Booed off stage: 5 things standup comedy taught me about launching a startup

In September 2013, I sold my second startup, automated lead-generation platform Marketfish, and found myself with the free time to pursue one of my great passions on the side of my professional pursuits: standup comedy. And while my experimentation on the New York City comedy scene lasted only a year, I’ve come to realize that the insights I picked up as a comic proved invaluable as I set out to launch my most recent startup, comedy streaming app Laugh.ly. In fact, five lessons I picked up as a comic could apply to any entrepreneur, beginning with wisdom instilled in me by a breathless Tracy Morgan:

1. It’s OK to bomb. The opportunity to perform at The Stand in New York was going to be my big break — or so I thought. All the great comedians perform there, and the night I was scheduled, who should wander in but Tracy Morgan? As is customary whenever a big-name comedian shows up at a club, the lesser-known comic (me) gets bumped. Morgan took my time slot and just slayed the crowd for 45 minutes. When he finally finished, the crowd was ruined. So when I went on stage, it was crickets. If this were Showtime At The Apollo, a clown with a hook would have danced me off the stage. I ended my set and ran out of the club in tears. As I was walking down the street, I heard Tracy behind me yelling, “Hey! Man! Bro!” Finally I stop, and he came up huffing and puffing in exhaustion. He looked me in the eye and said, “Everybody bombs, man.” And you know what? That’s true in comedy, and it’s definitely true in the startup world. There’s going to be adversity. You’re not going to raise what you need. The product isn’t going to work exactly how you expect. Any number of things can go against you. But if you think you’re the only startup experiencing those setbacks, you’re wrong. You can’t stop. Because, well, Tracy is right – everybody bombs sometimes.

2. Love what you do. The entire year I did stand up comedy — performing two to three nights per week — the most I ever got paid was free alcohol. That’s not all that unusual for comedians just starting out. In fact, I had an agent tell me once that he could get me on Jimmy Kimmel after which, presumably, I could start making real money. Before that happened, however, the agent needed me to spend a year performing every night at local shows, years traveling to every po-dunk comedy club I could find, and, lastly, years traveling to any college campus that would have me. Then he could get me five minutes on Kimmel. It’s the same way with startups. You’re not going to get rich overnight. And it’s likely going to be a long five to 10 years before there’s a meaningful payoff. So until that happens, you better be in it for one thing: You’ve got to love what you do. The best comedians I know, both famous and undiscovered, have that in common. They love what they do.

3. Know how to neutralize the hecklers. In standup comedy, there is always someone in the crowd who either wants to add to your story or detract from it. They’re the hecklers, or as we see in social media, the trolls. Sometimes the best tactic is to ignore these people. Other times, you may need to work them into the set and find a clever way to retaliate (without coming across as a jerk yourself). Whatever the case, you’ve got to neutralize the hecklers. When you’re launching a new business, you deal with a lot of hecklers, too. They’ll tell you your idea is “too niche” or “boring” or “won’t work.” If you’ve ever pitched an idea to a VC, you’ve been dumped on. But you’ve got to be tough. You’ve got to politely sit through their critiques and criticisms and say, “You know what? I hear you, but I disagree. This will work and here’s why.”

4. Master the “yes … and”. The secret to improv comedy is a simple formula called the “yes … and.” Here’s how it works: You take whatever your improv partner has to say and add to it. For example, if I’m doing improv with someone and they say, “It’s dark in here.” I agree with that and build on it with something like: “Yes, it is dark in here. And it smells, too.” I don’t contradict them and say, “No. No, it’s not. It’s bright in here.” Instead I build on what they say with the belief that it’s true. I’ve found the “yes … and” formula also works incredibly well in the startup world. Why? Because whenever you have a collective imagination and shared consciousness around something, it only gets richer and better. As the founder and CEO of Laugh.ly, I could dictate everything about our product. But why would I want to do that when I have a team of smart and passionate people who are working on this day in and day out? They have great ideas that it would be stupid to ignore. By listening to their opinions, we’ve made better product decisions — no question. But that’s only been possible by me taking a “yes … and” approach.

5. Be willing to rewrite your material. As a comedian, you don’t just write a joke and say to yourself, “Man, that joke is hilarious. It’s perfect.” Because the reality is, you have no idea whether a joke is funny until you put it out in front of an audience. Chances are, that joke will need some form of rewriting no matter how good you initially think it is. Likewise, when you’re launching a business — especially an emerging technology — you don’t really know how good it will be until it’s out there. Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, has a great quote where he says: “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” I agree. At some point, you’ve just got to get it out there. You might think you know the product-market-fit and how it will perform, but you’ll know for sure once the public has an opportunity to react to it. And if your product does embarrass you? Well, see item No. 1 on this list, then take your cues from the public and start reworking — rewriting — your material until it works.

Dave Scott is a serial entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Laugh.ly,  and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Marketing Superstars Show.