We all know that artists & celebrities get a lot of attention. They capture our imaginations and bring us to new, wonderful and thrilling worlds. They’re also the ones seducing us with cool clothes, good food, baller lifestyles and new brands to believe in. What is it about them that completely mesmerises our senses into submission? I’m not sure what it is nor will pretend like I know although I guess you call it “star power”, but that’s just defining a term with itself and doesn’t help break it down. Whatever it is, it works and it pushes us to buy, try and look out for the next big thing.
Momentum over the past few years has quietly rolled two interesting forces together… two prominent and all consuming forces. The first is fame and the second is technology.
Celebs have always been at the center of the coolest and trendiest businesses… bars, restaurants, private clubs, beaches, hotels, fashion, whatever it is… and now, they are turning it on to the NEXT (current) big thing… tech! The iPhone, which has become a celebrity in and of itself, has changed and defined a generation (and forever more), the world and all the people in it. So naturally, they’re in there too!
Celebrities and Venture Capital have a growing and arguably increasingly unbreakable relationship. From Ashton Kutchor with A grade, JT with mySpace, Bieber with selfie social networks and Carmelo Anthony with M7 in the US to Chinese actors REN Quan 任泉, LI Bingbing 李冰冰 and HUANG Xiaoming 黃曉明 forming StarVC. These celebrities (and more… Will Smith, Kanye, Gaga, Leo, Jay-Z, Shaq) have decided to grab their fame and their gadgets by the horns and run with it.
This is a really interesting trend and I’m starting to believe that there is some brilliance in the craziness. Great teams are formed when members contribute their unique talents in unison. Perhaps VC and tech startups will be the same. Some people have to defend, some people have to attack. What’s got more potential in making something popular in tech? Seems logical to think and relate to the famous founders, VCs or Tech Crunches of the World, but isn’t it essentially only getting 80% of those that follow tech? What’s to stop the superstars that we always admire an love? Why go for only the young, tech fans, and geeks when there’s an opportunity to go for everyone!?
Getting carried away here but It’s been very interesting to follow and has been giving me ideas. What do you think?
the techathlete. 
I’ve view this trend in a few different ways. I can’t speak to the Chinese actors forming starVC but I see two distinct celebrity tracks. a) the ‘front of the house’ celebrity used as promotion/advertising to reach new audiences and, oh by the way, will make some major $ as an investor. (bieber, gaga w/ kodak, etc.) Definitely a good strategy for reaching untapped markets for tech.
Then there is the investor/owner who happens to be a celebrity (think Diddy, Jay Z, Dre, A Kutchor…btw never saw this coming). Perhaps I’m wrong but they seem more involved in the the business and deliberate in their choices.
Underlying all this is the shift of decentralized fame and the rise of the Thought Celebrity and business celebrity (current trend being Tech). Sure traditional celebrities (TV, movies, music,etc) are still carefully promoted, groomed, and packaged but the endless outlets on the internet (twitter, youtube, facebook, blogs, vlogs, TED) have given rise to those who can promote new ideas and personal brands – thought celebrities and business celebrities.
This is pretty cool actually because there is a premium on those who are providing new ideas and executing them. Immediately those who comes to mind are Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban Jony Ives, Malcom Gladwell, and Richard Branson. More and more we’re seeing celebrities being created FROM tech/business. I mean, Shark Tank..who would have thought one of the most popular shows on American TV would be an investment show!?
Anyway…i need to get back to work but i’d love to keep this one going. I may need to do some research on celebrity investors ans my impressions may be completely wrong! my apologies in advance Kanye.
Note: Current trend of celebrity investor/business owner — i immediately think of Diddy, Dre, and Jay Z as pioneers in this. Hip hop changing the game again? or was it before this? While i’m sure there examples who was admired for this entrepreneurial spirit before them?
Agree that there are a whole new group of celebrities being created from this trendy world. Business and tech are becoming such a main part of mainstream news that all of a sudden many types of success can drive fame.
I was focused more on the traditional media related celebrities, or the so called, crossovers. Either way…. could business people crossover to become movie stars? haha.
Seems like technology hasn’t only shifted the dynamics of our connectivity but has also opened up the paths for all of us to start jumping and crossing sectors and disciplines!
Thanks for the comment project Pat.
not worth it to treat them any different than any other vc investor. good for initial hype and promotion but at the end of the day product and biz model are far more important. they can open a completely different set of doors but need to be careful that those intros can be distracting and sometimes not worth it (agents, managers, producers, etc.). i think mark suster wrote about this a while ago. def interesting tho but probably should proceed with caution!
Yea agree. I think there’s glamour and sense of coolness to this but still the product and business that differentiates at the end of the day.