The ROI of Frequency
For Jonathan · Idealab AZ
For Jonathan · Idealab AZ
Not a memo about DJ gear. A memo about the person it was really a bet on, and the frequencies I’m still learning to reach.
Idealab doesn’t just build companies. It builds people who can build companies. This is what your philosophy looks like from the inside. The bigger idea is simple: people who master more creative mediums build companies people remember. I’m just proving it.
They don’t teach how to read a room, find rhythm, compose an image, tell a story under pressure, or create a moment people remember.
Reading a dance floor turned out to be the same skill as reading a room during a founder pitch. The future of venture marketing belongs to creatives who move between mediums like that.
The market isn’t ads. It’s every founder trying to create belief.
They’re all experiences. Whoever designs them better, wins.
DJing 100+ shows taught me energy can be designed, not just discovered. Same instinct I use building a launch or a founder night.
Through our ACA partnership, that last one is DJing Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2027.
Photography taught me composition, and it shows up in every website I build. Live shows taught me pacing, and it shows up in every event I run. Nothing I learn stays in one lane.
Directing the IdeaDay launch film changed how I build investor websites. Marketing a dozen startups taught me how belief actually spreads.
Not a marketing job and a DJ hobby. One creative practice with real traction.
A launch people don’t forget. A founder night they still talk about a year later. Every venture carried by story, design, film, and sound on the same frequency.
The goal isn’t to be exceptional at one thing. It’s to be dangerous at connecting many.
Every one of them invested in me long before the outcome was obvious.
The goal was never to master marketing. It’s to become someone who can build things people remember.
The greatest return isn’t measured by what I create. It’s measured by who I’m becoming.
He bet on what I’d do with it. That’s the whole return.
I never wanted to learn music because it would make me a better marketer. I wanted to learn it because I love it. The surprise was discovering that every hour behind the decks made me better everywhere else.