5 ms·

Similarities between Musicians and Entrepreneurs

39 points by earbitscom 15y ago

RobMcCullough 15y ago
Great post. I can relate, and I have always thought the same thing. Starving Musician === Bootstrapping Entrepreneur.
- yotamros 15y ago
  Totally!
bradleyland 15y ago
I couldn't agree more. A fair number of the entrepreneurs I know have some sort of background in the arts. I was/am a musician and participated in the high school marching band. This was, strangely enough, a "cool" activity at our high school, where our band was openly appreciated by our sports coaches and student body. I regularly reflect on the experiences I gained in marching band when looking at my entrepreneurial efforts. Mastery, confidence, leadership, discipline, teamwork... The list of attributes developed when taking part in a performing art is long and strongly correlated with those required to succeed in just about any setting.
Djabowski 15y ago
Very true my colleague was a musician before starting his own (music) related company.
seiji 15y ago
People struggling to succeed are all the same. Startups, writers, script producers, musicians, ... See how much of this write-up rings true with you: http://matt.io/entry/tz http://matt.io/entry/tz (Note: it's a reformatted version of http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-music http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-musi... because the original is nigh unreadable.) From a screenwriting point of view, John August has well written success advice in his ongoing Q&A series: http://johnaugust.com/answers http://johnaugust.com/answers
- dabent 15y ago
  I interviewed with a startup in LA and was fortunate enough to be able to explore a little that evening. I came across a musician playing her heart out in a jacket to ward off the cooler evening air. She had been out there for some time, with a folding table with her CDs on it. She was really good, but didn't play my style of music. I bought one of her CDs anyway, because she had that same drive that I saw in the startup founders I've come to know. As she put my $8 away, she commented to one of her friends that she now had gas money to get home. It kind of reminded me of the bootstrapped startups I've seen (like the recent Octopart article) who just keep driving forward with nearly no revenue and nothing but their talent and ambition to keep them going.
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  > People struggling to succeed are all the same. What does "to succeed" mean anyway? I was always wondering, and don't really know to this day.
  - yotamros 15y ago
    If you ask me, "to succeed" is when you do something you believe in, and enjoy the process, regardless of the outcome.
pauldisneyiv 15y ago
A musician friend and I recently discussed the similarities in naming a startup and naming a band.
guynamedloren 15y ago
Though lots of HNers might disagree (or be reluctant to admit it), I find striking similarities between rappers and entrepreneurs. Behind the flashy front of a rapper is a guy who has a dream. With enough drive, dedication and passion, there's nothing stopping that rapper from achieving his dream, regardless of the naysayers and the obstacles along the way. Entrepreneurs are no different.
juiceandjuice 15y ago
Forgot one thing: Lots of them do similar things and imitate, failing to stand out in the crowd.
mtogo 15y ago
The main difference is you can make a good living playing music.
haploid 15y ago
One critical difference: "I'm in a startup" doesn't work nearly as well on women as "I'm in a band" does.
te_chris 15y ago
As an indie musician I've found that a lot of the skills I developed over the years in rehearsing, getting ready to record, deciding which songs were best for the recording (your product) and promoting shows through any outlet available have proved invaluable in building my startup.
oblique63 15y ago
Glad to see somebody finally put to words what's been knocking around my head for quite some time now. Although it's not a state that's exclusive to either musicians or entrepreneurs (as others in this thread have noted), I think it's an analogy that seems to resonate more deeply with people in general. I know I've seen it mentioned here that startups are the new 'rock bands' (in the sense that success/fame-thirsty people are now forming companies instead of bands to fulfill their dreams), and that's a comparison that everyone understands, because who hasn't fantasized about being in a wildly famous rock band at one point? In fact, I'm not sure why this is even an analogy; in my mind, musicians ARE entrepreneurs. I'm currently in the process of recording my first album as a solo musician, and founding a music related startup at the same time (http://www.tabrat.com/ http://www.tabrat.com/), and can already see the similarity of the hurdles I will have to face on both frontiers. I would imagine this connection to be painfully obvious to any musician working on a startup though. To elaborate on this perspective, you could say record labels are analogous to investors in the startup world (major labels being like larger VCs, and independent labels being like Angels), where they could potentially approach you, but most likely you'll end up pitching your product/music to a lot of them with marginal success, if not deciding to just completely bootstrap as an 'indie' artist. And there are plenty more 'connections' like that to be made, so I really think musicians are a subset of entrepreneurs, not just merely their analogs.
phektus 15y ago
One can also see many parallels between bands and startups. Both is working on getting 'signed'. Both start small and usually low budget. Both relies on creating stuff to make their way. Both has to struggle with small group issues and drama. So on and so forth.

39 points by earbitscom 15y ago

Great post. I can relate, and I have always thought the same thing. Starving Musician === Bootstrapping Entrepreneur.

yotamros 15y ago
Totally!

I couldn't agree more. A fair number of the entrepreneurs I know have some sort of background in the arts. I was/am a musician and participated in the high school marching band. This was, strangely enough, a "cool" activity at our high school, where our band was openly appreciated by our sports coaches and student body. I regularly reflect on the experiences I gained in marching band when looking at my entrepreneurial efforts. Mastery, confidence, leadership, discipline, teamwork... The list of attributes developed when taking part in a performing art is long and strongly correlated with those required to succeed in just about any setting.

Djabowski 15y ago

Very true my colleague was a musician before starting his own (music) related company.

seiji 15y ago

People struggling to succeed are all the same. Startups, writers, script producers, musicians, ... See how much of this write-up rings true with you: http://matt.io/entry/tz http://matt.io/entry/tz (Note: it's a reformatted version of http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-music http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-musi... because the original is nigh unreadable.) From a screenwriting point of view, John August has well written success advice in his ongoing Q&A series: http://johnaugust.com/answers http://johnaugust.com/answers

dabent 15y ago
I interviewed with a startup in LA and was fortunate enough to be able to explore a little that evening. I came across a musician playing her heart out in a jacket to ward off the cooler evening air. She had been out there for some time, with a folding table with her CDs on it. She was really good, but didn't play my style of music. I bought one of her CDs anyway, because she had that same drive that I saw in the startup founders I've come to know. As she put my $8 away, she commented to one of her friends that she now had gas money to get home. It kind of reminded me of the bootstrapped startups I've seen (like the recent Octopart article) who just keep driving forward with nearly no revenue and nothing but their talent and ambition to keep them going.
TeMPOraL 15y ago
> People struggling to succeed are all the same. What does "to succeed" mean anyway? I was always wondering, and don't really know to this day.
- yotamros 15y ago
  If you ask me, "to succeed" is when you do something you believe in, and enjoy the process, regardless of the outcome.

pauldisneyiv 15y ago

A musician friend and I recently discussed the similarities in naming a startup and naming a band.

guynamedloren 15y ago

Though lots of HNers might disagree (or be reluctant to admit it), I find striking similarities between rappers and entrepreneurs. Behind the flashy front of a rapper is a guy who has a dream. With enough drive, dedication and passion, there's nothing stopping that rapper from achieving his dream, regardless of the naysayers and the obstacles along the way. Entrepreneurs are no different.

juiceandjuice 15y ago

Forgot one thing: Lots of them do similar things and imitate, failing to stand out in the crowd.

mtogo 15y ago

The main difference is you can make a good living playing music.

haploid 15y ago

One critical difference: "I'm in a startup" doesn't work nearly as well on women as "I'm in a band" does.

te_chris 15y ago

As an indie musician I've found that a lot of the skills I developed over the years in rehearsing, getting ready to record, deciding which songs were best for the recording (your product) and promoting shows through any outlet available have proved invaluable in building my startup.

oblique63 15y ago

Glad to see somebody finally put to words what's been knocking around my head for quite some time now. Although it's not a state that's exclusive to either musicians or entrepreneurs (as others in this thread have noted), I think it's an analogy that seems to resonate more deeply with people in general. I know I've seen it mentioned here that startups are the new 'rock bands' (in the sense that success/fame-thirsty people are now forming companies instead of bands to fulfill their dreams), and that's a comparison that everyone understands, because who hasn't fantasized about being in a wildly famous rock band at one point? In fact, I'm not sure why this is even an analogy; in my mind, musicians ARE entrepreneurs. I'm currently in the process of recording my first album as a solo musician, and founding a music related startup at the same time (http://www.tabrat.com/ http://www.tabrat.com/), and can already see the similarity of the hurdles I will have to face on both frontiers. I would imagine this connection to be painfully obvious to any musician working on a startup though. To elaborate on this perspective, you could say record labels are analogous to investors in the startup world (major labels being like larger VCs, and independent labels being like Angels), where they could potentially approach you, but most likely you'll end up pitching your product/music to a lot of them with marginal success, if not deciding to just completely bootstrap as an 'indie' artist. And there are plenty more 'connections' like that to be made, so I really think musicians are a subset of entrepreneurs, not just merely their analogs.

phektus 15y ago

One can also see many parallels between bands and startups. Both is working on getting 'signed'. Both start small and usually low budget. Both relies on creating stuff to make their way. Both has to struggle with small group issues and drama. So on and so forth.