This piece on Rick Rubin is fascinating. I was gripped in the opening by this line:
He’s in the midst of a session at the legendary Shangri-La Studios—the bucolic, residential recording complex set up by the Band in 1976 as “a clubhouse where we and our friends could record albums and cross-pollinate one another’s music,” according to the late drummer Levon Helm.
The best songwriters and musicians get that cross-pollination is key. Pastors forget this and try to write sermons in solitude. I see companies do this, too, protecting what they think are secrets, wary of outside advice that could actually help them.
This is also the upside of incubators and accelerators, letting your ideas flow freely with other peers in the early stages of their great big idea. You can see what sticks and "sample" from what others are doing until your company is ready to come out of the oven, fully baked.
I've never started a company alone, nor will I. All of my ventures (four in all as of today) have begun with a co-founder or a team.
I'll never try to pollinate alone.
Speaking of, check out what we're doing at Made Nashville. Our first box of monthly locally-made goods will ship in September. Drop us your email address if you want to be notified when it's time to deliver our first batch.