INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Actor and Hollywood media mogul Will Smith surprised the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2019 audience this afternoon by announcing he would invest
$10K in a startup that pitched to him onstage as part of an &elevator pitch& contest, where the winner would get to take a selfie with the
The company, Socionado.com, helps companies with their social media presence
However, what got Smith attention was their well-delivered pitch, he said.
The startups didn''t get much time to prepare, having been
plucked from the Startup Alley earlier in the day.
In addition to responding well to the pitch itself, Smith also liked the concept and the
business model.
As I built out my social media team, that was the idea — I wanted to take back my storytelling,& said Smith
&I think that hugely important.
That was really the best pitch so we&re gonna rock a selfie,& Smith said, jumping up to snap a photo with
the founder.
That moment when you pitch your startup to Will Smith, get a selfie and an investment of $10K
#TCDisrupt pic.twitter.com/NtDIeYrT9b
mdash; Queenie Wong (@QWongSJ) October 2, 2019
Will smith investing https://t.co/Mwa0pnHkC9
mdash;
Talks_With_TJ (@TJ_Overall) October 2, 2019
Smith investment strategy isn''t usually this off-the-cuff, however.
Speaking onstage at the
Disrupt conference, he also offered more details on his plans for Dreamers VC, the investment firm founded with Japanese soccer star Keisuke
Honda, which was announced last year by Honda management firm KSK Group.
Smith noted the firm has an interest in &doing good& with its funds
— pointing, in particular, to an investment in &Boring tech.& (He actually means The Boring Company, per the Dreamers VC website, where it
listed alongside a host of others.)
He also offered a little background on how Dreamers VC came to be in the first place.
Well, you know, I
met with [Keisuke Honda] and we just hit it off immediately
And, you know, we felt like there was a beautiful intersection between being able to create businesses, but also to stay focused on solving
problems of the world,& Smith explained
Honda already had banking relationships in Japan that were looking to make their way into the United States
So the relationship worked out
well,& he said.
Plus, Smith adds, &I had already been investing and he had already been investing and our values were in alignment
We want to solve some of the world problems
We want to do well by doing good.
