Adam Richman and Joe Silberzweig, both 33, are co-founders and co-CEOs of Medium Rare. Richman is based in New York, while Silberzweig is based in Los Angeles. A quote from their nomination: "From Shaq’s Funhouse to Gronk Beach to SI The Party to Guy’s Fieri’s FlavortownTailgate, Adam Richman and Joe Silberzweig have become the go-to people during Super Bowl weekend for celebs/athletes to be seen, brands to activate, and the public to party—and in doing so, have built a multimillion-dollar business."
Our career journey: "Our background was in producing large-scale mega-festivals while working for Live Nation and SFX Entertainment with festivals such as Electric Zoo, Tomorrowland, and Electric Daisy Carnival. After doing that for a number of years and meeting Adam at SFX, we always knew that we wanted to start our own company together. We decided to create a new business model where we partner with celebrities or athletes 50-50 to create live and experiential events. This whole journey really started with Shaquille O’Neal and Shaq’s Fun House, which was our first property in 2018.
Shaq’s Fun House, Medium Rare's first property in 2018, was really the lightbulb moment for Richman and Silberzweig that led them to create Gronk Beach, Kelce Jam, Dave Portnoy’s One Bite, Guy Fieri’s Flavortown, etc.Photo: Courtesy of Medium Rare
We partnered with Shaq to create his own personal festival and bring his vision to life. What we saw really quickly was that by building an event surrounding Shaq’s NIL, sponsorship and media attention were off the charts. A lot of the brands that weren’t interested in sponsoring our festivals at SFX or Live Nation were begging to get involved with a Shaq-led festival. This was really the lightbulb moment for us that led us to create Gronk Beach, Kelce Jam, Portnoy’s One Bite, Guy Fieri’s Flavortown, etc."
What inspires us: "Knowing that we are five years into Medium Rare, and we feel we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. It’s inspiring knowing that if this is what we have done in our first five years, I can’t even imagine where we will be in the next five, 10, 20 years. The best is yet to come." —Richman
Shaq's Fun House "proved our concept of partnering with iconic personalities to build live event properties and was the springboard for starting Medium Rare," says Silberzweig.Photo: Courtesy of Medium Rare
Our most memorable event: "Our first-ever event at Medium Rare: Shaq’s Fun House 2018. A low-budget, late-night EDM carnival during Miami Music Week, we partnered 50-50 with Shaq to conceptualize and produce Shaq’s Fun House, his personal music festival series. Featuring a carnival pop-up plus Diplo, Steve Aoki, Carnage, A-Trak, and so many more, the 'Sports Center' top 10 highlight of the event was Shaq and guest star Rob Gronkowski’s dance battle at 5 a.m. This first event proved our concept of partnering with iconic personalities to build live event properties and was the springboard for starting Medium Rare." —Silberzweig
The advice we would give our younger selves: "Stay hungry and stay humble. When you are part of a team working on what you love to do, no task or assignment is too small for you. It's all part of your learning process." —Silberzweig
Medium Rare also produces popular Super Bowl-adjacent event Guy Fieri’s Flavortown.Photo: Courtesy of Medium Rare
Impressive stats we're responsible for: "We are humbled to be Super Bowl weekend’s largest producers outside of the NFL, with four-times annual Super Bowl festivals. Across Shaq’s Fun House, Gronk Beach, SI The Party, Guy’s Tailgate, this year Medium Rare welcomed more than 40,000 fans and 50 brand sponsors."
Our ideal day OOO: "Getting to sleep in late. Eating a porterhouse steak cooked medium-rare, followed up by courtside tickets to a Miami Heat game. Couldn’t ask for a better day." —Richman
Our leadership style: "We like to lead by example. As a small team, Adam and I have our fingers on the pulse and work in collaboration with as many team members as possible. Once we show our team the ropes, we trust them to execute." —Silberzweig
What's next: "Following our four Super Bowl festivals, we are excited to be bringing back Kelce Jam. It's been a hell of a year for Travis in many ways, and his personal festival is taking shape into KC’s largest entertainment event ever." —Richman
