[quote style=”boxed”]I’m in the business of building movements. I think about how to do that every day. One of my favorite “research activities” is to go to nightclubs, concerts, parties, etc. and watch an artist take an empty dance floor and turn it into a bouncing, sweaty mess.[/quote]
Jameson Detweiler is the Co-Founder and Chief Hair Officer of LaunchRock, a startup that allows you to set-up a “coming soon” page in just minutes.
What does your typical day look like?
Typical? I don’t know what that means.
It seriously changes all the time. People ask me if I’m a morning or a night person and I tell them both. Most days, that actually means I’m up early and I’m up late. Sometimes it means that I can’t focus any more and fall asleep at 8 PM and am in the office by 6 AM.
My social life and work life are a complete blur, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
2010 for me was the year of transforming myself into a healthy and fit person. In 2011 I kept up the eating habits, but the gym disappeared. It’s a goal of mine to make that a regular part of my life in 2012. I’m much happier and much more productive when fit.
3 trends that excite you?
- The API-ification of the web. What if 90% of your company was already built and you could focus on innovating that last 10%? That’s the future, and it is beautiful.
- Transitioning to a project/performance based economy (See Zaarly, TaskRabbit, Houdini, Humanoid and Mechanical Turk).
- Dubstep beats in pop music.
How do you bring ideas to life?
That’s a good question. Not really sure, but it involves lots of white boarding, sleepless nights and caffeine.
I have about a dozen products that I’m always working on in my head. I let myself kind of bounce between all of them when I’m inspired by something. It could be an article, discovering a new web service or even a song. At the same time, we’ve got a few products that are in the queue now. Those products I have to work on regularly even if I’m not excited. That’s when I have to really bring in the team to discuss, white board and just build. It’s hard, but it’s a lot of fun when you’ve got a great team to help you with it.
What inspires you?
I’m in the business of building movements. I think about how to do that every day. One of my favorite “research activities” is to go to nightclubs, concerts, parties, etc. and watch an artist take an empty dance floor and turn it into a bouncing, sweaty mess.
I’m actually quite serious about this. Dancing spreads virally. Social marketers have a lot to learn from this.
What was one mistake you’ve made and what did you learn from it?
You can get away with ironing a shirt on your body.
You cannot get away with ironing a shirt on your body and pressing the steam button.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Yodlee for DNS.
Basically, I want to be able to ask one of our customers for their login credentials for their DNS provider (e.g., GoDaddy or MediaTemple), then login and be able to create/modify/delete records through an API.
I’ll prepay an account with $10,000 if someone can do this.
What do you read every day and why?
API docs. We’re trying to find ways to leverage all the social channels that are available to our customers. If you don’t understand how these work, and the channel access they give you, then you can’t really accomplish this. They’re updated often enough that I’m in there basically every day. If you’re in the business of social, you should be too, even if you’re not on the tech side.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
This is cheesy, but it’s top of mind. The Steve Jobs biography was an absolutely amazing read for me as a person who loves building product. I think that people in my position either love or hate Steve Jobs. I tend to fall toward the love side.
The thing that this book made clear to me is that it’s impossible to replicate what Steve Jobs built. A combination of extraordinary talent and some very apparent flaws in character made Jobs what he was. It was an odd balance and it’s not replicable. Even if it was, I don’t know that I’d want that for myself.
But Jobs’ undying attention to detail and obsession with an integrated ecosystem is inspiring.
What is your favorite gadget, app or piece of software that helps you every day?
Evernote.
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
Diplo, the DJ, producer and songwriter.
How do you stay sane with the ridiculous amount of working and traveling you seem to do?
Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile HiFi Stereo Headphones. Buy these. Seriously.
So Jameson, all the ladies are curious. What’s the key to your heart?
“I like my beats fast and my bass down low.” – DEV
Connect:
Jameson Detweiler Blog: (I’m supposed to start writing here at some point.)
Jameson Detweiler on Twitter: @jaymstr
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.