Transcripts For BLOOMBERG Bloomberg Debate Davos 2016 201602

Occupies almost 30 rooms of the palace, the most important location in milan, this beautiful palazzo reale. We have more than 130 artists. And we have more than 400 pieces. Our pieces cover paintings, drawings, the frescoes on the ceilings, they created a dialogue with the pieces of contemporary art. And so, this combination of the new and the old is like tradition and innovation, and which are also the features of the fashion brand. Tradition and innovation. Beatrice we were inspired by the topic of the expo in milan this year. It is about nutrition, and the mother is the first source of nutrition. But also we were interested in talking about the evolution of women for more than one century through the interior struggles and the social struggles of women in the western world. Massimiliano my hope and i think beatrices hope is contemporary art needs to enter into daily life of people, not just art professionals but any person who has an interest in understanding visual culture today. We live in a culture that is extremely visual. But very few occasions are given to us to have a critical relationship to images. And i think that is ultimately what our exhibitions do. Beatrice the Foundation Works with the artists, giving them the possibility and the opportunity to create new art pieces, new projects, sitespecific, and giving them exposure both locally in milan and italy and internationally. In fact, every time the exhibition was produced and financed, traveled internationally, and is hosted by another institution. Michael our intention was to wake up sleepwalkers in urban space and make people wonder what has happened here. Nothing like that had happened in milan before. And that was really groundbreaking and revolutionary. It was a very important moment for us because it was very early on in our careers, and it was one of the bigger installations that we had done until that point. And it was fun for us to test out how would it function to go out and just play with a general public. And it really inspired us. We have done many public sculptures ever since. Massimiliano we really specialize in approaching artists who have never done public art or never have that sort of exposure to a wider public, and make that possible. And we always also find the resources to produce new works or Commission New works that must interact with the very special venues in which they are shown. Artworks are strange creatures in that they become more complex and more enriching when they have around themselves have other histories and layers with which they can interact. Massimiliano it is quite remarkable how by going out into the streets, in a way, the city itself has responded. We like to say we dont do public art, but we make art public. So that also means we use strategies to promote it, to present the shows that are much more horizontal, or open, or democratic. The shows are open very late. They are all open for free. So we really want the art to get in the way of the public rather than the other way around. Michael trussardi is almost like a small family business. And that means that beatrice herself is very involved. It is obvious that art is closest to beatrices heart, and you can feel that. Of course, she is excellent in fashion, but, like, art is where she comes from. Ruma it is about storytelling, it is about narrative. It is about using art as a vehicle and means to make people realize, you know, the environment around them. The issues around them. What is beautiful about the world, and what should we, you know, what should we continue being passionate about . Manfredi i think when philanthropy is putting some money into something good for others, that is a good way to do philanthropy. But when there is the involvement of the leaders like in the case of beatrice, it gains a lot of substance. It gains a lot of it is more genuine. Ruma she brings that same spirit that she did at the brand into the foundation. And this isnt a woman who is just going to put an Art Exhibition together. This is a woman who is going to tackle important issues and use art as a vehicle to tell a narrative about important things that are happening in the world. And i think that, you know, doesnt happen very often. Beatrice time after time, project after project, a lot of people really follow us, come back, and make plans waiting to enter the opening exhibition, and really appreciating what we bring them. Why contemporary art is important, why art is important . Of course, it is so important. It is existential. Artists create new worlds. They create new balances. They create new equilibrium. I like that. Ok. We live in a pick and choose world. Choose, choose, choose. But at bedtime. Why settle for this . Enter sleep number and the ultimate sleep number event, going on now. Sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. You like the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. So your sleep goes from good to great to wow only at a sleep number store, right now save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed, plus 24month financing. Hurry, ends monday. Know better sleep with sleep number. Start in West Philadelphia working for the fresh prince himself. His breakthrough came in 2007 when he met a woman the public come to know as lady gaga it dry carter took her from unknown to multiplatinum and brought in his job title from job manager to tech manager. To hollywood was unexpected coming from a tough neighborhood with a father who did time for murder, proof you write your own future. Thank you for having me. Emily you grew up in West Philadelphia, just like the fresh prince. Troy West Philadelphia, born and raised. [laughter] emily how did you get started in tech investing . Troy it kind of fell into my lap. Working with lady gaga, it was difficult to get to music played on the radio, so we use a lot of see she social media tools. Facebook was coming out of. Edu, twitter was on the rise. We were using these social media platforms to reach fans youtube was just taking off. Directly. A lot of the Technology Companies started approaching us. 75 investments later, now, i am a venture capitalist. Emily you started using facebook and twitter before anyone really did. And fact, they thought those services were the enemy. Troy we use it out of desperation more than anything else. We were at a stage where these Distribution Systems and gatekeepers were all of a sudden a little less powerful because of this technology where you could speak directly to fans. The first time we heard lady gagas music before she got signed was on myspace. She was the first mainstream artist to really break out on these platforms. Emily you are an investor in Companies Like uber, dropbox, lyft, spotify. These are deals that traditional Silicon Valley venture capitalists would kill to get into. How do you get in . Troy i think it helps that i am an entrepreneur. I can relate to founders on a the groundlevel. Emily give me an example of what your secret weapon is as a tech investor. Troy the willingness to drive a mack truck through a culdesac, when i believe in something. And also, i think, empathy. So i know what keeps founders up at night. The anxiety of competition, and whats next. I can relate to it. Emily lets take uber, for example. How did you get into uber . Tell me the story. Troy i met an entrepreneur by the name of shervin pishevar. And he said, you know what, im thinking about going into venture capital. The first deal shervin called me about was uber. At that time, they were only in san francisco. The first conversation i had with travis, was about you know, im thinking, the capital expenses around this business of buying, you know, hundreds of thousands of black cars. This could never be successful. And, automatically, travis said, we are a logistics platform. We are not buying cars. He explained it. My worry was about, how do you scale this company . Emily so travis was convincing you . You were not convincing travis to let you in . Troy yes, he basically sold me on the vision. At that stage, you are interviewing each other. We had a pretty significant network. We helped pull jayz and the Roc Nation Team into uber. It was about us being able to activate our network as well. Emily you are also an investor in lyft. Troy yes. Emily uber and lyft are like sworn enemies. How does that work . Troy we actually invested in a Company Called zimride, where john and the zimride team were basically providing carpooling from dormitories at school to campuses. Six months later, we invested in uber. That was just a black car service. They were completely noncompetitive. And then uber launched uberx, and then they wanted to kill each other. [laughter] emily so what is that like, having bets on two opponents . Troy you know, i think some people have the opinion that it is going to be winnertakesall. As we look at this complicated transportation ecosystem, i feel like there is going to be enough room for both. It will be a winnertakemost, but i dont think it will be winnertakeall. Emily what is your philosophy at atom factory . What kind of companies and technologies are you most interested in . Troy we are kind of focused on huge shifts in consumer behavior, and large demographic shifts. When you look at spotify and songza, that we invested in, and are kind of looking at, the shift from downloads to streams. Emily what do you see as the main differences between Silicon Valley and l. A. . Troy the difference is, up north, you have a very mature system here. You know, you are on fourth and fifth generation tech companies. In l. A. , the lineage is more around media, and more around storytelling and narrative, and so the tech ecosystem is still very, very young. But when you look at Companies Like beats by dre, maker, snapchat, you are starting to see these multibilliondollar companies pop up. Emily snapchat, for example, you mentioned 19 billion. Are they worth that . Troy i think so. I think they will be worth more, actually. When you see the amount of videos viewed per day and the type of engagement around the product. Emily what do you think about the fears that we are in a bubble, that valuations are too high . Troy im seeing some valuations that are way too high, because the company just is not worth what that valuation is, at that particular time. When you have a rounds that look like b rounds and then b rounds that look like c or d rounds and late stage looks bigger than what the ipo would be, i think we have to really be smart in our approach to how we deploy capital. As a founder, i just would be very careful with burn rates right now. And making sure i have a clear path to revenue. Just in case the winter comes quickly, you are prepared as a company to survive, and you are not just surviving off of fundraising. Emily do you think winter is coming . Troy winter always comes. [laughter] it is just a matter of when. I definitely feel like a correction is coming. We see a series of minicorrections, by the way. I do not think the bottom is going to fallout, but i do think we will see a series of corrections. Hopefully, nothing catastrophic happens. Emily where are egos bigger, l. A. Or Silicon Valley . Troy both. [laughter] emily people here think they can change the world, is that awesome or is that arrogant . Troy i think its awesome. Because i think in order to change the world, you have to have big, audacious goals. And we need elon musk. You know, we need mark zuckerberg. We need larry page. We need mark andreessen. And by the way, we need George Lucases and Steven Spielbergs and m. Night shyamalans and jj abrams, i think we need both. Emily your father spent time in jail for murder. How did you overcome that . Emily you had a complicated and difficult childhood. How did you overcome some of the things that you had to go through, which no kid should have to go through . Troy we grew up in a really tough neighborhood. We went to sleep to gunshots every single night. It was something regular. My mom worked 30 years at Childrens Hospital in philadelphia. Got up to go to work every day, 5 30 a. M. We would pour out the penny jar, and count out the pennies to be able to put into the bus, so that me and my brothers could go to school in the morning. We had to boil hot water, because we did not have hot water sometimes. And that gave me a drive to really make my family proud, to work really hard. Emily your father spent time in jail for murder. How did you overcome that . Troy that was definitely tough, growing up. Not having a dad there, and kind of looking for that figure, that void was always there. It took a long time for me to kind of really reconcile that. One bad night can kind of change everything. He was arrested, did his time, and came back out, and pulled his family back together. For kids who grow up now, so many black men in prison right now, so many kids left fatherless, me being able to show those kids, you know, the script is not written. You are able to write the script. I come from where you come from. And then on my fathers side, him being able to show, you know what, this does not need to be your life. What you did in the past doesnt necessarily define who you are in the future. Emily i want to talk about how you discovered music. Like, i know when you were 17, you tried to be a rapper. Troy i was the biggest hiphop fan. I was the kid that would read all of the liner notes, down to which recording studio. I used to sneak down where the records were recorded in, i used to sneak down stairs in my grandmothers house. She had this old hifi stereo, and i would listen to records while everybody was asleep. In ninth grade, i decided we were going to form this rap group, me and my best friends. We used to hop on the train down to jazzy jeffs studio. Literally, for months, we would do it. They would leave us jazzy jeff would peek outside, never let us in. [laughter] one day, we ended up being able to get into the studio. Will smith was in the studio. And we just walked up to him and said, can we play you some music . The studio was so small, we had to go outside in the snow and do our dance moves in the snow. Will drove us home that night. Emily wow, will smith drove you home . Troy he drove us home that night. And basically told our parents, i got these kids. They are going to be ok. We werent a great rap group, so our careers were cut short, but will and his manager, james lassiter, were kind enough to take me under their wing. I was jazzy jeffs assistant. I was james and wills assistant for a long time. Id do everything from getting the car washed, run errands, doing all of these things. But that was my entry into the music business. I started promoting concerts. B. I. G. Notorious b. I. G. Was one of the concerts i promoted. I met p. Diddy through working with b. I. G. I asked him i said, tell me what you do. I want to come work for you. And he said, your first job is to get me that girl from behind the bar. [laughter] emily did you do it . Troy i got him the girl from behind the bar, and, three weeks later, i was interning at bad boy entertainment. Emily 1999, Something Big happened. You met eve jeffers. Who happens to be eve. Troy originally, i met eve when she was about 16 years old. She was my first management client. Emily you worked with her for eight years. Troy we had an incredible run. We went from the good thing is, working with will, i had seen his blueprint of, you can take an artist, who is a rapper, and they can do television, they can do film. So my job was really just to execute on the blueprint. Emily and then your relationship ended kind of abruptly, another stumbling block for you. What happened . Troy she wanted to go to another level. At that time, there was not a lot of faith i could get her there. It was a bit of a heartbreaker. You spend eight years with somebody, you become really close. And it caught me off guard, top of the financial crisis. You know, 2007. Emily and you couldnt pay your bills. Troy no. It was like, literally, i got wiped clean. It was a tough 18 months. Emily but then, something even bigger happened. You met stefani germanotta, better known as lady gaga. Troy yes. Emily she was an unknown at the time. Troy she had just gotten dropped from defjam records at the time. You know, this girl with these huge dark sunglasses, fishnet stockings, and no pants. She and i were Kindred Spirits right away. We just kind of really hit it off. Emily no one knew who she was. You could not even get just dance on the radio. You guys were playing clubs, multiple gigs a night, just pounding the pavement. How did you finally break through . Troy shes probably the hardest working artist that i have ever met. You just couldnt find an artist who put in more hours, studied the game, studied the craft. From songwriting skills to piano. She wasnt a dancer when we met. She was behind the piano. But she worked so hard at the choreography, all of a sudden, she was a dancer. She wanted to compete on the highest level. Emily you guys started your own social network, little monsters. I wonder how much that helped take her from here to international popstar. Troy you dont meet too many artists that really understand digital and social in that manner. So it wasnt us educating her, it was just as much as her educating us. I remember getting a phone call one day of saying she was watching the social network movie. She said, i want to start my own social network. [laughter] and of course, i made a couple of phone calls. It was a collaboration. Emily so this is another relationship that ended abruptly for you. What happened . Troy the relationships change. And you begin to know what you are really good at. And i kind of started looking at us as, im really great at being an accelerator. This sort of, you know, we sign you as a kid, we go through 30 years. I dont even know if that is my personal ambition anymore. I think after working with gaga, and kind of going through that heartbreak of just, we worked incredibly hard to build this sort of empire, and then all of a sudden, you kind of get snatched out of it it was a little disheartening. Emily you now manage john legend. You manage meghan trainor. How do you go from your, you know, music manager hat to your tech investor hat, and manage yourself . Troy its all one thing. We are an accelerator that supports both artists and entrepreneurs. Im equally as passionate about both. Emily how does spotify get over its taylor swift problem . Emily you were critical in getting the Music Industry to embrace spotify. How did you do that . Troy the difficult part is the Foundation Works<\/a> with the artists, giving them the possibility and the opportunity to create new art pieces, new projects, sitespecific, and giving them exposure both locally in milan and italy and internationally. In fact, every time the exhibition was produced and financed, traveled internationally, and is hosted by another institution. Michael our intention was to wake up sleepwalkers in urban space and make people wonder what has happened here. Nothing like that had happened in milan before. And that was really groundbreaking and revolutionary. It was a very important moment for us because it was very early on in our careers, and it was one of the bigger installations that we had done until that point. And it was fun for us to test out how would it function to go out and just play with a general public. And it really inspired us. We have done many public sculptures ever since. Massimiliano we really specialize in approaching artists who have never done public art or never have that sort of exposure to a wider public, and make that possible. And we always also find the resources to produce new works or Commission New<\/a> works that must interact with the very special venues in which they are shown. Artworks are strange creatures in that they become more complex and more enriching when they have around themselves have other histories and layers with which they can interact. Massimiliano it is quite remarkable how by going out into the streets, in a way, the city itself has responded. We like to say we dont do public art, but we make art public. So that also means we use strategies to promote it, to present the shows that are much more horizontal, or open, or democratic. The shows are open very late. They are all open for free. So we really want the art to get in the way of the public rather than the other way around. Michael trussardi is almost like a small family business. And that means that beatrice herself is very involved. It is obvious that art is closest to beatrices heart, and you can feel that. Of course, she is excellent in fashion, but, like, art is where she comes from. Ruma it is about storytelling, it is about narrative. It is about using art as a vehicle and means to make people realize, you know, the environment around them. The issues around them. What is beautiful about the world, and what should we, you know, what should we continue being passionate about . Manfredi i think when philanthropy is putting some money into something good for others, that is a good way to do philanthropy. But when there is the involvement of the leaders like in the case of beatrice, it gains a lot of substance. It gains a lot of it is more genuine. Ruma she brings that same spirit that she did at the brand into the foundation. And this isnt a woman who is just going to put an Art Exhibition<\/a> together. This is a woman who is going to tackle important issues and use art as a vehicle to tell a narrative about important things that are happening in the world. And i think that, you know, doesnt happen very often. Beatrice time after time, project after project, a lot of people really follow us, come back, and make plans waiting to enter the opening exhibition, and really appreciating what we bring them. Why contemporary art is important, why art is important . Of course, it is so important. It is existential. Artists create new worlds. They create new balances. They create new equilibrium. I like that. Ok. We live in a pick and choose world. Choose, choose, choose. But at bedtime. Why settle for this . Enter sleep number and the ultimate sleep number event, going on now. Sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. You like the bed soft. Hes more hardcore. So your sleep goes from good to great to wow only at a sleep number store, right now save 50 on the ultimate limited edition bed, plus 24month financing. Hurry, ends monday. Know better sleep with sleep number. Start in West Philadelphia<\/a> working for the fresh prince himself. His breakthrough came in 2007 when he met a woman the public come to know as lady gaga it dry carter took her from unknown to multiplatinum and brought in his job title from job manager to tech manager. To hollywood was unexpected coming from a tough neighborhood with a father who did time for murder, proof you write your own future. Thank you for having me. Emily you grew up in West Philadelphia<\/a>, just like the fresh prince. Troy West Philadelphia<\/a>, born and raised. [laughter] emily how did you get started in tech investing . Troy it kind of fell into my lap. Working with lady gaga, it was difficult to get to music played on the radio, so we use a lot of see she social media tools. Facebook was coming out of. Edu, twitter was on the rise. We were using these social media platforms to reach fans youtube was just taking off. Directly. A lot of the Technology Companies<\/a> started approaching us. 75 investments later, now, i am a venture capitalist. Emily you started using facebook and twitter before anyone really did. And fact, they thought those services were the enemy. Troy we use it out of desperation more than anything else. We were at a stage where these Distribution Systems<\/a> and gatekeepers were all of a sudden a little less powerful because of this technology where you could speak directly to fans. The first time we heard lady gagas music before she got signed was on myspace. She was the first mainstream artist to really break out on these platforms. Emily you are an investor in Companies Like<\/a> uber, dropbox, lyft, spotify. These are deals that traditional Silicon Valley<\/a> venture capitalists would kill to get into. How do you get in . Troy i think it helps that i am an entrepreneur. I can relate to founders on a the groundlevel. Emily give me an example of what your secret weapon is as a tech investor. Troy the willingness to drive a mack truck through a culdesac, when i believe in something. And also, i think, empathy. So i know what keeps founders up at night. The anxiety of competition, and whats next. I can relate to it. Emily lets take uber, for example. How did you get into uber . Tell me the story. Troy i met an entrepreneur by the name of shervin pishevar. And he said, you know what, im thinking about going into venture capital. The first deal shervin called me about was uber. At that time, they were only in san francisco. The first conversation i had with travis, was about you know, im thinking, the capital expenses around this business of buying, you know, hundreds of thousands of black cars. This could never be successful. And, automatically, travis said, we are a logistics platform. We are not buying cars. He explained it. My worry was about, how do you scale this company . Emily so travis was convincing you . You were not convincing travis to let you in . Troy yes, he basically sold me on the vision. At that stage, you are interviewing each other. We had a pretty significant network. We helped pull jayz and the Roc Nation Team<\/a> into uber. It was about us being able to activate our network as well. Emily you are also an investor in lyft. Troy yes. Emily uber and lyft are like sworn enemies. How does that work . Troy we actually invested in a Company Called<\/a> zimride, where john and the zimride team were basically providing carpooling from dormitories at school to campuses. Six months later, we invested in uber. That was just a black car service. They were completely noncompetitive. And then uber launched uberx, and then they wanted to kill each other. [laughter] emily so what is that like, having bets on two opponents . Troy you know, i think some people have the opinion that it is going to be winnertakesall. As we look at this complicated transportation ecosystem, i feel like there is going to be enough room for both. It will be a winnertakemost, but i dont think it will be winnertakeall. Emily what is your philosophy at atom factory . What kind of companies and technologies are you most interested in . Troy we are kind of focused on huge shifts in consumer behavior, and large demographic shifts. When you look at spotify and songza, that we invested in, and are kind of looking at, the shift from downloads to streams. Emily what do you see as the main differences between Silicon Valley<\/a> and l. A. . Troy the difference is, up north, you have a very mature system here. You know, you are on fourth and fifth generation tech companies. In l. A. , the lineage is more around media, and more around storytelling and narrative, and so the tech ecosystem is still very, very young. But when you look at Companies Like<\/a> beats by dre, maker, snapchat, you are starting to see these multibilliondollar companies pop up. Emily snapchat, for example, you mentioned 19 billion. Are they worth that . Troy i think so. I think they will be worth more, actually. When you see the amount of videos viewed per day and the type of engagement around the product. Emily what do you think about the fears that we are in a bubble, that valuations are too high . Troy im seeing some valuations that are way too high, because the company just is not worth what that valuation is, at that particular time. When you have a rounds that look like b rounds and then b rounds that look like c or d rounds and late stage looks bigger than what the ipo would be, i think we have to really be smart in our approach to how we deploy capital. As a founder, i just would be very careful with burn rates right now. And making sure i have a clear path to revenue. Just in case the winter comes quickly, you are prepared as a company to survive, and you are not just surviving off of fundraising. Emily do you think winter is coming . Troy winter always comes. [laughter] it is just a matter of when. I definitely feel like a correction is coming. We see a series of minicorrections, by the way. I do not think the bottom is going to fallout, but i do think we will see a series of corrections. Hopefully, nothing catastrophic happens. Emily where are egos bigger, l. A. Or Silicon Valley<\/a> . Troy both. [laughter] emily people here think they can change the world, is that awesome or is that arrogant . Troy i think its awesome. Because i think in order to change the world, you have to have big, audacious goals. And we need elon musk. You know, we need mark zuckerberg. We need larry page. We need mark andreessen. And by the way, we need George Lucases<\/a> and Steven Spielbergs<\/a> and m. Night shyamalans and jj abrams, i think we need both. Emily your father spent time in jail for murder. How did you overcome that . Emily you had a complicated and difficult childhood. How did you overcome some of the things that you had to go through, which no kid should have to go through . Troy we grew up in a really tough neighborhood. We went to sleep to gunshots every single night. It was something regular. My mom worked 30 years at Childrens Hospital<\/a> in philadelphia. Got up to go to work every day, 5 30 a. M. We would pour out the penny jar, and count out the pennies to be able to put into the bus, so that me and my brothers could go to school in the morning. We had to boil hot water, because we did not have hot water sometimes. And that gave me a drive to really make my family proud, to work really hard. Emily your father spent time in jail for murder. How did you overcome that . Troy that was definitely tough, growing up. Not having a dad there, and kind of looking for that figure, that void was always there. It took a long time for me to kind of really reconcile that. One bad night can kind of change everything. He was arrested, did his time, and came back out, and pulled his family back together. For kids who grow up now, so many black men in prison right now, so many kids left fatherless, me being able to show those kids, you know, the script is not written. You are able to write the script. I come from where you come from. And then on my fathers side, him being able to show, you know what, this does not need to be your life. What you did in the past doesnt necessarily define who you are in the future. Emily i want to talk about how you discovered music. Like, i know when you were 17, you tried to be a rapper. Troy i was the biggest hiphop fan. I was the kid that would read all of the liner notes, down to which recording studio. I used to sneak down where the records were recorded in, i used to sneak down stairs in my grandmothers house. She had this old hifi stereo, and i would listen to records while everybody was asleep. In ninth grade, i decided we were going to form this rap group, me and my best friends. We used to hop on the train down to jazzy jeffs studio. Literally, for months, we would do it. They would leave us jazzy jeff would peek outside, never let us in. [laughter] one day, we ended up being able to get into the studio. Will smith was in the studio. And we just walked up to him and said, can we play you some music . The studio was so small, we had to go outside in the snow and do our dance moves in the snow. Will drove us home that night. Emily wow, will smith drove you home . Troy he drove us home that night. And basically told our parents, i got these kids. They are going to be ok. We werent a great rap group, so our careers were cut short, but will and his manager, james lassiter, were kind enough to take me under their wing. I was jazzy jeffs assistant. I was james and wills assistant for a long time. Id do everything from getting the car washed, run errands, doing all of these things. But that was my entry into the music business. I started promoting concerts. B. I. G. Notorious b. I. G. Was one of the concerts i promoted. I met p. Diddy through working with b. I. G. I asked him i said, tell me what you do. I want to come work for you. And he said, your first job is to get me that girl from behind the bar. [laughter] emily did you do it . Troy i got him the girl from behind the bar, and, three weeks later, i was interning at bad boy entertainment. Emily 1999, Something Big<\/a> happened. You met eve jeffers. Who happens to be eve. Troy originally, i met eve when she was about 16 years old. She was my first management client. Emily you worked with her for eight years. Troy we had an incredible run. We went from the good thing is, working with will, i had seen his blueprint of, you can take an artist, who is a rapper, and they can do television, they can do film. So my job was really just to execute on the blueprint. Emily and then your relationship ended kind of abruptly, another stumbling block for you. What happened . Troy she wanted to go to another level. At that time, there was not a lot of faith i could get her there. It was a bit of a heartbreaker. You spend eight years with somebody, you become really close. And it caught me off guard, top of the financial crisis. You know, 2007. Emily and you couldnt pay your bills. Troy no. It was like, literally, i got wiped clean. It was a tough 18 months. Emily but then, something even bigger happened. You met stefani germanotta, better known as lady gaga. Troy yes. Emily she was an unknown at the time. Troy she had just gotten dropped from defjam records at the time. You know, this girl with these huge dark sunglasses, fishnet stockings, and no pants. She and i were Kindred Spirits<\/a> right away. We just kind of really hit it off. Emily no one knew who she was. You could not even get just dance on the radio. You guys were playing clubs, multiple gigs a night, just pounding the pavement. How did you finally break through . Troy shes probably the hardest working artist that i have ever met. You just couldnt find an artist who put in more hours, studied the game, studied the craft. From songwriting skills to piano. She wasnt a dancer when we met. She was behind the piano. But she worked so hard at the choreography, all of a sudden, she was a dancer. She wanted to compete on the highest level. Emily you guys started your own social network, little monsters. I wonder how much that helped take her from here to international popstar. Troy you dont meet too many artists that really understand digital and social in that manner. So it wasnt us educating her, it was just as much as her educating us. I remember getting a phone call one day of saying she was watching the social network movie. She said, i want to start my own social network. [laughter] and of course, i made a couple of phone calls. It was a collaboration. Emily so this is another relationship that ended abruptly for you. What happened . Troy the relationships change. And you begin to know what you are really good at. And i kind of started looking at us as, im really great at being an accelerator. This sort of, you know, we sign you as a kid, we go through 30 years. I dont even know if that is my personal ambition anymore. I think after working with gaga, and kind of going through that heartbreak of just, we worked incredibly hard to build this sort of empire, and then all of a sudden, you kind of get snatched out of it it was a little disheartening. Emily you now manage john legend. You manage meghan trainor. How do you go from your, you know, music manager hat to your tech investor hat, and manage yourself . Troy its all one thing. We are an accelerator that supports both artists and entrepreneurs. Im equally as passionate about both. Emily how does spotify get over its taylor swift problem . Emily you were critical in getting the Music Industry<\/a> to embrace spotify. How did you do that . Troy the difficult part is the Music Industry<\/a> has been through a lot. We hear the Horror Stories<\/a> about these guys are litigious, and they are dinosaurs. A lot of the guys who run music labels really get a bad rap. What the Technology Industry<\/a> and some of the press is insensitive to, is what napster did to not just to the industry, but to families. Im watching people lose their jobs. Their kids having to be taken out of the schools they go to. We are not like the finance industry, or even the tech industry, where you go to college, you get a degree, and you really got something to fall back on. You dont go to school to be a record promoter, or a concert promoter. So a lot of people, like myself, we dont have formal educations. I barely got my ged. So when spotify came along, daniel ek did a really good job at, you know what, let me show you guys that i am a friend, and that im going to add value, and that my job is going to show people that it is easier to pay for and stream music, than it is to steal it. And from there, i became a really big supporter. Because one, he is a guitar player, he is a musician. And he wasnt a guy trying to steal from artists, or anything like that. Emily give me an example where you said to an artist, look, this is something that can benefit you. Troy there have been times where i had to get on the phone with really big managers who have really big clients, and tell them what the downside was for them leaving their product off of spotify. All of the music is Still Available<\/a> on youtube for free. It is Still Available<\/a> on the Piracy Services<\/a> for free. So you are missing out on a big audience, and you are missing out on a revenue stream. And by the way, you are ignoring the future. Hurricane katrina is coming, you what im saying, and you are staying in the house right now. Emily have you talked to taylor swift . Troy no, i have not talked to taylor swift. Emily how does spotify get over its taylor swift problem . Troy i dont know if spotify needs to get over the taylor swift problem as much as it is, people have to see the future. Free already exists. It is a flawed argument when you say, i dont want my music on any service that offers free, when free already exists. Emily is taylor swift wrong . Is she on the wrong side of history . Troy i wont say it is wrong, but i will say, in general, it is a flawed argument. It is more free than it is paid right now. She is an incredible businesswoman, one of the best marketers that i have ever seen, and, on top of that, incredibly talented. So i think she does a lot of things right. But when it comes to this specific argument about it is proven that freemium works. That if you give people a free option, theres a huge case study that they become paid users. But you got to offer them an entry point. We will see the world become a streaming world. Downloads will not last. You just look at the data right now. It just wont last. Emily what do you think of apple music . Troy apple radio, every saturday i am listening to the app. Beats one, hands down emily really . Troy hands down, it is one of the best music experiences. When you have djs, like dr. Dre, like qtip, like pharrell, and you are listening to the records that inspired them. Musically, it is one of the best music experiences. An algorithm cant do that. Emily how do you see the hierarchy between apple music and spotify and tidal, how does that play out . Troy you have terrestrial radio that is stronger than ever right now. This is another one that will not be a winnertakeall market. It is very, very complicated. The streaming market is going to be very, very competitive. Emily what about tidal . Troy i think the verdict is still out. I think the intent was fantastic. Just, i want artists to own something. By the way, i would rather see something that is artistowned, than something that is venturebacked. I think the statement was powerful. And you cannot underestimate jayz. Emily artists are now making the bulk of their money from live events and tours. Right . Do you foresee that changing . Troy there will be multiple Revenue Streams<\/a>. I think were going to see Revenue Streams<\/a> that dont exist, right . Emily like . Troy ai and vr. When artists can scale themselves by doing instead of having to go out and beat your body up by doing 120 shows over a four or five month time span when you can do 120 shows in one night, because of ai and vr, and you can create this sort of real experience, where you dont have to be there in the flesh that is a brandnew revenue stream that never existed before. Emily what is next for troy carter . Troy you know what, we are having fun right now. And also, just a future of support and entrepreneurs and artists. Emily troy carter, entrepreneur accelerator. I really like that. Troy, thank you so much for doing this. Troy thank you for having me. Welcome to businessweek. Coming up, our cover story. Where oil goes, so the world goes. Sumner redstone leaving behind i wait. 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