A new book explores the life of MoviePass entrepreneur Stacy Spikes, showing how race, technology, and challenges have played out in his career.
The Problem
The entertainment industry is one of the most successful and influential industries in modern life. But it is also an industry prone to slow movements—reacting slowly to change and disliking disruption. The rise of streaming and subscription services has left the industry vulnerable to entrepreneurs with radical and disruptive ideas.
Stacy Spikes has had a notable career as an entrepreneur and business leader, being the founder of the failed subscription service MoviePass, which is currently in the process of relaunching under his ownership. He was named one of USA Today’s most influential Blacks in Technology and one of the Hollywood Reporter’s “30 Under 30.”
In his new memoir Black Founder: The Hidden Power Of Being an Outsider, he reflects on a career of challenges and adversity in his rise to becoming a tech entrepreneur. Spikes left his former career as a music and movie marketing executive to take a risk on this new service.
Possible Solution
Spikes has faced a long road since his career in marketing in the early 2000s. He has had his own challenges with learning how to defy stereotypes and define himself as a Black figure in the tech industry. He took significant risks, failed publicly, and now is on the path to resurrecting his dream after buying MoviePass out of bankruptcy in 2022.
“Stacy Spikes knows what it’s like to be an outsider. He certainly knew he didn’t fit the mold of a successful future tech entrepreneur. But he marshaled his resilience and ultimately set out to shatter that mold—along with the glass ceiling that came with it. Finding his footing in the tech world was an education in the complexities of being an outsider—but as Stacy came to see, rather than a hindrance, it afforded him a unique position of power,” says the publisher.
Black Founder: The Hidden Power of Being an Outsider publishes January 24, 2023, by Dafina.