We were lucky to catch up with Warren Lentz recently and have shared our conversation below.
Warren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?
In order to start TalentX Entertainment, a Gen Z management company with a lot of TikTok clients, I not only had amazing co-founders I partnered with in 2019, but I also looked far and wide for amazing Talent Coordinators that were hungry and had a passion for all things social media. This may seem obvious, or easy, but it wasn’t. The nature of Talent Management and brand campaigns isn’t rocket science but it is fairly nuanced and requires a relatively high EQ. Most of the initial team members came to me and asked what I was up to. Thus, recruiting wasn’t as hard as it would’ve been otherwise. Being a good boss over the years (caring, pouring into your team’s career development and goals, practicing radical candor) served as far better recruiting tactic than using headhunters.
Warren, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
After graduating from Northwestern University, I moved to LA in 2010 and worked at WME for three years in their Non-Scripted TV department. I joined Yahoo and produced entertainment, sports, and lifestyle content and ran all their Talent initiatives. In 2015, I started a four-year stint at Fullscreen where I helped run the AT&T account co-creating and casting 20+ digital shows with creators for AT&T’s Hello Lab youth marketing program. My final year at Fullscreen was spent running the Creator Partnerships team where I brought brand deals to Fullscreen’s top YouTube creators.
In 2019, I co-founded TalentX Entertainment where my team and I signed, managed, and developed 100+ Gen-Z creators and started the notorious “Sway House.” In 2020, I lived in the Sway House with its members for a year while I concurrently served as Chief Talent Officer at Triller and helped onboard hundreds of Creators to the platform.
During my time at TalentX, I co-founded the lifestyle beverage company Ani Energy with mega-creators Josh Richards and Bryce Hall (along with Michael Gruen, Michael Senzer, Evan Burns, and Daniel Fine).
I advise for Animal Capital ($15M AUM) which is led by Marshall Sandman and has world-famous LP’s such as Noah Beck, Josh Richards, Griffin Johnson, and many more.
Today, I am COO & Chief Talent Officer at VersusGame, a mobile app that allows people to predict the outcome of culture and offers creators ad-free revenue. In my short 12-year career, I’ve worked on the brand side, the platform side, and the representation side. I’ve helped brands & partners strategically deploy over $100M into the Creator Economy and enjoy helping Brands scale and Creators flourish.
On the personal side, I grew up in the suburbs of Illinois and am the oldest of six kids. My faith is very important to me, and I enjoy the carnivore diet, Equinox, meditation, cold plunges, and beach volleyball. Other interests include chess, YouTube, cleaning, reading, and podcasts.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In 2020, two of my clients got arrested in Texas for possession of drugs (marijuana). This made national headlines since our clients were world-renown TiKTokers at the time (since then, they’ve rebranded themselves as a professional fighter and serial entrepreneur and a very successful musician). When this occurred, my co-founder Michael Gruen and I nearly both pulled all-nighters trying to bail them out of jail and handle the PR backlash. The business didn’t stop, there was just more to do.
Have you ever had to pivot?
From 2010-2013 I worked in Television at WME. After I realized that I’d have to be an assistant/Agent Trainee for three more years before I officially made agent, I decided to pivot into Digital. My friend at Yahoo had just got promoted and they were looking to fill their position. Marissa Mayer had just takent he helm as CEO and there was a focus on content. While the transition wasn’t a 180 turn, it was a turn which was difficult because I’d been pouring my time into the TV business. That said, I knew the future was digital and decided to lean into all things YouTube, social media and the internet. It worked out.
Contact Info:
- Website: chosenent.co
- Instagram: instagram.com/warrenlentz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warren-lentz-a667a69/
- Twitter: twitter.com/warrenlentz
Image Credits
Tal Fishman, Jason Wilhelm (left to right) Griffin Johnson, Josh Richards, Anthony Reeves, Michael Gruen, Nick Bean, Gavin Rudolph, Kio Cyr, Bryce Hall, Jaden Hossler (left to right)