Punk Scenes and Startups
The punk rock scene and startups have more in common than a lot of people realize (or care to realize).
Both are driven by a DIY mentality, a willingness to challenge the status quo, and a desire to push boundaries. We'll get more into that in a little bit.
Just as punk rock bands in the 1970s and early 80's used their music to break free from the constraints of mainstream glam metal, prog rock, and disco, startups today are using technology to disrupt traditional industries and create new opportunities.
Both punk rock and startups value creativity, innovation, and a willingness to take risks.
Think about the way that the Crass, the Sex Pistols, the Exploited, the Ramones, or Dead Kennedys paved the way for countless alternative and independent bands to come, or how companies like Uber and Airbnb changed the way we travel. Those are just two examples of how punk rock and startups have disrupted their respective industries.
It's cool to think about, how two seemingly separate things are more alike than they're different.
It's weird that more people haven't put two and two together yet, but the two seemingly disparate concepts have so much in common it would be dumb to ignore, and just how many people are into punk rock, anyway?
Ask most people their favorite punk band and they're likely to say "Green Day", "Nirvana", or even "Nickelback" (just kidding, nobody has ever said that last one ever). They instantly think spiked bracelets, spiky hair, and maybe middle fingers with a snarl. Or maybe that weird kid in their high school (hi!). But punk isn't about the uniform. Never was, and never will be. Punk is a mentality, and while some assholes gatekeep the scene and the music... kinda like what I did at the beginning of this paragraph (I am far from perfect) the scene, just like startups are open to anyone who wants to enter.
All you need to have is creativity, drive, and the want to do it yourself.
Punk rock, or at least the type I like is DIY, back to basics, fingers flying in the face of conformity and adversity. Let's see how that ethos translates into a Contact Center (which is my forte), and then into Startups.
1. Fostering a DIY Attitude: Encourage team members to come up with creative solutions to problems and to take ownership of their work.
2. Back to Basics: no frills, one call resolution. Get to the point and don't waste the customers time. Know your stuff and be able to back it up.
3. Reject Authority: Encourage team members to think for themselves and to question the status quo.
4. Focus on Individualism: Encourage team members to be themselves and to express their own unique personalities and styles and to be open to new and different ideas.
5. Empathy: Encourage team members to show empathy and understanding towards customers and colleagues.
Cool, makes sense for a kick ass Contact Center with a low turnover rate. (Ahem ahem)
Okay. So with Startups:
1. Fostering a DIY Attitude: Too easy. Only way this would confuse you is if you don't know what a start up is.
2. Back to Basics: Simplify processes, removing friction.
3. Reject Authority: This and the DIY aspect is where punk rock and startups align the strongest. We see what the big dogs are doing, and it's shite. Let's do it better, and let's do it our way.
4. Focus on Individualism: Everyone is important, everyone has their role.
5. Empathy: 🤷♂️
There's more of course, and since punk rock is more than green mohawks, spiked bracelets, and sniffing glue this attitude can get a team far. Much further in fact than stuffed shirt narrow minded conformists ever could.
In the spirit of Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, and countless other bands you can be well spoken and well educated while keeping the DIY nonconformist attitude alive. Plus, to quote Adrian Swinscoe, it's a lot more fun, isn't it?
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