Mahbod Moghadam, known as the co-founder of Genius and Everipedia, as well as an angel investor, has sadly passed away at the age of 41 due to complications from a recurring brain tumor. The news was confirmed in a post attributed to his family and published on Genius.
The startup community recently learned of his passing, with many tributes emerging on various platforms. Former TechCrunch writer-turned-investor Josh Constine, who had previously interviewed Moghadam, paid his respects, calling him a complex and unique individual.
Moghadam had been residing in Los Angeles and was actively working on projects to help creators receive direct compensation for their contributions. One of his recent ventures was HellaDoge, a social media platform that paid users in dogecoin for sharing dogecoin-related content.
In an interview last year, Moghadam discussed his interest in creating platforms like HellaDoge and Communistagram, offering creators direct payment for their work outside traditional platforms like Spotify or YouTube.
Moghadam’s entrepreneurial journey stemmed from his time as a lawyer after the 2008 economic crash, leading him to co-found Rap Genius with his Yale friends. The platform gained popularity for annotating hip-hop lyrics and eventually rebranded as Genius.
While Genius experienced success, Moghadam faced controversies and eventually resigned in 2014. He later co-founded Everipedia and joined Mucker Capital before his passing.
Moghadam believed in fairly compensating contributors and criticized Genius for not adequately rewarding its users. Despite its challenges, Genius was sold for $80 million in 2021, marking the end of an era for the platform.
Though his professional journey had its ups and downs, Moghadam remained admired by many in the industry, appearing on various podcasts where he was praised by enthusiastic hosts.
Reflecting on his past, Moghadam expressed his grievances towards his former co-founder and remained embroiled in legal battles with the company. He criticized the new owners of Genius, recognizing the efforts of the original CEO in building the platform.
