Interview ‘Jacob Pace, CEO Pace’

The Extra Mile interviews Jacob Pace, internet entrepreneur and founder of FlightHouse and Co-Lab, about his journey in the digital world and the challenges he faced along the way.

During our interview, Jacob shared insights on several key topics, including the creation of Flight House, the importance of standing up for oneself in business negotiations, and his vision for the future of digital content creation. His experiences offer a fascinating look into the world of entrepreneurship, digital media, and the evolving landscape of internet-based business, highlighting how innovation and resilience can drive success.

TEM ( The Extra Mile) : Can you tell our readers and viewers what you do, and how you got started on your entrepreneurship journey.

Jacob: Yeah, so my name is Jacob, and I’m an internet entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience. I got started in this world when I was 13 because I used to act when I was younger, from the age of 6. And then kind of led my way into auditioning for an agent in Hollywood who wanted to sign me. But then my parents learned a little bit more about, you know, bringing a kid into Hollywood. And they wanted me to just be like, just have a regular childhood. So then I started to make music and DJ, and I was trying to figure out how to promote my music on the internet. So I started a YouTube channel with the intention of promoting that channel enough with my favorite artists. And then eventually promoting my own music. And I felt at that time, the day I made my YouTube channel, I felt the internet was a more intuitive way for me to communicate and express myself. So then I never looked back since. And, you know, I created one of the biggest media channels on TikTok called Flight House when I was like 17. I sold that company a few years ago, and now I’m building a creator collaboration platform called Co-Lab. So that’s kind of my latest focus.

TEM : So tell me a little bit more about, you know, when you started your journey, you know, starting Flighthouse, for example, what are some challenges that you’ve faced that you feel like you could have done differently now that you’re looking back at it?

Jacob: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s always going to be those elements of, you know, peaks and valleys, and entrepreneurship, it isn’t easy, and really it’s not easy to be great at anything, it’s always going to be difficult, but I think it’s important to find something where you really enjoy the process, because that’s going to keep you going when the times get tough, so I think that’s going to be the same for anything, so I don’t know, I mean, honestly, I think there was a long period of time where I looked back at that journey, and I think there was a lot of things that I told myself that I wish I could have done better, but that’s going to be everything in life, and so I think it’s just important to, I think that the main thing is, I wouldn’t have been able to go the distance if it weren’t something I love to do, so I think that’s it, that’s important.

TEM: Let’s dive into that a bit, can you tell me maybe like one thing that you would have done differently?

Jacob: Yeah, so… One thing I would have done differently… I mean, I think there was a lot of, like, deals that I negotiated where, you know, I think I got the short end of the stick at the time due to, you know, maybe getting, being younger in the business. So I think that it’s just important to, like, just always, you know, stand up for yourself and get, you know, never settle for less. So, you know, but I think that comes with time. I think that when you’re younger, it’s, like, perfectly okay to feel like, you know, you can get bullied into situations, and I think that that experience only makes you stronger and it gets to a point where it’s like you’ll absolutely not engage in a partnership unless you have what it is that you believe you’re worth. So I think it’s just, that it’s hard for a younger version of yourself to actually believe that, though.

TEM: Do you feel like, you know, being a younger entrepreneur, especially, you know, nowadays there are a lot of young entrepreneurs coming in. Do you feel like that has been a big challenge, especially, you know, a lot of, especially, like, let’s say you’re working with people that have been in the industry a long, long time. How do you kind of feel about that?

Jacob: Yeah, I mean, for me, it was never, you know, I never looked at it as something that was defining for me. I always thought it was actually kind of cool, and I think that’s how most people reacted. It’s like when I was 16 and I moved to L.A., I think a lot of people looked at that and, you know, thought of it more as more of a cool thing. But for me, I mean, I always saw myself as the same age as my peers. I mean, it was never something that I let really define me. And I think now the times are shifting, you know, just as, like, it becomes more accessible to do more things because of the Internet. I think that it doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are. I think everyone’s, like, on more of an even level playing field.

TEM:  So let’s talk a little bit more about content creation, where do you think the kind of the future of the new technologies coming to play for content creators?

Jacob: Yeah, I mean, you know, I’m kind of the last person to like subscribe to like trends that are going on and stuff like that. But I think that I think AI is pretty interesting because I think just with how rapidly it’s accelerating. Well, I think a bigger conversation actually to look at is like there are a lot of people that believe that like AI is going to take over. It’s in a sense that our feeds will become fully AI-generated content one day, like some people believe that. Which, you know, look, I think that is true, but I think that a piece of that is true. But I think an important thing to remember is that for any entertainment to be successful or any product to be successful, you always need to strike a chord within people and you need to create something that people can relate to and that people find incredible or that they can connect with on a personal level. And so even if the tide might shift to where there is more AI generated content, there will still be human directors that are directing these machines to produce entertainment that they believe other people want to see. And that’s actually something that, you know, Sam Altman from OpenAI has said before, where he said that, you know, the ability that humans have that will always be unique is the ability to kind of anticipate or guess what it is that people will want. And when you think about any great product, what, you know, the iPhone or, you know, Tesla, I mean, a lot of these things, it’s not like a machine can always predict that people are going to like it. So I think you always need a human to be behind that.

TEM: How do you approach monetization while still being authentic?

Jacob:  I think a lot of content creators will tell you this, is that the most consistent form of income is always going to be, like, YouTube AdSense, right, getting paid on, like, an advertising basis. And what’s interesting about AdSense is that at a high level, you know, advertisers are paying YouTube in the U.S., like, maybe $40 to $50 per thousand views, and the creator is then getting around half of that, right? So let’s say, like, you know, let’s call it, like, $15 to $20 per thousand views. So as a result, you know, it’s, like, easy for them to predict the scalability, to say, okay, well, if I get a million views, it’s going to be, you know, $15,000. If I get, you know, two million views, it’s going to be $30,000. And so it creates a sustainable way for creators to make a living from this.

The second biggest revenue stream is going to be brand partnership deals, which I think every creator will say, you know, it’s good money, but it’s not as predictable as AdSense. And so, I mean, me personally, I guess just because of the problems I’m solving, I’m trying to anticipate this kind of future around brands being able to purchase attention in the same way that they would purchase ads on a YouTube channel. And right now, like, I’m at kind of the early stages of thinking about, like, how content creators repurpose, like, you know, sports libraries to, you know, drive engagement on an organic basis. Because I think all of this is the fundamental sort of belief from a consumer angle that maybe it is more compelling for me to watch a brand partnership deal than it is for me to watch an ad, right? And I think that’s the whole argument for influencer marketing, is that it’s a better way to reach consumers. So, I think those advertising with AdSense and also brand partnership deals, I think those are the two main ways you’re going to make money. And in terms of how to keep it authentic…

I mean, again, I think YouTube has built such a good system at this point that people are going to watch the ad no matter what. I think when it comes to brand partnership deals, that’s your call. You know what I mean? If you’re a creator and you want to spam your audience with deals because you don’t care about your audience, then that’s probably not an audience you deserve to have. So I think if you care about your audience, you’ll know how to make the right decisions.

TEM: So what’s next for you?

Jacob: Just Co-Lab. I’d say that Colab is definitely the latest product that I’ve put a lot of attention into and that I envision myself building for a while. And then, I don’t know, we’ll just take it after that. But yeah, I think that just because of the experiences I’ve been through, I think now I’m at a point in my career where I think the most important thing for me is just freedom of expression and keeping that authentic. And so that’s the thing that’s top of mind for me. I love that.

Learn more about Jacob Pace here