A.I.
What Ableton taught us about AI and the future of coding
In 2001, Ableton turned bedroom producers into festival headliners. Now vibe coding is doing the same for software. The parallels run deeper than you'd think.
Creative Business
Lessons from starting things that worked, flopped, and taught more than any MBA. The messy reality of building creative ventures - decisions, mindsets, and the bits nobody warns you about.
I've started things that worked, things that flopped, and things that taught me more than any MBA could. These pieces are about the messy reality of building creative ventures - the decisions, the mindsets, and the bits nobody warns you about.
Start Here
The essential reads on creative business
Best of...
Making it in America: What international founders & creatives actually need to know
The cultural paradoxes, identity costs, and hidden rules nobody explains
Best of...
The Creative Technologist comeback
How a misunderstood role from the digital agency era is becoming essential for the AI age
Best of...
The McCartney Method: Mastering the Magic of Audience Connection
Paul McCartney’s secret to staying timeless: meticulous details, unforgettable fan moments, and a generosity that creates magic every show.
Best of...
7 ways to improve a conference speaking proposal
I’ve just finished evaluating proposals for SXSW 2025. Here are 7 things that separate the standouts from the rest.
Best of...
5 Founder Types
Which one are you?
How-To Guides
Practical playbooks for building your business
Creative Business
How to run a retrospective that actually works
Six months after a project you can barely remember what you learned. Here's a one-hour framework that fixes that - using conversation, transcription, and AI to capture the insights that usually vanish.
How-To Guides
What I've learned from evaluating 1000+ SXSW proposals
Every year, I find myself deep in proposal evaluation mode. Fortune 100 CEOs, ambitious VPs, indie strategists, even actors and
Future Of Work
An antidote to AI tinnitus
Sam Altman says agency and adaptability will be extremely valuable. But what does cultivating them actually look like?
Creative Business
Lemon automation: How Chick-fil-A processes 20% of America's lemons... and what it means for your career
The unexpected career insights hidden in a chicken restaurant's remarkable lemon-squeezing operation
Best of...
The McCartney Method: Mastering the Magic of Audience Connection
Paul McCartney’s secret to staying timeless: meticulous details, unforgettable fan moments, and a generosity that creates magic every show.
Creative Business
Two ways to define 'Good Enough'
Ever found yourself endlessly tweaking a project, chasing that elusive perfection? Yeah, me too. But here's a thought.
Battle Scars
Hard-won lessons from entrepreneurial endeavours
Building something creative?
Join Groove Theory for weekly insights on learning, creativity, and building things that matter.
All Posts
Everything on creative business and entrepreneurship
Creative Business
Joy, humour, and caring: Jony Ive & Patrick Collison in conversation
Why joy and humor are underestimated in design and business... and the magic of making breakfast for each other vs. sitting in conference rooms
Future Of Work
Two Pilates studios - and the great capability divide
One teaches craft, one delivers product. In an AI-driven world, the gap between human expertise and scalable systems is widening fast.
Creative Business
Desert Island Ive: What Apple's design legend reveals when stripped of the corporate context
How a 1942 radio format brings fresh insights from Jony Ive on creativity, education, and the struggle to be present
Creative Business
What a DJ's 4,500 parties teach us about creative longevity
What Tiga's 25-year DJ journey teaches us about staying true to your creative passion while others expect you to "grow up"
Creative Business
New business: The commercial alchemy that defies systematization
The elusive art that isn't quite sales, marketing or biz dev - and why we all need to master it.
Future Of Work
An antidote to AI tinnitus
Sam Altman says agency and adaptability will be extremely valuable. But what does cultivating them actually look like?
Future Of Work
The Art of the Interview: What Makes a Great Interviewer?
Unpacking the elusive skill set behind unforgettable conversations—and how Sam Fragoso of Talk Easy exemplifies it.
Creative Business
The punk path to landing Nike as a client
How two broke agency founders landed Nike by skirting the line between genius marketing and lawsuit-worthy audacity
Creative Business
Lemon automation: How Chick-fil-A processes 20% of America's lemons... and what it means for your career
The unexpected career insights hidden in a chicken restaurant's remarkable lemon-squeezing operation
Mindsets & Growth
What's your dream project? (No, your real one)
Simple question, difficult answer. But the follow-ups reveal everything: What am I really chasing? How am I complicit in creating what I don't want?
Creative Business
Paul Newman's four career stages (and what they mean for you)
Every career follows the same arc: unknown, essential, replaceable, forgotten. The real work happens in the spaces between.
Creative Business
The Hidden Curriculum of First Jobs
Why your first job probably taught you a lot more than you realised.
Best of...
The McCartney Method: Mastering the Magic of Audience Connection
Paul McCartney’s secret to staying timeless: meticulous details, unforgettable fan moments, and a generosity that creates magic every show.
Creative Business
The underrated skill that'll define collaboration in 2025
Most teams waste hours in poorly designed digital sessions. Learn why mastering whiteboard experience design is your new superpower.
Portfolio Career
What's your dream project? (No, your real one).
Simple question. Often difficult to answer. But well worth it.
I was at dinner recently when someone posed this. As
Creative Business
Weaving Threads: The Great Compression of Mid-Career
Early career is all about loose threads. But mid-career? That’s when the weaving really gets tricky…
Creative Business
Act or artist?
A small distinction I noticed as a talent agent that applies far beyond the music industry—and changes how you approach your work.
Creative Business
Yes, Chef
Most knowledge workers dive straight in. But what if we borrowed from the chef's secret weapon - mise en place? Some prep tips...