I started this project to make money.
I hope if anyone asks you why you started your business you give the same answer. It will light up the right room. In the wrong room it will tell you exactly what you need to know.
Now that I am under sail I am looking at and thinking about the competition – which is any and all business publications.
A couple have gotten big on the Internet, older pubs of print origin are running listicles and hoping for a Chinese buyer to come along.
But what are they publishing? Stories of how big companies have gotten, billion-dollar IPOs and the indulgent fetishes of very rich people who have already had success.
It’s business porn. Running articles announcing new products is fellatio. Talking about YouTubers and Instagrammers is pandering for clicks. Some of my favorites have been the coverage of clearly fraudulent or illegal enterprises as “covering what’s happening in business.” They loved Theranos and Uber and AirBnB and WeWork. Until the first and last of those imploded and then they were on their carcasses like scavengers.
None of it helps me sell books or magazine subscriptions. None of it teaches me anything except that I should sit and click through about billionaires and disruption.
If you understand what you’re reading it’s also about idolizing business people universally because they came up with one good idea. And when business publications aid in idolatry they are conspirators in the eventual meltdown that occurs through fraud, criminality and the eventually revealed incompetence. A meltdown that typically burns employees, investors, suppliers and customers.
So the best thing I can say to you is don’t do business porn. It doesn’t help. At the least it keeps you from what you’re supposed to be doing and worse, it puts you on a path to trying to be like other businesses whose main product is sketchy. Yes, business porn is good for cautionary tales. But they usually only come after a couple years of fawning coverage of some genius who turned out to be a lunatic.
Business is a sport you get to play. The business pubs that are out there are like fantasy football where you can only pretend to play.
So I say let’s play and to do so let’s look at a case study tomorrow (check your email!)