Improve Business Relationships through Storytelling
Josh
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Posts by Josh
Dave McClure: Don’t Pitch, Connect Emotionally
0799 days
I had the good fortune to see startup all-star Dave McClure speak on Wednesday afternoon, when he gave a modified version of his “Startup Metrics for Pirates” presentation.
First thing to note: Dave is not for the faint of heart, or at least the faint of ears. His language is bluer than an ocean.
Second thing to note: Dave is entertaining. He tells it like it is, but he does so in a way that is accessible and enjoyable. Essentially, he tells a story, and lets the listener/viewer figure out how it applies to their individual situation.
So when Dave McClure says, “connect emotionally around a problem,” it’s probably wise that you listen up.
Referenced in this video: “Your SOLUTION is Not My PROBLEM” (yes, Dave is kind of a jerk in this post, but that’s why we love him)
Pitching: Don’t Be the Spanish Inquisition
0
This is an add-on to my previous post on improving your elevator pitch. And it will be short – like an elevator pitch should be.
Don’t be like the guys in Monty Python’s classic Spanish Inquisition sketch. (watch the video – it’s much better than reading the text box)
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise, and fear… fear and surprise. Our two weapons are fear and surprise… and ruthless efficiency. Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency… and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. Our four… no… Amongst our weapons…. Amongst our weaponry… are such elements as fear, surprise….
You’d like to think that people wouldn’t do that. You’d like to think they would have a few things they say, and be done with it. You’d also like to think we’d have matter transporters like Star Trek by now, but that’s not happening either.
Pick the key points about you and your company, say them, and be done. Stop adding things mid-stream, like, “We are a widget firm for lawyers. We sell lawyers widgets that they need, and also monkeys, because lawyers need monkeys. We sell widgets and monkeys to lawyers, and also to churches, because they need monkeys and widgets, too.”
Cut that out, or we’ll have to use THE RACK on you!
Get off My Elevator
5
If you can’t tell me what you do and/or what your company does in under 30 seconds, you can’t really say you have an elevator pitch, now can you? But there’s hope for you yet!
Many people – entrepreneurs and “regular folk” – have what they like to call an “elevator pitch.” It goes something like this:
So my company makes widgets for other companies. They’re smaller than OtherCo’s widgets, and cheaper than JoeCo’s widgets, and they’re also purple. I founded the company two years ago, during the Widget Rush of ’08, and we’ve seen some really interesting numbers coming out of Madison, Wisconsin, in relation to…
(2 minutes later) … so we leverage the social media strategy on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Friendster, and Ning in order to cross-synergize the platforms…
(2 minutes later) … and that led to a great understanding of the market, so we switched from selling integrated knife-spoon-fork combos to widgets! So what do you do?
This is not an elevator pitch. This is not even an escalator pitch; it’s a broken escalator pitch, where we’re forced to walk down the entire five flights’ worth of stairs – and one person is talking the whole time.
You know those JoeCo widgets that everyone wants but can’t afford? I wanted one too, until I read that they make a 400% margin and also kill kittens, which most people disapprove of. So I created a kitten-friendly widget that costs 25% as much as JoeCo’s, and also comes in purple and blue. We’ve got a patent on the technology that helps us make widgets without killing kittens, we’ve sold 50,000 in the past two weeks, and we’ve already talked to Amazon and Widgets.com about selling our widgets on their sites. We’re basically looking to be the Apple of widgets.
In that 30-second spiel, the speaker managed to convey the following information:
- The problem – Everyone wants a widget, but they’re expensive and kill kittens. The speaker has also connected with the listener by asking them a “yes” or “no” question – involving them without inviting a long response.
- The solution – A cheaper, kitten-friendly widget. It’s also available in designer colors, which we can assume is something that customers frequently request from JoeCo (otherwise the speaker wouldn’t have mentioned it).
- Barrier to entry – Always good when talking to potential partners, investors, etc.
- Where you are / accomplishments - Gives perspective, since there’s a big difference between a concept and a company. There’s nothing wrong with saying that you’re still in the idea stage, but it’s important to note that for the listener.
- Frame of reference – This isn’t a “must-have,” since not every company can (or wants to) compare itself to another firm, but it’s helpful if not everyone will grasp immediately what you’re up to. (avoid over-large or inaccurate comparisons, though – “We’re the Microsoft of pet stores” is kind of odd, and “We’re the Google of Facebooks” just makes you sound stupid)
Let’s personalize this a little to give you a better idea of how a pitch can change. As of a few weeks ago, this was my elevator pitch for Textaurant:
Textaurant is a waiting list management web application for busy restaurants. We allow patrons to leave the restaurant during long waits and receive a text alert when their table is almost ready so they can return just in time to be seated.
Short? Yes. To the point? Yes. Complete? Nope.
Now let’s see what the pitch I’ve been giving to people the past week or so has been (thanks to Jer Levine of StarStreet, who really helped with both the pitch and this blog):
I’m Josh, and I run a startup called Textaurant. You know those pagers you get when you have to wait for a table at a restaurant? Why should the restaurant give you a flashing, buzzing, annoying device when you already carry one with you at all times? (I show them my phone) We replace those pagers with your own mobile phone, letting the restaurant contact you when your table is almost ready. Plus, we give the patron something to do during long waits by sending them a third-party offer. We’re currently in three restaurants, including a Chili’s.
It’s still a work-in-progress, but you can see how I connected the dots for the listener. No longer do I get quizzical looks at the phrase, “Waiting list management.” No longer do I have to say, “yeah, we replace the buzzers.” Now, I tell people how I’m going to solve their own pain point, and they’re immediately interested.
Improving your elevator pitch – like changing any part of your business – is a process. But understand what you’re trying to say first, then reduce and repackage until you’ve reached a great, simple elevator pitch – it’s quick, to the point, and makes sense as part of a coherent story.
(In case you’re wondering, the post title is a reference to the song of the same name by Kool Keith.
Learn to Speak (and the rest will follow)
2
“90% of success is acting like you deserve it.”
I always thought I’d heard that quote somewhere, but I guess not. As I understand it, the key to success is acting like you already know it’s a foregone conclusion – not in a cocky way, but just in a way that lets people know that you haven’t lucked into what you’ve gotten already. It’s like going to the movie theater, and flashing a ticket stub at the usher – if you just walk in like you belong there, they aren’t going to check if it’s the right movie, or even the right day.
Where is this coming from? Well, tonight I was fortunate enough to be one of nine companies demoing at Mobile Monday Boston, at least four or five of which were visiting from the U.K. These are smart, successful companies – some were the #1 app in their category, others are partnering with major organizations, but all of them are accomplished in their own right. I was very lucky to be invited by the lovely and talented Kate Imbach to join the group, because Textaurant is still a fledgling compared to these guys.
But when it came to presenting, to a man they had a tough time holding the attention of a crowd. Some looked down at their screen the entire time; others sounded as if they were reading a script. A few spoke in monotone and had difficulty finding the microphone.
I say this not to belittle my fellow CEOs; as I said, clearly they’re doing well based on the success of their companies. My point is that you’ve got to learn how to communicate if you’re going to get up in front of a crowd and hope to capture their interest at all. I won’t go into detail, because so many posts have been written on the subject, but it’s crucial that you learn how to get up in front of a crowd and act like you belong. Relax, understand that they’re not there to ridicule you, and speak as if every word you have to say is worth hearing.
I like to imagine everyone in the audience is a friend from high school whom I haven’t seen in years, and I’m telling him/her about Textaurant. I share the information not because it’s a means to an end (funding, connections, employees), but because the people who are listening have genuine interest in what I have to say. This calms me down and lets me focus on getting the information across, rather than worrying what they’re thinking. If this doesn’t work, try taking a class on business storytelling. Not everyone is a natural storyteller, but it helps to be able to weave a coherent and compelling narrative to capture the audience’s attention.
Forget the underwear trick, though; at best, you’ll be distracted by the attractive people, and at worst you’ll find yourself in a room full of mostly naked startup folks. And those are both recipes for disaster.
Event of the Week: 3/8-3/12
2804 days
by Josh
I’m going to try to keep up with this on a weekly basis, because while there are tons of entrepreneurship/social event listings (Greenhorn Connect’s calendar, for example), there’s no way to know what you should be attending. I don’t want to pick through the noise for you, but I will tell you one “winner” each week if I can.
Remember: like Levar Burton said in every episode of “Reading Rainbow,” you don’t have to take my word for it!
Accelerating Start-Up Growth: Seed Funding Models Helping Entrepreneurs Launch Sustainable Businesses
Registration page
What the organizers say about the event: Investing in start-ups is a high risk business. Rising valuations and other factors have made it more difficult for VCs to see successful returns and the majority of start-ups will fail. The odds are stacked against the entrepreneur. However, seed accelerators and seed capital have emerged as a newer investment model that has been able to take advantage of the changing dynamics of cheaper than ever start-up conditions for entrepreneurs and increased M&A activity for start-ups. Or quick and cheap failure. There are advantages and disadvantages for entrepreneurs. Sim Simeonov, CEO of FastIgnite will lead a handpicked group of highly experienced investors and entrepreneurs in a provocative roundtable discussion.
Why you need to go to this event: Two words: Dave. McClure. He’s a little bit Mark Cuban, a little Bill Gates, a little Aaron Patzer (before Aaron Patzer was Aaron Patzer), and a little Yoda. Oh, and a whole lot of awesome. He’s a serious entrepreneurship guru, and if you don’t know who he is, you should take an hour right now and correct that problem. Plus, he lives in CA, and doesn’t hit Boston very often, so there’s that.
Why else you need to go to this event: Sim Simeonov of FastIgnite, Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst, and David Cohen of TechStars are the other members of the panel. That’s a pretty studly lineup without Dave, but with him it’s massive.
Why you might not want to go: It’s $40, and may already be sold out (it’s not as of Sunday at 6pm).
Alternate events
Mobile Monday (Boston)
Tech Tuesday (Cambridge)
Executing as Young Entrepreneurs panel (Tufts)
The Great Juggling Act
1
Life is no more a box of chocolates than Tom Hanks is a mentally challenged man who mooned the president. Life is, however, a juggling act, in which you are constantly engaged in keeping certain things up in the air while focusing on others that need to be handled immediately. The key isn’t making sure nothing drops; that’s nearly impossible. Instead, the most crucial thing to know is what can bounce back if you drop it and what can’t.
Is Your Life on Shuffle?
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Are you living life on Shuffle, waiting for something good to happen to you, or are you making your own playlist? It’s a question most people think they know the answer to, until they actually take the time to analyze how they make their decisions. And when they find the truth, it’s often one that they don’t like hearing.
Robbery, Part III – Resolution
6There’s been a ton of interest in this story, and for good reason; how often does the victim make the thief feel unsafe in his own home? But no story is complete without a beginning (in this case, the robbery), a middle (the remote logging), and an ending.
I’m happy to report that there’s now a resolution to my stolen laptops story, and it’s a great one.
On Monday morning, I spoke with Detective Tracy of the Boston Police Department, and he completely understood what was happening. I emailed him everything that I’d compiled – which was basically a more detailed version of the first blog post you can read below – and he said that he would get right on it.
Did he ever! By Monday afternoon, he knew the address of the people in the video – found through the Facebook page that I discovered. I didn’t hear much Monday night, but Tuesday morning I got a call from Detective Tracy informing me that my laptops – that’s right, both of them – were in police custody and could be picked up. I also spoke with Lieutenant Connolly, who asked some questions about how I accomplished what I did, and asked if I would come in later in the week to talk to some department members about how they can do this, too.
At this point, let me say that I cannot stress enough how thankful I am to Detective Tracy, Lieutenant Connolly, and the entire BPD. There are many crimes more pressing than a couple of laptops being grabbed, but using the information that I gave him, Detective Tracy was able to retrieve my stolen property with a minimum of fuss and time spent. On the off chance that he reads this, THANK YOU Detective, and I hope your fellow officers saved you some of the cookies that I brought for you this afternoon.
Anyway, on to the aftermath:
First, to my knowledge, charges will not be brought against the people who had the laptops. That’s a little disappointing, but you know what? I’m ok with it. All I really wanted was my property back and my data safe.
(Update 3/3: I picked up the computers this morning, and finally met Detective Tracy and Lieutenant Connolly. They are nice guys – even if Detective Tracy did make fun of my gift of cookies – and filled me in on the details of the case. This is still an ongoing investigation. The trail does not end here, so I just wanted to clear that up.)
Second, there’s been a lot of press interest on a local level, which is pretty cool, but what I’m telling them is the same thing I said in the first post – if it wasn’t for TeamViewer, I wouldn’t have my computers. The end. So I encourage you to download and install it on your home and travel computers; heck, if you need help with it, just drop me a line. (No, I am not paid or in any way affiliated with the TeamViewer corporation).
(If you are a member of the press and would like to chat, please contact me through the comments section or via email. Comments are moderated, so nobody will see your contact info)
Finally, thank you to everyone who showed their support. This has been an unbelievably tiring week, and I’m looking forward to relaxing when it’s all over. Relaxing, and maybe watching a Red Sox game on my laptop. 
Be well, and for crying out loud – keep your laptop locked in your trunk!
– Josh
PS – One final plug: if you’d like to show your support but aren’t sure how, feel free to take this survey on your restaurant habits – it will take 3 minutes and be immensely helpful – and/or visit the Textaurant webpage and join the email list. But only do that if you hate waiting for a table at restaurants. Thank you!
Press stuff:
– Channel 5
– Boston Herald: Tech guy tracks stolen laptops by triggering webcam
– Greater Boston, on WGBHRobbery! (New Videos)
0Just in case you wanted to see what my friends the thieves were up to on Saturday night… here’s a look:
Saturday 2-27 – Video #1
Saturday 2-27 – Video #2
Does the guy in video #2 look familiar to you? Remember, he lives in Stoughton, most likely. If you recognize him, please tell me ASAP. (Update: Thanks to Twitter follower Mary, you can see a screenshot of his face without viewing the whole video)
Thanks!
-Josh
Robbery!
13This blog is really supposed to be about entrepreneurship – I swear! But this is a pretty pressing matter.
On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, my car was broken into near Fenway Park while I was at an event at the Cask ‘n’ Flagon. I was parked on Brookline Avenue, near the corner of Yawkey Way, facing toward Kenmore Square, and the thieves smashed the rear passenger vent glass. They stole a laptop and a netbook among other things, all of which I reported to the police that evening.
Since I work away from home a lot and don’t like to maintain two sets of files, I use a remote login tool called TeamViewer that lets me log into my desktop from the road and control the computer. It also works in reverse. Using this tool, I have been able to log into my laptop multiple times – while the thieves (or someone else) were using it – and monitor their activity.
My first step was to take over the controls and direct a web browser to WhatIsMyIPAddress.com, to discover their IP address. An IP address, according to Wikipedia, is “a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network…”. In other words, it identifies the machine to the network.
I then took the address that I found and plugged it in at this site, which told me that the IP address is assigned to a computer on the Verizon FIOS network, based in Stoughton, MA. I called the Stoughton police, but they told me that I had to go through the Boston Police Department, because that’s where I filed the report. And Boston… well, they told me the detectives would get back to me soon.
That was Wednesday. Friday, someone logged on again to use the machine – specifically, to check out some fantastic videos of the WWE. Yeah, my “thieves” were into wrestling, Googling things like, “World’s strongest dog,” and watching Scooby Doo on YouTube. This time, I was better-prepared; I quickly switched on the webcam on the laptop, and recorded the machine’s user… who is apparently a small child. See the video that I took here. Eventually, he shut down the computer – I guess my taking over the mouse was too much for him.
Today’s been fun, though. First, I came home this evening to find that someone was logged into the laptop – and using Facebook. Fortunately, I was able to control the computer and click on “My Profile,” and see who was using the computer – it turned out to be an 18 year old who went to West Roxbury School (I’m not going to share her info here, just in case that could get me into trouble). But that was a great find – a solid link to exactly who was using the computer.
Immediately after, the same kid from before started watching videos. How do I know it was him? Well, for one, he was watching more wrestling vids. For another, he actually opened the webcam himself and started mugging for the camera. But it gets better: his mother and brother appeared on-camera – and when the brother saw that he was being filmed, he fled the room!
So I checked my Facebook culprit’s friends, and sure enough – she has a friend with the same last name, who is about 20 years old, and goes to college at Wentworth – which is in Boston, the same city in which my laptop was stolen. Intriguing.
Right now, the BPD detectives have told me they can’t do anything until they get a subpoena – which won’t happen until at least Monday.
UPDATE: Sunday AM – The detective assigned to my case is actually off until Tuesday, but I’ve spoken with Detective O’Sullivan both Saturday and Sunday, and he’s been very helpful. In particular, he gave me the name of a detective who is on duty Monday morning who may be able to help with the subpoena – although he wasn’t optimistic about getting it through court on a Monday.
Thanks for reading, and any tips/ideas/thoughts are more than appreciated!
– Josh
PS – If you’re wondering why I’m so adamant about getting this laptop back, it’s because I’m an entrepreneur. I’m trying to start a business, and every dollar is crucial – especially sunk dollars into personal and business electronics. If you’d like to help but don’t know anything about tracking computers, feel free to take this survey on your restaurant habits – it will take 3 minutes and be immensely helpful. Thank you!
