Why You Matter – A Personal Note From an Investor
Why You Matter – A Personal Note From an Investor A young Vision Master with an exciting product idea near market-ready sat with me and a fellow investor in our modest conference room in San Diego. He came loaded for bear, with his laptop and a presentation ready to show. The conversation continued for an […]
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Make Investors Sit up and Notice #10 – To Pivot Or Not To Pivot
Make Investors Sit up and Notice #10 – To Pivot Or Not To Pivot In my last post I introduced you, the vision master, to the concept of “The Pivot” and that: 1) You’ll almost certainly have to conduct at least one pivot before finding ultimate market success 2) That understanding when, why and how […]
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Make Investors Sit up and Notice #9 – How "The Pivot" Engenders Investor Trust
Make Investors Sit up and Notice #9 – How “The Pivot” Engenders Investor Trust I promised you some time ago that in future posts we’d continue to explore ways to prove to investors that you are aware of the risk and are taking tangible steps to reduce it – to engender investor trust. The future […]
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Make Investors Sit up and Notice #8 – Get Mentored or Coached
Make Investors Sit up and Notice #8 – Get A Business Mentor Have you ever had a coach? How about a mentor? Perhaps you’ve never really thought about the difference between coaching and mentoring and have used the terms interchangeably. Today, we’re going to distinguish them. Coaching and mentoring, whether in sports, relationships, health or business, […]
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Make Investors Sit up and Notice #7 – The Sandwich Strategy
Make Investors Sit up and Notice #7 – The Sandwich Strategy First, credit where credit is due: This term, the “The Sandwich Strategy” comes from George Kenney, co-founder of VC Shepherd Ventures and founder of the Entrepreneur’$ Bootcamp. Let me say something before we go on. When a successful venture capitalist tells you what affects his […]
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Make Investors Sit Up and Notice – #5 – Prove You're Coachable
Make Investors Sit Up and Notice – #5 – Prove You’re Coachable Today, I want to share something else that can set you apart from the crowd and make investors take a serious look at you, even if they still feel there is a lot of risk involved. But first, let me ask this question. […]
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Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #4 – How to Get Out of Investor Hell
Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #4 – How to Get Out of Investor Hell A colleague who runs a very successful software company once told me that he plans for incompetence because most people are incompetent. Pushed for an explanation of this interesting viewpoint he said that it’s because of how fast the world […]
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Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #3 – Hint: It's a Team Sport
Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #3 – It’s a Team Sport OK, Vision Masters (innovators, founders), it’s time for a pop quiz . . . Who is Gene Kranz? Now, if you don’t know off the top of your head, don’t feel bad. Although he’s been portrayed in several major motion pictures and had […]
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How to Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #2 – Be in the 1%
How to Make Investors Sit Up and Notice #2 – Be in the 1% The world is crowded with capable entrepreneurs. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that virtually everyone reading this blog is a capable entrepreneur. If you weren’t capable and driven and creative and brilliant and a host of other […]
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How to Make Investors Sit Up and Take Notice
How to Make Investors Sit Up and Take Notice I’ve spent so much time discussing trust and relationship issues that you may imagine I’ve lost sight of the deal structure. Should you even consider the deal structure before you meet the dealer (the investor)? As a deal structure, will offering a royalty-based deal help make […]
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