Greg Isenberg is a multi-exit Silicon Valley entrepreneur and owner of Late Checkout product studio. He has:
- Headed Product Strategy at WeWork
- Been an advisor to Reddit
- Founded a startup, Islands, which was sold to WeWork
- Founded 5by, which was sold to StumbleUpon
Guest Author: Greg Isenberg
This 58s video of Frank Zappa talking about creativity fires me up for 2024.
And it’s a peek into the brain of a 0.00001% creative genius.
His full answer is flawless. It’s the longest “hellllll yeahhhhhh” I’ve heard in a long time.
Interviewer: “Do you consider yourself a great guitarist?”
Frank Zappa goes on to spill the secrets to building any lovable product.
“What I do on a guitar has very little to do with what other people do on a guitar.”
Mic drop. Imagine ignoring everything and everyone else when building your product.
It’s a reminder that the internet rewards uniqueness, weirdness.
AI makes anyone able to spin up software, Hollywood style videos on a dime.
That “weirdness”, the human touch is what communities will gravitate to more than people think.
Cookie cutter = products, content that looks like everyone else fueled by AI Molding your own clay = building the “anti-product” that looks and feels different
This line is beautiful: “It’s a game, you have a piece of time and you get to decorate it.”
I can’t stop thinking about that line.
Being original, having fun with the time to build product, create content. In 2024 – the internet is a game, and you can decorate it how you want.
Maybe that sounds corny but it’s true.
That’s my 2024 energy. Maybe yours too. — Frank might be the best “wish I met him” of all time for me.
Follow me @gregisenberg for more if this resonated
Check out the original tweet here