Spotlight: C-Suite
next idea. It’s no different than Walmart adding stores number 305 and 306. It’s a transaction. The entertainment industry has more creative-based personalities, but that creativity quickly slams headfirst into budget limits, tax incentives, legal jurisdictions, who owns what piece of IP. It’s complex issues being tackled by complex individuals. I’m able to solve these riddles because of the foundation I established at the Harbert COB—things like servant leadership, transformational leadership, being able to put the right teams together so that everyone is voluntarily marching toward a particular goal. And at KPMG, I spent so much time dealing with human capital issues, that I’m comfortable bringing a component to Nateland like change management and dealing with situations and people who are in a constant state of flux. Because guess what? The entertainment industry is in a constant state of flux. But the good news is there are so many talented people in the business who just want to work, that finding good people who want to work with Nate and what we’re doing—clean entertainment—has not been an issue. We recently posted a job for a social media coordinator and had 982 applications; we had to pull down the listing. But I’m proud to say that the person we hired is a recent Harbert College of Business graduate!
HM: No surprise here! If we may, let’s talk a little bit about the different facets of the Nateland business, the verticals.
Felix Verdigets stands on set at Trilith Studios, where Nate Bargatze's movie “Breadwinner” is being filmed. The show is slated for release Spring, 2026.
FV: Currently, the touring division is the engine. Nate’s the number one touring comedian in the world, no one would have questioned if he’d chosen to stay right where he is. Instead, the goal is to become the number one entertainment company in the world. Now we have our mandate, our north star. We have the best Tour Director in the business leading this group. The other divisions are the ways we will create capital and value in a manner that helps us grow the brand and grow Nateland. HM: I can imagine that just touring, even if you’re number one, is also limiting, what are the other things you want to accomplish? FV: A key goal of Nateland is to create the next generation of comedians and entertainers. We need a lab, a think tank, a division where we can develop ideas and talent. Thus, the birth of Nateland’s second division, the Digital Division.
HM: How do you protect IP that gets created there?
FV: It’s a contract-heavy industry and the contracts lay out the terms of how creating new material or IP will work for all parties involved. You need an amazing team and our team of managers, agents and attorneys in Los Angeles are the best in the business. The team we are building in Nashville is equally amazing. We hired a seasoned vet to run Digital and a great resource in L.A. who monitors the performance of the contracts, having handled contract complexity and financials with other big Digital enterprises. These folks know the business of Digital and creating IP. They help to ensure any IP created benefits both Nateland and the artist. The team also understands the specificity of what we create. The IP of Nate doing a special for Netflix is very different than our lab creating a 30-second sketch for YouTube.
HM: That’s your R&D.
FV: It’s a lot of things, but our R&D lab is certainly one of them. Podcasts, specials, sketches, live shows, the showcase series, all are part of the Digital Division. We have a mechanism to generate content and IP outside of just Nate. Plus, we have a place that new talent can grow and develop.
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