District216 Chief Dreamer Jacob Tell featured on High Times
Not Your Average Myco Bros: 15 Entrepreneurs Building The Future Of Mushrooms Around The World
July 22, 2025
When I launched Mycopreneur Podcast in 2020, I set out to cover the makers, doers, and unsung heroes driving the global mushroom space forward one bootstrapped product and macrodose-inspired service at a time. I wanted to platform and amplify the people driving fungal innovation through sheer vision, stubbornness, and diligent execution, creating real-world value for real people – often doing so in spite of favorable odds or societal norms. Along the way, I discovered that a healthy dose of humor and irony goes a long way in moving beyond the “Psychedelic Bro” archetype and escaping the insufferable orbit of those who take themselves too seriously while trying to get the moolah out of the multiverse.
Five years later, the Mycopreneur movement has exploded globally alongside skyrocketing public interest in psilocybin mushrooms and applied mycology via a phenomenon colloquially known as the “Shroom Boom.” I know it sounds like a spiritualized Al Queda reference, but the name has serious traction, so we’ll use it here.
After more than 200 long-form interviews with mushroom entrepreneurs from 40 countries and collaborations with dozens of communities and brands all over the world, it’s become clear to me that mushrooms lend themselves to decentralization and community benefit far more so than hierarchy and regulatory capture. Sorry Chad. I’m so glad that people everywhere are embracing mushrooms, because as a society, we’ve lost our Morel compass (I just became a dad, had to).
At the vanguard of the “Shroom Boom” are the mushroom entrepreneurs who drive meaningful change by offering valuable services and creating useful products that get adopted and embraced by everyday people before gatekeepers, profiteers and regulators even know what’s happening. After all, you can’t tariff the trap.
I want to be clear that this is not a “Top 15 List,” and given the context of prohibition in the majority of the world, there are many essential contributors to this field who by default are largely unable to accept public praise and appropriate recognition for their seminal contributions. I will continue to thank them privately for their work by loading up on the various mushroom chocolates, exotic spores, and fungal accoutrements that they offer – I’m like a patron of the arts, but for tripping.
This spotlight on a precious few of the Mycopreneurs shaping the global mushroom movement is a representative token of appreciation for those advancing the mushroom community and industry forward, one batch of liquid culture (for microscopy research only!) and wook science breakthrough at a time.
Jacob Tell (USA)
Jacob Tell is the founder of District216, a membership-driven psychedelic social club. The District216 family has produced numerous sold-out events in multiple cities and made a huge statement by drawing 1500 people to the recent Psychedelic Playhouse event in June of this year. In a space that is largely still in legal limbo thanks to a disjointed patchwork of policy and regulations across various cities and states in the U.S., social clubs like District216 offer a way for people to connect with other mushroom entrepreneurs and psychedelic activists in a safe and highly curated setting that includes live music, expert presenters, and an impeccable atmosphere. I even once thought I saw Tom Waits at a District216 event in a decrim city, but then I remembered the Neutropics mushroom chocolate I ate and realized it was just me looking in the mirror.
