Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

I like to stay busy, but here to serve! If I can assist, lmk!

While teaching From Concept to Reality at @mcgillu, during the financing section of the course, I’d ask students how many investors they thought they needed to pitch before closing one. The answers were… enlightening. One of the great misunderstandings in business is this: people often underestimate how much of entrepreneurship is simply relentless momentum, pattern recognition, networking, iteration, and resilience. It’s also why an entrepreneur can sometimes accomplish far more than an investor — even a wealthy investor — in projects as complex and ambitious as bringing back the Expos. Case in point. I’m sitting in the @AirCanada lounge in Los Angeles, working. A gentleman asks if he can sit at the same table. Of course. Then asks if I can watch his things while he goes to the restroom. Sure. He comes back and asks: “Heading to Montreal?” “Yep, live there.” “Same. I own a business there and many of my biggest clients are in LA. What brought you here?” A fellow entrepreneur, so instead of the generic “meetings” answer, I tell him: “I work in media, one of my board members suggested I meet Simon Fuller, the creator of American Idol.” “Huh… cool,” he says. “And well… slightly random, but I’ve also been working on bringing back the @Montreal_Expos, so I met with a sports franchise owner.” Suddenly: “Wait… what? That's cool. Have you spoken to so-and-so?” Homeboy proceeds to name-drop five people. Two immediately stand out: a major builder and a wealthy family office I hadn’t approached yet. Then he asks: “Mind watching my stuff again while I hit duty free?” Not at all. The second he walks away, I’m already searching the builder online and emailing four executives there. Blitzkrieg. That company is going to have an entertaining Friday. Meanwhile, while shopping at duty free, he emails me introducing me to a fifth executive there directly. Before we even board the plane, we’re scheduling a meeting. This is why entrepreneurs are the GOATs. These opportunities rarely get presented — let alone shared broadly — because the principals driving them usually keep everything tightly inside a small inner circle. I tend to do the opposite. This may be why I'm not most people's cup of tea. It's fine. I am not here for them, but you. I expand the circle. I widen the strike zone. And to ensure interested investors stay engaged, we keep building a bigger and stronger ownership ecosystem capable of becoming the best possible group for @MLB and @Montreal. That’s how momentum compounds. And things get done.

@Halifaxidocious Well to be fair, I am not a fan of violent sports (boxing, MMA, wrestling I watched as a kid). I was really commenting on entrepreneurs.

@ashkan He’s not a great example. I witnessed what happened at UFC 328. It was disgraceful and disgusting.

Facts. And to any entrepreneur this is normal. To non-entrepreneurs, feels crazy

When you see a 50 year old man travelling with a 25 year old woman, do you presume couple? Or father/daughter?

@Halifaxidocious youtube.com/playlist?list=…

@ashkan Iran has always peaked my interest since Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

@dwinch2001 @WatchMojo Fair. Every generation says this. But every generation also produces environments that either harden or soften people. Modern society has optimized heavily for comfort, safety, and emotional insulation. That has consequences, good and bad.

@ashkan @WatchMojo Didn’t Socrates already contend similar?

I love my team @WatchMojo - all sweethearts who mean well - but I’ve sheltered them from the realities and vagaries of competition. I’m gonna shock them into reality. This generation is weak. Zero mental toughness, zero resilience. I blame parents. Teachers. Society.

Was very fortunate to meet the legendary Simon Fuller, creator of @AmericanIdol, and much more. For those who may not know, Simon isn't merely the creator of American Idol, he was the architect behind the Spice Girls phenomenon, managed David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton, and is one of the most influential entertainment entrepreneurs of the modern era through XIX Entertainment. And, he's a normal lad you can just have a conversation with (it helps that we share the same two passion points: music and sports).  One of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had in a long time, spanning media, music, sports, storytelling, curation, talent identification, audience psychology, global trends, and encapsulated how much YouTube and mobile have changed media & entertainment.  On the one hand, I am always blown away when more experienced, successful folks ask me for my thoughts. It's also a reflection of why some people succeed: they are perpetually curious, confident yet humble enough to seek feedback, and they recognize talent in others. He walked me through some of his projects and plans. We may explore a partnership.  I asked him about SoundMojo, and got all the validation I needed. When the conversation turned to the @Montreal_Expos he brought up David Beckham's @MLS deal which gave the English footballer the option to acquire the Miami franchise post-retirement. He also suggested a few athletes who'd be interested in joining the Expos ownership group, particularly those with an attachment to a French-speaking city like Montreal. A suivre...

@SorayaMartinezF @PWHL_Montreal @CanadiensMTL Well, when you wanna cheer the @Montreal_Expos, please let us know. prweb.com/releases/day-1… We also have solutions to our housing issues, homelessness, youth employment. contextisking.com/2026/05/14/hab…

Même à Québec, on encourage notre @PWHL_Montreal et nos @CanadiensMTL ! Allez Montréal! 🏒🚨

Many leaders set impossibly high standards for themselves. The problem is: once you operate at that level long enough, people stop seeing the effort and start treating the output as normal. Early in your career, you aim absurdly high and move at a velocity most people either can’t or won’t sustain. But as you get older, you become more selective. You pick your spots more carefully. And you tolerate far less bullshit. This isn’t a vague post. It applies to WatchMojo, the Expos effort, the Free Iran movement, even family dynamics. If you think I am talking about you, yeah, I probably am. But not just you, all of you. In Farsi, the term that comes to mind is "talabkâr." For 20 years, much of the media had an obsession with covering our peers while largely ignoring us. One CEO they glorified openly bragged: “I’d be at the party and just want to get wasted, do coke, and hook up with girls in the bathroom.” Another became a darling of the business press while arguably destroying more shareholder value than 99% of CEOs. I suspect part of the issue was that I wrote publicly — on my own blog, TechCrunch, MediaPost, and elsewhere — which made me look like “competition” instead of a founder who built one of the most successful startups and media companies ever. It's fine. I don't care about press, I care about results. But honestly, it’s shocking how many industry publications spent two decades covering noise while ignoring signal. Then there’s the @Montreal_Expos In a very short period of time, we’ve helped bring Montreal into serious contention — arguably ahead of several markets pursuing expansion. The overwhelming majority of people aware of the effort have been supportive and appreciative. Yet you still have this class of sycophantic gatekeepers clinging to conservative, born-on-third-base figureheads who easily could have pursued this themselves years ago but chose not to. Which is fine. My statement of purpose is Here to Serve. I mean it. But this isn't about me, but you. Don’t pretend to care now while simultaneously attacking the people actually doing the work. And I can just imagine how it infuriates some of them most is when I say: “I don’t need or even particularly want the job unless MLB asks me.” As for my own team @WatchMojo — I love them, and I don’t doubt the mutual respect — but sometimes I think we’ve built a mirage of a company and culture. A Xanadu. An incredibly positive environment. Yet instead of using that foundation to swing bigger, people sometimes become too comfortable, too soft. You run a media company FFS. Take some risks. No one is gonna crash out if you mess up. Heck, if you don't mess up as a publisher, are you even in business? I’ve done the endlessly motivational leader thing. Sometimes what’s needed is the hard-edged coach. Fear is a motivator, make no doubt it. Unpredictability is an asset. Don't kid yourself. People used to take advantage of my diplomacy, now they don't know how I will react. Good. Yes, as a parent or leader you want to protect people from unnecessary hardship. But if we accept the idea that “a company is not a family but a team,” then perpetual coddling becomes counterproductive. I’ll spare my kids from the rest of this analogy… but you get the idea.

This guys goes AWOL, but when you make yourself available to your team, they think that’s normal. No more Mr Nice Guy. nypost.com/2026/05/11/bus…

They’re so sheltered. Again, what the outside world is like nbcnews.com/pop-culture/po…

At my first gig, I bought traffic from Goto for $0.01 per click. It was so ahead of the curve and revolutionary... and then all keywords were like $1+ - smart marketing early on can and usually does change a firm's trajectory. Mind you, at @WatchMojo, we have never done any marketing like that (we did sponsor the @NYIslanders and @NHL so a bit of a leap :)

Roblox bought their first 1500 users from Google for $1 each. You can tie the 300 million users today back to those original 1500:

Idc if I get fired, Charlie Kirk had it coming My name is Zachary Benson and I work for the Buffalo Sabres.

To be honest, I am pretty confident to be able to align any political party as 1) Know this sounds weird, but I AM NOT A BILLIONAIRE (there's an understandable issue when a billionaire arrives thinking they are owed something, etc) 2) Je suis Quebecois, hard core. So bring it. My views sometimes make pure laine Quebecois go "ayoye, Ashkan, on se calme." 3) We are not seeking any taxpayer money 4) I actually care about social issues, and want to leverage the interest of PRIVATE capital to address homelessness, help via ASE youth employment, etc. So as long as they see that this is a NET addition to their tax base, I really don't think it matters (meaning all politicians care about optics, etc but not like PQ or PLQ or anyone would materially matter).

@ashkan How much is the possibility of there being a PQ government in October mess up the timing?

AI Slop - JUST KIDDING :) - this is actually GREAT use of AI. So, two questions 1) Which admin said no? 2) Isn't the much bigger issue now a lack of roof for the harsher winter months once the season shifts to a winter one? Is a new stadium totally out of the question? (to address 2, instead of focusing on 1 alone)?

Un des gros problèmes du CF Montréal ce sont les billets prémiums. Les options sont très limitées au Stade Saputo pour ce qui est d'un agrandissement. La seule section du stade qui peut soutenir une plus grosse charge est la section Nord. Souvenez-vous que Joey Saputo avait proposé d'injecter 100M$ dans le stade et refaire la section nord avec un mur de 3 étages de loges. Ceci aurait permis à l'équipe de générer plus d'argent, et aussi d'en dépenser plus, s'il le désirait. Le plan a été présenté à la mairie, en demandant en retour un gel du montant des impôts fonciers, ce qui a été refusé. Le projet a donc été abandonné. Je serais curieux de savoir ce qu'en penserait la nouvelle mairesse de cette proposition. Et si le club était toujours intéressé par une telle idée. Car un jour, pour assurer une certaine rentabilité, quelque chose doit finir par aboutir. Ça aurait pu ressembler un peu à cette image (créée par l'intelligence artificielle), à partir de la mémoire que j'ai de ce que l'on nous avait présenté à l'époque.

@ItsBiggyBoy @grok You're about to have a good time.

Hey @grok what does it mean if a girl has these lower back dimples?

Habitations Jeanne-Mance: Montreal’s Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity to Rebuild With Dignity, Vision, and Ambition. cc @Montreal_Expos @SorayaMartinezF @pinardvelo @MrLeslieRoberts @MarkJCarney @PaulPlamondon @CharlesMilliard @CFrechette @MTL_Ville - article linked in the replies.