:09.800
You can type that in and Jerry McGuire will pop up my favorite movie of all time.
00:33:09.954 --> 00:33:13.219
So, dan, I love hearing about all of these things and you've lived up to it.
00:33:13.219 --> 00:33:19.847
But before we talk about those links, I always love asking one giant, loaded, broad question.
00:33:19.847 --> 00:33:28.984
And that is what's your one best piece of advice, your one takeaway knowing that we're being listened to by entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs at all different stages of their own business growth.
00:33:28.984 --> 00:33:31.730
And you brought us the real stuff about the naysayers.
00:33:31.730 --> 00:33:34.400
I just straight up, I just call them haters, dan, or I'm just like.
00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:36.324
Those are the real forces that we face.
00:33:36.324 --> 00:33:44.936
So the fact that you're a fellow entrepreneur and an executive who thinks about all of these things, what's that one thing that you want to impart on our listeners today?
00:33:46.901 --> 00:33:49.184
Be the water that drips through stone.
00:33:49.184 --> 00:33:59.568
There may be forces that seem impossible and barriers that seem impossible to break, but if you're committed to a cause, you have a vision and you don't get bored of it.
00:33:59.568 --> 00:34:01.757
You don't get tired of it, you don't get worn out.
00:34:01.757 --> 00:34:04.205
You will break through.
00:34:04.205 --> 00:34:12.547
You just need to be consistent in where you're headed and keep focusing on that point and in the end you will find your way there.
00:34:12.547 --> 00:34:16.442
You may find that it's completely different than the process you thought it might be.
00:34:16.442 --> 00:34:21.599
Water has its way sometimes of running around the problem to get down the hill it needs to get to.
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:28.686
But if you are dripping through that stone over time, even water can actually cut through stone over time.
00:34:28.686 --> 00:34:32.778
And that's what it is to be an entrepreneur who's committed to their vision and their values.
00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:34.521
Boom, dan.
00:34:34.521 --> 00:34:48.420
I don't often get goosebumps on the air, but you just gave it to me with that one because, honestly, as someone who's been at this for 16 years, that's the real stuff and I don't think it's called out often enough, and I so appreciate the authenticity and the vulnerability through which you show up.
00:34:48.420 --> 00:34:58.664
Even with all of your years of expertise, you have such an incredible ability at talking to different audiences at different stages of their own growth journeys and I so appreciate that skill.
00:34:58.664 --> 00:35:03.726
I also appreciate, like I said, the video that you have on my streams website, the demo that you have there.
00:35:03.726 --> 00:35:08.786
You show up with humor, you show up showing how much you care about this stuff and your mission.
00:35:08.786 --> 00:35:13.123
So, dan, for listeners who have been saying, brian, get to the spoilers.
00:35:13.123 --> 00:35:14.965
Please drop those links on us.
00:35:14.965 --> 00:35:16.489
Where should listeners go from here?
00:35:17.735 --> 00:35:23.523
Go to my stream dot one and take a look at it there it is a good kind of overview.
00:35:23.523 --> 00:35:25.702
We would like you to apply and subscribe.
00:35:25.702 --> 00:35:27.181
We'd like you to be an alpha tester.
00:35:27.181 --> 00:35:28.536
We will be.
00:35:28.536 --> 00:35:35.483
If you go and subscribe there and get our newsletter, you'll get into the opportunities where you may be able to invest, be an owner.
00:35:35.483 --> 00:35:44.067
You may be able to be a tester and create the algorithms, even be a trainer of the bot which will create the recommendation engine for others.
00:35:44.067 --> 00:35:47.882
So, ultimately, be a part of changing television, be a part of the revolution yourself.
00:35:48.605 --> 00:35:49.949
Yes, I love that.
00:35:49.949 --> 00:35:53.739
That is a huge call to action for everyone in the entrepreneur to entrepreneur community.
00:35:53.739 --> 00:35:57.105
We have the chance to help shape the future of television.
00:35:57.105 --> 00:36:02.061
Dan's doing so many incredible things with AI and technology and the actual content itself.
00:36:02.061 --> 00:36:03.684
So huge kudos to what you're doing.
00:36:03.744 --> 00:36:13.201
Listeners, just so you know, you can find that link down below in the show notes, no matter where it is that you're tuning into today's episode, as we are aggregated and all of those places that we've been talking about today.
00:36:13.201 --> 00:36:14.623
So definitely check the show notes.
00:36:14.623 --> 00:36:17.226
You'll find the link to my streamone.
00:36:17.226 --> 00:36:24.762
That's M Y S T R E M E dot O N E, so definitely just click through the link down below in the show notes.
00:36:24.762 --> 00:36:30.766
Otherwise, dan, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.
00:36:30.766 --> 00:36:38.719
Thank you hey, it's Brian here and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the entrepreneur to entrepreneur podcast.
00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:42.717
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.
00:36:42.777 --> 00:36:51.916
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at the entrepreneur showcom, and I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.
00:36:51.916 --> 00:37:00.682
There's a reason why we are ad-free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.
00:37:00.682 --> 00:37:02.742
These are not sponsored episodes.
00:37:02.742 --> 00:37:04.340
These are not infomercials.
00:37:04.340 --> 00:37:07.826
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.
00:37:07.826 --> 00:37:18.782
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.
00:37:18.782 --> 00:37:27.282
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just wanna invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.
00:37:27.282 --> 00:37:28.619
We also have live chat.
00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:32.460
If you wanna interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.
00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:34.639
Initiate a live chat.
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:44.070
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.