Farah Allen

Founder Farah Allen completed beta testing for The Labz in 2019. When she spoke to the Kauffman Foundation a year ago, the Atlanta-based blockchain real-time collaboration platform was really only targeted for use by musicians. “Now we’re film and videos and music and writing and all about the creative process of entertainment-like content,” Allen says. “This year, the business made a pivot that was fantastic.”

Q:  How have the events of 2020 affected you and your work?

In March, everyone was stuck at home and no longer could meet to show off their content in person, which they were used to doing. They were trying to do that inside of our platform and requesting better ways to do that as far as from a product development standpoint.

I thought of a new product in conjunction with Level Forward, which is one of our partners in the film industry. That’s when the idea around Labz Live came around, which is ultimately a way to showcase your content via livestream conferencing and on-demand playing and viewing of an event.

Q: How does Labz Live work?

It’s an interactive experience. The technology allows you to select a template to create that atmosphere of a pre-show lounge.

So, in that lounge for like a movie, you can have movie clips, trailers, music automatically playing, and someone will welcome you into the event. Then, the page automatically changes. You go into this livestream that you’re viewing, then you’re watching the movie and you’re having conversations, if that’s what they want. There are live links to other sites, speakers, and bios that are pop-ups.

This is all software, it’s all creative, and it’s just much more interesting than having one page of content and then you’re done. We’ve created templates where you just select what you want, and you can design the background the way you want, and customize the colors.

Q: Last year, we talked about how difficult it is for Black women to access funding. How has funding worked for your expansion?

Level Forward made a seven-figure investment. What they do is ultimately invest their money and their resources in bettering culture, women, the pursuits of women, and diversity in the creative field. They invest in Broadway shows and films as well as technology companies that support those initiatives. Abigail Disney and Adrienne Becker are two of the three founders – it’s not through Disney. They have 25 Tony award nominations this year for stuff they’ve backed and produced from Jagged Little Pill to Slave Play. It’s all about women and diversity within content.

Q: Would you say that anything that’s happened this year has changed the way you see the world?

I think we’re in a place where creativity can really dominate. If you can really be strategic with your creativity, you can solve some problems people never had before. Let’s throw out those old rules.

One of the things that used to upset me is, someone would be like, “that’s not to the product rules.” Who wrote that book? Some dude in 1920 wrote this book that everybody’s been using and changing around the words to fit the idealisms of 2020. Well, now it’s like that book no longer applies, because our whole generation’s mindset has changed. This is a whole new space. And now, we’re forced to do something different. Now, anybody’s game to make the standard, so let’s make a new standard now that includes everyone.

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