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What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

techcrunch.com

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Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#11

Post by jarin »

jhuckestein wrote: post #4

I would have loved to see Bieber succeed without any help. With phenomenons like him I'm never sure if it's really them or if it's the puppeteers being smart (in this case Usher and his record label). The internet seems to have the power to bring anyone to superstardom, but most of the time that happens accidentally or is done clumsily. What if a talented programmer with a knack for marketing took a few years off to…

Masi Oka (Hiro on Heroes and Max on Hawaii Five-O, formerly a visual effects programmer at ILM) is an example of a programmer who taught himself how to act and became a successful actor, but he didn't self-promote on the Internet. He did it the hard way (commercials, guest roles, pilots, etc).

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#12

Post by kemayo »

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #7

I really dislike the idea of "talent". "You have to be talented." "It all starts from talent." I've seen people with seemingly NO talent for music or coding or whatever turn themselves into virtuosos because they WANTED it. It seems like saying "You need talent" is a way to tell people that "it's okay that you're not trying, because you might not be talented in this area". And that's bullshit.

I have artist friends who get really annoyed when they hear people say "I wanted to draw but I just don't have any talent for it, not like you". They feel like it's totally dismissing the years of obsessive practice they've put into it to make it /seem/ effortless.

Natural talent counts for something, but it's not going to make you a success. I saw "result = talent * effort" mentioned on the last HN post about this, and I thought it was pretty accurate.

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#13

Post by WalterBright »

endlessvoid94 wrote: post #7

I really dislike the idea of "talent". "You have to be talented." "It all starts from talent." I've seen people with seemingly NO talent for music or coding or whatever turn themselves into virtuosos because they WANTED it. It seems like saying "You need talent" is a way to tell people that "it's okay that you're not trying, because you might not be talented in this area". And that's bullshit.

Talent is worth about 1%. The other 99% is effort.

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#14

Post by alexophile »

kemayo wrote: post #12
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #7

I really dislike the idea of "talent". "You have to be talented." "It all starts from talent." I've seen people with seemingly NO talent for music or coding or whatever turn themselves into virtuosos because they WANTED it. It seems like saying "You need talent" is a way to tell people that "it's okay that you're not trying, because you might not be talented in this area". And that's bullshit.

I have artist friends who get really annoyed when they hear people say "I wanted to draw but I just don't have any talent for it, not like you". They feel like it's totally dismissing the years of obsessive practice they've put into it to make it /seem/ effortless. Natural talent counts for something, but it's not going to make you a success. I saw "result = talent * effort" mentioned on the last HN post about this,…

As usual, Derek Sivers has a wonderfully relevant essay on this: http://sivers.org/15-years

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#16

Post by away »

misterbwong wrote: post #9
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #7

I really dislike the idea of "talent". "You have to be talented." "It all starts from talent." I've seen people with seemingly NO talent for music or coding or whatever turn themselves into virtuosos because they WANTED it. It seems like saying "You need talent" is a way to tell people that "it's okay that you're not trying, because you might not be talented in this area". And that's bullshit.

I've come to believe that many people (like the article author) confuse talent with passion and persistence. If you naturally have a talent for something, you are more likely to pursue it and spark a passion for it. It's much easier to get good at something you have a natural inclination towards. This does not mean that talent is a prerequisite for getting good at something. And besides, having talent is like having…

Certain things require more talent than others. It doesn't matter how hard you practice, you're not going to run faster than Usain Bolt.

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#18

Post by hristov »

What an entrepreneur could learn from techcrunch:

Be a completely absolutely shameless shill. If you think people will call you out, just make your shameless whoring sound like some kind of brave principled stand. For example, you can say something like this: "I know people will criticize me for writing obvious blatant advertising copy that has nothing to do with this site's subject matter, but I will write it nevertheless because I thought hard about this and made an idiotic banal and meaningless connection between the pop-culture crap I am supporting and blah blah blah."

Also make sure you always include a list. This list will do for every occasion:

1. Be talented 2. Work hard 3. Be positive

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#19

Post by dimitri_w »

I tried hard to resist commenting on this subject but obviously not hard enough. It's kind of a funny thing to read but nevertheless I stick to my opinion that Justing Bieber is the product of someone else. But this one succeeded in creating a new product for a new market. Still I hope that with enough effort I can succeed without having a 70s hairstyle, a choirboy's voice, or a busy childhood.

Re: What Every Entrepreneur Could Learn from Justin Bieber

#20

Post by neutronicus »

kemayo wrote: post #12
endlessvoid94 wrote: post #7

I really dislike the idea of "talent". "You have to be talented." "It all starts from talent." I've seen people with seemingly NO talent for music or coding or whatever turn themselves into virtuosos because they WANTED it. It seems like saying "You need talent" is a way to tell people that "it's okay that you're not trying, because you might not be talented in this area". And that's bullshit.

I have artist friends who get really annoyed when they hear people say "I wanted to draw but I just don't have any talent for it, not like you". They feel like it's totally dismissing the years of obsessive practice they've put into it to make it /seem/ effortless. Natural talent counts for something, but it's not going to make you a success. I saw "result = talent * effort" mentioned on the last HN post about this,…

I had an ex with natural talent for art. She never went anywhere with it (took the safe route and became a nurse instead), but she was just plain better at art than other people, with considerably less effort.
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