Presentations as an entrepreneur

This morning I had the privilege of attending the 2nd seminar of a 3 seminar series for Venture Atlanta, hosted by DLA Piper and Grant Thornton.  The first seminar was about making a great executive summary and I will go into detail about that in the next post.

Today's seminar was about presentations.  Everything from pitching yourself to how to act in front of hundreds of investors.  I'm going to break down each aspect of presenting and discuss why certain methods work better than others.

Yourself-  If you do a lot of networking or meet people on a regular basis, you probably have the same 20-30 second introduction memorized from introducing yourself so much.  For others, this isn't something that they focus on.  Having a well put together "pitch" for yourself can only help you.  This is especially true when you have only a brief amount of time to introduce yourself.

Be confident in everything you do while presenting.  Firm handshake.  Eye contact.  Figure out the exact person that your target investor is and tailor your presentation to them.  Stick to your style.  If you're laid back, make a laid back presentation.  If you're funny use that to your advantage.  Be yourself.  It will only make things 100 times easier for you.

Technology-  We all know how useful PowerPoint is, but we also know how boring the slides are to read through.  Slides should compliment your speaking points, not make them.  Pictures, single words or phrases, and short (RELEVANT) videos can help make this possible.

Worried if your text is too small on your slides?  Estimate the age of the oldest person in the audience and divide that number by two.  The result will be the font size that you should use.

DO NOT look behind you to the projector.  If you're presenting for 6-10 minutes, you most likely will have 6-20 slides.  Memorize them.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  Video tape yourself presenting and fix the parts that you messed up on.

Prepare to present as if none of your slides work, your video doesn't work, links don't work, etc.  YOU are the brains behind the presentation.  Don't let the faulty technology leave you hanging out to dry.

Content- Know the guidelines.  Rule #1 is don't go over the time limit.  If you do, then make sure you don't leave out the key detail that you were saving for the end.  Use the first 30 seconds of your presentation to grab the audience's attention.  Once you have their attention you will have it for a few more minutes, but keep it simple.  Explain what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.  You should be able to present to an 8th grader and have them fully comprehend what you are talking about.

Since you're NOT letting the audience read off of your slides for the entire presentation, you must deliver all of the key pieces of information in a clear way.  Be concise and to the point.  If you're looking to raise $3 Million and it will take you 8 months to break even with this amount, then say it.  The more questions you can answer for investors during your presentation, the better.

Check out this video that I saw recently with Simon Sinek.  Keep what he says in mind when you describe what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.

First meetup is tonight at 5:30 at Marlee's Coffee on Decatur right by GSU.  Looking forward to a great turnout!

The Exit Strategy

For most young entrepreneurs, the focus is all about the business.  You've built your startup around an idea or product that you are passionate about and very protective of.  Sometimes this passion can get in the way of the real reason why most people become entrepreneurs: to make a profit.

Since moving to Atlanta, I've began to attend more and more seminars.  At my most recent seminar they were talking about the components of a great Executive Summary.  One of the things the VC's putting on the seminar focused on was the exit strategy.  It then occurred to me that the exit strategy is almost as important as the entrance strategy.  Sure, there are a lot more details that go into getting a startup off the ground, but once that happens shouldn't your end goal be to sell that business at the highest possible value?

It depends.  Some businesses are built to run in the family.  If you are in the consumer brands industry or a trade, this may be the case.  If you are in the tech industry or one related to tech, you might just be waiting for it to mature for 3-10 years and look to sell it.

I've noticed a distinct difference in the psychology behind different industries of startups.  If I focus on only consumer brands/products and technology, starting a technology company is like trading in the stock market.  Yes, you think it will do well and you have done your research, but your end goal is simply to sell it at a higher value.  Starting a company in consumer products is like investing in a 401k.  It is much more calculated.  You may move different funds around to invest more in certain areas, but the focus is how it will impact you and your life later on.  There is a lot more work involved, but in the end the possibility of a much higher return.

In the end, as entrepreneurs it all comes down to the money.  I've found it good for myself to be diverse.  I started out being focused with consumer brands/products but am moving towards technology.  There are so many possible niches to get involved in, it's really about finding the niche that you can be very successful in.  There is definitely a niche for everyone.

As an update, I'm waiting to hear back about the venue for the first meetup in August.  The speaker has been chosen and all of the details will be announced when they are finalized.  As always, thanks for the support and keep telling all of the young entrepreneurs in Atlanta about this group!

Social Media, the New "Consumer Reports"

With the Netflix price hikes yesterday, many consumers were outraged and turned to their social media accounts to tell others how upset they were.  Not only was Dear Netflix a national trending topic on Twitter yesterday, but feelings about the hike were expressed in just about every other social media outlet you can imagine.

It was incredible watching my TL yesterday as the Netflix tweets kept pouring in.  Consumers today have more power than they ever have in history.  They are able to give immediate, explicit feedback to any company, brand, or product that uses a social media account.  The great part (for consumers) is that giving our feedback and seeing the feedback of our peers is easier than ever.

Google may have taken this concept to the greatest extreme with the addition of the +1 feature.  Consumers are now able to +1 ANYTHING on the internet, a symbol of their approval.

What this means for companies, brands, products, and especially entrepreneurs with new startups?  Be on top of your game.  It is easier than ever to criticize services.  In a matter of seconds, thousands of people can hear about a bad experience or product across multiple social media outlets.  This is ultimately a great thing for consumers and should create the next level of great products and services.  On the business side, we just have to do everything right.  And that's the way it's supposed to be.

There has been a lot of support for this group and the event details for the first meetup in August should be released later this week.  Stay posted and tell your friends!

Naming Your Startup: Broad Market

Coming up with a name for a business is not always an easy task.  There are many factors that go into a good name.  Will the name relate to you, your family, the technology behind the company, the location of the company, the size of the company, the target market, or even the product itself?  There are many things to think about when trying to decide what a good name will be.

I guess first it would be a good idea to define what a "good" name is.  A "good" name is one that is simple enough to stick in your head after the first time hearing it, but complex enough to make you think about the meaning.  Think about some of the most household company or brand names in America: Wal-Mart, Apple, Facebook, Delta, Starbucks.  All of these companies have a broad target market.  They have either used short, one syllable words or a compound, two syllable word.  This makes it easier for consumers to remember the name.

A "good" name also relates to the target market.  For instance, Facebook was named after the "face books" (online directories with pictures of students) from the various dorms at Harvard when Zuckerberg was a student.  This automatically tied his market, which at the time was only Harvard students, to his product.  

Wal-Mart (short for Walton's Mart) was originally named after the founder, Sam Walton and was later shortened for easier communication.  Using an established family name on the national scale does the same as on a small town scale.  Credibility is key.  Attaching a family name gives most companies (and their employees/consumers) a small town feel, a sense of pride, and a strong trust.  When someone is willing to put their family name on something it often means high quality service and products.

Using a location or region in your company name ties your market to that location or region.  Don't name a national automobile parts store "Atlanta Auto Parts" (for obvious reasons).  At the same time, if you are looking for a smaller state level market then a name with the region in it can be a great idea.  A perfect example of this is Southern Company.  Southern Company is an energy company that powers many homes and businesses in the southeastern United States.  It has two main brands within itself, which are Alabama Power and Georgia Power.  If you are a resident of either of these two states, you most likely get your power from the Southern Company.  And who better?  I just moved to Georgia and I can say that Georgia Power is the only power company that I know in Atlanta.  I'm sure that there are others, but with a name like that it really evokes confidence.

Stay tuned for the next post: "Naming Your Startup: Niche Market"

Check out the newly updated website.  There is a now a Follow and Like button on the Home page and also a link to this blog!  

atlyoungentrepreneurs.weebly.com

5 Factors of Great Leadership

Leaders can be spotted every day and are often all around us.  Having strong leadership skills is one of the things that nearly every employer looks for in an employee.  It is also something that venture capitalists pick up on very quickly.  The following are the 5 main factors that go into being a great leader.  

1. Confidence is one of the most important qualities to have as a young business person in general.  Note the difference between confidence and cockiness.  Confidence means you have the skill set to back it up. Master certain aspects of business/life and be fully confident in your skills.  Nobody wants to follow a leader who is unsure of their decisions or abilities.
2. Humility is almost as important as confidence.  As a leader it is often crucial for the success of the team to be humble and accept that some team members will be better suited for certain tasks.  As an entrepreneur it is often difficult to put the weight of the team's success on someone other than yourself, but it's always better to use a CS PhD to develop the program than try to teach yourself and fail.
3. Trust can sometimes be an issue due to critical information being shared among the team.  Although it can be tough to trust new team members to follow through on deadlines it is important to put as much trust as possible in those around you.  Displaying your trust for your team members is one of the easiest ways to earn their respect.  Nobody wants to work for someone who always guards information or someone who doesn't trust that you know what you're doing.
4. Communication is crucial in anything that you do, but leaders must be excellent communicators.  Leaders are often responsible to communicate ideas to different types of people.  You may be given a deadline or task to communicate to your team, you may be communicating your needs to a B2B company halfway across the world, or you may be communicating your startup pitch to an executive on an elevator.  In any matter, delivery is the key.  It is important to find a healthy balance between the amount of information and the length of time that it takes to communicate the information.  While working with another company it may be a good idea to spend 30 minutes writing a detailed message so that there are no errors or misinterpretations.  While pitching your idea in an elevator stick to the opportunity for the executive and be sure the first sentence out of your mouth has an introduction, why your startup would benefit them, and a way for them to contact you (preferably a business card).
5. Knowledge is the final factor of great leadership.  You can have confidence, humility, trust, and be an expert communicator, but if you don't have the knowledge to lead your team in the right direction then what's the point?  Leaders must often evaluate a situation and find the most efficient way to solve the problem in a matter of minutes.  Knowledge is a great foundation for problem solving.  Entrepreneurs are often wired to think outside of the box, so this will come naturally for most entrepreneurs.  

Take a look around during this next week.  Look at the leaders in your life.  Evaluate how effectively they lead.  See what areas they need work in.  Chances are that those areas are related to the 5 factors of great leadership listed above.

Keep reading, following, liking, and plussing.  

BPL

P.S. Atl Young Entrepreneurs meetup coming in August!  Spread the word.  Working out the details in the next 2 weeks.

The Dream: Atl Young Entrepreneurs

Since this is such a new group I thought it would be good to lay out the goals I have for it.  Most of you already know that Atl Young Entrepreneurs is a networking and meetup group for the many young entrepreneurs of Atlanta.  There are more than you think.

My vision for this group is to make it THE meetup to go to each month for young professionals.  I want to have at least one speaker at each meetup, too.  These will include: venture capitalists, specialists in certain niches of business, successful entrepreneurs, failed entrepreneurs, as well as others.  Yes, I want to have failed entrepreneurs speak.  I've always been a firm believer that mistakes and failure aren't always bad.  They are learning experiences and can be used to show others what not to do.

I'd also like to get involved with the entrepreneurship and business programs at UGA, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State.  I think it will be important for these students to network while still in school so that they aren't just out there on their own after they graduate.  I haven't looked into UGA or Georgia State too much yet, but I know Georgia Tech has a successful incubator program.  It would be great to have professors involved in this program to come speak.

I really just want this to be a nice, well rounded group of young people with lots of ambition.  It will be good to learn from speakers, but I want us to be able to learn from each other, too.  Obviously this group is only a few days old, but if anyone has any connections or would like to get involved with this group then shoot me an e-mail at AtlYoungEntrepreneurs@gmail.com.

BPL

Everyday Networking

These days, networking is easier than ever.  Take this group that I have started for example.  In a few short days I have created this blog, a Facebook page, Twitter account, and e-mail account.  What did it cost me?  About 35 minutes of my time.  As valuable as I'd like to think that is, it's nowhere compared to traveling to different meetups, meeting people, and contacting them daily to see what they're up to.

If networking is easier than ever then everyone must be doing it, right?  Wrong.  Don't ask me why because it makes no sense not to.  If you're sitting there right now and asking yourself if you're networking to your full potential, then go to the following sites and set up accounts: Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Gmail.com, and Blogspot.com.  Once you have all of them set up you may feel like it's a lot to manage effectively.  Go to TweetDeck.com and download that to your desktop or to Google Chrome (my favorite web browser).  TweetDeck will allow you to set up your Facebook profile, page, and group next to your Twitter profiles for easy access to everything you need.  I actually came across this today and have loved it so far.  It is much more efficient than similar programs.  (A lot of people use foursquare as well, but I'm just getting used to it.  Maybe it will work great for you!)

By now hopefully you have all of your social networking methods developed and have started communicating with people or companies who have similar interests.  You're not even close to being done.  Now it's time to look around you.  An empty Powerade bottle and TV isn't what I'm talking about.  I mean the people that you associate with on a daily basis.  You're a young entrepreneur so they're most likely students, professors, young professionals, business people, and other entrepreneurs.  It's great to have these kinds of relationships, but it's the balance of these relationships that is most important.  I've finally found the balance that works best for me.  Here's how it works.

-Being around students too much can lead to making student decisions.  Not that all student decisions are bad, but most students don't think too far past the weekend.  Be sure to prioritize.  I keep a schedule on Google Calendars and each Sunday night look at what I need to accomplish that week. 

-Professors are an incredible asset that often goes overlooked.  I've talked about this before, but if you have a good professor (which can be hard to find at times) don't be afraid to go up to them after class and talk to them.  E-mail is a non-confrontational way to set up an appointment or ask a question, too.

-Young professionals are awesome people to get to know.  A lot of times (especially in a city like Atlanta) they have a cool job or good knowledge to share.  It's easy to find things in common if you're a hard worker and like I always say, you are who you surround yourself with.  These are the people that have their life on track for the most part, but don't have families and other things going on.

-Business people are good ways to get references and jobs.  Yes, young entrepreneurs need jobs while they work on their startups.  Especially if you're bootstrapping like a lot of us.  Business people are also good to be around because often times they have really nice things.  I don't know about you, but when I see someone who has worked hard doing something similar to me with a nice car and nice house it inspires me to work even harder.  Hard work always pays off in the end.  

-Last, but not least, entrepreneurs are my favorite kind of people to associate with.  These are driven, focused, excited, and overall fun people to be around.  The entrepreneurial spirit is a kind of bond that is established right away.  Entrepreneurs always do whatever they can for each other.  I have three friends from college that have spoken to me about business ideas that they have in the last month or two.  I told every one of them that I will do whatever they need me to help.  Yes, I have a million different things going on, but honestly it's what I love doing.  Hopefully you know the feeling.  It's an awesome one.

Although everyone has a different personality, most entrepreneurs are fairly outgoing.  One of my favorite things to do is meet people.  I've almost always been a salesman as a job so I'm used to interacting with people that I don't know.  For young entrepreneurs an airport is a perfect place to network this way.  Whether waiting to go through security, waiting at the terminal before your flight, or on the airplane you can meet some really interesting people.  Oh, and if you plan on doing this please don't wear a t-shirt and sweats. Dress for success.

I've been seeing more and more interest every day.  Twitter has been a great tool for this group.  Expect the first meetup to be in August.  Date, time, and location are all to be determined.  Keep spreading the word for me!

Comment, Plus, Follow, and Like (The link can now be found at the top of the page under the description) 

BPL