fbpx

“Do Things that Don’t Scale” in Hip-Hop

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email
Share on whatsapp
Bad Boy's Street Team (via Facebook)

by Dan Runcie

Every Monday, Trapital's free weekly memo will give you insights on the latest moves in music, media, and culture. Join 22K+ readers who stay ahead of all the trends:

Y-Combinator co-founder Paul Graham’s 2013 essay Do Things that Don’t Scale is etched into the minds of startup founders. His stories about Stripe and Airbnb recruiting customers manually are reminders of the importance of understanding customers in the early stages. But like many things, there are countless examples of hip-hop doing this before Hacker News was even a thing.

Necessity or strategy? In my recent Twitter thread, I cited examples like Megan Thee Stallion’s Hottie house parties, Donald Albright’s podcast street team, Loud Records and Bad Boys actual street teams, the Ciroc Boys, and J. Cole’s Dollar & A Dream Tour.

Most of those tactics were done out of necessity. They didn’t have massive audiences or unlimited budgets. They rolled their sleeves up because it was the only way.

Meanwhile, venture-backed tech founders have access to funding. But great brands aren’t built from Facebook and Google ads. Those ads can boost brands that are already great, but the brand is built by the customer focus established in the early days.

This goes back to the constraints I mentioned in my post about Songfinch. Limited financial resources can breed creativity. Startups that rely too heavily on targeted social media advertising may lose out on the creativity and personality that comes with brands.

Today, that creativity may come from companies built from audience-first products. Today’s media companies built passionate newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube channels have an advantage when launching products because they’ve taken the time to know their audience.

For more on audience-first products, check out ConvertKit CEO Nathan Barry’s Billion Dollar Creator essay. It’s a great breakdown on this.

Dan Runcie

Dan Runcie

Founder of Trapital

Want more? Trapital's free Monday memo will keep you posted on the latest trends in the business of hip-hop:

Like this memo? Share it!

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on whatsapp
Share on email
"The stuff that Trapital puts out is fantastic. Really interesting insights into the industry, artists trends, and market trends."
Mike Weissman
CEO, SoundCloud
“You tell the true stories. Not just the end product, but how you get to the end product. Your point of view on it is dope.”
Steve Stoute
CEO, UnitedMasters and Translation