This is Ameri– Gilga

Over the weekend, I read the widely shared GQ article about Gilga, Donald Glover’s new production company, incubator, cultural library, and farm (!). If you haven’t picked it up yet, it’s a great read. Gilga is perhaps so compelling because it’s an effort perfectly representative of Glover himself – an entity that spans many disciplines and attracts best-in-class creative and cultural collaborators.

The article journeys through Glover’s career, from which his lookalikes can draw comfort and inspiration – both from his career design, or lack thereof, and from the elements that propelled his rise. Green’s summation figures Glover as “one of the most exciting and original voices in Hollywood, a writer turned comedian turned rapper turned actor turned P-Funk All-Star turned showrunner turned farmer.” Like most multihyphenates working on a variety of creative pursuits, his career path has been non-linear, but always buoyed by his undeniable talent – so much so that looking backward, his success feels almost inevitable.

Donald Glover is the ultimate multihyphenate; he represents an archetype that has the potential to build something lasting, and for whom funding can meaningfully accelerate growth. Aside from sheer talent, Glover ascribes to three, important principles: take many shots on goal, maintain a high bar for quality, and foster deep incentive alignment among collaborators – all of which can be supported by a little bit of capital.

Importantly, the author bifurcates Glover’s career: before and after his hit show, Atlanta. Glover’s relative anonymity prior this series was not symptomatic of his inability to find his creative stride, but rather his ability to find it simultaneously in multiple areas – a good problem but one that can present as flailing. More simply put, it is hard to gain traction as a jack of all trades, but master of none...until you get a proverbial “big break.” Which, like for many serial entrepreneurs, often comes not by sheer luck but by endlessly increasing the surface area of such luck – frequently through experimentation or R&D. Thereafter, their careers are bolstered by their notability, which gives them the agency to narrow scope to a handful of projects, or even one at a time – an “era” in gen-z parlance.

The article also highlights the inherent tension between quality and scale in creative endeavors. Glover, for example, stresses the importance of preventing Gilga from becoming “corporate” by focusing on fewer but superlative outputs. Practically, he makes decisions “like a rich kid” whose financial latitude can allow for more considered tradeoffs, optimizing for longer-term gains. Outside capital isn’t quite as no-strings-attached, but it does support the pursuit of the highest ROI activities and quality product.

Glover and those like him have an almost gravitational pull for highly talented collaborators. In fact, he has kept his consiglieres (including his brother and Fam, his longtime manager) close throughout his career. As larger-than-life tech founders know, there is an almost innate skill in attracting talent – especially indispensable practitioners who are not interested in being founders themselves. But attraction is only half the battle; success requires deep incentive alignment among stakeholders and the autonomy to offer it. Borrowing from a classic Silicon Valley playbook, offering upside participation to collaborators entices and aligns the best talent while preserving capital efficiency, allowing “upstart” projects to bypass bloated incumbents.

By definition, multihyphenates excel at many disciplines, but their ultimate success relies on the same business fundamentals employed by great founders. Specifically, rapid experimentation, focus on quality of product, commitment to a long-term vision, and the ability to foster the talent around them. If done right, especially when combined with the distribution advantages of a die-hard fanbase (even a small one), these individuals have the opportunity to create real enterprise value in media and beyond (see: Ryan Reynolds). We believe that capital can unlock many of these essential inputs and help the next generation of Glovers flourish.

If you are or work with someone operating in this capacity, we’d love to connect.