My guest today is Trevor McFedries, the founder of technology startup Brud and the creator of virtual pop star Miquela, a Gen Z icon with millions of fans worldwide. Trevor’s background is fascinating - he worked as a DJ and producer, toured with Katy Perry, worked at Spotify, and done just about every interesting thing I can imagine. In our conversation, we discuss the music-industrial complex, the creation of Miquela, and what Web 3.0 will mean for creators and builders in the future. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Trevor McFedries.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

-----

Founder's Field Guide is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Founder's Field Guide, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Show Notes

[00:02:54] - [First question] - What unites the diversity of his career

[00:03:39] - What inspired him to pivot away from football and step into creative arts

[00:05:50] - Lessons learned from being a touring DJ and producer that apply to the creative tech sector

[00:07:40] - A view of the music industrial complex from the inside

[00:08:57] - How the internet deciding who becomes popular affected already established artists

[00:10:57] - Interesting opportunities in the music landscape in 2021

[00:11:40] - Time spent at Spotify and the spark of insight that led to founding Brud

[00:16:02] - The sequence of creating a digital artist like Lil Miquela

[00:19:02] - What it feels like to be “othered”

[00:20:24] - Embracing one's intersections and applying it to a business model

[00:21:18] - The team behind Lil Miquela and her design process

[00:25:49] - Ingredients required for building a great narrative

[00:28:35] - What social media platforms matter today, and the state of the social landscape

[00:32:21] - Expanding Lil Miquela’s world and digital media monetization

[00:36:32] - Differences between web 2.0 and 3.0 that may directly affect creators

[00:38:27] - Ways innovations like NFTs make spawn new network participants

[00:39:49] - Programmable art and media experiences

[00:41:03] - The most cutting-edge ideas in the digital persona space

[00:43:21] - Technology that wasn’t available that had to be built to enable new experiences

[00:45:49] - One of the hardest decisions he’s had to make in Brud’s history

[00:47:16] - The furthest they’ve ever pushed the envelope

[00:48:06] - What’s the thing that keeps him going every day

[00:50:12] - Finding cultural white space and inventing a character that could speak to investing to inspire new generations

[00:52:01] - Units of media contribution and creative container experimentation

[00:53:27] - What has him the most excited about the future of his industry

[00:54:32] - Missing technological components that could inspire new digital creatives

[00:56:53] - Work ethic through the lens of developing a jump shot

[00:59:00] - One business lesson that he believes in deeply

[01:00:05] - The kindest thing anyone’s ever done for him

Puff the Magic Dragon