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I recently read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you've never met is the entrepreneurs equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I'm far from lazy I've decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over the next 50 weeks I'm going to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I'm going to use this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. |
Meet Steve Pratt. Director of Digital Music at CBC, a regular speaker on the subjects of the future of music and media as well as training traditional media in using new media, he is also an unsung hero and champion of the comedy radio show, This Is That. I'm making another exception to my 50 coffees rule of meeting with strangers as Steve and I were already friends before chatting over caffeinated beverages. In fact he used to be on our board of directors and is now on my personal board of advisors and I just really wanted to introduce you to him. Being able to turn to him with big questions or just to sit down over hamburgers so I can complain on his shoulder are things I hold a really high value on as, while we both have done a lot of work in the digital space, he has a certain kind of smarts and sensibility that I lack.
This particular meeting didn't involve me gleaning wisdom from him or complaining about my workload, we met in his office at CBC to talk about an exciting new music project that he's heading up for our national public broadcaster. It's something they've been hinting at on Radio 3 and Steve shared as much as he could say publicly about it HERE. I signed a nondisclosure agreement that says he'll remove himself from my board and kick me in the ass (not necessarily in that order) right before CBC sues me if I tell you anything about it yet so I can't say anything aside from it's really, really awesome and it's rolling out... well... sometime very soon.
In the meantime, if you haven't already then why don't you go poke around CBC Radio 3 and see how awesome it is? When this mysterious music thing launches we'll be the second to tell you about it, right after them.
Precious secrets on Steve's Macbook, soon to be unveiled
