What is “Seinfeld for Startups”?

Throughout the history of television, there have been thousands of successful TV shows-- most of them with short runs and quickly forgotten.  A show truly becomes a hit when it transcends past just having good ratings and enters into the culture of a society. The TV shows that tend to achieve this level do so because the audience isn’t just watching characters on the screen, they are relating themselves to the characters.  The characters become people the audience identifies with, sympathizes with, or perhaps even hate. 

The best TV shows teach things about everyday life that are often lost on us because we’re moving too fast.  These programs provide us with laughter when needed and make us feel emotions when we least expect.

In short, they are shows like Seinfeld. For nine seasons Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer, and even Newman, entertained the American public with a show about nothing because it was about everything.

There are people who watched Seinfeld and then there’s the people that really watched Seinfeld and thanks to syndication, still do to this day. Think Big founding partner Tyler Prochnow falls into the latter. Tyler is a believer that every situation people face can be explained by a Seinfeld episode. So strongly, in fact, that he has created a blog, Seinfeld for Startups, to prove his point.

For a better description of how and why this idea came about, the new blogger explains:

“I can’t remember the last time I went through a day without some event triggering a Seinfeld memory.  I was discussing this with some friends at a dinner one night and a challenge was issued.  Could I come up with 5 relevant Seinfeld references before dinner was finished.  Let’s just say that was over before dessert was served.  So that got me thinking, if Seinfeld was such a big part of our everyday life, and my everyday life consists largely of working with entrepreneurs, could I use Seinfeld to assist startup companies as they grow.  And thus, ‘Seinfeld for Startups’ was born.  Each week we will feature two episodes of the show, a little synopsis and a lesson to be gleaned by entrepreneurs along with hopefully a lot of laughs and pleasant memories.  The goal right now is to tackle every episode--1 through 180.”

Now that Tyler’s theory has legs, his blog will begin its 18-month (if everything goes according to plan) trek into the bizarre, well-composed mind of an entrepreneur/Seinfeld fanatic. Will Tyler complete all 180 episodes? You’ll have to keep tuning in to find out.

On a personal note, we can’t wait for Tyler’s take on The Hamptons episode.

Get acquainted with the first five episodes of Seinfeld and follow along with Seinfeld for Startups right here!