**The Worldstar Story: A Journey from Humble Beginnings**

As I sit here reflecting on my journey, I am reminded of the early days when I had to do things my way. I was just myself and one other guy, doing business without any sales team or fancy infrastructure. We were a small operation, but we got the job done. And that's exactly how I wanted it - simple, straightforward, no frills.

**The Early Days of Worldstar**

I remember when I first started out, people thought I was crazy. They'd say things like "You can't do business like that" or "You're not going to make it." But I didn't listen. I knew what worked for me and my team, and I stuck to it. We did business on our own terms, without any external help or advice. And you know what? It worked.

**Spreading the Word**

Now, when it comes to spreading the word about Worldstar, I'm a big believer in using Watermark. I was one of the first to push this out there, and it's been instrumental in getting our content seen by people all over the world. When we're releasing exclusive videos, I want them to be watermarked so that people know they're coming from us. It's not just about the content itself, but about the brand behind it. And with Watermark, we can control who sees what and when.

**The Importance of Watermark**

Watermark has been a game-changer for Worldstar. When you see our logo at the bottom of every video or image, you know exactly where it's coming from. It's not just about branding; it's about authenticity. We want people to know that this is genuine content, created by us, and not some copycat trying to ride our coattails. Watermark has helped us maintain a level of exclusivity that keeps our audience engaged.

**A Remote Team with a Big Impact**

Now, I know what you're thinking - how does it feel to be running a successful business from San Diego? The truth is, it's been amazing. As a remote team, we've been able to tap into talent from all over the world, without being limited by geographical constraints. And let me tell you, it's not just about the work; it's about the lifestyle too. Being in San Diego has given us access to better schooling for our children, which is a win-win for everyone.

**The Power of Technology**

When it comes to social media, I think technology has had a profound impact on marginalized communities. We can document and hold people accountable like never before. With camera phones everywhere, we're being watched all the time. And that's a powerful thing. It's forced us to be more mindful of our actions, to think twice before doing something that might have consequences.

**A Message of Caution**

As I look around today, I'm reminded that technology has given us a level of power and responsibility that we didn't have before. We can use this to empower each other, but also to oppress each other. So, let's be careful. Let's think twice before doing something that might hurt someone else or our community as a whole.

**My Story: A Lesson in Humility**

Growing up in Queens, I was born into poverty and had no support system. I'm proud to say that I built Worldstar from scratch, with no external help or guidance. And that's what I want people to know - it's not about having connections or resources; it's about hard work and determination. So, if you're thinking of starting your own business, don't be afraid to take the leap. You never know where it might lead you.

**A Brighter Future**

As I look out at the world today, I'm hopeful for a brighter future. Technology has given us so many tools and resources that we can use to make a difference. We just need to be mindful of our actions and their consequences. Let's use this power to uplift each other, not tear each other down.

**Ferguson: A Cautionary Tale**

When it comes to social media, I think about Ferguson. What happened there was a wake-up call for all of us. We need to be more thoughtful in how we use these tools. Let's make sure that our actions have consequences, and not just fleeting online drama.

**A New Chapter**

As Worldstar continues to grow and evolve, I'm excited to explore new opportunities in La. It's a different pace of life here, but one that I'm starting to appreciate. And let me tell you, it's been worth it. My children are thriving, and I get to work from anywhere, which is a dream come true.

**A Message of Appreciation**

As I look back on my journey, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. It's not just about what you've done for me; it's about the fact that you're here, and that makes all the difference. So, let's keep moving forward, together.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSan Diego which of course in Spanish means St Diego is home to things like Navy Tech biotech fish tacos and Q the founder of world star hipop not a lot of people in Tech talk about this startup and yet it affects millions of people every day even the the phrase World Star is itself a meme this is the front page of all the stuff on the internet you won't find anywhere else and now that Q has developed this huge following I'm here to find out what is he going to do next I'm Alexis ohanyan startup founder and Y combinator partner over the last year I went on a 200 event book tour and met people building small Empires all across North America now I'm back with a new season revisiting some of my favorite stops from the tour entrepreneurship is not typically a solo Endeavor many startups are founded by Duos and even trios and even solo Founders usually have experienced advisers and investors to ask for advice and give them direction as the company grows however some Founders like Q the creator of World Star Hip Hop choose to go it alone and brave the challenges of starting a business by themselves and that can really pay off namely when you don't have anyone's opinion to sway you in one way or another you can take big risks and create exactly the type of company you want on your terms if I got this right you started the website for like mixtapes it was a spin-off from my original website NYC fat mixtapes which I created in 2001 originally there was it was a mixtape download website how did that turn into like world star what was it that really kicked it off and made you realize forget mix Apes this is the future we got hacked I was down literally for like 8 n months know instead of packing up and then saying forget it I was fig I'm going to come back and be 100% videos when you were coming up in Queens did you expect to be doing this N I thought I was going to be a a standup or definitely do acting and that was my first Passion so I never thought I'd be doing internet stuff instead of being in front of the camera you're the guy who's built the network that everyone wants to be on what what has inspired world star I think Worldstar established itself as a you know internet phenomenal with its content you know no one was giving that in yourf face news um but I felt like it was my my duty to to give awareness to everyone you know like the Ferguson situation and I feel like you know camera is great there a positive and a negative with it but you know you have to look at The Good the Bad and the Ugly in one page and I noticed that you know this is this is our community this is this is what's this is what's going on what are the things you think people don't understand the people who don't get it what are the things that they don't understand that they should understand about what Worldstar does so we like to get what's happening on a daily basis of what's going on and uh Music Entertainment Sports funnies we we we show it all you know we're not just going to show 100% fights or 100% music videos or you know we felt like entertainment just like cable TV you got all types of entertainment it's what suits you I've told the people that you have the control of the remote you can either watch someone fighting or you can watch someone uh you know picking flowers you know it's it's your choice to point me out just because I'm I'm I'm hip-hop I'm black I think it's biased you know what I'm saying because I create fights I didn't create porn I didn't create none of this stuff which everyone seemed to blame me and point fingers at me when when you look at how far world star is come it's a it's a phenomenon right you I mean like you just hear you hear people say World Star right it is a meme uh on camera now it's a Battle Cry yeah World Star World Star World Star yeah yeah World Star damn JJ World Stop how does it make you feel like man really feel like I'm like you know it feels good it feels good that um you know that world star became like a battlecry you can say World knock knock knock world and also uh for something funny like if you sliping for like ah world star so it's not just a fight and about to go down you know I I feel like it's a compliment how's that for a badass wo World Star World Star it started out was initially you how many people are working on it now right now we have 10 staff workers still still pretty lean yeah and and where are they oh we have most spread out the country man I mean you've been able to manage and grow this uh entirely remotely yeah remotely no office how do you build how do you build a culture in a company how do you build accountability yeah is mentally mentally stressed you know because I can't monitor them I I I don't have a supervisor I try to find self- motivators those are are driven to to want to work and very passionate and I'm known for firing a lot of people you know what I'm saying so I don't have a non-nonsense policy man you know what I'm saying I'll treat you like family but as soon as you disrespect a company brand you're walking into a you know to Disneyland you know we're we're already established we' already been number one five years in a row in BET Hip Hop so you know I just tell people to come in with great passion and and really want to work hard you know whenever a video gets uploaded to world star is anyone reviewing or it just goes up yeah we we have uh we have a saf you know a few guys that just look at the videos and pick and choose which one which makes sense um you know we want to um constantly look at the videos because there a lot of sick stuff out there that we we don't want to put out you know I rather someone fight and grab a gun you know I to like this you know people want to complain about the fights uh fighting is not the answer but some people need to just squat out to to to you know get that aggression out I mean people love it I mean our country is built by violence we love watching violence I mean you know we love it so I just think that I'm pointing at a lot or blame because I'm black I'm hip-hop us as a culture always getting blam when they don't want to blame the community leaders or the parents you know what I'm saying it's like why you blaming me for I'm just the messenger you know recent American culture last 20th century now here in the 21st has largely been Black Culture which has been exported all over the world that's still one of America's biggest most influential exports but often times more often than not there was someone in the middle usually a rich white person who delivered that message and profited from it what does it mean now that the creators of the culture are empowered enough to sort of control its dissemination no it's it's it's great that we are now taking control of our you know our sound our culture you know many years you know um you know we we we couldn't take control seeing the past of how it was it made us smarter you know sometime it keeps you it just makes you more humble and appreciative now today of what you have with technology today you can all we can all make it you know what I'm saying it's it's an even playing field right now world star gets a lot of traffic and those servers cost money most sites with lots of traffic get advertisers to pay for those servers but advertisers tend to shy away from controversial content which is exactly what world star is full of they've embraced it in spite of that q and his team have somehow managed to court some really bigname advertisers you know you've managed to grow a really devoted following lots of viewers you you haven't shot away from you know sometimes controversial content and yet you've still been able to get Brands like Walmart Big Money Brands who advertise and want to partner H how do you do that with the advertisers I never wanted to uh reach out to to them I felt like if advertisers want to want to do advertising with our company they have to go by our rules you know saying I don't need your money you know this is who I am this is what this is what I like to be entertained by and those that like it you know come join and advertisers felt like you can't beat him join them he's not going to change and they can't deny the numbers so they just work around the some of the um you know controversy content who are your mentors growing this business business to be honest I Ain no one help me man you know what I'm saying no one you know I had to learn my own man it was tough you know and I have that mentality I don't like to owe anyone anything so I don't like to ask for favors or ask for ball my KNE if I'm poor I I work to get out of it I'm not the person that's going to put my hand out or blame the government or blame my parents blame blame blame blame and that's how I am I'm just driven you know there's this whole world of tech now that every everyone's talking about everyone's hyping up Tech startups but I feel like world star hasn't been a big part of that conversation what what do you think of peers like BuzzFeed and and what do you think of world star not really being a part of the mainstream Tech uh discussion you know we're like that black sheep you know we're we're you know we're we grew up fast we did it we did it differently than most we didn't go that that route that most do I like to have my action speak you know I don't really need support or others to um give me the thumbs up that we're doing okay okay I just look at the scoreboard you know I tell them look up you know but I I feel like yeah we should be in top of conversation with them because you know we grew organically we didn't have no Capital investors yeah no there were no VCS N A lot of these lot of these startup these big companies have investors and they put Millions into their into their uh projects and I I didn't have never I never took any I turned down a lot of money and the most was 15 million and a lot of them want to give me money but then they want to change world star and make it into a you know sugar coat sight and I didn't want to just sell out and we're that that's that's our attitude it's like you're not it's controversial it's it's fights it's sex this is who we are and we're real we like to we like to be reporters for the streets you know what I mean that's what Worldstar is we're reporting live from the streets you know the idea of building a brand first and a business second is not something you hear often in Tech pitch meetings but there is a precedent for this entrepreneurs like Jay-Z Russell Simmons and Diddy all buil brands for themselves first and then build businesses around them and so what is next well we have a movie with Paramount Russell Simmons Russ Simmons producing yeah how did thaten it's been over a year process they've been talking to us uh about finding a good script and get brought a bunch of writers in and and I wanted something to be more um That 80s style where you know it had a good story line what are the ones in particular you mentioned during those production meetings where like it's got to be like I mean I said I mean f went High you know FIS buer porkys zap and is this is this going to be the story of world star no it's just a it's just a one of those those movies I me just mentioned into a 2015 version where young kids today are on their phones and they recording and like thinking about oh I got put this on World Star World Star what do you think it means to that generation to get a video on World Star uh I mean it's like the biggest stage right now for them and they they they want to be on it cuz they know all their friends on it the audience is just is just so it's so big you know we have a big you stage it's like a amateur night the Apollo know if you can make it there you can make it anywhere and if you can survive world star comments which is brutal they're going to this hater is going to talk about you and put push your buttons and you can withstand that and if you really really shine on World Star you're a star we got the hardest critics so one of your users described World Star as like being back in the barber shop you know why is it important to have these online forums for people to just freely discuss like they would if they were back you know in the bar shop now you can talk about things what's happening in the in the hood without even being the hood so now it's like you know the hood uh is is still there you know you can get a picture you can get a glimpse and what's happening what's going on because you know a lot of people that leave the hood you know they they um you know their heart still it like my heart's still hood you know I'm from the hoods of queens and you know even though I live now in California I my heart still is still that you know what I mean like I I love where I came from I'm I'm so so thankful to to come from that from that environment so uh World start keeps me keeps me there keeps me in the loop what's happening so what was the moment you know you the site was growing but at some point it became a business what was that point I was getting calls from labels and they wanted to advertise more and more and um I'm getting calls from uh labels as well as artists to post their exclusive videos and I started noticing that you know we we we're growing we need to uh take advantage of this so I know it was a business then I was one of the first guys to tell advertisers that no net 30 no net 60 I want my money up front wow and they didn't and they and they said okay at first they were like we never do that we're crazy we're not not I'm like okay then I guess you don't want my business I hung up but then they'll call days later and say okay where do we send a check so um that's when I knew that you know I I knew it's a business but again you know this is my way you know if you want to come to me I don't I didn't come to you guys I didn't I didn't have a sales team it was just myself and one other guy and I was just doing business the way I wanted to I said you want to be on my website pay me you know simple as that you know that's just the way it is in the hood man man and I mean you know the the ad manager the ad rep for Walmart probably had never heard that before they don't they don't get that I have to ask you didn't spend money on Advertising but how did you start spreading the word early on cuz it was I mean just you right so did you were there any clever tricks that you used any any things you did to spread the word uh key thing you know we is Watermark I'm really big on that you know what I'm saying so you know I was one of the first to always push that Watermark you know it wasn't hashtag you know whatever it was more like the logo or your your website in the bottom and we were the first to really push that out there and when we get these exclusive videos you know yeah it's exclusive but someone can easily take the video and embed it and put it on their site so if we don't water market then how do how is that exclusive for us so that was very important to me is always water market and people see that logo they you know automatically knew okay where who is this guy who what's Worldstar and they start coming to our site organically cuz we Watermark our stuff you could be just about anywhere like you said it's a remote team yeah yet you're here in San Diego I love it is it what is it is it the fish tacos the weather why why San Diego it's a long way from Queens yeah it's peaceful you know the beach is right there you know it's clean fresh air I love the city you know city city of San Diego is just amazing to me you know so this is a lifestyle Choice yeah not too far from uh La mhm and I think I'll be doing a lot of stuff in La now but uh now I can live away from LA and raise my children and you know they have better schooling here in the in the area where we live in San Diego and it's a win-win you know because I can work anywhere I want yeah so why not work somewhere where have better schooling and for my children so that they have a bright future social media has clearly had an impact places like Ferguson what are your thoughts I mean how do you think technology will continue to hopefully Empower like marginalized communities now we can document and now we can hold people accounted for now everyone has the camera phones you're being watched and you know I'm trying to let people know with with my website is bring awareness to you to everyone that you know be careful because everyone is watching you know what I'm saying you got to be careful of can't go high was back in the days you know you can't you know kill somebody in the streets and and not think about someone filming you you know or you know just got to be very careful that with technology growing you can't get away with much these days and you know that's the way it should be you know we might have a better a better um better future if you all kind of like just think twice now before doing something that you can live a regret this makes you more humble and appreciative now today of what you have look at me you know what I'm saying I'm a a black man I did it you know I didn't have no help no banks no no family help no friends help I did it by myself you know what I'm saying so I did it I'm sure anyone else can do it too he was an entrepreneur unlike nearly any other I've met he was born poor in Queens was a high school dropout didn't have any kind of a network didn't have any investors or mentors maybe because of that he's been able to do business his way and as a result of the success that world star has had in advertising merchandise and now even a movie deal it's clear that world star hipop is here to stay I get nervous in front of the camera excuse me all right San Diego named after San Diego I'm sorry I won't do it I won't do it sorry let's do one what's the what how does how does w Farrell do itSan Diego which of course in Spanish means St Diego is home to things like Navy Tech biotech fish tacos and Q the founder of world star hipop not a lot of people in Tech talk about this startup and yet it affects millions of people every day even the the phrase World Star is itself a meme this is the front page of all the stuff on the internet you won't find anywhere else and now that Q has developed this huge following I'm here to find out what is he going to do next I'm Alexis ohanyan startup founder and Y combinator partner over the last year I went on a 200 event book tour and met people building small Empires all across North America now I'm back with a new season revisiting some of my favorite stops from the tour entrepreneurship is not typically a solo Endeavor many startups are founded by Duos and even trios and even solo Founders usually have experienced advisers and investors to ask for advice and give them direction as the company grows however some Founders like Q the creator of World Star Hip Hop choose to go it alone and brave the challenges of starting a business by themselves and that can really pay off namely when you don't have anyone's opinion to sway you in one way or another you can take big risks and create exactly the type of company you want on your terms if I got this right you started the website for like mixtapes it was a spin-off from my original website NYC fat mixtapes which I created in 2001 originally there was it was a mixtape download website how did that turn into like world star what was it that really kicked it off and made you realize forget mix Apes this is the future we got hacked I was down literally for like 8 n months know instead of packing up and then saying forget it I was fig I'm going to come back and be 100% videos when you were coming up in Queens did you expect to be doing this N I thought I was going to be a a standup or definitely do acting and that was my first Passion so I never thought I'd be doing internet stuff instead of being in front of the camera you're the guy who's built the network that everyone wants to be on what what has inspired world star I think Worldstar established itself as a you know internet phenomenal with its content you know no one was giving that in yourf face news um but I felt like it was my my duty to to give awareness to everyone you know like the Ferguson situation and I feel like you know camera is great there a positive and a negative with it but you know you have to look at The Good the Bad and the Ugly in one page and I noticed that you know this is this is our community this is this is what's this is what's going on what are the things you think people don't understand the people who don't get it what are the things that they don't understand that they should understand about what Worldstar does so we like to get what's happening on a daily basis of what's going on and uh Music Entertainment Sports funnies we we we show it all you know we're not just going to show 100% fights or 100% music videos or you know we felt like entertainment just like cable TV you got all types of entertainment it's what suits you I've told the people that you have the control of the remote you can either watch someone fighting or you can watch someone uh you know picking flowers you know it's it's your choice to point me out just because I'm I'm I'm hip-hop I'm black I think it's biased you know what I'm saying because I create fights I didn't create porn I didn't create none of this stuff which everyone seemed to blame me and point fingers at me when when you look at how far world star is come it's a it's a phenomenon right you I mean like you just hear you hear people say World Star right it is a meme uh on camera now it's a Battle Cry yeah World Star World Star World Star yeah yeah World Star damn JJ World Stop how does it make you feel like man really feel like I'm like you know it feels good it feels good that um you know that world star became like a battlecry you can say World knock knock knock world and also uh for something funny like if you sliping for like ah world star so it's not just a fight and about to go down you know I I feel like it's a compliment how's that for a badass wo World Star World Star it started out was initially you how many people are working on it now right now we have 10 staff workers still still pretty lean yeah and and where are they oh we have most spread out the country man I mean you've been able to manage and grow this uh entirely remotely yeah remotely no office how do you build how do you build a culture in a company how do you build accountability yeah is mentally mentally stressed you know because I can't monitor them I I I don't have a supervisor I try to find self- motivators those are are driven to to want to work and very passionate and I'm known for firing a lot of people you know what I'm saying so I don't have a non-nonsense policy man you know what I'm saying I'll treat you like family but as soon as you disrespect a company brand you're walking into a you know to Disneyland you know we're we're already established we' already been number one five years in a row in BET Hip Hop so you know I just tell people to come in with great passion and and really want to work hard you know whenever a video gets uploaded to world star is anyone reviewing or it just goes up yeah we we have uh we have a saf you know a few guys that just look at the videos and pick and choose which one which makes sense um you know we want to um constantly look at the videos because there a lot of sick stuff out there that we we don't want to put out you know I rather someone fight and grab a gun you know I to like this you know people want to complain about the fights uh fighting is not the answer but some people need to just squat out to to to you know get that aggression out I mean people love it I mean our country is built by violence we love watching violence I mean you know we love it so I just think that I'm pointing at a lot or blame because I'm black I'm hip-hop us as a culture always getting blam when they don't want to blame the community leaders or the parents you know what I'm saying it's like why you blaming me for I'm just the messenger you know recent American culture last 20th century now here in the 21st has largely been Black Culture which has been exported all over the world that's still one of America's biggest most influential exports but often times more often than not there was someone in the middle usually a rich white person who delivered that message and profited from it what does it mean now that the creators of the culture are empowered enough to sort of control its dissemination no it's it's it's great that we are now taking control of our you know our sound our culture you know many years you know um you know we we we couldn't take control seeing the past of how it was it made us smarter you know sometime it keeps you it just makes you more humble and appreciative now today of what you have with technology today you can all we can all make it you know what I'm saying it's it's an even playing field right now world star gets a lot of traffic and those servers cost money most sites with lots of traffic get advertisers to pay for those servers but advertisers tend to shy away from controversial content which is exactly what world star is full of they've embraced it in spite of that q and his team have somehow managed to court some really bigname advertisers you know you've managed to grow a really devoted following lots of viewers you you haven't shot away from you know sometimes controversial content and yet you've still been able to get Brands like Walmart Big Money Brands who advertise and want to partner H how do you do that with the advertisers I never wanted to uh reach out to to them I felt like if advertisers want to want to do advertising with our company they have to go by our rules you know saying I don't need your money you know this is who I am this is what this is what I like to be entertained by and those that like it you know come join and advertisers felt like you can't beat him join them he's not going to change and they can't deny the numbers so they just work around the some of the um you know controversy content who are your mentors growing this business business to be honest I Ain no one help me man you know what I'm saying no one you know I had to learn my own man it was tough you know and I have that mentality I don't like to owe anyone anything so I don't like to ask for favors or ask for ball my KNE if I'm poor I I work to get out of it I'm not the person that's going to put my hand out or blame the government or blame my parents blame blame blame blame and that's how I am I'm just driven you know there's this whole world of tech now that every everyone's talking about everyone's hyping up Tech startups but I feel like world star hasn't been a big part of that conversation what what do you think of peers like BuzzFeed and and what do you think of world star not really being a part of the mainstream Tech uh discussion you know we're like that black sheep you know we're we're you know we're we grew up fast we did it we did it differently than most we didn't go that that route that most do I like to have my action speak you know I don't really need support or others to um give me the thumbs up that we're doing okay okay I just look at the scoreboard you know I tell them look up you know but I I feel like yeah we should be in top of conversation with them because you know we grew organically we didn't have no Capital investors yeah no there were no VCS N A lot of these lot of these startup these big companies have investors and they put Millions into their into their uh projects and I I didn't have never I never took any I turned down a lot of money and the most was 15 million and a lot of them want to give me money but then they want to change world star and make it into a you know sugar coat sight and I didn't want to just sell out and we're that that's that's our attitude it's like you're not it's controversial it's it's fights it's sex this is who we are and we're real we like to we like to be reporters for the streets you know what I mean that's what Worldstar is we're reporting live from the streets you know the idea of building a brand first and a business second is not something you hear often in Tech pitch meetings but there is a precedent for this entrepreneurs like Jay-Z Russell Simmons and Diddy all buil brands for themselves first and then build businesses around them and so what is next well we have a movie with Paramount Russell Simmons Russ Simmons producing yeah how did thaten it's been over a year process they've been talking to us uh about finding a good script and get brought a bunch of writers in and and I wanted something to be more um That 80s style where you know it had a good story line what are the ones in particular you mentioned during those production meetings where like it's got to be like I mean I said I mean f went High you know FIS buer porkys zap and is this is this going to be the story of world star no it's just a it's just a one of those those movies I me just mentioned into a 2015 version where young kids today are on their phones and they recording and like thinking about oh I got put this on World Star World Star what do you think it means to that generation to get a video on World Star uh I mean it's like the biggest stage right now for them and they they they want to be on it cuz they know all their friends on it the audience is just is just so it's so big you know we have a big you stage it's like a amateur night the Apollo know if you can make it there you can make it anywhere and if you can survive world star comments which is brutal they're going to this hater is going to talk about you and put push your buttons and you can withstand that and if you really really shine on World Star you're a star we got the hardest critics so one of your users described World Star as like being back in the barber shop you know why is it important to have these online forums for people to just freely discuss like they would if they were back you know in the bar shop now you can talk about things what's happening in the in the hood without even being the hood so now it's like you know the hood uh is is still there you know you can get a picture you can get a glimpse and what's happening what's going on because you know a lot of people that leave the hood you know they they um you know their heart still it like my heart's still hood you know I'm from the hoods of queens and you know even though I live now in California I my heart still is still that you know what I mean like I I love where I came from I'm I'm so so thankful to to come from that from that environment so uh World start keeps me keeps me there keeps me in the loop what's happening so what was the moment you know you the site was growing but at some point it became a business what was that point I was getting calls from labels and they wanted to advertise more and more and um I'm getting calls from uh labels as well as artists to post their exclusive videos and I started noticing that you know we we we're growing we need to uh take advantage of this so I know it was a business then I was one of the first guys to tell advertisers that no net 30 no net 60 I want my money up front wow and they didn't and they and they said okay at first they were like we never do that we're crazy we're not not I'm like okay then I guess you don't want my business I hung up but then they'll call days later and say okay where do we send a check so um that's when I knew that you know I I knew it's a business but again you know this is my way you know if you want to come to me I don't I didn't come to you guys I didn't I didn't have a sales team it was just myself and one other guy and I was just doing business the way I wanted to I said you want to be on my website pay me you know simple as that you know that's just the way it is in the hood man man and I mean you know the the ad manager the ad rep for Walmart probably had never heard that before they don't they don't get that I have to ask you didn't spend money on Advertising but how did you start spreading the word early on cuz it was I mean just you right so did you were there any clever tricks that you used any any things you did to spread the word uh key thing you know we is Watermark I'm really big on that you know what I'm saying so you know I was one of the first to always push that Watermark you know it wasn't hashtag you know whatever it was more like the logo or your your website in the bottom and we were the first to really push that out there and when we get these exclusive videos you know yeah it's exclusive but someone can easily take the video and embed it and put it on their site so if we don't water market then how do how is that exclusive for us so that was very important to me is always water market and people see that logo they you know automatically knew okay where who is this guy who what's Worldstar and they start coming to our site organically cuz we Watermark our stuff you could be just about anywhere like you said it's a remote team yeah yet you're here in San Diego I love it is it what is it is it the fish tacos the weather why why San Diego it's a long way from Queens yeah it's peaceful you know the beach is right there you know it's clean fresh air I love the city you know city city of San Diego is just amazing to me you know so this is a lifestyle Choice yeah not too far from uh La mhm and I think I'll be doing a lot of stuff in La now but uh now I can live away from LA and raise my children and you know they have better schooling here in the in the area where we live in San Diego and it's a win-win you know because I can work anywhere I want yeah so why not work somewhere where have better schooling and for my children so that they have a bright future social media has clearly had an impact places like Ferguson what are your thoughts I mean how do you think technology will continue to hopefully Empower like marginalized communities now we can document and now we can hold people accounted for now everyone has the camera phones you're being watched and you know I'm trying to let people know with with my website is bring awareness to you to everyone that you know be careful because everyone is watching you know what I'm saying you got to be careful of can't go high was back in the days you know you can't you know kill somebody in the streets and and not think about someone filming you you know or you know just got to be very careful that with technology growing you can't get away with much these days and you know that's the way it should be you know we might have a better a better um better future if you all kind of like just think twice now before doing something that you can live a regret this makes you more humble and appreciative now today of what you have look at me you know what I'm saying I'm a a black man I did it you know I didn't have no help no banks no no family help no friends help I did it by myself you know what I'm saying so I did it I'm sure anyone else can do it too he was an entrepreneur unlike nearly any other I've met he was born poor in Queens was a high school dropout didn't have any kind of a network didn't have any investors or mentors maybe because of that he's been able to do business his way and as a result of the success that world star has had in advertising merchandise and now even a movie deal it's clear that world star hipop is here to stay I get nervous in front of the camera excuse me all right San Diego named after San Diego I'm sorry I won't do it I won't do it sorry let's do one what's the what how does how does w Farrell do it\n"