And somewhere between talk of ecosystems and influence, Seth dropped a story about…

The humble potato.

Back in the 1500s, there were no potatoes in Europe. Zero. Meanwhile, over in Peru, people had been cultivating this miracle tuber for generations. And when I say miracle—I mean it. Potatoes are two to three times more efficient than any other crop at turning sunlight and fertiliser into food. They’re an agricultural marvel (Zuckerman, 1998).

But when Europeans first encountered them, they weren’t impressed. In fact, they were suspicious. Because Peru was a colonised place, the potato came with a social stigma. And people didn’t just eat for survival—they ate for identity. For status. If a food was seen as lowly, eating it made you feel lowly too (Salaman, 1985).

In France, they believed you should eat foods that looked like the body part they were meant to help. Walnuts for the brain, carrots for your eyes. And potatoes? Well, some genius in parliament said they looked like the tumours on the hands of people with leprosy. So naturally, people feared potatoes would give them leprosy (McNeill, 1999).

They were nearly banned in the UK.

And then this clever Frenchman, Parmentier, came along. He wanted to popularise the potato—but he didn’t try to argue or convince. He understood status. So he played the game.

He leased land near Versailles, planted potatoes, and surrounded the field with armed guards during the day. The twist? The guards went home at night. And sure enough, the peasants started sneaking in and stealing the potatoes. “If it’s being guarded, it must be valuable,” they figured. Suddenly, potatoes had mystique. They had status. They weren’t being handed out—they were being stolen (Toussaint-Samat, 2009).

And that, my friend, is how the potato went from feared tuber to staple food across Europe.

Now, back to Akimbo—Seth and Leneita talked about building movements, raising funds, launching ideas, and how it’s not about big flashy launches or galas. It’s about finding your hundred. Your smallest viable audience. The ones who set the tone. The people others look at and go, “If they’re doing it, maybe I should too” (Godin, 2018).

“People like us do things like this.” – Seth Godin

That’s what Parmentier got right. He didn’t need everyone to want a potato. He just needed the right people to want it. The rest followed.

So whether you’re launching a brand, building a community, or raising funds—it’s not about shouting louder. It’s about shaping the environment. Creating curiosity. Designing status.

Plant the seed. Guard it with purpose. Let the right people “steal” it.

And then? Watch it spread—just like the potato.

References

• Godin, S., 2018. This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. London: Penguin Business.
• Godin, S. and Fix, L., 2024. The Strategy Sessions: Coral Reefs [podcast] Akimbo. Available at: https://www.akimbo.link[Accessed 23 Mar. 2025].
• McNeill, W.H., 1999. How the Potato Changed the World. The New York Review of Books, 46(10).
• Salaman, R.N., 1985. The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Toussaint-Samat, M., 2009. A History of Food. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Zuckerman, L., 1998. The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World. Boston: North Point Press.