@joshrichards
Joshua Kenneth Richards, known as Josh Richards, may have grown up in a small town outside of Toronto, Ontario, but he always had big town dreams. Today, he is an 18-year-old social media influencer, entrepreneur, angel investor, musician, writer, actor, and host.
Richards has been an entrepreneur since as long as he can remember, telling Forbes "I had my first company when I was 13 years old. I had a hockey merch company." Ater a brief entrepreneurial hiatus where he spent his time growing his social media accounts to over 30M followers across platforms, he put his entrepreneurial hat back on and founded TalentX, the largest TikTok management and production company, and Sway House, one of the top talent collectives on the internet. He then immediately proceeded to launch his own energy drink Ani Energy, acquire 10% of social good company Dog for Dog where he became partners with Snoop Dog and Chelsea Handler, launch a JV with Warner Records and sign to it as a recording artist, invest in TikTok competitor Triller and become its chief strategy officer, and invest in Ellen DeGeneres' UnHide also serving as their co-creative director.
As a savvy businessman with an eye for consumer needs, Richards is a consistent angel investor, investing in dozens of companies including ReKT Global, Lendtable, Atmos, Versus Game, AON3D, Poppi, Chalk Messaging, Stir, and Humaning. His love and knack for business has attracted the eyes of notable entrepreneurs, some becoming mentors, including Sean Rad (founder, Tinder), Josh Wolfe (MP, Lux Capital), Erik Torenberg, Sam Altman, Chad Hurley (founder, YouTube), Justin Kan (founder, Twitch), Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Harrington, and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss,.
Besides being an entrepreneur, Richards is signed to The Gersh Agency across the board and has starred in multiple indie films including Under the Stadium Lights and Summertime Dropouts. He also co-hosts the BFFs Podcast with Dave Portnoy and has a song with over 100M streams. Richards is also an avid writer and has an op-ed published in Newsweek and others. In June of 2020, Richards penned an emotional open-letter to his fans which was subsequently covered by Elite Daily.
Charity and giving back is something Richards has always valued and held dear. He participated in the All In Challenge where he played a role in raising what became over $50M for kids impacted by COVID-19, donated 100,000 masks to his and his friends' schools, created a clothing line where all proceeds were donated to the NAACP, and gave out blankets to the homeless on Giving Tuesday. He also spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, alongside billionaire Stan Bharti and Chance King (replaced Larry King last minute due to illness), where he spoke about climate change and what Gen Z can do to raise awareness about this important issue and how they can play a small part in the solution. Richards also gave a supporter $10,000 for creating the best video raising awareness about climate change.
Richards was named to Forbes' 2019 Highest-Earning TikTok Stars list and was named one of the next 20 cultural pioneers by Highsnobiety; has been a speaker at business conferences such as Hawke Media Quarantine Conference and CES; has been featured in VanityFair, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, Business Insider, E!, Entertainment Tonight, The Hollywood Reporter, Elite Daily, The Blast, Cosmopolitan, TechCrunch, Billboard Executive Turntable, New York Post, Market Watch, and more; has been profiled on CNBC, Forbes 1, Forbes 2, Insider, Benzinga, Seventeen, and International Business Times,; and has appeared on camera for ET, Fox Business Network, TODAY Show, and others.
You can connect with Josh Richards on Linkedin as well as on Triller, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter via @JoshRichards.