10 Startup Tips from Ghostbusters

The classic comedy movie Ghostbusters was released almost 30 years ago on June 1, 1984. Many love it for its high-concept blend of comedy and campfire ghost story. But there’s something else that’s intriguing about the film beyond the laughs and freaky phantoms. Under the hood, the story of Ghostbusters is also about entrepreneurship and business success.

I recently read this Esquire feature article on the making of Ghostbusters, and it reminded me of the power of a great idea at the right time, with the right mix of influencers to support it. The film does so many things right. It has a unique and utterly ridiculous story, and solid characters delivered by talented actors that make us feel real emotions — laughter, discomfort, awkwardness, resentment, etc.

Here are 10 Startup Business Tips to create success in the business world, thanks to one of the most successful cult classic films of all time.

1. Your leadership team needs a balance of Heart, Brains and Voice.

In the Esquire piece about the film, Harold Ramis explains the lead characters in the story, which includes his own character, Egon.”We very quickly came up with a model: Dan was the heart of the Ghostbusters, I was the brains, and Bill was the mouth.” In the film, these three characters are each responsible for a different aspect of the success of their small business, “Ghostbusters”. After the three characters are expelled, Bill Murray’s character (Peter) has a vision, and convinces the trio to start a business. Dan Akroyd’s character (Ray) ends up funding the operation by mortgaging his family home, and Ramis’ character (Egon) immediately points out how much illogical it is to have a third mortgage on a house due to the staggering cost of interest. The fictional Peter character ends up being the Voice of the company on television and with the press.

Other startups and music groups (also a business, btw) have had a similar blend of talents. Of course this is a broadly generalized observation, but take a look at a few examples: U2 has Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. (brains), The Edge (heart) and Bono (voice). Club Penguin had Dave (heart), Lance (brains) and Lane (voice) to get them started before selling the company for $350 million. Twitter had Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Apple had Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The Beatles… well, you get the idea.

Even when a product is built in its entirety by a single person, there is much more to launching a successful business or product than just the product itself. You need to believe in something. You need a story. And remember that all great stories are full of tension.

2. Collaboration can be tense and difficult

Great products, like great stories, need tension to make them better. The more talented and passionate the people are, the more tense things are likely to become while collaborating. The initial inspiration and idea for Ghostbusters was started by Dan Aykroyd, who was inspired to update the classic ghost movies of the 1940’s for a new era. As the project evolved and picked up steam, the idea evolved from a dark story set in the intergalactic future, to a creepy comedy that takes place in New York in the 1980s. Ivan Reitman suggested that the story starts in a university. Rick Moranis’ character was tweaked specifically for him. One of the few things that stayed the same from start-to-finish was the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man scene.

Your initial idea will always need to change and evolve when you’re collaborating with other people. It’s part of the process. Screenwriters know this better than anyone else, as documented in Tales from the Script (available on Netflix), or watch The Beatles as they bicker about trivialities in what I consider to be the world’s first reality TV movie: Let It Be.

When you collaborate with other people, it’s important to be flexible and open to other people’s feedback. There will be casualties and rifts along the way. Bands break up. Business partnerships fall apart. It’s all just part of the process. Sometimes this is for the better, as was the case with Ghostbusters. Had it remained a film set it intergalactic outer space, it may not have reached as wide an audience as it did.

3. You can bootstrap a company by taking out an extra mortgage (but maybe you shouldn’t)

In Ghostbusters, Ray funds the entire operation by mortgaging his family home… a third time. Clearly this is a high-risk solution with no guarantee of success. And many startups have happened this way. People have bought the resources they need to bootstrap their startup on credit cards.

Take Kevin Smith, the crass filmmaker who made Clerks back in the early 90’s. He funded the production of that film through credit cards. Luckily for him, he was in the right place at the right time, and ended up meeting the right people, who put his film in more of the right places, and the rest is history.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky.

4. Timing is everything

The fictional story of Ghostbusters happens at the right time. These three guys who know nothing about business lease out an old firehall, buy some TV ads, and just happen to be there when there is this crazy surge in paranormal activity around the world.

In the real world, Ghostbusters was released in the right place at the right time, too. Other spooky films were being released the same year — Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, the final chapter of Friday the 13th. It was also the year of big-selling comedies like Beverly Hills Cop, Splash and Police Academy. Mash the two ideas together and you get the second highest-grossing film of 1984.

Facebook was in the right place at the right time, too. Remember how annoying MySpace was back in 2005? I sure do. All those annoying different themes people had on their profile pages, auto-playing music, spammy comments… It was the perfect time to launch something more focused on connecting you with your friends, without needing to keep track of their email addresses. The Facebook interface was much cleaner, more modern, less chaotic and more personal than MySpace.

I remember how flattered I felt when I received an email from a friend inviting me to join Facebook. It was only after receiving the fifth, sixth and seventh emails that I started to clue in… this is part of their ploy. And it worked. In a major, major way.

5. Create a memorable brand identity

The logo. The name. The color. The style. The look and feel. Their office space, the company vehicle, their uniforms… Every single thing about the Ghostbusters brand fits together as one clear, cohesive package, both within the fictional New York of the story, as well as in the real world. The logo is super-recognizable on merchandise, and immediately communicates that it’s an anti-ghost thing. At the time, there were no other brands that were going after this market. In a way, it was a “Blue Ocean Strategy” brand. No one else was creating a paranormal janitorial service at the time, either in the real world or in fiction.

6. Fight for the brand name if necessary

What would Facebook be without their name? It’s easy to remember, to spell, and perfectly captures what they’re about: connecting with real people. Facebook is an address book full of pictures of people. Imagine if it had’ve been called “The Facebook”, yet someone else had “Facebook”? It was worth the $200,000 spend to purchase the http://facebook.com domain back in 2005.

Since there was once a TV show in 1970’s called The Ghost Busters, the team at Columbia Pictures weren’t going to be allowed to use the name Ghostbusters. They fought for it, and eventually were able to use the name thanks to an influential movie exec named Frank Price. Check out the feature over at Esquire for details on that if you’re interested.

Remember that your brand name is the most important noun in your company’s vernacular. It’s the #1 thing everyone is going to say when talking about your business, so it should be memorable and capture the essence of your product. Don’t get hung up on the URL if it’s not available. Provided you’re creating something original, you can worry about purchasing the URL once you’ve created the successful product or business.

7. Influencers are a key to your success

Be it an influential investor, journalist or fan… influencers are a critical key to success. Take the BatKid campaign in San Francisco in 2013. The agency that helped socialize the stunt partnered with influencers to coordinate a synchronized stunt that gained attention all over the world. Celebrities, bloggers and journalists all used their own personal networks to broadcast the event, and the streets of San Francisco were filled with people wielding “Batkid” signs. The cause was so positive, it was an easy one to gain support for.

In the case of Ghostbusters, the film wouldn’t have been greenlit if it weren’t for the bullish support from key influencers in the movie industry like Ivan Reitman and the previously-mentioned Frank Price.

Respect your influencers. Listen to their feedback, and thank them for their support. If you have the support of influencers, you are in a very fortunate position. Many startup ideas die due to lack of support from key influencers.

8. Have a memorable slogan or catchphrase

Copywriting is actually hard work. Believe it or not — there is an art to crafting high-calibre copy that captures the essence of a brand in only a few words. It takes great discipline (and luck) to distill a brand down to its essence, while also being memorable.

“Who ya gonna call?”

“I ain’t afraid of no ghost.”

Ray Parker Jr.’s lyrics for the title song, “Ghostbusters” basically created the new tagline for the film. In the original theatrical posters, marketers chose “They’re here to save the world” as the movie tagline, then “Guess who’s coming to save the world again?” for the sequel five years later. Of course, no one remembers this tagline. Instead, they remember Ray Parker Jr.’s Detroit-influenced lyrics: “Who ya gonna call?” or “I ain’t afraid of no ghost.” Eventually marketers buckled and used “Who ya gonna call?” as their tagline for the theatrical re-release of the original film.

9. Everyone will think it was their idea.

After Ray Parker Jr. released the hit title song for the film, “Ghostbusters”, everyone started suing him, claiming that they wrote the song first.

When Facebook became massively successful, people sued Mark Zuckerberg.

Everyone wants a piece of success. When something becomes successful on a multi-million dollar scale, people are more likely to think that your idea was actually their idea, and will look for ways to prove it. The truth is, there are no new ideas. Everything has been done before.

The question is whether or not an idea will be successful or not comes down to talent, timing and luck. When all three things merge and something becomes successful, you can expect to have people knocking on your door, claiming that your idea was actually theirs.

10. Be passionate about your product.

In the film, Ray (played by Dan Aykroyd) truly believes in what he’s doing. He is fascinated by ghosts. Obsessed with them, actually. Aykroyd is also passionate about the same subject matter in real life, according to the Esquire piece on the origins of Ghostbusters.

Building a business is no small feat, so it makes a lot of sense to focus your energy on an idea you’re passionate about. If you’re not completely obsessed with video games, then why spend your time trying to make video games? Pick the thing you’re most obsessed with. Something that you would do in your spare time anyways. The passion will shine through, and can help you get through the most painful moments of the journey, like collaboration and business partnerships dissolving.

Conclusion…

There are so many things that Ghostbusters did right. As a film, as a franchise, as a business, even the business within the fictional universe of the film itself. Plus it’s just a fun, creative, memorable, entertaining movie.

There’s a reason why so many people are still asking about, writing about and talking about Ghostbusters 3, even after the lackluster Ghostbusters 2 flopped onto the scene in 1989. The filmmakers created a successful business and memorable brand that people will continue talking about for decades to come.