the fishing pole worked
he watched a band pass a tip bucket on the end of a fishing pole. everyone saw something ridiculous. he saw proof.
three and a half years ago a guy watched a band collect tips in a bar by passing a bucket around on the end of a fishing pole.
his first thought was there has to be a better way. his second thought is the one that built a company.
the fishing pole worked.
people gave. the bucket came back full. the whole arrangement was undignified and slightly absurd and it did the job, which meant the demand was already proven and only the mechanism was broken. that is the best thing you can possibly find, and most of us walk straight past it because we are hunting for problems that look impressive.
he built the digital version. the pilot ran two hundred and ninety five live shows, five thousand tips, fifty bands, and he kept it deliberately small until the thing was proven.
bands at small venues make close to nothing. a fifty dollar bucket can be the entire night. so none of this is a rounding error to them, it is rent.
the lesson i keep having to relearn: do not go looking for unmet demand, it is rare and almost impossible to prove before you build. go looking for demand being met by something ridiculous. a spreadsheet, a group chat, duct tape, a fishing pole. the ridiculous version already did the expensive part of the research for you.
what is the fishing pole in your customer's workflow right now?
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