Live By Your Values: Interview with Chris Cummings, founder and CEO of Iconic Moments
I recently went one on one with Chris Cummings. Chris is the founder and CEO of Iconic Moments, the first NFT marketplace for the museum industry. Prior to founding Iconic Moments, Chris founded Pass It Down, an award-winning digital exhibit design platform focused on transforming how museums and cultural institutions engage their visitors.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Chris: My late mother is at the heart of my story. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was young. Then she was diagnosed with dementia when I was 18.
I was inspired to go to law school after I had to fight to get my mom covered by Social Security and Medicaid. The system automatically denied her coverage three times. The woman working the front desk of the Social Security office pulled me aside and whispered, “Honey, we automatically turn down everyone. You are going to have to hire an attorney to get your mom the care she needs.”
Within two weeks of hiring an attorney, my mom’s care was approved. I decided then that I would go to law school. In law school, I became interested in federal criminal law, which is where my career was headed.
During law school, my mom lost her ability to speak, and I was frustrated by the family history and stories I was losing. I started my career as a trial attorney, but there was always a nagging at the back of my mind.
Pass It Down was originally created as a digital storytelling tool for families to capture and pass down the memories and stories of their loved ones.
As we started to build and scale Pass It Down to families around the country, we were surprised when cultural institutions (libraries, museums, universities) and big brands (Porsche and Coca-Cola) started to approach us. Turns out, they needed help in capturing and telling their stories too.
For the last six years, we’ve been working side-by-side with the top museums and cultural institutions to help bring them into the future and to focus on using new digital technologies. These institutions were hit dramatically by COVID-19 and desperately need to evolve to survive. Museums only display an average of 2 percent of their collections at a time and we saw meaningful communities being built around NFTs.
That is how Iconic Moments was born.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Chris: There were a lot of iterations before Iconic Moments – the first NFT marketplace for the 450,000 museums and archives globally – came to be.
Pass it Down started out to solve a problem that was intimate to me. With museums and cultural institutions, it shifted. Then with COVID-19 closures and the rise of NFTs, we pivoted again and created Iconic Moments.
Listening to your customers and the market is important. When I started Pass it Down, I was obsessed with preserving families’ history. Everyone said this was important, but no one wanted to spend money and actually acknowledge that their loved ones wouldn’t be with them forever.
Working directly with museums was great, until COVID-19. We had to adapt again.
Companies need to recognize where their customers are and be able to adapt with the market.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Chris: In the startup world, the phrase “MVP” is thrown a lot. It stands for Minimum Viable Product: what is the most simple product that you can sell to prove your model.
We have big plans with Iconic Moments, but we’re starting with building the first NFT marketplace for museums. You have to start small and piece by piece.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Chris: When you’re building something with a big vision, it’s difficult to stay focused on the day to day. Building a solid foundation and focusing on one thing at a time is the only way to get to the next level.
Adam: What should everyone understand about NFTs?
Chris: NFTs are ultimately about building community. With all new technology, there are risks. The NFTs that are successful come with exclusive benefits that connect you to others. Community is always the most important thing.
Adam: What should everyone understand about the metaverse?
Chris: The Metaverse connects the physical and the digital world. It changes the internet from an attention-based place – where we are experiencing now, posting for engagement – to an experience-based place.
The physical world and the infrastructure of the Metaverse matter because it is a place that you’ll go to experience things.
NFTs are Iconic Moment’s shorter term play in the Metaverse, but like I mentioned before, it’s ultimately about building community. NFTs build community around shared interests and connect you to people and places that you can experience virtually.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Chris: Talk to your customers. Make sure you’re building something that people want and are willing to spend money on.
Surround yourself with smart people, and trust them to do their job. This is the hardest one for me – to be hands-off – but it’s the key to staying focused and not burning out.
Do one thing at a time. We live in a world with so many distractions: you have to stay focused.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Chris: Feedback loops are important. My high school debate coach – no matter how successful I was – would always give me pointers on areas to improve. We spent time reviewing every competition to talk about areas to improve.
We do the same at Iconic Moments: after we have an important meeting, finish a project, or plan the next sprint, members of the team get together and talk about what went well and what could go better.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Chris: “Plans will change, live by your values.”
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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