I believe in Joe Hendry and the business of the hook
Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech, & Live Events
Private equity is the new glamour job (again)
We’ve been doing the TicketManager thing for nearly 18 years. We’ve been hiring into the business that whole time. We started as a small company and have now reached a point where, as we discussed last week, we have more applicants in our network than we can handle.
We make a point of hiring out of college, so we have a window into what’s popular with the kids these days. For most of our company, the two most popular gigs have been a startup entrepreneur and a venture capitalist. And that makes sense. They tend to flock to the hip job of the moment.
There's been a significant change in the past year and a half. We used to get kids who wanted to work in startups, work in product, or be venture capitalists. Now they all want to be investment bankers or private equity. Feels like the late 80s all over again. The downside of that kind of trend is that there are only so many jobs, and when everybody floods them, you end up in a situation like engineers are in. Ten years ago, you couldn’t hire an engineer; they had too many offers. Now, there are too many of them.
"California is over."
I spent some time with a friend who made the point that California is no longer at the heart of the zeitgeist. California style, California companies, Silicon Valley, San Francisco's golden age, Silicon Beach, California was cool. Not really anymore. People will point to the population drain, the jobs flowing out of the state, and the rise of social media fashion.
This isn't a new story. Detroit was once the 5th largest city in the US and the world's tech capital for decades. It's coming back a bit now, but nowhere close to where it was in the 40s and 50s.
California though? The weather is too good, the people too creative, and the state too enticing. We'll be back.
I believe in Joe Hendry
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple and resurrected the company, the first thing he did was focus the company on what it was good at and find a great hook. He changed the colors and exterior design of the Mac and, most definingly, claimed "1000 songs in your pocket" to introduce the iPod.
For those who don’t watch wrestling, it is a terrific peek into what sells. In the 1980s, it was storytelling about kids and cartoon heroes. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was about sex and raunchiness. Today, it's integrated what's trending on social media and gaming (see Travis Scott, Bad Bunny, Pat McAfee, and Logan Paul).
Joe Hendry is a 36-year-old Scot who was essentially a nobody in the wrestling world. Just over two years ago, he recorded what he thought to be a funny introduction song with a great hook. It was his "thousand songs in your pocket."
On Sunday, he made his WrestleMania debut. Joe has been wrestling for decades. Same guy. New hook. Now he's "over" - a positive in wrestling.
Just ridiculous. And hilarious.
I believe in Joe Hendry.