Comments on: The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success

By: Miko

Miko — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:26:56 +0000

I wish some band would come along that good these days!

By: “Me too” « JFDI.asia

“Me too” « JFDI.asia — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:47:45 +0000

[...] more: Read: Dharmesh Shah, Lateral Action and David Shen on the [...]

By: John Rosenfelder

John Rosenfelder — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:34:13 +0000

you know i love a nirvana fan, nice job brian!

as the college/metal radio promo person for dgc that worked on nevermind, i must point out a few slight inaccuracies:

butch vig worked w/sonic youth AFTER nirvana, but SY was the reason they chose their manager john silva and dgc as the label – we had done well with sonic youth.

sonic youth’s dirty tried to capitalize on kurt having said they were his favorite band and hired vig to help. it didn’t work that well, for many of the reasons you wrote about in this post – i.e. didn’t merge two ideas or markets smoothly, etc.

the goal at the marketing meeting was to sell 50K of nevermind, which would have been half what sonic youth’s goo had done the previous year.

eddie’s being a little coy – we had some resistance to nirvana even though “teen spirit” was one of the hottest songs in history.

those folks don’t work at radio stations anymore.

thanks for a great post!

By: How To Have (Not Be) Genius | The Creative Intelligence Blog

How To Have (Not Be) Genius | The Creative Intelligence Blog — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:31:58 +0000

[...] McGuinness of Lateral Action has examined the biogs of creators as disparate as Michelangelo, Kurt Cobain, Charles Darwin and Shakespeare, among others, and found their ostensibly effortless [...]

By: FitJerks Fitness Blog

FitJerks Fitness Blog — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:35:33 +0000

Like they say… if you aren’t pissing a few people off or stirring the pot a little, you aren’t making your point hard enough.

And I like to make my points hard.

By: Dead Frank » Kurt Kobain’s Guide to Success

Dead Frank » Kurt Kobain’s Guide to Success — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:58:25 +0000

[...] http://lateralaction.com/articles/kurt-cobain-startup-success/ [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:35:38 +0000

I like your first point in the summary, it reminds me of what Seth Godin is always saying – be remarkable, create something that’s worth talking about, and people will market it for you. This is why me-too businesses have to slog along while innovative ones go vertical.

Great post!

By: JFDI.asia: Me too

JFDI.asia: Me too — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:35:13 +0000

[...] Dharmesh Shah, Lateral Action and David Shen on the issues. page tags: differentiation innovation marketing usp [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:12:21 +0000

Awesome stuff. This actually made me think of the fictional Eddie Wilson from Eddie and the Cruisers:

“I want somethin’ great! I want somethin’ that nobody’s ever done before!”

“We ain’t great. We’re just some guys from Jersey.”

“If we can’t be great, then there’s no point in ever playing music again.”

I always thought that said a lot about the kind of attitude that’s required for success.

By: Maris

Maris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:11:57 +0000

I agree with with Chokdee’s comment. Although a brilliant idea/product/mind is the basis of pioneering what would be a hugely successful trend, it takes constant innovation to stay on top of the game. Having loved the music of Nirvana and admired Kurt Cobain’s uniqueness, I’m quite sure his group would have sustained their lead in the grunge genre if not for his untimely demise.