This content is a keynote session discussing the essence of entrepreneurship, emphasizing that it's a mindset focused on solving problems and creating change, rather than just a job. It highlights the importance of big dreams, hard work, self-determination, and building a strong team to achieve success and make a positive impact.
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
please welcome the president of emerge
Americas Melissa Medina how awesome was
the video introduction it makes me want
to grab a mojito and start dancing you
all are in for a very very big treat
right now for this finale keynote
session the first person I'm going to
introduce is someone who definitely
needs no introduction he's a Grammy
Award winning artist song or songwriter
entrepreneur investor most importantly
great friend and as he says I'm going to
quote him he's been through the emerging
markets journey from the fruit to the
hello and she said from the fruit to the
root its from the root to the fruit but
a Rooter to the tooter wear this to the
root and moderating this incredible
session is a global world renowned
entrepreneur from companies like
Priceline calm and you bid a new friend
to emerge but hopefully he'll be a
longtime friend Jeff Hoffman thank you
all right
we are so glad to be here today we are
gonna talk about entrepreneurship and
why it's important how we're gonna sit
you want to sit so I want to start real
at first by just talking to the audience
here I've had a chance to visit the
hundred startups here and a lot of you
folks that are here we just wanted to
find what entrepreneurship is before we
start and the reason that we're here the
reason that you're here the reason
emerge America America's exist and it's
really simple it's because we
fundamentally believe that entrepreneurs
are the people that are going to solve
the world's problems you are the people
that create change entrepreneurship is
not a job guys entrepreneurship is a
mindset it's the mindset of waking up in
the morning and saying my ideas are
gonna make somebody's life better that I
can make change if you think about the
power in this room right you are the
army of change in here there's the power
to bend history right here in this room
and you got to have the attitude to wake
up and do that and it's about before we
jump into this it's about self
determination entrepreneurship is about
saying this is the life I have this is
the life I want and building it why
would you wait for the future when you
could create the future the same way you
created yours so we are here to design
the future and that's what we're going
to talk about today there's kind of
three steps to being a successful
entrepreneur dream big work hard create
value start with a big dream work as
hard as your dream is big and go out and
create something the world wants and the
sky's the limit you can lead
an epic life and speaking of epic life's
I am humbled and honored to be on this
stage with you the same in appreciated
and thank you so much Jeff took time out
of everything that he had going on to be
able to come over to emerge and have
this conversation and more than anything
just to drop some gems and and some
jewels on you guys and everything that
he's been through and find ways on how
we can help each other to help others to
that way basically to teach y'all how to
fish bottom line so what I said Jeff no
thank you for being a appreciate
absolutely and I also wanted to start by
saying cable on my Cuban you guys you
guys a key hola say go hola kevala
I shake your loom give a long go wait
yeah with God all right
I think the other thing was done de a
style up a Chonga don't talk about anger
that's that one later yeah that's that's
later on tonight yeah so it starts with
a dream yes we want everybody here to
live an epic life we want you to use
your success to make other people's
lives better but you got to have a dream
first and when for you when did it
because I remember when my first dream
was when did you say to yourself this is
the life I have but I want something more
more
when did you dream start well first of
all when I talk about dreams I always
let everybody know why dream when you
can live it which is what we're talking
about absolutely believe it in that I
lived in an apartment building on
Northwest 7th Street and 49th Avenue off
of all right back in lock Park and I was
about five six years old is when I said
okay this is not what I want in my life
and let me tell you that I didn't dream
or I didn't want money all I wanted was
security stability and protection and
that's when I created the mind state of
obviously in order to create those
things you need some kind of financial
freedom and that's basically when the
journey started because at that time I
had already moved by five years old I
had more maybe I would say four times at
that point on my way to move next time
and it just didn't stop from there so
the chance that I got want to be able to
invest myself
get you made that Quran so let's be rare
so when we when we made the chance a
I invested into myself and that's one of
the biggest things guys when it comes to
entrepreneurship it's all about helping
others it's all about creating an
amazing team but it's also about taking
that risk and investing in yourself when
people don't believe in you and and
listening to your guts I always say this
it may sound crazy but it's a truth you
got to think like an [ __ ] and listen
to your gut you know it's not be an
[ __ ] but listen yeah so it's because
I think gut when you talk about follow
your gut your gut instinct I think your
gut needs a new marketing manager and
here's well yeah yeah you tell people I
just follow my gut they think you're
being a responsible and the truth is
your gut is should be here's what it
should be renamed it should be called
your fast intelligence your gut is the
sum total of every mistake you've ever
made and everything you've ever done
right so when your gut is telling you to
go forward listen to it agree knows man
it's connected to your heart 150% and we
all know what happens when your [ __ ]
doesn't listen to your gut you [ __ ] on
yourself so listen to your gut I like
that one what is it fast you're fast
intelligent past until it's your gut
knows and you guys we want all of you
when you have that dream when you listen
to your gut because and I'm gonna ask
you this again in a minute what happens
most times when you guys have a big
dream is the world laughs at you no one
believes you if you back then told
people you were gonna be mr. worldwide
today Yeah right
Yeah right who's gonna who's gonna
believe that yeah I mean we'll just
think about it I got in the rap game and
the first person that gave me a deal was
Luther Campbell from 2 Live Crew but
imagine how I got laughed at trying to
be a Miami boy again in the game light
skin blue eyes Cuban they're like yeah
right so not only did we get in the game
we created our own lane created our own
game and that's one of the biggest
things about being an entrepreneur it's
finding and learning from everybody else
on what they're doing the negatives and
the positives and create your own lane
so therefore anytime you come across
opportunities you guys have the leverage
in that deal I was saying that to be
honest with you look I've been in the
game 20 years now
and this is my first year completely
independent and that's what we've worked
for thank you that's that's in fact it
is what it's all about and I like that
you said it before because it's not
really let me tell you guys some
people that focus on money don't achieve
success I agree in fact you know what I
always tell people don't chase money
chase excellence okay if excellence
money follows excellence
he created excellence which is why he
got money everybody focused on money
they they're never gonna get there for
me it was the same thing you said I grew
up in a small desert town single mom no
money and I wanted to see the world how
you gonna see the world without a dime
no one's gonna pay you to see the world
so like you said you create your own
lane right I went out in fact I had my
first company I went out and created
when you guys go to an airport and you
check in have you ever used a kiosk that
you check in and get a boarding pass I
actually invented those when I was 27
years old
thanks patented dos sold them all over
the world
I got a chance I wasn't focused on money
I was focused on freedom and my dream of
seeing the world so I wound up getting
and I've been to 94 countries now but
the crazy part is like you I get paid to
do it
so what we want you guys to do is chase
your dream go do that but connect it to
the things that you care about the
passions that you have I agree and what
he's saying is bottom line you know you
make the money don't let the money make
you and a lot of people think that one
way or another money is gonna be some
kind of magical solution believe me it's
not if you were an [ __ ] without money
you're just gonna be a bigger [ __ ]
with money it's all about being humble
it's all about wanting to give back it's
all about won in the help and I have
these three steps of success I was just
talking about them in the other room and
you start with succeed succeed is to
make it everybody says it's the easy
part it's the easiest part but it's not
easy okay success is the second part
which is maintain it that's the tough
part and once you understand how to do
all that then you become successful right
right
but in those three words if you look at
them they all have the word suck because
the more you grow the more they suck all
right you got two managers that suck
agents that suck lawyers that suck
friends and families that come out the
Woodward's that suck you know I was like
man so when you understand how to handle
all of that then you can embody what it
is truly to be successful so don't think
that anything that comes with success
and wanting to grow and investing in
yourself and becoming an
preneur is easy it's not that's why you
got to love the journey not the money
yeah I gotta love the journey I
absolutely agree as a matter of fact one
of the most valuable things I've learned
you know we were blessed enough to be
part of to create some multi-billion
dollar companies you know our big one
was well you guys know it as booking.com
it's priceline.com but I was part of a
number of multi-billion dollar companies
and here's the biggest thing I learned
success is not a destination it's a
platform that enables you to finally do
something that really matters right I
thought it was all about success one day
they say hey you made it you're done I
said are you done we just started this
puts you in a position to do the things
that really matter and you can't lose
sight of that ever and you can't do it
alone I'd love to hear you talk about
how you started to build a team around
you when you realize I can't achieve
this dream without a team and how'd you
find one I think that was that was and
that is the hardest part of becoming
successful I want to say to team
pit-boss out here today I want to say
thank you to you guys because without
you guys there's no way we'd be able to
be on the stage
there's no way as a movement there's no
way a revolution there's no way we'd be
able to touch people to where we do we
all have the same vision we trade
thoughts and we come up with goals and
we execute now it was real it's funny
how you can cut fat quick when you meet
people so I met certain people and
obviously you tell them you know there's
no I in team and one person told me you
know a couple people told me oh but
there's an M&A II I was like okay great
I know I'm not working with you right
with the team is a lot of responsibility
you have to lead by example but more
than anything they don't work for me I
don't work for them we work together
we're all leaders okay we delegate to
each other and we love to bounce ideas
off of each other now if you want to run
a dictatorship that's a whole different story
story
and believe me you what's gonna happen
is your team's gonna turn on you when
you have a circle that is all about the
same goal and focused on that that's
when you're able to achieve now with
what we've got going on we're at a point
where we want to take the brand to a
conglomerate at this point so that's the
goal between the team all right guys
from here this is what we're going and
so we're gonna do how do we utilize what
we got going on music being the driving
factor and in a business mind you
remember we've been growing in a
shrinking business music business been
getting hit but we've been growing 20
years in the game thank God for that and
things to the fans for that yeah you
know what they do but with that said yes
a great team is a pivotal point in asset
and a monument to factor on what you got
going on and let me tell you they come
and they go and sometimes it's hard to
get rid of certain folks but you gotta
know when to cut in order to grow
there's some people I'd like to expand
this is expand right and then you want
to grow what do I mean by people that
grow are looking at what's the next
opportunity how to invest into the next
thing people had expand get the money
that they got and they buy a bunch of
[ __ ] that they don't need you know
little about this car and about this
house and about this restaurant I got
this and I got done and I got this and I
got that
all right great what's what's generating
there what's coming out of that those
are people that expand you don't need
that in your life you need to grow you
know people that stay lean and mean and
stay focused on what the goals are but
more than anything
you guys gotta want the best for each
other and when in about two seconds let
me tell you they say money is the root
of all evil but that's the first place I
ever seen in god we trust' okay yeah
ironically huh but let me tell you money
has a great way on in layman terms
[ __ ] up teams so just know that
between you guys money has a great way
of dividing and conquering as you guys
become more successful don't ever let
money be the driving factor like we said
before enjoy the journey that's the fun
part yeah and in fact you know people
always ask is the joy is it about the
journey or the destination it's not
about either it's just about the people
you're traveling with right when you
were with the right people in life you
will survive failure and if you are the
right people and life success is worth
having it's pretty empty if you're
celebrating alone in your castle right
and you annually die like that what you
said about keeping your team focused
together two things about that
first of all in in terms of building the
team it is the servant leadership model
right the reason I was successful is
because I surrounded myself with people
smarter than me
and then I took really good care of them
my job was to take care of the really
smart people so they never left me and
that's what caused us to be successful
there's no way you can do it alone but I
like another thing that you said I have
a sign on my door and it says your ideas
are welcome here but execution is
worshipped okay it's all about executing
everybody talks all day people pitch me
ideas and almost nobody does anything so
it's all about executing you know talk
is cheap ideas are great and the vision
is but you got to get out there and you
got to make it happen what do you think
was the key to your success and being
able to execute your vision and turn it
into reality well one of the
neighborhoods that I lived in I've lived
all over Miami by the way you name it
from good neighborhoods the bad
neighborhoods are the worst
neighborhoods but one of them was
Lynwood before it was the art mecca it
was the heroin capital and they always
said in the neighborhood they say don't
talk about it be about it don't talk
about it be about it don't talk about it
be about it because we are know growing
up in certain neighborhoods and a lot of
people like to step in your face they
say they're gonna do this do that then
they do a whole lot of nothing well it's
the same concept like you're talking
about in business what allowed us to
grow the way that we grew is because we
flew under the radar like we still
continued to fly under the radar well
everybody else does everything that
they're doing we go the complete
opposite way and create something that
nobody's looking at so it allows us to
build things without the noise without
the turbulence without dislikes or the
hates and especially in the society that
we're living in right now because social
media is a bunch of social [ __ ] if
you ask me and social media is is
socialized and what reality TV is the
reality it's [ __ ] and I tell kids
all the time mind you we got ten schools
now ten thousand kids with slam and I
tell them they forget about followers
and likes always think about and keep
your people keep yourself around people
that are leaders in unique like you were
saying earlier so with that said is on
the execution part what allowed us to do
it why because while everybody's over
here being cool and I tell people this
all the time there's no future in cool
that's a trend that's a fad it comes and
it goes
just like dope money dope money comes
quick and leaves quicker okay we're here
for slow butter four so this is a
marathon not a sprint
Paso code to beat talaga
short stabs long vision and that's what
we've always implemented across the team
well I don't let those guys be hot
let them be that the biggest things in
the world don't worry about that we're
gonna creep up on them so it's literally
the common when I told you I tell the
story the turtle and the hare it's
literally what we practice in laymen
terms I'm gonna get this wrong go to up
or go to save a lejos not even close
go double ooh I don't know that one but
you might not tell me it's the same
thing it's it's dropped like something I
need some support out there so I'm
pretty good give it a shot man go step
by step we go floor go yeah it is what
did you do though because you pointed
this out and you know I'm not in your
business where I'm on stage in front of
people every night so it's less obvious
but even in my world we got haters right
when you're haters because you succeeded
and they didn't and they don't hate you
they hate themselves because you had the
guts to try and they're still sitting on
the couch but I want to know you know I
got I got my ways but how did you handle
that when the moments when it felt like
this is never gonna work everyone's
laughing at you and you're just down how
do you get through those moments well
let me tell you I love haters they'll be
honest with you I showed them nothing
but love and they're the gasoline to the
fire they'll be honest with you if
you're not getting hated on you ain't
doing [ __ ] right you need people talking
about you you need people saying I like
that person because in turn they really
want to be you like you said they didn't
have the guts to go out there and do it
right now in in the music business
strategically we laid ourself low for
about three to four years in order to
get to this independent state that we're
at right now so a lot of people are
going oh welp it hasn't really knocked
another one out the park in the last
three four years that's what they got
[ __ ] [ __ ] up that's why this is chess
not checkers but this is the fun part
you get a chance to see how the the
playing field gets leveled out of the
people you don't need in your life the
people that were there just for the ride
and then you go back to your core team
who you dug it with who you grind with
who you work hard with and then you
enjoy the journey the destination by morning
morning
people that live with you because you
know how how hard it was to prove
everybody wrong my friend there's
nothing like it there's nothing like
when people don't believe in you there's
nothing like when people hate on you
there's nothing like when people talk
[ __ ] about you and you prove them wrong
today I sing mono that means you can
slap them without touching them and you
tell them thank you very much I
appreciate the love they're the first
ones asking for tickets to the show and
you give it to them and make sure they
get free cocktails to guide us in mono
simply I think that is exactly right
though you guys know that the best form
of a revenge is success always go
leaving and make go lead an amazing life
and I also agree with you that you never
lower yourself the other person's level
give them the tickets even though they
were non-believers they were the haters
they never thought you were gonna make
it and then they're all in line asking
for tickets but he's right guys give it
to him anyway because karma is real the
way you treat people in the world will
always come back to you so never lower
yourself to somebody else's level you do
the right thing and it comes back that
way you're always always does absolutely
so I gotta say another thing I and you
know it's about finding your tribe guys
when you are around the people that have
the same vision and share the same love
and you are with your tribe that's what
makes everything connect that's what
makes it all worth doing that's the way
you and I connected the first time we
met it's like right there as fur as soon
as we met we knew we're being each
other's lives are ever because we have
that same kind of connection the same
tribe the same the same vision for the
way that you operate but I have to say
this about you I respect you you know I
admire you but I love you for something
much bigger and the love is for the way
you give back the love is Flores of
cortisone much bigger than your music my
friend and when you first told me about
the schools and the way you give back I
got to tell you guys I know people that
do one thing put their name on it call
16 press conferences and they didn't do
anything this is a man that does
everything doesn't put his name on it
doesn't even tell people because he does
it to help not to get credit for it
I just want to honor you for that I love
you for that I'm here today for that
reason tell tell them tell everybody a
little bit
more about what else you got going on in
that area I mean look the reason that we
hit the stage and we've been a part of
emerge from the from the root to the
fruit or from the Rooter to the tooter
is it's real simple man
when I say 3:05 till I died I'm a Miami
boy Dade County representa I take that
to heart
anywhere I go I put Miami on my
shoulders I put it on my sleeve and I
got a chip on my shoulder to be honest
with you because Miami has always been
underdogs always been slept on always
been laughed at and all we do is come
and kick everybody's [ __ ] ass
and then people still people still don't
show love which is cool god bless I'm
cool with that I appreciate that
whether we did it with um throughout the
dynasty any time the AP polls will come
out they still put us number two even on
the undefeated season cool that's Miami
[ __ ] no problem the Heat come and do
what they do
boom all they're never gonna do it again
of course you're gonna do it again the
Marlins come and do it same thing of
course we're gonna do it again it's all
about being underdogs and being a Miami
boy in the music game nobody ever really
respected what we had going on
especially with what to Live Crew didn't
loot the cameraman back a little bit
loot the camera mind I'm not been the
best rapper but he was the only one that
went against the supreme court and
fought for the First Amendment and won
so a lot of these rappers wouldn't be
rapping with a rapping about including
myself if it wasn't for Luther Campbell
so his cause was such a higher cause
that's what makes it real to me so being
a Miami boy I got to represent that way
and being a Miami boy that did not
graduate high school being a Miami boy I
went to 25 different high schools lived
all over Miami like I said before good
bad ugly but to be able to share a stage
with Jeff and all the amazing things
that you've pulled off on the tech side
of things and knowing I just came from a
room with the mayor of Miami let me tell
you something jay-z has a great line
where he says I ain't even supposed to
be here
so with that said to be able to be on
the stage it's an honor to be able to
spread the knowledge spread the wealth
and I'm not talking about money-wise
okay and letting you guys know that
anything you want to do in your life you
can do it because if I'm on this stage
right now I promise you I could do a
bigger better better stronger but don't
listen to nobody cut out all the noise
all the [ __ ] especially social media
if you read too many of them comments
you're gonna lose your goddamn mind all
right it's the truth so I just want to
tell you to be up here is we're living a
dream right now we were focused we built
things and we get a chance to do it with
great people next to us so for you guys
I want to say thank you so much we
appreciate the opportunity and thank you
so much for someone loved in Miami and
matter of fact I want to let y'all know
him you know you got Silicon Valley
Silicon Alley Silicon paradise well I'm
what the tech hub for Miami is gonna be
it's like you know a leader saying 3:05
right or damn it the 305 so it's three
Oh F I like Wi-Fi but five so welcome to
the 305 so we got to wrap this up
because we want to get to the judging we
want to see the finalists but I'm gonna
say the same thing you get they're gonna
leave you guys with even if nobody in
the world believes in you but you that
is enough
you got to tune it out and you got to
execute while everybody else talks go
out and create excellence go out and
build something go out and create your
own future the way you did guys it's
your world we want you to own it thank
you very much thank you I really
appreciate you taking the time to come on
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
