I’m glad to see how thinking has evolved on this on HN over the last couple of years.
If you’d have mentioned marketing a couple of years ago, someone would have shared the Bill Hicks post by now.
Marketing (not just advertising) really is an essential part of building product as it forces you to confront who might actually want the product and how you best go about talking to them and finding them.
Neat story about Bill Hicks and marketing. When he was sick but still working, he appeared on the David Letterman show. At that point, he was something of a regular on David Letterman.
He did a routine with a joke that worried Letterman, so Letterman made sure the segment didn’t air. In response, Bill Hicks went on public access television - there’s a really good show from Austin on YouTube - and used that as part of his own pitch.
A number of years later, after Bill Hicks died, David Letterman had Bill Hicks’ mom on his show. They talked about Bill Hicks and aired the routine. Bill Hicks’ impression of his parents was remarkably good.
When I watch Bill Hicks on marketing, I take it as being about ethics. We don’t have to monetize every little thing. And we don’t have to do awful things for pay.
There's no doubt that Letterman has had a large ego at times and acted poorly towards people. But he does contrition and humbleness so well, it's a major reason I've watched more than a few My Next Guest...
If you’d have mentioned marketing a couple of years ago, someone would have shared the Bill Hicks post by now.
Marketing (not just advertising) really is an essential part of building product as it forces you to confront who might actually want the product and how you best go about talking to them and finding them.