Damian Pelliccione On Raising Millions To Build An LGBTQ+-First Streaming Media Network With Free Live TV, Movies, Series, News, And Exclusive Queer Programming

Damian Pelliccione didn’t just build a streaming platform; they built a company that redefined what representation in media can look like, proving that mission-driven businesses can be highly profitable. They are the co-founder of Revry, the world’s leading LGBTQ-first streaming service.

Revry has secured funding from top-tier investors like Elevate Capital, Backstage Capital, Collab Capital, and LOUD Capital.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Representation builds markets. LGBTQ content isn’t just cultural, it’s commercially powerful.
• Build investor relationships before you need capital.
• Free, ad-supported models can scale with the right niche and audience insights.
• Mental health is foundational for entrepreneurial endurance.
• Media can drive social change and revenue.
• Profitability empowers founders to scale on their own terms.
• Founders from underrepresented backgrounds can thrive and lead multimillion-dollar companies.

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About Damian Pelliccione:

Named one of Business Insider’s “Top 16 Power Player Execs in AD Video Streaming Space”, Damian Pelliccione (they/them) is one of 4x intersectional diverse co-founders and CEO of Revry, the global Queer streaming media company. Revry was named ‘App of the Day’, and Damian’s story was featured globally on Apple in the ‘Developer Spotlight’.

Damian was named one of Goldman Sachs ‘Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and was also featured on the ‘Out 100’ list in 2021. They were also a proud recipient of the West Hollywood Rainbow Key Award. They and their co-founders are all graduates of the Goldman Sachs Black and Latinx 2020 accelerator program.

Prior to their role at Revry, Damian worked as the Head of Business Development in the US for the live-streaming German-based company Make.tv (recently acquired by LTN Networks). Previously, they worked for General Motors domestic/international brands Chevrolet and Cadillac, developing and creating new media opportunities to promote new car lineups at live events and auto shows across the US and Europe.

Damian has produced over 50 web projects, short films, feature films, and commercials. They have served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago and have lectured at over 20 universities and colleges worldwide, including the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Film School, and BAU University in Istanbul, Turkey, among others.

Damian also worked for YouTube Space Los Angeles and New York, teaching creators live streaming and strategy. A proud member of the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Screen Actors Guild, and StartOut, they also founded a mastermind group with 20 other niche and minority-owned and operated streaming companies.

Damian is a proud Dual Citizen of the USA and Canada. They have two amazing dogs, Eddie and Oliver, and reside in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

Connect with Damian Pelliccione:

• LinkedIn
• Crunchbase
• PitchBook
• RocketReach

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Alrighty, hello everyone, and welcome to The DealMaker Show. Today, I’m really excited about the founder we have joining us. We’re going to have an inspiring conversation about his experience in Mumbai, pitching investors at an early stage, what raising capital during the COVID days looked like, and also his involvement and communication with Goldman Sachs.

Alejandro Cremades: We’ll touch on some of the initiatives Goldman Sachs has around their accelerator program. But again, we’ll be discussing the building, the scaling, the financing—all the good stuff we like to hear. So without further ado, let’s welcome our guest today, Damian Pelliccione. Welcome to the show.

Damian Pelliccione: Thanks so much—excuse me—thanks so much for having me. This is such a treat.

Alejandro Cremades: So, born and raised in Toronto, Damian. Give us a walk down memory lane—what was life like growing up for you?

Damian Pelliccione: Yes, I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I lived there my entire childhood. I was raised by an immigrant family. My father was an immigrant from Italy during World War II, the youngest of six siblings.

Damian Pelliccione: My mother was a second-generation Canadian-Italian. Her grandparents had immigrated to Canada. I have one sister. My dad, who is now deceased, was a serial entrepreneur. He created a family business with my uncle and cousins, which became the second-largest Italian cheese distributor in Canada.

Damian Pelliccione: I didn’t want to sell cheese—that was not my calling in life. Instead, I worked on or starred in their commercials for some of the products they had locally in Toronto and throughout Canada.

Damian Pelliccione: I went to a performing arts high school in Toronto—Unionville High School for the Performing Arts. It was an amazing experience, and I made a lot of great friends. I’ve always been in the arts, specifically in acting and drama, for practically my entire life.

Damian Pelliccione: That passion brought me to New York City, where I moved in January 2000, right before 9/11. I lived there until the attacks, and then, in October 2001, with all the chaos that followed, I decided to move to Los Angeles. I had a few friends already working in the industry there. So, I’ve now lived in LA since I was 20 years old—right before I turned 21. I’m 44 now, and LA is definitely home for me.

Damian Pelliccione: It’s been a really exciting journey, from being in the arts—in front of the camera or on stage—to transitioning in my early to mid-20s into technology and startups. Specifically, I became an entrepreneur and started Reverie.

Alejandro Cremades: You’re obviously a really important figure in the LGBTQ community. Everything you’re doing is incredible in terms of support and bringing awareness. For those listening—and for the community—at what point did you know this was your path in life?

Damian Pelliccione: I think one of the greatest things I love about being an entrepreneur—and about technology—is how creative it is. Out of my 12 Italian cousins, only one was an entrepreneur: Anthony DiCostopero. He was much older—he started MGI Software, which was invested in by Microsoft back in the 80s.

Damian Pelliccione: He was someone I looked up to as a mentor. I saw how creative technology could be. I combined my expertise in entertainment—specifically film and TV—with the way technology was evolving those industries.

Damian Pelliccione: One of the first businesses I started, with my roommate at the time, created opportunities for filmmakers to produce web content. Deanna Nicole Baxter, still one of my close friends, won the first Emmy for Best Broadband Drama in 2007, just a year after YouTube launched.

Damian Pelliccione: That experience inspired me to become a producer. I produced a lot of shorts, videos, and web content, and that led me to focus on the entrepreneurial side of tech. I love how tech is disruptive, creative, and allows you to break and rebuild systems across any sector—not just entertainment.

Damian Pelliccione: I’m neurodivergent and have ADHD. My mind thrives on solving problems, deep thinking, hyper-focusing, and fixing things. One major issue I noticed was that there was no centralized platform for LGBTQ content in film and television.

Damian Pelliccione: For context, Reverie is now 10 years old. New statistics show that the LGBTQ community is the third-largest consumer group in the U.S.—behind white and Hispanic groups—with $1.7 trillion in disposable income.

Damian Pelliccione: We’re a smaller group, but more affluent than other communities. That “pink dollar” has significant influence. Yet, very few platforms allow brands to reach this audience. Media, especially movies and TV, is the most effective way to do that.

Damian Pelliccione: That’s why we built Reverie—a free queer TV platform with over a thousand hours of content from studios like Warner Brothers, BBC, and Lionsgate, plus our own original programming. Advertisers like McDonald’s, L’Oréal, and Procter & Gamble can now engage with our audience at scale and see real returns on ad spend.

Damian Pelliccione: At its core, Reverie is a marketing machine that helps brands connect with the LGBTQ community through entertainment. Solving that problem has helped us build a profitable startup with 50 employees between LA and New York. We’re not currently raising capital.

Alejandro Cremades: One question that comes to mind—and I’m sure listeners are wondering—how do you make money? What’s the business model of Reverie?

Damian Pelliccione: Our model is built on advertising—hence “free queer TV.” Unlike Netflix or Hulu, we’re not a subscription service. You can watch for free, but there are ads—two minutes of ads every eight minutes of content.

Damian Pelliccione: There’s a social component to this too. We’re democratizing access—whether or not someone can afford a subscription, they can still see themselves and their stories reflected. No credit card needed.

Damian Pelliccione: On the business side, we now have 5 million monthly active viewers in the U.S. That’s a scalable audience for major brands to target. Advertisers also underwrite some of our original content, which adds to our revenue streams.

Alejandro Cremades: One thing that really shaped your perspective was your trip to India. Why was that?

Damian Pelliccione: I love what I do because I get to tell stories for underrepresented communities. The LGBTQ community is incredibly diverse—not one race, language, gender, or orientation. Our stories are vast and often untold.

Damian Pelliccione: We launched Reverie in 2016 at San Francisco Pride. Back in 2017, we licensed a lesbian drama called The Other Love Story, a half-English, half-Hindi series filmed in Bangalore, India.

Damian Pelliccione: For context, India decriminalized homosexuality in 2018—so the movement was behind where the U.S. has been for 50+ years. I had the chance to keynote the Kashish LGBTQ Film Festival in Mumbai in June 2019, which was my first time in India.

Damian Pelliccione: On opening night, the international speakers were seated together and invited on stage to promote their panels. Later, at the reception, I had a long line of queer women—lesbian women—from India who wanted to meet me.

Damian Pelliccione: I couldn’t figure out why. Eventually, one woman showed me her phone—on Tinder, under “women who love women,” all the profile images were stills from The Other Love Story. These women were using our content to express their identity.

Damian Pelliccione: I cried. It was incredibly moving. These women were using our project to safely identify as queer in a country where being out was still dangerous. It showed me the real power of media to drive social good and change.

Damian Pelliccione: I immediately called my co-founders—Aaliyah J. Daniels, LaShawn McGee, and Chris Rodriguez—in LA despite the 15-hour time difference. I had to share it.

Damian Pelliccione: As founders, we always believe our work can change the world. This was one of those moments where I actually saw our platform changing lives in a place I’d never even been. There’s no greater gift than that.

Alejandro Cremades: I hear you. Now obviously, for all of this, you raised some money. What was the experience like pitching investors at an early stage for a company like this?

Damian Pelliccione: Yeah, so pitching investors in 2015, 2016, and even through 2017 and 2018—the first three to four years of the company—was not the easiest time. Capital wasn’t necessarily flowing in the same way. The valuations were there, but media as a sector is hard because it’s difficult to prove return on investment.

Damian Pelliccione: We’ve been successful in doing that now. But it’s also not like we’re creating a SaaS product solving a supply chain or fintech issue. It’s much easier to create an algorithm or a math equation to show how something like that could scale and make money.

Damian Pelliccione: Media is a lot more difficult. Then you layer in the fact that—we’re targeted media. I hate using the word “niche,” but we are focused specifically on the LGBTQ community. That narrows your pool of investors. Venture capital continues to scale back when it comes to targeted media.

Damian Pelliccione: You find yourself holding out your hands, asking for investment from a lot of the same people. The first two years, it was predominantly friends and family writing us small checks at early-stage valuations.

Damian Pelliccione: It wasn’t really until COVID that we hit a tipping point, when we saw a new intention from investors to support underrepresented founders.

Damian Pelliccione: My co-founders are two Black women. Aaliyah is an ally to the community and identifies as straight. LaShawn is an Army veteran, a lesbian, and a Black woman. Aaliyah is a Black woman as well. So we’re 50% Black women-owned, operated, and founded.

Damian Pelliccione: Chris, our Chief Content Officer, is of Hispanic descent. I’m an immigrant who is neurodivergent, and I identify as both male and non-binary. So around 2020, 2021, and even into 2022, funds started to emerge for Black founders, Hispanic founders, and LGBTQ founders.

Damian Pelliccione: By that point, we were cash flow positive. We were still running at a deficit, but you could see we had doubled our revenue.

Damian Pelliccione: We were at that lower hockey stick inflection point, climbing the revenue ladder. With a good cash infusion, we knew we could leap to the next level.

Damian Pelliccione: We got some big VCs to start investing in us—and then come back and reinvest in 2023 and beyond. That’s when we really started to have the cash to scale and grow. Last year, we broke profitability—it was our first profitable year.

Damian Pelliccione: It was the first year I didn’t have to raise capital. For any founders listening, that is the greatest gift—because all we want to do is build product and work on our companies, not pitch investors.

Damian Pelliccione: This year, we’re having another successful, profitable year. Will we raise again? Probably. At some point, we’ll want to scale. But we’re waiting to see where the markets and valuations go.

Damian Pelliccione: It’s not necessarily the best time to raise with the current administration, but let’s see what happens in the next couple of years. The exciting thing is that we’ve graduated from being an early-stage company. We’re now mid-stage.

Damian Pelliccione: With our current profitability and revenue scale—and what we’re forecasting—it’s exciting to build something that runs without you.

Damian Pelliccione: That was a real transition point for me. I still think I need to take out the garbage. And if I’m not taking out the garbage, something feels wrong.

Damian Pelliccione: As an early-stage founder, you have imposter syndrome. Then you get to mid-stage and still feel like something’s going wrong or like you should be doing everything. That’s been my journey these last two years—learning to let go and let God, so to speak.

Alejandro Cremades: That’s amazing. Now, obviously, as you said, being profitable and able to control your own destiny gives you leverage to raise incredible rounds—because, as we know, you raise money when you don’t need it. And when you need it, it’s super tough, right?

Alejandro Cremades: Looking back, what would you say has been your biggest lesson when it comes to raising money and dealing with investors?

Damian Pelliccione: Yeah, I’m so excited to be on this podcast because it reminds me of the many, many lessons I had to learn in 10 years of building this business—especially during the first five years of raising capital.

Damian Pelliccione: I’m so used to being a marketer and sales guy. I was approaching investment with that same mindset. The last company I worked for before starting Reverie, I was head of international business development—very much a sales and marketing role.

Damian Pelliccione: But that’s not how investors think. That’s not the mindset of a VC or angel investor. I describe them as conservative high-risk gamblers.

Damian Pelliccione: It’s like being in Vegas, at the high-stakes tables roped off with security, lights, and guys in sunglasses playing poker. That’s what venture capital is. They want either a sure path to profitability or a company that could be the next Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, or Tesla.

Damian Pelliccione: I truly believe this is a courtship. Building relationships with VCs and angels will get you much farther than anything else. The investor you meet in year one might be the one you need in year five.

Damian Pelliccione: As long as you stay in touch—share updates, bump into them at events, keep things positive—they might change their tune. Even if they said no to you three or four times, relationships matter more than deals.

Damian Pelliccione: I teach this to everyone at Reverie. Whatever division they work in, I stress that relationships are more important than transactions.

Damian Pelliccione: A friendship is a courtship. You don’t just jump into bed with someone—you take time, get to know them, maybe have a drink or two first. You need that mindset throughout your entrepreneurial career.

Damian Pelliccione: Your career isn’t just about building product—it’s about raising capital too. And there were so many investors I wanted to speak my mind to when they said no. But I didn’t. I kept my decorum, vented to my husband, and moved on.

Damian Pelliccione: The lesson? You never know who will be in a position to invest later, or who will finally understand your vision. They might say, “I get it now,” and drop that million-dollar check.

Damian Pelliccione: From a slightly catty standpoint, it’s also fun to go back and tell the people who said no that we’re succeeding. We’re profitable. We’ve doubled and tripled our revenue. We’ve hit 20, 30, 40 million in profit. There’s nothing more rewarding than proving the future is what you’re building.

Alejandro Cremades: No kidding. Now let’s talk about the future. You’re putting it out there, so let’s explore it.

Alejandro Cremades: Let’s say you go to sleep tonight and have the snooze of a lifetime. You wake up in a world where the vision of Reverie is fully realized. What does that world look like?

Damian Pelliccione: Haha—wow. Sky’s the limit. I’ve said this in other interviews: LGBTQ media domination is where I want to go. I want Reverie to be the biggest, the baddest, the most successful, and eventually be acquired at a really high multiple.

Damian Pelliccione: Success to me is continuing to do what I love. Yes, I’m building a for-profit business, but we’re leading by example.

Damian Pelliccione: We’re certified minority-owned and operated—Black women, LGBTQ, veteran, immigrant, neurodivergent. I want the world to know that founders come in all forms and can still succeed.

Damian Pelliccione: Too often, LGBTQ is associated with charities, nonprofits, NGOs. I’m done with that narrative. I want to show that this is a powerful market—a $1.7 trillion market, the third-largest consumer group.

Damian Pelliccione: We can build profitable businesses at scale. I want Reverie to expand across media, retail, and even music. Ultimately, my goal is for Reverie to become the most powerful LGBTQ media studio on the planet.

Alejandro Cremades: Now I know when you started raising, the valuation was around $3 million. But now you’re at $50 million, right?

Damian Pelliccione: Correct. When we first started raising capital, our valuation was $3 million. We’ve grown from $3 million to $50 million. That was last year’s valuation.

Alejandro Cremades: Would you ever have imagined building a business like this?

Damian Pelliccione: No. No way. That question caught me off guard—I had to laugh.

Damian Pelliccione: If I had gone to sleep and woken up 10 years ago, I never would have imagined this company would one day be worth $50 million. Hell no. Even when I had the idea for Reverie, that wasn’t something I could’ve imagined.

Damian Pelliccione: But you learn and grow along the way.

Damian Pelliccione: To go back to the VC point—this is why investors continue to bet on founders who have built successful businesses. Once you’ve done it, the proof is in the pudding.

Damian Pelliccione: And I love my cohort of CEOs in the portfolio funds we’re part of. Many of them are close friends. We go through the same challenges, the same trauma, and the same experiences.

Damian Pelliccione: I don’t think anyone starts off thinking, “I’m going to build a $100 million or IPO-level business.” They start by solving a problem with passion, belief, and every fiber of their being.

Damian Pelliccione: And we just want other people to be a part of this—to invest in us and believe in us the same way we do. I think that’s what’s kept me humble. I’m not thinking solely about the next valuation. I mean, I am to an extent because I obviously have a fiduciary responsibility to my shareholders and investors. But I’m not focused on the valuation. I’m thinking about: what is the next big idea?

Damian Pelliccione: What’s the next big problem within our world and our sector of entertainment that we could solve to make things even easier for storytellers and for advertisers to reach our community at scale?

Alejandro Cremades: No kidding. Now, talking about going back in time—let’s say I’m able to bring you back in a time machine to 10 years ago.

Alejandro Cremades: It’s that moment when you’re considering launching something of your own—what would eventually become Reverie. Let’s say you’re able to show up and give your younger self one piece of advice before launching a business. What would that be, and why—given what you know now?

Damian Pelliccione: I’m going to give the same piece of advice that was given to me by a good friend of mine, Barrett Goresi, who is a serial entrepreneur. Literally, about two months after launching Reverie, he said: “Make sure you have a great therapist.”

Alejandro Cremades: How is that? I mean, I know entrepreneurship often involves depression…

Alejandro Cremades: Unfortunately, it’s a lonely journey.

Alejandro Cremades: So why don’t you double-click on that?

Damian Pelliccione: Yeah. The way I’d double-click on that is— as an entrepreneur, and especially as a founder—you experience high highs and low lows.

Damian Pelliccione: You’ve got to have thick skin to navigate those times. You need support. You have to take your mental and physical health as seriously as you take your business. I know from experience that I didn’t take my mental and physical health as seriously in the first couple of years as I should have.

Damian Pelliccione: If I could go back in time, like you said in your question, I would emphasize the importance of mental and physical well-being and how directly that relates to your performance. I’m in my 40s now, and it’s a lot different than when I was in my 30s starting this business.

Damian Pelliccione: Now, my mental and physical health are non-negotiable. They take precedence over my leadership duties because I know how much better of a leader I can be—and am—when I prioritize those things. So that’s my biggest advice to new and young entrepreneurs: make sure you have a really good mental and physical health regime.

Alejandro Cremades: I love it, Damien. For the people listening who would love to reach out, say hi, and learn more about Reverie—what can you tell them?

Damian Pelliccione: Yeah, absolutely. Reverie is at REVERIE.TV. You can follow us on social media @ReverieTV—R-E-V-E-R-I-E TV. My personal social handle is @DamianMedia—D-A-M-I-A-N Media—on everything: Instagram, you name it.

Damian Pelliccione: You can catch up with me and DM me on any platform. I love meeting other entrepreneurs—it feeds me. It reminds me, like even this interview does, of why I do what I do, where I came from, and where I’m going.

Damian Pelliccione: That’s really exciting. We need to have these moments. It’s great to connect with like-minded individuals—especially founders—no matter what sector you’re in. Just know: believe in yourself, and you can make anything happen for the future.

Alejandro Cremades: I love that. Well, Damien, thank you so much for being on the DealMaker Show today. It’s been an absolute honor to have you with us.

Damian Pelliccione: Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting.

*****

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