WEBVTT
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All right, so, wow, this has been a long time coming.
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You and I have known each other for about a year.
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I think we met, you know, when we were inside the family office, we were having conversations and you told me this amazing plan that you guys had to one day, you know, ring the bell and, and go public.
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And I was like, how does a guy go from entertainment law and representing some massive names in the industry to one day going IPO, and, and there's some reverse merger stories in there, but you know, why don't you take it away?
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Why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and, uh, what do you do?
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Uh, Josh, first of all, thank you for, for having me on here.
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I appreciate the, the forum and the ability to talk.
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Um.
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So a little bit about me.
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I, I am an entertainment lawyer by trade, and I've actually been in the entertainment business for, for, uh, what, 20 years or so.
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And, um, along the way of, of this journey, uh, you know, a colleague's husband came to see me and said, Hey, you know, there's these, uh, revenue based finance products, these, these merchant cash advanced products that you might wanna invest in.
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And I wanna say, um, you know.
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Plus 10 years ago, maybe 12 years.
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Don't quote me exact dates, but, um, I started investing in these, in these, uh, revenue based finance products.
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And basically I just told myself along that ride the date, you know, I think if Wall Street, um, and I'm not a professional investor, but if Wall Street sees these returns and just sees this business model, I think, uh, it'd be a big success.
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Yeah.
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Got it.
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So, pretty cool.
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You've got, you've got a bunch of different businesses.
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You've been in business for a long time for yourself.
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But kind of like, let's start with the, the, the entertainment law.
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Walk us through some of your history there.
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It looks like there's a few Emmys along the way.
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Grammys.
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Grammys.
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Grammys.
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All right.
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You gotta maybe explain the difference between an Emmy and a Grammy, but walk us through your, your story there.
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This is pretty cool.
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Emmy Emmy is, uh, TV related, and Grammy is is music related.
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So, um, I've had a few nominations both on the Latino Grammy side and the Anglo, um, Grammy side, and, and actually won one of those on top of the, of, of the multiple nom nominations.
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I mean, most of the time.
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Um, if you're an artist, um, just having a, a Grammy nomination itself, it's, it's, it's such a, a hard thing to accomplish that even that, um, you know, it's, it's a great feat and, and it's, and it's felt really great.
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And basically, um, you know, I don't wanna complicate the story too much, but it is an interesting one where one of my, my clients.
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Um, and really he was on the business management side.
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His name is by, his name is, uh, wise, the gold pen wise.
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The gold pen is, is probably undeniably the biggest songwriter in, in, in all of.
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Latino space.
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And when I mean Latino, I don't mean just ton or, or salsa or meen, the different, the different sub-genres within, within Latino music.
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But he, he is written so many hits.
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He is, uh, he is the goat in, in.
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In the songwriting space, and we just ended up hitting o hitting it off, and, and on top of not only, uh, being involved in some of the biggest, uh, you know, especially urban Latino songs in, in, in Latin music, I, I al also have songwriter credits on there.
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So, so, you know, with that, that's how the whole, uh, Grammy comes about.
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Yeah.
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So you write music, you play, do you play any music?
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And maybe do you even dance or sing?
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No.
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No, no dancing, uh, no singing, uh, singing in the shower, but that's about it.
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Yeah, I got it.
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All right.
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So you're doing this, you're pretty successful in your field, and an opportunity crosses your plate to look at, you know, this financial vehicle to invest in cash advance right now.
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There's a, there's a train of thought where some people will say, you know, you know, you need to focus in and choose your one thing, but here's something crossed your plate that seemed interesting to you as a, you know, walk us through how that approached you, and then how do you decide whether to double down on what you're doing?
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That's my only focus.
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Or maybe explore other options, because I think there's something to learn here for other entrepreneurs.
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Well, the, the truth is that the.
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The focus has always been for me, music, and, and that's been my life and it's been my passion and, and I love it.
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I love the business of music.
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I love how complex it is.
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Um, I, you know, it's, it's, it's really, it's its own world.
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But, but on, on, on top of that.
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Um, the, the truth is, so the truth is the revenue based finance comes at me almost like a passive income.
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And that's how I was approached to do it.
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Um, you know, again, a colleague's, uh, husband came to me and said, Hey, you know, I'm with this firm.
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I'm, I'm doing these merchant cash advances.
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Do you wanna invest?
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And I, I, I said, are Latinos getting these merchant cast advances?
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And the more I got into the research of it.
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I noticed that like, like many things for Latino, um, the, it was, it was a, you know, a segment that, that no one was touching.
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And I said, I wonder why no one is talking to, to Latinos or, or minorities or, or even the gig economy, which is made up mainly of minorities and, and Latinos.
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And I said, you know, I'd be interested in doing this, but I'd like to focus my investment on this community.
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And, uh, and he agreed.
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When I started seeing, of course, not only that there was a need for this product in that, in that community or in these communities, but that no one else was touching it, and that there was the ability to make, you know, really decent returns in this.
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Um, I started focusing on it without leaving music that that came later.
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Yeah.
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Got it.
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All right.
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So it, it, it was proposed to you as a, a passive event, so you're making your money over here.
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I could maybe put some money over here passively.
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And you started seeing some returns now.
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Correct.
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When you see fruits in something, it tends to get more attention.
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Right?
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So now it starts building up and walk us through it.
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You start seeing fruit from this and it started getting more and more of your attention.
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So, so we started seeing this, this return, um, from this, this product.
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And, and not only was the re it, it was the return is nice, but the acceptance, the fact that it was needed, the fact that, that these communities needed, it also also went a long way.
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And, and, you know, without leaving my focus for music, I wanna say I had, I didn't leave.
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My f focus to music, to this reverse merger that we got into.
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Um, you know, I just kept investing in it and I, and I saw the returns and little by little I got more involved and, and started investing more and said, you know, this is, this is, this is the right path.
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This is the right path to, uh, to just, uh, a segue, uh, to my next career.
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You could say, oh, the rest or, or the, the rest of my life.
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For sure.
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All right, before we get into reverse merger, because you know, on the show we talk a lot about mergers, acquisitions, and, and, uh, you know, I, we haven't had the conversation yet on what are reverse mergers, but before you go there, talk to us about the, the business of music.
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Like how does, how does one make mu you know, money in the music in today's world?
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So, so today's world is a, it's a different animal than, than when I got into it 20 years ago.
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I mean, the, the.
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20 years ago, you basically had to get this song, you had to get in front of these program directors for radio stations, some more influentials than other than others, and then it had to get some radio play somehow and it had to get going.
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And then when the song started bubbling regionally, you would get a call from the majors, whether that was Universal or Or Warner or, or, or any of the big, really the big three.
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And they would call you and say, Hey, here's this advance.
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They'd take over, you know, all these rights and the artist's rights, and basically the artist's career.
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And that's where you saw a lot of complaining artists always, they will always complain that the labels are taking their money.
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And rightfully so, with the digi, with, with the fact that we've gone digital with, with music, everything has changed.
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Now the artists are in control that now the program directors.
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Your, your playlist on Spotify.
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It's, it's a different world today, uh, completely to your, you know, to your direct question of how do you make money in, in, in music.
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Make sure that your ducks are always in order.
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Make sure that paperwork is always signed, is a very creative environment where paperwork is very loose.
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People don't sign contracts.
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Um, a lot of just creative vibe and, and the biggest hits comes out that come, come out that way.
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But there's this void where they miss the paperwork.
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They miss, they miss the, the formality of, of getting music registered.
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And, and I think that's where I came in because I have a creative bone in me, but I'm also all business.
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So I would walk in the studio and say, wow, what a hit, but let's, let's sign this up.
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Let's, let's get this thing locked.
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And, uh, I found that that ability to do that and, um, and that, that's really where you got, people need to understand that without a cash register, it doesn't matter how big the hit is, there's just money going everywhere.
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And usually bad actors are taking that money knowing that you don't know any better.
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In your music career, what was one of your favorite memories or most memorable memories, or maybe meeting someone who was like your hero growing up?
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So, you know, I, I like everybody else starting in something new.
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Um, when, when I started in music, I remember walking into, uh, my first studio, um.
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And, um, I, I don't want to name drop, but some, some, some artists that, that became really big were in there and, and they were creating this, these hits.
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And, and I'm from Miami, Florida.
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And, um, he was already sounding really big.
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Okay.
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And he went really worldwide, um, with his music.
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And, um, I remember walking in there and saying, this is, this is awesome and you guys are looking for investment.
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But how do you make money?
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Where's your cash register?
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Kind of where I went to and they said, well, we, we don't have a cash register.
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All we do is create, and our goal is for a universal to listen to us and sign us up and give us an advance.
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I said, you know, there, there has to be a better way.
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And this is, uh, 1996 or so.
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Um, I remember.
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Saying, you know what?
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I'm gonna apply to Apple back then for a distribution account, and I'm gonna put there that you're my artist.
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And if I get it, would you let me distribute your music?
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They said, you're not gonna get a a, an Apple account.
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It's, it's impossible.
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You need to do that through a major.
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I said, why?
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Who says so?
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And they said, well, that's just the way it is.
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And I remember going home that night, probably logged into my a OL dial up, right?
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Or, or, or really slow internet.
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And I applied for an Apple account and I said, so and so is going to be my artist.
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Two days later I had an approval from Apple.
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I walked into that studio and I said, guys, we could distribute music.
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First song we released there, I could, I could talk about that.
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'cause that's my, my copyright is a song called Move Shake.
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Drop an urban song with pit bull flow writer and DJ Laz on it.
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And uh, it became this huge success right out the gate.
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Independent at that time when independent artists weren't around, and we immediately got a call from everybody.
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Universal Warner flew us to New York, you name it.
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Um, and ended up getting a distribution deal out of that.
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But, um, it's very memorable.
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Memorable because it, it reminds you that just 'cause things haven't been done doesn't mean they can't be done.
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And it just takes that moment to kind of break through and, and do something different and, uh, it could lead to something big.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That's cool, man.
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What a cool story.
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I grew up listening.
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I grew up in South Florida listening to pit bull and flow rider, so, uh, that was your doing.
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So thank you for that.
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And my parents probably are thankful for that too, because I would turn up the music way too loud.
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All right, so reverse mergers.
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How does this fit in this story?
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You got, you started doing these merchant, uh, merchant check advances, cash advance, and how, how does the reverse merger come into play?
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So, uh, again, I, I didn't really invest in, in a company.
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I invested in the portfolio or certain portfolios inside this, this company that, that dedicated itself to, to Latinos.
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Mm-hmm.
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Um, I wanna say it was, uh, give or take, December, 2023.
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I get a call from a, from a, from a gentleman that, that happens to be in the OTC market for a, for a very long time.
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We, we both know him and, um.
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He says, Hey, so we have this vodka brand and we don't know if we want a, we want a Latino because Latinos don't really drink vodka.
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I mean, in the US they do, but when you go to Colombia and other countries, they don't drink vodka.
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They drink rum in San Domingo and they drink Aguardiente Colombia.
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But, but VAR is not it.
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So, but we're looking for maybe a Cuban artist.
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Or a Colombian artist.
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Or a Dominican artist.
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We don't know which way to go, but we definitely want to introduce the, this vodka to the Latino community.
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And we'd like to talk to, to you to see if you have a, the right fit for us as far as an artist that you either represent or manage or so on.
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And I, I walk into this meeting, which was really a board meeting, uh, where they're discussing the future of this, this vodka brand.
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The vodka at that point was, was, uh, owned by, by this OTC company.
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And in this meeting, uh, they start talking about how they would like to take the vodka out of the public company and put it at, you know, make it private.
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Uh, that, that we believe just the, the, it wasn't the right moment to be public at that time with that vodka, with certain things they wanted to do.
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And I kind of sat there and I said.
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Is this the moment I've been waiting for kind of, uh, introduce Wall Street to these revenue based financings, especially for the gig economy.
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And, um, you know, I've, I've always been a forward person.
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Just, you know, uh, kind of a risk taker and I said I'd like to explore if you guys are going to sell what's left over in this public company, uh, and privatize the vodka.
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I'd like to explore possibly.
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Uh, starting a business that I could put into that, uh, into that public company, and that is how the reverse merger actually took place.
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Wow.
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Cool.
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So you saw that as a opportunity to move your way towards the OTC and maybe, uh.
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You know, full NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange, one day through potential up list, the, uh, why not?
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So as you're weighing the benefits of, of buying that OTC versus maybe just starting up your own LLC or C corp or whatever, or S corp and building this out, like how did you, what were the pros and cons in your mind?
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Well, the, the cons, uh.
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To be very forward.
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It's my first time ever involved in any type of public markets.
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So it's, it was, it was something new.
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It was something, um, I spent three months, uh, in the due diligence period, uh, learning.
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Uh, of course I've hired, I hired attorneys and went through it with accountants and consultants.
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But I wanted to learn, I wanted to understand what I was getting into.
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Um, you know, I, I, the best way I could put it is.
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There's, there's, I know everyone in the music business, if you wanna, if you want to be able to, um, get to a certain artist or maybe talk to a certain CEO, I have that access, but I don't have that access on the public side.
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And the truth is, the way I saw it is it was a way in, it was a way to put my foot in the door.
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And I, I wasn't sure.
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That it would turn out, you know, I, I knew what I wanted and, and that is a potential up list.
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'cause I, I felt the OTC wasn't really for us.
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Um, but I knew that if we were to be able to tell the story of this company, it, it would get there.
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It would get there.
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I didn't think it would be this fast.
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If I could be honest, but I said, you know what, we could write it out, tell this story the next few years.
00:17:35.622 --> 00:17:47.201
And I think when the market, even the OTC market starts seeing what this product is, the necessity for it, um, we're gonna be in great shape For, for an up list or, or anything else.
00:17:47.592 --> 00:17:47.892
Yeah.
00:17:48.162 --> 00:17:48.551
Got it.
00:17:49.332 --> 00:17:51.281
So you've gone through this process.
00:17:51.281 --> 00:17:53.261
You've, you've gone through a reverse merger.
00:17:53.261 --> 00:17:56.412
You've moved into this, uh, OTC over the counter.
00:17:56.412 --> 00:18:00.041
Right Now, you're, you're exploring what the future may hold.
00:18:00.221 --> 00:18:11.981
Kind of walk us through the, you know, your current business model and then do you think now that you've had a taste of, you know, reverse mergers, do you, do you see acquisitions on the horizon?
00:18:13.511 --> 00:18:16.602
So, uh, as far as the taste of the reverse merger.
00:18:17.201 --> 00:18:21.402
If you're asking me, would I do the, the whole OTC thing again,
00:18:21.521 --> 00:18:21.551
Uhhuh?
00:18:22.001 --> 00:18:23.592
Um, I am not sure.
00:18:24.011 --> 00:18:24.221
Yeah.
00:18:24.281 --> 00:18:28.362
I am not sure because as I've learned, and again, I'm, I'm very forward.
00:18:28.362 --> 00:18:30.791
This is my first rodeo in the public space.
00:18:31.182 --> 00:18:36.461
Um, you know, I, I don't believe when you're an OTC company, you, you, um.
00:18:37.721 --> 00:18:40.872
You get the merit or respect, especially when you're a serious company.
00:18:40.872 --> 00:19:04.422
Again, not talking about about LTC or any company on the OTC, it's just unfortunately there's, there's so much stuff that happens in the LTC that you kind of get grouped into something and, um, I probably would've taken the time to grow it, uh, privately and, uh, and, and gone, you know, straight to, to either a, a, uh, you know, a major exchange application.
00:19:04.692 --> 00:19:05.531
Now, then again.
00:19:05.606 --> 00:19:12.507
I also have been able to meet incredible people, consultants, attorneys, I've been able to learn.
00:19:12.957 --> 00:19:28.017
Uh, so you could say that this OTC uh, ride is, is more of a, of a, of a lesson, uh, a schooling in, in, in being a public company, you know, filing, uh, public disclosures and reporting, going through an audit.
00:19:28.376 --> 00:19:31.676
Um, I think, uh, it's, it's been, it's been good for us.
00:19:32.037 --> 00:19:38.457
Um, because it's also taught us, um, you know, what to expect at an, at a higher level, uh, hopefully soon.
00:19:39.386 --> 00:19:39.686
Yeah.
00:19:39.987 --> 00:19:40.376
Got it.
00:19:40.826 --> 00:19:55.856
So now, I guess, what, what are some of the next steps, you know, like, uh, at the time of this recording, you've, you've got the, the future filings and, and up list potentials and, you know, there's stuff that you can't, you know, disclose 'cause you're in, you know, in, in process of, of things.
00:19:56.457 --> 00:20:02.217
Um, but what does, what are some of the things that you need to do, you know, to keep growing the business in the meantime?
00:20:03.086 --> 00:20:04.977
Well, I, as far as our core business.
00:20:05.336 --> 00:20:07.467
We are focused every day in our core business.
00:20:07.467 --> 00:20:13.886
In fact, every time we have any type of setback internally, all we say is, let's keep growing our business.
00:20:13.886 --> 00:20:26.846
Let's just keep growing our business because the numbers speak for ourselves or themselves, and, and we're proud of the numbers that, that we're pulling up and, and, and the growth trajectory that we've had and that we expect to have as far as.
00:20:27.491 --> 00:20:28.751
What's, what's out there?
00:20:28.751 --> 00:20:33.672
I could, I could of, like you mentioned, I could only talk about what's, what's already disclosed at this point.
00:20:33.672 --> 00:20:36.132
We've, we have filed a NASDAQ application.
00:20:36.551 --> 00:20:48.942
Um, we have, um, engaged an auditor and the audit is, um, again, I, you know, I got away for full public disclosure, but it's well underway.
00:20:49.301 --> 00:20:53.412
Um, to what it, it, it seems to be the finish of that.
00:20:53.471 --> 00:20:56.771
And, and the next steps are the S one application.
00:20:57.251 --> 00:21:07.902
Um, some cleanup of our, of our, um, you know, cap structure and hopefully what will be a, a successful uplift to a major market very soon.
00:21:08.082 --> 00:21:14.471
Hopefully by the time this is out there and, and people get to hear this story, it's, it's, uh, you know, that's exactly where we'll be
00:21:15.192 --> 00:21:15.461
Cool.
00:21:16.301 --> 00:21:20.112
What kind of, uh, what kind of questions or topics do you like discussing?
00:21:20.112 --> 00:21:30.132
Because you've, you've learned a lot about the music industry and you, you've, you've done really well there, and now you're moving into, you know, public CEO and, and the capital markets and building this business.
00:21:30.461 --> 00:21:35.382
Like, what are some of the topics and questions that you like to, you know, explore and talk to people about?
00:21:36.791 --> 00:21:42.102
Well, I, first of all, again, I, I, um, I, I don't wanna say I'm an underdog.
00:21:42.521 --> 00:21:43.122
Definitely.
00:21:43.122 --> 00:21:45.041
I, I think this was a, a big feat.
00:21:45.162 --> 00:21:51.041
Taking, taking on the, the, the, the public market and, and finding a vehicle.
00:21:51.281 --> 00:21:59.711
And, you know, what I, what I, what I'd like to instill in my kids what I'd like to tell, just everybody, just, you know, if you have a, you know, let's call it a dream, right?
00:21:59.711 --> 00:22:04.362
And, and you wanna go somewhere, just, just keep, keep going at it.
00:22:04.362 --> 00:22:11.892
And, and, you know, God willing, I'd be able to, uh, inspire and, and keep inspiring as, as I have many privately.
00:22:12.186 --> 00:22:29.916
Now more of a, on a public forum and, and just being able to tell 'em, Hey, this, uh, this son of immigrants that, that loves this country, and thanks God, every day for it, uh, you know, tells you that there's, there's a way, there's a way, even, even, um, you know, when, when it's not necessarily what you focused on.
00:22:30.277 --> 00:22:36.876
Uh, let let life kind of guide you, take you, um, and, and you will be all right.
00:22:36.906 --> 00:22:39.876
And just let, let let life kind of get in the way.
00:22:39.876 --> 00:22:41.406
And I'd like to, to hopefully.
00:22:41.676 --> 00:22:51.156
Be able to talk about that more and, and hopefully inspire especially, uh, young people that might be a little lost in, in some side of, some, some part of their life.
00:22:51.576 --> 00:22:51.876
Yeah.
00:22:51.967 --> 00:23:02.856
Why, why do you think, um, why do you think your heart goes there towards, you know, younger people who might be going through struggles or like, what, what, what inspired you to, to talk about that just now?
00:23:03.791 --> 00:23:11.892
Well, I mean, you know, you're, you're asking a, a, a very personal question, but I did not, uh, I did not grow up with a silver spoon.
00:23:11.892 --> 00:23:14.471
Again, I am a son of, uh, immigrants.
00:23:14.501 --> 00:23:28.932
My father was a political refugee, spent 10 years in a Cuban prison, uh, uh, going against that, that, that regime in, in Cuba, that's a, you know, a total dictatorship and.
00:23:29.227 --> 00:23:38.076
You could say that if, if it wasn't for, for the risk that he took and my family took, um, I would've probably never been in this country.
00:23:38.136 --> 00:23:48.426
And, and if it wasn't, um, for that, I, I would've been, you know, all due respect to my Cuban people, I would've been a Cuban kicking rocks with no opportunity.
00:23:48.426 --> 00:23:48.487
So.
00:23:49.957 --> 00:24:00.606
Again, I, I think, you know, there's, there's a lot of, of, of, of kids, and I'm not even talking about necessarily minorities or, or, or, or blacks or, or Hispanics.
00:24:00.787 --> 00:24:07.807
Just, just overall that, that maybe didn't grow up with just things handed to 'em.
00:24:08.257 --> 00:24:11.346
And it's, it's okay, there's, there's, there's pathways.
00:24:11.616 --> 00:24:16.537
You gotta study, you gotta go to school, you gotta, you know, have a lot of discipline.
00:24:16.777 --> 00:24:18.517
And to me, that hit hits home.
00:24:18.821 --> 00:24:19.422
It hits home.
00:24:19.422 --> 00:24:29.142
I mean, I, I thank God for, for the parents I got, uh, and the discipline that they instilled in me and, and the, the ability to tell me you could always achieve whatever you want.
00:24:29.471 --> 00:24:32.862
And maybe that might be missing in other households.
00:24:32.862 --> 00:24:39.192
And if they could hear my words and, and it inspires that in them, that is, uh, that is, uh, definitely worth it to me.
00:24:39.791 --> 00:24:40.061
Cool.
00:24:40.602 --> 00:24:41.412
Let's do this, ma'am.
00:24:41.832 --> 00:24:46.182
Uh, are there any questions that I should have asked you on this interview that I screwed up and did not ask you?
00:24:48.836 --> 00:24:51.896
No, I mean, I'm, I'm just going with the, with the flow.
00:24:52.196 --> 00:24:52.707
Yeah.
00:24:52.707 --> 00:24:56.876
You know, whatever you got for me, I'll throw it at me and I'll try my hardest here.
00:24:57.237 --> 00:24:57.386
Well,
00:24:57.386 --> 00:24:57.477
cool.
00:24:57.477 --> 00:25:00.086
Or not even try my hardest, I'll answer it as honestly as, as I can.
00:25:00.477 --> 00:25:01.977
Well, I love hearing the story of.
00:25:02.041 --> 00:25:08.551
You know, you and your family and the things that you've overcome, and now you have a heart to help other people overcome the same thing.
00:25:08.551 --> 00:25:10.082
So that, that's really inspiring.
00:25:10.261 --> 00:25:23.102
And then something that I'd like to do is maybe after you guys have gone through the full process of registration and, and ringing the bell, maybe have you come back on so you could share some of the details along the way, and maybe you could give us an update.
00:25:23.402 --> 00:25:27.872
But until then, man, what's a good way for people to connect with you and follow you on your journey?
00:25:28.991 --> 00:25:37.092
Um, best way is our website that will link you to any of our social media we might have, and that will keep you up to date with the newest, uh, you know, the newest news.
00:25:37.392 --> 00:25:45.731
Um, and that would be fourtune co dot comune, F-O-R-T-U-N-C o.com.
00:25:46.317 --> 00:25:46.586
Cool.
00:25:46.797 --> 00:25:48.416
And we'll include that in the show notes.
00:25:48.416 --> 00:26:02.217
And, uh, as always, fellow deal makers, people listening into the audience, reach out to our guests, say, thanks for being on the show, and if you have a deal that you'd like to talk about here on the show, just click on the top of the website to contact us and, uh, heck maybe have you guys on the show next.
00:26:02.307 --> 00:26:04.227
So then we'll talk to you on the next episode.
00:26:04.362 --> 00:26:04.781
Cheers.
00:26:06.011 --> 00:26:06.926
Thank you Josh.
