Moe Abdou is joined by Kevin Gould – angel investor, advisor, and mentor to an exciting and progressive roster of startups including Beautycon, Laurel & Wolf, and Draft Kings – to discuss his evolution and how he’s adding value as an investor.
Why Working in the Mailroom Really Matters
If you’re new to angel investing, or are intrigued by the idea of getting involved, you’ll find my conversation with Kevin Gould particularly useful. Nearly a decade ago, Gould graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and immediately headed west in pursuit of a career in entertainment. He was young and ambitious, and like many before him, he knew that the proverbial path to any meaningful work is likely to start pushing mail carts in the mailroom of a talent agency – so he earned a spot on the William Morris Endeavor mail team.
Hollywood is, in many ways, the model of meritocratic capitalism – you spend several years in low-paying drudgery jobs, like the mailroom, to prove your worth and improve your odds of getting on somebody’s radar. “With alumni ranging from David Geffen to Disney’s Rich Ross,” The Hollywood Reporter once stated, “mailroom jobs at Los Angeles’ most prestigious agencies provide aspiring moguls with a crash course in showbiz and the possibility of a future beyond cart pushing and coffee fetching.” It’s no wonder Ivy league grads willingly accept $25,000-a-year jobs serving Hollywood’s elite talent agents.
For Gould; however, it was his entrepreneurial vitality that opened his eyes to the emerging convergence between technology and entertainment. As an insider with a rich rolodex, he immediately began to recognize the value of making introductions and what came next has become his own version of Hollywood fame.
Listen as we discuss these areas:
- The transition to Hollywood
- What does one really do while working in the WME mailroom
- What it takes to earn Trust in Hollywood
- How he learned to analyze investment opportunities
- His best and worst investments
- The process of becoming a useful and trusted advisor
- The skills that distinguish great from good founders
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