NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

The Brilliant Strategy Top Creators Use to Bypass Platforms and Keep 100 Percent of Revenue

A business that depends on resources it doesn’t control isn’t really a business; it’s a hostage to the whims and vagaries of others.

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN

MAY 25, 2026

Photo: Getty Images

A decade ago, when Cameo first started in Chicago and was working out of 1871, the tech incubator which I ran there at the time, only a few of us understood what the company’s long-term roadmap looked like and how utterly disruptive this little firm (with ugly videos from jocks in their cars and “D” level celebrities holding forth in their basements) was going to be for the entire entertainment industry.

One of the great ironies at the time was that the most cogent observation came from no less an authority than Snoop Dogg, now a noted Olympic commentator, who said: “There is no platform or middleman filtering my message anymore.” The idea that artists and musicians could bypass many expensive and controlling layers of agents and managers and directly reach out to and connect with their fans wasn’t exactly revolutionary, but Cameo and others were the earliest players to provide painless technology solutions and easy access to anyone and everyone who thought they had something important to say. However, the economic problem for the creators and content providers was still a sizable concern because Cameo as the platform provider took a healthy cut of the revenue earned in each transaction. It was a better deal, but not the right deal.

A business that depends on resources it doesn’t control isn’t really a business; it’s a hostage to the whims and vagaries of others. Even Steven Galanis, one of the co-founders of Cameo, advises creators to own their audience rather than rent it, which he defines as building monetization that does not depend on any single platform’s algorithm or content policies remaining consistent.

So, a few years later, along came bemyfriends, riding on the huge success of its first major customer, the South Korean pop group BTS, and offered musicians and other creators their own platform with all the basic features required to build direct and lasting connections to their own fans without any intermediaries. This platform enabled special fan events, merchandise sales, access to the performers themselves, data analytics, advertising opportunities, fan voting mechanisms and numerous other tools which permitted the platform owner to focus on their principal activity while all the commerce and other business concerns were handled by the b.stage and b.stage+ platforms provided by bemyfriends. Most importantly, all the fan contacts and other proprietary data were owned exclusively by the artists and not by the platform operators. But the glaring omission in their offerings was the very critical area of ticketing which was controlled for almost all of the major U.S. concert venues by Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment. 

The recent Ticketmaster and Live Nation litigation, where the suing states secured an initial determination that these two industry overlords were engaged in illegal monopolistic behavior (and notwithstanding the sad fact that they took the Trumpian payment path to bail themselves out of the federal proceedings), has energized talented musicians to be more entrepreneurial and aggressive in addressing the whole ticketing swamp. Here again, for artists with substantial fan bases and international followings, the attraction of building their own ticketing app and controlling their own interactions with their fans is very attractive and potentially quite lucrative.

One very significant example of direct-to-fan ticketing is the recent successful sold-out tour of Australia by GiaNina Paolantonio which employed a new free iPhone app that allows her to sell tickets worldwide to her fans without any service fees. She can sell tickets through the Headquarters app (which also works on Android phones) for dance classes, performances and concerts to her followers which number over 4 million on TikTok alone. Add another 2 million fans for Snap, Insta, and YouTube and you can begin to understand the reach and power of what she’s doing.

These are not thin or casual connections but rather relationships she’s been building since her work on Dance Moms first gave her a persistent global audience. She’s choreographed viral dance moves for Jennifer Lopez, Billie Eilish and Sombr, among others, and is now recording her music with Atlantic Records. The global app was built by GiaNina and her partners at a development firm named Clique Apps. GiaNina’s also got her own Selfie, an online digital twin that fans and followers can ask questions and get instant responses about everything GiaNina.

I wrote a piece quite a while ago noting that we’d probably all reached peak apps and that no one was looking to add more applications to their phones, but it’s a whole different story and a dream marketing scenario when an app developer is an artist who can speak directly to 6 million fans and tell them to get with the program and install her app to keep up with everything she’s doing – new music drops, hosting dance classes, extending her tours and, of course, other merch opportunities. And that’s only half of the really bad news for the twin ticket ogres.

The viral flywheel aspect of her launch goes like this. Once a fan sees how easy, cheap (actually free) and speedy this app is, they’re never going back. All consumers’ expectations are perpetually progressive and—just as Amazon set a brand-new curve and standard for delivery times and goosed the world’s expectations—every one of GiaNina’s fans will be asking her to add other artists, acts, creators and tours to her app. And every one of those fans will also be asking every other act, musician and performer why they’re still doing things the old, slow and costly way. It’s only a matter of time with millions of consumers waiting worldwide at the end of the channel that GiaNina’s building until every artist will be speeding their way to GiaNina’s door. You can never go wrong counting on smart people to act in their own self-interest.

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

The Business Benefits of Building Community

There is a simple but effective way to unite neighborhoods and build collectives while saving money for clients and customers.

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1

Oct 28, 2025

 

For many years, I ran 1871, the Number 1 university-affiliated tech incubator in the world, from our headquarters in Chicago. During my tenure, we developed a number of sub-incubators focusing on various types of entrepreneurs—women, veterans, students, and various ethnic groups. We also made extensive outreach efforts to extend our knowhow and resources to new business builders in underserved neighborhoods throughout the city. These multi-year initiatives were largely successful and spawned numerous mini-incubators as well as industry-specific hubs in areas like medicine and manufacturing as well as creative shops and maker spaces.

Still, I always believed that there was a fundamental disconnect between the perceived wonders and attractions of new technologies and the more basic tools needed to build and grow successful and sustainable service businesses in the various neighborhoods, particularly with respect to our work outside of the central business district. For every 10 budding business builders who were going to create a new nationwide social media network, we’d be lucky to find one guy or gal focused on filling gaps in support and services for their own communities.

More importantly, new tech businesses almost by definition spent their money and sent their profits elsewhere, whereas neighborhood firms—owned and operated primarily by businessmen and women from the area, kept the funds and the related economic benefits (like growing the number of their employees) local in every sense. And, of course, the birth and rebirth of these businesses did amazing and highly beneficial things for the strength, pride, engagement and connections of the communities themselves.

It wasn’t easy, however, to convince so many of these young and eager entrepreneurs that building a local security service, lawn care operation, house maintenance and repair service, home health support group, or childcare operation was anywhere near as sexy and exciting as building the next app that was going to change the world. Sadly, kids in their 20s also don’t seem to get how important local businesses are to the difficult job of bringing neighbors together, strengthening their own communities, providing jobs instead of guns, and demonstrating that getting out of the hood wasn’t the only path to success.

Food pantries and depositories have historically been rather obvious and useful examples of aggregation strategies, but these same ideas have never really caught on with service offerings. And, in truth, maybe we, as tech zealots and proselytizers, weren’t the best messengers for the idea that new tech wasn’t really the be-all and end-all for building a basic new service business. It might have been helpful in many ways, but it wasn’t the central component, a magic ingredient, or the crystal key to ultimate success.

All of this is by way of introduction to a new business called Bulqit, built by two seasoned entrepreneurs who figured out a simple but very effective way to unite neighborhoods, build collectives and community in both affluent and underserved areas, and save money for their clients and customers on essential home services. As an aside, the idea provides an interesting model and blueprint for community organizers, religious institutions, and other non-profits as well because it highlights the fact that bulk purchases and otherwise aggregated economic power can be very beneficial to the residents in any community. In addition, this kind of solution can be implemented in a low-tech manner or through sophisticated systems on a block-by-block basis or eventually on a much greater scale and geographic scope.

Bulqit brings neighbors together in “Blocks” to collectively purchase recurring home services—like landscaping, pest control, pool maintenance, trash bin cleaning, window washing, and power washing. Homeowners get lower prices, well-known and respected providers, a single consolidated invoice, and better, more consistent service. The company’s materials claim user savings of up to 30 percent. Vendors get concentrated service areas, profitable and extensible routes for their crews, and predictable, regular income. Here again, the company’s materials suggest that vendors will obtain exclusive rights to certain blocks and areas. Neighborhoods get smarter, safer, cleaner, and more closely connected as neighbors who may never have even spoken to each other now participate together in block activities.

Psychologically, conscientious upkeep in any area and visible investments that improve environments are contagious actions—and I’m not merely talking about keeping up with the Joneses. Human nature, peer pressure and even your own family members’ comments are all drivers for compliance and participation. And to be clear, there’s no cheaper marketing than word of mouth referrals and grocery store testimonials from happy friends and satisfied neighbors.

The company is rolling out its six initial service offerings in California and expects to expand rapidly across the country and to add additional features and services. As they approach and enter new areas, it’s likely that their menu of services will vary and be adjusted to best suit the needs and demands of the target customer populations. The attractive aspect of this flexibility is that it has no material impact on the viability of the business model or the economics. Bulqit makes money by taking a fixed percentage of the fees earned by each vendor. Every Block added to the mix—largely regardless of location—increases the likelihood and the leverage of the operators as they negotiate better pricing for larger numbers of customers.

Bulqit is building a nice business, but what I’m most excited about is the prospect that we’re seeing one clear path and a way that we can help to re-anchor our communities and ourselves to the others around us and return to our country’s roots of cooperation and community because so much of the old societal fabrics—trust, honor and honesty, religion, legitimate patriotism, and even the law—which held us all together are being ripped apart on an almost daily basis  by the Orange Monster and his minions. We’re going to desperately need solutions that offer a brighter collective future. Anyone can build an app, but not everybody can build a community.

 

SWEATY EQUITY LAUNCH

 

Mike ShannonMike Shannon   • 1stPremium • 1stCEO at Impruve | Author at 'Sweaty Equity: A Ball Boy, A Billionaire, and the Bonkers Startup Tale You've Never Heard' (July 23 release)CEO at Impruve | Author at 'Sweaty Equity: A Ball Boy, A Billionaire, and the Bonkers Startup Tale You've Never Heard' (July 23 release)

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Today's gratitude goes to this guy, Howard Tullman. AKA "The Wizard" of Chicago Tech.

Howard generously took us under his wing as a team of 23-year-old founders trying to find our way. He got in the trenches with us (you'll see him in action alongside Mark Cuban if you read the chapter called "Cage Match of the Giants") and never pulled any punches.

It's no secret that Howard Tullman is tough, and you'll see that come through in the stories of the book. As such, being around Tullman toughened me up in a variety of necessary ways, showed me an example of a champion at the intersection of Art & Business, and he was instrumental in helping us crack into the arena of entrepreneurship back at 1871.

As an early reader of Sweaty Equity: A Ball Boy, A Billionaire, and the Bonkers Startup Tale You've Never Heard, Howard dove in cover to cover and gave me some of the most detailed, thoughtful notes I'd received in the process of writing.

Now, it's an honor to receive The Wizard's testimonial as a reader. Thanks for this, and for everything, Howard!

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From HAT:

“There’s no shortage of startup stories out there, but very few add actual value in return for the investment of your time. Mike Shannon’s Sweaty Equity, a personal recollection of a rough, but ultimately rewarding journey, doesn’t try to glorify the gauntlet, gild the lily, or please all the participants — it digs into the actual mess, the missed turns, the crucial pivots, and the moments that mattered most to him and to his team. This is a straightforward study of how you assemble a team, hold it together during the toughest of times, and come to understand that you only really become a team when you learn to trust and rely on each other. And it reminds us all that you never know who's going to bring you your future."

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

How to Avoid the 3 Most Fatal Flaws for Startups 

Here are the key pitfalls you need to look out for and regularly test your own business model against.

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1

Jul 29, 2025

 

Years ago, I looked at more than 100 failed startups from my incubator, 1871, and from several other tech incubators, and tried to categorize each perished business by the primary cause of its demise. I thought that updating the list of perils and problems might be useful to new startup founders, especially since we’re seeing a new and frenzied wave of enthusiasm around all things A.I., even when the new tech has nothing to do with the proposed business being built.   

I excluded in my review all the wishful thinking stories, bizarre fantasies, and fever dreams where I thought that calling the proposed enterprise a “business” would have been too kind a statement. These were cases of the “solutions in search of a problem” that always make up a not insignificant portion of the business plans and funding proposals that we see every year at our early-stage venture fund. Many of these pipe dream projects also appear at the innumerable mini-Shark Tanks now being held by virtually every college, business school, incubator, co-working space and non-profit organization in the country. In the pitch business, success often depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, the most powerful talent is perseverance. 

In many cases, it’s not as easy as you would think to figure out just what went wrong. To make matters fuzzier and more difficult, there’s often a lot of blame shifting and whining that tends to obscure the underlying central causes. There’s also a ton of “would, coulda, shoulda” in the mix as well of course, reprising Marlon Brando’s plaintive note in On the Waterfront claiming: “I coulda been a contender.”

It seems that everyone has their own pet list of the reasons startups fail, and I’ve been amazed at the surprisingly wide variances on the compilations. You’d think, for example, that everyone would understand the Sam Walton observation that “when you run out of money, they take you out of the game” and, as a result, they would put conserving your cash at the top of their lists. Apparently not. I think that one reason for the differences in the views of various “experts” is that the individual circumstances and the limited experiences of the particular authors tend to skew their analysis and lead toward recounting, recollecting and focusing on the pain and problems that they personally encountered. That’s why broadening the window and increasing the scope and scale of the inquiry makes for a more accurate result. 

So, what are the key pitfalls that you need to look out for and that you should regularly test your own business model against in order to realistically assess your prospects and to permit you to pivot and change course, start over entirely, or abandon ship in a timely manner? It’s always important to remember that there are rarely skid marks in a startup’s evolution—one day they’re there and the next day they’re gone. 
  

1. No market need—A clear number one (after cash) on my list 

Once you get by the naïve and deluded folks and putting aside the clear killer of running out of cash and runway, you still find too many smart people who get sucked into the development and technical weeds and spend months or years perfecting a product or service without ever making sure there’s material interest and a real market need for their offering.  Anton Marchanka, the CEO of Zing Coach, calls this “building in a vacuum.” The tech may be great, but the market and the demand may not be there. I call this the greatest software never sold. Obviously, getting something simple out there first, watching and learning from user reactions, iterating and improving the product, and making sure that you’re focusing on the aspects and features that your audience values and will pay for is the safest and smartest path. Walk before you run and don’t test the depth of the puddle by jumping in with both feet. 

2. Team troubles—egos, expertise, experience or patience

No startup springs to life fully formed with a management team equipped to meet all of its eventual needs. With luck, you’ll add key players as the business advances and, inevitably, you’ll also lose some early members of the team for a variety of reasons. Unsuccessfully managing the development and growth of the team is among the most frequent causes of failure. 

Sometimes there are competing egos, personality conflicts, and irreconcilable differences which waste time and resources, distract the team, and dilute both company momentum and team enthusiasm. Just as often the team will lack the necessary technical expertise and be unable to attract critical additional talent, which leads to growing tech debt and loss of competitive advantage. 

In other cases, groups of techies who have bolted in bulk from their prior employer to start a new business only belatedly discover that there’s a great deal of work and other mundane but essential matters that make up crucial parts of the business operations where they have no experience, ability or interest, and no one else on board to handle these matters.  

And finally, especially about 18 months from inception, it turns out that some critical employees didn’t appreciate the length and complexity of the journey they were signing up for and didn’t have the necessary patience or perseverance to stick with the project. They leave and leave the remaining founders holding a badly leaking bag and a failing business. Every business is basically a people business and nothing’s more critical than assembling and retaining the right team. 

3. Companies that can’t reach or connect to target customers

Even if you’ve built a great product or service and there’s a clear market need, you’ve still got to deal with four main concerns: (a) getting your message out to the right buyers through new channels and platforms; (b) busting through the massive noise and clutter in the digital marketplace; (c) setting yourself apart from the enormous number of look-a-like competitors; and (d) making it quick, easy and painless for consumers to access and try your product or service as soon as possible. Marchanka calls this last obstacle “onboarding friction.” It’s a problem especially for eager entrepreneurs that’s far too easy to overlook. Overcoming these barriers takes time and money which are scarce commodities in every startup.   

We’re seeing numbers of new apps introduced in the primary online stores approaching 50,000-60,000 units per month which are completely overwhelming prospective customers and users. In addition, virtually every application consumers have on their phones will be updated four times a year on average (along with operating systems upgrades) which simply generates more work and confusion for the end users. The truth is that no one these days is anxiously looking for the next new thing to add to their phone. The best new app I can imagine would be one that painlessly wiped all the accumulated zombie and garbage apps off my phone so I could see on one screen what I actually use on a regular basis and dump all the rest.   

4. The best plan to protect your business and your sanity

Knowing what the biggest and most likely survival issues are for your business is half the battle. The most critical next step is to do whatever you can to protect yourself. Here are the four most essential guidelines: 

1.    Set concrete performance milestones that the whole team (and your Board and investors) agree to and stick to them.  

2.    Be honest and realistic with yourself and your team as to your progress and prospects. 

3.    Don’t keep going for someone else – whomever that might be. 

4.    Know when to quit because that is just as important as knowing when to start.