Guy Kawasaki: Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe

Over the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches
, Word business plans
, and Excel financial models
. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account
. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.
I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe.

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Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs

1. “Our projections are conservative.”
   
2. “Jupiter says our market will be $50 billion in ten years.”
   
3. “Several Fortune 500 companies are set to do business with us.”
   
4. “No one else can do what we’re doing.”
   
5. “Hurry up because other investors are about to do our deal.”
   
6. “Our product will go viral.”
   
7. “The large companies in our market are too big, dumb, and slow to compete with us.”
   
8. “Our management team is proven.”
   
9. “We filed patents so our intellectual property is protected.”
   
10. “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”
    

The average number of these ten lies that I hear in most pitches is ten. At the very least, tell investors new lies.
Top Ten Lies of Investors

1. “I liked your company, but my partners didn’t.”
   
2. “We are patient investors who want to help you build a great company.”
   
3. “If you get a lead, we’ll invest too.”
   
4. “There are no companies in our portfolio that conflict with what you’re doing.”
   
5. “Show us some traction, and we’ll invest.”
   
6. “We love to co-invest with other firms.”
   
7. “We’re investing in your team.”
   
8. “We have lots of bandwith to dedicate to your company.”
   
9. “This is a plain, vanilla termsheet.”
   
10. “We will get other companies in our portfolio to work with you.”
    

Do you know what the difference is between the lies of entrepreneurs and the lies of investors? The investors have money.
It’s not all bad news. Think of everything that an entrepreneur needs (tech ones, anyway), and you’ll see that most things are free or cheap.

• Marketing: use blogs and social media to promote your products.
  
• Tools: most tools are Open Source and free. Microsoft offers free versions of applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint in the cloud!
  
• Infrastructure: More cloud goodness—you don’t have to buy servers anymore.
  
• People: callous for me to say, but in a recession, people are free or cheap.
  
• Office space: what office space? You can work out of your garage (like David Hewlett and Bill Packard) or just form a virtual team.
  

The bottom line is this is one of the cheapest times to be an entrepreneur, so go into your garage and start prototyping. Then when you need to create enchanting documents to raise money using PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, we’re all set to help with Office Web Apps, SkyDrive, and my templates
Promotional consideration paid by Microsoft.

via blog.guykawasaki.com

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Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group; a leading Strategic Management and Innovation Consulting Firm in Denver, Colorado. He is an author, speaker, and a strategic innovation and hypercompetition expert to profit, non-profit organizations and municipalities. He advises clients with an objective view of their competitive capabilities and defines a clear course of action to maximize their innovation return on investment to achieve profitable growth. Build a capability for ongoing competitive innovation across your company. Call 719-649-4118 or complete our form: contact us for more information on hiring Jim to advise or speak for your next event. 

3 Things Every Elevator Pitch Needs

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You are mingling at another holiday cocktail party or social gathering when someone you’ve just met asks you what you do or what your business is all about. How do you answer? As you launch into your answer, is the recipient of your response smiling and nodding knowingly, or have his/her eyes already glazed over as you spill into 10 or more sentences?

Commonly known as the ‘elevator pitch’ because it describes the following scenario: How would you explain your business and SELL yourself in the time it takes to get from the top floor to the ground floor? And no, I don’t mean in an elevator ride in a Dubai skyscraper. Maybe 20 floors, tops! Do you know how to convey what you do in three sentences or less?

The 3 things you need:

1. Brevity: You should not be talking for more than 60 seconds. Yes, really.
2. Clarity: Do not use industry jargon thinking you will dazzle the prospect. In reality, you will confuse him/her and make him/her less likely to ask follow-up questions lest they appear unknowledgeable or more confused. Use common language and explain it like you would to a 10-year old. This is not condescending. It is simplified and concise.
3. A Story: Use language that paints a picture. And in this picture, you and your business are riding in on the proverbial white horse to solve a business problem for your client, making their business better and more profitable. You/your business are the answer to their business prayers.

How can one start to craft an interesting pitch? Begin writing down action words/phrases describing what your business does. What does your business sell? Is it a product or service? What business problems does your business solve? What types of clients are ideal? These descriptions will paint a big picture and you will bring this picture down to a snapshot for the different types of prospects you may be pitching to at any given time.

Here are few tips to help you craft a compelling elevator pitch:

1. Listen to your pitch in your own voice. Use an app like Dragon Dictation to record yourself practicing your pitch and continue to practice until you’ve really nailed it. Test your pitch by playing it for someone who is not in your industry. After they’ve listened to it, can they answer in no uncertain terms what your business does? If not, it’s back to the drawing board!
2. Practice makes perfect. Play your pitch over and over in your head until it becomes second nature. Once this pitch appears effortlessly in your conversation with new prospects or when meeting new people, its simplicity will be your best business feature.
3. Long live the pitch. Your pitch should be a living thing. Be on alert for phrases or wording that could make your elevator pitch more clear and meaningful. Test each new version out. As your business grows and changes, so will your elevator pitch. You, your business, your goals, and prospects will benefit from periodic revitalizations of your pitch that capture where your business is going.

There are a number of essential elements in a successful elevator pitch. In my opinion, an elevator pitch should be no more than 3 sentences—and not run-on sentences. Succinct, descriptive sentences are the goal. It should not sound rehearsed or overly sales-y. It should roll off the tongue effortlessly because you are confident in your business’ ability to help this prospect or at least direct them to someone who can. Ultimately, you want the prospect to be so intrigued or convinced they need to know more about you and what you do that they ask for your card and make a date to follow-up on your elevator pitch—this is the definition of success. Congratulations, you’ve just sold yourself! Now make good on that pitch and knock it out of the park to turn a prospect into a client.

Do you have a prepared elevator pitch you are using right now? Is it working for you? What would you like to change about it?

via crowdshifter.com

Searching For New Solutions to Attract and Retain More Customers? Looking for a Strategic and Innovation Advisor to work on retainer? A riveting speaker?

Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group; a leading Strategic Management and Innovation Consulting Firm in Denver, Colorado. He is an author, speaker, and a strategic innovation and hypercompetition expert to profit, non-profit organizations and municipalities. He advises clients with an objective view of their competitive capabilities and defines a clear course of action to maximize their innovation return on investment to achieve profitable growth. Build a capability for ongoing competitive innovation across your company. Call 719-649-4118 or complete our form: contact us for more information on hiring Jim to advise or speak for your next event.

Concept To Company in 54 Hours: What Will You Do Next Weekend?

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Imagine that you have 54 hours and full access to a host of new potential co-founders, designers, developers, marketers and product managers to do one thing – and one thing only – launch your next big idea.

Now envision bringing your minimum viable product (MVP) to market by crowdsourcing innovation and executing non-stop.
Startup Weekend is making this coveted scenario a reality by bringing a “No Talk. Allenables founders to focus on building out the framework of an innovative business over the course of one weekend. Each event brings like-minded entrepreneurs together to build and develop a commercial case around their products.

Concept to Company
This past weekend a bustling and eager crowd of veteran and aspiring entrepreneurs attended one of the 468 events held to-date, Triangle Startup Weekend, hosted at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. The local organization, led by Arik Abel the VP of Digital Services at French West Vaughan, raised over $20,000 and sold over 300 tickets to the ‘standing-room only’ event.

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees shared their best ideas to inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday, select teams focused on customer validation, business models and execution of their products. On Sunday afternoon teams demoed their prototypes and received feedback from a panel of experts.

Ideas were the currency of the weekend. Several startups instantly became crowd favorites. From PhotoSlam, a photo-sharing app that lets you challenge your friends to interactive photo challenges to Soul Exchange — an online “soul marketplace” for friends, investors (and enemies) to invest in your soul and track its value based on your (good and bad) deeds.

Startup Weekend Ideas to Watch
Every Startup Weekend attendee walked away from the event with an invaluable experience, while a select few walked away with honorable mentions and grand prizes to help fuel their new companies.
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via yfsentrepreneur.com

Jim Woods is president and founder of InnoThink Group; a leading Strategic Management and Innovation Consulting Firm in Denver, Colorado. He is an author, speaker, and a strategic innovation and hypercompetition expert to profit, non-profit organizations and municipalities. He advises clients with an objective view of their competitive capabilities and defines a clear course of action to maximize their innovation return on investment to achieve profitable growth. Build a capability for ongoing competitive innovation across your company. Call 719-649-4118 or complete our form: contact us for more information on hiring Jim to advise or speak for your next event.