How to get the right first 10,000 fans
When launching a band, web platform or any kind of product, one challenge we all face is – how to find the first 10,000 fans? There are many different approaches – some smart but difficult, some easy but expensive. The…
Launch a startup like a rock band at SXSW
Before starting work on Posse.com I spent ten years managing rock bands. Most of the artists I represented were successful in Australia, but the big dream was to crack America. And the best place to launch a band is the…
Three core qualities an entrepreneur needs
Last weekend, I spoke at the National Student Leadership Forum in Canberra about entrepreneurship. Ambitious uni students, nominated to attend by their local MPs, packed the auditorium. During Q&A at the end, one of them asked, ‘What are the core…
Practising radical openness
Recently, I bumped into a few people from my past who surprised me by knowing everything going on in my life by reading this blog. I started the blog to keep a record of my ups and downs on this…
Some things I’ve learnt about money, work & happiness
I moved to Australia from New Zealand during 2000 in my early twenties. Until then I’d never had a job that paid a wage. I had met Grant Thomas, manager of Neil Finn and some big Australian bands, when I…
A framework for making creative decisions
If you’ve produced anything, you know that creative decision making is challenging. If a project is big, (like for example a website or a record release) then the number of people involved increases and stakes of making good decisions increase. …
What entrepreneurs can learn from rockstars
In 2000 I moved to Sydney, and became a band manager eager to discover the next big thing, have fun and make some money along the way. I started by scouting around the industry, networked and sussed out how it all…
