Azeem Khan Interview
It’s hard to put a single title on New York City-based Azeem Khan. Entrepreneur covers his co-founder status with numerous companies, while writer works for his time at HuffPost and crypto fanatic fits a number of his past ventures. Did we mention he spent time at Harvard Medical School? A renaissance man built for the modern world, Khan spoke with Vivid Seats to decode the past, present and future of his career.
Vivid Seats: Your LinkedIn paints an incredible story. Starting from the beginning, how does a student at Harvard Medical School get involved in cryptocurrencies, gaming and more?
Azeem Khan: Honestly, I wish I could tell you how. Everything I’ve done up to this point in life occurred by following my interests more than anything else. As much as I’d like to be monetarily successful, if something doesn’t move me then I have trouble being a part of it. So far almost each one of my experiences was completely disparate from the previous one, but the common thread linking them is that I’ve been inspired by something larger than myself.
When it comes to blockchain, I believe we’re going to see just about every company either incorporate it over time, or be replaced by companies that do. The way that it works when you get into server side architecture just makes it clear as day. I’m less bullish on the way people just trade them as commodities though.
Then gaming is something that is more of a common language than even music. With music the barrier can still be the language the music is in, but there’s lots of people connected to each other as gamers who couldn’t talk to each other if they tried. But because of shared interest in that hobby they can still fully emerge themselves in interaction anyway.
So, as cliche as it sounds, I follow my passions.
VS: You’ve experienced marketing from the perspective of both a consultant and co-founder. What tips do you have for aspiring marketers trying to navigate the ongoing evolution of the field?
AK: The majority of marketing is learned on the job. I have a B.S in Biology and an M.S in Medical Sciences from Boston University and Boston University School of Medicine, respectively. At no point did I take any classes in marketing.
Once I founded my startup though I got on the Internet reading about it and finding important books. The interesting thing about marketing is that the Internet fundamentally changed how it’s all done, so the people with 40 years experience only understand it as much as the people doing it now. With the playing field being level through the move to digital, all the resources you need are at your disposal on the Internet.
If I was going to suggest any sort of formalized training in marketing, it would be picking up psychology books more than actual marketing. Some of the books that I really enjoyed were Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and Propaganda by Edward Bernays.
The last thing would be to utilize all the free certifications available through the platforms you can do marketing on. Google and Facebook both offer free online classes to learn their platforms. Once you’ve done that go to your local barbershop and ask them if you can do it for them. After you’ve gone to 10 places you’ll find one person who says yes, and that way you get to learn how to really use the platforms while getting paid to do so.
VS: I’ve always been impressed with your use of social media as a marketing tool. What strategies do you use across various platforms?
AK: Each platform is so different that there’s no single use that works across any of them except for making sure the things you post have quality and you do so consistently. It’s all about understanding the platforms and the goals in using them. Other than that there’s no universal rules. If I tried saying anything otherwise it would mean that you could use LinkedIn and TikTok the same way, which would be an asinine thing to purport.
What I would say though is that if you spend time consuming content and paying attention to themes that successful content creators on each of the platforms use, you will be able to find ways to replicate that. A lot of the time the people successfully putting content out on each of these platforms have a very intuitive sense of why their efforts work, but oftentimes would not be able to explain why. That means that the people who best understand and use the platforms aren’t the ones writing thought leadership pieces about how to best use them. So, to get better at each of them you just have to give them the respect they deserve with active learning approaches.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of Twitter because it’s where you go to talk about things. And since all I’m ever doing is reading, thinking, or talking to people smarter than me I have a cool platform to microblog those ideas out. And I’ve also found it’s where other people who feel similarly go, whereas because I’m neither a photographer, nor someone who enjoys being in pictures that Instagram is not my go to platform of choice for marketing.
VS: While your background is varied, there’s a lot of overlap -- take music and gaming for example. How do the two lend themselves to each other, and how have you worked to further intertwine the two?
AK: The way I see it is that gaming is the hip hop of the future. What I mean when I say that is when I was growing up and listening to my hip hop music all the older people around me said to turn off that noise. These days I hear parents telling their kids to turn off those games. Both situations show older people who don’t understand what’s going on, and also show where the youth’s focus is.
Secondly, when it came to music everyone had their favorite artists. If you think about it from a holistic perspective,,artists are content creators, which is no different than the streamers of today like Ninja or Dr. Disrespect.
Also, when you think about different gaming communities from First Person Shooters to Fight Game Communities, there's a certain type of person who’s involved in each one. Obviously there will always be outliers, but when looking at it from a broad overview, it’s similar to how the demographics are different when looking at the backpack rap, battle rap, and pop rap communities.
At the end of the day gamers and fans of music are finding ways to consume content they enjoy and share it with people around them. Why is going to a concert any different than going to a big gaming event in that way? Gathering together based on shared mutual interests.
And when you see artists like Drake getting signed to streaming companies and investing in teams like 100 Thieves, it’s clear that even the artists see the similarities there.
When I look at gaming I continue to find parallels with the ways that I viewed music growing up. And because I see those parallels it almost feels like I can tell the future of what’s happening next in gaming. Because it’ll be a similar thing that happens in a different way, so I’m always looking out for it.
VS: As a music fan based in NYC, what artists should we keep an eye on this year?
AK: Honestly, as someone of South Asian descent and a New Yorker, I have to say I’m rooting for Anik Khan right now. He’s got a unique sound and he’s got a positive trajectory. Have a feeling this will be a big year for him. I’m actually going to a show of his on February 22nd in Brooklyn at Elsewhere (Hall).
Other than that I’m a big fan of DaBaby, Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, Maxo Kream, JID, YBN Cordae and Moneybagg Yo. Listened to a lot of their music last year. Have a feeling they’ll all continue to grow in 2020 and beyond.
VS: What’s next?
AK: Doing some consulting for a company called People Like Games here in New York along with some other consulting contracts that I can’t talk about. But looking to raise capital to build out a mobile gaming studio where we create games for artists, athletes, and other kinds of influencers. I’d like to put all the in-app purchases onto the blockchain though, so that those items can then be bought, sold, and traded on a digital goods marketplace that we release. Been applying to incubators and talking to venture capitalists about it who like the idea. Raising money is an annoying process though. Anyone who’s done it would say the same. Have a few partners that want to just build something out, get a product to market, and then raise money after, so we’ll see.
A cool theory that I developed along with this idea is that I’d like to put out content as I do it so that people can come along for the journey. It’s similar to the idea of how artists bring you along for the emotional journey as they try to get signed and beyond. Same way I’m a J Cole and Drake fan because of being there in the journey as they progressed thus far. Started a YouTube channel and put it up as a podcast onto platforms like Spotify as well. Just something fun to test out.
Honestly, as always I’m just seeing what seems interesting to do next. This seems fun because it brings together blockchain, gaming, and entertainment in a unique way. I’m also speaking to a bunch of companies though who I’d love to work with for some time as I really figure out what I want to do next.
Follow Azeem on Twitter and LinkedIn.