The Real Madness of March
Entrepreneur Office Hours - Issue #223
I’m a huge Duke Basketball fan. I realize it’s not everyone’s favorite program, and I hope none of you hold it against me. But how can you blame me? I’ve spent almost half my life tied to the university, so I have a bit of a vested interest in its success.
My sports allegiances aside, I wanted to bring this up because it’s March, which means it’s time for the NCAA tournament, and even if you aren’t a college basketball fan, you’ll be able to appreciate the entrepreneurial beauty of the system.
For example, I want to be able to watch Duke’s tournament games. In the past, that meant simply turning on the TV. However, in the days of of chord cutting and a gazillion different streaming services, the process isn’t nearly as simple.
I already pay for one service just to watch my beloved Duke Basketball games during the season. It costs me $40 per month. The season runs November to April, so I’m spending $240 just to watch games. I literally don’t ever use this service for anything else, which is enormously frustrating considering all the other channels I have to pay for, too.
For whatever reason, the service I already subscribe to doesn’t include CBS, which shows some (though not all) of the NCAA tournament games. Unfortunately, Duke’s first game is on CBS. That means I also have to subscribe to Paramount+ for $11 for the month (and more if I don’t remember to cancel). If Duke loses in that first game, or simply doesn’t have another game on CBS, then I’ll have purchase the entire service for literally 2 hours worth of usage time, which seems a bit silly. It also brings my total spend in order to watch a few Duke basketball games a year up to $251.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who does this. Plenty of people care about their one team, but, in order to watch that one team, they have to pay lots of extra money for services you don’t care about and don’t use.
Knowing college basketball has hundreds of millions of fans, if we assume that even just one million of them are like me — people who only stream certain networks for a certain part of the year in order to watch a favorite team — that’s $251 million per year. And this is just college basketball. What about the person who grew up watching the Green Bay Packers with his father but lives in San Diego now and has to buy NFL Sunday Ticket every year so he can watch a handful of games. Or the Dodgers fan in Boston? Or the Hornets fan in Seattle? Just kidding… there aren’t any Hornets fans.
Anyway, the point is whatever team you’re rooting for this NCAA tournament, remember this: you’re not really a fan; you’re just a lowly customer inside the giant sports-business machine that’s exploiting your “fandom” to make you buy things.
What a beautiful example of entrepreneurship, huh?
-Aaron
This week’s new articles…
The Real Reason Getting People to Actually Use Your Product Is So Hard
Some entrepreneurs are great at getting people to test their products but terrible at turning those people into customers.
What if Entrepreneurship Is Actually Much Simpler Than Most Founders Think?
Are you making your startup way more complex than it needs to be without even realizing it?
Office Hours Q&A
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QUESTION:
Hi Aaron,
I’m a high school sophomore interested in learning more about entrepreneurship. Since you teach entrepreneurship at Duke, I was wondering what books you recommend for people who want to learn more.
Thank you,
Lizzy
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I get this “good books” question a lot, and I always struggle with it. It’s a perfectly reasonable question, but the more I learn about entrepreneurship (and teach entrepreneurship), the more I’m not convinced entrepreneurship is a good thing to teach using books.
Let’s be clear – I love books. I have a freaking PhD in English Literature! How could I not?
But I also recognize the enormous limitations of books as technologies of information storage and dissemination. Simply put, I worry books are too static for a field as dynamic as entrepreneurship.
In the entrepreneurial world, things always feel like they’re changing quickly, so a lot of the good learning you’re going to do (that doesn’t involve “learning by doing”) is going to come from more dynamic information resources. For example: podcasts; articles; social media; and newsletters (like this one!).
In other words, I wouldn’t suggest books as a great way to stay on top of current entrepreneurial trends, strategies, and happenings. Use other resources for that.
However, some books teach valuable fundamental concepts and ways of thinking that’ll always be relevant to entrepreneurs.
Off the top of my head, I’d point you to:
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margins of Error by Kathryn Schulz
A great book for providing useful perspective on how people think (and learning to think differently).
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegies
The quintessential book about selling and networking, which is one of the most important things you’ll do as an entrepreneur.
The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
I feel a little dirty for recommending this book. It has some ethical problems. But the fundamental message – learn to see the world differently – is enormously valuable.
Think Like a Freak by Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt
Honestly, anything by the Freakonomics guys is great. I love their podcast, too. Everything they create teaches you to question everything in interesting ways, which, in my experience, is a vital skill for entrepreneurs.
Hope these suggestions help!
Got startup questions of your own? Reply to this email with whatever you want to know, and I’ll do my best to answer!
