Your business is sponsored by American Express. Dont do business without it. Hi there, im j. J. Ramberg. Welcome to your business the show dedicated to helping your growing business. Maybe you have never heard the name kareem. Without him, you may never have heard of the name jayz. They made millions of dollars and launched jayzs career. Today, he is running his own show, focused on lifestyle. We wanted to know how he forged from the projects in harlem to the board rooms to the biggest countries. So, we followed him for a day to see how he finds opportunities and makes deals. Kareem bigs grew up here in the projects of harlem, a place as rich in spirit as it is fraught with dangers. You learn, early on, the difference between fireworks and gunshots. He says there are not a lot of stories like his, where people without resources go on to make it big time. His brother, bob, parrished on the streets years ago when they were young men. I got a call around midnight that he was killed, shot nine times. I imagine myself out of this environment and doing something bigger. He left harlem years ago, a selfmade millionaire many times over. Hes not forgotten the times his family ended up in a homeless shelter. A tough time for me and my family. At that age, around 12 years old, i said ill never be impov herbed again. Damon dash introduced him to sean carter, a wannabe wrapper from brooklyn. They founded rockefeller records and sean carter was jayz. We sell close to 60 million records. That was 20 years ago. Back then, his hunger led him to seek out the symbols of wealth. We always looked outside our culture. We wanted to be bigger and grow and also experience what the world had to offer. He says he got jayz to rap and the Luxury Products by name, like cars, drinks, even a line of clothing they, themselves produced. All this influenced fans and brought profits to rockefeller. When hi finishes his morning workout, his stylist meets him at the gym to select sneakers and his outfit for the day. Next up, bigs, simone and the crew are hurrying across the George Washington bridge for a meeting with a mass market blue Jeans Company based in manhattan. The rock fella days are long gone. Bigs is still in the business of selling lifestyle products only now, hes using access to hip hop royalty and his understanding of trends to bring that lifestyle to mainstream merchants, seeking new markets. I go to the ground level and find out what is happening to the every day people, what are they drinking and listening to. You can find out whats happening in the marketplace. Hes built a portfolio of more than seven companies ranging from clothing to beverage to media and brand consulting. People pay millions of dollars for that access. The meeting is with one jeans group to talk about the launch of his licensed jeans called fourth of november. He wants the jeans to reflect his mash culture. We can definitely push the limit. We are saying this is designers, street, also with the sports, its a cultural match up. The launch date is a few months away and bigs is counting on the ceo to meet the deadline. Speed is our forte. Normally, its 110 days for us to start and deliver a product. In this instance, we are going to do it in about 90 days. Jack is counting on bigs to get big name endorsements and build influence or excitement. All stylists that handle all celebrity influences as well. Well make sure they get all the product. As we left the meeting, jack toeld us about a question he asked bigs and his partners. An innocent question. How did you all meet . They answered, without hesitation, we met in jail. Im looking at jack. He has this expression on his face, did they say jail . I took a deep breath. I said, okay, i hope you dont mind, i would like to know the back story. He said, just because you make bad decisions dont make you bad people. Bigs has spent a lot of time helping prisoners who have been in jail and get on the right track. Myself, i feel its a responsibility of all of us to help people that maybe made a mistake in their life. Time for lunch, bigs heads uptown. 147th street, we pull up to mama sushi. Long time, no see. Ruben is dominican, his food, japanese, infusion. This is ground zero for the cultural match up marketers like jack gross hope to better understand. Im curious to know how its working in multicultural markets. Its big right now. Everybody takes a picture. Oh, my god. Can i take this with me . When i sit down with ruben, i understand whats happening in the multicultural market. For bigs, its Market Research for a beverage merchant, downtown. Back we go. The owner and founder. He wants bigs to help launch new brands. He wants to deliver the match up they are serving uptown in harlem. They start by sampling different blends. We have to appeal to consumer, young consumer. For us, find the flavor profile they will like. Im happy with the brand messaging, the quality of spirits they have. Thanks to people like bigs, you have the opportunity to reach people. The day is not done. Team bigs heads south to merge traffic where bigs has another clothing business called reasonable doubt. His head of merchandising has been watching tshirt trends. The whole 90s hip hop. Its everything. Exploding, huh . Its blowing out at every retailer from bloomingdales down. The reasonable doubt street wear label takes the name from jayzs first label. Big says they are all for it. Today, hes just received access to use never released photos. Some i have never seen. I have probably known roger since i was 14 years old, around the same time i met damon. We go way back. We come from the same place. We have been doing this a long time, together. We formed this brotherhood. The thing that we had in common was the same thing with a lot of people in the neighborhoods that grew up with us. We all came from poor circumstances. We had visions to get out of the neighborhood and do something bigger. Last stop, a big working dinner at eds lobster bar in soho. The founder of the International Media company, reach tv. He just flew in from l. A. And hes hungry. The baked clam. He distributes video content for hundreds of hotels and airports worldwide. Bigs is looking to team up with him. Dealing with multiple artists and athletes. Maybe do a sitdown with them. Thinking of how to combine what we are both doing together to build something bigger. Finld new opportunities when i meet with him. We didnt finalize anything, but we made headway on how we can work together. Ask bigs how he got to the top and manages to stay there and hell tell you, theres no recipe to follow. I mean, theres no map. Theres no mather plan on how to do these things. Friends say thats my super power, how to connect these dots. With more than 200 million users every month, pinterest expanded past the original concept of being a way to digitally pin inspiration. Today, its a digital portal to connect with customers and a place to discover brands. We met with cofounder Ben Silverman at the San Francisco headquarters to get kidnaps for Business Success in this, learning from the pros. A lot of people assume that everything you try will be instantly successful. Theres a lot to be said for sticking with things and kind of working through the details and the hard parts that take a while to get things off the ground. Even with pinterest, it wasnt popular. You see people, especially in Silicon Valley and never knew what it was for. It took a few years to get from me and friends and family using it. Had we stopped, we never would have gotten to where we are today. One mistake i would make is, i would be asking people to leave really good jobs. I would tell them all the things that could go wrong. Its risky, cant pay you very much. When you are recruiting people, they know the risks. They can see the risks coming in. They want to know, what is the most audacious vision of success and know they can be a part of that and they will play a critical role. Its easier to attract people to do something that is really, really hard than guarantee them with something that will be successful. The more people there are, the more important it becomes to communicate where we are going and how their work connects all the way to that mission and the vision of where we are going. When you are small, it happens naturally. You are in a room. Everyone knows what everyone is doing. When you get to 100 people and 500 people, you have to spend more effort. All day i say the same thing, but for that group, it may be the only time they hear it that day or month. I try to make a point to make sure im not falling out of touch of what users need. Almost every week, we invite folks in to have lunch at the office. Ill take trips with my cofounder. Sometimes places in the u. S. Sometimes its out of the country. Its not a pr event. The point is to sit down with folks, often in their house. What are they doing . If they use the product, how does it fit into their life . If they dont use it, why not . I feel like doing that firsthand is valuable for me. We have tons of data. For me, theres not substitute for meeting a person in their house and watching them use the product and get a feel for whats working and not working and use it to gut check. You need to balance data. It has to be interpreted. It doesnt just spit out an answer. I have so many friends that started companies and i think that the support network they build around themselves, whether its a partner or friends or family, turns out to be really important. A lot of businesses fail not because the business is a bad idea, but because people kind of give up. They get lonely or depressed. I tell people, you should go out and get that dinner. Dont just isolate yourself in work and cut yourself off. A lot of times the people outside of your work will give you the energy to keep doing your work full time. Especially today, people spend a lot of time on apps, obviously. A lot of apps are about other people, what do other people think . What are other people doing . Thats great. I use the apps. There arent that many places to go think about yourself. What do i want . What are my inspirations . What do i want to try out thats not judged by anyone. Feel like prin tres is a safe place to get the life they want to lead. Im here with this weeks elevator pitcher, julian burke who is here to tell about your creation, the dread sock, which you are sporting right now. Yes. Welcome. Thank you. How long ago did you start the company . 2005. Have you raised money . We have raised a little. We have to branch out. Was that first amount to friends and family . No, i funded it most of the time with my other career. Got it. It kind of got away from me. Its becoming big and bigger so i need investments. Here is your chance to see how you do with investers and entrepreneurs. We have two judges today. The first is scott, the chief product officer at adobe and cofounder of behanced. The second person, she is the founder and ceo of the match maker company, sweeten. She started from nothing and is one of the Fastest Growing entrepreneurs. Cant wait to see how you do. Great. My name is julian burke. My company is dreadsock, seeping 300,000 for 10 in the company. It is a hair apparel accessory line for people with dread locks, braids, twists, curls and other hair styles. They are mother and fathered with the highest performance materials. This piece, the original dreadsock primarily for sleep is the chosen hair protection for restaurant, kitchen, hospitals and sports and entertainment personalities. Offered in four different sizes, the dreadsock allows for complete protection for every stage of growth. Head bands, ties, beanies and others. With little marketing, we have built a lifestyle brand appealing to a wide range of customers around the world. That was the russian nesting. How many more. Fantastic job. I will take your dreadsocks and give you pens. I need two numbers, 110, what do you think of the product and the second is what do you think of the pitch. Product, first. Okay. Scott, write that down. You are going first. Great. Turn it around. All right. I thought the product is awesome. I love how in the beginning, you disqualified the assumption i had, hey, anyone in restaurants, medical. You really, immediately showed how big the market could be. I think, ooh, that rating on the brand, what it means could help your pitch further. Which i indicated here. I think, these days when brands are built on platforms like instagram, its not just showing the product, the lifestyle, the people and activities. Its exciting. I thought it was excellent. Thank you. Hes invested in quite a few businesses successfully. Jean, you are up. I was similar. I thought the product was great. I agree with you, it is fantastic you gave an idea the product is not just for dread. The name indicated hit might be more. I like that in the pitch. I think that maybe adding, i have looked on your instagram, so i know you have celebrities who have used it. Maybe some of that in the pitch might help to give a little more flavor. So, i love the construction workers. I love the guys in the office. If you have nfl stars or rock stars using your products, tell us that. Okay. Good. Thank you both so much. Congratulations, how old is the company, again . We started in 2005. Hopefully this is the year it takes off. Congratulations on everything. Thank you. We have a fantastic opportunity for any of you out there who have a great product you know people would love if they just knew about it. We have teamed up with shopify to pitch your product display at a shopify space. They will help you grow your business. To be considered, send us a video of your one minute elevator pitch. Email it to yourbusiness msnbc. Com by september 13th. Send a summary of your product and why you think you are the perfect fit. When we come back, ways to convert a click into a sale and why Customer Service should be your number one priority. Its Pretty Amazing out there. The world is full of more possibilities than ever before. And American Express has your back every step of the way whether its the comfort of knowing help is just a call away with global assist. Or getting financing to fund your business. No one has your back like American Express. So where ever you go. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of American Express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. We have this email from ron. He writes, i have a website selling my putter grip. I have had numerous visits to the site. I have received no feedback, so i have no idea what the problem is. What should i do . What you can do is talk to any of the existing customers who have converted. Offer them a 30 gift card. Send that out. Set up a 15minute interview and talk about what was their expeerngs like on the site . What did they like or not like about it. Ask questions about themselves, who are they, what is the target profile. Take that information. Set up a Google Analytics account and a profile code and find out who converts. Test out marketing channels, google, amazon and you can see what converts the best. If you are not getting conversions, see what can lead to conversions like time spent on site and clicks. That is the best indicator as to which two platforms to focus on. Google and facebook, google is better at converting. That will help you see where your issues are. We have the top two tips you need to know to help you grow your business. Jean and scott are back with us, again. Scott, you have a new book out the messy middle. You know it very well. I do. For better or for worse. We didnt give you the right intro. You have been advisers and investors in big ones. Pinterest. Different kinds of companies. You are the right person we want advice from. Give us something you have learned along the way. One thing is the importance of the first mile of the customers experience of product, service, what they see when they pass the store and come in for the first time, what they see when they on board for a product. The ultimate irony is that oftentimes, the last mile of building the product or experience is the first mile of the product. Its the thing you think about right at the end, before you launch or open the store, how do we greet people . What do they see first and what do they go through first . It is the most important thing. Its at the top of the funnel that the customers see. It determines why they are there and what to do next. You dont get a Second Chance to make a first impression, right . Of course. One tip is prioritize and think about not just showing, but doing more things for your customer, making it easy, setting them up to succeed, how quickly they can get return on their vanity or return on what they are struggling with and making sure they get some actual return on their investment. The other thing is, once you get it right far group of customers, the first people that come in your door, dont assume it is good and done and you can move on. Different cohorts of new customers are different. The tip is to keep a consistent allocation of energy and optimizing the first mile of the customers experience. Thats a good point. People are going to join you the first time are different kinds of people that come on a year or two or months later. More forgiving, willing to put up with more friction. They need to be handheld in a different way. Jean, you have milestone, a billion dollars in project renovations right now . Yes. Incredible. Incredible. You have other things, too. You have raised all this money. One of the first africanamerican women to raise a certain amount of money. Yes. Tell us managsomething you ld along the way. Often times when i talk with a lot of entrepreneurs and talking ant their ideas, i think people think scaling a company is a technical problem. So, they will start solving the tech like the website well be able to scale and this, ill make a million of them in this factory or when we have 20 stores. I really want to have people just tell me if their idea scales. So, it is not the technical challenge anymore. There are so many ways in which you can solve the technical problems using third party software. If you need e hr commerce, there is a platform for that. Theres a software out there to start and see if people are resinating with your idea. The idea is what needs to scale. Dont worry about the technical capacity of the scaling. Thats the beauty of the business right now, right . Definitely just right now, today, 2018, not when i started. There are so many resources that are depending on relatively cheap, easy to access. Solve a problem for many people. Not just them. Great to see both of you. Thank you for stopping by. When do i use cold mix . Its an integration that mixes with your email account to have seamless scheduling. We use it to make sure we can schedule meetings quickly and efficiently. One of my favorite apps is called favor. Whep we launched the app, we needed to get reviewed in the apple store and favor allows you to get reviews from other founders that have apps and you review each other and build reviews. That was a benefit to us when we first launched, to give people that security that other people were validating our product. It prosides rich data on companies and the hierarchy of the company. Who works within the companys structure, what are their names, phone numbers, email addresses. We work with a lot of providers in Product Manufacturing for beauty. We identity fied the executives to the reginal representatives and thats how we used it. One website that i love to use is tight form, a website that creates forms for you. You can ask for first name, last name, any questions. Its intelligent software. It goes to a google doc for us. Its a really beautiful form and really, like, human friendly. This weeks selfie comes from Cathy Lee Jarrell that owns southern Paws Pet Sitting and dog walking. You can see from the photo, she has a lot of happy clients. Pick up your smartphone, take a selfie of you and your business and send it to us at yourbis. Com. Dont forget your name, the name of the company and location. Thank you so much for joining us. We love hearing from you. If you have questions or comments send an email to yourbusiness msnbc. Com. Head to our website, msnbc. Com yourbusiness. Finally, remember to check out our podcast, been there, built that. Download it for free. We look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, im j. J. Ramberg. Remember, we make your business, our business. Er, we make your b, our business the line between work and life hasnt just blurred. Its gone. Thats why you need someone behind you. Not just a card. An entire support system. Whether visiting the airport lounge to catch up on whats really important. Or even using those hardearned points to squeeze in a Little Family time. No one has your back like American Express. So no matter where youre going. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of American Express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. Good morning. Welcome to politics nation. Today, the nation mourns the loss of john mccain, the republican senator from arizona who has died at the age of 81. Mccain had a full life of achievements, with the u. S. Military, famously surviving more than five years as a prisoner of war. Then as a senator for decades. And even a run for the presidency