With an array of life principles guiding him, Kyle Kane is showing the world that it’s not just enough to do things for the sake of doing them. With his favorite quote as a constant reminder, “Life is too short not to do what one loves,” Kyle Kane is shaking things up, building companies and brands, and impacting the world at the same time.
He’s an accomplished producer and creator, award-winning entrepreneur, a TEDx speaker and the founder of 180 South, the 13th company on the Inc.’s list of 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America and number 24 in Global Marketing and Advertising. Kyle has worked with some of the world’s top celebrities and brands like Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner, Samsung, Montblanc, etc. He has facilitated a global market value of more than $1 billion in sales.
Kyle Kane’s foray into entrepreneurship began when he was in elementary school, where he traded baseball and basketball cards. By the time he was ten, he had started writing poems and making them into songs. After completing his college education at the University of Maryland, where he studied Marketing Communications and Consumer Psychology, he toured the country for a year as a recording artist, learning as much as possible about the music industry in the process. He then pursued a postgraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania, in a course related to entrepreneurship.
Kyle Kane had immense love for business and music and got the chance to put that love to the test with a job at Universal Music Group. He built solid relationships and interacted with many artists in the industry. Upon leaving Universal Music Group, he delved straight into building his company, 180 South Group, committed to managing brands and delivering value. Within the first year of launching the company, 180 South Group landed business deals with Katy Perry, Samsung and CBS Sports. The level of success the company enjoyed was unprecedented, and Kyle Kane always refers to the period as an unforgettable one.
A key takeaway in Kyle Kane’s journey with 180 South Group is that the successes resulted from strategic positioning and hard work. Kyle Kane built relationships, conducted his market research and learned as much as possible about market trends; so, it was easy to build a company that many brands wanted to work with. Describing what he has learned as an entrepreneur, “Through my unique life experiences, from touring the world as a professional recording artist, to commanding board rooms on four different continents, I feel I have made the most impact in my career as an entrepreneur. It allows me to add value to many different projects across various industry segments, demo & psychographics, truly leveraging my skill set through the strategic choreography of my network and resources that I can lend to other entrepreneurs to make a difference and amplify my purpose truly,” he said.
Kyle Kane has a global mindset, with active projects work in various countries such as S. Korea, Denmark, Copenhagen, Costa Rica, Seychelles, Curacao, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Germany and Spain.
Even though South 180 Group experienced some major losses through 2020 after it raised and invested $20 million in new live event IPs in 2019, Kyle Kane used the experience as a learning curve to reinvent how the company serves its clients. “The IPs we invested in included music festivals and pop culture events, but all live events were shut down throughout 2020. The massive loss helped us to create new businesses that focus more on social impact, affording us the opportunity to reinvent the way we approach branding and marketing,” he noted.
Kyle Kane never plays it safe, and through his daring risks, he hopes to inspire entrepreneurs looking to make it big in the business world, especially the media and entertainment industries. With one of his favorite quotes being, “a ship is safe in harbor, but it was not designed for that,” Kyle Kane is showing out as an entrepreneur worth watching. He has two TEDx Talks due for release in 2021.
Learn more about Kyle Kane on his official Instagram page.
