This is a topic I'm spending a lot of time looking at these days: Do startups really need Silicon Valley? While the concepts of innovation continue to expand into new places every day, the startup infrastructure to support that innovation isn't really in place outside of Silicon Valley. Be sure to click through to the article for the interview with Mike Maples Sr.
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http://gigaom.com/2009/03/15/tech-startups-dont-need-the-valley-unless-they-need-vc/
Tech Startups Don’t Need the Valley Unless They Need VC
By Stacey Higginbotham Mar. 15, 2009, 7:00pm PDT
At South by Southwest Interactive today, panelists from the Bay Area; Madison, Wisc.; Beijing; and Austin, Texas, debated the value of building your startup in the Valley, and the corrupting influence of venture capital on technology startups. The panel came to the conclusion that, if you want to build big and build fast, then you need to go to the Valley. However, few companies need to build big and fast.
The panel didn’t break any new ground with its discussion on the Bay Area’s proximity to capital, abundant talent and reverence of startup culture. However, cracks are beginning to show, as startups need less venture capital, California’s economy worsens and as the reverence of a startup culture that celebrates the go-big-or-go-home way of creating a startup fades.
The Bay Area startup ethos that calls for millions in venture funding and a giant business built in three to five years may be on the wane as the venture world faces its own tectonic shifts (see video below). “The model of tech getting used to VCs throwing crazy amounts of money at them is just crazy,” says Mike Maples, Sr., an angel investor who formerly worked at Microsoft and has funded several businesses.
Panelist Penelope Trunk, founder of the Brazen Careerist, who started her company in Madison, Wisc., called the VC model shallow and limiting for an entrepreneur. She pointed out that the traditional startup culture embraced by Silicon Valley comes at a personal cost that makes it hard for women and those with families to become entrepreneurs, and she championed building a business that generates sales and grows organically.
Panelist Kaiser Kuo, a business consultant in China, echoed the call to bootstrap, saying, “VCs should be the funding source of last resort.”
I walked away thinking the big debate for entrepreneurs is less about where you start a company, than an effort to reclaim the word “startup” for entrepreneurs who bootstrap their technology business — in or outside of the Valley. Many of these companies get less PR (they can’t always afford it), but they will likely become increasingly relevant as the downturn forces a realignment of the venture industry and forces entrepreneurs to build a startup that can make it as a business from day one.
47
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Get advice from a VC on securing early stage financing
This is a great article with sound, hands on advice for folks looking to secure early stage venture capital. It has lists of key quesitons you must be able to answer and has a very practical approach to what needs to be in place. This isn't the end all be all of information, but its a succinct, clear place to start!
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A VC’s tips on securing seed and series A financing
February 12, 2010 Carl Showalter 6 Comments
(Editor’s note: Carl Showalter is a general partner with Opus Capital. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
While the economy is finally showing signs of life, securing capital for early-stage ventures hasn’t gotten any easier- so it seems timely to let start-up owners in on the criteria by which they will be judged.
Each year our firm typically reviews more than 2,500 companies seeking seed or Series A funding and invests in between six and twelve. Here’s how we judge a young company’s viability.
First of all, we evaluate deals on three axes: The team, the market and the technology or product.
In addition to these primary criteria, there also has to be a scalable business model that can generate interesting valuation multiples over time. Having a good way to make money is not enough; a high-growth market to support it and a team and product that can take advantage of that market opportunity are essential.
The next step is to ask hard questions across these three axes. If you’re in the hunt for capital, here are some of the questions you’re likely to hear:
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A VC’s tips on securing seed and series A financing
February 12, 2010 Carl Showalter 6 Comments
(Editor’s note: Carl Showalter is a general partner with Opus Capital. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
While the economy is finally showing signs of life, securing capital for early-stage ventures hasn’t gotten any easier- so it seems timely to let start-up owners in on the criteria by which they will be judged.
Each year our firm typically reviews more than 2,500 companies seeking seed or Series A funding and invests in between six and twelve. Here’s how we judge a young company’s viability.
First of all, we evaluate deals on three axes: The team, the market and the technology or product.
- We want a team with domain expertise in the market space—individuals who can see the opportunities in that market before they are apparent to others and can use that vision to become early movers in the market.
- We want the company to be targeting a market that is nascent or even nonexistent. It needs to be a market the entrepreneurs believe will, at some point, grow rapidly, creating an opportunity for the company to move faster than any incumbents.
- The company needs to have a product with some level of defensibility – something that’s not easily replicable once the market becomes more obvious to others.
In addition to these primary criteria, there also has to be a scalable business model that can generate interesting valuation multiples over time. Having a good way to make money is not enough; a high-growth market to support it and a team and product that can take advantage of that market opportunity are essential.
The next step is to ask hard questions across these three axes. If you’re in the hunt for capital, here are some of the questions you’re likely to hear:
Team
- Can the founding team succinctly and consistently articulate the company’s business opportunity?
- Can they succeed in an unstructured environment? Are they comfortable with uncertainty? If the founders are from large companies, it’s helpful if they have some sort of track record in taking risks or starting something new.
- Do they have a demonstrated ability to stay focused on the critical objectives?
- Do they have the ability to challenge conventional wisdom and think differently? This is perhaps one of the most significant hallmarks of an outstanding entrepreneur.
- Do they have a roadmap for the company culture? Surprisingly, many founders never consider this.
- Do they understand the value of frugality and the need to ruthlessly prioritize spending?
- Do they have realistic expectations of their positions in the organization and how that will evolve? In other words, are they comfortable with potentially not being a chief executive? This very issue can break up even the best of companies.
- Is there a shared vision for the future of the company and its liquidity event? In this economic climate it’s more important than ever that company founders are focused on building a company for the long term.
Market
- Is there a market that can grow exponentially to create an opportunity for a new entrant? “Exponentially” is key here. Solid growth may just not be fast enough to enable success.
- Is there a scalable business model?
- Is there a low-cost go-to-market plan relying on reasonable and realistic distribution channels? Lack of low-cost and scalable distribution is another small company killer. Are there large partners who could help reduce the cost of customer acquisition?
- Are there three or less startup competitors vs. many?
- Has there been some validation of the market opportunity, whether through a pilot or beta, or through research? Actual testing or feedback on a prototype by customers is always preferred, but for systems and semiconductor companies, research may have to suffice.
- Do they have the ability to capture the imagination of investors as to why this could be a really large market opportunity? Are they convincing as to why they could be the market leader in the space? If they can’t capture the imagination of investors, it’s unlikely they can capture significant market share with customers.
Product
- Is it simple to articulate and understand?
- Is there a clear value proposition about the pain point or problem it’s solving and why this product or technology will uniquely address that need? There must be enough of a problem that customers are willing to risk buying from a startup.
- Is there intellectual property or at least some “secret sauce” that makes it defensible? Patentable concepts are desired but not required.
- Is the intellectual property free and clear from previous employers or others?
- For a company selling a product, are the projected gross margins more than 50 percent?
- Will the product be available within 12 to 18 months? Product should be in development, not just at research stage.
Despite what could still be considered a tough fundraising environment, early-stage venture capital investing is alive and well. If your start up meets the criteria outlined here, you should have no problem securing funding.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Interesting article from WSJ on Leadership styles
Leadership is a topic I talk with startups about regularly. Most folks don't recognize it as a discipline and don't take the time to learn more about building their leadership skillsets. Here's a quick overview of leadership styles from the WSJ that hopefully will get you to think a bit more about the importance and value of leadership.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704041504575045163417674970.html?mod=e2tw
FEBRUARY 4, 2010, 12:32 P.M. ET
Which of These Six Leadership Styles Works Best?
By ALAN MURRAY
Leadership is a big, vague, amorphous topic. We can write about great leaders at great length. But practically speaking, how do you become one?
A good start is to focus on leadership styles. Daniel Goleman, who popularized the notion of "emotional intelligence," has described the following six different styles that leaders use to motivate others.
Our view is these are not mutually exclusive. You don't need to adopt one and ignore the others. Rather, the best leaders move among these styles, using the one that meets the needs of the moment. Think of them all as part of your management repertoire.
Adapted from the forthcoming book, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MANAGEMENT: Lasting Lessons for the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time, by Alan Murray. Copyright 2010 by Dow Jones & Co. To be published in August by HarperBusiness, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Visionary. This style is most appropriate when an organization needs a new direction. Its goal is to move people towards a new set of shared dreams. "Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going, but not how it will get there – setting people free to innovate, experiment, take calculated risks," writes Goleman.
Coaching. This one-on-one style focuses on developing individuals, showing them how to improve their performance, and helping to connect their goals to the goals of the organization. Coaching works best with employees who show initiative and want more professional development. But it can backfire if it's perceived as "micromanaging" an employee, and undermines his or her self-confidence.
Affiliative. This style emphasizes the importance of team work, and creates harmony in a group by connecting people to each other. It's particular valuable when you need to improve team harmony, increase morale, and repair communication or repair broken trust in an organization." But it has its drawbacks. An excessive emphasis on group praise can allow poor performance to go uncorrected, and lead employees to believe that mediocrity will be tolerated.
Democratic. This style draws on people's knowledge and skills, and creates a group commitment to the resulting goals. It works best when the direction the organization should take is unclear, and the leader needs to tap the collective wisdom of the group. The consensus building approach can be disastrous in times of crisis, however, when urgent events demand quick decisions.
Pacesetting. In this style, the leader sets high standards for performance. He or she is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and asks the same of everyone. But Goleman warns this style should be used sparingly, because it can undercut morale and make people feel as if they are failing. "Our data shows that, more often than not, pacesetting poisons the climate," he writes.
Commanding. This is the classic model of "military" style leadership – probably the most often used, but the least often effective. Because it rarely involves praise and frequently employs criticism, it can undercut morale and job satisfaction. Still, in crisis situations, when an urgent turnaround is needed, it can be an effective approach.
Note that what distinguishes each leadership style above is not the personal characteristics of the leader, but rather the nature and needs of those who are being led. As James MacGregor Burns argued in his path-breaking 1978 book, Leadership: "Leadership over human beings is exercised when persons with certain motives and purposes mobilize, in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological and other resources so as to arouse, engage and satisfy the motives of followers."
Unlike "naked power wielding," he writes, "leadership is thus inseparable from followers' needs and goals."
The good leader, in other words, must understand what motivates those he or she wishes to lead.
--
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704041504575045163417674970.html?mod=e2tw
FEBRUARY 4, 2010, 12:32 P.M. ET
Which of These Six Leadership Styles Works Best?
By ALAN MURRAY
Leadership is a big, vague, amorphous topic. We can write about great leaders at great length. But practically speaking, how do you become one?
A good start is to focus on leadership styles. Daniel Goleman, who popularized the notion of "emotional intelligence," has described the following six different styles that leaders use to motivate others.
Our view is these are not mutually exclusive. You don't need to adopt one and ignore the others. Rather, the best leaders move among these styles, using the one that meets the needs of the moment. Think of them all as part of your management repertoire.
Adapted from the forthcoming book, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MANAGEMENT: Lasting Lessons for the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time, by Alan Murray. Copyright 2010 by Dow Jones & Co. To be published in August by HarperBusiness, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Visionary. This style is most appropriate when an organization needs a new direction. Its goal is to move people towards a new set of shared dreams. "Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going, but not how it will get there – setting people free to innovate, experiment, take calculated risks," writes Goleman.
Coaching. This one-on-one style focuses on developing individuals, showing them how to improve their performance, and helping to connect their goals to the goals of the organization. Coaching works best with employees who show initiative and want more professional development. But it can backfire if it's perceived as "micromanaging" an employee, and undermines his or her self-confidence.
Affiliative. This style emphasizes the importance of team work, and creates harmony in a group by connecting people to each other. It's particular valuable when you need to improve team harmony, increase morale, and repair communication or repair broken trust in an organization." But it has its drawbacks. An excessive emphasis on group praise can allow poor performance to go uncorrected, and lead employees to believe that mediocrity will be tolerated.
Democratic. This style draws on people's knowledge and skills, and creates a group commitment to the resulting goals. It works best when the direction the organization should take is unclear, and the leader needs to tap the collective wisdom of the group. The consensus building approach can be disastrous in times of crisis, however, when urgent events demand quick decisions.
Pacesetting. In this style, the leader sets high standards for performance. He or she is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and asks the same of everyone. But Goleman warns this style should be used sparingly, because it can undercut morale and make people feel as if they are failing. "Our data shows that, more often than not, pacesetting poisons the climate," he writes.
Commanding. This is the classic model of "military" style leadership – probably the most often used, but the least often effective. Because it rarely involves praise and frequently employs criticism, it can undercut morale and job satisfaction. Still, in crisis situations, when an urgent turnaround is needed, it can be an effective approach.
Note that what distinguishes each leadership style above is not the personal characteristics of the leader, but rather the nature and needs of those who are being led. As James MacGregor Burns argued in his path-breaking 1978 book, Leadership: "Leadership over human beings is exercised when persons with certain motives and purposes mobilize, in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological and other resources so as to arouse, engage and satisfy the motives of followers."
Unlike "naked power wielding," he writes, "leadership is thus inseparable from followers' needs and goals."
The good leader, in other words, must understand what motivates those he or she wishes to lead.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
10 Things MBA Schools Won't Teach You as a Startup
Some amusing words of wisdon from Dharmesh (who can teach you alot - check out his blog! As someone who's involved in teaching MBA Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley, I can tell you this is only the beginning!
Startups: 10 Things MBA Schools Won't Teach You
1. No amount of strategic planning will ever substitute for managing your cash flow. Financial statements are great. The most important one is your bank account statement.
2. There are always more things to do than there is time to do them. Startups are a continuous exercise in deciding what not to do. You can sometimes win by just not doing things faster than your competition.
3. Sleep is that time you’re working on startup problems with your eyes closed.
4. It helps not to call people “human resources”. They’re people. And, as it turns out, people like to be treated like people. Go figure.
5. No amount of academic theories on efficient pricing will prepare you completely for what people will actually do. Finding the “optimal” price is really hard. In the meantime, remember that a sub-optimal price is a lot better than no price at all.
6. Price discrimination (in an economic sense) is a wonderful thing. Except that it often ignores the real costs in terms of organizational complexity. Every time you add a new product or product option a small part of your company dies.
7. There are an infinite number of ways to spend money on marketing. You have no idea what’s actually going to work. The idea is to experiment broadly and learn lessons cheaply. On a related note, no amount of MBA marketing classes will prepare you for the day that you have to produce leads in order to close sales. As it turns out, marketing is about more than product feature matrices and the right shade of blue for your logo.
8. To recruit the best people, fair compensation and equity are only a start. Company culture and a demonstrated passion for your vision is hugely important. (Oh, and your vision should be on the larger path to truth, justice and overall goodness). Your vision should not involve harming kittens. They’re adorable. [insert gratuitious kitten photo here]
9. There’s a lot of value to being likable. Good things happen when people like you. When people like you, bad things have less of a chance of being fatal. I advise being likable. That’s why I advise against being an investment banker after getting an MBA. (I also advise against being an investment banker before getting an MBA).
10. Advanced game theory is exceptionally useful. Basic game theory is dangerous — because it assumes that you’re dealing with a bunch of rational “players”. It’s like trying to design a real car that’s going to be driven on a theoretically frictionless surface, with no air resistance and no idiots on the road.
What are your top startup lessons learned that even the top MBA schools don't teach?
Startups: 10 Things MBA Schools Won't Teach You
1. No amount of strategic planning will ever substitute for managing your cash flow. Financial statements are great. The most important one is your bank account statement.
2. There are always more things to do than there is time to do them. Startups are a continuous exercise in deciding what not to do. You can sometimes win by just not doing things faster than your competition.
3. Sleep is that time you’re working on startup problems with your eyes closed.
4. It helps not to call people “human resources”. They’re people. And, as it turns out, people like to be treated like people. Go figure.
5. No amount of academic theories on efficient pricing will prepare you completely for what people will actually do. Finding the “optimal” price is really hard. In the meantime, remember that a sub-optimal price is a lot better than no price at all.
6. Price discrimination (in an economic sense) is a wonderful thing. Except that it often ignores the real costs in terms of organizational complexity. Every time you add a new product or product option a small part of your company dies.
7. There are an infinite number of ways to spend money on marketing. You have no idea what’s actually going to work. The idea is to experiment broadly and learn lessons cheaply. On a related note, no amount of MBA marketing classes will prepare you for the day that you have to produce leads in order to close sales. As it turns out, marketing is about more than product feature matrices and the right shade of blue for your logo.
8. To recruit the best people, fair compensation and equity are only a start. Company culture and a demonstrated passion for your vision is hugely important. (Oh, and your vision should be on the larger path to truth, justice and overall goodness). Your vision should not involve harming kittens. They’re adorable. [insert gratuitious kitten photo here]
9. There’s a lot of value to being likable. Good things happen when people like you. When people like you, bad things have less of a chance of being fatal. I advise being likable. That’s why I advise against being an investment banker after getting an MBA. (I also advise against being an investment banker before getting an MBA).
10. Advanced game theory is exceptionally useful. Basic game theory is dangerous — because it assumes that you’re dealing with a bunch of rational “players”. It’s like trying to design a real car that’s going to be driven on a theoretically frictionless surface, with no air resistance and no idiots on the road.
What are your top startup lessons learned that even the top MBA schools don't teach?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Why the Customer Development Process is So Important
Iwanted to pass along this blog posting from the guys at Venture Hacks, who in general put up really useful, practical info. I thought this post was particularly important as it has three specific detailed case studies on customer development. Be sure to link through to the actual case studies (not just the summaries in the blog posting) - there's a lot to be learned here! Case Study number two is so simplistic but so important for startups to put on their list of things to do. Nothing speaks louder to an investor than a customer (or propsect).
http://venturehacks.com/articles/case-studies?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+venturehacks+%28Venture+Hacks%29
3 customer development case studies
3 customer development case studies
by Nivi on November 22nd, 2009
2 Comments
If you’re trying to implement customer development at your startup, you’ll learn more from these 3 case studies than anything else I’ve seen. I consider each of these a “must-read”. I’ve quoted some great bits from each case study, but make sure you click through and read each one in full.
1. Using an LOI to get customer feedback on a minimum viable product:
“We decided from the get-go that, while we clearly saw the benefits and necessity of our concept, we would remain fiercely skeptical of our own ideas and implement the customer development process to vet the idea, market, customers etc, before writing a single line of code.
“My partner was especially adamant about this as he had spent the last 6 months in a cave writing a monster, feature-rich web app for the financial sector that a potential client had promised to buy, but backed out at the last second. They then tried to shop the app around, and found no takers. Thousands of lines of code, all for naught — as is usually the case without a customer development process. (See Throwing away working code for more on this unfortunate phenomenon. – Eric Ries)
“We made a few pencil drawings of what the app would look like which we then gave to a graphic designer. With that, the graphic designer created a Photoshop image. We had him create what we called our “screenshots” (which suggests that an app actually existed at the time) and had him wrap them in one of these freely available PS Browser Templates. Now armed, with 4 “screenshots” and a story, we approached our target market, some of which was through warm introductions, and some, very literally, was through simple cold-calling.
“Once we secured a meeting, we told our potential customers that we were actively developing our web app (implying that code was being written) and wanted to get potential user input into the development process early on. Looking at paper print-outs of our “screenshots”, no one could tell that this was simply a printout of a PSD, and not a live app sitting on a server somewhere. We walked them through what we thought would be the major application of our product. Most people were quite receptive and encouraging…
“On the third visit, we pressed those who saw merit in the idea to sign a legally non-binding Letter of Intent. Namely, that they agree to use it free of charge if we deliver it to them and it is capable of X, Y and Z. And not only do they agree to use it, but that they intend to purchase if by Y date at X price if it meets their needs.”
The author of this case study is currently looking for a technical co-founder.
2. proof that we’re not (completely) crazy:
“The few customers we talked to had little in common except for the core problem we were solving. Two had very similar job titles, (let’s call them Ditch Diggers), so we ran a facebook ad with the job title at the top of thead, which was roughly, “Ditch Digger? Feeling spread thin? Click here to complete a survey and tell us about it.” Facebook ads were the easiest because we could pick types of people — we have yet to create an effective adwords campaign. We offered $10 Amazon gift cards to complete a 15 minutephone interview.
“What followed next was absolutely amazing. When we talk to a Ditch Digger it’s like every response has an exclamation point. “Yes, that’s me exactly!”, “I can’t believe you’re building a tool for this, thank you!”, “Here are 5 emails of other people that will want this!”, “It’s only (number that was so high we had to force each other to ask)/month? Great deal!”
3. How I built my Minimum Viable Product:
“I filled out a set of hypothesis worksheets in Steve Blank’s book on product, customer, channel pricing, demand creation, market type, and competition. I would recommend everyone formalize this process. My initial scan of the worksheets made me believe I already knew all the answers. I involved Sasha in the process, and discussions that I thought would be 30 minute conversations turned into 2 hour discussions as she questioned almost all my assumptions… Yes, I still love her after that… The biggest mind shift following a customer development process is from thinking you know something to testing everything you know.
“We built out our initial customer problem presentation and decided to target people just like us – busy parents with young kids.
“Our top 3 problems where:
Sharing lots of photos and videos is a hassle
A lot of services downsize the images so the quality is poor
Notifying family and friends of updates was manual and a chore
“We were able to find the initial batch through friends and daycare, and subsequent batches through follow-on referrals. I’ll add that it is very important to talk to complete strangers to keep objectivity in check. Family and friends can be too kind sometimes and really lead you down the wrong path. We debated paying for their time with gift cards or doing a DSLR camera raffle and in the end decided to just lay out our objectives and ask for 30 mins of their time. That was enough.…
“During the interview, we were particularly interested in learning what their sharing workflow was like. We set up the stage and let them tell us everything they did with their photos/videos taking them from camera to shared, what they wished they could change, and the magical pricing questions: Would they use a solution like the one we were envisioning if it were free? Would they use it if it were $X/yr? X changed from customer to customer but we kept it as real as we could.
“We talked to enough people until their answers started sounding the same…
“Our revised top 3 problems were:
Sharing lots of photos and videos is a hassle (stayed the same)
Requiring visitors to signup is annoying
Photo gallery design was too busy or complicated
If you’re crazy for case studies, I’ve found at least a billion at the Lean Startup Circle. Let me know if you find any good ones there.
http://venturehacks.com/articles/case-studies?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+venturehacks+%28Venture+Hacks%29
3 customer development case studies
3 customer development case studies
by Nivi on November 22nd, 2009
2 Comments
If you’re trying to implement customer development at your startup, you’ll learn more from these 3 case studies than anything else I’ve seen. I consider each of these a “must-read”. I’ve quoted some great bits from each case study, but make sure you click through and read each one in full.
1. Using an LOI to get customer feedback on a minimum viable product:
“We decided from the get-go that, while we clearly saw the benefits and necessity of our concept, we would remain fiercely skeptical of our own ideas and implement the customer development process to vet the idea, market, customers etc, before writing a single line of code.
“My partner was especially adamant about this as he had spent the last 6 months in a cave writing a monster, feature-rich web app for the financial sector that a potential client had promised to buy, but backed out at the last second. They then tried to shop the app around, and found no takers. Thousands of lines of code, all for naught — as is usually the case without a customer development process. (See Throwing away working code for more on this unfortunate phenomenon. – Eric Ries)
“We made a few pencil drawings of what the app would look like which we then gave to a graphic designer. With that, the graphic designer created a Photoshop image. We had him create what we called our “screenshots” (which suggests that an app actually existed at the time) and had him wrap them in one of these freely available PS Browser Templates. Now armed, with 4 “screenshots” and a story, we approached our target market, some of which was through warm introductions, and some, very literally, was through simple cold-calling.
“Once we secured a meeting, we told our potential customers that we were actively developing our web app (implying that code was being written) and wanted to get potential user input into the development process early on. Looking at paper print-outs of our “screenshots”, no one could tell that this was simply a printout of a PSD, and not a live app sitting on a server somewhere. We walked them through what we thought would be the major application of our product. Most people were quite receptive and encouraging…
“On the third visit, we pressed those who saw merit in the idea to sign a legally non-binding Letter of Intent. Namely, that they agree to use it free of charge if we deliver it to them and it is capable of X, Y and Z. And not only do they agree to use it, but that they intend to purchase if by Y date at X price if it meets their needs.”
The author of this case study is currently looking for a technical co-founder.
2. proof that we’re not (completely) crazy:
“The few customers we talked to had little in common except for the core problem we were solving. Two had very similar job titles, (let’s call them Ditch Diggers), so we ran a facebook ad with the job title at the top of thead, which was roughly, “Ditch Digger? Feeling spread thin? Click here to complete a survey and tell us about it.” Facebook ads were the easiest because we could pick types of people — we have yet to create an effective adwords campaign. We offered $10 Amazon gift cards to complete a 15 minutephone interview.
“What followed next was absolutely amazing. When we talk to a Ditch Digger it’s like every response has an exclamation point. “Yes, that’s me exactly!”, “I can’t believe you’re building a tool for this, thank you!”, “Here are 5 emails of other people that will want this!”, “It’s only (number that was so high we had to force each other to ask)/month? Great deal!”
3. How I built my Minimum Viable Product:
“I filled out a set of hypothesis worksheets in Steve Blank’s book on product, customer, channel pricing, demand creation, market type, and competition. I would recommend everyone formalize this process. My initial scan of the worksheets made me believe I already knew all the answers. I involved Sasha in the process, and discussions that I thought would be 30 minute conversations turned into 2 hour discussions as she questioned almost all my assumptions… Yes, I still love her after that… The biggest mind shift following a customer development process is from thinking you know something to testing everything you know.
“We built out our initial customer problem presentation and decided to target people just like us – busy parents with young kids.
“Our top 3 problems where:
Sharing lots of photos and videos is a hassle
A lot of services downsize the images so the quality is poor
Notifying family and friends of updates was manual and a chore
“We were able to find the initial batch through friends and daycare, and subsequent batches through follow-on referrals. I’ll add that it is very important to talk to complete strangers to keep objectivity in check. Family and friends can be too kind sometimes and really lead you down the wrong path. We debated paying for their time with gift cards or doing a DSLR camera raffle and in the end decided to just lay out our objectives and ask for 30 mins of their time. That was enough.…
“During the interview, we were particularly interested in learning what their sharing workflow was like. We set up the stage and let them tell us everything they did with their photos/videos taking them from camera to shared, what they wished they could change, and the magical pricing questions: Would they use a solution like the one we were envisioning if it were free? Would they use it if it were $X/yr? X changed from customer to customer but we kept it as real as we could.
“We talked to enough people until their answers started sounding the same…
“Our revised top 3 problems were:
Sharing lots of photos and videos is a hassle (stayed the same)
Requiring visitors to signup is annoying
Photo gallery design was too busy or complicated
If you’re crazy for case studies, I’ve found at least a billion at the Lean Startup Circle. Let me know if you find any good ones there.
Friday, November 20, 2009
How to Operate a Tradeshow Booth: real advice that you can actually use!
I've been reviewing some old blog posts by Jason Calacanis lately, who I think gives out some of the most useful and practical advice to startups. Here's one from latelast summer that he posted about How to Operate a Tradeshow Booth. If you've seen it, its worth another look. If you haven't, there's something useful in there for everyone! I think putting your goals in place and running your budget against key metrics are two areas he talks about that are so very important.
---
I thought I would take a moment to discuss the bestpractices for running a booth or table at a trade show or conference.These points are general and are intended to apply to everything froma 50-person SIG (special interest group), where you're given a genericfolding table, to a custom-built booth at a trade show like CES, heldin the Las Vegas Convention Center.This list is far from comprehensive, but I did query a number of eventexecutives with it to get their insights.
Tips on How to Operate a Trade Show Booth--------------------------------
1. Define your goal=============In order to maximize your investment in a trade-show booth orconference table top, you must clearly define your goals. A booth isbut one of many ways to obtain value from a conference. In fact, evenattending a conference can be a way to grow your company. It'simportant that your entire team, from marketing to product to the CEO,agree on the goals long before committing to an event.The most frequent reasons I've heard for hosting a booth are:a) to obtain leads/clientsb) to further develop relationships with existing clientsc) brandingd) educating people about your company and productse) to support your industry or the people throwing the eventf) for the fun and enjoyment of the team attending the event (i.e. "a junket")g) recruitingh) courting investorsSince your goals are going to determine your strategy, you need toreally think about which one or two of these are the most important toyou. Most companies will look at the list above--the same list that'sin the marketing materials that sold you on getting a booth--and say"yeah, we want to do a little of all of that."If you focus equally on each of the goals above, chances are you'renot going to succeed in any real way at any of them. Once you have alist of goals, you really need to prioritize them. I like to forcemyself to define one clear goal, like "we're here to find aninvestor," "we're here to get press for the latest version of ourwebsite," or "we're here to find a CTO."As an exercise, consider forcing your team to select your top threegoals and assign a percentage of importance to each. As a follow-upexercise, ask your team to now select, hands down, the most importantsingle goal. If you have too hard a time with this task, you probablyshouldn't be hosting a booth--unless of course it's 1999 or 2000 andyou feel like burning through venture capital money as quickly aspossible in order to take your company public.
2. Pick the right event=============The goals mentioned above are very specific and they target specificcategories of people: venture capitalists, clients, employees, or thepress, for example. Now that you know your goals, you need to find outwhich conference to sponsor. Most professional conferences will eitherprovide a list of companies represented at the event or a nice shinypie chart with demographics.Now you can take their word for it, or better yet, you can do your ownresearch. The best way to figure out what trade show to go to is toask the types of people you want to meet what trade shows they love.For example, if you wanted to meet developers, ask a developer for alist of their favorite events.You might hear about eTech (sorry tohear it's not returning), SXSW Interactive or Lockergnome.If you're looking to meet angel investors, you might hear back aboutTechCrunch50 or Web 2.0. For CEOs, you're gonna hear the Wall StreetJournal's D Conference or TED. You get the idea; ask the people whoactually put their money down for tickets about which events theylove.
3. Develop a strategy and timeline=============After you've prioritized your goals, you're going to need a checklistand timeline. Your conference presence is going to have a lot ofmoving parts--far too many to just remember.For example, if you want to generate leads, then you should bring yourmost sociable team members and charge them with getting business cardsinto the raffle bowl. If your goal is to land actual clients at theshow, instead of just getting business cards, well then you're goingto want to bring your most knowledgeable sales people and focus onsocializing over drinks, lunch and dinner. If you want to landdevelopers, you'll probably want to bring your developers and set upan area for them to hang out with their laptops open. (That's whatdevelopers like to do).The main point is that different goals will lead to differentstrategies and a varied punch list.Signing up for a booth is easy but running one is not. Many marketingpeople are quick to sign up for a booth, but slow in preparing to runit. After you've defined your goals you need to develop a timelineleading up to the event, during the event and for post-event.
4. Budget properly=============The cost of the booth is typically 1/3rd to 2/3rds of your totalinvestment in attending an event. Someone just told me that the absurd$18,500 fee that people pay to demo on stage at the DEMO Conference istypically 1/3rd of the total spend once you add in travel, runningyour booth and preparing. $50k to launch at a conference--ouch!NOTE: That will be the last dig at DEMO, the conference that takesadvantage of startups desperate for attention, I promise! :-).Clearly, you need to budget for things like travel, hotels, signage,swag, raffle items, staffing, opportunity cost and food. If you canbarely afford the cost of the booth, you shouldn't be doing the event,because you're going to cut corners on things like staffing yourbooth, signage and giveaways--all of which are essential.Prepare a comprehensive budget for the event and make sure all yourstakeholders understand the true cost, so that they can measuresuccess post-event.
5. Run your budget against your key metrics=============Since you have your goals and costs defined, you might considerassigning a cost to each goal and metric. For example, if your goalsare equally to get prospective leads for the sales team and to recruitnew sales people, and you'd also like to brand yourself a bit, you canrun your costs against those categories:a) Land qualified leads: 40% ($4,000)b) Recruit potential sales executives: 40% ($4,000)c) Branding: 20% ($2,000)As you can see, I've modeled this conference as a local one-day eventwith a $10,000 cost: $5,000 for the booth, $1,000 for the raffle oftwo iPhones, $2,000 in swag, $1,000 for marketing materials and $1,000in staffing costs. Since you're spending $4,000 on generatingqualified leads, you can easily back into a cost-per-lead of $10 ifyou collect 400 of them or $20 if you collect 200 of them.If you normally pay a recruiter $10,000 to find a sales person, thenyou need to find a new sales person over 2-3 events to make thisworthwhile. If you land a new sales person or two at one event, you'reway in the black.These are the kinds of discussions you need to have before committingto an event. Again, unless you've got money to burn because yourcompany throws off huge profits like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or NewsCorp. Those companies have departments that can burn money onconferences without giving it deep consideration because they'veearned that right. They have huge profits and your startup probablydoesn't. Startups and small- to mid-sized companies need to thinkabout these things deeply, because this money might be better spent onother bullets.
6. Who should work your booth=============As mentioned above, you want to pick the right category of person foryour goal. If you're recruiting sales people, you're going to want tobring not only your HR people (who do it for a living) but also othersales people to act as references for the HR people. If you're lookingfor developers, you need to bring your developers.After you've found the right category of person to manage yourpresence, you have to buy them a copy of the audiobook or print bookfor "How To Win Friends and Influence People." If you do this, pleasebuy it from the following URL at Audible since they sponsor my show,"This Week in Startups": http://www.audiblepodcast.com/twist :-)What they will learn in this famous book is, essentially, how to makeyourself a likable person, by smiling, showing interest in otherpeople and having a positive outlook. Sure it's corny, and maybe it'sobvious to many people, but it's well worth the investment of $10-30to get each of your folks both the book and the audiobook. (Make iteasy for them). In fact, insist on them listening to it and have abook club-style discussion about it before the show.
7. Getting people into your booth=============Be friendly, make eye contact and smile. Ask people one of the following things:a) "Hello, would you be interested in seeing our product?"b) "Hello, would you be interested in seeing our product and winning an iPhone?"c) "Hello NAMEonNAMETAG, how are you doing today?" -- response --"That's fantastic, glad you're having a good time. Let's win you aniPhone and show you want Mahalo does, shall we?"d) Hold out a candy bowl, and say with a big smile, "Candy?" -- waitfor thank you -- say one of the three lines above.If someone says "no, thank you," say something like:a) "OK, thanks, would you like to drop your card in to win an iPhone anyway?"b) "No worries, perhaps another time... enjoy the rest of the show!"c) "OK, enjoy the rest of the show. See you at the cocktail party!"The giving of the raffle or candy taps into the reciprocity effect inpsychology, which essentially states that if you do something nice forsomeone, they will feel compelled to return the favor. You give thecandy and they will see a demo. You give the chance at an iPhone andthey won't have a problem giving you their card.You can read more about reciprocity online, but basically it's whatthe Moonies do to you at the airport when they put a flower in yourhand and than ask for a donation. The book "The Power of Persuasion"has a good read/listen on this subject: http://bit.ly/eLhfr
8. How to demo your product=============Create a very short interactive overview of your product. For example,here is how I would demo Mahalo Answers:Me: "Have you ever used Yahoo Answers or seen a question from therecome up in a Google results?"Attendee: "Yes/No/Maybe."Me: "OK, great, well, Mahalo Answers is like that but way morepowerful. Here, you can see, I've asked people what their favoritecover to a Bob Dylan song is, and you can see I've received over 120answers in just three days, and many folks embedded a YouTube video ormp3 file!"Attendee: INSERT SOME OBSERVATION OR QUESTION HERE.ME: "Exactly! That's a great observation" (i.e. something to show youlistened to their response), "Let me have you try it... What questiondo you have today? Think of some problem in your life you're trying tosolve... maybe a vacation, car or product decision? Parenting orhealth?"As you can see I've set this up to be interactive and engage theperson and I'm showing--NOT TELLING--the core value of the product tothe user. I'm getting them right into the product and having them tryit. That is what you want to do: show the product and get thepotential user to TRY the product.
9. Do assume the Internet will be down=============I don't know if I've ever been to a conference of note that hadtotally stable Internet for the complete show, especially at techconferences. Have three different brands of EVDO cards as well as acanned demonstration or screencast of your product ready to go.1
0. Do offer swag=============Offer an easy to carry, memorable and hopefully useful piece of swag.If you're at Sundance and it's freezing, give out a scarf, gloves orwool cap--all with your logo. If you're at a beach resort in Hawaii,give suntan lotion with your logo on it, a sun visor or flip flops. Ifyou're in New York City, give folks a bike messenger bag, a customprinted Zagat guide or a journal with a pen.Don't give crummy t-shirts to people with a huge logo on it. Peoplemay take them but they won't wear them. If you are going to give folksa shirt, make it a beautiful shirt with a tiny, tiny logo on it. Makeit something someone very hip would be happy to wear to the club orgolf course. No one wants your huge logo across their chest unlessyou're a loved brand like Nike, Google or Apple.
11. Do have a raffle=============Collect business cards by having a raffle for whatever the mostrecently sold-out product in the world is. If there is a line forsomething to buy at the Apple Store or Best Buy, there will be an evenlonger line to get it for free at your booth. Have multiple handheldfishbowls ready so your booth agents can hold them out as people go byif need be.Email those people after the event and thank them for joining theraffle. Let them know they didn't win the XBOX 360, but that you areinviting them to a seminar about "how to save money with CRM" ifthey're interested. In other words, your follow-up pitch should offersomething else of value. Content is a great way to go, and the contentshouldn't be "all about Salesforce," but rather about what Salesforcecustomers care about.Try to go from the raffle to a conversation about amutually-interesting topic (i.e. a webinar) to the client. Going rightfrom raffle to client is too jarring and will feel like spam.Another idea is to send a lesser piece of swag in the mail with somecontent. So, something like: "Thank you for joining our raffle atTechCrunch50. I wanted to send you a complimentary copy of 'SiliconValley Bank's Guide to Doing Your Next Valuation' as a thank you. Ifyou have any follow-up questions, do let me know, and I look forwardto seeing you at next year's event or sooner!"
12. Have a fascinating business card=============File this under "purple cows," but having an interesting business cardcan go a long way. I'll never forget Charles Forman's business cardas long as I live. It's so innovative and cool that it got a story onGawker: http://bit.ly/2kuECT.TechCrunch50 demopit company Expensify featured their innovativebusiness card in their piece on the event: http://bit.ly/phCRWhen I launched Mahalo.com at the D Conference two years ago, I putthe names of each speaker on the back of my card in a Mahalo URL. Thatlet people see examples of our topic pages/search results forthemselves. Not as innovative as the two things above, but not tooshabby.Frankly, I'm thinking about knocking off Forman's card one of these days.Here's some more memorable business card examples: http://bit.ly/zqXUyWhat can you accomplish with your business card?
13. Wear a professional made name tag.=============A custom name tag looks better than the ones the conference gives out.Check out this one for Apple employees: http://bit.ly/2UgyW2
14. Have appropriate signage=============This is fairly obvious, but if you don't have your name around andabove the crowd height, your booth may get passed by. Big photos ofgood looking people are also good since that will catch the eye.People stop to look at photos of other people.
15. Don't hire booth babes or strippers=============Unless you work in the modeling, strip club or porn business, don'thire models, strippers or porn stars to work your booth--it'sinsulting to women. Now, that doesn't mean the folks in your boothcan't be attractive and well manicured. It just means, have sometaste. At last year's conference, someone had a bunch of strippertypes in hot pants and absurdly tight t-shirts. It was totally cheap,cheesy and lame. It's 2009, people, really.
Some assorted smaller tips that don't need much explanation:
16. Ask the conference producers for a discounted "introductory rate."
17. Have a big dish of candy next to your computers.
18. Have three times the number of staff for your booth as you need at one time.
19. Have your staff circulate through the show giving out swag, candyor party invites (if allowed).
20. Dress your staff in the company color scheme and with thecompany's logo on their front and back.
21. Consider having a game of chance (spin the wheel, blackjack, etc)at your booth.
21. Hold a post-conference recap with your team to evaluate how you did.
22. Hold a post-conference recap with the conference producers andtell them your pros and cons.
If you're interested in this you might be interested in my previous posts:
How to Demo your Startup (part one)http://calacanis.com/2009/09/08/how-to-demo-your-startup-part-one/
How to Demo your Startup (part two)http://calacanis.com/2009/09/08/how-to-demo-your-startup-part-two/
How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)http://calacanis.com/2008/03/07/how-to-save-money-running-a-startup-17-really-good-tips/
What to do if your startup is about fail (or “Don’t Stop Believing”)http://calacanis.com/2009/02/27/what-to-do-if-your-startup-is-about-fail-or-dont-stop-believing/
PSSS - You can follow me on Twitter @jason (yes, I changed from@jasoncalacanis to just @jason).http://www.twitter.com/jasonPSSSS - You can follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jasoncalacanisPSSSSS - You can subscribe to This Week in Startups at the followingURLs for iTunes: http://bit.ly/BSGLu or you can watch it athttp://www.thisweekinstartups.com
---
I thought I would take a moment to discuss the bestpractices for running a booth or table at a trade show or conference.These points are general and are intended to apply to everything froma 50-person SIG (special interest group), where you're given a genericfolding table, to a custom-built booth at a trade show like CES, heldin the Las Vegas Convention Center.This list is far from comprehensive, but I did query a number of eventexecutives with it to get their insights.
Tips on How to Operate a Trade Show Booth--------------------------------
1. Define your goal=============In order to maximize your investment in a trade-show booth orconference table top, you must clearly define your goals. A booth isbut one of many ways to obtain value from a conference. In fact, evenattending a conference can be a way to grow your company. It'simportant that your entire team, from marketing to product to the CEO,agree on the goals long before committing to an event.The most frequent reasons I've heard for hosting a booth are:a) to obtain leads/clientsb) to further develop relationships with existing clientsc) brandingd) educating people about your company and productse) to support your industry or the people throwing the eventf) for the fun and enjoyment of the team attending the event (i.e. "a junket")g) recruitingh) courting investorsSince your goals are going to determine your strategy, you need toreally think about which one or two of these are the most important toyou. Most companies will look at the list above--the same list that'sin the marketing materials that sold you on getting a booth--and say"yeah, we want to do a little of all of that."If you focus equally on each of the goals above, chances are you'renot going to succeed in any real way at any of them. Once you have alist of goals, you really need to prioritize them. I like to forcemyself to define one clear goal, like "we're here to find aninvestor," "we're here to get press for the latest version of ourwebsite," or "we're here to find a CTO."As an exercise, consider forcing your team to select your top threegoals and assign a percentage of importance to each. As a follow-upexercise, ask your team to now select, hands down, the most importantsingle goal. If you have too hard a time with this task, you probablyshouldn't be hosting a booth--unless of course it's 1999 or 2000 andyou feel like burning through venture capital money as quickly aspossible in order to take your company public.
2. Pick the right event=============The goals mentioned above are very specific and they target specificcategories of people: venture capitalists, clients, employees, or thepress, for example. Now that you know your goals, you need to find outwhich conference to sponsor. Most professional conferences will eitherprovide a list of companies represented at the event or a nice shinypie chart with demographics.Now you can take their word for it, or better yet, you can do your ownresearch. The best way to figure out what trade show to go to is toask the types of people you want to meet what trade shows they love.For example, if you wanted to meet developers, ask a developer for alist of their favorite events.You might hear about eTech (sorry tohear it's not returning), SXSW Interactive or Lockergnome.If you're looking to meet angel investors, you might hear back aboutTechCrunch50 or Web 2.0. For CEOs, you're gonna hear the Wall StreetJournal's D Conference or TED. You get the idea; ask the people whoactually put their money down for tickets about which events theylove.
3. Develop a strategy and timeline=============After you've prioritized your goals, you're going to need a checklistand timeline. Your conference presence is going to have a lot ofmoving parts--far too many to just remember.For example, if you want to generate leads, then you should bring yourmost sociable team members and charge them with getting business cardsinto the raffle bowl. If your goal is to land actual clients at theshow, instead of just getting business cards, well then you're goingto want to bring your most knowledgeable sales people and focus onsocializing over drinks, lunch and dinner. If you want to landdevelopers, you'll probably want to bring your developers and set upan area for them to hang out with their laptops open. (That's whatdevelopers like to do).The main point is that different goals will lead to differentstrategies and a varied punch list.Signing up for a booth is easy but running one is not. Many marketingpeople are quick to sign up for a booth, but slow in preparing to runit. After you've defined your goals you need to develop a timelineleading up to the event, during the event and for post-event.
4. Budget properly=============The cost of the booth is typically 1/3rd to 2/3rds of your totalinvestment in attending an event. Someone just told me that the absurd$18,500 fee that people pay to demo on stage at the DEMO Conference istypically 1/3rd of the total spend once you add in travel, runningyour booth and preparing. $50k to launch at a conference--ouch!NOTE: That will be the last dig at DEMO, the conference that takesadvantage of startups desperate for attention, I promise! :-).Clearly, you need to budget for things like travel, hotels, signage,swag, raffle items, staffing, opportunity cost and food. If you canbarely afford the cost of the booth, you shouldn't be doing the event,because you're going to cut corners on things like staffing yourbooth, signage and giveaways--all of which are essential.Prepare a comprehensive budget for the event and make sure all yourstakeholders understand the true cost, so that they can measuresuccess post-event.
5. Run your budget against your key metrics=============Since you have your goals and costs defined, you might considerassigning a cost to each goal and metric. For example, if your goalsare equally to get prospective leads for the sales team and to recruitnew sales people, and you'd also like to brand yourself a bit, you canrun your costs against those categories:a) Land qualified leads: 40% ($4,000)b) Recruit potential sales executives: 40% ($4,000)c) Branding: 20% ($2,000)As you can see, I've modeled this conference as a local one-day eventwith a $10,000 cost: $5,000 for the booth, $1,000 for the raffle oftwo iPhones, $2,000 in swag, $1,000 for marketing materials and $1,000in staffing costs. Since you're spending $4,000 on generatingqualified leads, you can easily back into a cost-per-lead of $10 ifyou collect 400 of them or $20 if you collect 200 of them.If you normally pay a recruiter $10,000 to find a sales person, thenyou need to find a new sales person over 2-3 events to make thisworthwhile. If you land a new sales person or two at one event, you'reway in the black.These are the kinds of discussions you need to have before committingto an event. Again, unless you've got money to burn because yourcompany throws off huge profits like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or NewsCorp. Those companies have departments that can burn money onconferences without giving it deep consideration because they'veearned that right. They have huge profits and your startup probablydoesn't. Startups and small- to mid-sized companies need to thinkabout these things deeply, because this money might be better spent onother bullets.
6. Who should work your booth=============As mentioned above, you want to pick the right category of person foryour goal. If you're recruiting sales people, you're going to want tobring not only your HR people (who do it for a living) but also othersales people to act as references for the HR people. If you're lookingfor developers, you need to bring your developers.After you've found the right category of person to manage yourpresence, you have to buy them a copy of the audiobook or print bookfor "How To Win Friends and Influence People." If you do this, pleasebuy it from the following URL at Audible since they sponsor my show,"This Week in Startups": http://www.audiblepodcast.com/twist :-)What they will learn in this famous book is, essentially, how to makeyourself a likable person, by smiling, showing interest in otherpeople and having a positive outlook. Sure it's corny, and maybe it'sobvious to many people, but it's well worth the investment of $10-30to get each of your folks both the book and the audiobook. (Make iteasy for them). In fact, insist on them listening to it and have abook club-style discussion about it before the show.
7. Getting people into your booth=============Be friendly, make eye contact and smile. Ask people one of the following things:a) "Hello, would you be interested in seeing our product?"b) "Hello, would you be interested in seeing our product and winning an iPhone?"c) "Hello NAMEonNAMETAG, how are you doing today?" -- response --"That's fantastic, glad you're having a good time. Let's win you aniPhone and show you want Mahalo does, shall we?"d) Hold out a candy bowl, and say with a big smile, "Candy?" -- waitfor thank you -- say one of the three lines above.If someone says "no, thank you," say something like:a) "OK, thanks, would you like to drop your card in to win an iPhone anyway?"b) "No worries, perhaps another time... enjoy the rest of the show!"c) "OK, enjoy the rest of the show. See you at the cocktail party!"The giving of the raffle or candy taps into the reciprocity effect inpsychology, which essentially states that if you do something nice forsomeone, they will feel compelled to return the favor. You give thecandy and they will see a demo. You give the chance at an iPhone andthey won't have a problem giving you their card.You can read more about reciprocity online, but basically it's whatthe Moonies do to you at the airport when they put a flower in yourhand and than ask for a donation. The book "The Power of Persuasion"has a good read/listen on this subject: http://bit.ly/eLhfr
8. How to demo your product=============Create a very short interactive overview of your product. For example,here is how I would demo Mahalo Answers:Me: "Have you ever used Yahoo Answers or seen a question from therecome up in a Google results?"Attendee: "Yes/No/Maybe."Me: "OK, great, well, Mahalo Answers is like that but way morepowerful. Here, you can see, I've asked people what their favoritecover to a Bob Dylan song is, and you can see I've received over 120answers in just three days, and many folks embedded a YouTube video ormp3 file!"Attendee: INSERT SOME OBSERVATION OR QUESTION HERE.ME: "Exactly! That's a great observation" (i.e. something to show youlistened to their response), "Let me have you try it... What questiondo you have today? Think of some problem in your life you're trying tosolve... maybe a vacation, car or product decision? Parenting orhealth?"As you can see I've set this up to be interactive and engage theperson and I'm showing--NOT TELLING--the core value of the product tothe user. I'm getting them right into the product and having them tryit. That is what you want to do: show the product and get thepotential user to TRY the product.
9. Do assume the Internet will be down=============I don't know if I've ever been to a conference of note that hadtotally stable Internet for the complete show, especially at techconferences. Have three different brands of EVDO cards as well as acanned demonstration or screencast of your product ready to go.1
0. Do offer swag=============Offer an easy to carry, memorable and hopefully useful piece of swag.If you're at Sundance and it's freezing, give out a scarf, gloves orwool cap--all with your logo. If you're at a beach resort in Hawaii,give suntan lotion with your logo on it, a sun visor or flip flops. Ifyou're in New York City, give folks a bike messenger bag, a customprinted Zagat guide or a journal with a pen.Don't give crummy t-shirts to people with a huge logo on it. Peoplemay take them but they won't wear them. If you are going to give folksa shirt, make it a beautiful shirt with a tiny, tiny logo on it. Makeit something someone very hip would be happy to wear to the club orgolf course. No one wants your huge logo across their chest unlessyou're a loved brand like Nike, Google or Apple.
11. Do have a raffle=============Collect business cards by having a raffle for whatever the mostrecently sold-out product in the world is. If there is a line forsomething to buy at the Apple Store or Best Buy, there will be an evenlonger line to get it for free at your booth. Have multiple handheldfishbowls ready so your booth agents can hold them out as people go byif need be.Email those people after the event and thank them for joining theraffle. Let them know they didn't win the XBOX 360, but that you areinviting them to a seminar about "how to save money with CRM" ifthey're interested. In other words, your follow-up pitch should offersomething else of value. Content is a great way to go, and the contentshouldn't be "all about Salesforce," but rather about what Salesforcecustomers care about.Try to go from the raffle to a conversation about amutually-interesting topic (i.e. a webinar) to the client. Going rightfrom raffle to client is too jarring and will feel like spam.Another idea is to send a lesser piece of swag in the mail with somecontent. So, something like: "Thank you for joining our raffle atTechCrunch50. I wanted to send you a complimentary copy of 'SiliconValley Bank's Guide to Doing Your Next Valuation' as a thank you. Ifyou have any follow-up questions, do let me know, and I look forwardto seeing you at next year's event or sooner!"
12. Have a fascinating business card=============File this under "purple cows," but having an interesting business cardcan go a long way. I'll never forget Charles Forman's business cardas long as I live. It's so innovative and cool that it got a story onGawker: http://bit.ly/2kuECT.TechCrunch50 demopit company Expensify featured their innovativebusiness card in their piece on the event: http://bit.ly/phCRWhen I launched Mahalo.com at the D Conference two years ago, I putthe names of each speaker on the back of my card in a Mahalo URL. Thatlet people see examples of our topic pages/search results forthemselves. Not as innovative as the two things above, but not tooshabby.Frankly, I'm thinking about knocking off Forman's card one of these days.Here's some more memorable business card examples: http://bit.ly/zqXUyWhat can you accomplish with your business card?
13. Wear a professional made name tag.=============A custom name tag looks better than the ones the conference gives out.Check out this one for Apple employees: http://bit.ly/2UgyW2
14. Have appropriate signage=============This is fairly obvious, but if you don't have your name around andabove the crowd height, your booth may get passed by. Big photos ofgood looking people are also good since that will catch the eye.People stop to look at photos of other people.
15. Don't hire booth babes or strippers=============Unless you work in the modeling, strip club or porn business, don'thire models, strippers or porn stars to work your booth--it'sinsulting to women. Now, that doesn't mean the folks in your boothcan't be attractive and well manicured. It just means, have sometaste. At last year's conference, someone had a bunch of strippertypes in hot pants and absurdly tight t-shirts. It was totally cheap,cheesy and lame. It's 2009, people, really.
Some assorted smaller tips that don't need much explanation:
16. Ask the conference producers for a discounted "introductory rate."
17. Have a big dish of candy next to your computers.
18. Have three times the number of staff for your booth as you need at one time.
19. Have your staff circulate through the show giving out swag, candyor party invites (if allowed).
20. Dress your staff in the company color scheme and with thecompany's logo on their front and back.
21. Consider having a game of chance (spin the wheel, blackjack, etc)at your booth.
21. Hold a post-conference recap with your team to evaluate how you did.
22. Hold a post-conference recap with the conference producers andtell them your pros and cons.
If you're interested in this you might be interested in my previous posts:
How to Demo your Startup (part one)http://calacanis.com/2009/09/08/how-to-demo-your-startup-part-one/
How to Demo your Startup (part two)http://calacanis.com/2009/09/08/how-to-demo-your-startup-part-two/
How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)http://calacanis.com/2008/03/07/how-to-save-money-running-a-startup-17-really-good-tips/
What to do if your startup is about fail (or “Don’t Stop Believing”)http://calacanis.com/2009/02/27/what-to-do-if-your-startup-is-about-fail-or-dont-stop-believing/
PSSS - You can follow me on Twitter @jason (yes, I changed from@jasoncalacanis to just @jason).http://www.twitter.com/jasonPSSSS - You can follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jasoncalacanisPSSSSS - You can subscribe to This Week in Startups at the followingURLs for iTunes: http://bit.ly/BSGLu or you can watch it athttp://www.thisweekinstartups.com
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
New Incubator in Berkeley, CA
http://venturebeat.com/2009/07/15/berkeley-ventures-new-incubator-breaks-from-summer-program-model/
Berkeley Ventures’ new incubator breaks from summer program model
July 15, 2009 Camille Ricketts
Berkeley Ventures, a new Bay Area incubator for early-stage companies across tech sectors, has just launched with a unique offering: unlike Y Combinator or TechStars — incubators that run three-month programs — Berkeley will provide startups with ongoing support for up to two years.
In addition to providing $5,000 to $10,000 in seed money to some startups (in exchange for a 3 to 9 percent stake in each company), the Berkeley, Calif.-based firm will also house companies rent-free for three months, run mentorship programs, and offer discounted access to marketing, legal and technical advisers. Its members will also have the option of staying in the firm’s 8,400 square-foot space for discounted rent after the first three months until they are capable of relocating.
The incubator is emphasizing its 10-minute proximity from the UC Berkeley Campus and San Francisco as major advantages for prospective startups. It says it has connections at the university, as well as nearby Stanford to help its portfolio companies assemble strong, knowledgeable boards. It also hosts regular events where fledgling managers can meet each other and advisers, and of course investors. On specified Investor Days, startups have the chance to present to angels and venture capital groups.
Berkeley Ventures says it is looking for a diversity of startups for its flock, cutting across high tech, application development, cleantech, Web 2.0, finance, gaming, mobile and social networking.Companies from anywhere in the world can apply, but must be smaller that six employees to be eligible.
While it still reviewing applications for its first batch of startups, it has already recruited an impressive crop of advisers, including Jeff Braun, founder and CEO of Maxis before it was acquired by Electronic Arts, Anthony Patek, an attorney from Cooley Godward and Kronish, and Joel Serface of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, who works closely with the U.S. Department of Energy.
Berkeley Ventures’ new incubator breaks from summer program model
July 15, 2009 Camille Ricketts
Berkeley Ventures, a new Bay Area incubator for early-stage companies across tech sectors, has just launched with a unique offering: unlike Y Combinator or TechStars — incubators that run three-month programs — Berkeley will provide startups with ongoing support for up to two years.
In addition to providing $5,000 to $10,000 in seed money to some startups (in exchange for a 3 to 9 percent stake in each company), the Berkeley, Calif.-based firm will also house companies rent-free for three months, run mentorship programs, and offer discounted access to marketing, legal and technical advisers. Its members will also have the option of staying in the firm’s 8,400 square-foot space for discounted rent after the first three months until they are capable of relocating.
The incubator is emphasizing its 10-minute proximity from the UC Berkeley Campus and San Francisco as major advantages for prospective startups. It says it has connections at the university, as well as nearby Stanford to help its portfolio companies assemble strong, knowledgeable boards. It also hosts regular events where fledgling managers can meet each other and advisers, and of course investors. On specified Investor Days, startups have the chance to present to angels and venture capital groups.
Berkeley Ventures says it is looking for a diversity of startups for its flock, cutting across high tech, application development, cleantech, Web 2.0, finance, gaming, mobile and social networking.Companies from anywhere in the world can apply, but must be smaller that six employees to be eligible.
While it still reviewing applications for its first batch of startups, it has already recruited an impressive crop of advisers, including Jeff Braun, founder and CEO of Maxis before it was acquired by Electronic Arts, Anthony Patek, an attorney from Cooley Godward and Kronish, and Joel Serface of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, who works closely with the U.S. Department of Energy.
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