Growth Stage Investing and Board Service w/ Ceci Kurzman

Line Vine Grew, United Talent Agency, and more. Currently, she leads Nexus Management Grew, a private investment company dedicated to innovative, growth stage businesses in the consumer media and technology sectors.

Traditional media is still being disrupted daily by innovation that provides a platform to social media commentators and creators, but many new media companies have a hard time figuring it out also, and there are many stories of late were well funded platforms either no longer exists or are today not getting after it, not meeting it full potential. It

was all good just a week ago. As someone who's an investor in growing media platforms, I sec to paint a picture of what the landscape currently looks like.

I think really speaks to the venture model, which is quite broken, and I think we're starting to see where the cracks and the pavement are by watching not just these media businesses, but some of the other tech businesses and other businesses that I think are now suffering because of the valuations and the enterprise values that were so frovy in the last ten years and didn't really reflect

the strength and the solid nature of the business. And by that, I mean, you know, now everybody's talking about it, but we knew. We knew it was happening when it was happening, right, We knew valuations were not you know, we had companies that were based on valuations with no profitability. We had companies that continue to raise large sums of capital based on paper valuations, not based on you know, an actual business model and the health and structure of

the business. So it's not I would say, a surprise that we're seeing a lot of these media companies go away. They're sort of suffering from their own perceived success because they did raise a lot of money, and they raised a lot of money against the expectations of some really really massive valuations. And it's not to say that these aren't great companies with great prospects, but unfortunately they were burdened by their own success and expectations that were set for them and buy them.

So you know, they are good businesses, good teams, good underlying business model, but the expectations are out here, right, and I think what you're seeing now is really a correction to where it should be. But of course anybody who invested at the high valuation sees this as you know, the end of days, because the valuations are now coming down to a place where probably they should have been. Anyway,

these companies probably shouldn't have raised so much money. Money will cover up a lot of mistakes, and sometimes you actually need to see and live your mistakes and own your mistakes and set backs to be able to continue to build a business in a healthy way.

doing very well. This is this is a you know, age old the old gray ladies they call her age old media business that has gone from being an incumbent and a legacy business and really pivoted in a very very strategic way into the modern you know, into the modern era. But this is a company that's been built over one hundred years, step by step by step. It had foundation, it had real brand awareness, it had real following,

it had real authority in its space. So they had all those foundational elements that were built over the years to enable them to then innovate. A lot of the newer companies really just you know, built really quickly, and audiences were fickle, and it was really hard to sustain and maintain a solid, you know, solid foundations as they needed to scale their audience. And then once the you know, once the kind of curtain gets pulled back a little bit, they're in real trouble very very quickly.

another link, another location on the Internet. And so I wonder what your thoughts are on Let's say I go, I'm going to the New York Times, and then I got a paywall, and you know, maybe I'm not a subscriber, so and but you're talking about their growing So how are these things happening when a number one social media platforms don't want you to leave, so they made suppress those links out And then when you get to the place now I can only read the first line of a story.

And I actually think a lot of social media personalities have been able to build their own followings and being able to monetize their own followings to many at the expense of a lot of these you know, larger digital media outlets. The idea is their monetization strategy is different. They're able to use other platforms and other platforms advertisers to help monetize and pay some of these social media pundits and personalities. That's what I love about the business.

I mean, the New York Times is a great example of an existing media company, big media company that continues to innovate and nurture what already existed in terms of a following and hopefully build a few you know, new followers,

but they had it. What I love and what I think the future of media is is these individuals who created who have a strong points of view, who hopefully in some cases we've got more impartial views, who are able to create content that is you know, sticky and engaging and build their own followings because there's been this great democratization of these social media platforms right that you don't have to be a big, huge company with a billion dollar valuation to build an audience, and that's I

think the greatest threat to media is the individuals like yourselves and others who have something to say and have a point of view and are able to create content wherever they are and can build a following behind them and monetize that follow That's that's what I think the future of media is the individuals building brands around themselves.

to how well capitalized it is. And if I look at like, the reason I got into investing is because I spent my life in the music industry and I managed artists, and my goal for the artists was, having been in the business a while, is how do you give them a second act? Right, Like, how do you take that moment when they're at their absolute top of their career and their greatest influence and use it to leverage that into opportunities that give them the access to

generational wealth. They give them access to cap tables that most people don't have access to. And so we started investing on behalf of the artists into businesses like early in Spotify right, businesses that didn't need money, weren't accepting other checks, but would allow us to come in because they thought it was interesting that the value proposition of having artists and people who were connected with you know,

consumers and what the consumer base wanted. So that's how I got into investing, really is to engage my artists and give them opportunities to you know, opportunities that only old wealthy people have had for years and years and year and give them a seat at the table and that's what got me into investing, and the reason that I invest. You know, I have a risk profile. I don't love the idea of putting in twenty investments thinking one of them is going to work and hoping and praying. Right,

I don't have that. I can't sit through that risk, right, that would stress me out. I like companies that have product market fit, have teams, and where they are is they're in a position where they're ready to put jet fuel on their business. And that's also because that's where I can add the value. Right as a brand builder, as a marketer, as a business person, my superpowers are around, Okay, you've got something really great. You've got the best business

or brand that not enough people have heard of. Like what I can do to help your business is to take it and put it on blessed. And that's why you know, for me, i'd rather put money into a business that's going that has you know, may not give me one hundred times return and maybe one or two times,

but there's very little risk that it's gonna disappear tomorrow. Right, And that's why I don't do early stage And it's purely a preference, purely risk tolerance perspective and also where I feel I can add the.

the opportunity she saw? Cec speaks on it.

and my skill set. So I after doing quite a few of these investments, it seemed like a good opportunity to sort of allow myself to sort of take a few different paths on my professional journey and really do some light learning in all these other industries and that's what got me into investing, And ultimately why I sit on a lot of different boards is because I love to have visibility into a lot of different industries. But one thing that all of these industries have in common

is they're central to bring and brand building. And whether it be finance, whether it be music and entertainment, or whether it be consumer, they're really all like how do you storytell? How do you how do you message what you're about? How do you message your values? And how do you disseminate that that message in a wide you know, to a wide group of people.

team and management team. Obviously in areas like music and entertainment where I have a very specific and longstanding background, I get involved in many areas beyond the sort of more high level strategic board work, and it could really just be there to support the management team wherever I

can troubleshoot and help make a difference. In the younger companies, probably much more operationally involved in terms of you know, really helping guide the management team, helping them make decison in some cases, helping them raise capital, hire teams, build a business model, pivot the business model, and help create opportunities and use my network to help them create opportunities for their business and themselves.

I mean you at Revlin, you know Uta Circuitay Sola and lon Von and more, and you've had all these wonderful experiences, and what are some good reasons to desire to sit on a board.

some quick cases. The first question I always ask a room like that is make sure you've answered the question why do you want to be on a board, And very few people have the answer. The answer for many people is immediately it's it's another sort of notch notch in my resume. It's sort of the next thing. Once I've done this, this and this, that's the next you know, the next step on the ladder. It looks good. It's you helped my personal brand. I think that could be

part of the reason. But I think there have to be a lot more foundational reasons to join a board, and there are some, right, I noted one for me. I wanted to expand beyond my industry of choice, right, entertainment. I loved it. I done it a long time. It's very hard once you reach a certain level to be able to pivot into other industries, right, to be able to have that visibility at a strategic level, not at an entry level, at a strategic level, and board work

is one of the ways you can do that. Right. It's you have transferable skills that you've learned building and running businesses in your core field that you can then lend to these other businesses. But also you're learning these other businesses. I didn't know consumer products. I don't know about supply chain, I didn't know about the capital markets. I was able to bring my expertise into these businesses.

But more importantly, I've gotten so much. I am now, you know, if not fluent, certainly conversant in all these other industries. And at a certain point in your career when you may say, listen, I don't want to be just CCE the entertainment person or the music person. I want to both intellectually and professionally expand my skill set.

I think that's a really good reason. I think for an operator of a business being able to work, if you're a CEO of a business, being able to work alongside and watch another CEO of a business work, and to be able to partner with them and help them but also learn from them. I think that's a really

good reason to do. To be on a board. I think being able to expand your network beyond your industry and be on a board with board members that are from all sorts of different industries and would be a great network for you another great reason to do a board. I think where people get it wrong sometimes is they're going to make a lot of money. There are some opportunities to do that, but it's not. Board work is not you know you're stepping into you know you're stepping

in it. That's not what it is. I think a mistake is to do it just purely because you think it's a profile choice. And I think it's important to know. For example, if you're an operator in a business, it's really hard to do board work right. You might be able to do one, but when you're on a board the time, you don't have to be there all the time. They are very specific times you need to show up and be involved. But you've got to be there. So if you're working a day job, you can't say I

can't be at that board meeting. You can't say I can't you know, be on that call. You've got to be able to create the time for that board service. And the other issue I find with some people who have a day job, especially if they're you know, they're a founder or running a business, is if I'm an investor or, I'm a board member on your company, I want to know that you're one hundred and fifty percent

devoted to your day job. I don't want you using your time and your you know, mental mass to be supporting another company that doesn't help grow the business that I'm involved in. So it does become tricky, right. A good you know, a good leader can see the value of being on another board to help them developmentally as a leader. But the idea they have to be able to maintain their day job at one hundred and fifty percent, and if that ever slips, you have the duty to

sure that you're fully focused on your day job. The other thing I think people don't really understand is there's real liability and being on a board actual liability. So boards get sued all the time. You have insurance, but you need to be prepared for the fact that you have liability because you're a fiduciary of that company. And I think you've seen it. You know, there are people

getting sued at Disney right now. There are people who were sued the suing the shareholders that sued Twitter, Twitter's board. You know, there there have been a lot, there are a lot of lawsuits. If a shareholder thinks that they did not that the board didn't act in the full support of the shareholders, they're going to sue. So just be prepared that there is liability that comes with it,

not you know, if the grass isn't always green. Companies have problems and then you really on the hot seat and you've got to be you know, roll up your sleeves and get involved in in solving.

et cetera. Some international corporate boards I've sat on, and I want my question is this, there are for people who have sat on boards, there's a desire to get on bigger boards, and you don't want to just always trip over at these opportunities. So how can you be specific and intentional about creating opportunities for yourself? Because I'm not a black woman, so you know, maybe I don't qualify for your mentorship in that way, but you know I want but seeh I appreciate it. I appreciate that.

See but I wonder, like, how can people be intentional about, you know, these opportunities seeking them out?

about the outgoing phone call. Think about why you know the question we just answered, why do you want to be on a board? Is it to expand your professional skill set? Is it to pivot your career? Is it to expand your network? Then you ask the question, Then you answer the question with what companies really interest me?

What value could I add to a company? And then you start to formulate an opinion around the types of boards that would be interesting to you, whether they're big, small, private, public, You know, that's sort of secondary. What are the companies that are interesting to you? Because you've asked those questions, and I left off one point that I think is one of the mission critical questions for yourself. Who else is on the board? Right, both in terms of who

are you? Who do you want to learn from, Who do you want to be a part of your network? Who do you admire? Who do you want to spend a lot of time with? Because you do spend a lot of time with your fellow board members critical questions to ask if you ask me. One of the most pivotal boards I was on was actually a nonprofit board. It was one of my first boards, and I arrived at this board and there were seven sitting public company

CEOs also on the board. When I say it was the highest functioning board I have ever seen, the most high functioning people, entirely productive. Every meeting ran so well and everybody left that we left every meeting with things having been done, decisions having been made, And to me, that was actually one of the greatest learning experience around good governance, high functioning, uh, you know, board meetings and

best practices and what's you know. The byproduct of that is having spent all that quality time peer to peer and elbow to elbow with these seven sitting CEOs. Not only did I learn from them, but they became part of my very very close network of advisors, of mentors and yes of pipeline to future future board work and career oppertuny comunities. There. You cannot understate the importance of the network. And I think sort of the board pipeline gets a bit of a bad rap because it has

been historically very insulur, but there's also reason for that. Really, the decision around who gets on boards comes down to what I call the three c's right. Capability. Obviously, the person has to have the capabilities and the skill sets to be on that board. Chemistry right really important. Are you going to have chemistry with the other board members? Are are you a growth mindset person? Are you a fixed mindset person? Do you build consensus? Are you a

table pounder? Are you going to get in that room and help it be really productive? And the last one is character, And this one is the most important one because I think it's the reason that boards have been very exclusive. Unlike hiring somebody for a regular job, when you put them in the boardroom, they have the enormous power over and around the business. With that, you need an enormous amount of trust of the person you're inviting

onto the board. You need to trust in their values, in their ethics, in their you know, their ability to

not only add value, but to be constructive. And that's not built overnight, right, You can't read that in somebody's LinkedIn and understand you know what that character is and you know haven't built that trust, So that trust means that a lot of people call people they know, They call people they know, they call people they've worked with, They've called people that that have great recommendations because people

they trust have worked with them. And historically that means it's been a very small pool of people to pull from. And one of the things that I certainly try to do is not only put people on boards, but to ensure that the people making the choices and decisions have exposure in their own network to all of these amazing people that may not have been on their radar before. Because it's not a supply issue. I think it's a

connectivity issue. Giving exposure to the enormous supply of highly capable, talented people who are now a part of their network, and they can build relationships and build trust, which may lead to board opportunities, may lead to other career opportunities,

may lead to mentorship opportunities. But I think really building that network and the relationships and the trust is important a part of developing the you know, the next generation of board members and hopefully much more diverse and representative generation of board members as just you know, pipelining resumes and using search forbs.

And I want to ask a question on this is because at that same Afrotech executive we had with Ursula Burns and Merlin and Saint Till who's also on a lot of corporate boards, and there was a conversation around should how how much weight should we put into being on a board because you may be black too, the diversity they need that also, And I wonder what your thoughts are on how we should pursue board opportun munities

because we might also be black. That doesn't mean that doesn't mean we're not skilled and doesn't mean we have have an asset to provide, but we're also black. How much weight should we put into that?

that is their board. So all the way through organizations, the board should reflect every aspect of that stakeholder group. And that just becomes an economic, you know, imperative, because that means you're going to be able to better serve your end consumer, your end business. Right, having representation in the room. It's one thing that actually has driven me crazy about the beauty industry, which is still so segregated. Right, Multicultural teams live over here, general market lives over here.

And you know, if you want to actually get the best, you know for your company, have representation throughout. Bring those multicultural folks in, have them be at the point of origin of product, innovation, of marketing, of c suite and yes of board, and you'll get the benefit of being able to wrap your arms around all cultures and the entire audience. And you also bring some very important and critical perspectives into the room of what they call the

general market. So, but you know, to answer your question directly, I think it's as important that when we get on these boards that we are high performing. We need to get on those boards and not be in the back quiet, you know, cashing our ticket. We need to come in these boards and have a very strong voice and be able to make a real impact on the boards. So yes, I think we need more diversity, more people of color

on boards. But it's important when they get out to get on those boards that they're there for the right reasons and that they're there and can make an impact. Otherwise we'll start going in the other direction.

And so many of us, particularly career minded people, think about they may be unhappy in what they're doing today, they may want to do something else, and so many of us think that we need to stop what we're

doing to do something else. You saw what you were doing as elite as a launch pad to do what you're doing now, How should we be thinking about reimagining our activities and reimagining our skill sets to be able to deploy them to different targets instead of leaving what we're doing altogether to start something new.

few experiences sets that have no transferable skills. Right. So when I say I went from talent management building living brands into investing, because immediately you see the same thread

where entrepreneurs are like artists. Right, you're building their brands, you're telling their stories, You're ensuring that they what they want to put forward is also what the consumer understands, creating that connective tissue that is consistent whether you're dealing with music artists or you're dealing with entrepreneurs and new businesses. Launching a new business in so many ways is super

similar to developing a new artist's career. And as soon as I kind of understood that connective tissue because there are so many familiar moments, it gives you a whole other level of confidence. Right That's like, Oh, I'm not switch in careers. I am taking everything I've built and developed and learned and internalized, and I'm applying it to a new uh industry, or I'm applying it to a

new position or a new career strategy. But I would never say you're you know, You're never starting from scratch, is what my point is, so really being able to take stock of the amazing experience that you've already built and think about how it translates into some of these other areas.