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Image Credits:TechCrunch / Rap Genius co-founders (from left): Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, Mahbod Moghadam
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Image Credits:TechCrunch / Rap Genius co-founders (from left): Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, Mahbod Moghadam
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Mahbod Moghadam , the controversial , never - boring co - founding father of Genius and Everipedia , as well as an angel investor , passed away last month at age 41 owing to “ complicatedness from a recurring psyche tumour , ” according to apostattributed to his family and published on Genius .
The startup world appears to have caught wind of his turn over just this weekend , with numerous tribute spring up on the X platform , including by former TechCrunch writer - turned - investor Josh Constine , who once interviewed Moghadam and his laminitis at Genius when the company was still in its relative early childhood and called Rap Genius . Wrote Constine : “ RIP to Mahbod . A complex , edgy , and at times problematic hombre , but also truly funny , brilliant , andalways singular . ”
Moghadam was most latterly live in Los Angeles , where , after expend roughly 20 months with the venture house Mucker Capital as an enterpriser in mansion , he was focused in part on figuring out schemes to facilitate creators get devote more directly for their work .
In aninterview11 months ago with the on-line media getup According 2 Hip Hop , Moghadam blab out about a exchangeable melodic theme for a company called Communistagram where , he said , “ you ’d connect your Venmo and [ as a creator ] just get pay for using it , ” rather than rely on Spotify or YouTube to receive payment .
Moghadam ’s interest in how people can and should get paid dates back to 2009 . After graduating from Yale and then Stanford Law School , he became a lawyer just as the economic system was crash in 2008 . In that same consultation from last year , Moghadam read he was “ just , like , tiptoe ” around the offices of the legal philosophy firm where he shore his first Book of Job and praying he would n’t be fired .
When the inevitable happened — Moghadam said the law firm “ end up basically just give us some money to go by ” — he used the money to co - discover Rap Genius with two of his Yale friend : Ilan Zechory and Tom Lehman .
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Originally , the site invited substance abuser to annotate and explain hip - hop lyrics , finally becoming so well - screw that rappers gravitate to the platform to excuse their own lyrics — as well as to correct users who ’d mangled them — including the knocker Nas , who became an advisor and one of its first investors .
By the clip that Rap Genius grace the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in May 2013 , the three had down funding from Andreessen Horowitz and were on the verge of rebranding Rap Genius as Genius and expanding its remission .
Moghadam later on co - founded Everipedia , a deconcentrate , blockchain - based encyclopedia that in 2022 was renamedIQ.wiki .
As it was still endeavor to find its footing , he fall in Mucker Capital .
Looking back , Moghadam expressed dismay that Genius contributors were n’t paid for help to build out the program . “ The only reason Genius can get by with doing striver task for lyric is because people love music so much , ” he enunciate during last class ’s interview with According 2 Hip Hop .
Either way , the company fell short of its ambition , fail to expand far beyond its center audience of strike lover and unsuccessfully suing Google for copying and posting its lyric poem at the top of lookup results to capture users who might otherwise have visit Genius .
In 2021 , it sold for$80 million — less than half of what it prove from venture investor — to a holding company .
While Moghadam never hit the same height professionally as during the other days of Genius , he remained extremely regarded by many of Genius ’s most ardent fans , appearing on a multifariousness of podcasts where enthusiastic hosts bootlick over him .
Moghadam also never forgive Lehman and was still endeavor to sue the fellowship as of last year in an attempt to “ squeeze some succus from this rock-and-roll , ” he said in that consultation last year .
Slamming the Modern owners of Genius , Moghadam had add together that “ at least the [ original ] CEO [ Lehman ] straight up build up Genius with his own two work force . He ’s a nerd . That ’s the only unspoilt thing about him . ”
