Power

of Being an Outsider by Stacy Spikes

BLACK FOUNDER: The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider by Stacy Spikes is the book that no one thought he should write It rips open the world of financial privilege and entertainment and reveals what it really takes to succeed when power, money and race collide.

In this the captivating business memoir, Spike tells the story of a young man with a singular vision, who packed up his truck at 18 and drove from Houston to Hollywood with only $300 in his pocket. Spikes worked his way up the ranks at Motown Records, Sony Music Entertainment and Miramax Films, was the founder of the Urbanworld Film Festival, and named by USA Today as one of the 21 most influential Black leaders in tech, and as one of the “People to Watch in Silicon Alley” by Crain’s New York

The strength, resilience and skills Spikes acquired to achieve these successes became the foundation he built upon to create MoviePass with his Cofounder, Hamet Watt. At the time, only 1 percent of venture capital funding went to Black entrepreneurs. Even in 2022, that number has only improved to 1 2 percent, according to TIME

MoviePass was a subscription company that allowed passionate movie fans to see movies in theaters for a monthly fee, was purchased by a private equity group. Spikes was ousted because of his defiant stance on their new doomed business model and could only watch from the sidelines as his creation was driven into bankruptcy and dismantled. But like all great plots, there were unforeseen twists ahead.