Though some, especially those in the evangelical community, may not be familiar with comedian Andrew Schultz, his comedic work and the philosophy behind it is both noteworthy and represents a growing demographic among millennials and Gen Z’s, across expansive racial and social boundaries.

Born in New York City in 1983, Schultz attended UC Santa Barbara. In college, Schultz was a fan of stand-up comedy but had no plan to try and make a career of it. However, while working at a local restaurant, he was persuaded to take part in the establishment’s open mic night. After this experience, Schultz would move back to NYC and soon became a regular at NYC comedy clubs, as well as an appearance at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in ’08.

Over the next few years, Schultz would appear on multiple TV shows, becoming a regular on MTV2 and making appearances on Amazon’s Sneaky Pete. During his time in television, Schultz teamed up with Charlamagne tha God to co-host the Brilliant Idiots podcast, a comedy podcast centered around current events. It wasn’t until 2017 that Schultz started to come into his own in the industry. A decade after entering the club scene, his released his first  special, 4:4:1 (4 Clubs, 4 Sets, 1 Night): A NYC Comedy Experience. This is where Schultz’s entrepreneurial mind begins to show itself. No networks would take his hour-long edit so he edited it down to 16 minutes and released it independently. It promptly blew up and Schultz has been on a tear ever since. His independently released improv special, (a separate work from 4:4:1) was released on his YouTube channel August 26th of last year. Currently, it has over 3.4 million views and 113k likes. In addition, Schultz discovered that people would not watch a 45-60 minute special, but they would, however, watch ten 5-6 minute Youtube clips in a row. So Schultz began releasing bits from his tour dates and skits and was soon selling out every nightclub, while also garnering significant viewership on Youtube.

What sets Andrew Schultz apart from other comics is that he does not conform to political correctness. But he doesn’t fall into the trap of coming across as a disenfranchised white male whining about political correctness. Which is good, because he isn’t. Schultz’s agenda is driven by a love for comedy itself, not politics. So anyone, and anything, is fair game. From Republicans, to Democrats, to ethnicity, feminism, and LGBTQ topics, to Epstein and the Coronavirus, there isn’t an issue that he won’t address. Indeed, he has termed his comedic ventures as “unsafe sets.” A more mainstream example might be Bill Burr and his material: a coarse, crass, but genuine approach to comedy. Is Schultz a Christian? Certainly not. But his artistic commitment and unwillingness to be a pawn of P.C. culture has enabled him to carve out a substantial niche in improv and stand-up comedy, one that has even garnered him an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast. And one that has given him the opportunity to challenge certain aspects of our hyper-sensitive, emotive-driven culture. A challenge that many Christians would do well to consider as it represents a worldview that will become increasingly prevalent in it’s intensity and popularity. Andrew Schultz is not only an entrepreneur, he’s an artist, and an accidental philosopher of sorts. An artist whose commitment to an art in it’s truest form has led him to uncover bigger, broader truths, if not at times merely accidentally. And whether his worldview is Christian or not, his comedy represents a pushback – though lacking in vital theological refinement – against the groupthink that is all to common in today’s world.

Most people would consider dropping out of University a sign of failure. But in 2013, for UK youth Ben Francis, it was the beginning of something remarkable.

Gymshark began as a supplements business that Ben Francis ran out of his parent’s garage, along with the help of friend Lewis Morgan. Francis and Morgan initially lacked any sort of industrial capability, so they drop shipped items. Drop shipping is when a retailer markets and sells items, but does not have any actual product in stock. Instead, they act like a middle-man, redirecting supplies from wholesalers or bulk vendors to their own customers. But this wasn’t the only savvy move that Francis made. To market his brand, Francis utilized a growing industry: Instagram modeling. While most of us may be used to seeing innumerable adds for models and the products they’re hawking, this is 2020. Instagram had only been founded in 2010 and was still very much in the process of growing in 2013. But as we have seen over the last five years or so, Instagram has become a lucrative for “influencers,” a hybrid entrepreneur that utilizes the power of the photo, of endorsement, and sex appeal. Fortunately for Francis, Gymshark was one of the first brands to began advertising its wares through Instagram, getting in almost on the ground level, so to speak.

But if you’re familiar with Gymshark, you’re probably wondering when the apparel comes in to play. Well, that would be in 2013 when Francis spent 1,000 pounds on a sewing machine and a screen printer. Initially, after dropping out and quitting his 5 pound-an-hour job at Pizza Hut, Gymshark was bringing in roughly 500 pounds a day. Their break came after a tracksuit went viral on Facebook, bringing in 30,000 pounds in 30 minutes and the rest is history.

Now, seven years later, Gymshark is worth 1.32 Billion dollars and is quite likely the premier Instagram influencer fitness clothing brand. To be Gymshark sponsored is to be graced with the proverbial stamp of approval. Francis himself is now worth 926 million dollars and was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2018. No doubt he has no regrets about dropping out of University.

I cannot skateboard, nor have I ever had the desire to learn. But after seeing Michael Wahba’s tech-savvy take on the pop culture classic, I might just have to throw on a helmet and elbow pads and risk it. Wahba’s invention, an electric skateboard, is an innovative step in a largely undeveloped field of enterprise. Electronic skateboards are certainly available to the public, but they’re hardly the default equipment of most skaters, and Wahba has also taken a significant step in differentiating himself from the electronic skateboard competition.

Wahba’s invention, the Hover 1 Cruze, is a step forward in the electronic skateboard industry because it doesn’t rely on a hand-held device to control acceleration. Instead, the rider uses his back foot to accelerate or deaccelerate.
Wahba was largely motivated to create his own electronic skateboard because most electronic boards suffer from an unfortunate hitch, literally, in the start-up process. As Monica Chin from Mashable.com explains:

“Most electric skateboards are remote-controlled. When I push the button to start the board, it tends to jerk abruptly into motion, because my hands are uncoordinated, and my fingers are thick and clumsy.”

The Hover 1 Cruze solves this problem by using a sensor system that the skater controls via their feet and enables them to have a much smoother, more enjoyable ride. In addition, the skateboard is equipped with a cruise control feature, meaning the board will maintain it’s speed unless you stop it manually, the way you would with a typical skateboard. Or, for the more experienced rider, “braking mode” means the rider can raise his foot off the sensor, gradually decreasing the speed of the board. Either way, the annoying and potentially dangerous “jerk” is eliminated from the process.

At just 14, we can only anticipate what other skateboard innovations we’ll see from entrepreneur Michael Wahba. And regardless of what the future holds, Wahba has made a permanent mark on the skateboard industry, one that will certainly shape innovation in the skater community for years to come.

https://mashable.com/2018/02/11/hover-one-cruze-skateboard-review/

Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) exploded onto the scene in 2014 and has been become wildly popular for its videos, apparel, and, of course, its outstanding coffee. A largely veteran owned and operated company, BRCC is unique because of its radically pro- veteran and pro- America stance and products, and the extent to which virtues and values honed in the military influence every aspect of BRCC business.

The brainchild of the coffee component is Evan Hafer (CEO), a former Green Beret who, like all other individuals mentioned in this post, saw active duty overseas during the war on terror. A coffee lover, Hafer channeled his passion into brewing and grounding his own coffee while on deployments, overcoming situational roadblocks by taking advantage of modified Humvees that gave him the opportunity to make his own coffee, which he then shared with team members as a way of further solidifying the brotherhood of service members, specifically fellow Special Forces operators.

Jarred Taylor (EVP), a former Air Force Tactical Air Control Party Specialist, initially began working with former Army Ranger Mat Best (EVP) to produce videos for Mat’s YouTube channel. Taylor’s first forays into video production included making a memorial video for his bestfriend who was KIA in 2010. The video had such a profound affect on colleagues and family members that Taylor was inspired to create more content and become more proficient as a videographer, which led to his meeting Mat Best. Best first began posting parody videos while overseas working for the CIA. The videos acted as simple comic relief for a few friends and team members until one or two videos eventually wenyt viral, exposing a massive market for the content, previously unknown to Best. It was through the video production community the Best and Taylor would eventually meet. Evan Hafer would eventually spot Taylor and Best’s work and recruit them to be founding members of BRCC.

BRCC is made up of many highly committed individuals, many of whom were in the special operations community. Despite their diverse backgrounds and unique approaches to addressing the same problems, they approach life with the same basic philosophy: live with gratitude, look out for your family, whomever that may be, and enjoy life. They’ve united around this philosophy and found a passion to express this philosophy, by creating “the best coffee company in the world,” using humor specific to military veterans to reach those individuals struggling with the psychological damage of war, and employing veterans to help give them the same sense of family and brotherhood that was so vital to them overseas and stateside as they trained and fought to protect this nation, and freedom around the world. BRCC encapsulates the entrepreneurial mindset by taking a personal passion regarding a specific product, identifying and playing to a specific target audience, and using opportunity and passion to provide a lifeline and a voice for veterans and active duty service members nationally and globally, a mission of immense social significance and eternal difference.