One on one with Stem CEO Milana Lewis

In this episode of Fintech Thought Leaders, QED's Head of Early Stage Investments Bill Cilluffo speaks with Stem CEO Milana Lewis.

Tune in to learn:

[2:17] The problem that Stem is solving, from music distribution to automating payouts, and how the company unlocks economic opportunities for content creators, including mortgages, benefits and healthcare.

[4:38] The exponential growth of new music, from 70,000 songs a week, to more than 100,000 a day.

[6:20] How Milana was shaped by her immigrant experience and the role her family played in her love of music.

[10:07] How Milana’s first business plan was to pitch to her parents to show she could afford to attend college.

[12:18] The parallels between fintech and the music industry how recessions can be such a catalyst for innovation.

[16:20] The motivation behind starting Stem and how she was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book about 10,000 hours.

[26:20] How the business today is different from the original vision in 2015, why Stem never planned to become a distributor and how the technical integration with the industry’s biggest names took years instead of weeks.

[31:12] The balance between being a disruptor while remaining part of the establishment.

[33:00] Trying to force consensus on contracts before music came out in order to try and get people to agree on what they own before the song gets published.

[35:05] Milana’s leadership style and how that changed from the agency environment to the startup environment.

[37:53] The way Stem approaches constructive feedback as a team, and why her one big commitment is to have fewer sacred cows and to be more clear about what they are.

[40:17] The learning from the first team off-site and the impact it had on company culture. Find out how Milana thinks about creating connection, driving more context and accelerating its ability to align.

[44:25] Why the things that people do for fun still feels like work for Milana, and why she has embraced golf as a way to clear her mind and unplug from work.

[47:07] Milana’s one piece of advice for new entrepreneurs. Spoiler: it’s that nobody else knows what they’re doing wither.