Goodbye To A Good Friend

martyWell, this is a post I’d actually prefer not to write. We lost a good friend last week to cancer, and today we mourn him at a memorial.

Marty Napoli, Jr. is someone who helped me launch T60 Productions. He provided invaluable business advice and ultimately ended up hiring T60 to produce its first-ever video. When you hear entrepreneurs talking about that first customer who gave them a shot… Marty was that guy for us.

The video was for a trade organization called the Metals Service Center Institute. Marty helped run his family’s metals business and was heavily involved in MSCI.

I remember him pitching the idea for the video eight years ago. He said they wanted to tape an upcoming town hall meeting so they could show it to other chapters as a way of promoting similar meetings taking place in other areas. Keep in mind, at this time very few people were producing event promotional videos. Marty was certainly ahead of his time.

Anyway, I actually steered him away from taping and presenting the entire meeting. A) who the heck is going to want to watch a 2-hour town hall meeting? B) if they happen to be that interested, what’s the point in going to the meeting if you give them one on video?

He agreed. My solution was to produce a short video strictly for promotional purposes… the classic event video. He basically just trusted me and said to run with it.

The video turned out well, and the MSCI leadership loved it. They originally thought they’d only send it to chapter presidents, but after seeing it they decided to share it with all their members.

Marty was an incredible guy. Generous… a big heart… everybody’s friend. I loved the guy, and I’m really going to miss him.

–Tony Gnau