Josh Katz

Accomplish something small every day.

 

Josh Katz is the Founder and CEO of YellowHeart. Founded in 2018, YellowHeart is the first socially responsible live event ticketing platform. The YellowHeart platform is autonomous, fully decentralized and runs on public a Blockchain – which enables artists and teams to identify, market and sell directly to their fans. Artists can define a set of rules to govern how their tickets are sold, traded and who shares in the profits. Artists can set maximum resale prices, ensure tickets are distributed to genuine fans and elect to earn a share of tickets resold in YellowHeart’s secondary marketplace.

Josh is the Founder of El Media Group (EMG). Established in 2005, EMG is the premier subscription music provider for business, servicing over 5000 of the premier luxury brands in hospitality, food and beverage, airports, casinos and retail. El Media Group was sold to Searchlight Capital Partners in 2017.
From 1996 – 2004 Josh worked within the music industry spending time at Arista Records, Jive Records and BMG Entertainment. Josh was responsible and assisted in the launch, development and marketing for many of the biggest stars in music today. Artists include Britney Spears, Buddy Guy, Gwen Stefani/ No Doubt and many more.

Josh resides in New York City with his wife and two children.

Where did the idea for YellowHeart come from?

The idea came from me personally having to pay ridiculously high prices for concert tickets. I paid $1500 for 2 tickets to see Phish play a Bakers Dozen show at MSG and the “face value” of each ticket was $70 per ticket. I realized that Blockchain could solve the scalping problem. I then built a prototype to control a ticket or digital file with smart contracts, it worked and YellowHeart was born. To have a yellow heart is to have a heart of gold, to be compassionate and to care about others. This is the meaning of YellowHeart.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

6:00-7:00 AM I am with my kids having breakfast (no phone). 7:30-9:00 I try to be very focused on strategy and exploring concepts around the next steps/future of the business. Generally, I spend each day focused on only “one” item we are exploring. I then go to the gym to clear my head until 10:00. I head to the office at 11:00. I am in the office until around 6:30 and head home to have dinner with my kids between 6:30-8:00. 8:00 PM onward, I am either home or I go out a few nights a week for business dinners, concerts, etc.

How do you bring ideas to life?

We are in tech so I bring my ideas to our 2x weekly tech meetings and relay to our engineers what I want in non-technical terms. We then get technical on how to accomplish and ideas come to life.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Blockchain and autonomous internet excite me. No more central authority. Goodbye, big brother. This is going to happen quickly and since Blockchain is hard to understand it is happening without wide public knowledge. I also love the Cannabis movement happening right now. The benefits from all the various strains are vast and the research is just starting.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I try to stay deeply focused and not multi-task. I find doing one thing at a time is most productive for me. Sometimes it is difficult to do, but yields better results for me. I also leave my phone off when in meetings, this helps me be present and focused.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Sacrifice short term pleasure for long term pleasure. Leave no stone left unturned.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Phish is the greatest band of all time.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Leave my phone off in meetings. It helps me focus and makes meetings more productive and shorter.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Accomplish something small every day.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I had a bad partner who was dishonest and really held me back. I had to sell a great business and take a big haircut because of him. Pick your partners wisely.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Medical records on Blockchain will yield someone much fruit.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Football for my son which was $25. Teaching him to catch and throw. Simple but so gratifying.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Google, need I say more

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People.

What is your favorite quote?

Watch your pennies and your pennies will watch your dollars. -Paul McCartney

Key Learnings:

• Blockchain is going to modernize ticketing.
• Blockchain development is happening quickly and there is a low level of understanding among the general public.
• Blockchain will disrupt many businesses similar to the way the web did. Initially, this will be businesses that profit as middlemen.
• Leave your phone off in meetings…

Connect:

yellowheart.io

Instagram: joshkatz99
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