Michael Picard: First of all, I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. If you weren't an entrepreneur or a musician, what would you be doing and why?
Mick Boogie: My life was designed to go down one of these two paths, to be honest. I have been insanely into music since childhood. Additionally, both my dad and my grandpa ran their own businesses. Plus, I basically had a crash course in business via my music. I'm 100 percent self-managed and discovered my deejay career is essentially one really big and personal start-up. It was easy to take that same logic and channel it down other avenues.
Michael Picard: How did you get your start?
Mick Boogie: From an early age, my mom would buy me records. I remember walking around carrying a very feminine little pinstriped turntable as a young man (laughs). I then went to college at John Carroll University and during grad school I realized that I had a chance to turn my hobby into a career. I then was fortunate enough to connect some dots, move to NYC... and the rest is history.
Michael Picard: Share one of your favorite stories or experiences you've had as a DJ or an entrepreneur.
Mick Boogie: The best experiences I've had combine both of those worlds. I love the fact that entertainment is so intertwined with the worlds of tech and start-ups. I have numerous stories about people I have connected with, simply because they have a mix on their iPhone or enjoyed a set of mine at an event. I've been able to connect with execs from some awesome brands (Twitter, Foursquare, Red Bull) and form meaningful relationships far beyond the turntables. I realized my fun little hobby can create real friendships with some amazing people that then inspire my other businesses.
Michael Picard: You have invested in Mixstream and Stublisher. What drew you to these companies, what's your role and what is in the future for them?
Mick Boogie: For Mixstream, I serve as CEO, co-founder and primary investor. We are solving a need in the music community: a place where people can listen to cool, creative mixtapes that are presented in beautiful and easy to use environment. Mixtape culture started years ago and now has fans of all ages, incomes, and walks of life. It's about providing the best experience we can for a different, upscale level of consumer. And then monetizing it when we hit some planned benchmarks. Mixstream is still in beta. I just invested a significant amount into redoing our back end, and adding some fun features I think people will really love. Our relaunch is coming soon.
Regarding Stublisher, I get emails every day from various artists and brands. One day I received an email from a genius young entrepreneur named Kyle Banuelos about an idea he had. I was highly intrigued not just with Stublisher, but with Kyle himself. I then decided to get involved, as an advisor and an investor. Stublisher makes it easy to track past events you've been to. You can pool images and videos with others around those shared experiences and see what's going on around the world through live photo streams. We just completed a program at the Portland PIE incubator and are moving into our first investment round now.
Michael Picard: If I am an entrepreneur, how can I get you to invest or be involved in my business?
Mick Boogie: Send me a lifetime supply of Chipotle (laughs). For me, it's about the right idea, team, and timing. For Mixstream... I was able to involve three creative friends of mine (Chris Mart, who heads up design and tech, as well as Terry Urban and Paul Francois, who handle content). For Stublisher, I wanted another thing to advise and be a part of... but also something that made sense with my "day job" as a deejay. The opportunity to be a part of something that played into the live event space was too good to pass up. Time-management is the big issue now. Between my deejay career which is relatively insane at this point (I've flown 250k miles this year and it's not even November) and these two things... I'm swamped. However, once we get Mixstream 2.0 up and running and Stublisher is moving full speed ahead, I'll probably be looking for something new. I have two ideas for 2013 I'm trying to implement now.
Michael Picard: They say that you learn more from failure than you do from success. What have you learned from your failures?
Mick Boogie: Lots, lots, lots (laughs). I've learned you can't be everything to everybody. You have to be creative and not do something just to do it. People sense when someone is not authentic. You always have to stay on point with your branding and continue to improve/evolve it. Or else, you will get passed by. Quickly.
Michael Picard: What do you want people to remember you by?
Mick Boogie: I think the fact that I am succeeding on my own terms, and that I am doing things the right way, is a pretty cool. I've never (knowingly) screwed anyone over. I came from humble beginnings, took my time, stayed hungry, kept the faith, and ended up with a great career. God is great.
Michael Picard: What can we expect from you in near the future? Do you have something else in the works?
Mick Boogie: A lot. First off, more than likely, I will be in your town, wherever you are, doing a show, event or party at some point in 2013. If I'm not, email me and we can make it happen. I try to be very publicly accessible: mickboogie@mickboogie.com. I personally respond to almost every email and tweet. That has done wonders for my career. No barriers. We have a sister site to Mixstream we plan on launching in 2013 focusing on remix culture that will be pretty fun when it launches. I have one other 2013 idea that I'll make sure HuffPost readers are the first to know about as soon as we go public with it!