The Leap - Entrepreneur Conferenece

This month I was asked to speak at the Leap - NZ's newest Entreprenuers conference.  My topic was 'Sharing the Dream' and I was asked to speak for 20 minutes to close the festival.

Intro

Thanks to Robett for having me. Yes I’m from Rhythm and Vines and we are about to sell out our 14^th festival next month.

I’m here to speak to you about sharing your dream. Now I know some of you have already your own dreams - both in startup phase and others in full development running at various levels. I also want to speak to those who have that idea bottle up inside them. I’m going to tell you some stories about my journey to encourage you to share your dream, get it out there for the world to see, include others to help build it and keep it sustainable. I will start by telling you a bit about my journey from finding a dream, getting it off the ground and continuing to share to this very day.

Our Dream

Now granted our idea was a big one and continues to be. We wanted to get the networks of friends from around NZ together to celebrate the new year.  In 2003 there wasn’t much happening in the way of NYE concerts so we decided to do it ourselves.  To get a number of people for a party in a vineyard of course you have so share it and that is what promoting is all about.  But I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t shared my dream, bought others on board and stood back at times to build a business and brand that is still relevant today.

Tom sharing the dream

The first time sharing the idea was via my friend Tom telling me his idea for a New Years Eve party.  Let’s get a few mates together for an end of year piss up by the beach. He may have been drunk but he got it out there none the less. Next I picked up that idea and ran with it. I had done a little bit of promoting for my band around Dunedin and was excited by the prospect, and of building my skillset towards a job in the music industry. So we went down to Gardies and discussed the ideas. Where would we have it? How could we promote it? Let’s get $100 in a hat and see where it goes.

Next we shared it with my flat mate Andrew.  I had seen a photo on the wall of his parent’s amphitheatre in Gisborne. Next thing we were walking around the pub with the photo sharing our vision with our mates. Would you come to Gisborne for NYE? This sharing provided valuable feedback and motivation to continue building our dream.

Dean Witters

Soon we were sharing our idea with Andrew’s Dad. We wrote a letter to him about having the event. He flew us up to Gisborne and it was a bit like the dragon’s den standing in front of him pitching our plan. It would be called Rhythm and Vines and the Black Seeds would headline. We decided to go 50/50 in the concept and he would provide some start up capital to get off the ground. He helped us write a mission statement about what we were trying to achieve one that is still relevant today.

University

We went back to university and shared our dream around campus. Black Seeds, DJ Soane (Rip) at a vineyard location in Gisborne. We shared our vision – road trip, sunshine, music, camping – one that continues today.  We put up poster and handed out flyer while people were studying at the library. Given it was pre facebook we had a unique marketing technique where we invited all our friends to the pub. Rugby players, pretty girls, Southland boys, Auckanders and we stood up and shared and sold them the dream over a few crates of Speights.

Gisborne

Tom and I realised we weren’t going to be able to do it all so we got 7 of our mates up to Gisborne and had a house on the beach. It was so important to share the load. Tom and I had limited experience with any event this big. But we soon had my sister handing out flyers, our mates, friends doing the design. Others helped paint the stage, stock the bars and mow the venue lawns. Others cook BBQ back stage and hosted the artists. That year we hosted 1800 under the bright blue Gisborne sky.

Losing money

We lost $20k that first year due to a number of mistakes – using cash on the bar, no one on the gate taking tickets, and exhorbitant venue hire arrangement. We sat down with Mr Witters and he put together a plan for the following year. Tom and I had to work again on the festival from next to know income.

To see someone in control of our dream was tough. We got told this was what was going to happen. Tom got disallusioned and did a runner to London. But I was young and naïve, and passionate about the opportunity to build something and I stuck around. I want to see where my idea could go and having shared it now with a few partners and a few thousand kiwis. Soon enough we had others sharing our idea. It felt like the next year everyone came back with a friend or two and soon we went from 5000 people to 10000 and the Rhythm and Vines festival was born.

BW Campgrounds.

Andrew my friend had the foresight to start up the BW campgrounds with local lad Toby Burrows. After a few years we were beginning to compete for the same patrons – offering accommodation and entertainment on Gisborne over new years - so we merged. We began to sell tickets together, marketing spend together, share finances, teams experience. They provided capital a few years when the times were tough. They came on our board and together we began a bigger better, more sustainable Rhythm and Vines and week of festivities in Gisborne.

It was hard to pass on my dream. Tom had left. But the vision was bigger than just me and I’ve always thought I was just one part in the cog of it all. By now I had a 30% stake so others were invested in the concept, both in risk and reward. I didn’t try and do everything my business partners were better at different areas of the business. I focused on the brand marketing and program aspects while they focused on the event management, ticketing, camping and all the many numbers of the event. Having new people on the team meant we were able to share the work load, the experience and the dream.

It was around this time 5 years on we realised our vision was tired. We were getting by the kiwi bands and needed to expand our concept. It was here I shared my vision with a UK festival contractor.  I met him in London and he had been a big part of Glastonbury and Exit festivals. He was able to come on board and help us achieve our goals and next phase of our growth. It was again hard passing over the keys to my dream.  But it was now his dream as well and he worked hard establishing touring routes with Australia partners, secured media partners and established the three day camping model that exists today.

As a result we got the festival we wanted. But we were in serious debt. Budgets blew out in a number of areas – artists, production, security. Charter flights and visas for international acts. Buy this time me and my partners were able to take over and continue to build a local team. We had around 8 staff over the next few years. Marketing, Accounts, Event Management, Programming. They were all helping work towards our dream. A world class festival experience right here in NZ. They had accountability in a number of areas from what bands we booked through to what beers we stocked. A big business you need to trust and invest in people.

Pride

Soon we had up to 8 staff all passionate and engaged in our dream. The other thing is people take pride. They become their own sales team for you they push the dream forward. They source opportunities for you and bring it to the team. They are walking talking billboards for your dream. By delegating you get to learn too. Bringing on industry experts and surround yourself with experts.

What if you don’t share?

I look at some of my competitors stressing our each yeah and overloading with responsibilities. They have kept their dream. People become greedy. Their ideas get stale. They hold on to the same team year in year out. They book the same acts. They more inclusive than what we have been. They stress. They live and die by the results of this inclusion but they haven’t shared at all and as a result we have been able to surge ahead.

Doesn’t always work

Sharing your dream doesn’t always work. We have had a different marketing manager every year and I spend a lot of time with them on the vision. I have invested time in many man people sharing for and caring for it to be thrown out and start again. The investment doesn’t always pay off.  Many of our young staff get a head of themselves. We have an active and engaged social media following and people feel the power of being involved in a popular lifestyle brand.  People think they are the brand. Sometimes we come across entitlement.. We call it wearing the ring as ego and entitlement kicks in. Had to have a few hard words with staff over the years to give the ring back!

Well poisoners.

Beware of well poisoners and those that don’t share your dream. I remember some of my best friends when we were getting our dream off the ground. They didn’t support the event. Some still don’t. Other’s try and steal the dream.  I have had staff try and change the concept, brand and ethos of this dream for their own gains. Others misrepresent themselves. With any big dream there are lots of moving parts and it your role as founders to keep the dream intact, share it and to steer it. We have had a staff that undermine the dream and have needed to be pulled back into line by the rest of the team and realise that no one is bigger the brand business and dream.

To much sharing!

As a result of this big team we had driving towards and achieving our dreams we got to big. We got offered lots of opportunities.  We set up another festival. Given we had a full time events team we started taking on other projects to feed the beast.  We even ran a manpower tour! Things started to go astray so we have come back to our original dream and trying to keep things simple again.

Back to earth

We have bought things back to earth. Kept it simple. I had my good mate Kyle back on board as my right hand man. And Kieran one of our hires who has experience for Live Nation one of the bigger promoters around the world. He has no ego and is a great believer in the dream. I trust them and they fight for the dream every day.

Selling out.

As we near our current position we are about to sell a share of the business to a bigger entertainment entity / investor. Things are back on track and there could be the opportunity to keep things the way they are. My biggest driver is keeping R&V sustainable and continue to entertain young kiwis year in and year out. But if we don’t partner up we are concerned about competition coming into the market. We also want to look at opportunities for growth. Both in this market and off shore. So again we are sharing our vision. There will be challenges and we may again start to get pulled in different directions. It will be my role as founder and the experience I have to help keep the dream on track.

So I hope you got some insights into my journey for sharing my dream. I continue to lead my team and others towards our dream.  I encourage you to be open for opportunities. Inspire others towards YOUR dream. Surround yourself with experts. Get their buy in. Be aware of those trying to undermine or steal your dream. But over all get it out there for the world to enjoy.

And as Winston Churchill said:

Never Ever Ever give up.