Most people don’t know that producing a Broadway show is like building a startup. That’s what Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport has learned over his decades producing hits. He has to find the product, raise the capital, build the team, and get 1,000 to 2,000 people through the door eight times a week, for years. And when founders tell him their business is different, he tells them every business runs on the same principles.
Ken is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer whose credits include Once On This Island, Godspell, Oh, Mary!, and A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. He was the first to use dial testing on a Broadway-bound musical, landing him on the front page of The New York Times, and he crowdfunded Godspell with $5 million from 737 investors before Kickstarter existed.
In this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, executive coach and bestselling author Alisa Cohn sits down with Ken to explore how he sees the potential in an idea before anyone else does, what he did when investors refused to write checks for a show he believed in, and why he raised money to build a marketing army, not just a budget.
This is a candid conversation about product development, fundraising, market research, taste, and leadership, with a rare look behind the curtain of Broadway.
You’ll learn:
- Why Broadway producer Ken Davenport believes every business runs on the same principles
- Why audiences choose the devil they know, and what that means for launching something new
- How Ken develops his taste and keeps challenging it as audiences change
- What Ken did when investors couldn't see the vision for Once On This Island
- How dial testing and audience research shape a Broadway show before it reaches New York Why Ken crowdfunded Godspell to build a marketing army, not just raise money
- How Ken uses AI to find patterns in reviews and audience data without replacing the artist
- Why founders should seek out rooms where they are not the smartest person, and how Ken handles imposter syndrome
We talk about:
00:00 Meet Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport
01:52 How seeing Les Mis at 16 changed everything
06:03 Why a Broadway producer is really a startup founder
07:07 How do you find a hit the market can't explain yet
11:13 Developing taste in the age of AI
16:41 What do you do when investors won't write the check
19:49 Market testing and the first dial test on Broadway
24:00 Crowdfunding Godspell to build a marketing army
27:08 Marketing stunts that match the artistic message
30:00 How Ken Davenport uses AI without replacing the artist
36:23 Growing into a leader as an introverted extrovert
40:43 Imposter syndrome, showing face, and advice for founders
Follow Ken on
Connect with Alisa!
Follow Alisa Cohn on
Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better)
Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon
