Rashan Brown, Founder of poetry me, please, On Leveraging Data and Culture to Drive Product Success

While poetry is a written and verbal expression of art, it is important to recognize that poetry is also a product. It is a product that can inspire, that can motivate and can also be sold. As a former educator, current tech product manager and entrepreneur, Rashan Brown, understands that and it shows in what he has built as the Founder & CEO of poetry me, please (PMP). If you aren’t aware, poetry me, please is the largest spoken word poetry platform and content studio in NYC providing a stage for poets across the world to showcase their talents through creative verbal expression.

‍How Impactful is This Company? 

Check the stats! Within just 4 years of business and only 2 years of physical showcases, this Bronx native has built his company into a community ecosystem where:

• Events are held on a monthly basis
• An average of 400 people attend each event (ticket sales range from $20-$60)
• 10 poets participate in each show
• Poets receive free content that can be utilized to build their portfolios; this includes 2-3 videos per poem whereas poets typically perform 1-3 poems. This means they receive up to 6 videos as well as head shots and passion shots. These poets are also featured on PMP socials giving poets access to their 50K+ Instagram followers, 80K+ Tik Tok followers, and 20K+ Youtube subscribers.
• On the backend, they serve as an agency to their community of 1,200 poets where these poets are being connected with opportunities to participate in showcases outside of PMP.
• Grandest success, yet? On Thanksgiving Weekend 2023, PMP sold out the infamous Apollo with 1,600 people in attendance; this makes them the largest poetry showcase series since Def Poetry Jam on Broadway back in 2008.

How do you build a company with that much impact in just 4 years? According to Rashan Brown,

You must leverage data and your understanding of community culture to make key business decisions surrounding the core product of your company.

Below we walk you through his framework:

Understand the Problem and Who You Are Serving

To build a business that makes a grand impact, you must have a clear understanding of  (1) your target audience (2) the problems they are experiencing (3) the various channels you can leverage to solve their problems. PMP has a clear answer to these. PMP is primarily solving two problems. These are:

• To connect passionate poets with quality content assisting them in attracting more paid opportunities to showcase their talent 
• Building a safe space for Black and Brown individuals who appreciate and want to explore the art of spoken word

Determine What Tools and Systems Will be Used for Data Collection and Assessment

Collecting qualitative and quantitative data is key. Why? This allows you to effectively track not only metrics of success but the journey and process required to achieve such goals. Collecting data on your users/consumers will help you better identify gaps in your business and assist you in collaborating with your team to find solutions. PMP approaches this by:

• Using an event ticketing platform, Eventbrite, to not only collect money from attendees but to also collect data on each attendee. This data encompasses contact information, demographic data, as well as their relationship with poetry. 
• Contact information includes: first name, last name, email and phone number
• Demographic data includes: age range, where they work, their industry, how they identify (gender/ethnicity)
• Affinity to poetry includes: questions regarding their attendance to poetry shows as well as if they have ever attended a PMP show, priorly. 

Explore What the Data is Telling You About Gaps in Your Business 

While reviewing how users/consumers are engaging with your product, you are probably frequently asking yourself, “why is engagement decreasing?”. These are very important questions to ask, but how do you find the answer? In the data! You need to understand what the data is telling you. Here is a walk through of what Rashan of PMP noticed when exploring his data after his third poetry showcase.

Problem 1

‍After successfully selling out his first two poetry showcases, Rashan was unable to reproduce the same results for his third. Rashan had to ask himself, “why is this happening?”, “what went wrong?”. While reviewing the data, he realized that the main difference between his first two events and his third, was location. This venue was in Queens, New York and not as accessible via public transportation.‍

Problem 2

‍His consumers tend to purchase tickets the week of the showcase. This can be nerve wrecking because it makes it difficult to effectively assess how many people will attend the event.

Assessing the Problem With Your Understanding of Culture

Now that the data has informed you on what is not going well in your business, it is your obligation as a business leader and entrepreneur to take action in solving this problem. While data is helpful with indicating what is going wrong, culture and your proximity to the community you serve can help you better understand why the data is telling you this. Here’s how Rashan reasoned with his new data findings:

Assessment 1

‍While location was clearly a factor in not selling out his third showcase, Rashan knew that there must be another reason why this event wasn’t successful. He took his time to create user personas to better understand his consumers. He then randomly selected attendees of his second and third showcases to understand their sentiments towards the venue. He quickly realized that it was not only about the actual location of the venue, it was more so about the  “vibe” of the space. This venue did not have an effective lighting production system that created an intimate, Love Jones, type of experience. The space was too big and too bright, thus, disconnecting them from the poetry.‍

Assessment 2

‍With a target audience of predominantly Black and Brown people who are 24-32 years of age, it is important to know that this demographic of people, hilariously, wait until the last minute to take action and make purchases. Why are we like this? Who knows, but this is just our typical behavior. Rashan knew that he would need to urgently determine a way to engage them sooner.

Let’s Talk Solutions

We are near the end! Following the above steps will lead you to a solution. Here was Rashan’s:

Solution 1

‍Rashan decided to not only change the venue for his next showcase from Queens to a more central location such as Manhattan, but he also decided that it would be best to pursue a venue that had better lighting and production, as well as, a more intimate restaurant type of vibe. When people took notice of the venue change, they grew excited which led to a significant increase in ticket sales.

Solution 2

‍For the last minute ticket purchasers, Rashan knew that selling tiered tickets would definitely lead to a shift in earlier ticket sales. He created three tiers:

• Early Bird (Cheapest Ticket)
• General Admission (Affordable Ticket)
• Late Admission (Slightly More Expensive Ticket)

The intent isn’t to charge more just for the sake of profits but to encourage people that purchasing tickets earlier actually saves them more money. 

Monitor Impact of Your Solutions

Once solutions have been implemented, it is time to monitor impact. What does impact look like for Poetry Me Please? They have SOLD OUT nearly every single show since, then.

This analysis of Rashan’s approach not only educates you on how to effectively organize events and build community but it is a testament to how important data and culture is to product-led growth companies.

Interested in connecting with Rashan? You can reach out to him via website, follow him on, Instagram and/or connect with him on LinkedIn.