Base Ventures recently partnered with Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown to create “Tech Hustle,” a technology event that combined sports, business, and entertainment. The invite-only event was brought to Los Angeles this past Saturday during All-Star Weekend.
(Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics, Stephen Pagliuca, Co-Owner of the Celtics and Chairman of Bain Capital, Erik Moore. Image: Base Ventures)
The turnout was incredible. It included everyone from tech execs like Spotify’s Troy Carter, Uber’s Bozoma St. John, and Blavity’s Morgan DeBaun to entertainers like Too Short to Chamillionaire
, who are both now heavily immersed into the tech scene. Additionally, surprise guest Lauryn Hill showed up and spoke on the presence of sub-cultures and how these very separate worlds are finally starting to blend. Of course, there was also a multitude of athletes in tow.“My thought process is to just educate athletes and people around me about what is really going on, especially basketball players,” Brown told Undefeated. “A lot of people wait until the end of their careers to really get things going. I thought it would be more beneficial to start early, put your foot in the door and start educating yourself because technology investments are where the real money is at.”
DeBaun and Boz talked about receipts and why working so hard and taking ownership of your work is extremely important. “We don’t get the credit that we deserve for the accomplishments that we have enacted, for the culture shifts that we have made, for the trends that we have set so, I often brag about the things that we have done.”
(Morgan DeBaun, Blavity; Erik Moore, Base Ventures; Bozoma St. John, Uber. Image: Base Ventures)“This conference was important for us to do for two reasons, to continue the narrative around the brilliance of one of the NBA’s brightest stars, Jaylen Brown,” stated Erik Moore. “Jaylen interned for me…he’s a deep thinker and wise beyond his years. That narrative includes this young 21-year-old man at the very beginning of his promising professional career as an NBA star proactively thinking about and moving towards what’s next for him when the ball stops.”
“Secondly,” Moore continued, “to highlight the deep connections that I enjoy as the head of Base Ventures…the fact that I was able to get such an august and professionally diverse group of leaders together to participate in our conference speaks to the positive results of 20+ years of networking in Silicon Valley and beyond: David Krane, Bozoma Saint John, Troy Carter, Morgan DeBaun, Lauryn Hill, Too Short, Rick Marini and Isiah Thomas were all amazing additions to the conversation.”