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One of the benefits of being NWEN's Director is I get to host office hours every week. We've taken to calling these sessions Idea Therapy. There's a couch. I talk in a deep mesmerizing voice. There's a lot of crying. Actually, entrepreneurs visit me and we talk about issues germane to their startup. Ideation, validation, writing their business plan, pitching investors. A lot of the time I'm helping translate "tech speak" into the Queen's English. Office hours are great...maybe the best part...
see moreOne of the benefits of being NWEN's Director is I get to host office hours every week. We've taken to calling these sessions Idea Therapy. There's a couch. I talk in a deep mesmerizing voice. There's a lot of crying. Actually, entrepreneurs visit me and we talk about issues germane to their startup. Ideation, validation, writing their business plan, pitching investors. A lot of the time I'm helping translate "tech speak" into the Queen's English. Office hours are great...maybe the best part of my job.
But a few weeks ago I got stood up at office hours. No phone call, no warning. Nothing. There I was, all dressed up in my prom dress, a single tear rolling slowly down my face. Lucky for me I had four other prom dates that day. So I forgot all about it. Until today.
A funny thing happened today. I was writing to a list of people that had visited me over the last month or so at the office. I wanted to tell them about our Ideation eIQ that we're hosting this week. Entrepreneurs need to know how to come up with ideas and decipher the good from bad. We help do this because your family and friends are liars. An hour later this fella calls me up and says - hey, how do I get pulled off of your mailing list? I asked about the email content, it was the one I'd sent office hour attendees. One thing led to another, and then I discovered - quite loudly - that this was the office hour standup culprit!
As we chatted I agreed that I'd pull his name from our list. But I wanted to know why, and why had he pulled out of our meeting? What he told me next was both cause for laughter and concern. He told me that he was at another startup meetup and someone told him to be wary of NWEN because we're "a Ponzi scheme." Did this guy really think we were a Ponzi scheme? Really? Whatever he thought, it was bad enough to run like hell the other way when I sent him an email about Ideation.
So we talked. I explained that the Northwest Entrepreneur Network is decidedly NOT a Ponzi scheme. NWEN is a non-profit whose sole existence, whose very reason for being, is the proliferation of startups. We exist to help them succeed. We teach them everything they need to know and introduce them to everyone they need to know to make their first startup feel like their second. And when they come back for a second or third startup we help them reengage with the community all over again. NWEN helps startups succeed. Period.
In pragmatic terms we help startups through the process of ideation, business model validation, research and writing business plans and pitching investors. We do this for those who are launching companies. Then we help those running companies build their tech stacks, manage products, manage relationships with vendors, figure out their cap tables, price their stuff...and on and on. And we charge $99 per year for membership and small fees for every Breakfast Buzz, Pub Night, eIQ, Workshop, etc. Even Entrepreneur University is a mighty deal. I spent $60K on business school. You can learn what you need to about entrepreneurship for less than $400 total. It's one of the best values for startups anywhere. AND, if you get someone else to sign up you get a small percentage of what THEY spend on classes! Just kidding. We don't really do that... that's a pyramid scheme.
PS - I convinced my new friend that we are NOT a Ponzi scheme. He scheduled himself another hour of Idea Therapy. I'm so going to make him cry! -
see moreDavid Isett and Richard Wood energetically and entertainingly described the process of raising capital through an investment banker. David is the CEO of Concordia Coffee Systems. Richard is a co-founder of First Hill Partners, a middle market investment bank. Based on their experience in working together to raise about 10 million dollars for Concordia, they offered general guidance to those interested in using an investment banker to raise capital.
Concordia Coffee manufactures coffee makers that make café quality beverages at the touch of a button. These machines can make over 1,000 drink combinations. The emphasis is on quality. If you drink one of these beverages and come away saying, “it’s pretty good for a machine,” David sees that as failure. The goal is a high quality coffee drink, period.
Why did Concordia raise equity? The world-wide market for this kind of coffee machine is booming. Coffee is the most consumed beverage other than water. Fifty percent of coffee beverages are sold to go. Concordia’s machines are the anti-barista, in that they produce high quality beverages instantly, as opposed to the 2 to 3 minutes that it takes a barista to produce a beverage. The company knew that it had stellar growth ahead and wanted to realize that growth.
Why did Concordia chose to raise capital through an investment banker? David has raised capital many times in the past. This is the first time he has used an investment banker and now he says he will never raise capital any other way again. Seattle is not a good market for a manufacturing company, such as Concordia, to raise capital. The focus in Seattle is on technology – everyone wants the next Google. Concordia needed somebody that represented the company, not the various needs of the investors
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David’s criteria for choosing an investment banker:
1. Can they get you the money?
2. Want a licensed securities broker/dealer.
3. Experience in your space and size.
4. Wanted principals, no juniors.
5. Hunger – want banker hungry for success.
6. Chemistry – have to be able to get along with the banker.
7. Fees – it costs a lot of money, but it’s worth every penny.
First Hill Partners is a regionally focused, middle market investment bank. This is First Hill Partners’ second year in business. The partners wanted to work in the community and with entrepreneurs. They don’t have any juniors. They believe in long term relationships. They want to build equal access to funding for growth companies. They can help an organization by telling it what things will build value in the organization. Richard and his partner believe in a hands on approach and can only do so many deals a year as a result. First Hill offers merger and acquisition, capital raising and advisory board services.
Richard outlined the capital raising process:
1. Get Ready. 2 to 4 weeks.
2. Talk to Investors. 5 to 7 weeks.
3. Closing. 4 to 8 weeks.
The deal is not done after the first meeting. It’s important to stay top of mind and to get requested information to potential investors quickly. Momentum is important. The process includes talking to many investors and being willing to look outside of the community. It’s also important to think about the fit with the investors. Are the investors going to stay involved long term? The objectives of the investor and the company must match. Don’t take the money without understanding the investors’ goals.
According to Richard, closing is your enemy. The company seeking the funding wants this part of the process to be as short as possible. The potential investor wants this process to be as long as possible and will drag out due diligence. The company really needs to push this and not let the potential investor drag it out.
The company seeking funding really needs to understand the process between signing the term sheet and closing. The company must understand precisely what events need to occur to close the deal.
The company also must understand the implications of the security that the investor is taking. This can be a huge deal and result in the founders not getting much at the exit, while the investors do well on their investment. Richard emphasized that getting a clean deal is more important than the valuation.
David said that the single most important thing for him in this process was to be honest about what he didn’t know.
The Top 10 Lessons offered by David and Richard:
1. Pick the right banker/ pick the right client.
2. Be prepared, really prepared. Do this, no matter how painful it is. Do not let potential investors find anything on due diligence. Grill the investor team and practice. Hard core coaching is a must. David said that it’s not fun, but going through this process made the company a better company. Do not let 8 hours go by without answering a question from a potential investor. One hour is preferable. Time is your enemy in this process.
3. Allow enough time. Don’t start raising money when you don’t have any. Start raising money before you need it. A company does not have any bargaining power when it needs the money to meet payroll in two weeks.
4. Get enough money the first time.
5. It’s all about having options and choices in the end.
6. Allow no surprises if at all possible. (Don’t miss your numbers!)
7. Fund raising is a team sport: banker, company, current investors, lawyer, auditors. The prospective investor will talk to all of these people. The current investors must support raising more capital – after all, their shares will be diluted. The current investors might need to make an additional investment in the company before outside investors will agree to invest.
8. Shut up! More information is not always helpful.
9. Let your bankers do their job. They are better at this than you are and you must trust them.
10. Don’t let the business go to hell while you are out raising money. Raising money takes about 80% of the CEO’s time, over a 4 to 6 month period. It is essential to keep the company from losing ground during this time.
Thanks to David and Richard for their informative and entertaining presentation!
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NWEN's Spring First Look Forum or FLF is just around the corner. I'm going to hear 12 startup teams that have been preparing for months with investor/serial entrepreneur coaches pitch their hearts out for the...
see moreNWEN's Spring First Look Forum or FLF is just around the corner. I'm going to hear 12 startup teams that have been preparing for months with investor/serial entrepreneur coaches pitch their hearts out for the VERY FIRST TIME in front of a massive crowd of angel and venture capital investors. I'm excited to go because I like hanging around very successful startup junkies and investors. It makes for a great atmosphere. And these teams that may be doing their first startups add to the excitement in the air.
When:
It's on 4/24/12 from 3:30 - 5:30 At the Arctic Club Hotel in downtown Seattle.
Details:
This is an invite only event for investors. THEY should come because their colleagues and trusted advisors have been preparing the 12 finalist teams and the ideas/pitches being shared are going to be brand new. Deal flow - brand new deals - and they'll be pretty good because great coaches have been prepping the teams for months. If an accredited investor wants to come check out the fun they should write NWEN's staff and RSVP.
This years competition:
There are always some great companies that announce themselves to the world at the First Look Forum. Gaming, SaaS, app development, and even fresh hot pies will be represented in this FLF. There are up and coming entrepreneurs as well as a bevy of gnarled and experienced startup junkies that are back in the saddle again. And the investor attendees will get a chance to see it all first.
What to expect:
I expect to learn a lot about the aforementioned markets - their size, competitors there, what's broken and how these teams plan to fix them. I also look forward to hearing the celebrity VC judges ask their pointed questions and imagine that is me with another company in the future.
Want to attend this FLF:
Email info@nwen.org to RSVP. Remember, you MUST be an accredited investor to attend at this point. Otherwise, check out NWEN.org or our weekly email to find out when the next FLF round opens up (late May).
There are a lot of competitions out there these days asking for investors to come and hear pitches. NWEN's First Look Forum has been around for a while and has a reputation of preparing the competitors. So the pitches heard are great...and brand new...no one else has heard them yet.
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A business plan, an elevator pitch, a pitch deck — the number of different things you have to have to successfully pitch your company is amazing. Now add in the one pager. Whether you call it that or an executive summary or a company overview, it’s an essential part of the whole story. Like the one-page resume, you want a single, concise one-page document that you can hand to potential investors and business partners. There are lots of advantages to having it be a single page, but I’m only going to...
A business plan, an elevator pitch, a pitch deck — the number of different things you have to have to successfully pitch your company is amazing. Now add in the one pager. Whether you call it that or an executive summary or a company overview, it’s an essential part of the whole story. Like the one-page resume, you want a single, concise one-page document that you can hand to potential investors and business partners. There are lots of advantages to having it be a single page, but I’m only going to mention the most important one — investors expect it.
To create my one pager, I started with my five-page business plan. I went through and highlighted all the most important stuff, then consolidated that in a new document which ended up about two pages long. Then I started looking for things to trim. I was pretty close to finished when I decided that I should make sure what I was doing was consistent with what I needed to submit to another competition, the Willamette Angel Conference (although I’ll be at a disadvantage because Groupthink isn’t an Oregon company, I figure the extra connections will be worth it). It was at that point that I realized I’d made a mistake. The Willamette Angel Conference uses Angelsoft, and the whole way it works is different — your one pager gets created by filling in a form on the site. Here are the items you’re asked for:
- One line pitch
- Summarize your business
- What specifically makes your management team most qualified to build this business?
- Define customer problem
- Describe the solution you sell
- Define your market
- List your current or potential customers
- Sales and marketing strategy
- Describe your business model
- Describe the competitive landscape and list your competitors
- Define your competitive advantage and list barriers to entry
Each of these items also has a longer explanation you see as you’re filling out the form. For example, the explanation for “Define customer problem” reads: Investors fund pain killers, not vitamin pills. What critical customer need does your company address? If you are a web company, you may need to make a hard decision here on whether to talk about your audience or the people who will ultimately pay you (like your advertisers). You only get 210 characters to answer that one. When you’re done, Angelsoft turns your information into a one page summary that looks like this sample:
At first, I was thrown for a loop, but then I realized that this was a much better way to do it. After all, investors looking at your one pager have a bunch of questions in their head that the’ll use to decide if they want to read anymore. If you don’t answer those questions, it’s over. So the number one task really should be to make sure you answer those questions!
In the process of answering the questions, I managed to get in every one of my key points and pretty much nothing extraneous, but the document wasn’t exactly what I wanted to best represent the company. For Angelsoft applications, I have to take what I get, but that’s not true for NWEN or other investors. So, after I finished up the Angelsoft process, I took all the information and created a new document that I could edit. Then I made a few changes:
- Combined the one line pitch, business summary, and customer problem into a new opening section which read better than the three individual sections.
- Combined target market and customers sections.
- Combined competitors and competitive advantage sections.
- Added a little bit of additional detail in a few places where I’d been constrained by Angelsoft’s character limits.
- Added a (small) illustration to help explain the product.
In each of the cases, I made the change to improve readability or punch. But, overall, it’s a lot like the one pager from Angelsoft.
(Re-posted from March 2009)
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This is reposted information sent to us from our partners at the Washington Interactive Network:
Seattle, WA – Jobs and revenue are still growing in the Seattle area’s Interactive Media industry announced Friday during the Washington Interactive Network’s 5th Annual Power of Play. There are more than 350 firms in the region, up from 150 in 2007 making it an annual growth rate of 18% in the last five years. Revenues from regional games companies estimated at $9.7 billion in 2010, up from $4.1 billion in 2006, a 25% compounded annual growth.
These numbers are early results from a new Economic Impact Study and Cluster Analysis with the full report to be released in April. The study is being conducted by Community Attributes Inc. in Seattle, the same company that led the 2007 study. The study is funded by enterpriseSeattle and a grant provided by the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge.
The annual growth rate over the last five years in local industry jobs is estimated between 4 and 4.5% reaching a total of 16,500 to 17,500 interactive media employees in the Seattle area. “Tracking the jobs and dollars for the interactive media industry is quite challenging”, said Kristina Hudson, Executive Director of the Washington Interactive Network. “Many groups around the world attempt to give accurate numbers of this industry, but almost always they are using mailing lists, multipliers, and formulas to try and calculate the number of companies and employees in a region. We are the only group that I know of who actually tracks company-by-company to give the most accurate representation of employment as possible.”
An industry competitiveness study by was conducted in 2010 and it may shed some light as to the reason why the Seattle region is seeing this kind of growth. The study found that three cities rank in the top tier of the world’s leading regions in Interactive Media: Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. Of these top tier regions, this study finds the Seattle area the most competitive in the United States and the world for growth in the Interactive Media sector. These findings are based on industry-selected indicators of competitiveness: Number of firms, Computer and engineering talent, Multimedia and animation talent, Educational institutions, Cost of living, and Cost of business.
"These numbers will come as a breath of fresh air in a time of a struggling economy," said Jeff Marcell, President and CEO of enterpriseSeattle. "We are proud to have this growing industry in our region and we are committed to doing everything we can to maintaining the growth."
- Kelly Kerr likes this.
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We recently posted a blog discussing Kickstarter and using it (or other crowdfunding methods) as a means to raise startup capital. We featured an NWEN startup called Green Simian who was smack dab in the middle of trying to raise $100,000. The end result was that they were unable to reach that amount which on Kickstarter which means they wouldn't get any of their dough.
Not to be deterred (very entrepreneur-esque) they reloaded their campaign with a lower capital request. This time, Greem Simian got their money. We asked them what they liked about the process and what they learned from it. Here's what they have to say:What I (Green Simian) really love about crowdfunding is as follows:
1. Benefit # 1: No VC/Angel ties. As strategic as it may be, funding for equity is time consuming and diluting. With crowdfunding i get a shortcut to the consumer, real market conditions and just enough capital to build and deliver product.
2. Benefit # 2: Tap into peer feedback. Capital aside, peer feedback has been hugely valuable. We eliminated at least 3 significant design errors that we never saw, but the 300+ backer feedback unraveled. So you see, the "brainfunding" is just as important as the crowdfunding aspect of this experiment.
3. Learning # 1: Get into crowdfunding when you are in beta, not earlier. Its one step behind retail, funders want to see the real product you are working on, less so Photoshop rendering.
4. Learning # 2: Press. Get your friends in the media lined up to write about you and spark a viral uptake.
5. Learning # 3: Video and Rewards. Find the hipster within and build an amazing video. Build creative rewards too. I can tell you that I have a lot to learn on this front.
If you need more proof that this works, look at these two projects, it will blow your mind:
1. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hop/elevation-dock-the-best-dock-for-iphone?ref=live
2. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure?ref=live
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Jonathan Roberts of Ignition Partners spoke at the February Breakfast Buzz about the things that he has learned through his extensive marketing and business experience. He held a number of high profile marketing and business development positions at Microsoft before becoming a founding partner at Ignition Partners. His presentation included some of the fundamentals he teaches to engineering and business students at the University of Washington.
Roberts joked that he synthesized everything he has learned during his career. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it only takes 2 pages. He emphasized that as you grow in business, you learn a set of skills that you apply over and over again. You need to take ownership of those skills. He believes his skills include a faculty for strategic planning and go to market.
Four Paradigms/Frameworks. He encouraged the audience to learn these key paradigms and apply them over and over again.
1. Tell the story. Why did you start this company? What are the key insights you had? Marketing is about amplifying your story.
2. The A, B, C’s of business planning. A, then B, then C, D follows. A is the situation, the objective facts about the market. B is the critical issues. C is your objective. D is the tactics that follow, given A, B and C. Out of habit, people will talk about only the Bs and Ds. You have to be clear on A,B and C, then you will know what D should be.
3. The 2X2 of establishing your position in the market. This is the market on vertical and horizontal axes. How does this market function? It is what is true about the market, not what you want to be true. You have to be honest about the market. Finding the axes is very important and takes time.
4. The X, Y, Zs of product positioning. X, that does Y, for Z. This is how Roberts phrased it in answer to a follow-up question:
Complete the X, Y, and Z positioning exercise. X, that does Y, for Z. This really narrows in what your company is about and who it is delighting. The litmus test for a positioning is to see if it clearly repositions your competition. All too often companies will say the same thing. We do great stuff that makes money and is for everybody. The most common mistake is what I call, a lazy Z. In other words, not being super clear on the person you delight. You can have value propositions for other constituents but you have to delight somebody.
Roberts also made these points: 1) After you find out who you delight, you need to know what your propositions are for everyone else; and 2) It is very hard to change who you delight.
The 3 steps to thought leadership are figuring out how to win, owning the future and figuring out a way to get between the two points.
Own the future by aligning to key trends that are bigger than your single company. For example, some key trends right now are the consumerization of IT, empowerment of decision makers and the lack of technical lock-in.
Roberts stated that entrepreneurs are too evangelical. If it’s a “nice to have,” it’s not budgeted. Entrepreneurs need to sell to a “need to have.” He stated that an entrepreneur must work with what a customer business has. Don’t rip and replace.
5 Principles to Adopt
1. Slavishly and constantly engage with your customers. Seek first to understand. Roberts described an anecdote about AOL. He said that when AOL started out, it allowed people to build communities, that it had the beginnings of Facebook. Then AOL stopped listening to its customers and lost what it had.
2. Own the process. You can’t outsource to consultants and you can’t let consultants drive the process. He said that if he is helping your business, he expects you as the business owner to be at every meeting he attends on behalf of your business. Otherwise he will not participate.
3. Collaborate. Humans are a social species. Get informed outsiders involved to get around the forest for the trees problem. Bring in new ideas. Free associating with other people is how people work. People don’t work well stuck in a cubicle.
4. Iterate. Show some intellectual humility. Intellectual humility means that the CEO should figure out what she does not know and ask questions of others. Be willing to change. Don’t get stuck on an onerous 3 year plan. Don’t overthink the process so much that you don’t do it.
5. See it through. Begin with the End in mind and get there! Entrepreneurs are in crisis mode all of the time. If it’s not urgent, they don’t do it. Planning is not urgent, so it doesn’t get done.
Roberts compared business planning to sailing – you set a bearing, but then you have to tack. How often do you tack?
Roberts emphasized that when you are working with a company, find intelligent life and listen to it. If it’s not in the room, walk down the hall and seek it out.
Thank you to Jonathan Roberts for his fast-paced, informative presentation!
- Daniel Rossi and Caitlin Goetze like this.
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Daniel Rossi Tonya came to play...and listen hard at last week's BB! Well done Tonya!3 months ago
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This Friday morning I'll be attending the NWEN Breakfast Buzz, where Jonathan Roberts, one of the Pacific Northwest's top venture capitalists, will be speaking. The event is from 7:30-9:30 AM, at beautiful Bellevue City Hall.Roberts will be talking about his approach for...see moreThis Friday morning I'll be attending the NWEN Breakfast Buzz, where Jonathan Roberts, one of the Pacific Northwest's top venture capitalists, will be speaking. The event is from 7:30-9:30 AM, at beautiful Bellevue City Hall.Roberts will be talking about his approach for taking a product or company to market, as well as ongoing strategic planning. There's nothing quite like getting tips on success from a pro whose tips are based on first-hand knowledge and experience.This isn't theory or opinion. Jonathan Roberts has worked with over 20 companies at Ignition Partners. He's seen success and failure. And he knows how to succeed. He's coming to tell you how plan strategically and how to take a product to market properly. He's even sending attendees home with a top-ten list of to-dos.Anybody interested in start up success should come to this Breakfast Buzz. It's not often that we get a chance to listen to someone like Jonathan. This is a great opportunity.As always, I'm expecting to meet several new start up faces. As an added bonus, Jamie Rosen of Pathways2Passion (the winner of our Pub Night Speed Pitch Off) will share her start up plans with us. You can join us by buying tickets on our NEW website www.nwen.org. Or click here to go directly to the event page: http://www.nwen.org/events/breakfast-buzz-all-about-scaleable-businessIf you're an entrepreneur that is serious about the success of your start up - this is the kind of opportunity to learn that you don't let pass you by. So get up early bird, and catch the worm this Friday.
- Caitlin Goetze likes this.
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Caitlin Goetze Courtesy of Jonathan Roberts, we'll be passing out a handout on the 'Ten Steps to Launching an Early Stage Company' AND a handout on 'Business Planning Framework'. This is going to be an... see moreCourtesy of Jonathan Roberts, we'll be passing out a handout on the 'Ten Steps to Launching an Early Stage Company' AND a handout on 'Business Planning Framework'. This is going to be an informative breakfast. Let's see you there tomorrow morning, Entrepreneurs!3 months ago
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(This is a re-post of a blog written by Russ Weed about GridMobility - a finalist from last October's First Look Forum)
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Very early in the morning on November 17, 2011, long before the sun came up, the president of smart grid company GridMobility and I drove from San Jose to SFO for a first flight back to Seattle. The prior two days, the CleanTech Open had held its national business competition....(This is a re-post of a blog written by Russ Weed about GridMobility - a finalist from last October's First Look Forum)
Very early in the morning on November 17, 2011, long before the sun came up, the president of smart grid company GridMobility and I drove from San Jose to SFO for a first flight back to Seattle. The prior two days, the CleanTech Open had held its national business competition.
The vehicle was thick with disappointment, because after advancing from nearly 300 entries to be among 120 regional semifinalists and then further advancing to be one of the 21 national finalists, GridMobility had won the Smart Grid category (and therefore in the top 5 nationally) but not the entire competition.
There were good reasons to be disappointed. The top prize was $250,000, which would have been handy for a start-up that has bootstrapped for over two years. (But last year had not indecent revenues from projects and pilots.) Without that funding, the entrepreneur would now take on some engineering consulting work. There was a feeling the presentation could have gone better. Subjectively, I agreed, but easy for me to say as I mentored and collaborated off-stage with the GridMobility team, including president Jim Holbery, VP operations Fred Barrett, and fellow mentors Dave Watts and Denis DuBois. Objectively, it was not helpful that in the midst of the filled ballroom, the order of the five final presentations was changed on the fly so GridMobility went first, the microphone then malfunctioned, the “times almost up” warning rang out several times halfway through the allotted time, and there was a judge on the some 20 person panel who at the onset of Q & A immediately took a distinctly partisan approach that resulted in the panel moderator shutting the judge down (that was not the end of the story, but it is for here).
But so go business competitions.
There were also good reasons NOT to be disappointed. Winning the Smart Grid category at the national level of the CleanTech Open rightfully caught the attention of the Washington cleantech community. (For another link, go to here). GridMobility is now gaining broader exposure and been identified as among the 12 Smart Grid startups to watch in 2012.
At the investment level, energy storage/smart grid was the top cleantech sector in Q3 2011 with the largest amount of capital invested, while energy efficiency was the most active sector in terms of number of deals. Large companies continue to show they will fill their product and service pipeline through acquisitions, such as Siemens’ acquisition of meter data management software company eMeter in December, and they will build vast global channels to market, such as the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition formed by IBM.
The smart integration of renewable energy into the grid is the subject of global attention from industry and government (see also here), and the move of Smart Grid services to the cloud is underway in earnest.
None of this is to say looking on the bright side was helpful during that very early morning drive, the air thick with disappointment. It most certainly was not. But after a time, the size and intensity of the opportunity shines through and dissipates the disappointment . . . until the next one arises and must be vanquished. -
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Kirby Winfield described deal breaking differences in business approaches between the East Coast and West Coast at the NWEN January Breakfast Buzz. Kirby is the President and CEO of AdXpose. AdXpose offers analytics for the digital display advertising market. Kirby’s experience is in the digital media space and his comments focused on that space.
Kirby was born and raised in Seattle, but both of his parents are from New York. While growing up, he often spent vacation time in New York. He went to college at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, with the idea of working in the advertising industry in New York City. He did work in New York City right after college, but returned to Seattle in time to participate in the shift from old school advertising to digital media. Kirby currently spends 80 to 100 days a year in New York on business.
One theme Kirby kept coming back to in describing the differences between the coasts is that people in New York are extremely busy. They work 80 hours a week and are underpaid. They have a sense of urgency and act and feel like they have less time.
Some of the implications of that are:
1. When pitching to someone in New York, you need to make the ask and talk about the next steps in the first meeting. People on the West Coast tend to have a series of meetings before making the ask. Don’t make the ask if you are in London, though. It’s considered rude there.
2. Expect to spend ½ hour in someone’s office in New York. Here, a person making a pitch typically spends about an hour in someone’s office.
3. People on the East Coast deal with information overload by compressing it, approaching situations with a “let’s get it done” attitude. Here, people break information up into chucks and stretch out the process.
4. People in New York don’t want to meet for coffee. They expect a nice lunch or dinner.
5. People in New York are more open to creating friendships with people they are doing business with, often making a night of it. Here, people establish a work/life balance and are more reluctant to let business relationships overflow into their personal time.
Kirby thinks that Seattle has a unique attitude of “we have great technology, we know what we are doing, New York is the past, we are the future.” This attitude is a problem in the digital media space and Kirby has seen some people fail because of this attitude. In a broad sense, it is true that Seattle has the technology and New York has the money. For example, 80% of online advertising budgets are spent in New York. In addition, the spending that occurs on Wall Street and Madison Avenue is unequaled on the West Coast. Hollywood is the closest West Coast comparison.
In terms of written communications, people on the East Coast are more likely to resolve issues over the phone. Here, people use email for problem solving.
For business to business companies, if you want 45% or more of your company’s revenue to come from East Coast business, you have to make a commitment to be there 10 days a month. Hiring resellers doesn’t work, as nobody is as incentivized as you are to make your business succeed.
In his own company, Kirby has separate account people for the East and West coasts. He has his senior account people go to New York to call on accounts every 6 months. He wants his senior account people to see what life is like for the people they do business with on the East Coast. He wants account people who will become fans of the East Coast.
The approach to technology is one of the differences between startups on the East Coast and West Coast. On the East Coast, it’s very difficult to find enough talented developers. New Yorkers focus on the business result that they want, then figure out the technology. Here, startups focus on building great technology, then figure out an application.
People on the West Coast can miss opportunities by not working on Market time. You need to get what you are working on to your East Coast contacts by the start of their working day.
Kirby thinks Silicon Valley more often stereotypes people in Seattle as being lazy than New Yorkers do. He has been questioned by people in Silicon Valley about how difficult it is to get Seattle area developers to work a 16 hour day. He sees it as a difference in values. Here, the expectation is that the developers will come in at around 10:00 am and work until whenever. He does not recommend trying to change that by requiring the developers to come in earlier.
Kirby ended his presentation by observing that you can’t be good at everything, so focus the areas that you are good at and want to do, then get out of your own way and find someone who wants to do the other things.
Many thanks to Kirby for sharing his experience and providing Breakfast Buzz attendees with some valuable insights.
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Are you at an inflection point in your business and need help taking it to the next level? Are you an innovative, growth-oriented startup and could benefit from expert coaching and exposure to an investor audience? Look no further than NWEN’s signature coaching program and investment showcase: First Look Forum!
NWEN is the region’s home for innovative businesses in every growth sector in our...
see moreAre you at an inflection point in your business and need help taking it to the next level? Are you an innovative, growth-oriented startup and could benefit from expert coaching and exposure to an investor audience? Look no further than NWEN’s signature coaching program and investment showcase: First Look Forum!
NWEN is the region’s home for innovative businesses in every growth sector in our economy, from web 2.0 to medical technology, clean tech to consumer products. By applying to NWEN’s First Look Forum you will have the chance to access the breadth and depth of coaches, advisors, investors and more—all dedicating their time and talents to help your business reach the next level of success.
It’s that time of year again! The spring 2012 NWEN First Look Forum will be held Tuesday, April 24, at the Arctic Club in Seattle. Our web site has all the details, including the dates (early bird application deadline of February 6 and the final deadline is February 27) and the all-important link to the application — a one-page executive summary. Early-bird applicants get an extra round of feedback from the committee, invitations to a reception on February 8, and are invited to a reception on February 8. So now’s a great time to get started!
For last spring’s FLF, I wrote a blog series called The Agile One-Pager, describing an iterative approach to writing the executive summary, and going from a brand new idea to a decent executive summary. Of course, there are many other approaches; but many participants told me that the ideas were helpful to them. So here are links to the first four parts, along with the key takeaways.
- There are a lot of good reasons to write a one-page executive summary.
- The agile approach involves multiple iterations: make progress, get feedback, repeat.
- Rebecca Lovell’s The Art of the One-Page App and Garage Technology Ventures’ Writing a compelling executive summary are great resources.
- When you start, you’re likely to be blocked on some of the sections. Don’t panic! Put down something basic, or just leave them blank, and move on.
- Don’t be afraid to write down something aspirational or funny. you can always go back and edit it later.
- Start by getting quick feedback on individual sections even before you’ve got a draft of the whole document
- Spend a few moments preparing before any discussion with a potential advisor, even if it’s just chatting online
- Avoid “terms of art”, or define them if you use them
- Try to end your conversations with advisors by making sure you’ve got their key feedback, and asking them if you can send them another revision
- Advisor time is a scarce resource, so make good use of it. Let them know where you want help: which questions are open, what sections you want to concentrate on.
- Think about your goals and a rough agenda for each meeting to make sure you use your time well. Try to give people enough time to read the document before the meeting.
- Be yourself, tell a story, and try to write the way you speak. Try verbally explaining why your idea is so great and ask what resonates, then incorporate that language into your one-pager.
- Include a logo - it’ll help make your application more attractive and memorable. If you don’t have one yet, mock something up using whatever tool you’re comfortable with.
- Get feedback from a lot of people — they’ll see different things
- You can get great feedback even if people don’t read the document
- Iterate repeatedly. Incremental progress adds up.
- A picture is worth 1000 words
ver the next few months, we’ll have more blog posts on different aspects of the process, and will try to arrange a Twitter chat and Google+ hangout . Once again, I’ll approach it from a entrepreneur’s perspective, as if I were participating. If there are any topics you’d like to see covered, please leave a comment here or email them to me at jon {at} qweries {dot} net.
Stay tuned for more!
Jon Pincus is founder of Seattle-area startup Qweries, and co-chaired First Look Forum in Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. -
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There are a lot of ways to fund a startup. Use savings or credit cards to bootstrap. Get a bank loan. Get angel or VC money. Green Simian is using Kickstarter to raise funds with mini donations (through way of trading t-shirts, their SolMate phone charger). This is how many other people are funding their pet projects. Green Simian is doing it for something akin...
There are a lot of ways to fund a startup. Use savings or credit cards to bootstrap. Get a bank loan. Get angel or VC money. Green Simian is using Kickstarter to raise funds with mini donations (through way of trading t-shirts, their SolMate phone charger). This is how many other people are funding their pet projects. Green Simian is doing it for something akin to seed money. At first I thought the idea cheeky but it’s growing on me.
We found Kickstarter when Green Simian sent us an email with a link asking us to check it out. Green Simian did a nice job of designing their landing page. And as you’ll see on the page, Kickstarter shows the reader just how many backers have made donations, how much has been raised, and how many fundraising days are left.
Kickstarter is perfect for people looking to raise a couple of thousand dollars for a creative project. I would refer this to people who might use it for a pet project. Green Simian is looking to raise $100K. If that amount isn’t raised in total by the deadline then they don’t get ANY of the money. So I’ll be interested to see how this plays out before considering suggesting it to a startup.
So the question for debate - Is this a valid way to raise startup cash? The conclusion is yet to be determined. We’ll have to check back in 40 days or so. This is certainly creative and scrappy. That in and of itself is laudable. I look forward to watching this unfold.
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NWEN’s Entrepreneur University is on Tuesday … cool! As always, the sessions look interesting — keynotes from Lee Rhodes of glassybaby, David Roberts of PopCap Games and Dan Shapiro of SparkBuy, and a lot of great breakups. There’s the VC Bistro, where you can get a few mintues with a VC; and It ends with EU Idol and a cocktail reception.
The jam-packed agenda gives great value for its price but there’s no question it’s...
see moreNWEN’s Entrepreneur University is on Tuesday … cool! As always, the sessions look interesting — keynotes from Lee Rhodes of glassybaby, David Roberts of PopCap Games and Dan Shapiro of SparkBuy, and a lot of great breakups. There’s the VC Bistro, where you can get a few mintues with a VC; and It ends with EU Idol and a cocktail reception.
The jam-packed agenda gives great value for its price but there’s no question it’s a big time investment. So a few days before the big day, here’s some thoughts on how to make good use of the time.
Everybody’s goals are different; so a good place to start is by thinking about what’s important for you. For me in the last two months of 2012, the top priorities are to assess and improve the likelihood of finding funding for my startup qweries, meeting potential cofounders (especially with a design background!) and/or other startups working in this space to partner with, warm up connections with local media and venture and angel investors, and finish and market an ebook. If I play my cards right EU can help with any and all of these.
Your priorities might be different: work on specific skills; find startups you might be interested in joining; recruit; or just get an overview of the Seattle area startup scene. The best ways you’ll want to spend your time at EU and preparing for it depend a lot on your goals so it’s worth investing some energy up front thinking about what you want out of the day.
Once I’ve done that, I make a short list of people who it will be useful for me to talk to. Some people like to use Linked In or a “contact management system” to organize this process; I’ve always been much more ad-hoc. I tweet them or send them mail or give them a call in advance, and let them know I’d like to meet with them if they’re there. It can be pretty chaotic so there are never any guarantees, but if we both know you’re looking for each other it’s a lot more likely to happen.
And finally I decide what kind of collateral I want — with me and available online. Business cards, of course, and an updated version of my executive summary. [Note to self: update executive summary!] Does my web site need updating? Do I have any needed bookmarks and demos ready? My pitch is probably a little rusty too, so I’ll spend a bit of time getting it back up to speed. That way I’m ready for whatever discussions start to happen.
It takes a little time to do this (I spent a couple hours on the prioritization and emails to my short list, and will spend a few more over the weekend tidying up the executive summary and the updating the website)but in my experience it’s well worth it.
See you at EU! Once I update my web site that is …
jon
Jon Pincus is a Seattle-area strategist, writer, and activist. As a volunteer, he co-chaired the NWEN First Look Forum with Rochelle Whelan in Fall 2010 and Spring 2011.
Tags: entrepreneur university, EU, nwen
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August 31st, 2011see more August 31st, 2011
(From our press release)
SEATTLE, Wash.
(From our press release)
SEATTLE, Wash. — A non-profit regional leader for the startup community will have a revised cast of leaders at its helm as of September 1. The Northwest Entrepreneur Network, or NWEN, recently announced the appointment of several new members to its board of directors, as well as the election of officers for the coming year.
“This board of directors brings together some of the region’s best strategic minds, innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Daniel Rossi, executive director of NWEN. “We are very excited to have such a wealth of information and expertise on hand to help further our members and the organization as a whole.”
The 2011-2012 board will consist of a wide variety of industry-leaders from the local business community. New members include:
· Technology innovator Doug Brown, president and CEO of All Star Directories and co-founder of the Education Marketing Council.
· Tech-sector finance aficionado Chris Dishman, the founder of Denali Financial Consulting.
· Venture capitalist and investment guru Jan Hendrickson, the managing partner and co-founder of Denny Hill Capital.
· Former NWEN executive director Rebecca Lovell, who currently sits as chief business officer of GeekWire.com.
· International business expert Mayumi Nakamura, the president and CEO of Pacific Software Publishing.
· Fiduciary strategist Pamela Rhodes, a private client advisor at U.S. Trust.
In addition, the board will also welcome a new chairman — Marc Williams, president and owner of Williams Helde Marketing Communications, the oldest independent advertising agency in the Northwest. “NWEN is really the only organization in the region that has a focus on entrepreneurial education” said Williams. “It is quite an honor to be named as chairman, and surrounded by so many brilliant ideas”
In addition, the board greets newly appointed vice chair Scott Benner, principal at FT Kutscher and chair of NWEN’s Think Tank committee. Outgoing chair Shannon Swift, will stay on as past chair. Current Treasurer Doug Thorn of Moss Adams and Secretary Joe Whitford of Davis Wright Tremaine will retain their respective offices for the coming year.
ABOUT NWEN:
The Northwest Entrepreneur Network, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed through inspiration, education and connections. With 800 members and 70+ events annually, NWEN is the hub of the Northwest startup scene. Our activities and programs are focused on building the entrepreneurial and venture community in the region and enabling entrepreneurs to access resources and funding to accelerate their business growth.
Visit www.nwen.org to learn more.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Caitlin Goetze,
Assistant Director NWEN
206-420-0226
cgoetze@nwen.com