Hopefully some folks are familiar with the School of Rock, formerly known as the Paul Green School of Rock Music. It was the subject of the hilarious, profane and inspirational documentary Rock School, and the “inspiration” for the Hollywood movie School of Rock (yes, the Hollywood version came out while the documentary was still trying to find a distributor - that’s the way it sometimes works).
Paul Green had the idea of getting kids age 7 to 17 on stage and having them play rock music in real venues before real audiences, with the very best actually going on national tours. I saw the documentary and subsequently saw the “All Stars” a couple of times in Chicago. Since then I’ve gotten involved in my local SoR, videotaping shows.
Anyway, several months ago I remember reading that some firm had invested in the School of Rock and had acquired some new CEO. And in the last two months, the name changed - it is no longer has his name, and apparently Paul is no longer associated with the school.
So, what is the story? Did he just get fucked out of his business by some slick business types, or did he get a huge pay day and decide to leave?
So, I take it that it looks like the answer to my question is “yes”…the old story of an entrepreneur starting a business, looking for investors to grow it and ultimately being forced out. With (#1) pile of money, (#2) a non-compete agreement and (#3) contract that says he doesn’t get #1 if he complains about it.
It takes certain skills to create a start-up. It takes different skills to grow that company. And it takes very different skills to manage the company when it grows to be a giant. Now some people are able to manage their company through the whole process (see Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell for example). But often the best thing for the company is to hand it over to someone else once it reaches a certain stage.
