057: This Angel Investor Specializes in Music + Startups = Ken Umezaki of Digital Daruma

Background on Ken Umezaki of Digital Daruma:

Ken Umezaki, Founder and President of Digital Daruma, has been involved in the music business full time since 2009, when he retired from a successful 25 year career in financial services. He has substantial experience in starting new business lines for major investment banks, seeding and advising start ups, capital markets trading, managing large organizations, and asset management.

Ken is an angel investor, through his company Digital Daruma, in digital music business start ups, with a specific focus on artist and b2b service companies. He is a digital music business executive, focusing on business development, strategy, operations and fundraising in the music business. He is also the co-founder of the Dot Blockchain Music Project, a public benefit corporation building and promoting a new music file format and supporting technology architecture to modernize copyright management and music supply chain processes fit for the digital music age.

He is a musician and currently plays bass in the band Fifth of Bourbon. He is also involved in a number of music foundations and academic organizations, including serving on the national board of Little Kids Rock, Future of Music Coalition and advisory board positions at New York University and Berklee College of Music.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:27] Ken Umezaki worked in the finance industry for 25 years and then switched to entrepreneurship in digital music.
[3:50] Ken studied Psychology in Princeton and graduated in 1986. He wanted to work as a Math teacher, but he ended up in Wall Street.
[6:12] He grew up playing saxophone, he was also a radio DJ in his high school and college days, and his brother was a professional musician. Music was really in his blood.
[9:30] He started his own company by educating himself in the music business and made investments on other startup music companies.
[11:27] He knew very little about the music industry, he had few experiences and contacts, so he relied on building a network in his first few years.
[13:48] He learned so much more about the digital music industry because of the other startup companies.
[15:00] In the last 4 to 5 years, he has been doing direct investment in artists, which was very informative and enjoyable for him.
[18:36] He does not invest in startup companies that do not have an actual business in place.
[21:55] “Scaling with a bunch of hobbyist musicians that don’t have any money, that’s not a business.”
[24:36] He co-created the Dot Blockchain Media, which addresses the lack of shared rights ownership information.
[29:30] He generally characterizes himself as a music business entrepreneur because it can often be challenging to describe the specifics of his job.
[34:33] His Dot Blockchain Media has 5 Co-founders and they are spending most of their time in developing the business and focusing on the large players in the music industry.
[37:18] He is sharing his knowledge to entrepreneurs and doing talks on universities and conferences at least once a month.
[39:24] He advises new entrepreneurs to have a strong passion and persistence to become successful.
[39:48] “If you’re really serious about doing something big and building a great company, deliver, deliver, deliver.”

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Amazon Echo Dot
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? G Suite
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? n/a

Key Point from the Interview:

“If you’re really serious about doing something big and building a great company, deliver, deliver, deliver.”