Networking Archive

 I do not often write blog entries which reference other blog articles. However, I recently came across a truly delightful post entitled, Jeffrey Aaronson’s Improbable Journey with Steve Jobs, the Guy Who Changed His World (and Ours). Jeffrey Aaronson is a noted artist and photojournalist who befriended a young Mr. Jobs at the beginning of Steve’s amazing journey.  

Entrepreneurs win by changing the Rules of the Game, rather than by trying to best Big Dumb Companies (BDCs) at their own game. Seth Epstein, Founder and CEO of SocialStay and former Founder of FUEL, understands the power of changing the rules. Early in his career, he devised a clever strategy for making a splash at the Broadcast Design Association tradeshow, one of the most significant gatherings in the motion graphics industry. While hundreds of BDCs each spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to fool the market as to their relevance by investing in garish tradeshow booth monstrosities, Seth played by his own rules. While he understood that some of his competitors’ booths were impressive, he also realized that most would not generate enough sales to recoup their booth’s cost. With an investment of less than $10,000, FUEL became the talk of the show and generated enough hype to land several new clients.