In this episode of Fintech Thought Leaders, QED's Head of Early Stage Investments Bill Cilluffo speaks with Stem CEO Milana Lewis.
Tune in to learn:
[2:17] The problem that Stem is solving, from music distribution to automating payouts, and how the company unlocks economic opportunities for content creators, including mortgages, benefits and healthcare.
[4:38] The exponential growth of new music, from 70,000 songs a week, to more than 100,000 a day.
[6:20] How Milana was shaped by her immigrant experience and the role her family played in her love of music.
[10:07] How Milana’s first business plan was to pitch to her parents to show she could afford to attend college.
[12:18] The parallels between fintech and the music industry how recessions can be such a catalyst for innovation.
[16:20] The motivation behind starting Stem and how she was inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book about 10,000 hours.
[26:20] How the business today is different from the original vision in 2015, why Stem never planned to become a distributor and how the technical integration with the industry’s biggest names took years instead of weeks.
[31:12] The balance between being a disruptor while remaining part of the establishment.
[33:00] Trying to force consensus on contracts before music came out in order to try and get people to agree on what they own before the song gets published.
[35:05] Milana’s leadership style and how that changed from the agency environment to the startup environment.
[37:53] The way Stem approaches constructive feedback as a team, and why her one big commitment is to have fewer sacred cows and to be more clear about what they are.
[40:17] The learning from the first team off-site and the impact it had on company culture. Find out how Milana thinks about creating connection, driving more context and accelerating its ability to align.
[44:25] Why the things that people do for fun still feels like work for Milana, and why she has embraced golf as a way to clear her mind and unplug from work.
[47:07] Milana’s one piece of advice for new entrepreneurs. Spoiler: it’s that nobody else knows what they’re doing wither.
