HelloSugoi is an event ticketing platform. We leverage the Ethereum blockchain to reduce ticket fees, manage the secondary market, and eliminate fraud.

 

Mike: What is the problem you are aiming to solve?

Jason: We’re aiming to revolutionize the event ticketing industry. If you’ve ever purchased a ticket through Ticketmaster or StubHub, then you’ve experienced having to pay exorbitant “convenience” fees. I prefer to call them “inconvenience fees.” Or perhaps you’ve paid a premium for a ticket on the secondary market, at which point you run the risk of not getting in to the show, because the ticket is fraudulent. We’re trying to tackle those issues by leveraging the Ethereum blockchain, which enables a more fair, secure, and transparent smart-ticketing solution.

 

Mike: So we can have fraud-proof event tickets?

Jason: That’s right.

 

Mike: That’s amazing. How’d you get started with that?

Jason: Before diving into the tech world, I was a musician. I was looking to change careers and was interested in creating something new, something different. I’m driven by a passion for creating art that inspires people to do the things that inspire them. I stole that line from Simon Sinek. He’s one of my heroes.

About a year ago, I began learning to code. I felt that writing software was one of the ways in which I could help inspire myself and other people.

I attended a number of coding Meetups in the Los Angeles area, particularly a Meetup called “Learn Teach Code.” It was there I met my co-founder, Angello Pozo.

He was helping to facilitate the Meetup. I was getting stuck on some code that I couldn’t get to render properly. He came over and whiz-banged it out really fast with his magic wizard hands.

Over time, we became friends. I kept going to the Meetup, learning so much from him, and through coding with other people.

One day he’s like, “Hey, I’m exploring blockchain technology. You should check it out.” I’d been somewhat familiar with Bitcoin, but didn’t know much about Ethereum, which he seemed really excited about.

I started doing some research and found several obvious use cases for this technology, especially in the music industry.

For example, when an artist licenses a song to a TV show, they typically don’t get paid for almost up to a year later. I placed a song in an episode of “This is Us” on NBC last Fall, and I still haven’t seen the money.

Blockchain enables royalty payments to happen in almost real time, in an open and transparent way, so that an artist can see how much money they’re getting paid, and who else taking a cut.

It became clear to me that blockchain can help solve a lot of problems for artists, like myself, and many other of my friends who have a hard time making a decent living off their music.

We put our heads together and began exploring use cases for this technology, eventually landing on event ticketing. Ethereum’s smart contracts enable us to program rules that govern the behavior of the ticket.

For example: How much is the ticket’s price? For how much can it be resold? Who gets the revenue from the ticket, and how much? The ability to program rules in a smart contract was very interesting to me. I was thinking, “Wow, there’s a lot of revenue to capture that would otherwise be lost to brokers and scalpers who try and cheat the system.”

So that’s how HelloSugoi began. We started building our software roughly four months ago, and as of last week, we became the first company in the world to sell a ticket on the Ethereum blockchain! It’s a huge technological and historical moment for us, and a major milestone for our company.

Since then, there’s been an explosion of people who want to get on board with what we’re doing. It’s been overwhelming and tremendously exciting.

 

Mike: It’s interesting – you took your musical, creative, artist career, and pivoted that, the problems that you’ve seen within that industry into your, now, new, professional career within programming.

Jason: That’s right. Yeah.

 

Mike: Are you involved in the programming and technical end of it or are you more focused on the business end of it?

Jason: I’m more on the business side at this point, meaning marketing, social media, and product management. I actually went to school for product management at Product School. It’s an eight-week part-time class in L.A. It taught me a lot about managing a software product.

I wouldn’t call myself a developer or an engineer, although I understand how code works on a high level. I built a few Node apps and played with some APIs just for fun. But I’m by no means as technically brilliant as my co-founder, Angello, who handles most of the engineering ninja moves.

Having an understanding of how web apps are built has helped me to better empathize with what he does; it helps with the yin and yang of our relationship. Angello’s a very smart business person who also knows how to code. I’ve got the business skills and product chops, but can also help implement some of the code and understand what he’s talking about.

 

Mike: What would you say has been the most challenging moment in your career?

Jason: I think one of the biggest challenges for me was when I moved from Boston to Los Angeles in 2011. I had a decent music career going for myself over there. I had some regular gigs that paid pretty well. I also had a healthy roster of students; I was teaching drum and guitar lessons. I had about 20 – 25 students a week. But I felt like I was treading water. It just wasn’t enough.

I left my band, my students, my girlfriend, packed up my drum kit and some clothes and moved to Los Angeles. My brother, Nick, who was living in L.A., was also a musician and kept telling me how amazing the music scene was. When I got there, I slept on the floor of his vocal booth for about six months, just trying to adjust to this huge new city. My biggest thought was, “How am I going to make ends meet?”

The challenge of transitioning my lifestyle by leaving everything I knew behind was a huge risk but was a lot of fun at the same time. I enjoy risk-taking. I think anyone who wants to get the most from life would benefit from doing something like that.

 

Mike: Did you have an idea of what direction you were heading, or was it just like, “This is not working! I need something new, and something will come about.”

Jason: You know, Mike, in all sincerity, it was a little bit of both. From the music perspective, I was evolving. I was playing drums in a band called The Honors. We had some really cool gigs. We started as an indie rock band playing originals, then we learned a bunch of cover tunes, played some weddings, landed a few weekly bar gigs, but that just wasn’t cutting it for me.

I felt limited by my band members. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. It was preventing us from making the moves that we needed to really propel our band. I began producing music on my computer and quickly discovered that I could play all the parts on my own and that I could be my own band.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I was really inspired by the Low End Theory scene. Low End Theory is a weekly event that happens in Lincoln Heights. It’s the foundation of the L.A. beat scene. Artists who came out of there include Flying Lotus, The Gaslamp Killer, and Daddy Kev. Tom Yorke played a set there, and even Prince made an appearance before he passed away last year. It’s a legendary place. I was very influenced by “Cosmogramma,” which is Flying Lotus’s second album, and I wanted to go check out that scene. After my first time going I was like, “Yo, I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to be here. I’ve got to be a part of this.”

The motivation to move to L.A. was very much to be part of that whole culture, to up my game as a producer, as a songwriter, and as a lyricist. I put down my drumsticks to pursue computer music and Low End Theory ended up being my weekly ritual. It was basically like going to church every Wednesday for about two years.

 

Mike: That’s sweet. What would you say is your most braggable moment?

Jason: There’s been quite a few, but three years ago Daddy Kev put me on a bill at Low End Theory with Anderson Paak and The Internet, both of which have been since nominated for Grammy Awards. My name, as Lost Midas, was printed on a flier with those motherfuckers! Pardon my French.

 

Mike: Quite a set, eh?

Jason: I was like, “Damn, dude.” They’ve all gone on to do much bigger and better things than myself – at least in the music space. That’s not really something to brag about, but it was really fun. I also played drums with Slick Rick. That was fuckin’ cool. One of my claims to fame is that he let me try on his gold chains. I have a photograph with his bling around my neck, and it was dope!

 

Mike: What is your biggest challenge personally?

Jason: I think… my ego. Mitigating my ego, if you want to get all spiritual. I think a lot of my success has happened when my ego hasn’t played a role.

To be a great leader is to require a tremendous amount of empathy, which I don’t believe is something that comes very naturally to me. I can be a judgmental prick sometimes. I have to put up the barriers against that and really be cognizant of those negative tendencies. I think meditation is helping me to quiet my ego.

 

Mike: What would you say is your biggest strength?

Jason: Developing relationships — emotional intelligence.

EQ is my super power. It’s funny, because I think ego and emotional intelligence are like the yin and the yang. To some degree, it requires an amount of ego to handle relationships, especially when you’re doing business with people. Also, especially when you’re dealing with flighty artists and/or CEOs of tech companies who have tremendous egos themselves, and are the decision makers. Those are the kinds of people that I deal with a lot.

 

Mike: What is the best lesson you’ve learned from a mistake?

Jason: Man, you’re making me think about this! I mean, I’ve made so many mistakes. I think to let my ego get in the way of recognizing when I’m hurting people. Making decisions on a selfish level that damage friendships, and not being tuned into that. Being unconscious, just being unaware of the effects that my actions have on other people.

Sometimes you may think something is right, and it’s not. This can damage your relationships and damage your friendships because of the whole, “Oh, I’m right and you’re wrong.” They say the best way to win an argument is not to start one. Shit, I wish I had known that from the very beginning. There have definitely been moments where I’ve made the mistake of thinking that I know everything. I have to continually remind myself that I know nothing and to keep an open mind, and allow my truths be flexible.

 

Mike: Keep an open mind and always have an ear to learn from whoever you encounter.

Jason: You can learn from anybody! For example, when you’re checking out at the grocery store, you can strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, learn something, and gain some amazing perspective.

Last night, after we had dinner, I took an Uber back to my place and I struck up a conversation with this guy who was really freakin’ cool and super insightful. He was a bit grumpy in the beginning and didn’t want to talk with me, but I warmed him up a little bit. Before dropping me off, he shook my hand and said, “Thank you so much for making my night better, cuz I had a really crappy last customer!”

You just never know what kind of day people are having. It’s important not to judge a book by its cover.

 

Mike: You mentioned Uber isn’t it amazing how it is also a platform to connect and understand the most diverse people from all kinds of societies?

Jason: We’re all human beings. We all eat, sleep, piss, and shit. We all have the same human limitations. Looking at everyone on that even playing field opens up the possibilities of having a wonderful conversation, of making your day, or someone else’s day, feel a little bit better. It’s important not to close yourself off from that. I think that’s a huge lesson to learn. A mistake I’ve made in the past is not paying attention to that.

 

Mike: Coming from the music business what do you love most about what you’re doing right now? 

Jason: Man, I’m having so much fun. I love getting up in front of people and expressing my passion for what I do. I’m most excited about blockchain technology. I’m motivated by the the possibility of creating a world in which we all have access to basic financial services.

Being a thought leader and community builder around those types of deeper sociological and philosophical concepts is really exciting for me. That’s why I got into music. It was being able to have something to say, a message, and being able to translate that message, that emotion, in the form of a song. I feel that technology can do the same thing. You can build products that people love, that add value to their lives… much in the same way a song can. I’m really passionate about that. I absolutely love educating people, spreading knowledge to others, learning from people and having an open dialogue. It keeps me up at night due to excitement, and sometimes due to anxiety. There’s a balance, of course. I love building and innovating new technologies. I love creating something from nothing.

I think people feel like they can’t do that, that they’re limited. They think, “Oh, I’m not a creative person.” We’re all creative. We all have something to say. If I can help to build a product or lead a Meetup where those walls get broken down, and you can inspire someone to go home and try to build their own app or write their own song, then that’s a small victory for me. That’s what keeps me going.

 

Mike: What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Jason: Right out of college I had a mentor. He was the kind of mentor that was like, “This is how not to live your life,” more so than, “This is how to live your life.” But he did have some wonderful advice.

He taught me many lessons, but the most important lesson he taught me was, at the end of the day, sitting down with your family and your friends and having a cold beer, or just a conversation, with no TV and no distractions, just being with the people that you love, is really is what life is all about. Life doesn’t get better than that. Money cannot buy those experiences, where you just get to be with people you truly care about.

I don’t know if that’s a bit of advice that you could write in a Hallmark card… “Enjoy the people you’re with.” Seems kind of generic, but oftentimes those kinds of Hallmark card statements ring true if you have experiences that anchor them. And that’s certainly one of them.

 

Mike: What book has had the greatest impact on you?

Jason: That’s an obvious one for me. I’m going to say A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle. That’s an amazing book! I’ve shared it with many friends. It’s all about the deeper philosophical idea of being present, defining and recognizing the ego, and how to not identify with your thinking. Mainly, how to separate yourself from your thinking. Definitely that book.

 

Mike: What is a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Jason: Meditation and exercise. Those two things. I wake up at the crack of dawn (or at least I try to) every morning around six or seven. I guess that’s not as early as some people, like Tony Robbins, no ice water baths or crazy breathing… I’m not there yet.

I wake up and the first thing I do is find some positive headspace, try to fight off the demons, dial-in my mind. Then I follow that with some intense exercise. As Tim Ferris says, “Win the morning, win the day.”

Starting my days off with a positive mindset, getting my head dialed-in, exercising, sets myself up for the rest of the day, and really kind of helps me to kick ass. When you’re starting a business, when you’re an entrepreneur, when you’re an artist, you need to be on top of your game. You cannot lose time. You cannot fuck up. So winning the morning is definitely a part of my routine that helps drive success in my life.

 

Mike: Congratulations on celebrating the first ticket ever sold on Ethereum just recently. How far away do you think we are from actually being able to use it to buy tickets for a show?

Jason: You can use HelloSugoi to buy event tickets right now! But for the mainstream, I’m going to say three-and-a-half to five years.

I’d liken the Ethereum network to where the Internet was in ’93. There’s still a lot of infrastructures to be built, but the value that’s there, I think, is enough to inspire developers to make it even better.

We have maybe about another year or two of building out more scalable systems. Then something like HelloSugoi will really make sense to a lot of people once we start pushing it and scaling out. Yeah, I’d say about three-and-a-half to five years.

 

Mike: Where did the name come from, or what does the name mean, or defined?

Jason: “Sugoi” means “amazing” in Japanese, which translates to “Hello Amazing” in English. HelloSugoi is about facilitating amazing experiences, and we want to introduce those experiences to the world. Hello Amazing, HelloSugoi.

 

Learn more at hellosugoi.com