“Hello, is this Ashton Kutcher?”
- “Yes, this is Ashton Kutcher. You may remember me from such roles as the dim-witted pretty boy Michael Kelso from the hit television series ‘That ‘70s Show.’”
“Yes, yes, hi Ashton. Big fan. This is technology entrepreneur and venture capital superstar Marc Andreessen. Would you like to be part of our investment in Skype?”
While that may not be exactly how the conversation played out, it’s a fact that Andreessen asked Kutcher to invest in Skype in 2009 when his venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, was part of a group that bought a majority stake in the voice, video and chat service from eBay Inc.
Kutcher, who achieved celebrity through his work as an actor, has emerged in recent years as a savvy player in the start-up ecosystem and now rubs shoulders with co-founders as often as co-stars.
Kutcher, speaking Tuesday at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York, said Andreessen invited him into the Skype syndicate for his branding and marketing expertise.
Skype wasn’t Kutcher’s first investment. In 2004, he was an investor and part of the management team for voice-over-Internet-protocol start-up Ooma Inc.
Since that time Kutcher has managed to run alongside some of the most recognizable names in venture capital. On stage during his interview with Charlie Rose, Kutcher name-checked his “friends” Andreessen, Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, prolific angel investor Ron Conway and “the folks at Sequoia,” referring to venerable venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
Kutcher also runs his own investment vehicle with pop singer Madonna’s manager Guy Oseary called Grade-A Investments, which has backed companies like social shopping site Fashism Inc., ticket price forecasting site SeatGeek Inc. and Twitter application company UberMedia Inc. Kutcher has also backed hot companies like AirBnb Inc., Foursquare Inc. and Path Inc.
He mentioned that his recent decision to return to television on “Two and a Half Men” was in part motivated by the regular hours that accompany that job, allowing him to devote more time to start-up investing.
Kutcher fully intends to be involved in the future of online media.
“I have some expansive social media reach,” said Kutcher, who counts more than 6.8 million Twitter followers. “But, what I’ve become relatively good at is bringing things that aren’t mainstream…into the mainstream.”
COMMENTARY: I would not call Ashton a major blockbuster star, in fact, he has often been knocked by Hollywood critics for doing nothing major, although he starred as the goofy character Kelso in "That 70's Guy", and starred and produced "You Just Got Punk'd" a popular TV sries where he plays outragous tricks on celebrities while filming the whole thing. Just before things get too out of hand, Kutch appears from out of nowhere to the surprised look of the celebrity, while exclaiming, "Dude, you just got punkd".
Kutch is slated to take over Charlie Sheen's role as the star of "Two And One Half Men" a.k.a. "2.5". The contract with Warner Bros is for only one year, and pays Kutcher $750,000 per episode. Charlie made twice that. I think he's a great pick because he is a natural actor/comedian.
So why the one-year deal? If CBS decides to renew 'Men' beyond Season 9, then Warner Bros. could either renew Kutcher's contract or could look for a replacement. A short deal also gives Kutcher an escape clause in case he decides to quit the show after one lucrative season.
Most people know Kutch from his two previous TV series, but Kutch was also quite a prolific male model, with quite an impressive six-pak, and has done TV commercials and photo layouts for magazine ads.
However, one of Kutch's most impressive accomplishments is landing and marrying cougar goddess Demi Moore, Bruce Willis' Ex (What was Bruce thinking). With Willis out of the picture, Kutch was there to fill that void. Kutch and Bruce are even good friends.
I have always known that behind Kutch's youthful male model good looks was quite an entrepreneur spirit since I read an article titled "Mr. Social: Ashton Kutcher Plans To Be The New-Media Mogul" that appeared in the December 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine. The article talked in depth about Katalyst Media a production company he founded in 2000 to capatalize in the opportunities in TV and films and the emerging digital media industry. Clients include: Pepsi, Nikon, Intel, Yahoo!, Levi's, Google, Nestle, Microsoft and HP, to name a few.
In January 2008, Prime Capital invested $10 million in Katalyst Media. Katalyst Media was started by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, a TV and film producer. The company has been responsible for TV shows such as Beauty and the Geek and Punk’d, and movies including Guess Who and The Butterfly Effect.From the looks of things, Kutch has been very active, investing in anything digital.
In 2006 the company signed a deal with AOL to produce five programs, each with at least 20 mini-episodes, to be distributed on AOL.com and AIM.
Katalyst is a new media production company, and producer of Katalyst HQ a web-based video series. The program is a collaboration between Katalyst; Slide, a Web company founded by Max Levchin of PayPal fame; advertising titan Publicis Groupe; and Nestlé, which owns Hot Pockets. It has been a huge hit, with millions of reposts of the videos on Facebook, each one reaching an average of 65 friends.
The Katalyst HQ series illuminates what Kutcher's production company wants to become: not just a home for his television and movie projects but also a go-to source for brands looking to deploy what's called "influencer marketing," a squishy hybrid of entertainment content, advertising, and online conversation that finds its audience via video, animation, Twitter, blogs, texts, and mobile. Says Kutch,
"Entertainment, really, is a dying industry. We're a balanced social-media studio, with revenue streams from multiple sources" -- film, TV, and now digital. For the brand stuff, we're not replacing ad agencies but working with everyone to provide content and the monetization strategies to succeed on the Web."
Kuthcer also gave a speech at IdeaJam, a symposium for young entrepreneurs.
Click To View Video
Katalyst co-founders Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg lead a speed-round of original pitches from 48 attendees, and narrow these down to the top 6 that will be chosen for production. Sort of reminds you of "Shark Tank" without the drama.
Click To View Video
Katalyst co-founders Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg lead a speed-round of original pitches from 48 attendees, and narrow these down to the top 6 that will be chosen for production.
“He came to me and said Skype could use some help with being more popular in the U.S. and we would like to bring you on to do that,” Kutcher said.
Courtesy of an article dated May 24, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal
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