Ryan Kavanaugh is a film and TV producer, businessman and philanthropist whose films have received over 60 Oscar® nominations and 8 wins. He was #22 on Fortune 40 under 40 list, the 2009 Producer of the Year Hollywood Awards, and the 2011 Showman of the Year.
He is an accomplished entrepreneur. At just 22 years old, he started a venture capital fund that won backing by Hollywood A-listers such as Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael J. Fox, Brian Grazer, and more. Focusing on Technology, Fintech and Biotech, long before it was popular to do so, had him at the forefront of innovation and value.
One of his first projects was Precash (later renamed Noventus), an early Fintech platform similar to today's PayPal, Apple Pay and Venmo. Ryan's challenge as to why physical currency was needed and prediction that cash would eventually become irrelevant was unheard of at the time, long before cryptocurrencies and NFTs existed yet the company would go on to be sold for close to $400 million, making his investors a significant multiple on their initial investment. He was also an investor in numerous successful unicorns, including Juno (originally Zeta-Rx,founded by Jack Kavanaugh), the largest biotech IPO in 2014, which later sold for north of $10 Billion.
Ryan's other notable credits include what is now called Independent Sports & Entertainment, an integrated sports, media, entertainment, and management company that represents 300 of the best athletes in the NBA, NFL, and MLB, and is the second-largest integrated management company in the U.S. with approximately $2.5 billion in player contracts. He also created the powerhouse television company, now called Critical Content, which produced hit shows such as MTV'sCatfish, Limitless, and over 40 other television series.
Ryan's innate ability to see around corners and predict where things were headed, even when the rest of the business world vehemently disagreed with him garnered his hard-earned reputation as an innovator and non-conformist. His constant push for challenging the status quo has cemented his place as a pioneer in multiple industries, and he was not only #22 on Fortune 40 under 40 list, but #19 on the Forbes 2013 list of youngest billionaires.
On overcoming failure, Ryan has said, "I've had many [failures], small and big. I don't think someone can call themselves an entrepreneur unless they have failed big. Overcoming failure is about how you treat people during those times, and how you are treated. You figure out who your friends are, and who you really want to do business with. Failure is the ultimate tool of filtering out who you don't want around anyway. Success has many fathers, but failure has few."
Most recently, Ryan has continued to prove his forward-thinking instincts by bringing his financial savvy into the world of social media combined with cutting edge technology. Through the acquisition of Triller, an AI-powered music video platform with more monthly active users in the United States than TikTok, at 26.5 million, he helped create "Social Streaming" forever changing the music business. Triller's one-of-a-kind music licensing partnerships with top studios, including Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal, allow users to access an extensive catalog of music to create and share content across multiple social platforms, without the need to navigate licensing fees. This innovative platform brings together artists, consumers, labels and license holders to encourage large-scale consumption and monetization for all involved. Triller has been expanding their NFT marketplace. Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Tyga, and The Weekend are just a few notable investors that have come on board to the world’s fastest-growing music app.