How Diddy is Underestimated as a Businessman

Sean “Diddy” Combs is one of hip-hop’s most serial entrepreneurs. His business track record stretches 30 years with successes in completely-different industries — music (Bad Boys Records), clothing (Sean John), spirits (Ciroc and DeLeon), media (Revolt), among many other ventures. To take a closer look at Combs' empire, I brought on Tarik Brooks, who is the president of Combs Enterprises. 

Many chalk up Diddy’s entrepreneurial success to his influence and brand alone. While Tarik doesn’t deny Diddy’s star power, he also argues that line of thinking understates Diddy’s business acumen — his ability to spot trends, attract talent, raise capital, and so forth. 

Not only that, but the broadness of Combs Enterprises is a unique competitive advantage. Diddy’s different businesses across sectors give them unique data points that can drive decision-making. The group announced a new foray into cannabis in late 2022. However, they won’t enter the space completely void of knowledge. Using insights from Revolt or Ciroc, they can glean how customers think about cannabis already. 

Tarik and I dove deep into Diddy’s sprawling business empire this episode — the “why” not the “how” behind Puff’s success. Here’s what you can expect to hear: 

[0:00] Combs Enterprises’ focus in 2023

[2:22] Synergies between Diddy’s different businesses 

[4:40] Using Revolt Summit as a testing ground 

[6:29] Origins of the “Ciroc playbook”  

[9:32] How much strategic overlap is there between Ciroc and DeLeon marketing? 

[15:41] Entering the cannabis space

[18:00] Regulatory challenges in the cannabis industry

[26:01] Why Diddy is not just another celebrity entrepreneur 

[30:03] How Combs Enterprises invests in startups

[34:21] Did Diddy really back Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter?

[36:45] No rush to sell Bad Boy Records catalog 

[41:32] Sean John comeback 

[47:05] Diddy’s attempt to buy the Carolina Panthers in 2018

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Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co

Guest: Tarik A. Brooks, @tarikamin

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TRANSCRIPTION

[00:00:00] Tarik Brooks: Twitter's impact in society is certainly bigger than how it shows up from a profit and loss and from a market cap perspective. And when you look at, you know, where Twitter is trading today is trading at a fraction of like Facebook or like Snapchat is the question from an investment perspective with some you could create meaningful.

[00:00:33] Dan Runcie: Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm your host and the founder of Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from the executives in music, media, entertainment, and more who are taking hip hop culture to the next level. 

[00:00:53] Dan Runcie: All right, today we got my guy, Tarik Brooks, the president of Combs Enterprises. Second time on the podcast. Great to have you back, man.

[00:01:01] Tarik Brooks: Happy New Year my brother. Great to be back. 

[00:01:03] Dan Runcie: So what's the latest from the House of Combs?

[00:01:08] Tarik Brooks: Things are wonderful enterprises, man. Tremendous 2022, where we did a lot of investing in our existing platforms and in new platforms. And so, you know, the big push in 23. Is to ope