20VC: Scooter Braun on Being Enough, Insecurity, Wealth, Investing, Fame, Marriage and so much more...

24:01I'll never forget those moments. It makes it all worth it. And it's why this country that I'm in and why Manchester always has a special place in my heart because I have never seen bravery like that ever. I think people get podcasts wrong and I think people get discussions wrong because they don't focus on the theory too much and not the story. I think we both have a love of storytelling. But it's not tied to lessons. One of my biggest lessons was when I lost millions of dollars in Pakistan on an investment. Many reasons why it was a mistake. That sounds like a hangover movie, like when you describe it.

24:31I lost a million dollars in Pakistan. It just feels like exact Altenac is there. We could have made that move a movie. How much that lost in Pakistan. But I learned a lot. That was a really painful mistake for me, professionally, and I learned a lot. When you think about your most painful professional mistake, what would you say it was and what did you learn? My most painful professional mistake. I have lots of them. Honestly, but I don't see them as mistakes. I see them as the greatest moments of perspective. Because I needed them. The way you just said was such a big mistake and I learned from it.

25:04If you didn't lose millions of dollars in Pakistan, I don't think you'd be exactly where you are today. You would have less learnings, you wouldn't have the perspective to go and do the great things you're going to do. I think those moments, like I said, it's for you because you need the perspective of those losses to actually understand how to win. And I have so So many, when I sold the company to hype my entertainment company, that is because we have obviously an investment firm that's separate. When we sold to hype, it's hard doing these things sometimes because you have to talk about yourself.

25:32To my, I'm asking. So I gave $50 million in my own stock, a way to my employees and my artists, when I received my payment. And the reason I did that is because I learned from past deals that I took everyone, whoever had equity, they got their stuff and we just kept them moving. And what I realized is I wanted everyone to feel a part of it. And what I, everyone was, oh, it's so generous, but the learning wasn't the generosity because there's a hundred different ways to be generous I could have given the money to charity. It was because I also realized there's a freedom in generosity. There's a way that we talked about earlier money can trap you.

26:06You can make a lot of money and then you're bound to the responsibilities of what you've built or you're bound to the expectations of what you've built or you're bound to the frustrations of others of what you've built. And by doing that, I felt like one, I took care of everyone and two, if I choose to go in a different direction ever, I have the freedom of being able to look everyone in the eye and say, I did right by you. And that was important to me. And I learned that from not doing it fully in the past and thinking, well, for long as I'm just giving a charity, that's enough. And I look at other people I admire and I took it from them and I think there's just a hundred different points.

26:40I don't want to go into them because they become headlines and I don't want this to necessarily go in that direction, but I can tell you that you can do everything right by the book. And people can say they're frustrated. You can say, I did everything right, but ambition can also hurt you. And what I mean by that is there are plenty of times in my career where I can look back and if someone's frustrated, I said I didn't do anything wrong. I did everything by the book. This is business and I did everything right. But I knew in my heart I could have done it a different way. And I was too afraid to do it a different way sometimes because I didn't trust I didn't trust if I was completely transparent with them, what I get it done.

27:14And I look back now and I trust the universe a little bit more that it wanted me to be here, that it would have happened and I could have been more transparent. And the only bad thing that would have happened of being transparent is those who didn't help me get it done. I would have recognized who those people are and I would have removed them from my life. And maybe I wouldn't have gotten every single deal but I would have got other deals. And I think that the lesson it taught me now is that I want to get to a place that when I win, Everyone involved wins. If there are 10 people involved, all 10 win.

27:45I don't want to leave anyone out because I want a quality of life in my wins now. What was the decision making on the hype deal? It was a big deal. It was a very momentous moment in your life and your employees life. What was the thing behind, yeah, we're going to do this. Look, I think I was going through a very interesting time in my personal life. I was going through divorce. I was doing a tremendous amount of self work. I had stepped I had to wait for my business somewhat for the first time in 20 years. I listened to your conversation with Jay and you had to burn a phone for two and a half months.

28:16Two and a half months. That's a big deal for a guy who literally always had his phone. He usually does. He does have anyone. But I was deep in the self -work. Even when I got my phone back, I delegated a different way and I wasn't hands on. I lost a client and kid Leroy for a while because he was like, I signed up for you and you weren't there. Then obviously I came back at a later point when I was on the other side of certain self -work and he's back with us now. I decided to do Hive because I wanted partners. My children were getting to an age that I wanted to take a different path. I wanted to do less management and more play of an executive role.

28:47I got approached by Chairman Bang, who's my partner now, and he became like a dear friend. We started doing zooms every week. Privately, no one knew we were talking. And the day I was sold that I decided I wanted to do it, obviously he was offering us a really great deal. But the day I decided he was talking to me and he said, in the West, you guys always talk about transaction. And in the East, we actually talk about what we're going to do after the transaction. We don't talk about the transaction. We get that out of the way right away. And we just talk about how we're going to build together.

29:14And that's why I don't necessarily like doing as much business with the West. He goes, but on these four phone calls we've had, these zooms, you've never talked to me about the transaction. You've only talked to me about life, about business, about culture, about music, about family. And he said, I know that whatever happens, we will figure it out together on the other side. So I'm going to do this deal. And when he described it that way, I knew that was someone I wanted to be in business with. I had a great amount of admiration for him after that. And I felt like I can not only do I have a partner that I can grow with, but I have a partner I can learn from.

29:46You said that the transaction and how they don't focus on the transaction itself, it's my runnate because so many people said you are one of the best deal makers when I did my research. And it's the antithesis of the transaction actually. So what do you think about successful deal making? So my mom's dad died when she was 11. When she was about 1819, my grandmother remarried. That was my grandmother on the other side, not the one who died on my kid or six. And I had a grandfather who raised me as his own name Irving. And he started a department store in the Cascale Mountains called Sullivan's.

30:18And he was one of the most successful businessmen in that entire area of this like mountain towns, right? And he was just this incredible entrepreneur of that community. And he realized I had a business mind very early on and I was the one in the family that did and he told me before he passed my freshman year College and he said to me the best deals are the ones where everybody wins He goes the greatest negotiation so the ones where everyone feels good about it So when I've negotiated I've been tough But I've always tried to get it to a place where it's fair I never wanted anyone looking and saying I got a raw deal out of that and I also learned that if I got the raw deal I had to stand by it if I made the deal I stand by it So if I said to someone, hey, we're gonna do this and then we start working and they're not pulling their weight But I gave my word.

31:02I'll stand by my word because keeping that is more important than actually Proving okay, this needs to change. How do you think about your relationship to regret often in deals? You'll have for a grad and I'm seeing among many different facets of life How do you approach your own relationship to regret? I don't have as much regret anymore I think I would I'll find myself doing that like I'll litigate the past sometimes and then I'll catch myself and realize if everything hadn't happened, not only happened, but happened in the exact time it happened, giving me the grace to get through it. Do you know what I'm about?

31:33There was an underlying question. So that's to be totally honest with you. Okay, go ahead. I'm fair of future regret, which is a weird one. Like I have the funds and the media company, Monday to Friday, funds, media company, Saturday, Sunday, done it since I was 17, now I'm 25, and I will be doing it for the next 10 years. And I love it, and I frickin' love doing everything about it. But when I'm 45, I am worried about being rich uncle Harry to my brother's kids and being on my own in a big house And I'm worried that I'll go really do a whole 20s every single weekend. You're in a dark room Listening to yourself and I love it.

32:08Do you see what I mean? Yes, because I've lived it So two thing I'd say to you Bezos started Amazon and you've seen this interview I'm sure where he says regretment of the minimization format is one of the best one of the best ever and a couple things about Jeff that I find interesting because I had the privilege of getting to know the person. Number one, I think you just watch that again because you have to weigh that. You have to look at that formula and you have to decide for you. Is it worth it me giving up my 20s to have that freedom in my 30s and my 40s and my 50s? And by the way, I decided it was.

32:39But then you're talking about a guy who also decided, okay, I need to do this because I'll regret not going in this direction. And now he's also the guy who says entrepreneurs are incredibly misunderstood, great entrepreneurs. And I think he's one of the most misunderstood people because here's someone Jeff Bezos created more jobs in COVID than any human being on the planet. Jeff Bezos, when corporate companies wouldn't raise their minimum wage and it cost him a lot of money raised minimum wage at Amazon to $15. When the US government was still at seven and a quarter I think. and other corporate companies because he did that, were forced to do the same.

33:16So people talk about charity, they talk about giving, you just don't get $10 billion to the environment. What they don't talk about, it's easy for us to talk about nonprofit and foundations. But what we don't pay attention to is, are we giving back within our for -profit businesses that actually pay the bills for these people? And I don't think that man gets enough credit for being someone who not only creates jobs, but make sure people make a living, that they can survive and prosper when the actual government isn't willing to do that. And he deserves more credit. And I just don't think we like to glorify those things enough, but we used to glorify building a business to make it huge.

33:52And somewhere along the way, we've got fine with small businesses, maybe some midsize businesses, but God forbid you become a behemoth. And it's going to get worse. And it will get worse. But at the end of the day, people should pay attention to the fact that Amazon didn't need to do that. And that man did it because he thought it was the right thing to do while he was creating jobs. And I just think that deserves more credit and we should be celebrating entrepreneurial to do things like that because it makes a massive difference in the everyday man's life. I did have to ask, I have this problem.

34:21We mentioned the regret minimization that I have this problem with the work of life balance. I just think it's total bullshit. You speak to someone like Jeff and the early days of arms and most of the days of arms and I'm sure even now you speak to your e -lons. They absolutely kill themselves to make what they are building as bacon and as successful as they've come. I don't buy the, you can do it or you can have the balance. So I'm actually gonna tell you, I asked the same question of Jeff. I actually asked him, how do you handle work -life balance? And he gave me the best answer I've ever heard.

34:50If you were actually a true venture investor, by the way, you would caveat that and just say, this was my answer. No, but it came from him and he deserves a credit for it. I asked him, how do you handle work -life balance? and he said to me, I hate the word balance. He goes, why? And this is a man who has an amazing relationship with his children while building one of the biggest companies in the world. And he said to me, why should you have to balance two things that you love? You should harmonize them. And I said, really, and he goes, you should communicate to your friends and your children.

35:16How much you love Amazon? He goes, my kids knew everything that was going on there. So they didn't feel left out. If my kid was going through something, and I had to be there for my kid, everyone at work knew what was going on so that they understood that my kids come first. and you put them together and I think that I for so long thought work life balance was finding a way to balance them So I didn't tell people on one side what was going on in the other because I thought I had to keep them separate But I was passionate about both that's like being married to two different people and that's not fair That's not gonna work.

35:45So I think that advice he gave me is something I now use in my life that this next chapter for me I want to make sure that I harmonize it if I'm passionate about something I want to make sure that everything in my life I'm passionate about is knowing about each other The other thing is the things I used to be passionate about, I'm not as passionate about anymore. So, I have to also make sure that I don't stay in the same place and stay stagnant and become resentful of what I've created. He said about the next chapter that I do want to discuss the investing. First, what was the first deal? And how did you get into venture investing before we touched on Tiki?

36:15I was a big college party promoter and I used to pay a hacker to every time I got kicked out of the E .D .U. databases at the colleges, I'd pay this kid four or five hundred bucks to log back in and hack back in and get me all the addresses so I could blast the kids. And then something called thefacebook .com launched and Emory was one of first Air 12 schools. And I was like, wait a second, I can use this, thefacebook .com to get to all the kids. And I contacted Mark Zuckerberg and then he put me in touch with the, at the time it's I think it was like master of coin Eduardo Savrin was like on the contact page.

36:49And he put me in touch with Eduardo and we started negotiating and I was trying to invest 100 grand for 10 % of Facebook. And we had emails going back and forth. And then Eduardo wrote me at my social death email address because I was working at social death at the time. Hey, Mark wants to launch 32 more schools in two weeks. He's decided he doesn't want to take any capital. I found out years later because I saw Eduardo in Singapore that I had no chance to get in because the Eduardo was pushed out at that point and that anyone negotiating with the Eduardo, Mark wasn't gonna let in. But also he wasn't gonna take any money because he was launching more schools.

37:22So I had broken up with my high school sweetheart. She was at BC. He was like, if you ever wanna come to Boston and still talk to us, come by. And I look back now and I know myself, if I would have gone up there, I might have have gotten in. But I didn't wanna go up there because I was too afraid to see my school friend. And I also didn't understand it was gonna be. It was a very expensive relationship. Yeah, but you know what? I didn't understand investing at that point. No one, these things didn't exist. I just thought it was a way to get my parties out there. So a year later Peter Teele invested, I think a million dollars for 10%.

37:48and I thought, oh my god, I could have made a million dollars. That's how much I didn't understand what it could be. So it's not like I understood, but in the years to come, Facebook kept rising. And I recognized that. And I thought, oh, I did miss out on something here. I should continue to look in this space. And that loss opened me up to the idea of investing. And it led me to a slew of other companies that I've been fortunate enough to be an investor in. And I started investing very early. I think I started investing when I was 26, 27. Do you remember your first deal? I remember getting some wine sessions, you know, I had 50 Ks, random buying, you know, wow, shit.

38:24It was, I remember one of my first deals, everyone thought I was crazy on my team, because I had a new business manager and I was starting to make some money. And it was a company that was valued at $400 million in San Francisco, and it was only in San Francisco, and it was a cab company called Uber. And that was Uber Car, and the only reason I knew about it is I'd gone up there to see another tech founder. My team was like, this is crazy, you shouldn't do this. And I'm very grateful that I did. Travis is one of the best founders I've ever met my entire life. Who's it immediately over? Once you met him, yeah.

38:52We all like to say it's so obvious what it's gonna become. No, but it hates talent. Yeah, but at that time, you were thinking, oh, it can be a two or three X, like maybe. I don't wanna lie. I think we all say, oh, I saw it all the way. I saw my business all the way. The stuff I was investing in, I was betting on people that reminded me of another entrepreneurial spirit. So I always bet on entrepreneurs. Even now, Z, who runs row, you know, Roman time. I'm not, yeah. with pen pals. We've never met in person, but we need to tell you something. You meet this guy and you believe in that company instantly.

39:20There are certain founders that you meet that you go, they're gonna figure it out one way or another. And I've been fortunate to be around certain guys. We're both friends with Daniel Eck, Daniel, and I became friends. I've been a part of a long time ago. I've never sold to share. I'm a full believer. Obviously, I know that industry is much better because it's my own. But I've been fortunate enough to be part of so many different rides. Now building a fund with some friends. At Howard Marks, someone I look up to, he wrote a really great memo where he talks about luck. and I agree with it wholeheartedly.

39:46I was born in 1981 in New York City, and I looked the way I look. I won the lottery the day I was born with privilege. So for anyone to say they're not lucky in doing this completely absurd. I was such a nerd at school, went to boarding school and he said, there's like campaign torches on at night because he had lights out, and then I'd have his members printed out with a campaign torch on my head, and I'd read them at night. No wonder I didn't have money friends. I was like 14. You're my friend. I think you're a very interesting guy. I think you're asking all the right questions. Once I wish I asked you your age.

40:17Oh, that's very kind. Incredible kind of first exposure to that. Talk to me about T .K. status. Well, that's that. Tell me about that. Yeah, I feel extremely fortunate to be a partner in this fund. My partner's Andrew and Schuster. Andrew and I were friends. He introduced me to Schuster. We decided, hey, let's do this as a small consumer fund. We did incredibly well. And then we decided we're getting all these opportunities to be some beyond a consumer. and we got into all these other spaces, primarily tech and SaaS companies and just gaming companies and just really interesting stuff. We started about five, six years ago, we have over a billion in management.

40:52We just closed our third fund and we're very fortunate because our third fund is a $500 million fund and we've only deployed I think 12%. So we're in a really good position in today's climate and the thing I love about those guys is they run that fun full time. They're brilliant guys and the thing I like about them is when they get in there with founders, they're not just guys who like, okay, we're going to back you some money. They actually understand how to be there with founders and help them pivot in those tough times. And I think that's what you look for. And I take a lot of pride that when founders meet me, well, I haven't met where in our fund, they always tell me what a pleasure it is to work with those guys and how hands -on they are and how much they back them.

41:29And we've been very stealthened about how we've moved, but I'm very honored to be in business with those guys and it's been a lot of fun. Can I ask a bit of a weird one? I have Aston Kutcher on the show about a year ago, was I? And he said, the hard thing about actually being an investor for me is people feel they know me coming into the meeting and they're actually more nervous than they would be with other VCs. And so they don't show their best self, they don't present it in the best way, they try to impress. And it distorts the actual investment decision making process where for other people it's like you have a raw, much more neutralized view.

42:00And for me it's very difficult because they bring that predisposed knowledge of me. Here's what I'll say to that. Love him. Ashton and my son Levi and Ashton son, bear our best friends. They were born in the hospital six hours apart. We actually ran into each other in the hall. We have a picture of our kids in a basket together with they were just 12 hours old. And they go to school together and they're best friends to this day. He is incredibly charismatic. And he is kind and he is genuine and he is smart. So while they might come in nervous because they're in front of the superstar action -culture, I argue that he is so down -earth and good at what he does that he can fix that very quickly and bring the best out of people because he brings the best out of his friends.

42:39I'm sure he can bring the best out of founders. That being said, yes, I walk into certain rooms where my career might be known, it might not. I find the same thing. It's whether sometimes I'll be in front of a musician who's very nervous, or your guy who did the cameras before we started, he told me about his friend and we face time as friend, and I noticed when he was dialing his friend, his hands were shaking. And I've been doing this long enough that I can tell someone, I take a shit on the toilet just like you, let me do your hug. But you know how to diffuse the situation? Because sometimes people are nervous, sometimes they're not.

43:07sometimes they have a preconceived notion of who you are, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. I think it's your job to show up in the moment, be present and present who you are and help someone do the same. And that's also why I think it is helpful to be vulnerable. I mean, vulnerable as you can be used in a positive, which is I'll often stop. I always say being an inferior and being an investor very similar in the way that you have three to five minutes at the beginning, why you can actually create an environment of safety and say, you know what's good? I'm really struggling with my eating disorder right now.

43:35I feel great actually about myself. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. And suddenly the conversation is very different from, hey, how's the business going? I like you a lot because I'm hearing certain things you say and certain questions you've asked me both on camera and off camera and I'm thinking of my own journey. I think you are a very intuitive about other people and I think that you can use vulnerability as a strength to what you just said, get other people to open up. I'm gonna ask a question of you. Are you really vulnerable? Are that you're using it as a strength, that you're choosing the things you're comfortable sharing, that come across vulnerable to make people feel comfortable to open up themselves.

44:10But I'm going to ask you an honest question of yourself, are you really vulnerable with the things that really scare you? Or do you only share them once you've come to terms with them? The honest truth is it's hard when you have a boss. You can use vulnerability as a positive too, efficiently and I think have learned it very well. If I'm just being very honest, the whole thing is I have a boss. My boss is my LPs, the investors in my fund, and my bosses are their bosses. And you very much feel that. I feel that for sure. And why most often the best in season, people with no bosses, because you're completely un -inhibited.

44:44Am I totally vulnerable? Probably there's 10 % that's not. What is one of my biggest fears? I have fears of McCoolie Culkin. Do you remember McCoolie Culkin? Yeah, I'm alone. With respect to him, I'm sure he's doing something. But people go, oh, where is he now? And that's my biggest fear there, which is that I'll be the back kid. I saw some interviews with him recently. My argument is he seems to be very happy. I didn't want to pick on him, but you know, no, but I'm actually glad you did bring it up because from what I've seen He seems to be a happy person and a self -aware person and I don't know him I can't speak to that but I can tell you there is a lot of people who are known who I can't say that about and My other argument to you is do you really have a boss or are you putting that expectation on yourself that they wouldn't Support you if you told them the truth of your fears.

45:27I think I also don't feel financially safe enough I think the honest sheath is. But that's what I'm saying. Let me rephrase that. Because you don't feel financially safe enough. You don't trust them to support you if you were completely honest with your fears. Yeah. And that's what I'm trying to say to you that I get that completely. And I still work through that. I'm not a pro at that yet. My fears and insecurities come if I share this or I don't know the answer. And if I'm not defensive in this moment, I completely get that. Do you know why with your talents say, and that maybe overphrasing it, with the people that you work with?

45:58That's right. That if you want to be vulnerable, be like, go or I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm LPs and TQ. Yeah, LPs and TQ. I have LPs and TQ. I have clients who work for me. I'm on the board of hype. I'm one of the largest shareholders, but I have, we're publicly traded company with a market cap that was at 14 billion, between 8 billion and 14 billion, depending on where the market is. And I'm the CEO of this company. And I have bosses. And you don't worry. No, not anymore. What it's funny, the things I worry about aren't them. It's when the worry comes in it's my own shame. I'm now realizing the worry isn't their expectation because at the end of the day I'm on my journey there on their journey I start to put this fear that if I present myself a certain way if I'm not defensive I'm not doing the right thing at the right time You know who's gonna support me?

46:42And I think what we're all working towards is getting to a place where we choose ourselves enough I think there's a big lie. I want to say this because I want to come across selfish When I say choose ourselves This was the lie that was told to me and it wasn't like on purpose. I think all our parents and people on our lives do the best thing. You can't every kid interprets life a different way. But the lie that came to me was one that I wasn't enough and two that if I chose myself that I was being selfish. And now I realize that when I'm actually choosing myself, that's when my friends love me the most.

47:10Because I'm not a selfish person. I'm fun and generous and so are you. I could already see it like most people are that when they're actually truly themselves and truly happy, Everyone around them wants to be near them even more and your LPs would want to be even more because they'd want to figure out How did you get to that place because you're obviously a smart guy? You're gonna get to the deals your vulnerability is what's getting you to so many people and that's why they're investing in you It's not that they are scaring you. It's that you don't trust them to see you fully because I don't know and I'm only saying this because I Deal with this myself.

47:43It's because maybe we don't trust them to see us fully because we have an accepted to accept ourselves fully. No, we use an excuse by saying, oh, it's them, but it's truly us not truly loving ourselves or trusting ourselves enough. They did. They took me years to get up drinking because I said, I look at my biggest deals, it's because I went drinking with them and I went drinking with them and I used it. It's crouched to keep on going for myself. And actually, it wasn't out of tool. Do you know what I mean? Well, can I ask you a question? Yeah. We're going to flip the podcast a little bit. Sure.

48:07Five years from now. Yeah. Your LPs can't be mad about what you say. I know some of your LPs, some of your biggest ones. These are good people. Really good people. They're not betting on it with 23 24 when I started how old you now 25 okay 25 they're not betting on a 25 year old guy Just because he's smart they're betting on you because they want to see you win because there's a lot of smart people Much older than you that they get a return on a capital. They're betting on you because they like you and they want to see you Win that's the truth that's the part you're missing They're betting on you because of who you are not necessarily what you've achieved because there's a lot of other people Who are much more seasoned they could give the same amount of money to five years now if you didn't have that that burden that you actually are putting on yourself of thinking that you're not enough or if I told the truth, what do you want your life to look like?

48:51If you didn't have to answer to anyone. Personal, professional, both harmonize. I love what I do. I love this. This is what gives me huge, huge joy. And kind of speaking of the harmonization, I believe that one of the next great firms will be built with media at the very center of it and leverage media to find, to pick, to help the best companies in the world. And I want to build that. I don't view them as one or the other. The biggest question to everyone asked me is how do you split your time between venture and media? It's the same thing. It is the same thing. And I love that. And I want to keep doing that.

49:25And I want to keep having conversations like this where I am on an inhibited and we got the schedule which somebody else still stayed to do. Well, we'll go to it all. And you just say what you want to keep. Sure. But I love that. And then I think there's the recognition at the same time that I really love kids. I'm desperately alone, bluntly. And you turn off the lights at night and you're suddenly, the silence is very loud. Do you know what I mean? Are you nervous that if you sought that out or took time to have kids that you're going to, that right now is your time to build this? Yeah. Yeah.

49:56I definitely feel the momentum is transient. I don't know if you see this, but it's not. I think I'd look, we all feel that. I feel all the great entrepreneurs hitting. I think what I always find funny, I do not want to preach to you in this moment because I think when I was coming up, all these great entrepreneurs would see me and they'd say all these things that they wish they did differently. And I'd say, you have the freedom to tell me this now because you were fucking animal coming up, making the same sacrifices I'm making. So I understand your sacrifice right now and I appreciate it and I think you're in an age where you can make that sacrifice and really dedicate yourself to building something.

50:28Because I think that's what it takes. So I do appreciate that. What I will tell you is you never know what's going to show up for you. And the one mistake I have seen people make is that they turned away really good things for their personal life because one like me I always thought it would be there or they thought I don't deserve this right now because I haven't achieved enough to have it. And if you find someone who really loves you they're not going to care about what you achieve. They're going to love you for your essence. They're going to be happy to take that ride with you. And I think if it shows up just pay attention to that.

50:57I think that I for far too long even when I found love and had children. It wasn't until recently that I became present. I think that I was so afraid of tomorrow being taken away. You talked about the fear of the future. I was so desperately afraid. And I think that had a lot to do with Holocaust drama of being told the stories of our life was okay. And then one day they came and took it all away. And I grew up with those stories. And I think that trauma was in me. And I just thought, well, I'm building this and it's significant. And people are saying, good job. It's going to get taken away. I got to keep building it bigger and bigger and bigger.

51:27And I was so afraid of it being broken tomorrow that I wasn't paying attention to what I had right now. And it's this hard balancing out between the ambition and ferocity required to build with the appreciation of what you have today. I agree, but you know what? I had all the warning signs and made me pay attention. I didn't and then one day sometimes you got to step on the right and get in the face for you to pay attention. That's what happened to me. And I know that my life is going to be wonderful moving forward. And I had to go through transitional years of pain. But the other thing I realized as I read books and talked to really impressive people, everyone's had these transitional years of pain.

52:00Are you not fearful of mediocrity? I'm almost like I don't want to go into relationship I don't want to have kids because I'm like, well that out I'll be mediocre I have run out of seas losers who go to the park on Saturday and have Launcher families on that and I see a question and you were growing up Did you have a family member that you really looked up to? Hey, did you have anyone you looked up to? Yeah, I'm British Richard Branson was like the entrepreneur that I looked up to massively I'm like Virgin Cola pretty pretty a great dad, Richard Branson Yeah, yeah kids love him a lot. Yeah spends a lot of time with them and his grandchildren.

52:33He does Doesn't seem mediocre to me. Not a media guy. Here's what I'd also tell you you were paying attention to Richard Branson Because of all the achievements I would argue that you walk down the street and you talk to people about who their heroes are They're not gonna be naming Richard Branson every single time a lot of them are gonna say my grandma this person that person My grandmother's one of my heroes. She worked in a sweatshop in New York City majority of my dad's life. And that was someone that most people would just walk by and not pay attention to, but she was a hero for me. I know exactly what you're saying, because I did the same exact thing.

53:02I got to meet some of my heroes and some of them were great and some of them weren't. And I still want to achieve a lot of things in my life because I feel like I'm capable. But at the same time, I would argue with you, there's nothing mediocre about being someone that's loved. There's nothing mediocre about that. We see Fortune 100 CEOs jump off a building is all the time, we say what a tragedy, but we're not surprised. If you're hurt if someone worked to the soup kitchen killing themselves. And if you did, you'd be the most shocked person in the world because it just doesn't make sense. And we glorify these things because I've been there.

53:29It's like you grow up and you think, if I achieve it, it's almost like the pain that it's like, while that having fun, I'm growing. Yeah, you're also grinding and you're feeling it. And it's like being in the gym or playing in a great basketball game for me. It's like there's a grind and there's an achievement. There's sense of achievement. That's beautiful. But don't lose sight of the fact that when we started this conversation was the first advice I was given, which is name those things that make you happiest. And you're gonna realize most of those things you don't need billions of dollars most of those things you could do right now Get for walking the pot with mom.

53:59You love that. Yeah, I know watch over Okay, that doesn't seem like you need to achieve a lot But I think the achievements they need to be for you at one point I know what it's like at least in my younger years and still at times now I'll admit the insecurities still come up and you find yourself doing it again But you find yourself wanting to win because you think if you win this time Then everyone will see you and then everyone will appreciate you and then you'll be there There's a great Jim Carrey moment at the Golden Globes where they call them up They said two -time golden gold winner Jim Carrey and he goes I go to sleep two -time golden gold winner Jim And he goes and when I go to sleep I you dream that sweet dream of being three -time golden Golden because then it will be enough and look I don't think achieving things should ever be belittled.

54:41I think that's beautiful It's why we love movies like Rudy and all these great sports movies. It's a football movie. You probably didn't watch that one because you're British. But we love movies with arc. There needs to be some pain. There needs to be some triumph. Because that's a beautiful story. It's a hero's journey. It took me 39 years to put it something into practice that I wish I started when I was 20. And if there's anything I could say on this podcast, if someone's listening right now, that I could say, do one thing. It is what I'm going to say next. Once a year, take a week off, no phone, no emails, and do a week of self -work.

55:12Once a year, one week. What is self -water? Like, do I take a book and just look? Listen, this is, sorry, I'm just doubling down that tabling to your technique. I haven't done a whole then seven years, and people are like, oh, hustle culture. It's not a hustle culture. It's just because I started when I was 17, excuse me, and when you go away with no phone and no distractions, you have nothing but yourself, and I'm deeply uncomfortable because the suddenly then stare in the abyss, you know, fuck. So you're right, you're talking to someone who lived your life. I started when I was 18 and I ended up having a tremendous amount of success and I thought I was someone named Scooter and I forgot that my name was Scott and I left that kid behind a long time ago because I was uncomfortable being Scott and I didn't want to look into the abyss and deal with myself.

55:59So building and continuing and getting the praise of achievements allowed me to avoid having to do something which was as simple as doing self -work. And it wasn't until my life got to a place where I was miserable, that I was forced to do the self -work and the transition started. And that's why I say, if there's anything to listen to, I just don't want anyone to get to the place of pain I had to go to start. I'm offering it so you don't have to deal with what I dealt with because I wouldn't wish the pain that I felt in that moment on anyone. But I had to get to that low moment for me to start going in that direction.

56:35And when I save myself work for me the first time I did it was Hoffman. It was the Hoffman process, no phone or email, a week of intense self work. When that moment hit, did you know that was the catalytic moment? There was no option when you hit that level of bottom in a depression. You realize there's do something and the other option is not an option. That's not who I am. That's, I realize I'm like, that isn't me. That thought that came to my head, way too dark, that isn't me. I'm not going to go in that direction. I have to do something. It was funny because my friend was like, I was like, what do I do?

57:05It's the same thing you asked and he was like, start with this place Hoffman. You should go there I did it changed my life and he put me on the phone with this woman Liza and she started talking she goes I can get you in three weeks and it was October 24th, 2020 and October 24th, 2020 was the release date of Ariana Grande's album. Oh no. And I thought this is the biggest album release I have of the year and I remember being in a parking lot of her music video hearing that over the phone hanging up, looking up at the sky and started hysterically laughing. Because I realized I was being given a choice.

57:37Choose the path that I've been on of success that had me hitting that rock bottom moment or do something new and different. And I went into Ariana's trailer, I said, I need to do something, I will help set everything up, everything will be lined up for your release week, but I'm going to be gone and I won't have phone or email. And I'm your manager. And she talked me about why. And she's, you were there for me during Manchester, I'm the time for me to be there for you. I left and it was the first time I turned my phone off in 20 years. Were you scared to tell how that's? Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

58:07I was at a place where I was just like, it's time. I made that choice. I chose me for the first time. I need to do this. And you weren't fearful that you could... What? I was. But I didn't have a choice. It was choose that path or not. And I went and I thought my phone would be off for a week and as my phone stayed off for two and a half months. And it put me on a very different path. And I'm incredibly grateful. Like, I really am. And I think when you say, what do you do? There are many people around you doing it. You just don't know because you never asked. So I did this thing in Hoffman. Then I did a thing at Sedona where I studied breathwork.

58:39Then I did other meditation retreat the following year. That one week, I remember when I went in I was like, what could a week do? But I had never slowed down for a week before. I didn't know what a week to do because I'd never stood in the abyss for a week. And when I did, I was shocked with what one week of choosing yourself can do for your well -being. And now I make sure every year I take that week. What are you doing that week now? I'm working on something so if it doesn't happen I'm gonna choose something else. I'm thinking of this year of doing a silent retreat or I'm really intrigued by Wim Hof I might want to do Wim Hof for a week I love Wim Hof so I totally get you.

59:14I do want to ask Puyi move on to a quick five get children are so important Being a father is such a crucial part of your life How did having kids in patch your mind set? I always thought having kids would slow me down I was like, oh, I can kick guys asses who have kids. They gotta go home, everything. How I think now, what do you realize when you have kids is how incredibly efficient you become? Without kids, your brain just finds ways to get busy and things that you were like, oh, I have to deal with this. When you have kids, you're like, no, I have to get home. You sift through bullshit so much faster and those kids are the best thing that ever happened to me.

59:48Did it change your mood? Yes, completely. And even more so in divorce. Because I was a really good dad when I was married. I came home every night to put them to sleep. I adored them, but I wasn't fully present because I took it for granted Because I would come home and I think okay, I'm still gonna be here tomorrow So I gotta take this phone call. I gotta take this phone call Before I gotta do the email I do the same if I gotta go do this. I'm here So that's what matters they see me and when I got divorced and it was 50 -50 Then it went to you know what they're gonna be with me on Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday and Thursday They're five minutes down the road and they're not with me when that happened and I didn't take it for granted anymore.

1:00:24And I actually can tell you, they get 100 % of me in that 50%. And I think that's actually better than it was before. And no one tells you that, because I didn't have any divorce my family, so I didn't know what to expect. I felt like such a failure. But the relationship that I have with my children now, on the other side of it, I'm so much more grateful. Because if I would have come to this awareness when they were 18, I would have deeply regretted it. And being able to have that happen when they're young, when my daughter's four, my son's eight now, my other son's six, I'm really, while it's incredibly tough and anyone who goes through divorce will tell you you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy I'm very grateful for the relationship I have with my children.

1:00:58How did divorce change your mindset if that's with kids? How did divorce change you asked me earlier? What was the biggest catalyst in my life? Business -wise, but you didn't ask what was the biggest catalyst in my life? It was divorce. It was the destruction of the narrative. It was I built a life that I thought everyone could be proud of and And a relationship is a one -on -one project, not a community project. And I was projecting out all the time of this. If you watch even podcasts that I did when I was married, I was always put it on a pedestal of your nails. And I had a good marriage. Like, we loved each other and we didn't fight.

1:01:31And there's nothing like that. It was just, I wasn't present. I wasn't present enough. And our trauma met up perfectly. And I think we were, we are in each other's lives to be partners for those kids forever. We thought, three beautiful kids, she's a wonderful person. I'm grateful that it's her. But when that happened and we couldn't get back the pain of that Caused me to do something I'd never done before which was do this work that pain caused me to hit rock bottom Did you feel like you were letting your parents down? I thought I was letting everyone down I thought I was letting down the kid who I set on a podcast that I want to show that you can be a good executive and a good Husband and a good father and all this stuff that I did and I realized you put your relationship on a pedestal You're not paying attention your relationship the next time around it's for me and for them and I'm not interested in projecting or anything like that.

1:02:18I learned a lot and I can tell you that moment in my life was the moment where this story that I built of scooter wasn't working. If I didn't have scooter, then what's underneath? But I hadn't had a foundation of Scott and that's why I started to crumble. And it's so similar. Ooh, like, I ask your friends, what is mine and light. Am I getting Harry or like, brown Harry? It's interesting you say that because I've gotten that my whole life as I was eating. You'd start off great and then they get to a point and they'd see how you operate and they wonder if you're doing it. And now I'm always giving them brown time.

1:02:46I think you're always giving them brown time. You used to hear that. You're so much more self -aware than I was at this age. I just got to say again how incredibly impressed I am by you. Thanks, man. No, I'm really just blown away even by what you just said. It moved me because at 25, at 30, I didn't know to say that. Because I thought being scooter was authentic. Because I didn't remember who Scott was. And I didn't love who Scott was and I had left it so far behind. You still know who that other dude is. You're aware enough that he's right there in front of you and you can grab him and you could do the work far before I did You don't have to hit that rock bottom.

1:03:20The whole thing I find is that she's separating the two and actually you can become I didn't know if you found this but you become the brand that you create and then you can lose yourself I think the most important thing is starting to realize that this brand you created was created by you that the strong one was you Not the brand. I think that's the lie we tell ourselves as we build this through our childhood We build this mask, this armor, because we don't think we're enough. And then you get to a place that I'm working on now realizing, wait a second, that little kid built this. I didn't need to leave him behind.

1:03:52He's actually the strong one the whole time. And that's what I'd offer to you. The brand is something that that person that you thought didn't have friends, because you were studying, that person that you thought I've heard you make a lot of kind of degrading jokes about yourself early on. That person that you're degrading built this person that everyone seems to be so impressed by. And I think that you should give yourself a lot more credit. We come through all this trauma. I think we spend the first half of our life learning and then we spend the second half on learning. That's why I'm so impressed by you because you're asking all these questions so early and I was asking questions about family so early and how to build a family and everything else.

1:04:24But I wasn't asking questions about myself. I'm still living in this narrative. I didn't like my name Scott and all these different things and I think you're asking these really beautiful questions that make me see that you're just so much more aware than I was and I think that's probably why people like listening to you. What do you think is the thing that you need to unlearn, but you'll yet to unlearn the future unlearning? I've been thinking about this a lot and I actually figured a way to describe it. Let's say you had a friend and throughout your life, this friend had shown up for you time and time.

1:04:53Every time you get in trouble, this friend bails you out and every single time you're worried, this friend shows up and track. Give me up. Give me up. And this friend has literally shown up every single time. To the point where would you say right now at 25 you're living a pretty extraordinary life? Yeah, 100%. 100%. 100%. When you take away your fears and everything else, you just look at the bare bones minimum of where I am in life. It's pretty extraordinary what you're doing. What we're doing right now, the position that you're in, it's really extraordinary 25 years old. Agreed? Sure. Okay.

1:05:26If that friend helped you more than anyone get to this place and you question that friend every single day. Every single time the friend showed up again, you questioned it. How do you think that friend would feel? It's apprised. And also probably a little at the fuck. And you're looking at me because you're thinking, I would never do that to that friend, correct? Yeah. Okay. What if I told you the universe has shown up for you every single time and look where you are? Every single time that you've been in a tough position, the winds have gone in your direction. Enough. You've had trials and tribulations, but enough that you are standing here right now in the position that you are in.

1:06:00Yet, you go home still questioning if you're enough or if you can trust the world and is it going to go in your direction. But for 25 years, it's giving you extraordinary results. Yet you go home and question it every single day. Why do we do that? I don't know. I'm working on that. I think that's called faith. And I'm horrible at faith. That's the thing I can admit. I'm getting much better at it, but I still at the last minute want to just go like this. I just want to push it a little bit. I want to get involved. Why are you bad with faith? Is it the lack of control? because you are delegating control when you end of faith.

1:06:30I think all entrepreneurs are bad at faith because you don't think you're bad at faith? I think I'm excellent at faith. No, I think I'm terrible at faith. And I think it's because we believe we're manifesting. But we're coming into this. It's because we're so afraid of failing. We're so afraid of not being enough. We want to get it there. We're doing everything else. Minds the control mechanism. We faith others that it's okay. No, if I control this, it's going to be okay. And you don't really trust anyone else to get in there. Okay, so there's a great book, Guy Rontetert's Soul, Michael Singer wrote a book called The Surrender Experiment.

1:07:00You should read it next. And he talks about this concept of the universe has been moving just fine without us for billions of years. Yet we come in our 60 to 80 and act like we manifest and we're controlling things. It's an illusion. Now, I believe like a basketball game, LeBron James at the height of his career, Michael Jordan and the height of his career, these guys could control games? No. They could influence games. I think we participate. And some of us are better at participating than others, but no one controls it. No one. We're all participating and then the universe shows up and we should put a little more trust in it.

1:07:34And what I'm working on is having a little bit more faith that things are gonna be okay. In fact, I have tattoos. My newest tattoo this week I woke up, went to a tattoo parlor in New York and got faith tattooed on my ribs. And it was my friend was like, why on the ribs? It's just the word faith. And I thought to myself, I don't know where this came to me, but it was the story of Adam and Eve. God took a rib and he took a rib because he wanted to make Adams equal, that he wasn't going to be alone in the world. And I put right where that rib is, the word faith to remind myself that it's all going to be okay.

1:08:03I'm not going to be alone in the world. I've got to have faith. It's going to be okay. And I think especially entrepreneurs, we struggle with this because we know the thing no one else knows, which is when everyone else was quitting, we went that extra mile because we were afraid and that little extra mile we think maybe that moment when I was about to go to sleep and quit, but I decided to stay up and go a little bit harder. That was the moment that made the difference that turned the winds. And we believe that. And by the way, that's influence, but that's not control. Our control's an illusion.

1:08:31I say that logically, but ask me if I'm acting on that yet, I'm still working on it. What is even a you most proud of? My kids. Like it's not even, it's any parent understands that question. It's, yeah, I get emotional. like it's I have really great kids and I know the one day they're gonna go and do self -work and yell about me one day and I'm actually hoping they they do I hope I give them enough freedom and enough unconditional love to know that they're allowed to do that that they can get to the patterns that I didn't get to. I have to go she said this with Jay you said you gave them transactional love in the beginning yeah because that's what I feel like all parents like so many of us we're not trying to but our trauma has us doing things that come across transactional I think that I love my kids unconditionally and I'm working on making sure that's clear all the time.

1:09:16I've heard this speech someone gave and I gave it to my kids the other day in the car. I said I want you guys to know that I love you, that I think you're amazing. I think you're amazing just the way you are. I don't just love you. I like you. I like you when you make mistakes. Like I did this whole thing and I just saw their little faces start to light up when I said I don't just love you. I like you. And I want them to hear these things because they're going to do some stupid shit one day. And they're going to do stuff that pisses me off. They're going to do stuff that scares the shit out of me and I'm going to make so many mistakes as a parent.

1:09:42I'm sure I have already. I know I have, but I just I want them to know that they're allowed to be their own person And I think getting to participate in their life as their father is the greatest achievement I'll ever have Final one. Do you worry about the influence that money has? My money is a great luxury in many ways But it's also challenging and bringing children up with the same hunger and ambition is tough. Do you worry that? Yeah, I do worry about that. So I spoke to a lot of kids who I thought were amazing human beings who came up with a lot of wealth and two common denominators I found after interviewing so many kids and their parents of the great ones.

1:10:20One accountability is the number one common denominator I find. Their family raised them with this accountability, took time one on one to really speak them about accountability. So even it wasn't like they weren't aware of what they had or they could get, they felt accountable to the world. And I think that's important. They understood that equality, they understood their place in it, they understood their responsibility, humanity, they understood that their actions matter. I think accountability is really important. And the other one was identity. Without saying names, someone I know had a family member who was really struggling.

1:10:49And then he was not. And I asked why. And he said in his other family member situation, he didn't know where he fit in. Because with his parents, no matter what he achieved, he felt like his dad could do everything. So he didn't know how to compete. with this person his dad was really good at one thing and he got to choose something else and I think having a sense of your own identity is really important And I want my kids to know that they're allowed to have their own identity They don't have to follow on anyone's footsteps that I encourage them to be whoever they're gonna be because I think having a sense of self Is one of the most important things because whether you have wealth or don't have wealth You're still having a human experience your normal is your normal So I think like I said doing that self -work and having the freedom and the encouragement to do it is really important I always think the most important thing you can have is say children is just I'm proud of you And maybe it's me, but it's just like the only thing that matches their approval.

1:11:38I disagree But you're the parents, so I'm the naive way I disagree because I used to believe that and it's really interesting That you just constantly see the approval. I would so happy to hear it scooter. I'm proud of you Yeah, I want you to hear what you just said because I used to say the exact same thing You didn't feel like you were enough until you heard I'm proud of you You thought you would get I proud of you by doing things, by achieving things. Being in the soccer team, being in the... So I'm going to tell you what I think the most important thing is my kids can hear. I love you exactly the way you are, and I support you in whatever you do.

1:12:12Because I want my kids to know, and I think you deserve to know, and I deserve to know, that you don't need to do anything to have love this way. Because that's why it's confusing for us. Because when we come into the world, I get it. My kids love me unconditionally. I've heard Dan you talk about your dad and your brother before we started. Your dad could do anything and you're still showing up for him. He loves you, you know that, but you're showing up for him unconditionally. I think the most important thing a kid can hear is that the parent feels the exact same way. That I'm proud of you because of who you are, exactly the way you are.

1:12:42I'm here to support you in everything that you do in life, but you don't need to do anything to get my approval. I want my kids to know that because I think that you would have a different answer. You would, it's the pride is a result based feeling. I get that because as a parent you also want your kid to go for things. Sure. And you want to teach them that. Do you think your kid's got that? I don't know. I know that I'm going to try. I know that we are going to try. We're great parents together. Yeah. And I think that we're both going to do the best job we can to tell them to break those patterns because here's the thing.

1:13:13I once told this to my dad. My dad and mom love me. And when I did this work, I went on a walk with my dad and I said, Dad, I now know that you love me so much that I see through your lies. because my dad did that. I'm proud of you because that's what happened to him. That's what he knew and that's a beautiful thing It's what he knew so everything was result -based. I had to win the basketball game. I had to do this I knew my dad loved me, but he made it result -based feeling for a child and I now know my dad would never leave me But as a child you don't really know that you're deciphering things in a weird way because you don't you're learning the world and as adult, I now realize that all those things he said of, I'm proud of you if you do this or I'm proud of you because you did that.

1:13:54We're all bullshit. He was always proud of me. He just didn't know to tell me because he grew up a certain way. I will tell you this if it helps. I have no idea. I haven't even looked up your fund. You told me you have the fund. I have no idea what your investments are. I actually chose not to look. I'm here because of a conversation we had where you were vulnerable and showed me who you were. So I'm proud to know you. I look forward to being friends with you for a long time. I look forward to these kind of conversations. If you become Uber successful commercially, which I'm sure you will, because I can just tell you're destined for that, I'll be happy for you.

1:14:25But if you don't and you choose a completely different path, I'm going to be just as proud to know you. I really appreciate that, man. You got nervous when you opened up. Do you know what I mean? You're like, oh God, you feel very naked. Yeah, I was with a founder yesterday. I met with a new company. And we had this really great thing. And I was giving him this kind of advice because he was pushing on me to give it to him. He's younger than me. I don't want to feel preachy. I don't want to feel like the old man. And at the end he said, he goes, just you know when I was doing my research, there are some people who say, you're a shark.

1:14:55They're like, you are, you're like an amazing deal maker, but you're a shark. You got to watch out for you. And I felt this need in a moment to get defensive, right? To be like, who are those people? And do they really know me? And I caught myself and I went, look, I don't know what to tell you. If they said that, they have a reason that they said that. I'm going to present myself the way I'm going to I'm gonna present myself to you and I know who I am. And I wouldn't have done that five years ago. Five years ago, I would have found myself for 20 minutes defending myself and saying, I wanna know who that person is and all this different stuff and who said that.

1:15:23And it doesn't matter because the truth is, we're all living our own experience and misinterpreting each other and sometimes we're telling the truth and sometimes people see truth in you that you don't wanna admit is there because you did fuck up or you were a little bit manipulative in that moment because you were scared yourself when you were dealing with your own stuff. And that's why I'm only cancel culture. I think we all have to give ourselves the grace to grow. If I could change drastically in a week, why can't we give someone an opportunity to change over years? And we do it with jail.

1:15:51Someone gets out of jail and they tell us the story of their life before they went to jail and they get out. We're like, so gracious. We're like, oh my god, this is such a beautiful story. Do you know this person was once in jail? It's a criminal and now look at them. But then we find something someone said on the internet 20 years ago and we act as if they aren't a new person today. Class 1 and then we'll do a quick file. You do many interviews. You've had many questions asked to you. Are there ever questions? Is there anything that I haven't asked that you think I should ask? Is there ever a question you wish someone asked to be that they don't ever ask you?

1:16:22I find often no one ever actually asked that because I'm always asked the same thing. Yeah, I get it. How do you get into the industry? I find it like different interviews go into different places like this one went to a very deep philosophical personal place. I think people were expecting and even my partners were expecting for you to go deep into my investment strategy. how I invest. I'm happy that we did this because I think this will actually make a bigger influence. Yeah, I actually think so. What do people have never asked me? No one has ever asked me if I find myself successful. Skated, do you find yourself successful?

1:16:55I think for the first time in my life I'm getting there. What's helping you get that? That when you just said scooter, do you find yourself successful? I'd actually prefer if you say Scott. Huh. How long have I got? How recent is that? It's only over the last two, three years. And I think I'm perfectly fine being called skirm very proud of the achievements of but when you asked me that question even I posted to you I felt this visceral reaction inside of me of then he's asking the wrong person I think now that I'm getting back to that version that I'm accepting that kid created all this becoming prouder of myself So yes, I think I'm getting there as I Embrace a piece.

1:17:32It's actually funny. It's a piece of advice that my grandmother gave me a long time ago And I've said it so many times, but I think this moment right now is the first time I truly understood it. She said, being mature is loving your 12 year old self. She goes, we get to about 12, we've got teenage years, we're like, think we're not cool, we go through all these different things, we start to create that shell. And when you become mature, you actually realize you were always good enough at 12 before you started going through that teenage insecurity stuff. This moment is when I realized like, I was Scott on, I think the more I accept that version of me, the more I accept the merchant that I'm proud of me exactly the way I am.

1:18:08Then I start to feel more successful and it's funny because all the things that I thought I had to build to be some successful had nothing to do with that. That's a big one. I'm really happy for you. That's a big thing. Do you wish people would not squeeze you to them? No. Like I said, I'm very proud of my life and what I've done and the things that I've been able to achieve and the things that I want to achieve. But I like the fact that for the first time in a very long time I like calling myself Scott. Not about what other people call me. I'm cool with either one. It's been a part of my journey, but I haven't been comfortable with that name probably since I was six years old.

1:18:41Three years ago, I would tell you I don't even like that name. And I shouldn't have been named that name as why I like Scooter because I never felt like I was a Scott. And I absolutely love my name now. We're going to do a quick fire on otherwise. I'm going to be completely unable to afford your brilliant therapy session. And so I say a statement or a quick question and you give me your 60 second thoughts. David Geffen is your mentor. What was the best advice he's given me. He's given me so many pieces of great advice. David Gaffin told me that in a hundred years no one's going to remember him so they sure as hell won't remember me so don't have an ego.

1:19:12And I think he's right in a hundred years they'll feel my impact but they won't remember me so don't treat myself like I'm something special. The other thing he said to me which was very powerful was if you have people calling you saying, oh you need to know this person's talking shit about you, you should probably remove those people from your life too. Because half the time they're talking about someone who you don't even see anymore or they're barely in your life and all they're doing is stirring up drama. One question I also loads of people, especially in this industry, I say, do you have a hair in the bad about me?

1:19:39Do you have a hair in the bad about me? It's almost like I'm seeking. Do you see what I mean? And they get, yes actually. And I'm like, oh, I knew it. I think we seek the things we're trying to justify. And if we feel bad about ourselves, deep down, we're trying to find someone to say it's true and then go fight it so we can beat ourselves. Yeah, I think financial safety is this big thing I think about quite often. I think you're right and the reason I say you're right is I don't think you need like that basal story I told you I didn't tell you that he said to me. I said what do you want out of life?

1:20:07Jeff said to me I want to evolve I want to be a better father I want to be a better friend I want to be more intimate and I realize you don't need two hundred billion dollars to start that right? It was like a cheat code he gave me But I will say this because I've seen these comments when I've talked about this on the online before but people will be like Oh, it's easy for you to say that because of your financial safety and I want to actually say I acknowledge that I think that there's something to be said when I told you earlier that money is an avenue to freedom if you let it be I have the financial freedom to take time off to go work on myself I acknowledge that my grandfather when he came to this country wasn't fully in that position His family needed him to go to work every single day But I think that's actually what the American dream was about putting your family in a better position So they have a better opportunity my grandfather came to this country my father and put me in a position So that I could go and do this and break generational patterns I don't think he put me in this position so I could go be rich.

1:20:58I think he put me in a position so we could have a better life For me not to acknowledge that would be ludicrous. I think it's better to acknowledge it But then people need to look at their own situation and really ask themselves do they have enough freedom to go take a week off once a year Most people will be able to say yes. Tell me Dave Claude once told me is it true you want to back up Don's? I I got hired when I was younger to dance at Bar Mitzvah's in weddings. I was at a teen club and some guy offered us and I could dance. Yeah, that is my first job in entertainment technically. And then I've danced in a couple of music videos for friends.

1:21:33But yes, I could pop and lock and stuff like that. Well, if you changed your mind on it in the last 12 months, actually, can I tell you something funny about the dancing? Yeah. So people can have a laugh. If you've ever seen the show Dave, that's an amazing show that we produce on FX with Lil Dickie, his character Dave. It's biggest comedy in FX history. and Benny Blanco's on the show. Benny Blanco's a very huge music producer. He's one of my best friends. We know each other since we were young. Benny saw a video that's on my Instagram of me dancing, like joking around. And he called me up and he goes, I was thinking about it.

1:22:03This is how Benny talks. He goes, I was thinking about it. I saw that video again and it blows my mind. And I was like, what was your mind? He's, you spent so much of your life training in basketball just to become a mediocre basketball player. If you would have just trained half of that at dancing, I think you'd be amazing. You're like, I'm available anytime. Tell me, what's the most painful lesson you've learned that you're also pleased to have learned? I think learning how to be present has been the most rewarding lesson of my life, which I'm still working on every single day. How I learned that lesson was the most painful thing I've ever gone through.

1:22:38What was the favorite memory from working with Justin? My favorite moment of working with Justin is not like the stage or the accolades. It was backstage moments, it was laughing together, it was watching him do make a wish, grants when no one knew he was doing it. It was when all the noise is gone and all the people talking about the years, all the stuff that has come into our lives when it's just us, like those moments, those are the ones I cherish the most and that's why we'll always have a special relationship because we created something very special together and he is one of the most talented people I've ever met in my life but also one of the bravest people I remember my life to be able to do that through his adolescence and then to transition into adulthood and become the man he's become and I think I'm always proud of him.

1:23:21What's the biggest challenge that you see in the incredible scaling trajectory of the people that you work with? We need to get Justin when you started and then many others when you start and then where they all stay. I think of Ariana because I just saw her yesterday for dinner and I'm only just using her as an example. This is someone who lost someone she loved. This is someone who had a very public breakup multiple times. This is someone who then had to live through a terrorist attack at her own show and this is someone who had a group in the public eye as a child and came from a home with two parents who weren't together and is one of the most talented people ever and she and I talked about it yesterday.

1:24:00One of the reasons why she feels so much is because I think when people are that talented, she can impersonate anybody. She feels everything. She's a true empath and I think the world can become very scary for someone who feels everything Especially when there's so much of a spotlight on the world back on you And I think we live in this world where everyone gets 140 characters and truth doesn't really matter Someone gets a little momentum with the story and it just starts to go and I think having to work with people in that situation And have them at a very young age have to learn that bravery is one inspiring, but also So it's hard to navigate at times and I was a kid.

1:24:36You have to understand, I was your age when I discovered Justin. I was 25. I was in my 20s when I discovered Ariana. How did you discover Ariana? She sang a cover of Justin's called Die in Your Arms. I saw it on YouTube and I was like, why is Nickelodeon not signing this girl? And then she was at Universal, was doing the deal and I was like, I need to work with this girl. And I found out she was actually trying to reach me but no one told me. So when I reached out there, we've been trying to reach you. And she actually sang Die in Your Arms, hoping to get my attention. I think people don't realize that these are human beings having a human experience and these are extraordinary times where social media is putting such a highlight on them and mental health is a real thing I think the surgeon general United States that the number one killer in the US right now is depression and it's mostly with young people So I think I was a kid when I was going through this you talk about mistakes I wish I understood more about mental health at that young age I wish I would have got the people I worked with more help But I didn't know and I didn't come from a family who I had therapy when you asked me the struggles and the things that I've witnessed It's the same thing we're discussing.

1:25:31The biggest struggles in life aren't getting on that stage or how do I make another hit song or how do I build a VCE or how do I build a company? It's how do I get through the suffering of the human experience? What would you say changed about the music industry? Oh, when I came in everyone was like, oh, you're crushing it, but this is a dead industry. And all the valuations were way, way down and everyone's out. You should have seen the years when we were selling cassette tapes and how many everyone was platinum every week. And then Danielette came along and transformed everything. And now it's the richest it's ever been thanks to his vision and people don't give him enough credit And that's why if you look at those early interviews Daniel will tell you like I was the manager It was like just send him my way.

1:26:09I was like I'm gonna say everyone was crappin on them And I would what did you see that others didn't when I was in college during Napster? So I knew it was coming. I knew they couldn't stop it again because I used it No, I haven't been in Napster. Yeah, I use Napster a lot. I was a big dispatch fan. Thanks to Napster Napster, but I knew it was coming. I understood it was coming and understood it couldn't be stopped number two I met Daniel because we were on a billboard list for 30 under 30 and I called everyone on the list introduced myself Because I wanted to know my peers and there was a guy in Sweden and I called him He's coming out late two weeks later and I said let's meet up and we became friends and him and Shaq didn't let me invest in Damn Spotify for another year.

1:26:41I was like begging Shaq and him like constantly. I love those guys and I'm very grateful I got in but what's the biggest change in the music industry is that it's become a global industry that now can be monetized and I think it's only gonna get bigger and bigger I think a company like Spotify is going to grow 10 % to 12 % year over year for the next 10 years You look at the numbers and the populations that they're going into. I just only see growth from here What would you most want an entrepreneur listening to this or a young person? This is young persons probably bad. I give them what we've just asked What would you most want them to take away from this channel?

1:27:12I already said it But I'll say it again no matter what journey you're on as an entrepreneur working Volunteer founder we've all talked about this we all talk amongst our friends of all different jobs we're all pretty much going through the same thing in different ways. It's almost like all the major religions talk about the same thing. If I could give anyone any takeaway from today, I hope that they don't take like me 39 years to get to a place where they take one week a year, no phone, no email, and do a week of self -work. If you start that now, you'll be so far ahead of me. Final one, you put this one on me, I'm gonna turn it on you.

1:27:48Next 5 years fee, why do we want that? I think for the first time in my life I don't know and I'm excited about that. I know that I'm going to be heavily involved in my children's lives. I know that I'm going to keep working on myself and I think for the very first time I have no idea what it looks like and I guess I'm going to have a little bit of faith. Thank you so much for doing this. I've never quite been so open. I'm slightly terrified of that. I haven't been so open but honestly this has been shows like this and why I love what I do. You know you ask what gets you having this is why I love this so much.

1:28:18So thank you so much and this This has been so special. I am incredibly grateful we did this and I'm glad that we had that conversation on the phone that day and I got to meet you and I'm looking forward to watching not only your success but your real success as you continue growing. You got a friend in me so we can bitch to each other when we're scared. Do you want to say a funny man? It's that normally there's like great and then you switch and what I mean by the switch is the brown Harry to the Harry. Do you see what I mean? And literally normally I do a clap and it's like great. It's just kind of honestly this feels weird because this because you can't go to the brand.

1:28:53Yeah, there's no switch It's not like I'm moving between characters. Does that make sense? Yeah, because you don't have to yeah And I think when you don't have to I don't have to but I also think I said something to you I don't want to assume anything, but I think I said something to you. There's different than what you said You said I just want someone to say I'm proud of me And I told you you didn't have to do anything for me to be proud to be your friend and that you don't need to switch and and I'm really happy that you're asking those questions and wanting to figure that out now instead of 14 years from now.

1:29:22Yeah, I should do the half -time. I've been a little bit sick. Well, I lived sick before. I told you I was just sighted on two pieces. Oh, four or five years I backed out. People were telling me I should do it. My friends who loved me. Remember you said, you people who is there for you? I looked back now at how many friends saw me and told me to do that. And here I was thinking no one's here for me. I just ignored them because I didn't want to see them. And now when I finally did it, I look back and realized how many beautiful people were trying to tell me they were there for me And I didn't want to listen.

1:29:51And you didn't want to because you was scared? Just a little. Yeah, I thought that was in the matrix. I was narrative was running. And strength. And I was just like, I'm good. I got my plan. I'm doing this. I'm good. I'm happy this. Because I told myself like this is as long as I'm doing this. I'm okay. The universe was like, eh, and it kicked my ass. Thank God it did. I think you'll agree with me in saying that was one of the most special shows we've done. I want to say huge thank you to Scooter, he's become a friend in the process. I want to thank him for making the space to have this conversation.

1:30:19It was as I said, a nerve -wracking one for me to be as open as I was in this. So huge thanks to Scooter for making it so special. If you'd like to see more from us of course you can on 20VC .com. You can see the whole video on YouTube by searching for 20VC. But before we leave you today, are you building enough conviction to outpace other investors in this changing ecosystem? Tegas helps VCs get under the hood of their investments quicker. a map of all the markets with deeper research, monitor the financial health of portfolio companies and even source new deals. Tegas is trusted by top firms like Red Point and Spark Capital for everything from expert calls and transcripts to quickly surfacing insights across filings, comps and benchmarking.

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