Entrepreneurship, Product Design Bruce William Entrepreneurship, Product Design Bruce William

Product Scaffolding

I frequently get into discussions and debates with friends and founders about the viability of new products and services. Product scaffolding makes it easy for me to rapidly evaluate the opportunity size, branding, and believability (is it possible). In my experience, if you can’t describe your product or service using simple, harmonious product scaffolding, your venture will struggle.

Read More
Just Life Bruce William Just Life Bruce William

Life Lessons From a Landscaper

My father was a successful businessman who built an auto recycling empire. Despite the fact that he spent his days amongst a sea of wrecked cars, bent metal, and burly men, my dad went home each day to his beloved trees, his blossoming flowers, and landscape designs. He was a junkyard dog with a soft spot for pansies, pine mulch, and asparagus.

Read More
Miscellaneous Bruce William Miscellaneous Bruce William

Free Restaurant Pro-Forma

This post on my blog is an odd duck for me. However, I realize this post is useful to others. In 2016, I did in fact consider investing in a huge restaurant concept with some friends. If you found this post, I would love to know if the spreadsheet was useful. Please send me a note and/or feedback to brucewarila on Twitter or Gmail.

Read More
Just Life Bruce William Just Life Bruce William

Have You Ridden a Windhorse?

A windhorse is not a strategy. It’s not a relationship. It’s not a routine. It’s not a drug. It’s any of the above. It’s what you ride that takes you to a place where you didn’t know you wanted to be.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

Create an Elaborate Plan

The name of your brand, the URL you use, the first word you type, the sequence in which you release your songs, your lyrics, the images you feature, the videos you release, the messages you type, and everything you put into your online presence should be part of an elaborate plan to seduce fans.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

Point and Click Copyright Control

The Click Control business-copyright model is one in which rightsholders will (someday) simply and easily suspend and reclaim their copyrights. It makes sense to be able to temporarily and selectively suspend one’s copyrights to encourage adoption (including commercial usage), and then (via the click of a mouse) reclaim their suspended rights someplace along the way to becoming a classic…

Read More
Just Life Bruce William Just Life Bruce William

Learning From Stone

If someone shows you, you will obtain confidence that the problem or puzzle can be solved. If someone shows you, and teaches you, you will solve the problem. If nobody shows you, and nobody teaches you, the stone can teach you what you need to know.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

The Song Adoption Formula

The formula stipulates that for a song to obtain maximum traction, all the variables in the formula have to push up and max out. If you plug the formula into a spreadsheet and play around with scenarios, you will notice (it’s all multiplication), that a single low variable sinks a song (this is important). In other words, you need ALL the variables to work for you to maximize the conversion rate from listeners to fans.

Read More
Entrepreneurship, Music Industry Bruce William Entrepreneurship, Music Industry Bruce William

The End Date

In any business, a good manager should be able to tell you the ‘end-date’. The end-date is a hypothetical day in the future when cash reserves will run dry if expenses continually exceed revenues. Knowledge of the end-date is a huge (negative) motivator. When the boss says: "We need to generate X by next Thursday or else...", people respond like soldiers going to battle.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

Music as a Service

Written in 2013: Today, a great wireless device has to be a phone, a camera, a computer, a GPS, an e-book reader, an application ecosystem, an entertainment center, a social instrument, a business toolbox, and a great music service. Music probably consumes more device-time than any other phone feature. So, it’s clear that device manufacturers understand that music-as-a-service (MAS) is a core feature that’s essential to competing. However, the current music stack that includes: MP3 acquisition and management, playlist management, playback control, music discovery, music recommendation, and social sharing is outdated and cumbersome.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

Music Absorption

Music absorption is the process that occurs between music discovery and the (self) conversion of an average music consumer into an active fan. I believe the music absorption process is radically different now than it was just two years ago, and understanding how this process has changed should impact your approach to succeeding in the music industry.

Read More
Music Industry Bruce William Music Industry Bruce William

Music Can’t Be Marketed, It Can Only Be Found

Music is now the most naked product on Earth. Music sits upon the shelf unwrapped, raw and void of packaging. Consumers can fully try it before they buy it; they can take it home unmolested; and they can pay for it randomly, or not at all. I can’t think of another product that is so fully exposed and vulnerable to quick and precise, pre-purchase decision-making as music.

Read More