Dear Expos community, TL:DR: Institutions don’t reward silence. They reward credibility. And credibility comes from consistency under pressure. Institutions don’t reward silence. They reward credibility. And credibility comes from consistency under pressure. It’s not that principles hurt profit. It’s that lack of principles destroys trust, and without trust, capital never follows.
You’ve seen my FAQs on the Expos. You’ve read why the previous bid failed—and why it was, in fact, dead on arrival (and the picture above was a comment to the piece).
If you’ve also seen my pinned quote —about being a “fighter of injustice.”
To be candid, not a single person has asked me this directly. But I would be intellectually dishonest if I said I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you have wondered:
Is your newfound advocacy on behalf of Iran and Iranians a risk to your efforts to bring back the Expos?
No? No one? Okay—you can stop reading.
But if you were at least curious, sit back and enjoy. This isn’t a 200-page book, but it’s longer than usual. One reader even said the previous piece could have been a 200-page book—and that he would have read it. I’ll take that.
Life Meets Fiction
I suspect a few of you are torn.
Something like: “It’s kind of commendable that Ash has principles and isn’t silent about what’s happening in Iran… but I don’t really care about Iran. I’m following the Peanut Project because I want the Expos back. And if you’re calling out Davos globalists at the World Economic Forum —fine. If you’re asking Emory University whether hiring the child of a senior official of a terrorist regime aligns with their values—okay, eyebrow-raising, but we get it in context. Sephora? Diplomatic, marketer-adjacent, whatever. But… the banks?
How does that help the Expos?”
Fair question. I work for you, so let me pre-empt it to put your mind at ease and maybe the ending will blow your mind.
Oddly enough, even though my board (which granted, I have three out of five board seats as majority & controlling investor) has every right to ask me about this, I don’t think they would. The fund’s CEO is a Canadian (Catholic, I assume). The board member representing the fund is an American (Protestant, I assume). One of their partners happens to Jewish American (I think). I don’t believe for a second they would ask him—if he were speaking out—why he was calling out institutions after October 7.
So maybe I’m overthinking this. That’s part of my job.
But many of you are highly intelligent. I’d be shocked if none of you had at least considered it. It crossed my own mind too.
You’re experts in domains other than mine, but navigating strategy, competition, and ethics simultaneously is my wheelhouse—almost a hobby. And you’re sensible enough to think: “Ash better have LOIs from a lineup of HNWIs and family offices. Otherwise, what kind of lunatic would ‘jeopardize’ this?”
Which brings me to the part most people misunderstand about how the business world actually works.
Why Did Bear Stearns Die?
Does Hollywood respect—and fear— Ricky Gervais more, or some empty shell who jumps on the right hashtag when convenient and goes silent when it counts (like they are now with Iran)?
It’s not just Hollywood. It’s Wall Street too.
In 1998, Warren Buffett urged major banks to step in and backstop Long-Term Capital Management to prevent a systemic collapse. Most agreed. One didn’t: Bear Stearns. Buffett understood their “selfish” decision—but he didn’t forget it.
Fast-forward a decade. After Lehman collapsed, Bear Stearns was in trouble. And while the old boys’ club often intervenes (usually for self-serving reasons), this time no one came to the rescue. Bear Stearns was allowed to die.
Lesson? Principles matter. Memory matters. Doing the right thing—or refusing to—is remembered.
Banks don’t blow up in Canada the way they do in the U.S. (oligopoly has its perks). But the lesson travels.
This dynamic exists in every industry. People who know me know I’m not reckless. When I pushed YouTube in the mid-2010s to update its policies to reflect the law (if you can watch clips online, anywhere, now you know), that wasn’t boxing—it was jiu-jitsu.
My new Academy & Study of Entrepreneurship (ASE) is 51% ethics, 49% strategy. This is a case study.
Why Some People Don’t Want to Work With Me
This is why most people who don’t want to work with me… don’t.
Even though I’m highly coachable, they can’t control me.
Even though my principles are firm, my mind is open.
Even though people think I am insecure (yet confident), it’s a reflection of their insecurity (and lack of confidence).
Even though some think I’m over-confident or arrogant—if that were true, why did 99.9% of you first hear about me through the Peanut Project?
Because I’m none of those things. I’m a paradox in that way, and I like it, because some unpredictability works in your favour.
When ICM was looking for a local partner during the Just for Laughs process, they were sincere when they said they preferred WatchMojo and me. But they also hinted they needed someone who could run the festival. One agent once said, “Even if Ash owned 1%, he’d hustle like he owned 100%—which we’d appreciate. But another partner said even if Ash owned 1%, he’d go around town saying he owned it.”
That says a lot about Quebec Inc.
I don’t expect my team to work like me. I lead by example, not delusion. But every founder’s dream is for their team to think like owners.
A Short Detour Through Banking (It Matters)
While studying finance at Concordia, while pursuing a full course load at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business I worked a full schedule hours at RBC’s Visa Eastern Card Centre—performing at 149% of average productivity. When I hinted at leaving due to burnout, they made a special exception to keep me on one shift per week (beer doesn’t grow on trees). They bragged they’d never do that for anyone else. That’s when I realized— not that I was different/special—what stood out and what was valued.
Later, they reneged on promises to move me to RBC Dominion Securities or Private Banking Wealth Management as all finance grads wanted to (I actually wanted to be an M&A banker, because I am good at sequencing, packaging, and match-making). I resigned the following week and joined a startup. That “snub” changed my life.
Still, I stayed a loyal RBC client for nearly two decades. In 2018–19, I gave them a shot at representing us in M&A. We ultimately went with CIBC’s Toronto team as advisors (their Quebec never showed an interest). Despite me introducing them to my current PE partner, their team earned their fee. As part of the deal, I shifted 80% of accounts to CIBC but kept 20% with RBC out of misplaced loyalty.
No resentment. But when purpose calls, priorities change.
Let’s Talk Leverage (Finally)
I run WatchMojo the way a publicly-traded firm’s CEO would. In that vein: in 2020, when I sold a 25% stake to my PE fund, we were valued at close to CAD$100M. For simplicity sake, if I converted that into investing in a CAD$2.8B sports franchise (US$2B franchise fee) equals 3.57% ownership.
Do you really think I’d work harder if I owned 35.7%? Or work less hard if I owned 0.357%? This is the third era of sports ownership. No one—not Alain Bouchard (Quebec’s wealthiest person as founder of Alimentation Couche-Tard), not the Thomsons (Canada’s wealthiest family)—writes a CAD$2.8B check alone.
HNWI and family offices prioritize candor, principles, consistency. They surround themselves with mercenaries (I call everyone in business one—it’s just a question of price) to create buffers, filters, walls.
And here’s the irony: prioritizing principles reduces risk in their eyes. Fraud, theft are a result of a lack of principles, after all. There is no lack of banking services when you reach a certain threshold of wealth, but there is always a lack of principled people (who would never steal from you).
The 1% Lead. The 99% Follow.
Reality is, I am not special. Many highly successful people think, work, and operate in ways that appear unconventional to others. In our small cohort, we recognize this trait in one another. I can’t speak for others, but I also know while it takes a very motivated, driven and ambitious person to start, no project is successful alone.
That said, I may be more idealistic and principled than most, shaped by both nature and nurture.
By nature, I am unusually honest—sometimes to a fault. I’m not good at lying, and I don’t enjoy ambiguity when clarity is available. But what pushed me into overdrive was my nurture.
Insecurities
All humans have insecurities. I had—and still have—many. I’m better now, but a few are relevant here.
As an Iranian, and as someone born Muslim, I grew up having to reassure people that I wasn’t the kind of Iranian—thankfully a tiny minority—who would proverbially storm an embassy and take hostages, or the kind of Muslim—also a tiny minority—who might have been the “20th hijacker.”
Oh, come on—let me have a little fun. My influences aren’t just Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great; they also include Chris Rock. Hence the occasional profane tweet (especially in Farsi). Humor, for me, has always been both a release valve and a way of disarming assumptions before they harden into prejudice.
When I see thousands of Iranians killed by the Islamic Republic to cling to power at any cost (80% of the people reject the government), I recognize my privilege. If I work so hard to bring back the Expos, it’s a reflection of what Quebec and Montreal have given me. To balance making the advocacy about me, but mainly to help Iranians channel their energies properly as the media and world’s governments ignore their plight, I conceived of The Dignity Initiative, so others can use the approach and resources (and admittedly help me stay sane and create a bit of a buffer). All I ask the Expos community is accept that the same principles and purposes that pulled me into the Peanut Project are what forces me to help the little bit that I can with Iranians. Consistency is a cornerstone of success.
Why This Aligns With the Expos—Not Against Them
Today, even though WatchMojo is, at most, a mid-sized media company, I regularly have to fend off competing offers from banks—personal banking, commercial, wealth management, and investment banking alike. Let’s be clear: they are not giving me anything. In a strict sense, they are taking—even if, in practice, they do add value. I say this only to reassure you that I understand how these relationships actually work.
Executives come and go.
So let’s break down the role of banks in this equation.
When TVASports’s Jean-Charles Lajoie’s interviewed me on TVA, he asked for clarification about what I meant by “banks.” I clarified that I was referring to private equity funds, not banks as equity investors. Now, assume for a moment that I had no principles, no purpose—that I was merely a pure, profit-seeking charlatan. Even then, that version of reality wouldn’t hold up for long. Someone like that doesn’t retain talent, doesn’t survive a startup journey that began with $250K in equity, and certainly doesn’t personally take on $500K in debt to keep the lights on and avoid layoffs when your competitors armed to the teeth with $50-100M in funding.
So yes—principles and purpose matter on that front.
And sure, one day, if we have a team, banks will likely be sponsors. None of them will turn down providing banking services (but you have no idea what I am building on that front, though I allude to it below)
But baby steps. RBC sponsors the CanadiensMTL. So does CIBC. So does Desjardins. Banks are more transactional and opportunistic that principle-driven (this is not a knock, their lifeline is money, not morals).
If baseball returns and CIBC is sponsoring the team while RBC is conspicuously absent, explanations will be required. If CIBC has corporate loges and RBC feels offended that I asked them whether they take money from IRGC (or Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, who murder Iranians to stay in power and plunder the people’s wealth while failing to provide electricity and water), no one will care about the principle, but simply why they as RBC clients are sitting with the “plebs” in the nosebleeds. It’s not complicated, the government of Canada listed the IRGC as a terror group, they should be “allegedly taking their capital as it leaves Iran.” Before January 2026, they could claim ignorance, but now, there isn’t much left to ambiguity.
All I did, as client and shareholder is ask them about it. CIBC, to their credit, got back to me within 48 hours. Someone from RBC’s senior management team will respond to me… “soon.”
Principles don’t harm profit (and not just operating profit, but profit as a concept which is why it’s best to long-term greedy, at best, and always prioritize people ahead profit). Lack of principles destroys trust. And without trust, capital never follows.
The point is: rest assured banks are not the constraint. At the onset, it was identifying a principal, anchor investor. Initially, I thought they had to be in Montreal. With me here, that is less of a concern, provided MLB can trust the local partner. Which, again, boils down to trust, character, integrity.
Quebec Inc. has been MIA for much of the past 60 days since I started exploring the Expos’ return (a feature, not a bug), while Corporate America—my primary network—and global stakeholders have stepped in.
Back to my JFL experience (when, hum, RBC’s investment bankers called upon me to step in and assist), ICM was doing the rounds locally, they said one possible local partner who had a reputation for being abrasive didn’t particularly fluster them, because they were used to characters in Hollywood and America. They saw in me someone energetic, but rather prudent and conservative. Quebec Inc. is neither the solution nor the problem, when it suits them, they will be there. What they are missing, if I may be candid, is that they have—not a sense of entitlement—a sense of expectation. Because Quebec is a pretty “hermetique” market, they just assume that they are the only solution to problems.
Money Doesn’t Phase Me
When in 2017, Quebec Inc & our friends down the 401 woke up to WatchMojo’s existence, both cities just expected to prevail. La Caisse, to their credit, offered to invest at a $75M pre-money valuation; Bell Media came in at $80M. I was flattered, humbled, willing to do both/either, and my idealism led me down a path to try to accommodate both, which to quote Andrew Dice Clay Ford when talking to a certain Zuzu Petals: slightly amusing, but mostly painful. I remain(ed) loyal as a result, but that’s another experience that today I understand has prepped me for this orgy of misaligned parties whom I will have the pleasure to align despite not ending up a meaningful shareholder (only being explicit to pre-empt anyone thinking my purpose here lies in profit, when it’s in the civic duty).
Now ask yourself: what do HNWIs and family offices—especially those who spend most of the year thousands of miles away from Montreal—actually prioritize? Candour. Truthfulness. Principles. Character. Consistency. When they see that you prioritize those over short-term profit, it checks off the single biggest “risk factor” in their calculus (think Bernie Madoff and the shame many uber HNWI felt after being swindled).
They also understand something else—and tell me so directly: banks are not just mercenaries, but prostitutes (To be clear, I call everyone in business one; the only variable is how much you value your time. And, before the Expos, I began working on scripted show in the vein of Succession, Billions, Mad Men, etc. where I explore these dynamics).
Case in Point #1: WatchMojo Studios
To accelerate the roll-out of WatchMojo Studios—which again like the Peanut Project—involves sequencing, match-making and packaging we issued a press release so writers, showrunners, directors and co-investing partners (I am putting up $10M to signal seriousness and not waste time) can come to me, instead of me trying to find needles in haystacks to find a partner for each project.
Why I Will Never Fit In With Quebec Inc — And Why That’s Good News for Expos Fans
I give Quebec Inc. a pass. They have bigger fish to fry. I doubt even 1% of 1% knows I’m working on this. But that 0.01% that does was likely first caught off guard, then surprised, slightly amused and entertained, then shocked that I did not ask for nor wait for permission—but ultimately, confused.
Case in Point #2: SoundMojo’s ARYA album
The only person more confused today may have been legendary Iranian singer Moein when he received my email seeking his blessing to eventually include “Tantrums” on my upcoming album, ARYA: Songs From Iran—a re-imagining and English-language interpretation of his classic “Tannâz.” I would have gladly swallowed a chair just to be a fly on the wall.
This is a familiar pattern among entrepreneurs. For months, I explained the concept and was met with blank stares. Eventually, it became easier to stop explaining and simply show.
So watch for yourself—and tell me whether this scorcher, inspired by Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Dio, Deathwish, and Blind Guardian, isn’t epic (my bias notwithstanding).
A demo of Tantrums – translated from Moein’s Tannâz and re-imagined as a hard rock song, and possibly featured on my upcoming ARYA – Songs from Iran album on our SoundMojo label.
A Feature, Not a Bug
Quebec Inc is largely made up of conservative executives—mercenaries and missionaries alike—many of whom are second-, third-, or even fifth-generation custodians of capital their ancestors built by taking wild, often reckless risks. I say that as a compliment.
Sam Bronfman is considered a GOAT among entrepreneurs precisely because he was a bootlegger. Pierre Péladeau’s biography is packed with stories colorfuul enough that even a Chris Rock aficionado like me feels compelled to reference them in passing. The Molsons built an empire on booze. These people weren’t timid. They were bold, audacious, and occasionally seen as reckless.
That kind of risk, however, is no longer allowed—at least not culturally—by their heirs.
To them, someone like me reads as brash. Unpredictable. Too loud. Too unconventional. And if they had a bit more self-awareness, they might recognize the irony: I’m far less reckless than their forebears ever were. I’m just reckless in a different way: my statement of purpose is here to serve, I put people ahead of profit, I am at best long-term greedy.
These aren’t insults. They’re observations.
My drive doesn’t come from asset preservation or legacy maintenance. It comes from serving others. And if you’re going to be in the entertainment business—really in it—you have to live and breathe hospitality. You have to obsess over the audience. You have to care more about the experience than the balance sheet.
That mindset alone makes you incompatible with Quebec Inc.
Entrepreneurs, by definition, see things others don’t yet comprehend. That gap in perception often reads as confusion—or worse, suspicion—to those whose primary instinct is risk mitigation.
To Quebec Inc, that—and the Expos altogether—probably sounds unnecessary. Complicated. Risky.
To me, it’s hospitality. It’s respect. It’s culture. And it’s exactly why I’ll never quite fit in.
And now, they’re realizing that—no different than with WatchMojo and YouTube—I once again saw something others did not. That realization tends to bruise egos and pride.
While my default principle remains that the door stays open should anyone change their mind down the road, the practical reality is this: I already have far more private equity interest than I can deploy in a single transaction. Each fund can take roughly 15%, and in aggregate, PE can account for about 30%. I remain loyal to La Caisse de Depot, not because they have $500B in assets under management, but moreso because of their 2017 Term Sheet (most would recall them changing terms at the 11th hour, which is why I balked, to their dismay turning down so much money). But, most of those executives are gone. And, to drive the point home: while few leave the safe confines of banks, if the Expos return and the first pitch is tossed some time in 2030-something, I am not going to sell out now for the possibility of them to do the right, logical thing. As management guru Clay Christensen said, it’s easier to stick to your principles 100% than 99% of the time.
So I’m not concerned that my transparent—yet respectful—public questioning of RBC was done openly. If and when baseball returns to Montreal, and when CIBC and others are sponsoring the team and buying season tickets for clients and serving them in corporate suites—others will follow suit— be it CIBC, Citigroup or BNP Paribas. You get the idea.
And for further reassurance to the fan base: as of now, we have U.S., U.K., and EU banks actively pitching to participate in the business. They want to build the infrastructure at 4C, and when I tell them it’s premature for letters of intent (LOIs), they ask how they can be helpful, I tell them baseball expansion window notwithstanding, I need to lock down the principal, anchor investor. Guess who has those in droves? Banks. Guess what banks care about when it comes to new clients/partners: character, integrity, truthfulness.
Yesterday when on wrapping up a call with one of the world’s biggest backers of infrastructure asked me for next steps, I joked that I would follow up… in 2028. After we all laughed hysterically, the senior banker on the call said: “we have [a HNWI investor] in mind, let us speak to them and circle back next week.
For posterity, here’s a benchmark of the largest Canadian banks versus their U.S. counterparts:
Revenues, profits, employees of top Canadian banks
And the top 5 in the US. There are hundreds of banks and this doesn’t even include alternative money managers.
“It’s easier to ask for for forgiveness than for permission.”
Okie dokie. The world is full of Cyrus the Great / Alexander the Great / King Solomon / Chris Rock / Ozzy Osbourne “crazies and misfits” like me, but instead of asking for permission from Quebec Inc, we live by the Silicon Valley adage of “it’s easier to ask for for forgiveness than for permission.” But, when you don’t lie or steal, you don’t have to do either. You just think, solve, execute.
Why Not Play At the Olympic Stadium?
An FAQ I get. I won’t even get into the plans I have for the stadium, speaking to partners I’ve had for two decades to integrate their technology into the stadium:
- MSFT’s XBOX
- Apple iPay (when was the last time you used cash at a stadium. In 2030, do you think you will have a “credit card” or “debit card” on you?
- Samsung screens everywhere
- YouTube content and ads sold by Google
- And I am not even including WatchMojo’s main trading partners.
I can go on. This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg.
Flipping Demand & Supply on Its Head
And while I’m not particularly interested in that path, there are arguably 10–25× more investors willing to fund the purchase of an existing franchise today than to wait on expansion. For them, capital gets deployed faster, fees are earned sooner, and the risk–reward profile is simply more attractive.
Read the recent article about San Diego Padres‘ fans and their concerns over the franchise’s potential buyer. False modesty aside, wouldn’t that city—and its government—welcome my approach?
That’s the point: my audience and client are not local business or government—at least not yet. My primary audience is MLB itself, which, all else being equal, would likely view my ideals as refreshing. That remains true even if I have the audacity to question why Canada’s largest bank would take money from an organization that just killed 50,000 of its own people and that we regard as a terrorist organization.
Second, while I was admittedly over-excited and impatient when I first dove in headfirst, the reality is that many investors don’t see a labor stoppage as some elegant dénouement. For them, it’s a risk. For us, however, it’s a net positive.
And despite the temptations, I remain committed to the city—just not to the other stakeholders. Not yet.
Radical Transparency, part 87
Now if you are still reading, this is the part where I am reminded that sticking to your principles pays off.
Over the past several weeks, the effort to position Montreal for an MLB expansion bid has gained meaningful traction — including with potential anchor investors at the HNWI and family office level. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but the momentum is real and conversations are now moving in both directions.
Early on, I hesitated to make any kind of public callout (I don’t mean public funding, which we don’t need. I also don’t mean a fan-financing model, either).
What I mean is early on, I genuinely thought this hill would be harder to climb and didn’t want to risk optics that could be misread as desperation — or worse, panhandling — even if the benefits would accrue to the city and eventual investors, not to me personally. We are now well past that point.
From the outset, and out of respect for Montreal’s business community, I felt it was important to give local HNWIs and family offices the first look at this opportunity before expanding discussions nationally and globally.
I reached out to my financial managers at RBC and wrote (look at the dates if you still doubt me, and the time):
As I mentioned, there’s no obvious near-term incentive for advisors to suggest that their clients liquidate—or even meaningfully rebalance—the very assets those advisors are paid to manage, just to redirect a massive amount of capital into a sports-team ownership stake.
I fully expected them to offer help. Given the quality of these people, I genuinely believe they would try. But let’s be honest about the odds of anyone truly going all-out when other advisors—ones I don’t yet work with—would immediately see the upside: introducing a unique opportunity to their existing clients and winning my business in the process. What held me back from doing so was loyalty to them and the perception of… well… panhandling.
But, today the most likely eventual investor are family offices who own, say for example, the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and can’t buy the local MLB Seattle Mariners’ team, though they may own a team in La Liga or a stake in an F1 team, not knowing that baseball in Montreal was even a possibility for them. Well, bonjour mes amis!
My approach has always been simple: I focus on earning trust so I can execute without friction or delay. The trust I seek and want to command is YOURS, and not the local banks nor Quebec Inc.
Principles > Purpose > People > Profit
But “recent events” have shifted the dynamic. My existing advisors now find themselves in a position of reassuring me that their bank is genuinely committed to addressing the concerns of the Iranian community. In the process, they’ve also come to understand that my loyalty is no longer unconditional—and that I’m far more open to engaging other advisors and putting my portfolio in play for anyone who can successfully connect me with an eventual anchor principal investor. This serves YOU and the Peanut Project better.
Ironically, by engaging seriously with the Iranian community’s very real grievances, I’ve transformed what were once modest odds of RBC meaningfully advancing the Expos opportunity into a situation where the bank now has a clear incentive to work harder—if only to retain the broader relationship.
To conclude:
The Expos won’t come back through nostalgia alone. They won’t come back through silence. And they certainly won’t come back through fear of offending the wrong people.
They come back when credibility, conviction, and clarity align.
Are you not entertained?
