Being Human started in 2006 as the personal consulting and investing vehicle for founder Kyle Jackson. After graduating, Mr. Jackson briefly focused on storytelling and entertainment, with the goal of affecting change and challenging our thinking on a range of topics important to humanity. That trajectory took a turn when Mr. Jackson entered the corporate world in 2001, and fully immersed himself in the digital revolution as a member of the Apple team bringing Final Cut Pro to market. There, he was exposed to companies and experiences that have informed Being Human’s focus in investing and building enterprises to this day: how technology unlocks human potential in storytelling, and how that narrative can in turn unlock human potential at multiple levels, for the betterment of both individuals and society at large.
With a designer, editor, and engineering background, alongside immense curiosity and problem-solving abilities, Mr. Jackson navigated a rapidly changing Media & Entertainment landscape, as digital technologies began to usher in new business models, empower a new class of creators, and accelerate broader economic revolutions. By 2011, it became clear that those early developments were only the beginning of much larger changes, and that the intersection of content and technology would change the broader business world at large. Amid the rise of digital video, social media, and several other new channels of communication, most companies started to become “media” companies, depending on content to attract users, empower employees, or interact with customers.
Being Human’s mission was now evident, its focus on the triangulation between content creation, alignment of values inside content ecosystems, and access to the tools needed to succeed in these transformative times. By 2012, exposure to computer vision, machine learning, virtual production, and the use of real time engines carved an even clearer view of a new reality, one with much further reaching impacts that Mr. Jackson initially fathomed. Over this period Being Human was responsible for a broad range of connected activities, ranging from building software and hardware companies, media campuses, content, and consulting at the bleeding edge where the business of creation and technology innovation collide.