What’s a benefit of everything going up in smoke? You can learn how to do things right next time. Entrepreneur Marc Weinstein is recognized as the voice of reason from Fyre, the Netflix documentary about an overly ambitious destination music festival and how it crumbled into an unparalleled disaster. Uniquely able to see both successes and crises as opportunities, Weinstein embodies a powerful message of mindful entrepreneurship. You can learn from mistakes before they’re made, he says, and his talks will help you engage ethically and meaningfully with the attention economy.
“Often in start-up culture, we hear phrases like we don’t take no for an answer, solutions not problems, and every problem is an opportunity,” says Marc Weinstein. These clichés might be true in some circumstances, but they can also lead to egregious decision-making, like what Weinstein witnessed firsthand as a consultant for the now-infamous Fyre Festival. In the Netflix doc, Fyre—viewed over 20 million times in its first month alone—Weinstein stands out as one of the few levelheaded people advocating for caution and cancelation before the calamity really struck. We’re all familiar with the stories of heroic entrepreneurs who nearly failed, but pulled it off in the 11th hour—but what happens when they don’t? Weinstein asks us to resist the hero narrative, and instead surround ourselves with the right colleagues, take expert advice when it’s provided, and empower each other to make pragmatic decisions.
Now, as the entire world faces the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19, Weinstein once again draws from his experience at Fyre Festival to show others how to stay calm through a crisis. Whether he’s helping you nurture your individual mental health and well-being, or sharing insights on how to lead a team or plan your organization’s next steps, Weinstein’s anchoring talks are a must-listen.
Weinstein is currently a Principal at Wave Financial, a leading venture capital firm in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, where he leads the investment team. He is an active advisor to start-ups, including Prime Social Group, Siempo, and Swytch. Prior to this, he worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Jefferies & Co. A serial entrepreneur with multiple start-ups (like the smash 90sFest) under his belt, Weinstein also has a notable podcast, “The Look Up!”, which addresses the modern challenges Millennials face, like social media addiction. The show shines an insightful light on entrepreneurs and researchers trying to solve these problems.