Three Things I Learned In Saas, Spots, Tech, & Live Events 1.8.23
Three Things I Learned in SaaS, Sports, Tech & Live Events
"You want it one way. But it's the other way" - Marlo Stanfield's chilling scene with a convenience store security guard in HBO's hit "The Wire" is unraveling, analogously, in the business world.
. The game has changed out there for everyone and some are not handling it all so well. It doesn't matter if a mortgage could be had at 3% in 2021- if the trigger wasn't pulled, we're paying more than double that now. It doesn't matter you had five job offers to WFH a year ago and can't find anything comparable now. And it doesn't matter that house we passed on has gone up 50%. We all want it one way. Sometimes, life tells us it's the "other way" and making demands against that reality could get someone "buried" in a vacant building. We can change our position, we just have to be smart about when/how. Read the room and strategize from there.
Find your remora fish - and let them do what they do. A remora fish follows sharks around. They eat the scraps and, importantly for the shark, they eat what the shark doesn't/shouldn't eat. Your business is the shark. If successful, you'll have imitators following you around trying to eat what you're killing. That's ok. Let them and use them to your advantage. Focus on building at all times.
"Is it wrong when I say in an interview that money is what drives me? I didn't have it growing up and it motivates me now." Some honesty from a lifelong salesperson I sat next to on the plane home from vacation last week. No. It's not wrong at all. In fact, we usually hire people who are so honest in their answers. If we can know exactly what a person's motivation is, it makes it easier for us to keep them engaged, fulfilled and happy. As we've shared here in the past, people do things for one of five reason: Money, Power, Sex, Fame or Love. Pretty much everything can be boiled down those. Too often, people want to hide that money matters to them. But Jason Lemkin correctly points out: "You want your top rep to be coin operated (and drive an expensive car)." Ain't nothing wrong with wanting to get paid and pursuing that industry if that's for you.
Jason Lemkin's advice on the top 10 things to do in your start-up in the first quarter needs no more build-up. Sage advice. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jasonmlemkin_2023-will-be-different-once-again-the-activity-7015388363851517953-7b1A?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
The CFP National Championship ticket market cratered this week. Always does when Cinderella crashes the party. Why? Cinderella, by definition, doesn't have the resources and history to compete with the blue bloods (the sisters). She's great for storytelling, but bad for business. Sorry TCU. Pretty much all involved on the business side of sports, from the broadcasters to the CFP to the city of LA itself, was pulling for Michigan. Now go put on that glass slipper and make for some good TV!