This class had a lot of content, some of which was geared more towards people starting a tech corporation than anything else but it tied in well with the previous marketing and creative planning classes.
Vision: Great businesses don’t start with a grand vision. They begin with “therefore, what?”: asking questions like “how could something be better?” or “What if there was this new type of product?” start a company with innovative ideas. Then as time goes on, products get more complicated, new ideas and technologies come up, new needs, later the products are revised, and an empire is built slowly out of a question about what could or should be. Companies start better when its about more than just making money, they are more likely to spend their money with a company with meaning that they feel a connection to. The lecturer recommends that mission statements do not work, but mantras do: a few words to explain the company and the “why” about the company’s purpose for existing. This isn’t just for the external world but also for employees to understand what their company is about to its core. Planning: Don’t worry about your prototype being exactly perfect, get it out into the market and see what the consumer response is, don’t just do market research and wait it out. Most entrepreneurs are too attached to their original design/product and hesitant to develop it and edit it later. Don’t spend months on end figuring out the market, use “the 24 hour business planning rule” – you have 24 hours to map out the plan, then you go talk to the consumer base.
Minimum Viable Product (ship, then test. Get it out there, then test, then improve)
If products are disliked, don’t waste all your time and energy trying to fix them. Focus on what consumers do like, and improve them.
What’s the planning process? “Weave a MATT: Milestones Assumptions Tasks and Tests”
Milestones: Critical priorities that have to be focused on: figure out the big milestones you need to survive! Product releases, what is the price point, raise capital, hiring a team. Assumptions: Layout your assumptions and gather realistic evidence and test the assumptions. You assume a lot about how your business will succeed, how consumers will respond, what works and what doesnt in your business model, how the product performs, how sales will work, the advertising budget, whats the international market, whatever. Tasks: Theres a lot of tasks needed to start a company. They need to be assigned to the right people. Taxes, renting the space, insurance, etc Tests: Test product, test employees, test market, test customers, continue to improve. Launching: People make decisions on emotion, not rationally. Buying is an emotional process. You need to have a story that reaches people, touches them. Your relationship with your customer is about how the products change people, “what makes your company loveable?” Find the middle ground between the statistics of your product and creating a sense of wonder, excitement, inspiration in your customer. When it comes to new technology, sectors, products, you have to plant seeds with a lot of different people across the market and then focus on who responds, and put your money and energy into those groups. Embrace small businesses or little known media people instead of waiting to be one in a long list of products or companies on a better known person or businesses’ website. Most people don’t learn from their mistakes until theyve reached failure, but instead you should try to understand how you could fail using a scenario (like, the new product was poorly received) and figure out what theoretically went wrong, and what the response should be. This could give new insight into the weaknesses in the company or launch or product, and get people to think proactively instead of idealistically. Lecturer refers to this as a “pre-mortem”.
Fundraising: “Is venture capital the right path for my company? Is my company venture fundable?” Venture capital is a unique form of funding with specific requirements: high-growth company, you have to be turning into into a very high-grossing company quickly. The best way to build a company is through revenues (ideally) Corporate partnerships, grants, personal money are alternatives to venture capital. If you have investors, your vision needs to align with theirs. You have to get the details right when you set up your company before getting funding. Have people know their roles. Protect your intellectual property and understand patent filings. Theres a difference between a visionary and a business-minded person, an investor is looking for someone business-minded. Hire a lawyer that understands business. Get your team together: you need to have a team that is “fundable”, you can’t just be an individual with an idea. Have a team with different perspectives and experience. Just like you need to emotionally connect with customers, you need to emotionally connect with investors as well. Its usually uncomfortable for entrepeanurs to ask for money and takes a very long time with a lot of meetings, so again you have to figure out if its right for you or your company.
Pitching to Investors: Set the stage by preparing, come to your meeting with all the supplies you can, look confident, have a one minute explanation of yourself and what your company does, not an entire life story! Lecturer says he looks for a 10/20/30 rule for a powerpoint: 10 slides, 20 minute presentation, 30 pt font. Keep it short and basic. Whats your business model, product plan, etc The large text is so that you don’t have a lot of text and you don’t read directly from the slides which is unprofessional and unfortunate, and so that everyone can read what your slide says! Take notes during your meeting then summarize it at the end to understand what happened in the meeting. Be quiet and listen, let the metting flow. Better yet give a great speech and have a working model and do it without a powerpoint!
Socializing: Build a social media platform for your company – free ad space. This is to promote. How do you post? Brief posts work best, find the best time of day to post, post fairly frequently. Have a good quality photo or video with each post to attract attention. Lecturer uses the example of NPR as a great media presence, that provides mostly great, interesting content and occasional promotional content.
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