Smashd Vol.1

The state of music in
the Internet Age

by Bob Lefsetz
Features:
Dealmatic with Nas
Nasty Gal on the new fashion empire
One-on-one with The Dalai Lama
SMASHD is a new voice in tech, culture, and hustle.

In todays world, everything is moving at the speed
of light information, culture, our whole lives.
Whether youre the next tech star or the next pop
star, you have to grind harder than ever before.
SMASHD is a new platform, covering the next
generation of innovators and icons. Were a
media company that brings voices from every
end of the spectrum together a place where
artists are hustlers and hustlers are artists.
Here youll find the best interviews weve done so far
this year with musicians, tech innovators, startup
founders, tastemakers, and cultural luminaries.
Publisher: Atom Factory, Troy Carter

Editorial Director: Lori Kozlowski
Editorial Staff: Sarah LaBrie, Nneoma Akubuilo
Contributing Writers: Michelle Edgar, Bob Lefsetz,
Adam Popescu, Ian Cohen, Michele Wojciechowski
Photography: Getty Images
Design: Don Baker, The Good Word
Cover Design: Don Baker, Kristina Collantes, Getty Images
Creative Directors: Rob English, Reggieknow
Marketing Director: Brandon Hairston
Business Development and Advertising: Kai Wright
For advertising inquiries, please contact: advertise@smashd.co
For inquiries about editorial content or to be featured in
future volumes of Smashd: editor@smashd.co
Copyright 2015 Atom Factory, LLC
Printed in Canada
Find us:
web:smashd.co
twitter: @smashdco
instagram: @smashdco
facebook.com/smashdco
IN THIS ISSUE
4. Dealmatic
Legendary rapper Nas explains his move into the tech
startup and venture capital game
50. Violin Video Queen

Lindsey Stirling from YouTube star to pop star
54. Best of Both Worlds
Musician D.A. Wallach on the music and tech
industries
8. Boss Up
Nasty Gals Sophia Amoruso on how to build a
fashion empire
57. LRNG
The evolution of learning with John Legend
12. Word To The Dalai Lama

The spiritual leader opens up in a rare Q&A
60. In Your Head

To help others, actor-writer Wil Wheaton talks about
depression and anxiety
16. Has EDM Reached Its Peak?

Is the electronic moneymaker slowing down? Or will it
keep going?
20. COVER STORY: The Streaming War Is On
An op-ed on the state of music in the Internet Age
62. Just For Kicks

Google Ventures managing partner David Krane on
his love for sneakers and startups
26. A-List: Whats On Our Radar

Products, apps, and inventions that made us take
notice
66. The Master Cleanse

In a world of digital overload, people are seeking Zen
in various ways from juicing to inbox zero
29. Run The World

Women in tech and business on reaching success
68. A New Code Of The Streets

#YESWECODE is an effort, created by Van Jones,
to get underserved communities into tech
32. Dreamworks
How millennials and tech are redefining the American
Dream
70. Thats Genius

The Internets favorite lyrics site (formerly Rap
Genius) grows up
35. Off The Record with Steve Aoki

The cake-throwing DJ and entrepreneur talks shop
74. Finding Inner Peace Online

Deepak Chopra on achieving balance in a constantly
connected world
38. Going Over Board

Olympian Shaun White on what it takes to win
76. Jail Hack

A startup called Pigeonly is helping inmates
communicate with family
42. Ladies and Gentlemen, Quincy Jones

The legend reflects on his career in music
46. Still Undefeated
An interview with street style entrepreneur
Eddie Cruz
78. Doing Moonshots With Astro Teller

The Google exec on taking big risks
80. Future Punk
Punk band Refused on moving forward
48. Sound Investments

Linkin Park on their new venture capital fund and
startups they love
84. Trap King

Five questions for Fetty Wap
DEALMATIC
NAS IN THE TECH GAME
BY LORI KOZLOWSKI
free online collection of icons for anyone to use to

better communicate) to Tradesy (helping women to
sell the clothes already in their closets) to Coinbase
(a Bitcoin startup) to RadPad (a service helping
millennials and others to find housing more easily),
among many other young companies their portfolio
continues to grow.
In 2015, its been no secret that its not just venture

capitalists who are infusing cash into brand new
companies. Celebrities, actors, and rappers have
become serious about the startup investing world.
For rapper Nas, he finds it inspiring to believe in
things that no one else has much faith in. To take a
chance on the unknown.
They are pitched 100 to 150 companies per month.

They end up meeting about one third of those
companies, and likely invest in 1% to 3% of them in
total.
Its incredibly rewarding to bet on someone that most

wouldnt, he said. I was passed on a lot in the early
days of my rap career and fought it through to get
where I am.
Saleh explained, In short, we basically say no

most of the time, but thats because weve noticed
that having a tech startup has gone mainstream, so
were seeing a lot of low-quality deals. People look
at having an app as a short-cut to get rich versus an
opportunity to believe in something no one else does
and succeed.
Nasir Nas Jones, 41, grew up in Queens, New

York, and after his 1994 debut album, Illmatic, he
cemented himself in the lexicon of hip hop greats.
He has since sold over 25 million records worldwide.
In the case of investing in startups, which Jones
began doing alongside his manager, Anthony Saleh,
28, in 2010, he seeks founders, companies, and
products that help the everyman.
RadPad, a company that they put money into in

2014, that helps people find housing, is a good
example of a service they think can help a massive
number of consumers.
After two years of investing, the pair formalized their

investment efforts, when they founded their Los
Angeles-based venture firm QueensBridge Venture
Partners in 2012.
Millennials need something more consumer-friendly

to them. RadPad has done a great job of creating
a marketplace that fits that. Over time, we believe
everyone will migrate over to the site as a destination
to lease property and pay rent. RadPad is taking a
pretty broken model and fine-tuning it, said Jones.
We started investing because we wanted to be

surrounded by the smartest people in the world. We
thought investing in tech was the right way to do
that, said Jones.
What They Seek In Startup Founders
Has music impacted his investment style?One might

think that due to his place in the music world that
his fund only looks for music tech or technology that
reshapes the music industry in some way.
As for startup founders they love, they look for

personality and grit.
I love so many founders. I consider most my friends,

but two that stick out to me are James Beshara from
Crowdtilt and Tracy Dinuzio from Tradesy. James is
one of the most captivating guys Ive ever met in
[Music] hasnt affected it or influenced it as much as a room. His goal was to turn crowdfunding into an
everyday tool and he did it gracefully, said Saleh.
most think. Weve been really focused more on how
to make life easier or cost efficient for the everyday
Tracy is a warrior. She actually defines how we look
person, said Jones. Tech that speaks to that is
at companies. Her idea was strong, the marketplace
what we gravitate toward.
was massive, and the founder had a real story to tie
the idea and marketplace together. She found a way
Making life easier for people is a keystone of the
to get ahead of the competition, despite being the
QueensBridge investment thesis overall. Thats
least funded (at that time). Helping her was one of
reflected in more than 40 startups that the fund has
the biggest accomplishments in my career, Saleh
already invested in.
continued.
Ranging from Dropbox (simplified data storage) and
Regarding their investment in a Bitcoin startup
Lyft (alternative cab service) to The Noun Project (a
called Coinbase, Jones not only noted the founder,
To the contrary, hes more concerned with looking
outward versus inward.
SMASHD.CO
UNTIL LIFE IS EASY, WE

ARE ALWAYS IN NEED OF
DISRUPTION.
The pair has been bullish on the sharing economy for
a long time. (The sharing economy is defined as an
economic system built around the sharing of human
and physical resources; startups that fall into this
category include Lyft, Airbnb, and others focused on
sharing resources people already have.)
but a cultural shift he has noticed that may not have

existed five years ago, or even two.
I really like Fred Ehrsam from Coinbase. Hes the
CEO of a major Bitcoin company and a die-hard hip
hop fan. My God, the world has changed, said Jones.
Prices for everyday items have been skyrocketing and

we need to operate better as a community, which
means sharing resources and services, said Saleh.
What Theyre Looking For Now: Education, Finance,

Healthcare
At its core, the best technology helps people to do
things faster, easier, or in general makes life less
hectic.
As startups have become popular in the current

economy, thousands have cropped up nationwide.
Due to the high valuations of many startupssome
valued at over $50 billion dollarsand all the
venture capital that is still being infused into the
market, we asked the pair if they thought we are
experiencing a tech bubble (i.e. an unsustainable
market rise due to increased speculation in
technology stocks).
For Queensbridge, technology isnt necessarily about

systems or engineering. Its about people.In finance
startups, they see a win for the people and their
money. In healthcare, they see more ways to heal and
care for others.
Im big on tools that help the everyday man or
woman better themselves, said Jones. Im really
excited about industries such as education and
banking being revolutionized by software, which feels
like a real revolution for the people in a lot of ways.
How high will the dollar figures and valuations

go? Will the bubble burst? Is there a point to more
and more investment? Is there an end to all of this
innovation?
Jones answer went deeper than metrics and dollars.
For him, it comes down to how we live: Until life is
easy, we are always in need of disruption.
Saleh added, Im obsessed with the concept of

crypto currency. Weve actively been investing in
Bitcoin for two years. Its obviously early days, so
the stock is very volatile, but we believe as folks
are educated about the concept of cryptocurrency,
Bitcoin will start to stabilize.
With healthcare, as much as weve done to find cures
for diseases and illnesses, there is so much more
room for improvement and new discoveries,
said Saleh.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
BOSS UP
NASTY GALS SOPHIA AMORUSO ON
HER JOURNEY FROM MISFIT TO MAVEN
BY ADAM POPESCU
10
In a head-to-toe trench coat and vintage dress, dripping

in Hermes, a sparkly diamond engagement ring, and
Christian Louboutin heels, Sophia Amoruso doesnt look
like the typical startup founder.
company in a place like this. Or the head of a company

with more than one person. Its a different job every year.
I had the title of CEO until [this year] and every year
was a completely different job, even though I had the
same title.
But her moves and success are text bookeven if her

pedigree wasnt.
Q: How does it feel to have

written a bestseller?
At 17, she left her San Diego home, rebellious, idealistic,

and intent on supporting herself through dumpster
diving and shoplifting. And it worked. To a point. But
she ended up getting caught for her five-finger habit, a
moment she describes as a wake up call.
Amoruso: Im really, really proud of the book. And Im so

glad I was able to finally articulate what the purpose of
Nasty Gal iswhat the mission is, our origin story, why
were different from the average brand thats just selling
clothes. I think we have a lot more to do in the world. I
didnt expect to inspire as many girls as I did. But its so
rewarding. Taking my mom on the book tour alone, thats
all you have to do, and youre successful. Selling a lot of
copies is great, but having something physical, a book on
a shelf for future generations is such an accomplishment.
And I didnt finish college. Im not good at finishing
things. Im not finished with Nasty Gal.
In 2006, at only 22, Amoruso discovered the power of

the Internet, selling vintage clothes on Ebay.
That experience turned her life around, and with her
first sale, Nasty Gal came kicking and screaming into the
world. In those early days, Amoruso operated solo, out
of her aunts guest house.
Now, 9 years later, her company has transformed into a
$100 million dollar machine with over 350 employees,
multiple retail stores, and millions in venture capital. Its
a journey the 31 year-old shared in her 2014 bestselling
memoir, Girlboss.
Im starting to write a second book. Its going to be really

different. Girlboss kind of came out, and it was my story,
it was anecdotes, it was all the stuff I learned, sort of
me babbling into a recorder, and transcribing it. I had to
write a proposal to sell it. The second book I didnt have
to write a proposal. Now Im like, what is it?
We chatted with her about her road to being an

entrepreneur.
Q: Whats been the biggest

challenge?
Q: Do you feel like the

startup world is a boys club?
Amoruso: Running a business at scale. I dont want to

say it was easy going from 0 to $100 million, but its a
completely different beast running a business at scale.
Amoruso: It is mostly men. But I dont walk into a room

and say things like Im a woman in a room full of men. I
think if people are smart and good at what they do, and
you demand respect by the way you present yourself,
you wont be treated like a girl in the room.
When I sense things that need to be done, or we need

to improve our customer experience, or something
happened in the store and we want to institutionalize
a better way of doing it, its not me doing it myself
anymore. Or me and people who are an extension of me
in a room that Im constantly talking to.
Q: Do you feel different,

in terms of the way youre
perceived, now that youve
had success?
People are so many arm spans away from me. It takes so

many people to get something done, so I find that a little
frustrating because I am very good at working solo. And
thats why I put my president in the role of CEO. Part of
the reason why. Shes an amazing leader and born to
do that.
Amoruso: Extremely. Being the head of a company

when youre working out of a pool house in your aunts
backyard is really different than being the head of a
I want to lead our customers. In some way, I left off
11
SMASHD.CO
DONT GO SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS, LIVE THE

QUESTIONS. YOU LIVE THE QUESTIONS AND THE
ANSWERS WILL FIND YOU.
12
in your life right now?
personally when I started this business when I was 22.

Ive become this mutant for the business in a way. So I
really relate to the girl that is in her early 20s figuring
it out.
Amoruso: How do I take the success that weve already

had and build it into something thats huge? And
continue to have the relationship with our customers
that weve always had, when I cant be the one to do
everything? Thats a big question, because it feels like a
really personal exchange.
Q: What would you tell that

girl? How do you step in
the entrepreneur world and
seize your dream?
When you have a customer that is loyal and you get it

wrong, youre like the best friend who stabbed them in
the back. Its not like: Its whatever, that sales associate
wasnt awesome. Its: Nasty Gal, you failed me.
Amoruso: I think its step-by-step. Trying things and

seeing what works. If people think what youre doing
sucks, it probably does. But dont listen to the wrong
people. Dont get advice on mining gemstones from
a butcher. Find people who have done it or watch
interviews of them online.
Its really intense. If we dont get it right, our customer is

way harder on us than someone walking into a Sephora.
And I think they do a good job, dont get me wrong, but
its a different experience.
Q: Where do you want to

take your brand?
I watched round tables at Stanford on how to pitch

an investor. Everything that you need to learn, even
if you have no friends, is on YouTube, on Google, in a
book. The investment youll make buying 10 books on
Amazon is so much less than youll lose making your own
mistakes. Learning other peoples mistakes is a good
thing to try to do. The universe wants you to make your
own, too, theres no way to avoid that. When you make
your own mistakes, you allow room for that. It takes risk.
Amoruso: I just want to be remembered for something

good. I dont care what it is. I can tell you in a perfect
world it would be inspiring women to discover their
ability to create an awesome life for themselves.
And feeling good when you get dressed is the very
beginning of that.
Q: What were your

mistakes?
Some people think thats vain, but I think we all want

to feel our best when we leave the house. Its very old
fashioned, but I think thats what Nasty Gal is about.
Thats the foundation for going out and creating an
awesome life for yourself.
Amoruso: Being a shoplifter didnt work. It wasnt

sustainable. I was a kid. The first stuff I sold on the
Internet was stolen. I was trying to pay my rent and not
work very hard. But I realized that equation doesnt
work. If Id been in school and followed everyones
advice, I dont think I would have -- there were things
I learned entrepreneurially through doing things that
maybe were not so great like that. When you do things
rather than just take advice, you learn. It gets baked into
your DNA in a different way than reading a book. But I
think you can learn on all fronts. Im a very experiential
learner, which is why I was too impatient for college. I
like interacting.
There is no playbook for that. Debunking the programs

and all the sh*t that weve been sold for what the
trajectory is, and what success even meanssuccess
doesnt even mean making money. Success is what you
win. If it is making money for you, sure youre successful.
But success comes in so many different forms.
Theres a Rainer Maria Rilke quote, and I forget exactly
what it is, but its live the questions. Dont go searching
for answers, live the questions. You live the questions
and the answers will find you.
Q: Whats the big question
13
WORD TO THE
DALAI LAMA
The Nobel Laureate and spiritual
leader opens up in a rare Q&A
By Adam Popescu
14
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu, all these major

religionstheir main message is love. In order to practice
love seriously, it is necessary to have tolerance. All
the religious traditions that carry these messages are
actually based on basic human values, or secular ethics.
Though they come from different religions, different
races, different nationalities, and different social
backgrounds, all human beings are the same.
This July, the Dalai Lama turned 80. To celebrate,

His Holiness went to a three-day Global Compassion
Summit in Irvine, California.
We spoke with the spiritual leader about the power of
meditation, his legacy, and spirituality. He was not shy
about sharing his wisdom.
Q: How do you maintain compassion?
Build happy individuals first, then a happy family, then

a happy community, then a happy nation, then finally a
happy humanity. We need these inner values. Once we
educate peoplethe younger generationI think the
world will become a big human family. Its not an option.
If we are indifferent, all the same problems will remain.
Dalai Lama: We all experience the same situations. We

all have a lot of problems. We all want a happy life, but
sometimes emotions disturb the mind.
Therefore, we have to think: How do we bring inner
peace? We utilize intelligence. Mans basic nature is
compassion, and his physical condition is very much
related to his peace of mind. A calm mind is the basis of
a moral and spiritual life practiceif it is taken seriously.
The 20th century became a century of bloodshed.

Now in this 21st century, we can make a new effort and
create a new vision. Since we human beings created the
problems we have now, we must make an effort and work
hard to fix them. Its our responsibility. Theres no better
way to offer gratitude to the creator.
We are lacking a sense of the oneness of humanity, but

all religions are about the oneness of humanity. We must
make an effort to create happiness within humanity.
Thats the best way to worship or be grateful to God or
the creator.
Q: Whats the best way to know God?

Dalai Lama: It is up to individual. We are more seriously
concerned about todays world. As for the next life,
thats the individuals business. Those people who
receive a maximum sort of benefit from the concept of
God or a creator? Thats wonderful. We all, in a sense,
were created by God, so we all have some kind of stock
of Gods grace. That brings us confidence, and also gives
us more enthusiasm to help our brothers and sisters.
Thats the way to make offerings to God. That and our
intelligence are our best gifts to God.
Then, we must place an emphasis on own inner potential

and positive interactions. That is called karma. Receiving
more affection means getting more inner peace. Without
affection, it is difficult to develop trust. Without trust, it
is difficult to develop genuine friendships. Family creates
meaningful values, but if you lack trust in your family
members, youll never have a happy family. Use common
sense.
If you consider other human beings part of the same
human family, then immediately that helps our inner
qualities. We should not be slaves to the nation or to
technology or material things. We must keep our unique
values. A machine cant show affection or courage. Love
and kindness are human values that should be prized
above technology or material things.
Q: What has meditation taught you?

Dalai Lama: I always get up in the morning at 3 oclock.
After some recitation and prayer, I work on analytical
meditation, analyzing matters of world and thinking
about infinite altruism. That brings me inner peace and is
an immense help to maintain my physical health, except
that my knees are a problem. My compassion failed to
bring any help to my knees!
Q: How do you deal with anger?

Dalai Lama: Some scientists say constant anger, fear,
and hatred seeps into the human system. If you have
a more compassionate heart and mind, your physical
[being] gets better. A healthy mind is very important for
a healthy body, and everybody cares about good health.
Another important thing is the comfort of emptiness and

the absence of independent existence, which is an idea
thats very similar to quantum physics.
There is an immense benefit in shaking off destructive
feelings, such as anger. When we develop anger, the
object that we feel angry at appears very negative, but
actually, 90% of that negativeness is mental progression.
If you have a short temper, anger occasionally comes.
But ceaseless anger? Never.
Women care about having a beautiful face. But no

matter how beautiful your face is, its no longer beautiful
when its angry. External beauty is important, but innerbeauty is more important, isnt it?
15
SMASHD.CO
Build happy individuals, happy family, happy community,

happy nation, then finally happy humanity. We need these
inner values. Once we educate people, the younger
generation, I think the world can be a big human family.
Its not an option. If we are indifferent, all these problems
will remain. The Dalai Lama
16
Q: Whats the role of the media in shaping perception?
Meditation is an immense help to gaining a deeper

understanding about reality.
Dalai Lama: Media people have a very, very important

role to educate people. Its your responsibility to tell
people stories. Also, at the same time, you should
show that we have positive potentialif we pay more
attention.
I always consider myself a human being. I never consider

myself a Buddhist, or Asian, or Tibetan, or particularly
His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. I never do that. If I place
too much emphasis on the fact that Im Buddhist or that
Im Tibetan, its too difficult. Particularly, if I focus too
much on the fact that I am Dalai Lama. When I consider
myself from the point of view of other people, that
actually creates a kind of prison. I am the same as other
human beings. When I present myself as a human being
instead of someone special, communication becomes
much easier.
All our manmade problems are linked to our emotions.

Our dominant brain is dominated by negative emotions
like anger, fear and jealousy. Dont stabilize yourself with
injections or drugs or alcohol. Since these destructive
emotions are within the mind, we must fix them within
the mind. We all have the potential there. How do we
handle destructive emotions? It has nothing to do with
religion. Nothing to do with the next life. It simply has to
do with how to be a happy individual with a happy family
and a happy face.
Q: How is laughter medicine?

Dalai Lama: If you show me your face very seriously,
then I will also eventually be very serious. But we are
human beings. Human beings smile. Brothers and sisters,
fundamentally we are the same. You want a happy life,
I want a happy life. Laughing wholeheartedly creates a
positive effect for our health and our minds. Genuine
smiles, genuine laughter, comes from friendship. The
smile is the expression of respect, love and affection.
Affection comes if you have a genuine concern over
others well-being. Basic human nature is gentleness and
love and kindness.
So media people have a very important sort of role.

Inform people that there is potential, there is hope. We
must carry determination with full enthusiasm. Thats
important. Remoralize helpless people.
Q: What goals do you have left to accomplish?
Dalai Lama: My number one commitment is as I already
discussed: The promotion of human values for seven
billion human beings. The second is religious harmony,
and the third is the Tibetan problem. My commitment is
to the preservation of Tibetan culture, which I describe
as a culture of peace, a culture of nonviolence, and,
ultimately, a culture of compassion. That kind of culture
is worthwhile to preserve, irrespective whether or not
youre a believer or a non-believer.
Q: Has the world changed for the better?

Dalai Lama: I think people are really fed up with
violence. Look at the European Union. In the early part
of 20th century, for example, France and Germany were
enemies. That kind of attitude has completely changed.
For the last thirty years, Ive had serious discussions with
a number of scientists in cosmology, neurobiology, and
physicsparticularly quantum physics. The Buddhist
concept of emptiness is very similar to that of quantum
physics and is very useful. As a Buddhist, learning
from scientific findings is wonderful. Cosmology, the
Big Bang, and all of this is wonderful. Although some
Buddhist texts mention these things, frankly speaking,
they are quite outdated. Then psychology. Thats one of
my commitments. Then the Tibetan environment. China,
India, Pakistan, I think over 1 billion lives depend on this.
Things are changing for the better. Consider ecological

thinking. In the early 20th century, nobody talked about
the importance of ecology. Now people speak with a
deeper understanding about the importance of ecology.
Now theyre making an effort. I think science and the
mind, previously something separate, are now closer.
America, no matter how many drawbacks it has, is still
the leading nation of the free world. In Washington,
I said that I do not admire American military power
or nuclear power. I really do admire the American
concepts of liberty, freedom, and democracy. These
are very important. In order to lead the free world, you
should pay more attention to these fundamental values.
Sometimes, the American mind is a little bit isolationist.
You must open to the whole world, and realize that it is
the same world, if I may say so.
My own insignificant, small contribution, is the

promotion of human value. I feel also that Ive made
some kind of contribution that will lead to a closer
relationship between modern scientists and Buddhist
science.
17
HAS EDM REACHED ITS PEAK?

Is the electronic moneymaker slowing down as musicians pick up
instruments againor will it keep going strong?
By Sarah LaBrie
18
19
A few years ago, EDM faced a tipping point. Super

DJ Deadmau5 hadoutedhimself and fellow industry
elites as nothing but button-pushers.
average music lover.

This audience is very young and very tech savvy.
Theyre using computers and devices to not only
consume music content, but to create content, he
said.
The most famous beat drop in the country was

located 2 minutes and 45 seconds into Taylor
SwiftsI Knew You Were Trouble. From the
sidelines, critics bemoaned the mainstreamification
of dance music, gleefullypredictingthatthat the
genre would soon topple under the weight of its own
hype.
But as EDM and technology evolve side by side, are

they leaving behind the artists and fans who helped
found the genre in the first place?
Electric Slide: Away From Electric, Back To Acoustic
In 2014, Forbesten highest-paid EDM artists(a

list that didnt even exist four years prior) brought
in a combined $268 million, with Calvin Harris
out-earning both Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. EDM, it
turned out, wasnt going anywhere.
Musician Hunter Brown is a member of the electronic

jam band Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9). Founded
in 1997, STS9 won a devoted fan base among
festivalgoers for its ambitious live shows and smooth
digital sound.
It was only transitioningthe beats growing sharper,

the sound clearer, the tickets more expensive and
the paychecks much bigger. By now, it seems, the
once-marginalized genre has made its way through
the boom-bust cycle and come out on the other side
as pop.
But lately, Brown said, he and his colleagues have

found themselves disappointed in festival culture.
I devour music on a constant basis, and its really
hard for me to tell some of this stuff apart. You go
to festivals and you dont know if youre listening
to a particular artist or some other DJ playing that
artist, or a different person altogether who happens to
sound like them.
Or rather pop 2.0.Because where Madonna and

Britney Spears depend on album sales, radio play,
and billboard chart hits to thrive, EDMs rise has
also spawned a new metric for measuring cultural
relevance. Popular tracks make their way into the
world primarily through music sharing and streaming
sites like SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify, and
creative success is determined as much by Twitter
followers, Facebook fans and likes as it is by ticket
sales.
Arlo Tobin, a 25-year-old YouTube content manager

for the licensing network AudioMicro Inc. is a
dedicated fan of Zedd, Justice, and Daft Punk. This
past year, Tobin taught himself to make electronic
music using Ableton Live, the same cheap, readily
available software used by EDM demi-god Skrillex.
He regularly visits Beatport and posts his own tracks
to Soundcloud. He said hes invested $15,000 into
his newfound hobby.
Investor and entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillermans

SFX Entertainment emerged in 2012 to capitalize
on EDM during its transitional phase. The worlds
largest global producer of EDM shows, SFX
Entertainments properties include famous music
festival Tomorowland, as well as online music store
and sharing site Beatport.
Its fans like Tobinyoung, positioned squarely in

the millennial demographic, and willing and able
to spend money on the music and gear he loves
that have helped EDM become an industry worth
between$6.2and$20 billion dollars.
SFXs mission is to further electronic music culture

by providing our fans with the best possible live
experiences, music discovery, and connectivity with
other fans and events. (Though Sillerman most
recentlyproposed to take the company private, and
the companys share price has been down by 40% in
the past year.)
But today, Tobin said, when he listens to Beatports

Top 100 tracks, many of the songs sound almost
exactly alike.
Some of them are just so damn formulaic, but
theyre popular anyway, because theyve got so much
energy behind them. It might just be a zeitgeist
thing, I dont know. Maybe this is our Beatlemania,
Tobin said.
According to SFX Head of Studios Peter Martin, EDM

fans are more receptive to new technology than the
20
PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO BECOME MORE MUSICAL

THEYRE GOING BACK TO KEYBOARDS AND
GUITARS AND DRUMS...WEVE ALL FOUND IT EASY
TO NEGLECT OUR INSTRUMENTS DURING THIS
TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFT. BUT IT GETS STALE WHEN
EVERYBODY IS USING THE SAME SAMPLE PACKS.
Echoing Tobin, Brown noted that in 2014 he and his
colleagues found themselves taking a step back, and
reconnecting to the roots that originally drew them to
the genre.
thousands in a giant flashing pyramid, paving the way

for the innovative computer-driven performances for
which the industry is known.
But Daft Punks latest album,Random Access
Memories, mutes the bands trademark electronic
sound in favor of strings, trumpets, real drums, choir
performances, and vocal assists from Panda Bear,
Julian Casablancas, and Pharrell Williams.
People are trying to become more musical theyre

going back to keyboards and guitars and drums. More
and more, I see guys who came out as EDM artists
doing the band thing, said Brown.
He went on, Weve all found it easy to neglect our
instruments during this technological shift. But it
gets stale when everybody is using the same sample
packs, and thats where EDM has been for a while.
I think thats what people are trying to figure out.
We really felt that the computers are not really

music instruments, and we were not able to express
ourselves using a laptop. We tried, but were not
successful, Daft Punk toldBillboard.
Even without wall-to-wall digital underpinnings,
Random Access Memories debuted to near-universal
acclaim, hit number one on the Billboard 200 and
won several Grammy awards, including Best Album of
the Year.
Back To The Beginning

If recent albums are any indication, hes right.
Deadmau5s 2014 releaseWhile (1<2)includes
lengthy piano ballads. Aviciis biggest hit to
date,Wake Me Up, features banjo and acoustic
guitar.
Music, like all art, tends to be cyclical. Technologys

rapid evolution makes EDMs potential seem
limitless, but that doesnt mean listeners and
fans wont eventually abandon the sounds of the
technological in favor of drum kits and acoustic
guitars.
EDM itself is a marketing term, popularized within

the last decade or so as a catchall for a type of club
music built out of samples and beats that rose to
popularity in Detroit in the 1980s. The genre blew up
in European dance clubs, only to return to the U.S in
the 1990s in various forms ranging from techno to
house to dub-step.
What STS9, Daft Punk, and their colleagues seem to

be doing is playing the long game: Returning to the
instruments that taught them to love music in the
first place, while they wait for the rest of the world to
catch up.
Many trace the origins of the current EDM

boom toDaft Punks legendary 2006 Coachella
performance, where the duo played to a crowd of
21
SMASHD.CO
THE STREAMING WAR IS ON

An op-ed on the state of music in the Internet Age
By Bob Lefsetz
22
23
Illustration Credit: Kristina Collantes & Don Baker
available, and it was free. It was a heyday for fans,

stuff surfaced that had been buried for decades, if
not forever. Used to be labels wouldn't distribute that
which did not sell tonnage, retail didn't want to stock
it, there was limited floor space. But online, you
could find the hits of the 1930s right next to the hits
of today. This was when customers disconnected from
the industry, and it's only with streaming that they've
returned.
Streaming already won, its just a matter of dividing

the spoils.
Welcome to the Internet, where the rights holders
are always a couple of years and a couple of changes
behind their customers. That's right, every innovation
has come from outsiders and the rights holders
have screamed bloody murder whilst being dragged
reluctantly into the future and the truth is there's
more money in music than ever before, it's just not in
recordings.
After Napster was foiled we had KaZaA. And then

lockers like Megaupload. Sure, you've heard about
the iTunes Music Store, but that was a drop in the
bucket compared to what was acquired illegally.
But iTunes declared the album dead. That's right,
the long player that you could sell for up to $18
retail. Now people paid 99 cents a track. And then a
buck twenty nine. The landscape was changing and
the labels neither liked it nor understood it, and it's
laughable that rights holders want to return to the
iTunes Store era -- it never really worked, but
Spotify does.
If you're a superstar, you can charge up the yin-yang

for concert tickets, and corporations are lining up
to pay artists for sponsorships and endorsements,
assuming you're a household name. If you're not,
welcome to America, where the rich get richer and
the poor die trying.
How did we get here? How did we go from a
controlled system to one in which the old guard
keeps yelling someone moved their cheese?
That's right, Spotify killed piracy dead. Did more to

get rid of illegality than any lawsuit. Now it didn't pay
to steal.
Credit Napster. Which the rights holders fought with

lawsuits. That never works. Hell, the labels even
sued their customers, the file-traders themselves. If
only labels had monetized Napster... But the rights
holders want to give nothing up, they want all the
money, as they screw the artists their profits are
made upon. The music business is street, tech is
intellectual.
But Warner Brothers Records refused to license

Spotify in the U.S. for years, and in the meantime,
YouTube snuck in. That's right, forget what you hear
about Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Apple Music, it's
YouTube where most people stream their music.
Music is cloudy, tech is transparent. And the two

have been fighting for nearly two decades. This is
the battle we see right now, streaming services grant
rights holders 70% of the revenue, but artists see
little of it.
And the reason they stream is because of bandwidth.

Want innovation? Lobby for high speed Internet, it's
amazing what it delivers. First music, on YouTube,
and then movies, on Netflix.
So now the industry has a problem: How're you gonna
get people to pay when they can get it for free?
But now we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Used to be an artist had to be on a major label,
otherwise you couldn't get any notice, never mind
traction. The labels controlled radio and retail, and
if you don't think distribution is king, you think
your lemonade stand is gonna put Tropicana out of
business.
Talk to Lucian Grainge of Universal Music and he'll

tell you you've got to kill free. That never works,
not online. The way you get people to pay is to sell
convenience. Streaming is what people want, they
just don't know it yet.
Now you're confused. Welcome to the debate. There's
so much misinformation in the sphere that the media
can't even get it straight.
The CD was introduced in the 1980s. Retail prices

went up, royalties went down and the labels were
rolling in dough. Get a video on MTV and then radio
follows suit and you can sell 10 million discs at $10
wholesale, what a wonderful business, one everybody
who made a cent back then wants to return to,
however delusional that might be.
Let's start with streaming itself.

Don't conflate Pandora with Spotify. Pandora is
streaming RADIO! It's ad-supported and free to the
end user. You don't get to pick and choose what you
Napster flattened distribution. Everybody's work was
24
want to hear and you have limited skips. Pandora

pays low publishing royalties and that needs to be
changed, but what goes on with Pandora is not
what goes on with Spotify. Except that Spotify has
streaming radio too.
Now your head is spinning.

But the truth is Tim Westergren did such a good job
of selling Pandora that customers lapped it up. So
Apple tried to imitate it, with iTunes Radio. Which
was dead on arrival. Never forget the first mover
advantage in tech. Unless someone comes up
with something dramatically better, the original
will sustain.
THE WINNER IN STREAMING

MUSIC WILL BE THE SERVICE
THAT MOST PEOPLE ADOPT.
AND THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE
WINNER. THATS HOW IT IS ON
THE NET, WHERE EVERY STORE
IS JUST A CLICK AWAY.
But because of rights issues, Pandora is not

worldwide. So the rest of the globe is still open for
streaming radio dominance. So, Apple could win
there. Or so could Spotify and...
Then we've got on demand streaming. That's where
you pick and choose what you want to hear for 10
bucks a month. The royalties are different, they're
higher. And most operators have free tiers. That's
right, if you're willing to listen to ads, you can stream
for free. Even on mobile. But you don't get to pick
25
and choose what you want to hear on mobileif you

don't pay, it's more like radio.
But that can't happen, because that brings

back piracy.
Flummoxed yet? The only people who know what's

going on are those running these enterprises, and
that does not include the artists, who are just as
ignorant as their fans.
Then again, never underestimate the stupidity of the

greedy rights holders, most of whom can only see the
length of their employment contract and don't care
what happens thereafter.
So what do we know?
So what do we know?
We know that more people will pay for on demand

streaming in the future. Because YouTube is a lousy
experience on the handset, and we live in a mobile
world, especially when it comes to music. But that
won't be tomorrow, but five to ten years from now.
Closer to the former, but some people will never pay.
Hell, most people never paid for music in the preInternet era. Do you really expect them to drop 10
bucks a month now?
Once again, streaming has won. That's the world we

live in now, access is everything and ownership is
passe. Sure, you can sell souvenirs, but we want our
entertainment available on demand. Hell, the iPod
Classic held 160 gigs of music and you can't buy
an iPhone with that amount of storage. Not that you
need it, because everything's kept in the cloud today.
No.
Daniel Ek and Spotify have first mover advantage.

And, they're not entrenched in the music business.
We've learned you have to pull rights holders along,
and only outsiders seem to be able to do this. But
with only 30% of income staying with the company
and deep investment is Spotify a good financial
play? Doubtful. But Spotify would be a great asset to
own. Better than Skype for Microsoft and WhatsApp
for Facebook. We know that tech is all about
consolidationyou used to pay for a standalone
spellchecker, now that's a built-in feature, as is radio.
So Pandora will be subsumed by another entity or
will be killed by the radio element of on demand
competitors.
So, it's just a matter of picking a winner.
So maybe you've got to lower the price. Which Jimmy

Iovine tried to do with Apple Music, but his old
brethren at the labels refused to let him.
But it's all about convenience.
But right now, Apple Music is a disasternot only
does it wreck your iTunes library, its interface is
nearly incomprehensible.
Spotify is better. Some people believe Rdio is the
best. But Rdio's got little traction, and we all know
it's not about who's best, but who has the lion's share
of customers. In other words, Beta was killed by VHS.
The winner in streaming music will be the service
that most people adopt.
But what about Rhapsody? What about Rdio? What

about Tidal? What about Deezer?
Deezer wins in France, but it's dominant nowhere
else.
And there will be only one winner. That's how it is on

the Net, where every store is just a click away.
Usually one entity gets 60+% of the market share.
Can you say Google in search or Amazon in retail?
So what we've learned is it's a battle between Apple,

Spotify, and Google.
So, who will it be?
Google?
If you think it's a slam dunk for Apple, you're wet

behind the ears. Remember when Microsoft was
gonna kill AOL with its MSN network? Didn't happen.
Furthermore, Apple is going to eviscerate its free
tier after 90 days, and we all know people love their
wallet more than they love Tim Cook.
Oh, you know Google, they play in every arena.

They want to merge YouTube with on demand music
delivery and charge for it, it's called Music Key
and it's yet to get out of beta and I'd say it's got no
chance but people are primarily using YouTube to
stream music, so don't count Google out.
So, expect Apple to blink.
As for Apple, they haven't had that spirit there since

Steve Jobs passed away. Garth Brooks couldn't have
another hit, why do you expect Apple to come from
Unless everybody's free tier expires.
26
SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. MORE

THAN YOU WANT TO KNOW.
MAKING YOU WANT TO GIVE
UP. WELCOME TO MUSIC AT
LARGE, WHERE CHAOS RULES.
TAYLOR SWIFT MIGHT BE A
SUPERSTAR, BUT I CHALLENGE
YOU TO HUM TWO OF HER
TUNES. THE DOMINANCE OF
THE PAST IS VASTLY SUPERIOR
TO THE DOMINANCE OF THE
PRESENT.
Because the streaming wars are all about access.

And once you provide access, you're at the end of
the line.
Music was there first, it was the canary in the coal
mine. At least you can get all the same stuff on all
these services (exclusives are anathema, they incite
piracy, let's hope the rights holders don't grant them,
but as we can see above, the rights holders are rarely
smart), unlike with Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
It's all about having the history of recorded music at
your fingertips.
And that means today's artists have to compete with
Led Zeppelin and Frank Sinatra, something they
never had to do before, when you had to own this
stuff to hear it.
So the artists are complaining, those who are
not superstars, who suffer not so much from low
streaming payments, but low streams, and people are
ignoring them.
And the streaming companies have to play ball with
the rights holders, who want no transparency.
And the end result is the public is dazed and
confused.
behind and win? Sure, the company has credit card

numbers and it can push its service around the
world, but the truth is, its service is the anti-Apple,
overladen with features and anything but intuitive.
But this won't last forever.

But great music will.
As for Spotify, they can code, but they cannot sell.

Their media campaign is atrocious.
That's the essence of the streaming debate. People

want music. And they always will. It's just a matter of
delivering it to them.
And no one seems able to explain the ability to sync

music for offline use.
But that does not mean everybody will get rich,

especially marginal artists.
So there you have it. More than you want to know.

Making you want to give up.
The goal is to get people to listen AT ALL!

But when they do, you can sell concert tickets and
merch.
Welcome to music at large, where chaos rules. Taylor

Swift might be a superstar, but I challenge you to
hum two of her tunes. The dominance of the past is
vastly superior to the dominance of the present.
But you're never gonna get as rich as the techies, as

the billionaires that build these platforms.
But weve learned in two decades that platforms

dominate, that they supersede the art they purvey.
And that's why it's all so interesting.
So that's why everybody's fighting for position.

And whereas AOL was trumped by your local ISP, and
Facebook killed MySpace, expect the streaming wars
to be the last in music for a very long time.
Note: Troy Carter / Atom Factory is an investor in Spotify
27
SMASHD.CO
WHATS O N O U R R A DA R
Z BOARD
Z Board, bringing you electronic skateboards.

zboardshop.com
NEW MATTER
DRONEBASE
New Matter is making affordable 3-D printers for the masses.

newmatter.com
DroneBase is using drones to provide aerial images.

dronebase.com
PEPPER
Pepper is an emotionally-intelligent robot

that promises you true companionship.
aldebaran.com
28
CARDBORIGAMI
G PEN
THE SHOE THAT GROWS
TWIST
Cardborigamiis a foldable temporary shelter, created

to make portable housing for the homeless.
cardborigami.com
The G Pen, portable vaporizer.

gpen.com
The Shoe That Grows, an invention that helps kids in developing

countries to have shoes that fit properly. In some cases, children
may outgrow shoes that are too small for them. With The Shoe
That Grows, as a childs foot grows, so does the shoe.
theshoethatgrows.com
Twist, a smarter lightbulb that connects to the

Internet and plays music.
hellotwist.com
VNYL
ONOTES
VNYL is a record subscription service that sends you curated

albums each month.
vnyl.org
Vapor CommunicationslaunchedoNotes, tech that allows you to

smell what youre viewing on the Internet.
onotes.com
29
SMASHD.CO
30
Patricia Korth-McDonnell
Partner and Managing Director at global digital
creative agency, Huge
On the futuristic thinking that keeps

Huge ahead of the crowd:
A decade ago, none of us could have
predicted wed someday give up our
laptops in favor of our phones. What does
digital mean and what does interaction
mean when screens arent really a
thing? If were not designing for screens,
what are we designing for? How are we
accessing and interacting with the world
and where is that data coming from? And
what are the tools that we use? Those are
the really important questions.
Run The World

Women in tech and business on reaching success
31
Nataly Kogan
Michelle Papillion
CEO and Co-founder of Happier, an app helping people find true joy
Owner of Papillion, a contemporary art gallery focusing on new and

emerging artists
On what shes learned:
On doing things her way:
What Ive come to realize is that what I think we are really

looking for is not actually happiness, but rather, hope. The
first thing you have to feel is that it is possible to make
change in your life. Once you have that, you have the true
foundation for finding your very own Big Happy.
I like to say Im building an art empire. When I came

to Los Angeles in 2008, the art scene felt very insular. It
didnt feel so inviting. Thats partly why I made my own
space. Im about pushing culture forward.
Melody McCloskey
Sofya Polyakov
Founder of Style Seat, a startup appointment booking platform that matches

stylists and clients.
Co-founder of the Noun Project, a database where graphic designers can create
and share new, universal symbols and icons
On when she knew shed built something that mattered:
On the importance of building a universal language:
The time that I realized Style Seat was more than just
a tool, I was calling customers up and asking how their
experience with it was going. One woman burst into tears.
She told me, Ive been a stylist for ten years and Ive
never been able to do it full time. I have a family. I have
to support them. Since Ive gotten on Style Seat, Ive been
able to grow more business, and Ive never made more
doing what I love.
I came to this country not speaking English. I understand

the value of being able to see something and know
immediately what it means, no matter what part of the
world youre in.
32
Nanxi Liu
Meredith Perry
Co-founder and CEO of Enplug, a startup that makes signs interactive
Founder and CEO of UBeam, a startup providing wireless charging
and digital
On going after a big idea:
Her advice for female entrepreneurs:

Have the confidence; dont doubt yourself. I totally
doubted myself. Justunderstand that you are totally
capable and you deserve to bein the position you are in.
Ive always had a natural, incessant desire to understand

the why and the how about absolutely everything when it
comes to how things work. This was the biggest idea that
Id had at the time that I knew, if it worked, could impact
the greatest number of people.
Megha Desai
Justine Lassoff and Melinda Moore
Founder of MSD (Marketing Strategy Dharma), a branding development firm
Founders of TuesdayNights, a networking group helping female founders and

executives achieve their startup dreams
On the importance of being brave:
On raising the numbers of women in tech:
In everything, choose the courageous path because that

will unlock so many things.
Justine and I both believe that to change the environment,

you need to have more female entrepreneurs and more
female angel investors backing the whole community. Were
trying to move that forward on our own. Melinda Moore
33
SMASHD.CO
34
DREAM WORKS
How millennials and technology are redefining the American Dream
By Sarah LaBrie
35
Once upon a time,the American Dreammeant a

comfortable life, long-term employment, a family, a
home, cars, and enough money for luxury goods.
Today, technology is helping millennials redefine the

future. Thenotion of the American Dream seems to
be transforming.
More Connected Means More Time And More

Convenience
In addition, Airbnb reduces the hassle of hotel stays

by making it easier for the technologically-savvy to
voyage widely around the country (or the globe), stay
at other peoples places, and save money.
According to venture capitalist Mary Meekers 2015

Internet Trends Report, almost 40% of the worlds
population is now on the Internet.
As a trend toward wanting to be a startup founder has

grown over the last few years, millennial interest in
entrepreneurship is also at an all time high.
Corporate ladder-climbing is no longer as much of

a concern as it once was, and young people are no
longer relying on employers to take care of them
until retirement.
In a survey of employed Americans between the

ages of 18-33, online employee education platform
Mindflash found that 22% felt that the most
important advice they could give to younger workers
would be to: Invest in your own skills training to
make yourself as marketable as possible.
It seems we want to set our own hours, extend free

time as much as possible, and build our own version
of the ideal.
Uber is quickly making taxis obsolete, which means

it has never been easier for people to make their way
through the world.
The Startup Dream
Rates of smartphone ownership are up again too.

The worlds top five Web companies -- Apple, Google,
Facebook, Amazon, and Alibaba -- all provide
e-commerce, social technology, and mobile apps that
save time and make life more convenient.
Startups like Instacart and Blue Apron are reducing

the amount of time that once had to be spent on
trips to the grocery store and cooking. Apps like
TaskRabbit allow users to hire one-time contractors to
take care of tasks that used to eat up free time.
Everyone is connected and everyone seems to have

more freedom. So, does that equal more leisure?
Happiness Right Now Vs. Long-Term Stability
No longer are we hemmed in by the idea of a

metaphorical (or literal) white picket fence.
Every generation redefines the future according to its

own needs and wants.
Millennials are often using this newfound saved time

to pursue endeavors that lead to their happiness,
rather than long-term stability.
Ownership of material goods and houses, once

heavily associated with achievement and success,
has given way to intangibles like social connectivity,
creative pursuits, travel, and financial independence.
The view of home ownership, once a central tenet of

the American Dream, has changed drastically.
Today, young people are willing to rent for a longer

period of time, and owning a house doesnt always
come with the status bump it once did.
When millennials are ready to buy houses, thanks to

online real estate companies like Redfin, the housing
market is much more transparent (than it once
was), meaning would-be buyers can now approach
purchases knowing as much, or more, than realestate agents.
Today, the ability to Instagram photos of a trip to

Kauai may be worth to millennials what pulling into
the driveway in a new car was once worth to our
parents.
That said, no matter how much it has changed over

time, the American Dream is still the same in one
respect: Where once we believed cars, houses, and
kids would make us happy, it seems happiness (for
some) now comes with travel, connectedness, and
financial independence.
No matter which path we follow, the end goal
happiness remains the same.
36
OFF THE RECORD

WITH STEVE AOKI
A LOOK AT THE DJ, PRODUCER,
AND CAKE-THROWING ENTREPRENEUR
BY MICHELLE EDGAR
37
Steve Aoki. Photo Credit: Steve Aoki
BLANK PAGE
World-renowned DJ and entrepreneur Steve Aoki

wears multiple hats as he builds his portfolio
of businesses across music, film, fashion, and
technology.
This is another threadthat runs through his story

finding the right teams and the right mentors.
How well your business is going to operate depends
on the right team and authentic collaborations, he
said, explaining his brand partnerships.
He has created one of the largest electronic dance

music (EDM) DJ empires in the music business,
leveraging his passion for culture and his intuitive
grasp of marketing and technology.
I look tomentors for guidance you have to

humble yourself and be level-headed about your
decisions. You cant dictate everything, said Aoki.
The common thread that runs through the

tapestry ofhis many accomplishments is a deep
understandingof the core consumerknowing his
audience.
After meeting investor and billionaire Ron Burkle,

Aoki noted about him, He takes big risks for
someone who doesnt need to and he invests in
things he cares about. Its nice to see someone with
that much influence still doing things from the heart.
He has all these businesses,andhe believes and
cares about them all, and he has fun with it. To me,
thats my goal.
When starting his first business, Dim Mak Records,

Aoki admitted there wasnt a master game plan.
The way I started was by educating and immersing
myself in thatparticular space, understanding the
flowbeing part of that community, he said.
Going for a Different Approach and Building EDM
Success, for most people, rests not merely on good

luck, but on an innate ability to spot an opportunity
when it pops up. This is Aokis gift. He understands
potential.
On his most recent album Neon Future II, he

collaborated with Snoop Dogg ona track that actually
began as a reggae record.
Aokis father, Hiroaki Rocky Aoki, who built the

Benihana restaurant franchise, was the founding
inspiration in his life.
For me that was an interesting progressionit

morphed and became what it is now. Im all about
going outside my space, taking risks with people
outside my genre, and making sure those songs
connect. When I do something unpredictable, Im
making sure it has that exponential wow moment,
he said.
From his father, Aoki learnedthat a strong work ethic

was required to build a businessfrom the ground up.
He always searches for a different approach,

sometimes wandering down unpredictable paths.
Over the course of twenty years, Aoki has built his

own empire at the forefront of the EDM scene. But
it doesnt stop there. He hastwo films on the way,
an autobiography, a clothing line, and hes looking to
build a venture fund to invest in entrepreneurs.
Throughout college, Aoki was known for his living

room shows. Testing his DJ skills at his parties, he
performed alongside artist friends including Nick
Zinner of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Eventually, he took
this DJ act to small bars.
My work is my life. When I am not working, Im

sleeping. I have always been creative and productive,
even as a teenager. I hadrespect for my peersand
they respect me. Youdont earn respect as a
teenager from having a cool bike. You get it by doing
something that represents your culture and by being
part of it in some way. I always wanted to create
things that represent things that I love, said Aoki.
Whatever I did, I believed in it so much. For me,

it wasnt about making money. I focused on doing
what I did best, being consistent, and I started to get
attention, he said.
Finding Mentorship in the Past to Build a Version of the

Future
By 2005, he was recognized as an ambassador of the

indie electro scene. That same year he flew to play
one of his first shows at dance club Marquee in New
York City.
I need to work with people who also represent things

I love.
38
DimMak And Fashion
Soon enough, he was connected toand

collaborating withartist communities across
London, New York,and Miami.
Beyond dessert as sport, Aokis entrepreneurial

spirit is also evident in his latest high-end Dim Mak
sportswear collection that will launch at an Opening
Ceremony department store in Japan.
I started making money without realizing it, he said

witha chuckle. My parents didnt give me money
to do this because they didnt see it as a promising
career. Little did I know, I would pay off my debt
by my late 20s, and buy myself my first Prius with
$18,000 cash.
His love for fashion and design developed as the

result of a ten-year learning process.
Back in 2006, he attended MAGIC, a fashion
tradeshow that convenes in Las Vegas to unveil the
latest trends. Seeing the potential in the industry, he
decided to start his own tradeshow called United.
Aoki felt the big shift in his career whenhe entered

the productionend of music and learned the craft
of producing from Blake Miller of the band Moving
Units, with whom he collaborates under the name
Weird Science.
His first fashion collection was sold to stores like

Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and Target.
For the first two years we mixed together, I learned

how to produce remixes. A lot of them were pretty
bad, but it was enough for me to learn, he said.
The musicthat I was producing was inherently
representative of who I wasthis ruckus and high
intensity youth moment.
Whats Next?
Disruptive, transformative, and future-thinking
are the words that Aoki uses to describe his multiindustry brand.
From his vantage point at the forefront of EDM

culture, Aoki watched how electronic dance music
was built by youth.
His latest album, Neon Future II, reflects these

ideas. The album focuses on the future of science,
technology, and humanity. He expresses his future
ideas through unique musical collaborations with
Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park, and J.J. Abrams, who
provided spoken pieces that are interwoven with
music.
The kids brought that energy, and created so

much attention that itgrew exponentially from two
festivalsto a plethora of festivals all over America.
Now, theres oversaturation, but it was all driven
byyouth culture. Dance music is the voice of this
generation of music, Aoki said.
Neon Future is an ongoing narrative. Not merely

a musical concept, but a life motto to look forward
to. Im excited about the future, technology, and
science. There are going to be exponential ways to
better our lives, said Aoki.
His Signature: Caking

Aoki watched the EDM scene transform, as artists
began to focus more on giving fans a full sensory
experience that included light shows as well as
music.
There is no dystopia in Aokis future vision, only the

potential for humanity to do more wonderful things.
My work is everything. In my head, I want to be
super Zen about life. I want to meditate and to work
out. I try to fit it all in, but its not easy. When I have
a fixed schedule on bus tours, I can do it. I wake
up, work out doing Crossfit, high intensity and short
intervals for20 minutesits really hard and I like
that because theres a culture of people doing it
together,he said.
Aoki became notorious for caking fans: literally

throwing cake in peoples faces, something many
fans welcomed gladly.
The caking started back in 2009 at Aokis second
Coachella show, when he wanted to add something
new. That experience led to the creation of a video,
where cakes exploded on peoples faces.
As Aoki continues to watch and absorb cultural

trends across the globe, he never stops learning
or expanding his palette for diverse and delightful
curiosities.
It became a viral phenomenon. People started

bringing Cake Me signs, and in 2015, I caked over
8,000 faces, Aoki said.
39
SMASHD.CO
GOING OVER BOARD

Olympian Shaun White on what it takes to win on the slopes and in business
By Adam Popescu
40
41
Q: So you still have time left to compete?
Your odds of winning an Olympic gold medal are

not great.
White: Oh yeah, plenty. Tony Hawk is the closest I can

compare to. He retired at 32, which puts me through
to the next few years. As long as I feel inspired and
good, Ill keep going.
Just the opportunity to compete takes equal parts

skill, timing, and luck. But what about the odds for
someone accomplishing all this when theyre born
with a congenital heart defect and have two openheart surgeries before their first birthday? How about
an athlete with a mild case of asthma whose sport
requires training and performing in the cold? All of
this is the case for formerly carrot-topped, two-time
Olympic winning snowboarder Shaun White.
Q: Are you an adrenaline junkie?

White: Not at all. Im like the furthest. Im so mellow.
I do get excited to surf, skateboard, snowboard, and I
love to play sports. But Im not trying to jump out of
an airplane. Any teenager who gets a nice car is going
to punch it occasionally. But I dont thrill seek in that
sense. I tell you whats funny is that I slightly have
asthmaI dont like the cold. The sport, I love to
do it, I love to be in the mountains, but for a limited
time. Then I have to come back home. I grew up in
San Diego near the beach. Ive always had two lives.
Now 29, the San Diego kid once known as the flying
tomato has really grown up, branching out beyond the
halfpipe, launching a successful music and sports
festival, and playing guitar in a touring band. We
chatted with White about all that he has planned.
Q: Whats the feeling you get when you win?
Q: What happens when you win gold at 19?
White: Its pretty hard to sum it up into one coherent

sentence. I actually missed out at 15, by threetenths of a point, for the Utah Olympics in 2006. It
was devastating. I had gone through all the hoops to
make it and I almost did. But everything happens for
a reason and it drove me to win the next one. It was
incredible. I cried. My parents cried. And it meant so
much because it wasnt that I had won, it was that
we had won, as a family. Thats how I looked at it.
White: People were leaving chalk notes -- Take me to

prom! -- in the street. I remember walking through
JFK or LaGuardia, and I was checking in, and the
entire place broke into this slow applause. Like out of
a movie, a bad teen movie. And Im shaking because
everybodys proud. It was an amazing time for me.
Q: Did you cut and dye your hair to be less recognizable?
Growing up in Southern California, were not a big

winter sports place. People didnt understand what
we were doing. At the time, X Games had just started,
and it wasnt what it is today. We didnt get support
from the community, or schools. So when I won, we
won, the family won, we pulled it off. I dont think
Ive ever felt that way about any other competition
before. It was exciting and exhilarating to win the X
Games, but it means something completely different
when you say you have an Olympic gold medal.
White: No, I cut my hair because I had long hair for

the majority of my life. I assumed if I had one more
Olympics Id be stuck with that look forever. It was
the right time to change my style up. And I had a
good cause: I was giving my hair to Locks of Love.
So I got my GoPro camera and filmed myself and
posted it on the Internet. I dyed it recently because it
was my sisters 30th birthday, and it was more to do
something funny. It was supposed to be temporary,
but its not coming out!
Q: Whats the most surprising thing about being in

the Olympics?
Q: When this is all over, what do you want to do?

White: It wont be a big who am I transitional
period. I already play music in a band, Im an event
owner, Air+Style, its a sports music festival as
well as international snowboard tour. We do one in
Beijing, Austria, and Los Angeles. I always I knew
what I wanted to do afterwards. Life shows you the
way to go, if you look for it.
White: I think different things happened to me

compared to others that win. Sometimes they go
back to their normal job, keep on living life, maybe
four years later they have another hurrah again. I
already had sponsors and things lined up. It didnt
change too much on that front. The thing that really
happened to me was all that attention when youre
19. Its a lot to take in.
Q: When youre up in the air snowboarding, are you on

autopilot? Is it dangerous to think?
42
White: Yeah, you dont want to think. At that point,

if youre in a contest, youve done the runs so many
times, youre your own worst enemy. Usually youre
humming a song. For my first Olympics they played
Back in Black by AC/DC. And I won. So I said, we
have to have this song, and it was just the horse in
the start gate, hearing the gunshot. I would just go at
that point.
can never lose. I lose and I get inspired and now I

know what to do. Or I win and I keep on the same
course. Youre unbeatable at that point. You find the
good in everything and keep pushing forward and get
motivated. Im at a point in my life that Ive done
something extraordinary. It was a wall to overcome.
Q: How does the Olympic mindset translate to business?
White: I had three open-heart surgeries when I

was born. So, Im like a cardiac kid. Its called the
Tetralogy of Fallot. Im supposed to be very inactive
with a sluggish heart. And Im very active. An
anomaly. I have to do check-ups and things. Luckily,
I dont have to go back in for more. I think it put a
fight in me from the beginning.
Q: How so?
White: I am who I am, either way, its not something

I turn off. Im competitive. I believe in the things
that I do. When your gut is telling you something and
it feels right, it turns out to be the better decision.
Even if you make a mistake, if you learn from it
and now you know what to do, it wasnt a mistake.
I always feel like Im the best competitor because I
43
SMASHD.CO
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, QUINCY JONES

One of the most influential entertainers of all time reflects on his career
By Adam Popescu
44
The word legend gets thrown around a lot in the

entertainment business. But Quincy Jones is a legend.
And he got out with the yo, yo, yo stuff, and when he
got out, another car came up with a guy with a bow tie.
And a machine gun. She would have been sitting with
Suge, Tupac -- she would have been sitting right there.
She would have been dead. That was a rough time. He
died in her arms.
His career has spanned six decades and just as many

titles: Producer, musician, conductor, composer, the list
goes on and on.
Q: Were you close with Tupac?
Twenty-seven Grammy wins, seventy-nine nominations,

seven Academy Award nominations, one Oscar.
Jones: I was going to a deli, and Tupac was sitting in the

booth, saying he was in love with my daughter. And I said
Pac! I snuck up behind him. Which is really dangerous
because if he had a gun, I would have been dead.
Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin. Jones

has produced some of the most important artists of the
20th century.
We interviewed the 82-year-old Southside Chicago
native.
I said We gotta talk. Because that was the first time

we were face-to-face. And it was a very beautiful
relationship.
When he speaks, its like hes rapping, a poetic stream of

consciousness flowing. He uses his hands for emphasis,
hands that have conducted and played with some of the
all-time greats. Each word is packed full of story.
Once I was at the Bel Air hotel, I was at a dinner, and he

came by to see me. He went back home to put a tie on. It
was amazing.
Q: How important is travel to change your
perspective?
Sometimes its hard to keep up, but Jones is never

boring. And in his eighth decade on this planet, hes far
from posturing. Hes just being Q.
Jones: I travel more than anyone you know. I saw Hillary

Clinton in Bali, and I was in the White House years ago,
and she said Q, I travel more than anyone I know, but
you double it. And its true, I am addicted, man. I have
been since I was 18 years old. Aleppo, Damascus, Iraq,
Karachi, all of it. And youve got to go to know. And
people sitting over here dont know what the hell theyre
talking about, man, they dont.
Q: How do you manage your time and how do you pick

projects?
Jones: With a blink. You know the writer Malcolm
Gladwell? You have to believe in your intuition and you
have to believe in yourself.
For a long time, my greatest fear -- and I dont deal with
that word at all -- was to have a great opportunity that
Im not prepared for. Like meeting Sinatra and working
with him at 29. He tested me, but I was ready. Ive always
faced it (fear), since I was 13.
Q: What do you look for in an artist? Whats that

element?
Jones: The major things: The left and right brain youre
working with. The right brain is emotion. Intellect is the
left brain. That one youve got to work your butt off to
get the science down, man. You got to know the science,
thats whats wrong with music today. But weve got 15
kids that are going to turn music upside down. I promise
you.
Ive got a lot of stuff in the closet, seen it all. Thats the
foundation with which you come into the world. Boys
have got to be with their mothers, right? And daddy with
daughter. Ive got six of them daughters -- now. And
I never knew how to be a father because I was never
raised. I was a street rat.
Q: Like who?
Q: One of your daughters, Kidada, was dating Tupac in

the 1990s?
Jones: Like Jacob Collier, like John Batiste, like Nikki

Yanofsky.
Jones: Engaged to Tupac. He died in her arms in Las

Vegas. He had hit a Crip, so he told her he would pick
her up later.
Q: I know youre an investor in Spotify, whats your

take on the industry right now? How hard is it to
break in?
A convertible went by with girls in it to lure Tupac out.
45
Jones: All of it. Are you kidding? I started with Ray

Charles when I was 13, 14 years old. Worked with Ray
his whole life. Did everything together. Used to teach
me braille. He lost his sight when he was 6. And he
scratched his eyes and had chicken pox. The white
hospital wouldnt let him in in Florida. And so at the
black hospital, he was blind. But he knew how to read
music. He used to teach me in braille a lot of things
-- arrangements, stuff like that. Every trip has been
amazing.
Jones: It is hard. Theres 90% piracy all over the world.

Im not guessing, Ive traveled and seen it.
Q: Whats the most challenging part of your work?
Jones: Every inch of it. My least favorite numbers are
two, six and eleven. I dont want to be number two, I
want to be number one. And you have to prepare for
that. How do you get to be number one? If it was easy,
everyone would be there.
Q: How do artists sell records? What do they have to
watch out for?
Lionel Hampton wanted me to come with him when I

was 15. I got on the band bus and stayed there for six
hours and his wife said: Whats that child doing back
there? Whats your name? How old are you? Fifteen? Get
off the bus, go get your education, well talk to you later.
And they did. They came back to me when I was 18, I had
a scholarship to Berkeley.
Jones: Today, you can go get a DUI or slap some chick

gossip is a $15 billion business today. So they stay on
it, man. Not a couple on a planet can get away with
anything. Theyre right on top of every single move. Im
so tired of hearing about some of it. It never stops.
It does feel like someone elses life when I look back.

But it worked.
Q: What are you most proud of in your career?
46
47
STILL UNDEFEATED
An interview with street style influencer
and entrepreneur Eddie Cruz
By Brandon Hairston
48
Cruz: Technology made life easier for me in regard to

getting the word out there. Of course, I miss the days
when people had to hunt for the cool shit, but if youre
not advancing with the times, you straight up go out of
business. Ive always made it a point to keep my eye
on the ball.
At a young age, Eddie Cruz saw what most brands

were missing: A lifestyle.
Inspired by the streets of New York and influenced by
hip hop and global fashion trends, Cruz decided to
create a way for emerging brands to break through.
The result was his boutique concept, Undefeated.
Established in 2002, Undefeated began as a line of

stores that sold only sneakers. Now they sell a variety
of lifestyle pieces from brands like Bathing Ape as well
as limited edition kicks like the Lebron James Nikes
and Kanye Wests Adidas.
Q: What ways are you sticking to tradition during this

Internet era?
Cruz: I never look at what others are doing. I dont
read blogs or go to fashion sites. You have to keep
your blinders on, trust your instincts, and keep things
authentic. If youre jumping on trends, youre already
too late.
The Undefeated brand has opened storefronts

throughout the United States and Asia.
Q: Tell us more about the future of Undefeated.
We recently spoke to Cruz about how he got started,

how technology has affected the sneaker and fashion
industry, and whats next for his streetwear empire.
Cruz: Point blank, I want Undefeated to be a more

premium alternative to the Foot Lockers of the world.
Q: What was Undefeated when you first launched and

what is it today?
I can see having 200 shops in the United States

alone. Id like to see it become a place thats more
personal. A place where people can go and shop
as opposed to a super corporate mass production
situation.
Cruz: It started out as a sneaker shop carrying what we

thought was the best possible selection of kicks from
all around the world.
Q: What other brands are in your personal portfolio?
Today weve grown past being one sneaker shop

to a brand that speaks to the underground sports
enthusiast.
Cruz: My field of expertise is retail. I always try to

find the perfect untapped locations. Ive applied
this philosophy to brands like Stussy and Supreme
that Ive been blessed to be able to work with. These
experiences all grew through personal relationships,
which all points back to being able to establish
businesses based on my lifestyle. Everybody I fuck
with is a proper friend.
Q: How did you get started in the sneaker and fashion

industry?
Cruz: From a very young age, I wanted to incorporate
my lifestyle into a business that could be sustained for
the rest of my life.
Q: How do you approach brand collaborations and special

projects?
I gained knowledge and experience in an era where

in-person communication and the right chemistry
helped produce very organic relationships. It was an
all around soulful atmosphere and we worked hand in
hand to give light to what we believed were products
with real quality.
Cruz: As far as the creative side of Undefeated, we are

a team. I have a partner with awesome taste, as well
as a great design and marketing team. We approach
every collaboration and special project with a proper
plan of attack.
Q: How did you learn about sneaker culture?
We always tell a story that comes from a real place. I

think its important not to come off generic. Let the
big money corporations do that.
Cruz: Im from New York, the hip hop mecca of the

world. It wasnt about learning about culture because I
was living it.
Q: What words of wisdom do you have for someone who

wants to get into this business?
Q: How has the advancement of technology affected your

business and your marketing approach?
Cruz: Slow and steady wins the race.

Undefeated flagship store in Los Angeles, California. Photo Credit: Undefeated
49
SMASHD.CO
SOUND INVESTMENTS
LINKIN PARK OPENS UP ABOUT THEIR TECH INVESTMENTS AND
A MOVE INTO VENTURE CAPITAL
BY ADAM POPESCU
Rock stars can do just about anything they want. Bite

the head off of a dove? Sure, thats just Ozzy trying
to get your attention. Trash a hotel room? Yes, thats
Led Zeppelin and probably any and every band with
a gold card and indulgent management. Check off
hedonism, fighting, guns, and drugs. Nothing seems
off-limits.
other side, we were involved in Viddy. At the time,

they were on the front page of every tech website,
and it didnt work out. I think those experiences are
valuable, too. We werent kicking ourselves at the end
of the day, but we knew what to watch out for.
Q: Whats the group investment play as a band? How did
this begin?
But what about on the business side? From Mick to

Bowie to Ice Cube, a fair share have successfully
hopped from stage to screen. Even more have turned
their personal brands into legitimate businesses. But
the latest trend seems to mirror our digitally focused
times: Rockstars as VCs (or venture capitalists).
Shinoda: From tech stock to getting an advisory

position and getting some equity, we were involved
to varying degrees [in various startups individually].
It seemed that when it came to a relationship in the
tech world as Linkin Park, it was reactive as opposed
to a proactive approach. Things would come to us
and thats not the right way to do it. We love new
ideas, we love to feel that the stuff that were working
on is cutting edge. We started looking at how we can
apply that as a group. The fund was the way to go.
One such act, Linkin Park, announced their venture

fund, Machine Shop Ventures, in 2015.
We caught up with band members Mike Shinoda and
Brad Delson to discuss their investments in startups
like Lyft, Shyp, and Robinhood, among others.
Q: Why?
Brad Delson: Were going to get the most benefit by
being around people who are super smart, creative,
and innovative. A lot of those people happen to be
in tech. A lot of them start companies. As Mike was
Q: When did you start investing?

Mike Shinoda: Ive personally invested in Spotify and
Sonos, which have done amazingly, and then on the
50
is so much about the founders, the philosophy, the

people. Because to some degree thats what the guys
in the band are.
saying, this has been an effort for us to seek out and

collaborate with people we want to work with.
Q: Is being in a band like being in a startup?
Delson: If youre really backing people and teams

you believe in, even worst case scenario, if it doesnt
work, youll still feel good about it.
Shinoda: We look at our band as a startup. All the way

from the beginning when we were nobody playing at
the Roxy. Each record, in a sense, is its own startup,
too. Theres a great book called Becoming A Category
One, and its all about benchmarking industries other
than your own. I feel like we do that a lot. We love to
see what we can learn or adapt.
Q: Is investing a way to transition to a second career?

Delson: No. First and foremost were musicians. We
have more opportunities today than weve ever had
in terms of music. Especially with respect to touring.
Were really a global band. Theres no shortage really,
thankfully, of places we can go in a year and do
shows. As human beings, obviously, we can only do
so much. So this is really an opportunity to augment
everything were doing creatively. And in the best
case scenario, find partners that can help us do a
better job of reaching our fans.
Q: Are there particular startup industries youre

drawn to?
Shinoda: If somebody is going to come to us with a
music idea my bar is high. I personally vote against
music stuff almost 100% of the time. I feel that its
usually very niche. And we want something thats
on brand with the band. Not just because its music.
Its not that simple. I want it to be about things that
speak to us on a personal level -- whether an app or
service that I benefit from and makes my life easier.
Thats the starting line.
Q: How do you use your status to enhance your

investments?
Shinoda: We have to ask ourselves what kind of
attention can we give to make it blossom even more?
Sometimes thats in the form of experimentation.
Like getting involved with activations on site with the
shows. Were already creating 360 and VR [virtual
reality] content.
Q: Why did you choose to invest in Lyft instead of Uber?

Delson: We think theres room for more than one
company in the space.
Delson: Youre either engaged for the long term, or

youre not. There was a wave of celeb investors, but
a lot of those folks have left a bad taste in peoples
mouths. Because theyre not engaged.
And thats whats cool about this project, is we

have dialogue directly with founders. Ive had the
opportunity to speak with John Zimmer [Lyfts cofounder and president] and I love their ethos. What
I joke with him about is I think theres something I
read in a study that says that people are the worst
versions of themselves in cars.
Q: How do you change that perception?

Shinoda: I think that just like anything that becomes
a hot fadfor a lot of people that hear the numbers
and money being thrown around, everyone wants to
get into this and its understandable.
Essentially, if I bumped into you on the street, I

would stop and apologize. But if we had a skirmish
in cars, we would roll down our windows and scream
at each other. How can we make the experience of
cars more communal and friendly? Thats something
at the outset that differentiated Lyft from Uber.
For us, one of the first things we tell potential

partners is that were not a celebrity investor. Were a
band who treats our business like a startup. We have
a marketing and branding agency here in Los Angeles.
We create our own content. Were not sitting in the
studio from 10pm to 6am smoking weed, then going
out on tour. Thats not who we are.
Q: What other industries are you looking at? Whats ripe

for more disruption?
Shinoda: Shipping feels like one. Think what a
nightmare it is to box stuff and sit in line. Insurance
and banking, these are all things we knowall these
things that when we think about them are really
annoying. Thats the kind of thing, when I hear about
it, I get really excited. And if I use their product and
it works, then were hunting them down. For us, it
When we approach the VC stuff, hopefully it becomes

apparent that our approach is about adding value.
We do our due diligence. Weve got a team here
at the office full-time focusing on this. The band
themselves are very focused. We invest our energy.
Mike Shinoda, Dave Farrell, Rob Bourdon, Joe Hahn, Brad Delson, and Chester
Bennington of Linkin Park. Photo Credit: Linkin Park
51
VIOLIN
VIDEO
QUEEN
An interview with Lindsey Stirling about how she got
started on YouTube and then became a pop star
By Lori Kozlowski
52
53
When Lindsey Stirling was six years old, she picked up

the violin for the first time.
Now 28, Stirling is an independent music artist whose
self-uploaded videos of her playing the violin have
reached millions across the globe.
was so excited because I didnt have to wait for someone

to believe in me anymore. I can put my stuff out and I
can share it with people through this platform, and I can
do it my own way. And I dont have to wait for someone
to tell me Im good enough, and to invest in me. I can
invest in myself.
She now plays sold out shows around the world.
Q: What advice would you give to young YouTubers?
Her musical achievements have resulted in countless

awards. In 2015, she was honored at the YouTube Music
Awards, and earned a spot on the Forbes 30 Under
30 list.
Stirling: I would say that sometimes the hardest thing is

just to start.
Just start and dont be afraid if its not perfect yet.
Because I look back at my first videos and they definitely
werent perfect. Ive definitely grown a lot as an artist.
Its a process. But the thing about putting stuff online is
that you can get direct feedback. See what people want
more of, get suggestions.
In this Q&A, we talked to Stirling about her love for

the violin, how she first got involved with YouTube, and
what its like working in the music industry as an independent artist.
Q: Who introduced you to the violin?
Also keep collaborating. YouTube is an extremely

collaborative community, and you do the best when you
become a part of the community.
Stirling: It was my parents. They loved classical music.

They used to take me and my sister to orchestra when
we were kids. They also played classical music in our
home. I started begging for violin lessons when I was
about six years old just because I was exposed to it
so much.
Q: When you first started performing in front of global

audiences, were you scared?
Stirling: It was really exciting because it was kind of the
reason I pursued being a musician. I fell in love with live
performing and fell in love with the energy you feel from
the crowd. I remember the first performances that I did
and that energy that I felt and I thought: Wow, I have to
find a way to make this my life.
Q: How did you discover YouTube as an outlet?

Stirling: I actually was introduced to YouTube by a YouTuber named Devin Graham. He reached out to me.
I had never met him before, but he said Hey, I would love
to make a few music videos for you, Im a cinematographer. I was like: Whoa, why does this guy want to do a
music video for me? His stuff was amazing, everything
I saw.
My end goal, when I started, was I wanted to find a way

to go on tour, perform, and share my music with the
world. I still cant believe it. I cant believe Im here doing
what I love.
Q: How has coming from YouTube been different from
the traditional path of the record business?
He then said Im a YouTuber, and I want to put [your videos] on my YouTube channel. Thats how I make my living
is by putting interesting things online.
Stirling: The thing that makes it really cool is that when

you build yourself up as an artist, youre able to kind of
do it on your own. Im still an independent artist, but
when I wanted the help of a major label to license my
music, I was able to sign a licensing deal and I was able
to kind of say: This is what I want it to be, and if youre
not interested, then Im not interested. Thats a nice situation to find yourself in, where I get to cut my own deals.
So, I really was amazed by this whole idea of how this

guy made his living as a YouTuber, and sure enough, I
put my video on his channel.
Before then, my music just sat on iTunes. No one knew
about it. No one really bought it, except for my grandma
and my mother.
After the videos, my music started to pick up and people
were requesting more.
And Im so grateful for YouTube for providing that

platform, because in the beginning, I wanted to be a
musician so bad, its almost like a blessing that nobody
wanted me because I was so desperate to share my
They were liking it and they were sharing it. In my head, I

Previous Page: Lindsey Sterling. Photo Credit: Lee Loechler
54
Lindsey Sterling. Photo Credit: Kate sZatmari
Its something I get better and better atbalancing my

life. Making sure the most important thing is always at
the forefront. I kind of have made a lot of changes in
my life, as Ive learned over the last two years. So, I try
to make sure, first and foremost, there is my family. And
trying to make time for a love life or something. Im still
trying to do that. Thats the hardest thing for melearning when you have to say no. Learning when you have to
turn to whats actually most important to you.
talent that I probably would have signed anything. And

I would have been one of those artists caught in one of
those terrible record deals, where they own everything.
Now I own all my own masters, I have 100% creative
control over everything. They really cant tell me what to
do in any way, shape, or form. And its pretty amazing.
Q: How do you get through challenges and what has
been challenging for you?
Q: What keeps you going?
Stirling: I absolutely love life on the road. I absolutely

love making music videos. I just genuinely love every
part of what I do. And that kind of becomes one of the
hardest parts I just love it so much that I sort of become a very intense worker. Working hard and getting
little sleep. You can get away with it for quite a long
time. But it does catch up to you. And when it catches
up, it catches up hard.
Stirling: I really think I couldnt have done all of this if I

didnt have such wonderful people around me. My family
has always been so supportive of me. When Im at my
end and Im creating my album and I just kind of hit that
wallI had another two songs to write, but I was just
feeling creatively burnt out, so I went home to Arizona
and I stayed with my family for a couple of days just to
rejuvenate myself.
I think the biggest thing I need to learn, and I keep striving to learn, is balance. I realize that sometimes I fill my
life so much with working and productivity and achieving
goals and touring and doing this and that, that I suddenly realize: Wow, my life doesnt actually have a lot of the
things that are actually most important in it. And I have
to reconnect with family and reconnect with friends.
The most important thing in life is people.
I reminded myself of whats actually most important,

because if you cant write, you cant create. You cant
share yourself with the world and perform, if youre not
actually living life.
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PhotoCredit: Getty Images
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

D.A. Wallach, Spotifys Artist In Residence, on being a musician, a tech investor,
and a big thinker on where both industries are headed
BY LORI KOZLOWSKI
56
Getting the music to have the right blend of novelty and familiarity is hard. Theres a
sweet spot that people want. Ive always been in the middleits like being in the
middle of music and business.
we go? What do we do with our lives now? he said.

I have music and I have a record label thats going
to distribute it. But that doesnt make you successful.
So we were trying to figure out well, what are the
things we need to do? I was trying to learn the record
business, he said.
Certain industries develop a personality and a

reputation. In music, artists are often known to be
eccentric. In tech, many entrepreneurs are known to
be methodical, analytical, and hard-driving. These, of
course, are mere stereotypes, and we know, in truth,
that every shade of artist and entrepreneur exists.
There is not one single, set path or work style that
will lead you to success in either arena.
After being signed to Interscope, Wallach ended up

introducing Jimmy Iovine, then Interscopes head, to
Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook.
Musician D.A. Wallach (formally David Andrew

Wallach) traversed both the music industry and
the tech arena somewhat early, exercising both his
creativity as an artist and his intellect as an investor
and thinker about how the technology world might
reshape itself (and us) next.
Wallach realized that the music business was in flux

and searching for new answers and avenues, just as
he was.
I think Jimmy liked our music, but I also think he
was interested in my perspective on technology,
he said.
His career path has led him to getting involved

deeply in both worlds as committed and interested
in music as he is in technology.
To try to help his band and his label as he was

learning what the music industry was all about,
Wallach eventually presented the record label with an
extensive marketing plan.
His original band, Chester French, which he formed

while an undergraduate at Harvard University, in
many ways, had the dream story. The band was
named after a sculptor, and did a lot of the things
that many college bands do.
I remember I wrote something called the Chester

French World Domination Plan. This was a 30-page
PowerPoint deck that I gave to everybody at the label,
giving them ideas on how we could market, using the
Internet, he said.
I was in college, and literally sending out burned

CDs and handwritten notes, begging people to notice
us, he said.
But ultimately he felt the presentation blew his

artists mystique.
To his surprise, while standing in his dorm room at

Harvard, he got phone calls from some of the biggest
names in music Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and
Jermaine Dupri.
It sort of undermined our success by making people

not take us seriously as artists. I realized: Man, I
either have to pretend like Im a crazy artist or do
the business stuff. It was difficult for people to make
sense of both.
We had built up traction on MySpace and

Facebook, he said.
Though there was a bit of a bidding war over
the band, Chester French eventually signed with
Williams, and got a record deal in their last month of
college in 2007. That was the beginning.
Now in 2015, with so many artists dabbling in

technology, its not so odd for an artist to want to take
control of the business side and marketing aspects
of his or her career. But back in 2007, the music
industry was still making sense of the tidal wave of
technology that had recently been born and taken
over peoples attention.
Moving To L.A. And Getting To Know The Music

Industry
So we moved out to L.A. after graduating from
school, and we faced this moment of like: Where do
Napster had created waves, MySpace made artist-to-
57
Solo Artist
fan access easy and expected, Facebook came on the

scene and grew rapidly, and so on.
By the end of 2015, Wallachs first solo album is set

to debut.
Chester French was one of the first bands to use

Facebook to promote their music. (The band
members were freshmen at Harvard when Zuckerberg
launched the site.)
This album was kind of a surprise for me, he said.

Chris Clancy, manager of OddFuture, listened to one
of Wallachs songs called Glowing, really liked the
tune, took the project on, and went out and secured
Wallach a new record deal with Capitol Records, as
well as the money he needed to make the album the
way he wanted to make it with real instrumentation,
strings, and session players.
The band put out two albums and remained together

through 2013.
Becoming A Tech Investor And Spotifys Artist
In Residence
Wallach started investing in tech to satisfy his
interest in the space. He became an investor in
Spotify, along with a dozen other startups that hes
put capital into.
It has been a great privilege to be able to make

this, Wallach said, noting how risky investing in
music can be.
In some ways, the manner in which he describes his
new album perfectly reflects all of his interests in one
place true musicianship, thoughts about the future,
a nod to technology. Looking back at where weve
been, thinking about where were going.
I only look for companies that are in some way

enhancing productivity of a particular industry
because thats ultimately where economic value is
produced, he said about his investment thesis.
Human societys greatest achievements are cultural,
and technology and economy are substrates that
allow those achievements to be realized.
With my music and the visuals around it, Im trying

in a certain way to escape the matrix of references
and just trying to be original, he said. Some of it,
at its most derivative, hopefully is like really good
Elton John songs or ELO songs or somethingthats
what people have compared it to.
Joining Spotify to become their Artist In Residence

had to do with being an early fan of the service and
believing in streaming long before most thought
it would achieve success as a mainstream listening
tool.
Ive tried to put my own twist on it, which is to

involve the computer a little more. Ive tried to
make something that has ideas that come out of the
Computer Age. And Ive tried to do some things with
the music that make it music for today, but its subtle
Im not hitting you over the head with some crazy
robot noise in the middle of an Elton John song,
he said.
I got involved with Spotify because I became

obsessed with Spotify as a user before it existed
in the U.S., and I begged them to let me be a part
of it, he said. Personally, I was in love with the
product, and I thought this was the right time for
streaming to become the default listening mode.
He concluded that the mix of avant-garde and classic

can be tedious to attain.
Its a transition, its going to take a while, but its

happening. Thats been the biggest achievement
of the company they basically broke the seal
on something, he said about where streaming is
headed.
But its something hes well-positioned to deliver.

Getting the music to have the right blend of novelty
and familiarity is hardtheres a sweet spot that
people want, he said.
Wallach has also written about possible tech futures

and speculated about where tech and music might
be headed together in a column on Medium. One
particularly broad and poignant piece was called
The Digital Media Layer Cake, examining who
controls whobetween tech platforms and
content creators.
You almost have to decide if you want your music to

be weird and experimental or not. Ive always been
in the middle its like being in the middle of music
and business.
58
PhotoCredit: Eric Ryan Anderson
LRNG
THE EVOLUTION OF LEARNING WITH JOHN LEGEND

By Lori Kozlowski
59
Over the years, television and movies have given

us glimpses into what the 2020 could look like.
From flying cars to jet packs to robots making our
breakfast, technology has always been part of how we
imagine the future.
should be a right for all.

And yet, we know that high quality education is
possible. We have new tools, like the power of
technology, to help us re-imagine learning for a
new age.
For musician John Legend, he imagines the future

through improved classrooms across America.
Through his education venture called LRNG, he
wants teachers to be empowered to innovate in the
classroom and ultimately re-invent how we learn.
We also know that teachers are the single most

important school factor for student achievement. If
we take a look at the countries around the world that
are creating excellent education systems, you can
see many differences, but all of them invest in and
respect their teachers.
In partnership with the National Writing Project and

the MacArthur Foundation, LRNG is a movement
focused on transforming education all together by
investing in educators and their ideas.
Q: Why did you choose to launch LRNG?

Legend: With these facts front and center in my mind,
I started to look at what it might mean to leverage
technology and tap into great teachers to transform
education.
Through LRNGs Innovation Challenges, the program

has awarded mini-grants to teams of teachers who
are working toward reshaping learning practices. The
aim is to ensure that current and future students are
taking what they learn and are able to apply it outside
of the classroom.
I came across research on connected learning,

work that Connie Yowell was spearheading at the
MacArthur Foundation, and networks of teachers
such as the National Writing Project. These
are educators who are all working hard to build
tomorrows education system today.
The Innovation Challenges we are supporting are

those that teachers themselves believe will make the
greatest difference for what young people are able
to achieve, both in school and in life, said Elyse
Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director of the National
Writing Project.
Through these networks, I was able to meet

excellent teachers who are not only committed to
their students and to education, but who also have
powerful, scalable ideas about improving teaching
and learning for their students and for students
in general. These teachers are the leading edge of
change. Change that is happening right there on the
ground with young people. We need to listen to their
ideas and invest in teacher-to-teacher change.
We also have an ambition to show that educators on

the ground the teachers and administrators who
connect with young people every day can help
build the future of learning. Wed like to see a culture
shift in this nation, where we start investing in
teachers as leaders and innovators, she continued.
In the Q&A, we talked with Legend about LRNG,
the future of classrooms, and education reform in
America:
One of the most consistent things we hear from

teachers across the nation is that teachers are ready
and even eager to lead the way in creating a more
powerful and equitable education system. There are
just under 4 million K-12 educators in this nation,
and if we could tap the leadership potential of even a
fraction of those teachers think what a force that
would unleash.
Q: Why is education reform crucial to the United States

at present?
Legend: Educational inequality. Its the sad, yet
changeable, reality that where a child is born and/
or how much money that childs parents make
determine the quality of his or her education and life
prospects.
Q: What are your hopes for the program?

Legend: Through LRNG, I hope to support teachers
in identifying and addressing the biggest challenges
they face in their classrooms. Our teachers now will
create our classrooms of the future we need to lift
up their voices and invest in them and their ideas.
As it stands, a good education in the United States

of America, one of the wealthiest and most powerful
nations on this earth, remains a gift for some, when it
60
Q: Number one thing we can do to assist teachers?
best. I didnt think writing was one of my strengths

until she helped me develop that skill, and now I
write songs for a living.
PhotoCredit: Eric Ryan Anderson
Legend: If we invest in our teachers support them

through meaningful pre-service training and ongoing
professional development, engage them in developing
the solutions to our education shortfalls, and respect
them as the professionals they are we will see
fundamental positive changes for our students.
Q: How would you like to see classrooms transformed?

By 2050, a classroom looks like?
Legend: I am not the expert on what our future
classrooms should look like, our teachers are.
Q: Is there a teacher, in particular, that changed

your life?
I can tell you that our future classrooms will nurture

each individual student, meet students where they
are, and help them discover and develop their
interests and passions. All our students will have
high expectations of themselves and their peers and
as a result, they will thrive academically, socially,
and emotionally.
Legend: I had several inspiring teachers and other

adults in my community who helped me grow into the
student and man Ive become. One important teacher
was my high school English teacher, Mrs. Bodey. She
saw potential in me and encouraged me to be my
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SMASHD.CO
To help others, actor-writer Wil Wheaton talked about

his journey with anxiety and depression
By Michele Wojciechowski
62
IN YOUR HEAD
anxiety disorder back then, he said. I dont want

people to suffer for 20 years or longer like I did
because they just didnt know how to get help or
didnt even know how to talk about it.
Wil Wheaton remembers exactly when he realized

he needed to get help for his generalized anxiety
disorder and depression.
Wheaton and his wife, Anne, were travelling to
Minnesota where he was to perform the stage show
wOOtstock with Adam Savage. That morning the
stressors were piling on.
After reading Jenny Lawsons blog, The Bloggess, in

which she eloquently summed up how depression
messes with your brain, Wheaton decided to open up.
I had wanted to speak publicly about having
depression and anxiety for a long time, and I just
couldnt figure out a way in, he said.
After getting up really early to get to the airport, the

Wheatons got stuck in rush hour traffic. When they
finally arrived at the airport, there was an enormous
line at the ticket counter. Wil began to get more and
more anxious about getting on an airplane. He was
nervous about doing the show in the first place and
began to worry that he wouldnt be good in it.
Wheaton is also speaking out because he thinks its

ridiculous that so many people still have the mindset
that depression is just feeling sad, and people who
have it should just cheer up.
When they got to the agent, she informed them that

neither the Wheatons nor their luggage would make it
on the flight.
Before getting help, Wheaton said I wore my

depression like an invisible lead apron like they put
on you at the dentist when they x-ray your teeth. I
really felt the weight of it on me everywhere I went.
I just got used to carrying it around. It wasnt until I
got treatment that I became aware of just how heavy
and awful that thing was and how great it was to take
it off.
I just freaked out, recalled Wil. I was like Well,

[screw] it. Im not going on this trip at all.
Anne sat him down and said that she would take
care of everything to get them to Minnesota. She
added that when they returned home from the trip,
he needed to see somebody because the way he was
reacting to this situationas well as many others in
his lifewasnt normal.
Wheaton works with NAMI, the National Alliance

on Mental Illness and has made a video for Project
UROK (you are okay). He suggests that people feeling
like they might have anxiety, depression, or other
mental illness talk with others about it. If they need
help, get help. Theres no shame in it.
Wil remembers her saying, I dont want to watch you

suffer like this anymore.
As for the number of people hes already helped

by telling his story, Wheaton says its in the low
thousands. Several times a week, he hears from
people who saw the video, read his blog, or otherwise
interacted with something he said or did, and many
tell him that it was what they needed to get help.
I had already been thinking about it. Id been

thinking maybe I needed to do something, said Wil.
This was roughly seven years ago.
Wheatonbest known for playing Wesley Crusher in
the T.V. series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordi
Lanchance in the movie Stand By Me, and as himself
on the comedy The Big Bang Theory -- saw a doctor
and got a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder
and depression.
I would love to help push society to a point where

you can say: Yeah, I take medication for depression
the way someone says: I take insulin for diabetes,
said Wheaton.
Wheaton is sharing his personal story to help get rid

of the stigma of mental illness.
Expecting a person with anxiety and/or depression

to just deal with it without any help, without any
medication, without any therapy or support is like
expecting a person with a broken leg to just walk on it
and get through the pain. No rational compassionate
human would ever tell another person to just walk on
their broken leg, he said.
When I look back on my lifeto being a teenager

its really clear that I was suffering from generalized
I really think the best way to affect change in this

whole thing is making it okay to talk about it.
He began taking medication and sees a psychiatrist.

When needed, he also sees a therapist. He has a
great support networkhis wife, kids, and friends.
Some days suck, he said. Most days dont.
63
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Photo Credit: David Krane
JUST FOR KICKS

Google Ventures managing partner David Krane about his love for sneakers and startups
By Brandon Hairston
64
David Krane, managing partner at Google Ventures,

manages Googles venture fund and invests in a wide
range of startups from Uber to Blue Bottle Coffee.
found most, if not all, of my paycheck going toward

some of the most unique, cool shoes right as they
were released. And so a sneakerhead from Oregon
was born.
While his financial prowess may be well known,

what you might not know is that he avidly collects
sneakers.
Q: How did you first get into venture capital?

Krane: My entry to venture capital came just as I
wrapped up my first decade at Google.I joined Larry
and Sergey at the beginning of 2000 as employee
#84.
We talked to him about how collecting kicks is like

collecting startupsor whether those two things
intersect at all.
He spoke about his background, being inspired by
Nike and Adidas early on, and his role at Google
working with startups and founders.
It was a company full of the smartest engineers Id

ever interacted with, working night and day on very
large, complex computing problems. The founders
saw me as someone who could decode the
technical nature of their work, and spread it to mass
audiences around the world.I was Googles chief
storyteller, if you will.It was a fabulous job, one that
brought me all over the world, and into new, unique
circumstances constantly.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Krane: I grew up in a small college town in Oregon,
75 minutes south of both the Nike and Adidas
headquarters, but I didnt visit Nike corporate until
the fall of 2013!
Im the son of a nuclear physicist dad and a very
community/volunteer-focused mom. Only child. My
hobbies as a child were mostly organized around
music and sports.I played clarinet, saxophone, and
piano very seriously (and competitively). A second
emphasis was athletics; I played a number of sports
growing up, with the strongest being my tennis game.
When it came time to search for Act II, it became

obvious that something else inside Google would
make a ton of sense. I was just hungry to work in a
smaller, more entrepreneurial context.Google had
become a company of 34,000 employees, with more
than 100+ offices around the world. A shadow of the
little startup I had joined, years ago.
It was at that time that Googles founders and chief
legal officer committed to starting a venture fund.
As luck would have it, I joined two or three other
Googlers (who were also leaving existing positions
after long, successful runs) to spin up Google
Ventures.
To earn some extra spending money in high school, I

happened to stumble upon two retail sales gigs, both
at local sneaker and sportswear shops.
One was the largest Nike dealer in our small college
town. University athletes (some real stars, like Gary
Payton) would always come in to pick up new kicks
and gear. I repped a lot of Nike, of course, but
also interacted with other cool brands, like Le Coq
Sportif (when DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
wore it!), Sergio Tacchini, and others. Since I was
a tennis fiend, these brands ensured I looked sharp
on the courtwhether it was the latest Agassi
collections, or something Yannick Noah used to wear
in tournaments.
Q: To you, whats the most exciting part of investing in

new companies?
Krane: Really, several parts.
I love the hunt. The spotting processasking
questions like, Who are the best founders in tech?
What hard problems are unsolved today? How can
Google Ventures positively impact and accelerate
these startups?
The Nike-centric job also exposed me to a golden

opportunity to further my collection: Nike employee
purchase discounts were 50-75% off of the latest,
greatest shoes and clothing, with typically just one
catch: Often, the shoes offered to employees were in
very unique, non-mainstream colors.It didnt dampen
my enthusiasm for a minute!At such a bargain, I
Then, I love to compete.Who else is looking at this

deal?Are we ahead of them? Or are we chasing our
competition? How do we win? Were only five and
a half years old, new to the venture business.Why
should these founders take our money over a firm
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SMASHD.CO
that has several decades of experience?
of expertise for a coffee company.
And lastly, once a deal is struck, frankly the best

part is working very closely with the founders and key
operating teams inside a company, to help build and
grow a remarkable technology business.
Q: How do you think investing in startups has changed,

even in the last five years?
Q: What attracted you to Blue Bottle Coffee? Coffee and

tech do seem to go together, but what did you see in
coffee specifically?
* There are more of us. Raising capital has

never been easier (there is a lot of cash out there),
therefore the population of individual investors has
increased substantially, creating more competition,
and frequently cutting out the more established
institutional players at the earlier stages of a
financing.
Krane: There have been many changes:
Krane: I tend to invest in areas that Im passionate

about as a user. Coffee is one such area.There isnt
a morning in any given week where I cant be found
in front of my semi-automatic espresso machine,
very carefully preparing beverages for my family.My
wife and I drink various forms of espresso drinks,
and our kids can often persuade me to steam milk to
accompany their breakfast.
* Crowdfunding platforms like CircleUp (for consumer

goods) and AngelList (for tech startups) also level the
playing field for individual, accredited investors.
* It has also never been cheaper to start a company:
Computing resource costs are at an all-time low, web
and mobile development tools are plentiful, therefore
enabling small, bootstrapped teams to prototype and
release products very quickly.
Weve helped Blue Bottle in a number of areas, but

most notably is some key design work weve done
to evolve and accelerate direct coffee sales via Blue
Bottles e-commerce store. Clearly a technical
problem, and for obvious reasons, not the sweet spot
66
Photo Credit: iGetty Images
My Nike-centric job also exposed me

to a golden opportunity to further my
collection: Nike employee purchase
discounts were 50-75% off of the
latest, greatest shoes and clothing
At such a bargain, I found most, if
not all, of my paycheck going toward
some of the most unique shoes,
right as they were released. And so a
sneakerhead from Oregon was born.
most challenging part of my day is fitting everything

in!The convenience of slipping shoes on and off,
multiplied by many times per day, ends up being a
meaningful convenience.
Q: Do you recall a sneaker that changed the game for
you? Was it your first pair of Js (Michael Jordans) or
perhaps a pair of classic All-Star Chuck Taylors?
Krane: So many answers here.Since Ive talked about
Nike so much, Ill highlight an Adidas shoe.The
Adidas Superstar II Kermit the Frog.
I often love Jeremy Scott-designed kicks.Some
of it is too over the top for my taste, but others fit
perfectly.This is one such pair.As a Muppets geek
and a sneakerhead, I wear these shoes proudly.And
often!
I also have a philosophy of trying to leave the house
in the morning fitted in such a way that my kids
notice my shoes and my style. Its a high bar, but
my kids unanimously love my sneaker collection,
especially this particular pair.
* On the later stage side of the equation, financings

are also changing quite a bit. The IPO is an
occasional exit, but more common are late-stage
growth rounds that bring substantial operating capital
into a company and also provide some liquidity to
insiders (relieving pressure to go public, at least in
the near-term).
Q: Best shoe in your collection? Best shoe out there

missing from your collection?
Krane: Im a long-time Chicago Bulls fanMJ-era,
of course.Probably the best shoe I own is a pair of
Air Jordan 1 High HOF, which reflects the six NBA
championships he won with the Bulls.
Q: Back to the sneakers. With all the brands, sites, and

bloggers out there, where do you go for current sneaker
news?
I wear a lot of Air Max 90s, too. The shoe Im

dying to add to my collection is the Air Max 90 SP
Moon Landing that was released in July 2014.It
celebrates Neil Armstrongs moon walk in July 1969.
Krane: Twitter is my first stop I follow a number of

key accounts that keep me apprised of new releases
and related news. I use the KicksOnFire app on my
iPhone as well.SneakerNews.com is also good.
Q: What sneaker is most essential for your everyday
work and business travel?
Q: Is collecting and investing in quality sneakers

anything like investing and collecting a portfolio
of startups?
Krane: Its a tie between the Nike Presto and a shoe

with a Free 5.0 bottom.In both cases, these shoes
can be fun, colorful, and unique yet appropriate for
business (my business at least) and a pleasure. I
wear a dress shoe maybe once per month.
Krane: Not really.While investing can also bear

a resemblance to things that are personal to me
(hobbies, interests, etc.), sneakers are truly part of
my core look, my identity, and my creativity.
Its always sneakers.Some kind of sneaker.And

Prestos and most Nike Frees can be slipped on and
off easily, without dealing with laces.
From a pure investment point of view, Id bet on the

return potential of a tech investment any day over a
pair of sneakers!Much easier to make money in
tech startups.
Im always on the go. I have three kids under the

age of 10. We dont wear shoes inside our home.
Time is my most precious currency, and often the
67
THE MASTER CLEANSE

In an overwhelming world of digital overload, people are seeking Zen,
in various waysfrom juicing to tidy homes to inbox zero
By Sarah LaBrie
68
In her bestselling book The Life-Changing Joy of

Tidying Up, author Marie Kondo promises readers
that getting rid of objects that dont bring you joy
will bring you success at work and at home.
inboxes and Twitter feedshitting refresh over and

over again.
Who hasnt found themselves ignoring a partner or
a relative while scrolling mindlessly through their
phone? Or attempting to read emails and texts, while
simultaneously listening to GPS directions and a
podcast during the morning drive to work?
According to her millions of fans in the United States

and abroad, shes not wrong.
The book has been translated into dozens of
languages, and Kondo has been touted everywhere
from Googles headquarters to the Today show. This
year, she appeared on Time Magazines list of the
100 most influential people.
Most adults spend five to six hours online each

day, and the habits many of us have developed as a
resultsuch as constantly checking in on Twitter and
Facebookcan be hard to break.
Kondos KonMarie method of organizing involves

touching every object in your home and judging the
emotion it inspires.
We know these things hurt our productivity, but we

can sometimes find it impossible to stop. Multiple
studies have demonstrated that smart phone users
experience high levels of anxiety when their phones
are out of reach.
Clothes, papers, gifts, and books that dont bring you

happiness immediately get tossed in the trash or into
a bag for donation.
Digital overload isnt a new concept, but theres a

growing sense that its starting to negatively impact
our health. And young entrepreneurs are responding
to whats become a growing cultural need.
In the end, readers are left with much emptier rooms

and much greater peace of mind.
The technique is so popular, its even inspired a few
hit pieces. A writer for New York Magazine compared
the new fad for cleaning up to the green juice trend
that turned liquefied kale into a $5 billion dollar
industry.
A company called Digital Detox sells customers four

days of phone-free time in the woods through its
Camp Grounded program.
In 2014, a lifestyle brand called Folk Rebellion in
New York provided customers with a weekend at a
bed and breakfast during which iPhones and Wi-Fi
were inaccessible. In London, Unplugged Weekend
gives gadget-addicts a chance to meditate in nature
and wean themselves off social media.
There was something to her point.

By being careful about what we put into our bodies
and what we put into the spaces where we live, we try
to gain agency over the rest of our lives.
Tidying up, green juice, and getting offline for a while

may be growing trendsfor good reasonas we
continue to blend our physical lives with our digital
ones, and as we seek to live the best lives we possibly
can, both online and off.
This desire expands beyond our living spaces and our

homes to our minds. Meditation and yoga studios are
now as ubiquitous as frozen yogurt spots were in the
early 2010s. Discussions about mindful awareness
and its impact on productivity are at an all time high.
Tech companies are focusing on mindfulness in the
office, hiring specialists and experts in the field.
And yet, our digital lives seem to be messier (and
busier) than ever. With new waves of status updates,
push notifications, Instagram images (and direct
messages), text messages, and emails greeting us
every morning.
We know we should stop checking, but fear of
missing out keeps us coming back to our email
69
SMASHD.CO
A NEW CODE OF THE STREETS

#YESWECODE is an effort to bring underserved communities into tech
By Nneoma Akubuilo
A problem that has been secretly weighing on Silicon

Valley for years rose to the surface in 2014, when
companies like Google and other tech giants revealed
their diversity reports.
Data from Google, in particular, showed that among
their employees worldwide only 2% were African
American, and only 3% were Latino.
While many have demanded solutions to the tech
industrys diversity problem, Van Jones, founder
of #YesWeCode, is working to ensure that the next

generation of tech revolutionaries and innovators are
a diverse group.
#YesWeCode is working to become the equivalent
of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in the
computer coding education space.
The UNCF does a great job of getting scholarships to
African Americans who want to go to black schools,
but unfortunately nobody is doing that yet for African
70
Nobody is telling our kids that its fine for you to be able to
download an app, but youll really impress me when you can
upload one. I tell young people all the time, dont show me
your rap, show me your app.
code and create new products.
Americans, Latinos, and Native American students

who want to get a specialized education in computer
coding, Jones said.
#YesWeCode wants to find and finance the next Mark
Zuckerbergs in communities where no one would be
looking for the next big tech luminary.
Jones background includes working for grassroots
organizations and the White House.
The idea for #YesWeCode came about when Jones
and Prince, the legendary musician, were discussing
racial issues that followed the murder of 19-year-old
Trayvon Martin.
Prince pointed out that every time you see a black
kid in a hoodie, hes a thug, but if you see a white
kid in the same hoodie, they think hes Mark
Zuckerberg, Jones explained.
He said, it could be that we havent created enough
black Mark Zuckerbergs, and maybe we need to be
focusing on that, so that the next time you see a
black kid in a hoodie, you think hes on his way to a
million-dollar startup.
Their first hackathon, in partnership with Qeyno Labs,

was held in 2014 in Oakland, California.
The ideas and the products that the kids were
coming up with were so original and extraordinary.
They were coming up with apps to help kids in foster
care, help kids with the criminal justice system, and
even helping prevent kids from being professionally
trafficked. It was a very different set of problems than
just another photo sharing app, said Jones.
#YesWeCode is currently using hackathons and
bootcamps short and intensive programs that
train individuals to be developers to catalyze their
movement. But they still face a big challenge in
scaling their efforts.
Trying to figure out a way to help the bootcamps
scale and include more people from our community
has been our biggest challenge, but thats where
were also going to meet our biggest success.
Right now the program is preparing to host more
hackathons and launch a scholarship fund. They will
launch a loan fund this fall, which is intended to
help those between the ages of 18 and 25 attend a
bootcamp.
The #YesWeCode initiative is striving to reach

100,000 underserved youths. They hope to
train a future generation of high-level computer
programmers.
#YesWeCode wants to show those who are
disadvantaged that opportunities exist in industries
that they may have never considered for themselves.
We probably have a million black kids playing
basketball this weekend, imagining themselves going
to the NBA, but the NBA onlyhires 15 kids a year.
Theres only 450 playing basketball in the NBA pros.
Mathematically, that doesnt make sense. Meanwhile
the technology sector says they are going to be
1,000,000 workers short in 8 years, Jones said.
The #YesWeCode program is creating hackathons,
where programmers and developers come together to
As Jones looks forward, he explained that his

ultimate goal for #YesWeCode is not just to change
the culture of Silicon Valley. Rather, he also wants to
change the culture in the hood.
Nobody is telling our kids that its fine for you to be
able to download an app, but youll really impress me
when you can upload one. I tell young people all the
time, dont show me your rap, show me your app,
he said.
The future is being written in code. We need to have
a big movement for inclusion in Silicon Valley. If
our young people have the tools to not only get jobs,
but to solve problems, then the future could be very
bright.
71
THATS GENIUS
THE INTERNETS FAVORITE LYRICS SITE GROWS UP
Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory. Photo Credit: Margarita Corporan
BY SARAH LABRIE
72
73
itself as Genius, emerging on the other side of a

series of scandals minus a partner, but strongly
equipped with a more ambitious set of goals.
In his fly-on-the-wall account of startup accelerator

Y-Combinators summer session in 2011, tech
writer Randall Stross called the founders of lyrics
annotation site Rap Genius (now called Genius)
lucky.
When asked whether he missed working with

Moghadam (two of the founders were friends at Yale
University), Zechory he told me he wished him the
best, but added pointedly, Mahbod hasnt been with
the site for a while now. Zechory seemed ready to
move on, and more interested in talking about the
future of the site than its past. Eminem became a
Genius verified artist earlier this year, and debuted
his annotated lyrics.
While other fledgling companies struggled to find

users, Rap Genius had shown up to Y-Combinator
equipped with a hockey stick growth pattern and a
rabidly loyal fan base.
While luck may have played a role, the real secret to
their success was simple: Co-founders Tom Lehmann,
Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Maghadam had developed
a place on the Internet that specifically catered to hip
hop fans like themselves, offering a site, where lovers
of Nas and Lil Wayne could congregate and analyze
their favorite tracks.
Other luminaries of the hip hop world have also

spent significant time on the Genius site, including
legendary music producer Rick Rubin and rapper
Wale.
Someone like Eminem can spend one afternoon
working, and for the rest of history when people go
to look up his lyrics, they get to hear the real story
behind the music, Zechory said. It stays in world
history forever.
They were providing, in some ways, a Wikipedia for

hip hop and rap lyrics, so users could have a better
understanding of the music that they loved.
Two percent of Google searches each year at the time
were for lyrics, a number that amounted to roughly
30 billion. Investors took note. In 2012, Rap Genius
out-fundraised its Y-Combinator 2011 competitors,
raising $15 million from venture capital firm
Andreessen Horowitz.
Zechory uses terms like history and forever a

lot, and this large-scale point of view seems to be
embedded in the companys ethos.
We want that to be a lasting impression on earth.
We want to change the way people read and listen
to music, Lehman said in a recent podcast with
Product Hunt founder Erik Torenberg.
As the companys fortunes improved, its public profile

heightened, leading to a hectic 2013.
An attention-grabbing performance at tech
conference TechCrunch Disrupt, left some bloggers
scandalized and with questions. More damaging, an
annotator caught Moghadam trying to game Googles
algorithm. The search engine pushed the site back to
the sixth page of search results, losing Rap Genius
85% of its traffic at the time. The following year,
Moghadam resigned from the company after leaving
inappropriate annotations on Isla Vista killer Elliot
Rodgers manifesto.
Looking To Annotate The Entire Web World

Genius most recent advance in its plan for world
domination is called Genius Beta, a tool that lets
users annotate any website by typing in genius.it/
before the URL.
Any user with a Genius account can add notes on top
of any web page using his or her browser.
A host of pages have already been annotated
thoroughly, including Genius own Wikipedia entry
Rap Genius, as ever, bounced back, raising $40

million in a second round of funding and rebranding
74
and this New Republic article, for example.
Boys, songwriter though he may be, providing

annotations on work by a Compton rapper had raised
any eyebrows. Genius founders, none of whom are
black, have faced criticism in the past for exploiting
rap culture. When I asked Zechory what he thought
about that controversy, he said it was part of a larger
conversation he welcomed.
In the same way Rap Genius once offered a place for

music fans to gather and discuss the meanings of
lyrics, Genius wants to make any website a potential
hub for conversation.
If were successful, then in a year or two when
youre browsing the Internet, if youre reading
something and you see a sentence you dont like,
youre just going to naturally highlight it and write
something, Zechory said. And then, naturally,
all the people who follow you are going to see that
in real time. And thats how everyones going to
experience the Internet, kind of collectively.
We created an open platform for anyone to come

on and talk about any text, and rap is central to that
platform. Rap was the start of it. Everythings coming
from a place of loving music, Zechory said.
Anyway, he added, would critics prefer he and his cofounders not have created the site?
The company famously hired The New Yorker veteran

music critic Sasha Frere-Jones as its executive editor
in January 2015. (Though Frere-Jones left Genius for
the Los Angeles Times in July of this year).
One thing their new product Genius Beta will make

possible is welcoming in even more conversation and
discussion about any topic.
Writers can now add opinions to any text on the
Internet, layering conversations about content directly
over the content being discussed. Zechory also said
the company is also working to develop voting and
moderation tools that will spotlight high quality
annotations and flag irrelevant ones.
Genius Senior Community Manager Elizabeth Milch

said she and her colleagues have been working to
raise standards for quality of annotations, and to
make the site more open and less clubby than it has
been in the past.
Having a really visible female community leader has
helped change the tone of the site, Milch said. Its
shifted. Thats something thats been a great thing to
see.

Genius aim now is to make itself appealing to
audiences with wide-ranging interests without
alienating its core user base of rap fans.
In five, ten years, the annotation natives arent going

to know a world where annotation didnt exist, just
like its hard for us to imagine a world where were
not allowed to use hyperlinks anymore, Lehmann
said in his conversation with Product Hunt.
Its hard, but not impossible, to imagine a future in
which Genius has gained universal traction, and all
the text on the Internet is encased in the sites telltale yellow highlighter. Which is to say: The future of
all of our reading experiences online may very much
depend on whether or not Genius continues to get
lucky.
Milch recalled that author Michael Chabon provided a

thorough explanation of Kendrick Lamars song The
Blacker the Berry, and she named it as a moment
that felt emblematic of the sites new reach.
If youre an expert, youre an expert, and it doesnt
matter who you are. You can be a high school junior
or Michael Chabon, Milch said.

I wondered whether the white author of the Wonder
75
SMASHD.CO
FINDING INNER PEACE ONLINE

Deepak Chopra on achieving balance in a constantly connected digital world
By Adam Popescu
Deepak Chopra has written 81 books, amassed

millions of followers and been called everything from
a holistic savior to a pseudoscientist.
center, an organization that creates everything from

popular literature to mobile apps, products that he
claims reach over 100 million people.
While some remain skeptical of the M.D.s sometimes

unconventional views and teachings, others swear
by them. Either way, theres no denying his success,
and his ability to equally galvanize supporters and
detractors.
But this success wasnt amassed overnight.
Despite huge odds, the multi-hyphenate doctor has

built a veritable media empire via his global holistic
We spoke to the spiritualist on the nature of his

creativity.
Chopras journey began in rural India, a far cry from

the West. And his path has been marked by periods
of tremendous self-doubt and public controversy.
76
Q: How do you find time to write and run your business?
Ive written 81 books, and theyre all about these

various subjects: Personal relationships, health,
higher consciousness, and success in the traditional
success. The progressive realization of goals. I offer
people tours through my books and workshops.
Now thats taking on a whole new life through
technologyand ultimately, it all started with feeling
confidence in myself.
Chopra: I divide my day. I dont multitask. I prioritize

sleep time: 10 oclock at the latest.
[In the morning], I meditate for two hours from 4-6.
Yoga time, I exercise from 6-7. Then the rest of the
day is focused on work time and also relationship
time, downtime, and writing time. Think of a pizza
with all the slices and thats how I divide my day.
Q: How did you come to that point?

Chopra: Ive always been a target for cynics and
skeptics. Some of them are really mean-spirited. If
you start getting upset by all that criticism, you soon
realize youre going to be offended for the rest of your
life.
Every six months, I take a week off and I go into

silence. Im not engaged on any social network or
technology. During that week I dont even read a book
or watch T.V. [My family and I] all go into silence
and in the evening we break the silence for one hour
just to either watch a video or something to do with
consciousness.
As I matured, I started to realize that I had a choice:

Did I want to live offended or upset by my critics?
Or could I even use some of the feedback and do a
better job at what Im doing?
I write everyday after my exercise. And I do two or

three books at a time. I dont have a deadline that
I have to do this or that first. Its whatever comes to
fruition comes. Ive been doing this for such a long
time that a lot of it is automatic.
Q: How do you balance that [inner peace], while being

so public?
Chopra: Im public because I want to reach people.
And I want to bring about personal and social
transformation and Im passionate about what I
do. In todays environment, there are no secrets.
Especially if youre a public figure, everybody knows
everything about you. Its a very good feeling when
you have nothing to hide.
As far as the Center is concerned, we have 110

people working. Im not engaged in the day-to-day
work at the Center. My participation is only a small
part of the total.
Q: Are people too caught up with work and technology to
focus? To have deep thought?
Chopra: You have to decide: Do you want to use
technology or do you want to allow technology to use
you? Its up to you.
Q: Whats the next step? How can people live better here
and now?
I think technology is a double-edged sword. If you

let it use you, youre going to get stressed out. Trying
to multi-task is the one thing that gets worse with
practice. Or you can use technology selectively.
Chopra: I focus and start everybody on physical

well-beingand of course everybody is interested
in success. I notice that if you ask people what they
want, it always begins with material goals. Then they
want their health, then love and relationships, and
finally, spiritual connections.
Technology is building a new global brain for us. The

Internet is a reflection of the human conditionyou
find everything there. Good and bad.
My idea of transformation begins with well-being.

That includes career well-being: living with purpose;
social well-being: having a healthy network of
friends and family who care about you; physical
well-being: having a joyful energetic body, a loving
compassionate heart, lightness of being; community
well-being: caring for worthy causes; financial wellbeing: not having to worry about money. Those are
the basics.
Q: What was the best advice you ever received?

Chopra: There was always something that was
whispering to me in my awareness, but I did not
take it until I was mature enough. That was to be
independent of the good and bad opinions of the
world.
77
JAIL HACK
THE STARTUP PIGEONLY IS HELPING THOSE BEHIND BARS
COMMUNICATE WITH FAMILY
BY NNEOMA AKUBUILO
It wasnt until he started serving his time that

he recognized the prison community was being
completely overlooked by the tech world.
At age 24, Frederick Hutson was convicted on drug

charges and sent to prison for four years.
Serving his sentence in eight different prisons and
unable to stay connected with his family, Hutson
developed a business plan while in jail for a startup
called Pigeonlya company that builds products for
overlooked and underserved communities.
I noticed that there was this population of people

that no one was paying attention to and they had
very specific problems. Thats where the idea first
formulated in my mind to build products to address
various communication issues between inmates and
their family members, said Hutson.
Born in Brooklyn, New York and spending his

adolescent years in St. Petersburg, Florida, Huston
enlisted in the military for two years after high
school. During his time in the military, Hutson got his
entrepreneurial start by launching a window tinting
service.
Hutson is the founder of both Fotopigeon and

Telepigeon (both part of Pigeonly).
Fotopigeon makes it possible for family members to
easily send printed photos to their inmates, through
their cellphones, tablets, or computers, Hutson
explained.
Although he found success, Hutson became involved

with drugs, specifically facilitating the movement of
marijuana across different cities, and went to prison.
78
Those who use the app can upload photos they

would like to send to an inmate on Fotopigeon, and
then select who they want to send it to through the
Fotopigeon database.
While research from the National Institute of

Corrections has shown that inmates with strong
family ties are least likely to re-offend and go back
to prison, Huston explained that the way the prison
system has been set up, it makes it difficult for
inmates to stay connected with their loved ones.
The database allows users to search for any inmate

by name, age, and race, wherever they may be in the
country. After a person selects who they are searching
for, Fotopigeon will then print and deliver a 4x6
photo to that selected individual.
The problem is the way the system is set up now, it

almost makes it impossible.
Prisons operate on a vendor bidding model. A
vendor wins a bid by promising kickbacks on the
revenue generated. [They do this] by providing a
particular product or service to the population at
that institution, which then causes high prices for
the family and friends of the inmate. The price of
communication on phones is one of the largest
roadblocks, said Hutson.
In addition to the photo mailing service, Telepigeon

lowers the cost of expensive prison phone calls by
providing inmates with a number that is local to the
person that they are calling (thus, generating a
lower fee).
Without using our service, it will cost an inmate
roughly $70 to use 300 minutes. With our service
those same 300 minutes will cost them about $18,
so theres a pretty significant price difference,
Hutson said.
Despite the challenges, he is full of ideas.

There are a ton of things you can do. There are a
hundred and one ways to make money, but being able
to focus on the way you choose to make money, and
being able to focus on a clear product, or if theres a
problem that you feel like you can solve, that takes a
lot of discipline, Hutson said.
The convenience of both apps serves as a benefit to

families, inmates, and those who have been newly
released from jail.
In a national study conducted by the Bureau of
Justice, 404,638 prisoners in 30 states who were
released from prison in 2005 were tracked. The
study concluded that following their release dates,
two thirds of the prisoners were arrested again within
three years. Within five years of being released, 75%
of released prisoners were rearrested.
While Hutson stays focused on both Fotopigeon and

Telepigeon, he continues to look to the future.
He wants to build more products that will target and
solve problems for the recently released, paroled,
and those on probation or those who have made it
through.
With the staggering rise in the number of inmates

relapsing, the services Pigeonly offers add to the
solution to recidivism rates. Both services promise to
help inmates stay in touch and maintain connection
with their loved ones, which Hutson says is an
important factor in keeping former inmates from
returning to prison.
These new products would include everything from

opening up a first bank account to all the way at the
other end of finding a lease, or a place that would be
willing to rent to you if you have a felony conviction,
to [finding] zip codes where there are jobs that
are willing to hire those with a prior convictions,
explained Hutson.
The worst thing that can probably happen to an

inmate is isolation. Most people in prison dont have
life sentences. Theyre going to be released at some
point or another and the problem is that throughout
their sentence they have lost track of everyone.
With the U.S. prison population reaching 2.4 million,

people like Hutson continue to lay the foundation
for a future where recidivism rates decrease and
solutions for underserved communities become
tangible.
At that point, its very easy to reoffend and go back

to the same thing you were doing before. Whatever
it may be to make money to take care of yourself
because you dont have a support system. When
youre released, you dont have anything, he said.
As a company, our mission is not to just build

products for inmates, but for any demographic that
is overlooked.
79
SMASHD.CO
DOING MOONSHOTS WITH ASTRO TELLER

Googles quirky, experimental captain on risk, success, and failure
By Adam Popescu
smoothly. Test drivers would kick back, while their

Lexus SUVs shuttled them along Northern California
freeways. Then, when they exited the fast lane, the
cars human passengers would take control and
steer home. And thats when things veered slightly
off course.
Astro Teller, Google Xs captain of moonshots,

recently opened up about self-driving cars and
Project Loon, an attempt to use floating balloons to
deliver worldwide WiFi.
Moonshots are Googles big attempts to make life
better ten times better to be exact. These risky
experiments often fail.
The cars were awesome, they did perfectly,

explained Teller, who stroked a dark brown goatee
as he lamented the projects early shortcomings.
With his long locks wrapped in a ponytail and stud
earrings, which flashed when they caught the light,
he resembled a rock guitarist more than a scientist.
But his training and method are textbook. And
hes deadpan in his analysis. The people were not
perfect, he said.
But despite the low odds of reaching success, the

company views every failure as a learning opportunity.
Googles driverless vehicle program is 1 of 10
different moonshot projects that have spun out of the
companys original plan to send people to the moon.
(Theyve since shifted to driverless cars, robotics,
biotechnology, and nanotechnology a huge jump
for a company that started as a mere search engine).
Those people in Googles experiment did just about

everything behind the wheel, while driving.
Three years ago, Google began testing automated

vehicles. That trial run allowed the option for driver
control via a steering wheel. At first, things went
Texting, putting on makeup, eating food, looking in

the backseat, Teller remembered, shaking his head.
80
When you think that the car has got it covered, it

gets ugly. It gets really ugly.
driverless car space. In many ways, their early

attempts have ushered in a change in the car
industry.
So ugly that Teller and the company scrapped the

whole project a project they invested almost three
years into.
Tesla promised to deliver an autopilot feature;

General Motors plans to introduce a cruise control
function that allows for hands (and pedal) free
highway driving. Companies like Ford are prepping
for automatic parking options. Its a huge change that
in many ways was greenlit by how aggressively Google
has sped forward.
We said Okay, I guess we have to have a car that

goes all the way from point A to point B, 100 percent
of the time, not 99 percent. And the only way were
going to be able to do that, mentally, is if we build a
car that does not have a steering wheel, Teller said.
We would not have gotten there, if we were less

open to experimenting, admitted Teller, who cofounded an artificial intelligence-based investment
firm, a wearable body monitoring company, and a
tech incubator before coming to Google. That failing
is part of getting to success.
Thats exactly what they ended up doing.

The improved safety of those vehicles and the people
being shuttled inside them, drastically improved. Out
of a reported 1.7 million miles driven in the Google
driverless program, there were a scant 11 minor
accidents. Seven rear-endings, a few wrecks, and
one incident that involved the self-driving car being
hit by a driver who failed to respect a stop sign.
He continued, What the nice neat media stories

really dont show us honestly is that feeling in the
pit of your stomach where you know where you want
to get, but you have no idea how. Every one of the
project leads at Google X has those feelings.
But the big question is whether or not Googles

driverless system can anticipate the different driving
habits and behavior of humans who theyll soon share
the road with?
Its those feelings that keep people like Teller

pushing.
Yes, Google Glass failed to catch on commercially,
and Project Loons balloons leaked once they reached
a cruising altitude. But its that trying and failing
thats at the heart of creative DNA. Without it, there
would be no creation at all. Quitting early would
have nixed Google getting the permits it needed to
make its driverless program a reality. From Edison
to Einstein, some of our brightest minds sense of
fortitude and their decision not quit at the first sign
of failure has legitimately changed history. Its a
formula people like Teller practice every day.
Weve accomplished everything

that weve accomplished by
harnessing our failures, Teller
said. So if you want to go out
and change the world, the future
is waiting for you. Its hungry for
you to go change it.
Weve accomplished everything that weve

accomplished by harnessing our failures, Teller said.
So if you want to go out and change the world, the
future is waiting for you. Its hungry for you to go
change it.
Detractors wag a finger at this potential sea change,

but many are excited. Well find out soon when the
rubber really hits the road.
In May, Google announced that in summer 2015,
prototype vehicles would hit the road. Unlike their
first generation of self-driving Lexuses, these models,
which resemble smart cars or even golf carts, cant
go faster than 25 miles per hour. And as per DMV
protocol, they also include a steering wheel and
pedals.
How?
Not by having the right answers ahead of time. Not
by having a bazillion dollars. The only thing you have
to be ready for, and excited by, is the failure. Start it
now. Go out, try, fail, learn. Youll get there.
I promise.
Google isnt the only company playing in the
81
SMASHD.CO
FUTURE PUNK
Punk band Refused on their new music and whats next for the anti-establishment
By Ian Cohen
82
83
However you want to classify Refuseds politics

anarchist, left-wing, socialist, communist, whatever
philosophically, they are contrarians.
The baffled reception of that album may have played

some part in Refused disbanding almost immediately
after the release of The Shape of Punk to Come.
So despite all of the warnings to do otherwise, they

naturally chose to violate the #1 rule of social media
engagement: They read the comments.
Thats kind of a major hurdle when youre still playing

basements: Refuseds final show for 14 years was
for less than 50 people in what might be Virginias
fifth-biggest college town, and it was broken up by
the police three songs in.
Hours before they would play Franafrique to a

sold-out crowd at the Roxy in Los Angeles, Refused
debuted the second single from their quite bonkers,
very long-awaited new album Freedom.
In the aftermath, the members started various other

projects. Lyxzn started the more traditional agit-pop
act the (International) Noise Conspiracy and released
five modestly-received LPs, later heading up the more
arena-ready INVSN. Meanwhile Sandstrm and Steen
continued to collaborate on instrumentals.
Pronounced franky freak if that sounds like

a Red Hot Chili Peppers song title, well...theres
the matter of the song itself, a thrusting, pelvic
funk-rocker with a stacked barbershop harmonizing
of murder murder murder, punctuated by Dennis
Lyxzn screaming kill! kill! kill!
Steen and Sandstrm were then prompted by none

other than the tour drummer from Ugly Kid Joe.
Steen recalled being asked, Oh yeah, youre not
writing any new material? We werent. And he said,
Oh, thats smart, thats smart. And we were like,
What the fuck are you implying?!
The response to the song on the bands Facebook

page proved illuminating:
It sounds like Lenny Kravitz
The three former band members happened upon each

other in Gothenburg in 2012, and after the question was popped (if they could collaborate and work
together again), Lyxzn admits he was frightened
upon hearing the song that would eventually become
Elektra, a lead single for the band.
The Refused are fucking dead. This shit is horrible.

Refused might as well open for U2, they can play
over Steve Jobs grave and have some drones drop
off iTunes gift cards during their set. I need to go buy
some shit at Old Navy.
I knew immediately, this is the centerpiece, that was

gonna be the song that was gonna define a new Refused record, he said.
Sounds like they should go on tour with Maroon 5.

Lyxzn has acknowledged these claims and happily
offered a euphemistic defense of Franafrique:
Its been very polarizing!
The version of Elektra that announced that Refused

are alive and back together in April 2015 sounds
nothing like the original. This is largely due to the
intervention of Karl Johan Schuster, better known as
Shellback, best known as a songwriter-producer of
eight tracks from Taylor Swifts 1989. His other credits include Maroon 5, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, and
P!nk.
But hearing such passionate reactions on both ends

for Franafrique is comforting for the band.
Refused has been here before. Their 1998 The
Shape of Punk to Come wasnt a prophetically-titled
record: Punk rock really didnt come to sound much
like it in the ensuing years.
Even if a portion of their fanbase chooses to believe

that their principles mandate staying at the closest
youth hostel, Lyxzn knows, if we were sleeping on
floors, Im not sure we would have been in the kind
of shape to do that kind of show. (In the meantime,
this interview happened poolside on the rooftop at
the fairly luxe Le Montrose, taking in a widescreen
view of West Hollywood.)
We thought people would just be so excited, love it

immediately and just say, Lets never listen to those
other bands again! Lyxzn recalled.
Drummer David Sandstrm concurred, We thought it
was really direct and effective. Nothing strange going
on. And then people who are not in Refused heard
it. The hardcore kids were like, What are you doing,
pretentious fucks? Stop this! And then we broke up.
Refused may equate capitalism with organized crime,

but I suppose they appreciate that mobsters had
style.
84
ROCK A POMPADOUR, MAKE A LIVID POST ABOUT THE

BAND ON TWITTER, WHATEVER. TO SANDSTRM ITS A
MOOT POINT, IF THERES PASSION BEHIND IT: PEOPLE
CARING ABOUT MUSIC, WHATS BAD ABOUT THAT?
NOTHING.
I dont think any one of us are interested in, What
does punk mean in 2015?
Sandstrm is the most striking of the quartet, when

I first met him in the lobby, I assumed he was the
bands stylist, outfitted in a suit vest and jeans, a
cowboy hat covering his shaved head.
So that puts their progressive politics and confrontational integration of pop in contrast with their first
post-reunion show at Punk Rock Bowling, a festival
where nostalgia and regressive gender dynamics have
a stranglehold.
As soon as the conversation turned towards his hat

later on, he switched mid-interview to a snappy
bowler, which hed been keeping under the table the
entire time.
The weekend in Vegas is exactly what youd expect.

Its heavy on rockabilly-punk style and pompadours,
you might catch a chain wallet to the face for saying
any ill word about Social Distortion and maybe someone mentions how the Muffs are pretty much the only
female band that ever makes the lineup.
Meanwhile, I dont think Ive seen any singer, in any

genre, prance the stage and leap on the drum riser
wearing double monkstrap shoes.
At 42, Lyxzn remains a limber and combustible performer, his ad-libs, dance moves, and sartorial choices drawing obvious comparisons to James Brown.
He brings four suits on tour two for stage, two for
show.
Refused are used to having anything that resembles

a commercial affiliation being questioned for instance, having their song New Noise used on 24
and Tony Hawks Underground, or allowing Paramore
to quote Liberation Frequency on their 2007
album Riot! but they recognize the necessity for
pragmatism.
Later that night, theyd perform a show more typical

of their 1990s days, packing into Silver Lakes Vinyl
Vacation for an at-capacity pop-up gig. Maybe 40
people can jam into the place.
Steen admitted, Punk Rock Bowling is a bit corny,

but a lot of the core crowd, the people that like our
band, thats where theyre at. We put out records
on Epitaph, and in the 1990s we were part of that
scene. So itd also be really weird if we said, We
cant, were too good for that.
These are the sort of things Refused has to do with

a new album in tow. Not to get back to their roots,
but to present themselves as a functioning band.
Regarding their return to Coachella in 2012, Lyxzn
said, It felt like everyone was automatically rooting
for us. Like, yeah, they earned this.
And besides, Refused can relate to and empathize

with people who face assumptions regarding how
theyre supposed to look or act in their older years.
Sandstrm chimed in, We felt like we won the

match even before we went on stage.
Rock a pompadour in your 40s, make a livid post

about Refuseds new song on Twitter, whatever. To
Sandstrm, its a moot point if theres passion behind
it: People caring about music, whats bad about
that? Nothing.
In 2015, they have to debut new material for a crowd

who thought Refused would never return.
Bassist Magnus Flagge stated, When we wrote The
Shape of Punk to Come, it was our way of trying to
distance ourselves from any sort of scene affiliation.
85
SMASHD.CO
86
TRAP KING
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR FETTY WAP

BY ADAM POPESCU
87
Hip hop is an art form that melds allusion, aspiration,

and reality like no other.
The smartest in the set are the youngsters sprinting

ahead, sometimes even lapping the veterans.
Its stars are glorified super-heroes, known as much

for their loud personas as their lyrics. In todays
era of online-fueled stars, genres blend and artists
work with brands while still boasting bad habits. Its
that tight rope reality walk that separates the pack.
Be real enough to get attention, and then use that
realness to get fans to buy-in. And then use that fan
buy-in to get big brands to fork over the big bills.
One of those runners is Fetty Wap (born Willie

Maxwell), who teamed with the clothing line Young
& Reckless and L.A. radio station Real 92.3 this
summer for a fan meet-and-greet that doubled as a
how-to on tapping your fanbase.
There were plenty of red cups filled with drinks far
too strong for midday. There were groupies clamoring
for selfies and face time, rappers rolling up medicine,
trap music drums booming, timid bloggers, bossy PR,
excited teens. All of it was there. All of it definitive
hip-hop in the millennial era.
Ten, even five years ago, artist collaborations with

mainstream companies like Adidas or Nike were
unheard of. Well, not exactly unheard of. Jay Z and
even The Game did it, and so did Kanye, but they
were already bonafide stars when pen struck paper,
which made the deals less of a gamble for brands.
With an American flag bandana tied over his blonde

dreds, stick-thin Fetty Wap, a 25-year-old star, broke
down how he interacts with fans, the value of the
Internet, and whether or not hes collaborating with
hip-hops reigning crown prince, Drake.
Today, smaller, niche venues that feed off of youth

culturethink Supreme and The Hundredsuse
up-and-comers to appeal to fans of both products
and performers. Even fringe companies like G Pen
and RAW paperscompanies themselves that not
too long ago operated on the very fringe of legality
slap enough money down to get marquee names like
Snoop or Wiz Khalifa to approve their messaging.
Q: Does all of the attention make you nervous regarding

upcoming projects?
Fetty Wap: Not really. It doesnt bother me because
I make music for me and the people I grew up with:
Me and my fans. I dont try to make songs to outdo
other songs. I never tried to make another track
another My Way, or another Again.
Its funny how much of an about-face the marketing

world has made, and how much the music industry
has taken advantage of it.
I always try to make different songs. [My music] is

really going to be a collaboration of all the different
sounds that Ill put in one room.
At one point, artists that promoted their own socalled street behavior would have never gotten
endorsement deals. Deemed too dangerous to appeal
to average consumers.
Q: How do you use social media to connect with fans?

Fetty Wap: Right now, my top social media site would
be Instagram. I be on Instagram all the time. And Im
on Snapchat and Twitter. I hit comments when I can,
I answer comments, I try to respond to private DMs or
messages on Twitter, Snap people back.
Social media and the Web, as a whole, have turned

these urban musicians into some of the most
recognizable faces in entertainment. Which means
both artists and brands can steer followers and fans
to digital and physical shopping carts to pile in
merch, songs, tickets, and whatever products they
hock.
I dont try to make people feel like Im just an artist

and theyre just a fan. I try to make them feel like
theyre my friend. We cool. Like when I come to your
city and I see you, we can link up. I try to make them
feel comfortable. Its not just certain people, its
anybody.
The days of selling your record out the trunk of your

car, or even pushing your mixtape for the $5 low are
long since departed. If you dont have a Soundcloud,
YouTube, or Twitter buzz, well, good luck on relying
on just the streets. Because no matter how hot
your music is, you wont get the major brand bucks
without the Internet.
Q: Whats the most surprising thing about being

someone that kids look up to?
88
I DONT TRY TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL LIKE

IM JUST AN ARTIST AND THEYRE JUST
A FAN. I TRY TO MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE
THEYRE MY FRIEND. WE COOL. LIKE WHEN
I COME TO YOUR CITY AND I SEE YOU, WE
CAN LINK UP. I TRY TO MAKE THEM FEEL
COMFORTABLE. ITS NOT JUST CERTAIN
PEOPLE, ITS ANYBODY.
Fetty Wap: The most surprising thing about it is I
never thought I would be that person. A lot of kids,
I hear them tell their parents I want to be like
Fetty Wap.
Fetty Wap: Zoo Gang represents a lot of different

things. To most people that think bad things its a
bunch of animals, or a whole bunch of people acting
wild or doing ignorant things but no.
Ive got my own kids, Ive got my own little boy that
runs up to me every time I see him and says Daddy,
I want to be like you.
My mother always told me dont join a gang. Zoo

Gang was a way for me to have the people around
me that if they were to ever want to join a gang, they
could join something positive instead. Zoo Gang is
not a negative thing. My goal is to be comfortable
thats what were doing.
Its just weird, because now certain things that I

do, I cant really move how I want to move. I cant
really say things Id like to say. I cant really be me
because I have to show kids, per se, that you dont
always have to act out or act wild to think thats you.
Through that process Ive learned a lot, especially
towards the kids. I stopped a lot of things.
Q: With Drake contributing to the remix of your song

My Way, theres talk about a collaboration. When is
that happening?
Fetty Wap: [Laughs]. It really depends, you know what
I mean, its up to Drake. Its music. If thats what he
told me that he wanted to do, then I would do it. I
would do it.
Where Im at, people ask me for pictures, I tell them

no. When its a kid, I tell them yes. That might be
the only opportunity I get to see them and they get to
see me. So, I dont know if Im a role model for kids,
but I just say that they actually helped me better
myself. [The kids] helped meso I help the kids.
Q: What does your clique Zoo Gang represent?
89
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Dont stop the hustle.
90
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FOR YOUR DAILY TECH, CULTURE, & HUSTLE, VISIT
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The state of music in

the Internet Age

SMASHD is a new voice in tech, culture, and hustle.

Publisher: Atom Factory, Troy Carter

50. Violin Video Queen

12. Word To The Dalai Lama

60. In Your Head

16. Has EDM Reached Its Peak?

62. Just For Kicks

26. A-List: Whats On Our Radar

66. The Master Cleanse

29. Run The World

68. A New Code Of The Streets

70. Thats Genius

35. Off The Record with Steve Aoki

74. Finding Inner Peace Online

38. Going Over Board

76. Jail Hack

42. Ladies and Gentlemen, Quincy Jones

78. Doing Moonshots With Astro Teller

48. Sound Investments

84. Trap King

free online collection of icons for anyone to use to

In 2015, its been no secret that its not just venture

They are pitched 100 to 150 companies per month.

Its incredibly rewarding to bet on someone that most

Saleh explained, In short, we basically say no

Nasir Nas Jones, 41, grew up in Queens, New

RadPad, a company that they put money into in

After two years of investing, the pair formalized their

Millennials need something more consumer-friendly

We started investing because we wanted to be

What They Seek In Startup Founders

Has music impacted his investment style?One might

As for startup founders they love, they look for

I love so many founders. I consider most my friends,

UNTIL LIFE IS EASY, WE

but a cultural shift he has noticed that may not have

Prices for everyday items have been skyrocketing and

What Theyre Looking For Now: Education, Finance,

As startups have become popular in the current

For Queensbridge, technology isnt necessarily about

How high will the dollar figures and valuations

Saleh added, Im obsessed with the concept of

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

In a head-to-toe trench coat and vintage dress, dripping

company in a place like this. Or the head of a company

But her moves and success are text bookeven if her

Q: How does it feel to have

At 17, she left her San Diego home, rebellious, idealistic,

Amoruso: Im really, really proud of the book. And Im so

In 2006, at only 22, Amoruso discovered the power of

Im starting to write a second book. Its going to be really

We chatted with her about her road to being an

Q: Whats been the biggest

Q: Do you feel like the

Amoruso: Running a business at scale. I dont want to

Amoruso: It is mostly men. But I dont walk into a room

When I sense things that need to be done, or we need

Q: Do you feel different,

People are so many arm spans away from me. It takes so

Amoruso: Extremely. Being the head of a company

I want to lead our customers. In some way, I left off