I’ve kicked off a new project, On Software. It’s a weekly newsletter that looks at the state of the art in building and growing software-centric products and companies. Focused, short and sweet.

On May 12th, I delivered the keynote for the Music Business Association’s Music Startup Academy at Music Biz 2015 in Nashville. My talk was on the critical importance of startups understanding their customers and markets before building product.

The music industry is full of fear. Fear of customers as thieves, fear of technology run amok, fear of loss of control. But for the music industry to do more than just survive, fear cannot be the answer.

Endorsee, one of our portfolio companies, had its coming out two weeks ago today at the NAMM show in Anaheim. It was my first NAMM proper, having attended Summer NAMM last year. We spent our time introducing the product to over a dozen music equipment companies in one-on-one meetings. During these meetings and our time on the show floor, I watched, listened and learned a lot from my cofounders, NAMM veterans themselves, and the companies we spoke with.