Party Crashing, Entrepreneurship and SXSW
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By Larry Chiang
Party Crashing = Entrepreneurship.
There's is HUGE overlap between crashing events and entrepreneurship. Its not just me that thinks this... industry thought leaders like Guy Kawasaki, MC Hammer, Mark McCormack and more agree with me. These two favorite pastimes of mine are studied, honed and methodologically broken down in my upcoming book, "What They Don't Teach You At Stanford Business School". Am I gonna make you wait til 09-09-09? Nope. Here's a preview NOW
 If you're a celeb, you can +1 your friends. If you're a hanger-on like me, crash with someone better than you and fight the greater bozo dynamic. |
-1- The Greater Bozo Theory.
Guy Kawasaki says A's hire B's, Bs hire Cs and so on. If you're gonna crash a party, have a plus one that is one tier in quality above you. When I crashed the TechCrunch party, I rolled in with Matt Smith, founder of Complaints.com and Grammy winner, Chamillionaire. Mike Arrington might threaten to kick me out of the blogger pit at TC50, but when it comes to parties... it is me and whatever entourage I bring.
-2- Can Touch This.
MC Hammer says, "Money missed is not missed money."
Just because you're making good choices for the long term and delaying your money does not mean you are MISSING money. I dunno how this applies to partying but money, delayed gratification and sales are important.
-3- Include More by Excluding Some.
Scott Rafer said at Stanford's VLAB, create a list of the top 100 if you want inbound links. The people on the list will link and the people not on the list will complain (and link). Sometimes getting more means excluding some.
At at TechCrunch post party, I sent the VCs in attendance to the Westin (where Chamillionaire was staying) while the real party was at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto.
-4- Don't Fake It Til You Make It.
The Internet makes everything transparent. Googling someone increases the knowledge curve and exposes your everything (lawsuits, real job, party picture captions and judgements). The old adage of faking it til you make it is, well, old.
-5- Align Your Stars to Make Your Own Luck.
Promote what they're promoting if you wanna crash. I promote better than a Vegas club promoter cuz I first promote your agenda and then marry up my priorities (later if ever). I get lucky cuz I believe that karma can be tracked measured and channeled (TM). JK about the trademark. Feel free to cut and paste this.
Mark McCormack, mentored me in the 1983 bestseller, "What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School".
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-6- Long Lines.
Love the waitlist. Being a great second supplier is critical when you are starting a business. Working the waitlist for a party is important as capacity opens up.
-7- Parties are successful/unsuccessful BEOFRE they're thrown.
Ideas are secondary to execution. I can forecast a party BEFORE its held. Test me by texting me at 650-283-8008.
-8- Entrepreneurship Is A Contact Sport.
Layers of access define a party with VIP getting a roped off section with wristbands and an unlimited supply of drink tickets.
Entrepreneurship is about a sales funnel where the person that you meet and add value to today, turns into a customer for Duck9 tomorrow.
-9- Don't Out Alpha the Host.
According to a GigaOm article on "working a room", you never wanna out alpha the host. In entrepreneurship, you never wanna out alpha a mentor. You also want to learn from junior mentors and co-hort mentors. In other words, you don't wanna out alpha anyone. Dumb yourself down and sandbag for success.
-10- Tip, bribe, comp and tip.
Two people do not tip well: Tier two celebrities and tier one MBAs. If you were left off the guest list, you can't brow beat and berate your way in. You can tip or bribe with compliments. Recently minted tier one MBAs, are most guilty of this. Tier two celebs never pull out of the tailspin.
Because SXSW is crawling with pseudo celebs (present company included), be a vacation and be nice to the guestlist nazi.
MY SXSW VC Secrets panel is @ http://tinyurl.com/vcSecrets, so tweet it and I'll luv you back.
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What did Thomas Jefferson do when he had to write an important document... He cut and pasted his mentor, John Locke. Chapter 5 of, "What They Don't Teach You At Stanford Business School" is about Cutting and Pasting smart peeps. Control-c, control-V smart stuff you hear on SXSW panels. Say stuff that people wanna re-tweet in the real world.
BONUS.
Buzzed Cold Calling is Funny. Drunk Dialing Isn't
Self explanatory.
This post was cranked out in about an hour so email me if you see a spelling or grammatical error(s)... larry@larrychiang com
If you liked this, you may also check: Cut and Paste Other People's Work Learning to Love the Waitlist How to Work a Room Raise Your FICO While You're An MBA Student Increase Your FICO After You Lose Your Job
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Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9, which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He has testified before Congress and World Bank on credit.
He is a frequent contributor to Business Week's blog on "What They Don't Teach You at Business School". For fun, Larry blogs, attends tech conferences and hoops it up at Arrillaga Family Center. Text or call him during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-15 minutes at 650-283-8008.
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