I’ve admired Jack Conte for a long time.
He is in two amazing bands: Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets. Pomplamoose landed on the map 10 years ago with their cover of Beyoncé’s Single Ladies, and they continue to perform tasty mashups on YouTube today. Scary Pockets do insane funk covers of classic songs.
In addition to the above, Conte is the founder and CEO of Patreon, a website that allows content creators to get paid directly by their fans. For example, a musician can have a community of ‘Patrons’ that pay a monthly subscription fee. In return, the Patrons get access to early music and exclusive content.
Since I first heard about Conte, it seemed like everything he touched turned to gold. His videos got millions of views, and his company is clearly the leader in its market.
So you can imagine my surprise when I came across his amazing talk called ‘Nothing Works’—where he vulnerably shares hundreds of his failures, and they all ultimately led to his successes.
It’s long—at 35 minutes—so I was hesitant to share it. But I got so much out of it, and think you may, too. If you’ve ever felt called or compelled to create something, this talk will inspire you, I can guarantee that.