[MUSIC]
I'm sitting here in a shared co-working space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As an entrepreneur or as a creative person, often that's a lonely journey.
So, one of the piece of advice that you have,
whether you join a co-working space or whether you join a co-op.
Go out there and talk and
meet people who are also down the same path that you're at.
Studies have shown that the successful innovators weren't necessarily
ones who were able to come up with a pioneering idea.
But these were also people who were able to meaningfully develop a network of
contacts and relationships to help them take that idea and bring it to fruition.
So, think of this group of people that you're assembling not as a network but,
fundamentally, as a community.
As a group of people that you're looking to recruit and help them see what you see.
Help them come and join you on this journey you're about to embark on.
>> I have a really positive point of view.
I didn't always.
I was like, why do we have to go schmooze all these big shots?
That's not what it's about at all.
It's about finding people where there's authenticity coming at you and going out,
where you feel that flow.
And then letting those relationships grow and giving them energy so
that they grow which is a lot of what this is.
Is making connections to people and making authentic connections.
>> Connectivity is important because first of all, I'm not my own bank.
So I've gotta know how to talk to bankers and when I say bankers, I mean,
investors or like a companies an investor, a production companies an investor.
I've gotta know how to talk to audience members that want to come up and
get my autograph.
I gotta know how to talk to audience members from a stage,
to engage them over a one hour or one hour and a half show.
I've gotta know how talk to club owners back in the day like hey,
I know you don't know me from Adam, and maybe I'm not Herbie Hancock, but
I can fill up this club.
Relationships are extremely important, because I am not the network.
The network already exists, I'm just trying to plug in to the network.
>> To be an artist is to be an entrepreneur.
So I'm always out there.
I mean, it's just a fearless thing.
It's a complete fearless thing.
I want to meet this person.
I'm want to tell them who I am.
I'm want to tell them what I'm interested in.
And from our conversations, something wonderful will happen.
Why because we're talking about us.
We're not talking about what I want, or what you want, or, to me it's not that.
I mean, real business for me, is people communicating.
You don't have to go far.
It could even be your backyard for many people.
But for me it's just whoever you meet, I mean those are tools,
just like everything else.
>> Never underestimate the power
of just engaging in a conversation with complete strangers.
And as unnatural as it may feel to you, just keep in mind that the next
big partnership or the next great friend or your next banker.
Or funder,
may come from a simple conversation that you decided to either start, or
had you avoided it maybe your life would have taken a completely different path.
>> Building out a network and having a collection of people that you can turn to
for advise is critical for an entrepreneur.
But some of this is also an awareness of the importance of the collision of ideas.
Of taking two seemingly unlikely collaborators and
forcing them in a room together and the magic that happens there.
Well, that's not always just waiting for magic to happen.
So even if you're not the most charming or outgoing person in the world,
you could sit down and logically analyze what degrees do all of my friends have.
Gee, they're all computer scientists.
Maybe I should meet somebody who's a musician.
Eventually, if you hang around enough musicians,
you might learn some of the vocabulary that they use.
And be able to call upon that when you're stuck trying to solve a problem.
So, building out relationships is not just a sense of cashing in favors from people
who might be able to help you.
But it's genuinely creating a symphony of diverse voices in your head
that you can call upon to solve a problem that you alone couldn't solve.
>> When people often ask me, what's my greatest strength?
Frankly, it wasn't any particular skill that I had.
I wasn't the world's greatest technologist or coder.
I'm not the world's greatest musician.
I don't even know if I would consider myself to be such a brilliant
business person.
But the one thing that I felt I've always done really well in my Life
it's just developed meaningful relationships and relate to people.
The truth is, I like people, I like talking to people,
I like learning those interactions.
And I personally can't stress enough how critical ultimately building a network.
And nurturing relationships is in the long term success of whatever you're
trying to do.
It's called company, after all, because it's comprised of a bunch of people,
minds and hearts coming together to create something meaningful, something new.