Thomas Cantley With Stream MOKO

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Woodstock proud, spotlighting the individuals, businesses and organizations that make Woodstock one of the premiere destinations in metro Atlanta to live, work and play. Now here’s your host.

Jim Bulger: [00:00:28] Hello, and welcome back once again to Woodstock, proud here on Business RadioX, I’m your host, Jim Bulger. We appreciate you coming back and spending some time with us as we celebrate and spotlight the individuals and the businesses that are making a difference here in the Woodstock community. So here we are. We’re in the month of December, well into the holiday season. And, you know, this time of year, you kind of regularly hear people say, if only we could harness, if only we could capture the feelings we have during the holidays, the kindness, the joy, the generosity, if only we could capture that and have that all year long. Well, our guest today is determined to do just that. Thomas Cantley is the CEO and founder of Stream Moko, a newly launched and very innovative streaming platform that focuses on positivity. Thomas, welcome to Woodstock, proud.

Thomas Cantley: [00:01:27] Pleasure to be here.

Jim Bulger: [00:01:29] Well, now there’s a lot I want us to talk about, but for those who aren’t yet acquainted and you’ve been everywhere, you’re getting a lot of buzz right now. But for those who haven’t heard about Stream Moko, let’s start with just an overall description of the platform, what it is and how it’s different from. What people may be used to seeing on Facebook or YouTube or Netflix or other platforms?

Thomas Cantley: [00:01:53] Yeah, so Moko is two things that I’m super passionate about and love is just this positive content. Feel good content. Inspirational content that we’ve curated and it’s all it’s it’s narrative. It’s production quality, and it’s all in one place. So it’s a lot of stuff that are based on, you know, we’re in this new generation of content creation and creators like everyone can be a creator now, you know, and everyone has a story. And, you know, if they have a really good camera, even an iPhone 13, they can create content, right? Absolutely. So for us, Netflix and Hulu, they have this standardized quality. It’s just a different elevation of quality that isn’t. It’s still, you know, it’s just it’s a different level, you know, and it’s a lot of its narrative. It’s it’s really built out where us, we have authentic stories and authentic content by creators. So some of it you may find on YouTube and some of it is is an is being created exclusively for us. So but it all has to have a similar mission of taking back some form of message feel good. And it’s all about like when you’re watching it, when you’re taking away from it, it can affect anyone negatively. So our height not only just focusing on the quality of content and the narrative of episodic content, it has to have a takeaway that isn’t impactful negatively on anyone.

Jim Bulger: [00:03:25] So when someone views these, I mean, obviously, you want them to feel better about the world around them and themselves after they view this, but it has a contagious aspect to it too, because when when someone walks away with those feelings, they’re probably going to treat the people around them a little bit differently. And that positive outlook, that optimism is contagious, right?

Thomas Cantley: [00:03:49] 100 percent, you know, and there’s this, you know, we’ve talked before and these conversations and it’s just about positivity, you know, is a weird word, you know, and the holistic community they’ve originally we actually were called positive TV, and then we had to switch it to Moko because positive, you know, our our definition of positivity is more based off a mood how you feel. That feeling of positive aspect is just that energy that you give off first. The word of, you know, just positive, like, everything’s just positive, because then it just opens you up to, you know, just some negativity and just going, OK, you can only be positive. That’s the only way that you can do that. So we just kind of pull back and we say it’s about the feeling, the feeling you feel of just hope happy. It’s more of that. So when you think positivity, it’s more about that emotion versus the word.

Jim Bulger: [00:04:42] Well, in these days, you know, when you consider the ongoing pandemic concerns, the general unrest, general divisiveness, that’s we’re all subjected to. We seem to need that now more than ever. And unfortunately, it seems that positivity has been kind of relegated to a side column in the newspaper the last couple of minutes of a newscast. And you’re really putting it front and center. That’s what it’s all about.

Thomas Cantley: [00:05:10] Yeah, and that’s and that’s the thing we it’s it’s about reprograming people, you know, and there’s a show called I call it the Ted Lasso effect. I don’t know if anyone see Ted Lasso, but Ted Lasso kind of throws people for a loop because he’s this super positive, good energy, human and all these people around him because we’ve been subjected, subjected by so much negativity. News wasn’t like this 15 years ago. You know it was. Now you turn on the news and it’s just it’s about no matter what you can turn on at any time. And it’s like a death or a killing or this. And it’s you people don’t realize the power of energy that you take in. So for just and even if you go on Netflix, you see, it’s there’s you can’t control that automatic play of that horror thing like, you know, my son is in the room and I turn it on. It’s the last thing that I played, you know what I mean? And then it’s we’re watching stranger, you know, whatever, whatever show we’re watching and Game of Thrones. And you know, you can’t control this. So being in a place that like we don’t, we truly don’t understand. I mean, we do understand. But I mean, there’s such a severe complexity to the energy that we take in. So even just from the simple images, we have it down to a science of just going our colors, our vibrant. They make you feel good and they make you feel happy. So we’re just looking down to a deeper, contextual level of just going like, we’re going and we look at the creators we have and we dove deep into them and going, how what is the consistency of their content? What are they doing? How are they reflected out to the community? What is their mindsets? What are they doing? So we’re really deep diving and curating that aspect of going, how are they going to impact our people?

Jim Bulger: [00:06:53] So let’s go back for a minute to the roots of Moko. Mm hmm. I mean, I’m I’m going to guess that even though the platform launched in late October, this is an idea that was percolating with you for a while.

Thomas Cantley: [00:07:06] Mm hmm. Yeah.

Jim Bulger: [00:07:07] Talk about the initial spark that started this and how you turned it into a reality.

Thomas Cantley: [00:07:14] Yeah. So this has been a brainchild for about three years. You know, I came from the corporate world. You know, I was in it all the Fortune 300 companies working at, you know, Cox Media Group and Home Depot and Coca-Cola and being a senior video producer there. And I started to see that the amount of money that was put into influencer marketing. And when I was there at that time, about three years ago, I just started seeing that going, Wow, people are the ad spend and the partnership spend is anywhere. But, you know, some people were paying twenty four million a month. You know, Cox Media Group was bringing about 20 million a month and combined money into it towards partnerships with these influencers. And I’m going, wow. And this is only short form content and it’s only for ads or it’s integration or post and social media posts. They start at 25 grand, you know what I mean and like and just I don’t know if you saw like there was this. It was called the Squid Games, and Mr Beast did this huge campaign and an ad for just a mid roll, a ten second mid role. I mean, they got their return because he’s just on a whole other level, but they spent two point four million on a mid roll.

Thomas Cantley: [00:08:28] So these brands are just so reliant on these influencers and they’re throwing money at them, and they don’t truly know how they can monetize that. They’re just going, OK, that’s Mr. Beast. Or that’s whoever marketed a third 25 grand, a hundred grand, a million, just because they have a social media following. So we really wanted to see and then then the creators were going, no one’s really monetizing the creators in a way that positively reflects them because they’re on this cycle of going, OK, I need to post, I need to post every day and I need to do this, and they’re subjected out into this world of commenting and negativity. That’s one big thing that a lot of creators can’t stand. And because and they can’t control it because YouTube is a robot, you know, Instagram and all these other things, because they’re so ginormous, they have no control. So that commenting, you can’t shut that off. It takes you like a week or two weeks to even get rid of that. And then again, what I mentioned before is you’re affected by that energy immediately that one comment will throw you off. You see it in movies and stuff like that.

Thomas Cantley: [00:09:28] It throws high suicide rates. It’s just terrible for the consumer and other people to even pick that up, as well as the creator. So when they’re putting their whole efforts and energy into something and then they get that one comment when they’re doing it for the people because you have those wolves out there and you cannot help that. So we’re protecting our people. So when I came at MOCA, I said, Wow, why don’t I create a place that’s for creators, by creators? And then for consumers just going like with everything going on in the world with all this negativity and COVID and our last two years have been just terrible. I mean, but we’ve been thriving. You know, you can you just you take it and then the hair’s thing, you just flip it. Covid. We go, Hey, we’ve been. And these past two years have been really stressful, but it gives you an opportunity to slow down. And that’s how Moko is born, because when we started it, we said, Oh, Kogut hit. We shut down originally, and then we lost a couple of people in our crew. And then I just said, Well, let’s let’s re pick this up because people need this.

Jim Bulger: [00:10:27] Well, it seems like such an admirable ideal, but I’m sure in the beginning there were some people who just didn’t get it or didn’t see how it could become a viable business. And with any business starting out, you have some initial people who aren’t totally on board or are questioning it a little bit. How did you overcome that?

Thomas Cantley: [00:10:49] Well, we had a lot of things going against us because like I mentioned, you know, positive media, it doesn’t buy because, you know, you have the Desperate Housewives and you have all these other things that people want conflict, they want that energy. And it’s and the thing is, is actually in actuality, they don’t. It’s just been what they’ve been subjected to. So coming back to the Ted Lasso effect, he turns around, you know, I’m not giving away anything in the show for those of you who haven’t seen it, but it’s just really like they come around because people really, truly when you look at it, they want to be happy. So our our battle, which we’ve had in the beginning with it, is going Thomas. All this positive feel good content. People aren’t used to this yet. And then also you’re creating a paywall because what we did is I mandated a paywall so that we’re contributing back. So I made it. I said, in the world, we don’t get back enough. You know, when we are given a choice, we won’t. Give that extra dollar in that grocery line up. We’re going up to the line and we’re like, Oh man, I got to do this person’s going to ask me for this damn doll, you know, and I’m going to have to do it or I’m not. But it’s like, you’re pressured. But and but the thing is, it’s like consciously like with this business model is we want to I wanted to create a mandate. So that’s my two things against me. It’s going, here’s positive content, and then I’m creating that grocery store person saying, you have to pay this dot or a dollar, essentially. I mean, you don’t have the grocery store, but we’re making it happen because we’re able to with one dollar. As little as that is a monthly, we’re able to contribute to causes that are going to be changing the planet in the world. So by you subscribing, you’re making a difference.

Jim Bulger: [00:12:27] Well, and you mentioned earlier positivity, and yeah, it’s kind of a subjective term, I mean, in different people’s minds, it’s going to mean different things. How do you filter the content? I mean, obviously you’re taking in submissions from people. You’re obviously going out and actively soliciting, you know, content from other people. What are the filters? I mean, how do you decide what content is proper for stream moko?

Thomas Cantley: [00:12:54] Yes, my my team is really high level. So my wife, who’s my co-founder, she’s a celebrity talent producer, also two time Emmy Award winner. She is the level, the senior level of that curation, bringing that in. So and we have a talent director, Anders Group, who is from New York. So a lot of our people are remote. There’s only a couple of people here in Atlanta. But we came from New York, so we hired a lot of the people that are really used to this talent recruitment. And so I’ve built this culture and this and this kind of demographic of going, this is what we’re looking for. This is who we need and this is what they need to fill. So they deep dove. So the two of them are just on a on a hunt. And I approve a lot of it. Like if they have questions, they go through it. But like we, we launched with twenty six shows and now we’re at 60. Wow. So our growth is great, but they really know they’re looking for that. It has to hit all those marks. It has to be really good quality. It has to have a narrative that connects so an episodic feel and has to and they have to deep dove into. And Ashley is a genius at deep diving into their history. So seeing we’ve had to deter people away. And I actually said no to Logan Paul because of, you know, some of the stuff that was on social media and certain things. You know what I mean? It wasn’t Moko, you know what I mean? So we’re really defining this culture of like your moko or not Moko.

Jim Bulger: [00:14:25] That’s great. No. And I think in the in the early going, you can do that. I mean, you can set those guardrails, you can set those standards that are going to be part of the fabric of the organization going forward. Mm hmm. So for someone who isn’t acquainted with it, I mean these the content we’re talking about, unlike Netflix documentaries that are longform, these are short form, right? These typically run how long?

Thomas Cantley: [00:14:55] Yeah, they’re they’re ten minutes like some documentaries we have. So here’s the thing, too. It’s like we have our content’s high level like it looks like Netflix looks like HDTV. We have house flipping shows. We have a little bit of everything. So it’s it’s very high quality. That’s the other thing, too. When you see that high quality footage or their shows on YouTube or HDTV, our stuff is that exact same. It’s just short form. So we were in the space of like when we saw the failure of Quibi happened to is a great case study for us because they were on to something, you know? But the thing is, is they’re about everything that they’re raised and their money. They were putting too much money out because they were getting celebrity talent rates. They weren’t creating any preexisting content and it was all originals and they were paying for it. So they raised $2 billion and they’re doing short form content because everyone is in this phase of short form consumption. So whether you’re on a subway or anywhere podcasts, anything, they like that short form. You know, I mean, in podcasts are different because I like podcasts longer, but it’s just it just depends. But I mean, for video consumption, the data is that it’s short form. So that’s what we kind of design that because we’ll take documentaries, we just chop them up. So just a different it’s giving people an opportunity to not have to sit through an hour, you know, because when you watch these shows, Yellowstone or anything else, you’re like committed for an hour. So we’re us, we’re breaking up ten minutes.

Jim Bulger: [00:16:15] Well, and I suspect what may happen is even though somebody may come in. Planning to spend 10 minutes watching something. They’re going to get a certain feeling from that, and they’re going to watch another one and they’re going to watch another one. These men may spend an hour or more on the site just because it does have that feel good effect to it. Yeah. And you’ve already had some really notable people post content on streaming. Talk a little bit about some examples of the contributors you’ve had and the type of content somebody might see.

Thomas Cantley: [00:16:50] Yes. We’re growing every day, you know, and some of our too original shows, because we I didn’t I didn’t plan to get into originals. So that was one of the cool things about our business model is with all the preexisting content, we’re not paying anything for it. So I’ve designed this really cool business model to be able to get this content for free. But I do a shared revenue opportunity, so I’m giving a percentage of the subscription not only to the charities, but also to these creators to enable and getting that. That’s why our business model has been successful. Now Quibi throwing money out. So some of our great notable people for originals because they fell into my lap and I was like, Oh man, we got to do these originals because so I ended up meeting and becoming friends with Beverly Mitchell’s manager. And so I was talking to him and she was telling. She was saying, Oh, I want to do this cooking show. And so I was like, All right, I was on board. And then he was. He happened to be on speaker with Stephen Baldwin, who he also represents. So he represents the Baldwin family. And so Stephen’s like, what’s this whole giveback philanthropic thing? Blah blah.

Thomas Cantley: [00:17:52] He’s like, I got a dog show I want to do, and he’s like, I want to do that. And I was like, All right, Steve. And and then and then I just got sucked in. So then I started to do to do these two original shows, and they’re excited because a lot of and we just started acquiring all these celebrities like Billy Blanks Junior and we have Marissa Piers, and we have a bunch of other great people and we’re actually in talks right now with Mr. Beast and a bunch of other big name people that are coming in, which has been really, really, really fantastic because they’re able to be them. That’s the thing, too is like a lot of these celebrities are going their shows that they created Beverly and Steven and stuff like that and Billy and everyone else, they’re going the word spreading. And we’re we were only focusing on these influencer like high level influencers. But now the celebrities are coming to us because they’re going, Whoa, I can do a show that I want and I have full control and we’re going, Yeah, you’re a creator. You know, so these two shows that, you know, just for example, Stephen Baldwin’s and Beverly’s were their brain shots.

Jim Bulger: [00:18:51] That’s great. Well, and you mentioned Mr. Beast a couple of times. And just for people who may not be aware, the leading YouTuber in the United States and one of the huge philanthropists, especially with environmental causes. And what else can you tell us,

Thomas Cantley: [00:19:10] Marketeer and money maker that ever existed like he’s, you know, his squid games like I mentioned that like that case study, like just looking at what he’s turned around for people’s profits to. I mean, he has one bill. I think he has like one or two billion views, the amount of money that this kid makes, and he’s only 23. They know a different business aspect and science to a whole different marketing level. So that’s that’s an exciting relationship that we’re really passionate and subscribe and and developing there because every brand is just wants to be involved with him. So being able to be associated with him is going to be very beneficial for us.

Jim Bulger: [00:19:52] Well, you know, it’s funny. I mean, people throw away this throw around this term influencer a lot. Mm hmm. And it seems like anybody with a web cam and a ring light thinks they’re an influencer. But I mean, you have really true influencers who are supportive and connected with stream moko who have huge followings before they even met you.

Thomas Cantley: [00:20:15] Yeah, and that’s the thing too is like. So that’s a weird. It’s also another weird, weird thing. So influencers don’t like being called influencers the certain ones because but it’s the only way to identify who they are to audiences because they’re going, OK. Because when you say a creator, they love to be called creators because the ones that we’re dealing with are true. Not to say the other ones aren’t, but they’re true artists because they’re filmmakers who who are making this incredible content and they’ve either hired people. They put their own money into it and they make this high level content that we’re taking. That’s the only stuff we’re taking and nothing against the I would call them. The true influencers are the ones who are doing the makeup tutorial videos. The the certain things they have to set up set is just literally talking to camera, you know, and those are and it’s nothing against them. It’s just they’re only the only the capabilities that they have that are in front of them that they’re using. Those are the influencers who are making big money. But our people have that narrative of follow series drone shots in the sky. You know what I mean? Like, true, like like follow documentary type content.

Jim Bulger: [00:21:20] Well, and they have credibility there. Walking in the door with and they wouldn’t have the followings they have if it wasn’t for people trusting their authenticity, their genuineness. And so as we talk about positivity, I mean, there has to be a trust factor there where people say this isn’t window dressing, this is really coming from the heart. This is these are people who are really passionate and compassionate about what they’re doing. And I think just coming in with that credibility already helps to build your platform’s credibility as well.

Thomas Cantley: [00:21:58] Hundred percent, you know, these the quality like when you come to our platform and you look at our platform like people are actually stunning, people are surprised. They go, Whoa, this looks like Disney. And I’m like, Well, that’s because we have the Disney people behind it and the Twitter people and the Emmy Award winners. And you know, and so that’s the cool thing is is with these creators, we’re giving that them that elevation, too. So when they come over to us, we’re not on YouTube, we’re not an Instagram, we’re not a social media platform. We’re a beta version of the next Netflix. You know, that’s what we’re at right now. We’re web based right now. We’re scaling to getting into our app phase because we’re getting into our next round. But when you go to our platform, we’re true. I mean, I would say we most look like Disney right now. But yeah,

Jim Bulger: [00:22:43] Well, let’s talk about your team a little bit. I mean, you mentioned your wife, Ashley, who is a part of it. Yeah, but you’ve put together a real A-list of people working within the streaming echo who have some really exciting pedigrees and backgrounds. Yeah. Talk a little bit about your team.

Thomas Cantley: [00:23:03] Well, first off, I don’t know if I fully deserved them, but I guess I convinced them somehow to come over to the dark side or the light side or the bright side. But yeah, I first acquired Amy Emmerich, who was my old boss, so I came from Vice Media. I was a vice media producer and director. Way back in the day and early 2000s. And it sounds bad. It sounds weird. Like early 2000s is not way back in the day, right? You know, I should say the 90s, but now I was still in high school. Sorry to date myself, but not because I’m a young gun. But yeah, so I acquired Amy Emmerich, so she was actually the vice president and vice, you know, huge distribution platform. And so I was just a peon little producer. And later on, she was one of the first people I pitched and then she went on to, which was also owned by Biase Vice Refinery29, which is owned by It’s a female centric platform, which is globally huge. So she was the global president of Refinery29. So when she left, she left there. I messaged her and said, Hey, me, I got this really cool idea. What do you think? She goes, I’m intrigued, Thomas. So I harassed her for months. And then finally, she’s like, I love it. I love it. Let me be one of your advisors. So she came on was one of my advisors, and then through her, I acquired Doug Usam, who is was the one of the hundredth employee at Twitter. He was working with the CEO of Twitter, and he created. He was their CRM and he created ad integration, which was crazy. So he’s and now he’s actually back at Twitter, and he’s the global head of events and production and content for Twitter.

Thomas Cantley: [00:24:53] So he’s also my other advisor. And then I have Kelly Summers, who’s my CMO, advisor and head of all my marketing, and she was responsible for taking Disney and making it go digital powerhouse. So and then I got my wife and then I have, ah, another local, Tom Cox, who everyone knows everyone’s actually kind of sad that I officially took him. He’s off the market and he’s officially only mocha, except for, like special projects within Woodstock. But he is the brand genius. He came from Coca-Cola. He did the Reformation logo. He’s done everything. He’s I call it Tom Town here, and he’s done the all McAfee logo. He’s literally done everything here. Maybe that in Woodstock, one to, I mean, he’s probably done it all. So just having him be the brains of he’s my co, my creative, my chief creative officer, and he’s also a partner who’s come in. That’s the only way I got him for free. For two years, I had to give him some equity and that’s my team other than my talent director in New York, who he’s on staff. And we actually have a young gun here from Woodstock, who is I think you graduated from Etawah High School, who is my editor. So he’s uploading content. His name’s Tommy Dickenson, a fellow local Woodstock Ian who’s like been a crucial component of us of like he was uploading every single video to our platform. And because we’re in beta phase, he had to do one video at a time. So he had two computers running, so thank you, Tommy, if you’re listening, but yeah, so we have an incredible, awesome, amazing team.

Jim Bulger: [00:26:31] Well, and each one of them has such an. Interesting story of the things they’ve accomplished. And you have a pretty interesting story yourself, so let’s let’s talk about your early career and kind of the events in your life that got you to where you are today.

Thomas Cantley: [00:26:48] Yeah. Oh, I totally forgot it just because it’s really quickly my finance guy. I totally forgot Bret. My guy who came aboard. I can’t.

Jim Bulger: [00:26:55] I’m sorry to be a problem.

Thomas Cantley: [00:26:56] I love you. I love you. Brett was my guy. He’s my CFO. He’s been in it with me and my first rays. Everything. I’m sorry, Bret. You are my. My other half. My other half. Bret. But anyways, yeah. His story is, I mean, he came from tech background and he owns a financial firm in Woodstock. I’m giving him the like, crappy like, thank you. But Bret, please bear with me. But anyway, so. So yeah, me. My my background. You know, I’m originally Canadian and and moved to the states because that’s where the opportunity was, you know, and married an American because I had to. That’s the only way I could stay here and and had a very fruitful career. I was in the space of I was I had a true coming up and true coming up age of story. You know, I started as a fashion photographer. You know, I went to New York City. And in 2000, right after I finished film school in 2005 and I became a celebrity fashion photographer, I shot with Lady Gaga. Katy Perry. I have. I won’t. I’ll spare you those stories because those are really long. You don’t have enough time for the podcast. But yeah, I worked. I ended up getting into a really crazy scene. You know, I partied with Lindsay Lohan, Heath Ledger.

Thomas Cantley: [00:28:18] I was there, you know, at the moments when Heath Ledger, right before he died. I was in the drug scene and I spiraled. And if you ever seen basketball diaries, that was me. I was actually I lost my job. I was evicted from my house and I was a drug addict. And at night I was shooting photography and shooting shows and doing that and and during the day I was living in a bush in Central Park, and that was two years of my life. And then no one knew I was homeless. My family didn’t know us homeless until my ex-girlfriend at the time she was living with. Because she was in transition, she was living with a woman by the name of Monica Noelle, and she ran a cancer organization. And she, she said, Whatever happened to your ex-boyfriend? It’s like I was living in a bus in Central Park. She’s like, What’s she’s like? So they ended up I was on, I was on a bender and I was just laying in a bus. And I just remember last thing, I woke up. I woke up at a bathroom like basketball diaries, locked the door and heard a woman on the other door or on the other end and heard my ex-girlfriend and I knew I was like, somewhat safe. And she cleaned me up.

Thomas Cantley: [00:29:31] And she had a cancer organization called Cancer One on one, and she rehabilitate me. And two weeks later, I got stage three testicular cancer, and it was a sign from the universe, from God that just said Thomas. You need to wake up. You’re meant to do bigger things in your life. And I started volunteering for her and she never had bigger sales ever, except for with me. She passed and I got a tattoo of her in 2011. I was diagnosed in 2009 and it just completely flipped my wife. My life I was. I’m looking back because actually my documentary about ballsy is on my platform, and I’m looking at the old me and I have this footage. It’s like crazy flash of the past and just how superficial I was. And I’m not the same guy today. And we’ve I’ve talked to you about it about like Wayne Dyer, Wayne Dyer is a huge inspiration of mine and just going, we’re not in the same bodies from 10, 20, 30, 40. So when I look back at him, I’m going, I feel sorry for him, you know? But I don’t live in the past. I live in the present because I’m going. I needed that growth because of all this. This is the man I am today, and I wouldn’t change anything.

Jim Bulger: [00:30:49] Well, you know, people talk about. Those life events that changed their life, and, you know, you’ll hear people saying, well, you know, this is version 2.0 of me, I think I’m on version ten or eleven point zero. And most of us are, as you say, we go through those transitions. And whether it’s with experience, whether it’s with age, whether it’s with hardship or tragedy, it does change us. And one thing I love about your story is that. You’ve always been one of those people that has taken the road less traveled and when you had your cancer diagnosis and thank God, you went into remission, but you decided, OK, I need to bring more awareness to testicular cancer patients. And tell us what you decided to do.

Thomas Cantley: [00:31:48] Yeah. So I, you know, this is, like I said, dating myself, but it’s it’s truly dating yourself in the technology space because back when I was diagnosed and I was doing this, I was an original influencer, you know, because in two thousand, if you think about it, so two thousand nine, Instagram wasn’t created, Facebook just started. So this was and it’s weird to even think of that. So we’re going, Wow, you guys are a little bit older than me, but it’s going like, wow, two thousand nine is nothing right, but it’s like, you know, but in technology, that’s a long time. So two thousand nine, there was only YouTube, really. So I just started putting myself out there and like I mentioned to, it’s like it was selfishly trying to go, Oh, because I’m a documentarian, I’m going, Wow, now I have my first documentary, I’m going to document my whole cancer experience, you know what I mean? But that was also the way that I was dealing with my cancer. I didn’t know how to do it any other way. Being twenty six years old at the time diagnosed with cancer, you only think that old people usually have it, you know, truthfully, you know, and then I learned that testicular cancer is in a young man’s cancer, so it’s between 15 and 35, you know, so I was like, Whoa, this is a whole different world for me.

Thomas Cantley: [00:32:57] And then as I started posting videos and stuff like that, I broke down the superficial guy because I started getting these videos and responses like it was funny back then. On YouTube, there’s no emails connected. So like someone had to write in the comments and it just was so weird because, yeah, it’s just like communication. I saw a comment on one of my videos and said, Wow, you changed my life. And I went to the doctor and got early detection because I was feeling something and it saved his life. And then that moment I just cried for like hours and hours and hours because I said, Wow, this is a sign. My initials are TK, same as testicular cancer. And it was just this like signs that I was like, I have a bigger purpose to make a difference, to be a voice for men because there’s so much stigma and a Superman complex that we need to be like tough and taking away our only thing that gives us power. You know what I mean? Our manhood. It’s tough for young men, so being inspiring and being that they call me the legend in that in that space because in the cancer community, because I was one of the first men’s health advocates in that. So.

Jim Bulger: [00:34:02] Well, in the campaign that you had the Cross Country campaign to build awareness, and I mean, I know you were getting national TV exposure and a lot of press about the campaign because you did what?

Thomas Cantley: [00:34:18] How many miles pushed the giant testicle across two countries, Canada and U.S. Canada? I mean, now they’re both around. What is it? More than 3000

Jim Bulger: [00:34:28] Miles, it was actually around 8000.

Thomas Cantley: [00:34:30] Yeah. Yeah, yes. How long? Along a long way?

Jim Bulger: [00:34:34] Well, and. Thank you. I mean, thank you for sharing your story and. You know, the fact that you’re now doing stream Moko, I mean, some people might say, Oh, well, yeah, Thomas was always this positive guy and that was always a part of who he was. Not true, right?

Thomas Cantley: [00:34:53] Exactly. I was the opposite. You know, I was I was 100 percent not positive. I was, you know, I was just so down on myself, you know, having a rough past and an upbringing and stuff like that. I was someone who didn’t appreciate me or love myself as why I was going down this dark path. And I was everything was superficial. So everything that I was doing, I wasn’t doing it for me. I was doing it for other people to impress other people. So it wasn’t coming from a positive place, you know? And then I was hard on myself. I was beating myself up over it. So the person I am today, like we mentioned Wayne Dyer fact, you know, I’m completely different because now I’m going, I realize I’m like, Whoa, all this testicular cancer stuff, all this ballsy stuff has given me now the power to create this platform. Of the two things that I love storytelling in people and philanthropy and marrying them together is, is his moko.

Jim Bulger: [00:35:44] So let’s imagine that person that’s, you know, having a bad day. That person that’s having a bad stretch right now. And they go on stream Moko. I mean, you’ve had a huge turnaround. I’m sure you’re hoping that through the content on Stream Moko. It’s going to help other people have that same turnaround in their feelings and their emotions and their self-worth.

Thomas Cantley: [00:36:13] Yeah, I mean, it’s the content that we’re curating is, you know, it’s inspirational. We have Kyle, who’s a famous comedian, and he he’s got a book and his documentary is called The Illusion of Money, and he’s got an incredible doc series on our platform that can truly inspire you of just, you know, your self-worth. And we have other documentaries on that that like that we have meditations, we have yoga, we have a little bit of everything, just things that you just want to even have mindless things that make you, you know, like Steven Shell. You know what I mean? Love Steve and show, you know, it’s just and that’s coming soon in January because we just finished editing it. But it’s all about people and their passion and love for dogs. You know, Beverley’s is just being a real mom. You know, outside the celebrity aspect of the regular struggles and it’s comedic, it’s fun. So we have things that are really lighthearted and watching that aspects. But then there’s a lot of takeaways. There’s things where we have we have a reality. We have like a a ex military EMC cop that helps people learn how to invest in real estate, you know, other metrics and certain people in those spaces. So there’s a lot of takeaways, like I said. So these things where anything that you’re coming to our platform, you’re either going to, you know, you’re not going to cry in a bad way, you’re going to cry in a good way because it’s either going to transform your life or help you or make you laugh or make you feel good.

Jim Bulger: [00:37:36] So how often are you posting new content?

Thomas Cantley: [00:37:41] Yeah, that’s that’s that’s the thing that’s just happening on a daily. So the cool thing is is we have episodes uploading new episodes from these series every day and we have new shows acquiring every week. So we’ve only been up. So here’s the thing we’ve just been up a month now. And like I said, we launched a 26 shows. Now we have 60 and we have between eight and 10 episodes per those 60. That’s a lot of content and it’s just growing every every day. We have sustainable farmers and how to how to garden and how to do bouquets. You know, there’s but it’s done in a not a you. Like I said, like an influencer way right in front of a camera. It’s like really stylistically well shot. Great stuff.

Jim Bulger: [00:38:27] Now, we talked about your team before, and obviously having the right people in place is important, but it’s also vital that you instill the right internal culture in a company now you just started a company. And the easiest time to do that is usually when the company is first starting, you can really kind of decide what that internal culture is going to be. Describe the workplace culture for Stream Moko.

Thomas Cantley: [00:38:57] Yes. Yes. Yeah. I know you’re going to love this part because I know you are all about culture. So that was the biggest thing that I found. What I wanted to create it within my ecosystem is that people love to work for Moko. So I said in every single role I wanted, I’ve talked to every single person. I said, Well, what do you want to do? What do you actually want to do? And how do you want to grow and where do you see yourself? And I sit down with them and I go, This is what are your objectives? What are your goals? And I go, Let’s get there. And then I say within the culture, so so I know that first and I go, What do you want to do? And they’re like, Oh, I want to be in the C-suite or I want to be a VP of this and I’m going great. Love it. Let’s work towards that. And then the culture I’ve just created is like, if you know, Google had a baby with Patagonia, you know, so just just making it a loving environment where, you know, like if you have family issues and these things go to families first, go take care of that, go do that, you know what I mean? And then because I have someone right now who’s going through some issues right now with with their mother and just really going to it, that’s first.

Thomas Cantley: [00:40:11] There’s no ours. We don’t have ours and we’re going, it’s just project based. As long as you’re keeping your flow, we have our weekly meetings, accountability meetings like Elon Musk does just drills like, Here’s my five minutes. What do you got from marketing? What do you got this? This this? And then just staying on top of your game and being able to communicate, but going like saying you need to be hiking, you need to be outside. What do you love? Like figuring out, like what they’re passionate about and making sure that they’re doing that. Giving back philanthropy going lets community service like, What are you doing there? Like everyone that we’re bringing in to, we’re making sure that they’re culturally fit for MOCA. We’ve had to get rid of people that culturally haven’t fit well.

Jim Bulger: [00:40:50] And that and that’s as important because that can also be contagious in eroding the culture if you have the wrong people in place that don’t really fit. And you know, you talk about aligning with people’s goals and their ambitions and. I had somebody share their culture goals with me not long ago, and I thought it was great and what they said is. When these people retire and somebody were to ask them, at what point in time were you at your best? I want them to be to be able to say that it was when they were here.

Thomas Cantley: [00:41:27] Mm hmm. Yeah. You know, that’s my goal. I love that. Yeah.

Jim Bulger: [00:41:31] So we talked about Moko being a subscription service. Talk a little bit about the rate structure and how that works.

Thomas Cantley: [00:41:39] Yes, it’s funny. I was actually looking at an article this morning. It was sent to me from Tom and it was just about how subscription basis subscriptions are really falling off. So and we designed our subscription status because the Netflix and the Hulu’s and all these other ones, you know, the crazy thing is is like my wife and I were talking this morning, we’re going, OK, we’re watching Yellowstone on Peacock. We’re watching, you know, who are we mentioning earlier with Ted Lasso on Apple? You know what I mean? Then we have Netflix, Hulu. I mean, it’s everything’s a write off for us because it’s our industry, so all the streaming things are right up by the end of the day. Like these streaming costs go up and up and up and up, and we’re looking at our bills and we’re like, spend two hundred fifty bucks a month on all of our stuff and we’re like, Holy smokes, you know what I mean? It’s like, Let’s go back to basic cable. You know, I think our satellite TV, right? You know what you mean to get all these shows, but it’s like we’re in the streaming world. But there’s this interesting article that’s saying that people are dropping off all the big ones, but they’re looking for new ones. You know what I mean? So we’re in this really cool, sweet spot. You know where we’re not going to fluctuate our prices to the to the height of, you know, in affordability, you know, so we’re only three point ninety nine and then a dollar of that goes to the influencers or sorry, the influencers, a percentage that does go to the influencers, which we’ve allocated to. That’s why we’re getting our free content. But then twenty five percent, which might some of my investors think I’m crazy. Twenty five percent of my revenue is going towards these charities.

Jim Bulger: [00:43:12] So a dollar from every three point ninety nine monthly subscription charge, a full dollar of that is going to charitable causes

Thomas Cantley: [00:43:20] Some right away. Yeah, circulating charities. So we right now we have four charities. We have Lonely Whale, which is founded by Adrian Grenier. So we mentioned some big names, stuff like that. Adrian Grenier from Entourage. She’s a huge actor and stuff like that. He’s a major. He’s a philanthropist. He’s like one of my dream men, just what he does for the planet and everything. So his organization is lonely whale. We’re so fortunate to have him on board and then we have kissed the ground, which is all about sustainability and and and soil. So it’s an amazing organization. There’s actually a documentary on Netflix about it with Woody Harrelson and all that. It’s just it’s this incredible documentary, so here I am promoting another platform, but it’s like it’s all about the environment and it’s like, I’m fine with it, you know what I mean? Like, check it out. Like and and we have Rachel’s Gift Group, which is about Chilton’s loss. My wife and I, we actually lost our child, one of our daughter. And so we support them. That’s a personal organization that we support. And then we have the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Foundation, which is in Africa, and it’s about supporting and protecting the elephants and the animals over there. So we’re always we’re always bringing in new charities and stuff like that. But we’re we’re leaving the opportunity for the consumer to pick the charity that they want to donate that dollar to.

Jim Bulger: [00:44:38] That’s great. And I mean, was that part of the initial model?

Thomas Cantley: [00:44:44] So it’s funny. In the beginning, it wasn’t because we started off as a free. We were starting off a free and then we were going to be doing ads. But then I was like, Everyone hates ads because when we started hitting the marketing team and they’re like, No, don’t do ads, don’t do ads. So we’ll be down the road. We’re going to get into like four revenue stream. You know, it’s going to be subscription, but we will be doing ad integration, so you won’t be seeing it’s essentially a fancy word for product placement, you know, so we’ll be doing it that way. We’ll never have ads, but there will be brand integration and also social media partnership relations, which we can, which is, you know, we’re bundling that up. What was the question? Did I answer it?

Jim Bulger: [00:45:20] He did just if the if the if the charitable giving was part of the original model,

Thomas Cantley: [00:45:24] Oh yes, oh yes, yes. So it wasn’t in the original model. But then I said circling back with Ball Z and everything like that, my testicular cancer stuff, I’m like, Gosh, like these amazing organizations we’re working with, we have to create this mandate. I have to because everything that I do, I always ask myself, Is it ballsy? Like when I when I did that first campaign of pushing those giant testicles across those countries, I got so much media. I was in over 260 major media outlets from Cosmopolitan Magazine Everywhere, Men’s Health everywhere. They said if they put a logo on me, I would have been a whole school, did a case study on me and they said, for marketing wise, they said I was a social media genius because if I put a Nike logo on my ball. But they said I was a genius, but also a dummy, because if I if I had a Nike logo on my ball, I would have been able to get a two million evaluation based off that. So just a brand deal. So, yeah, so, so, so circling back from there, I just definitely said that I wanted to make a difference and this was my ballsy effort going, Hey, I’m going to create a paywall 100 percent, but it’s going to mandate that people donate. So my goal is in two to three years that I’m going to be donating. You know, if we really drive our subscribers at the at the value that I’m looking at, my goal is between two to three years. I’ll be giving away 100 million.

Jim Bulger: [00:46:44] Good for you. That’s great. So again, launch the end of October, a month or so ago. Biggest challenges right now.

Thomas Cantley: [00:46:58] Oh boy. Biggest challenges right now. Like you said, the ecosystem, you know, we dropped a key role. We lost one of our CEOs due to culture, you know, and that was a big thing and an extreme vulnerability to we. We raised we did our first seed at two hundred fifty thousand and then we did a full deal at three point five million, which was our next. And then due to cultural choices and stuff like that, we had to turn down the three point five million because it was not aligned and didn’t work out. So our biggest challenge now is we have payroll. And Kelly was telling me last night for marketing, she’s like, You’re a true CEO CEO right now, like you have now your CEO and CFO. So our biggest challenge right now is just the cool thing is, is that we we officially raised three point five. So our valuations are in a good space, you know, and we can we can still sell that because we did a true a true deal on it and we just had to make that choice that it just wasn’t the right fit for us. And so our valuations are really attractive. So we’re just going after that next rays right now. That’s my biggest challenge.

Jim Bulger: [00:48:06] So actively looking for investors right now who want to get in on the ground floor of this?

Thomas Cantley: [00:48:10] Yeah, it’s like saying, here’s Mark Zuckerberg in his living room in Woodstock with all these powerhouses out there who if you had the chance to invest in Netflix at the beginning?

Jim Bulger: [00:48:23] Call me so those are the challenges. Let’s let’s look to the future, yeah. Talk about some of the goals and the future vision you have for Stream Marco.

Thomas Cantley: [00:48:35] Yeah. So the goals don’t get too emotional here is just like just that philanthropy aspect, like just being able to donate so much money and helping all these amazing charities out there will be just invaluable. You know what I mean? That’s that’s the goal. Like, if I’m hitting that, if I’m getting close to, they’re like even, you know, in the hundreds, thousands of dollars that we’d be donating these charities like, that’s a dream, you know, and being able to create this culture and this community. And like right now, it’s so amazing that we’re in this momentum of gaining content and it’s coming to us and being able to just create this amazing culture grow. And the thing is, too is with the money growing to an app, you know, I mean, that’s our next phase of like with that with that million dollar, you know, in the million dollar raise. We need two hundred fifty k for just our app built because that’s where we think to is one of our biggest challenges right now. We’re only Web-Based, you know, because we’re beta, but we really with that with that drive of getting more subscribers and that growth is truly being an app, you know what I mean. But yeah, I think like our foreseeable future is being an app, being everywhere on every single device possible and just being able to support all the communities, being able to fund projects to help nonprofits. Nonprofits don’t have the funds to be able to produce content. You know, that’s one way that what we’re doing right now with lonely whale and kiss the ground on all of them, we’re going to be getting their content so that you can see episodic series of what organizations are doing, what are their stories, even brands, brand stories. You know, the extension of how did a brand company start like you, even your story? You know what I mean, like giving an opportunity for a placement of like, everyone has amazing stories and we’re able to help support those and be a place for those.

Jim Bulger: [00:50:19] Well, and along the way, it seems like you’re also giving a real. Visibility and platform to some of these creative artists out there that are building some of this content for you. And I mean, we had a conversation a few months ago with Mike Levy, the co-owner of MetLife.

Thomas Cantley: [00:50:39] Oh yes.

Jim Bulger: [00:50:39] And about how Mike has such a real passion for developing artists and helping to give them a show place where they can really show what they can do. And it seems like you’re doing that, too, with your documentarians and your videographers that are providing content.

Thomas Cantley: [00:50:56] Yeah, and that’s a story right there. You know, I mean, that’s a show right there. And you know, and like with with Spencer from Reformation Brewery, like his growth there, that’s a short miniseries that you can do. And the thing is, too is like with all this content and stuff like that, it’s really exciting to be in this place because as a documentarian, I’ve been trying to make my documentary for seven years and now it has a home and all these amazing people who put all this time and money into these documentaries. And just because they don’t fit the model of Netflix or Hulu, it’ll never see the light of day other than YouTube. So for us to be able to support that community where that home for them.

Jim Bulger: [00:51:29] So before we finish up here, I want to ask you one question. I mean, obviously putting this all together, getting it launched took a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of commitment on your part based on your experiences. What advice do you have for someone out there who’s looking to transform their idea into a business for those new entrepreneurs out there? What advice would you share with them?

Thomas Cantley: [00:51:53] I love this thing. I love giving back truthful honesty and just and direction and just hopefully insight. I had this one guy at the circuit that I ran into all the time and he came up to me. He’s like, Thomas, how did you come up with your idea and you do this and you raised money and you just did this? And I said, I sold me. It’s all about you. I didn’t do a business plan. I didn’t do to the traditional roots. I just did it. I started making movements. I sold my passion, my vision. And that’s the thing that people invest in, you know, and that’s the biggest advice I can do is just make movement and this young guy at the circuit. He wanted to develop this app and it was like this. I don’t want to disclose what it is, but every time I saw him, I said, every time I see you, I need a new update. So it gave him a challenge, and every time I met him, he started making movements. I haven’t seen him in a bit, but hopefully I run into him soon around Woodstock, the Woodstock native. But just the biggest advice I could do is don’t sit on something. You know, I originally started this idea and I put it down because I didn’t think I could do it because I had someone who was running my sales and selling the selling moko, which was positive TV at the time. And because he dropped off, I hung up the coat and I let it sit for about almost a year. And then I didn’t have value in myself and thinking that I could sell it. But every single deal I’m making right now and every single person and all these all the money that we’ve gotten in. I’ve done it on my own, but not on my own with the support of the people around me. So that’s my advice. Don’t give up because you’ll live in regret.

Jim Bulger: [00:53:30] And don’t believe those messages you tell yourself because you were wrong.

Thomas Cantley: [00:53:34] Exactly. It’s a different part of your brain. It’s the reptilian brain telling you on a subconscious level like this is scary. This is danger. And they even say to when you get to this point of success, all this negativity will start hitting you. All these challenges and a lot of people, as soon as they get over that peak of that mountain, they give up. You know, and then that’s the true aspect of once you get over that hump, there’s always challenges in everything. So just as long as you keep driving. And don’t look back. Don’t listen to any of that negativity.

Jim Bulger: [00:54:06] So let’s give people a chance to get involved if they want to. Contact you about subscribing about submitting content, about investing financially, what’s the best way to reach you, investing anything?

Thomas Cantley: [00:54:21] I’ll give you my phone number. You can check me out on LinkedIn. Everything. Stream Okoh and all our streaming platforms when you go. We just designed it. We just revamped our new landing page, which gives more information. It’s at W-w-what Stream Moko Double M and that has everything there. Whether it’s like submitting to content, we have a help email. There’s also help or talent at StreamCam. You can email me at Cantley at Okoko. Personally, I answer every email. I’m open to jumping on zooms or anything, you know. I mean, only person that can’t stand it as my wife because I’m on the phone all day

Jim Bulger: [00:55:01] And you can register to be a subscriber. Write on the website.

Thomas Cantley: [00:55:04] Yeah, yeah. So you can go on there right now. 399, you can pick your charity. I mentioned a bunch of the charities right now. You can start going, you can and even you can drop off at any time. You can do one month. And here’s the thing one month, you know, hey, you’re at least contributing so

Jim Bulger: [00:55:18] Well, Thomas, thank you so much for your time. I know how busy you are and for what I think is an inspirational story both personally and professionally. You know, as we said earlier, it seems certain that we all could use more positivity right now and stream Moko is the place to get it. We wish you and your entire team continued success. This next chapter is going to be a great one for you and obviously best wishes for the holiday season. So thank you very much for being here.

Thomas Cantley: [00:55:51] Pleasure being here,

Jim Bulger: [00:55:53] And we thank you for listening to Woodstock. Proud. We hope you enjoyed getting to know our guests. Thomas Cantley a little bit better. Until next time, this is Jim Bulger saying Take good care of yourself. Please stay safe and we will talk with you again. Real soon.