Entrepreneur Ryan Leslie: ‘Every Single Conversation Is Critical’

The Grammy-nominated recording artist, now founder and CEO of startup Disruptive Multimedia, always seems to be ahead of the curve. His company’s SuperPhone is the latest example.

Ryan Leslie is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of startup Disruptive Multimedia, maker of SuperPhone. The product (still in beta development) enables artists, writers, marketers, or entrepreneurs—anyone, really—to connect with their friends, followers, or fans directly, independently, and in a completely new way.

“What we’re building at SuperPhone is an … extension of me, and it becomes a brain in my phone, which remembers contexts and can build and measure metrics … and then it can assign a relationship score based on those metrics,” Leslie explained.

During this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast, Leslie touches on many aspects of his life and career, where it seems he’s always ahead of the curve. After he graduated from Harvard (at the age of 19, no less), he pursued his musical ambition, meeting with great success, including that Grammy nomination. He moved on, though, from his label, seeking independence in releasing his music and a better, smarter way of doing things. The nascent SuperPhone is just another result of the way he operates.

“First of all, I love building,” he said, “and to do this on a software level, where we have an objective versus a subjective value, is just an incredible journey to be on.”

Additional podcast highlights include:

• Leslie’s decision to go independent. (4:11)
• Balance and the allocation of time: Leslie discusses his Dymaxion Polyphasic Sleep schedule. (5:43)
• How do you communicate with 65,000 people? (10:58)
• SuperPhone: Is it Leslie’s greatest creative offering? (14:33)
• The power of conversion and engagement: Defining success for SuperPhone. (19:55)
• Ryan Leslie is widely and wildly available. (28:40)

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