“One was to focus intensely on its most loyal fans. It established a telephone hotline to alert them to its touring schedule ahead of any public announcement, reserved for them some of the best seats in the house, and capped the price of tickets, which the band distributed through its own mail-order house.
They incorporated early on, and established a board of directors (with a rotating CEO position) consisting of the band, road crew, and other members of the Dead organization.
They founded a profitable merchandising division and, peace and love notwithstanding, did not hesitate to sue those who violated their copyrights. But they weren’t greedy, and they adapted well.
They famously permitted fans to tape their shows, ceding a major revenue source in potential record sales. According to Barnes, the decision was not entirely selfless: it reflected a shrewd assessment that tape sharing would widen their audience, a ban would be unenforceable, and anyone inclined to tape a show would probably spend money elsewhere, such as on merchandise or tickets.”
How did that all work out for them? The article says that along their trip, “they became one of the most profitable bands of all time,” and what a long strange trip it was.
UC Davis is an amazing research university right next to Sacramento. There are scientists doing groundbreaking work in medicine, green technology and food science just across the causeway every day.
What does this article mean? Hopefully it means we’ll be seeing more promising research become promising companies in the area. That is how you create a viable start-up scene in the area. Take you strengths and build on them, and if you can, support your local startup. Who knows they might change the world.
As part of my job I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with quite a few famous people. One evening while swapping stories, my father asked why I don’t have pictures of my with all of them up on my office wall.
Part of my job in working with people is to make them feel comfortable, and accomplish whatever task needs to be done. If I’m taking pictures with them, I’m not doing my job.What I’ve found is that I’m able to be a lot more effective at my job if I’m not a fan, but just the guy there to help them get things done. Seems to make them much more comfortable with me as well.
As a result, I don’t have many of the cool pictures on my wall that I could have, but I do have some pretty cool stories.
If you’ve ever wondered why some “letters to the editor,” get printed an others don’t, or maybe when is a letter more likely to get printed then today is your lucky day.
Stuart Leavenworth the editor of the Editoral Page at the Sacramento Bee has published a short Q&A answering a few of the most often asked questions.
If Stuart’s name seems familiar to readers here it might be because we wrote about his sabbatical when he was working in a restaurant as an apprentice chef.
Read the Q&A here. One interesting thought I’ve had. In the Q&A it says,”If we get 20 letters that all make the same point about the same subject, we may publish only one of them.” For hot issues it might be interesting to show a “tag cloud,” or some way of showing how or cold an issue is depending on the number of letters received.
Also, if you’re curious, around the holidays they are apparently in need of good topical letters.
A few notes of my own:
stay away from tired rhetoric (and yes frequent use of “liberal,” or “conservative falls into this category;
have a single thought for your letter, don’t try and solve all of the worlds problems at once;
include an action;
make it topical, but not hysterical;
write like a real person, not how you think a newspaper article should read.
I’m doing quite a bit more public speaking these days. Most of the time it goes very well. Sometimes not as well, like two weeks ago in Las Vegas where my voice completely gave out. Did it freak me out? Yes, a little bit. Not every public speaking gig is going to go perfectly and when it doesn’t, smile and laugh along with your audience. That last little advice is from Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress and all-around good guy. I met him three years ago when he was at one of the SacStarts dinners.
Stumble It!
