We’re not trying to fit in.
Black Sheep Network is an independent, founder-led parent company. It owns and builds businesses around a different measure of success: people first, principles that hold, and profit that serves the mission instead of becoming it.
A parent company, built by one founder, for many businesses
Black Sheep Network LLC exists to establish, own, acquire and develop companies across more than one industry. It began as the company behind a single food truck in western New York. Today it owns a research and development lab and sponsors an independent podcast, and it is organized to hold many more.
The business is small and run by its founder. That is stated plainly here because the company intends to be judged on what it does, not on how large it appears.
- Owns
- Companies it has founded or acquired, run under their own names with a shared standard for how people are treated.
- Builds
- New ventures started inside the network when the founder sees an opportunity others have passed over.
- Sponsors
- Independent projects whose makers share the network's outlook, supported without being owned.
People before profits.
What that phrase means here, and what it does not.
Most companies will say their people are their greatest asset. The test is what happens when a decision would raise this quarter's number at the cost of the people who earned it. The network's position is fixed: that trade is not made.
This is not a promise to run businesses without discipline. A company that cannot pay its people, cover its costs and invest in its future will not survive to treat anyone well. Profit is what keeps the mission alive. The difference is in what gets chosen when money and people point in opposite directions.
Employees are not a line item. They are people with families, obligations and lives outside the building. Any company this network owns will be expected to act like it knows that.
The companies
Every relationship is labeled for what it is. Owned is owned. Sponsored is sponsored. Former is former.
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Current companyResearch and developmentFounded 2025xyraenlabs.com
Xyraen Labs
An independent research and development lab working in artificial intelligence, engineering, experimental systems and, later, robotics. Its active program is LUNA, a local-first AI assistant that runs on hardware the lab owns.
Wholly owned by Black Sheep Network. Keeps its own name, site and identity. -
Sponsored mediaComedy podcast2021–2024Listen on Spotify
Black Sheep Society
A comedy podcast hosted by Kyle Richardson, Justin Bauter, Ricky Doremus and Joseph Horton: weekly news, top-five lists with guests, and riffs on terrible movies. Three shows under one name, published from 2021 to 2024.
Sponsored by Black Sheep Network. Co-created by the founder; the show belongs to its hosts. -
Former ventureFood truck, Hornell, New York2023–2025
TJ Henry's
The food truck Black Sheep Network was formed to own. It opened in January 2023, was the company’s first business, and was sold in 2025.
Former venture. Not a current holding.
Not every partnership is worth having.
The network wants to work with people and organizations that share its values. It is open to new businesses, collaborations, sponsorships and professional relationships, and it looks forward to them.
It is not interested in doing business with organizations that treat their people as disposable, that exploit the people who depend on them, or that cannot be straight about what they do. Money on the table does not change that. Black Sheep Network would rather decline an opportunity than keep it at the cost of its principles.
Perfection is not the requirement. Good faith and accountability are.
Founder-led, and accountable for it
Joseph Horton founded Black Sheep Network and runs it. He sets its direction, makes its commitments and answers for them. There is no board, no executive team and no layer between the company's principles and the person responsible for keeping them.
The company is building toward a future where the name stands for how its companies treat people, not just for what they make.
Building something? So are we.
If you run a company that shares this outlook, are building one, or want to talk about a partnership, sponsorship or media opportunity, the network wants to hear from you.