Masters of Niche

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the example of a niche breaking through in combat sports. Less than 50 years ago BJJ was a minor martial art practiced by a few thousand Brazilians. 50 years later and there are thousands of schools all around the world.

Our guest, Robert Drysdale remains the only American competitor to have ever won both the IBJJF and ADCC World Championships, the two most prestigious tournaments in all of Jiu-Jitsu, he has also cultivated a career in MMA, both as an undefeated fighter and as a coach. He is also the co-founder of the international team Zenith Jiu-Jitsu with over 100 academies. With a bachelor’s in history, Robert is currently working on Closed Guard, a documentary about the history of BJJ, and is the author of Opening Closed Guard, a phenomenal book on the same topic!

We talk about Robert’s career,  the history of Jiu-Jitsu, the story behind the book and his movies, his thoughts on the future of Jiu-Jitsu, and much more!

Be sure to follow Robert @robertdrysdale and check out his upcoming documentary at https://www.closedguardfilm.com/!

What Youtube has done for video creators and Instagram for photographers, self-publishing has done for authors. Tools like Amazon’s KDP have destroyed many barriers to the publishing industry and given birth to a new generation of independent authors. Our guest this week is independent author, Alexander Darwin. Alex is the author of The Combat Codes a fantastic fantasy book series that mixes MMA-style unarmed combat and fantasy themes together.

We talk about Alex’s career, his passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the story behind the Combat Codes, his thoughts on self-publishing, best practices for self-publishing authors, and much more!

Be sure to follow Alex @@combatcodes and check out his work at http://www.combatcodes.com/!

Kpop is the ultimate example of something originally considered niche blazing into the mainstream, with groups like BTS hitting the #1 spot on charts around the world. Today we have Tamar Herman, Kpop writer for the South China Morning Post, Co-founder of Kpop website Kultscene and author of BTS: Blood Sweat and Tears a phenomenal book on BTS and kpop. We talk about Tamar’s career, the kpop industry, kpop fandom and of course her book! If you are even remotely interested in Kpop this is a must listen!

Be sure to follow Tamar @TamarWrites and check out more of her work at tamarherman.com

Alcohol is a $119B market but online ordering is just a fraction of that with only 0.2% of beer being sold online in the US, but COVID has made that all change. As CEO of  Taprm, the Fastest growing U.S. alcohol e-comm platform during COVID-19, Jason Sherman is trying to reimagine the way we buy alcohol online. We talk about the craft beer industry, TapRm, the future of alcohol e-commerce, how TapRm 40xd their sales in less than a quarter, and much more! Be sure to follow TapRm @TapRmBeer and Jason @jsherman1130!

Disclaimer: I am an investor in TapRm

Tom Ngo should actually have two episodes given how much he has done He was one of the first people to scout and manage the Far East Movement, the hip hop group to become the first Asian American artist to hit the #1 on the Billboard hot 100. He co-founded the imprint which would later become 88 Rising is now the Head of Content at Popshop Live, a livestreaming shopping app dubbed the “qvc for Gen Z  which reportedly recently raised a round valued at $100M led by Benchmark. During this conversation we talk about all aspects of Tom's career and his core principles behind his success. Be sure to follow Tom @TomNgo422 and Popshop Live @popshop_live!

The facts: Masters of Niche is hosted and produced by Maurice Eisenmann. You can get in touch with him on Twitter at @MREisenmann and you can follow the pod @MastersNiche. The music used is Blitz by LonePeakMusic

Print media is dead! Or maybe we just needed to bring it into the 21st century? The Athletic, a subscription-based sports website, has been one of the biggest success stories of modern media being valued at $500M+. As Managing Editor of The Athletic Dallas, Or has been on the frontlines of the company's success! In this episode, Or shares his story (from starting in TV to being poached by The Athletic), his best practices for building a subscription-based media company, and his predictions for the next big thing in the media industry! Be sure to follow Or @OrMoyal and The Athletic Dallas @TheAthleticDFW!

The facts: Masters of Niche is hosted and produced by Maurice Eisenmann. You can get in touch with him on Twitter at @MREisenmann and you can follow the pod @MastersNiche. The music used is Blitz by LonePeakMusic