1 Billion Views Per Year & Landing Clients Like Apple & Nike | Sol Betesh, CEO at Fallen Media
Sol Betesh is Co-Founder and CEO at Fallen Media, a company creating the hottest short-form content for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. In 2024, Fallen's content amassed nearly 1 billion views across all platforms. With a track record of producing viral hit shows, they’ve attracted a client list that includes Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros, Nike, Shopify, BMW, Meta...the list goes on. In this episode, Sol and I discuss: - How he went from pitching brands as a 25-year-old founder to working with billion-dollar companies - The mindset of reaching out to anyone—and how cold emails changed his career - The moment he nearly lost his company and how he turned it all around... ...and so much more. Enjoy! Sol's Commencement Speech at Drexel University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ8m2_wrXkU Check out some of Fallen Media's viral shows: What's Poppin?: linktr.ee/whatspoppin Street Hearts: linktr.ee/streetheartsnyc Subway Oracle: linktr.ee/subwayoracle Bite Me: linktr.ee/bitemenyc 🎙️ Momentum brings you the stories, advice, and wisdom of business visionaries—designed to inspire and guide you on your path to success. Be sure to subscribe here and on these platforms: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1jOPoArXfY3OU5uv4BpA3h?si=TbhE_cacSE2FhtOBlC8BJA Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/momentum/id1762657981 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momentumpodcast_ (00:00) Coming up… (02:54) Sol's background (05:12) Getting into business early (9:15) Running a high school business competition (12:03) College years and internships (16:48) Starting a business with a 15 year old (21:29) Becoming a meme marketing agency (25:53) Working with teenagers (28:12) Growing the marketing agency (33:26) Shifting into short-form content (35:49) Creating What's Poppin—the show that blew up (39:46) The 1 video that changed it all (42:46) Getting his first brand deals (44:04) Launching too many shows (46:06) "We had 3 months to live" (49:14) Employees start to quit (51:17) Searching for the next viral hit (53:23) Launching Street Hearts and partnering with brands like Westin (56:04) Advice for ambitious young adults (57:53) Skills everybody must learn (1:00:05) Giving back as a young person (1:02:44) Cold emailing the CEO of J-Crew (1:07:07) The power of cold outreach (1:11:13) Momentum Moment and closing thoughts (1:13:50) Outro