You're Such a (Parody) Tease!

One of the privileges of hosting and producing 'STATE OF MIND with Krishna C. Nadella' is that I get the opportunity to meet and speak with some really interesting people. Some would say it comes with the territory but in the bell curve of life, I still get a kick out of meeting people who lie on the right-hand side.

With that said, over the last six months, I've had the good fortune to make the acquaintance and eventual friendship of a man who epitomizes Albert Einstein's belief that imagination is more important than knowledge. That man is  Jon Briggs, creator of Parody  Tease. For those of you who have never heard of Parody Tease, it's "a store that provides funny parody logo t-shirts and gear guaranteed to get you a laugh. If you don't get a high-five or two in the first 30 days, return it for a full refund...Our goal is to give you the most effective way to tease your rival team without even saying a word. We aren't doing our job if our funny logos aren't getting shared, re-tweeted, tagged, blasted, pinned or whatever else you kids are doing these days!" With that said, a picture is worth a thousand words so please take a look at some of his work below:

Genius!

What makes Jon unique is not so much that he's a wildly successful entrepreneur, but that he's the type of entrepreneur we can all relate to. (No offense Mark Cuban!) He is a husband and father to two young boys but has Joint Venture partnerships primarily in the medical space. Some deals he provides the capital, some deals he provides his sales and marketing team to drive revenue into the JV. Parody Tease is a passion project that allows him to learn about e-commerce, build strategic partnerships, bring people together and make some money in the process. It's not his first foray into entrepreneurship and it most likely won't be his last. In many ways, he reminds me a lot of myself when it comes to STATE OF MIND. As such, it was only natural that I take the opportunity to reach out and get his thoughts and perspectives on entrepreneurship and share them with all of you. Here's what I learned:

•  "You can outsource TALENT but you can't outsource VISION." 

Case in point: the chicken-scratch below on the left is Jon's vision for the Boston Celtics' Parody Tease. Clearly he doesn't have a lick of artistic talent...but he doesn't have to! Instead he works with an artist who has the necessary skills to execute on his vision. Both are important contributors to the final product but whereas many can have the talent, very few can have the vision.

•   "Get out of your comfort zone."

Believe it or not, the artist that executes on Jon's vision doesn't live in the same continent and doesn't speak the same language. This poses several challenges with regards to coordination and communication. With that said, it also poses an opportunity for Parody Tease to think globally as thinking locally would have limited the audience that Jon catered too.

• "Products are the vehicle for Vision, not the Vision itself."

As per Jon, "the anchor of Parody Tease are the logos not the products with the logos on them. The products are a way to subsidize new logos without breaking my personal bank account."

• "Quality is and will always still be job one."

Continuing on his train of thought, "That said, if I am going to sell products they have to meet or exceed my own high standards. Even if that means compromising my margins." Regarding the shirts, "I simply won't sell anything I wouldn't wear to sleep, work out in, or go out in myself." Regarding the other products, "any other products I have I use personally before I put them up for sale. If they don't meet my quality standards I give them away."

•  "If you're not embarrassed by your first product, you're behind." - Reid Hoffman (CoFounder of LinkedIn)

Ever go back and see the first few seasons of 'The Simpsons'? The animation is painful, the voices are awkward and the focus of the show is a work in progress. Anyone who claims they enjoyed those early years is flat out lying! Thankfully, series creator Matt Groening was willing to take an honest look at the product and make the necessary 'tweaks' so that the show was able to find its footing and direction and become the world's longest running sitcom.

• "Failure is a part of life. How you deal with it is a choice."

To quote Rocky Balboa, "You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!”

• There's nothing social about Social Media."

In a day and age where digital marketing and social media is a science, it's imperative to cut through the noise of the multitude of platforms and focusing on the ones that can actually help your business. Approaching social media with a clear strategy vs. a 'finger in the wind' mentality and it will provide real dividends in the long run. 

• "Don't take yourself too seriously...make fun of yourself."

Entrepreneurship is supposed to be fun. When it becomes all about the dollars & cents and not positively affecting others and making an impact, then you're better off doing something else. Life's too short.

....I couldn't have said it better myself! 

For those interested in learning more about Parody Tease, you can reach out to Jon on Cyber Dust at +parodytease or you can follow his blog at www.parodytease.com.

 Krishna C. Nadella

(Cyber Dust: +kcnadella)
Host, STATE OF MIND with Krishna C. Nadella
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