How They Built It: Founding Stories from Category Defining Companies

Vision Music Group: On Finding Multi-Platinum Rapper Logic and Investing at the Intersection of Music and Culture | Chris Zarou, Founder & CEO

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We explore finding multi-platinum rapper Logic and investing at the intersection of music and culture with Chris Zarou, Founder & CEO of Vision Music Group. We cover the role of an artist manager, bootstrapping and being a blue collar entrepreneur, and the similarities between music and investing.
“Being an entrepreneur is like getting punched in the face every day. Because you're constantly juggling, putting out fires. You never know what's going to happen. And when you're the number one guy, there's no one to point blame at. It's all on you.” — Chris Zarou
EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)
https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/chris-zarou1-outlier-academy-show-notes 
FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT
https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/chris-zarou-outlier-academy-transcript 
CHAPTERS
This episode is our guide to investing at the intersection of music and culture. In it we cover:
(00:00:00) – Introduction
(00:01:58) – Chris’ background and starting his own artist management company
(00:05:37) – Serendipity and working with Logic
(00:12:49) – The role of an artist manager
(00:14:56) – Bootstrapping and being a blue collar entrepreneur
(00:20:56) – The similarities between music and investing
(00:28:18) – The 2017 VMAs and aftermath
(00:34:41) – Authenticity for performers
(00:42:57) – Investing and perfect timing
(00:51:45) – Lessons learned as an entrepreneur and investor
ABOUT VISION MUSIC GROUP
Vision Music Group was founded after Chris Zarou signed multi-platinum and Grammy award nominated rapper Logic, launching his incredible career as the CEO of Visionary Music Group. Chris knew Logic was going to be huge when he was giving away his music for free online under the name Hyperlogical. 
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ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY
Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.
Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy
ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER
Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.
Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner
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How They Built It: Founding Stories from Category Defining CompaniesBy Outlier Academy