Let's go back to 2013. The internet is drowning in a sea of cat videos and memes. But something's missing. Something... animated. Enter Alex Chung, a dude with a vision bigger than Kanye's ego. 💡 The Lightbulb Moment Alex is chilling with his buddy Jace Cooke, probably arguing about whether a hot dog is a sandwich (it's not, fight me), when BAM! They realize finding the perfect GIF is harder than finding a needle in a haystack made of more needles. Alex turns to Jace and says, "Dude, finding GIFs is harder than finding a needle in a haystack made of more needles. What if we made a search engine just for GIFs?" Jace, being the supportive friend he is, probably said something like, "Dude, that's genius! Pass the Cheetos." And just like that, Giphy was born and our dynamic duo stepped into the wild world of IP licensing. But creating a GIF search engine is the easy part. Getting the rights to use and distribute all those GIFs? That's where things get stickier than a Post-it note convention. 🎭 Putting on the Licensing Hats Alex wasn't just wearing the Talent and Connector Hat, he was bedazzling them. This guy had to create the platform AND figure out how to connect GIF creators with GIF users. He was reaching out to content creators, TV networks, movie studios - basically anyone who'd ever made something move on a screen - to get rights to license their vids and stuff. I imagine it was like trying to herd cats... animated cats. Jace started coding faster than a caffeinated cheetah, making sure those GIFs were loading as fast as Alex could bring them in. Then they brought a third on board, Julie Logan. She was the one translating "legalese" into "GIF-ese", making sure Giphy wasn't just popular, but legal too. At first, Giphy was handing out GIFs like Oprah hands out cars. Free for all! But soon they figured out real quick the value of IP. And started cooking up licensing deals tastier than your grandma's secret recipe: 1. Monetary Royalties: Giphy struck gold with API partnerships. Every time a big platform like Facebook or Twitter used their GIF library, cha-ching! 💰 We're talking millions in licensing fees faster than you can hit the "like" button.

A licensing story that packs a punch Iron Mike would be proud of! In 1986, Nintendo was about to launch a new boxing game for the NES. But Nintendo of America's president had a crazy idea after watching a 20-year-old Mike Tyson demolish his opponents... "What if we put the scariest man on the planet in our game?" Nintendo offered young Mike a licensing deal that would make most licensing agents cry: Just $50,000 for a 3-year license to use his name and likeness. (I hear he wasn’t mad though. Just happy to be part of gaming history for his first deal) But here's the licensing magic: • Perfect timing - Nintendo saw Tyson's star rising BEFORE he hit peak value • Fixed term - They built in a 3-year limit (smart!) • Clear exit strategy - When the term ended, Nintendo chose not to renew the deal - (due to Mike’s increased controversial image from personal and legal troubles. They simply replaced him with "Mr. Dream" and re-released the game as “Punch-Out!!”) • Win-win structure - Tyson got cash + exposure, Nintendo got star power The result? Over 2 MILLION copies sold! But here's where the story gets even better... That first Nintendo deal? It was just the beginning. Since then, Tyson has: - Licensed his name to bestselling books - Created a hit animated series ("Mike Tyson Mysteries") - Launched successful cannabis products ("Tyson 2.0") - Even licensed his personal brand for the hit Hulu series "Mike" Today, Mike's licensing deals bring in an estimated $30+ MILLION a year! Daaaa-yuumn. From a $50k video game deal to a multi-million dollar licensing empire... That first "small" Nintendo deal helped build the foundation for everything that came after. I don't know about you? But this fires me up to go stack dem royalties, knowing what we Rockstars know in here. To rockin’ (and stackin') those royalties, Adam PS: Fun fact - Tyson's cannabis company did $150 million in sales in 2022 alone! Now THAT'S what I call a high-value licensing deal! 😉🌿

I remember my first LEGO set as a kid. It was a full medieval castle complete with dungeon, little knights, and working drawbridge. It was so cool. I had a blast putting it together and played with that thing for hours and hours. So I’m excited to share this little licensing history tidbit with y’all about one of my most favorite toys as a kid. In 1932 there’s a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen. Times were tough, and nobody was buying furniture. So Ole started making wooden toys instead. He named his company "LEGO," which means "play well" in Danish. In 1949, LEGO started making plastic bricks. They could snap together to build almost anything. Kids loved them, and LEGO grew and grew. But then, in the 1990s and early 2000s, something not-so-awesome happened. Kids were getting bored with just bricks. They wanted video games and cool tech toys. LEGO tried making all sorts of new stuff - clothes, theme parks, and even weird bricks that didn't fit with the old ones. By 2004, LEGO was in big trouble. They were losing a TON of money - like, hundreds of millions of dollars. Enter our hero: Jørgen Vig Knudstorp. At 35 years young and the first non-family member to lead LEGO, Jørgen had a big job ahead of him - save LEGO! One day, while walking around the office, Jørgen had an epiphany (I like to imagine it was triggered by him stepping on a LEGO piece). “Wait a minute," he thought, "LEGO isn't just a toy. It's a way to tell stories!" Jørgen called a big meeting. "Listen up, team," holding a little LEGO minifigure. "This little guy could be in movies, video games, and theme parks. We just need to team up with the right people!" Some of the more unsure types were all like, “But we make toys!” Jørgen smiled and said, "We won't make movies or games. We'll let other companies use our brand to make cool stuff. It's called licensing!" So, LEGO started making deals. Their first big win? LEGO Star Wars! Kids could now build the Millennium Falcon brick by brick.

“I own Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania, Hulkster. I’m one of the few guys who own the name, rights, trademarks, and licenses. Vince (McMahon Sr) goes, ‘I want you to be Hulk Hogan.’ ‘What does Hulk Hogan mean?’ ‘Ivan Putski for the Polish Americans, Bruno Sammartino for the Italian Americans, Chief Jay Strongbow for the Native Americans, and Hulk Hogan for the Irish Americans.’ Vince (Sr) gave me the name. Vince Sr dies, Vince Jr takes over. Right when Hulk Hogan takes off, we get a call Marvel comics. ‘You’re infringing on our mark. Reasonably similar. We’re going to sue you, put you in litigation.’ We let them have the name, didn’t license the name. I only had to pay them one-tenth of 1%. That went from 1985 to 2005. In 2005, it’s over. Now, I can’t use Hulk Hogan anymore, and I’m red hot in 2005. I went to my attorney, ‘I don’t give a damn what deal you make, you’re going to make a deal because I need the name.’ What happened was, I got a one-year extension and I had to pay them 30% of everything I made. Movies, TV wrestling, they got 30% of everything, but if they decided to sell the name, they had to give me first shot at it. They couldn’t sell the name or do anything. Fair market value. All of a sudden, Marvel Comics gets in a bitchfest with WWE about intellectual properties, that they can’t re-air old Hulk Hogan matches. Marvel Comics lost. They owe Vince $35 million. They made a huge mistake. They said, ‘Instead of paying $35 million, how about we give you the Hulk Hogan name.’ I heard about it and went, ‘You screwed up now.’ Now, I don’t have to pay $35 million for the name, you have to sell it for me for fair money value,’ which is only $750 grand. I bought the name back. Vince wanted to buy the name from me. ‘Nah, I got this one.’ I bought the name back and I own everything.“ - Hulk Hogan

Hi Rockstars, One of my partners owns a list of almost 100k latin American college students that are interested in writing their college dissertation. We are about to launch a PSM campaign to test the list (these are mails of users that downloaded our app). But the startup needs cahsflow. So we are considering to sell the list. Not sure yet Do you know any brokers or interested people? What would you recommend? Is it legal to sell it? Thanks in advance.