Just starting your own business or need a refresher on how to speak to the media? If you want to get your message across, don't forget these three tips:
1) Craft a well-spun story that will inspire your targeted audience--offer anecdotes and examples that will encourage the audience to relate to you
2) Train yourself to read industry news and research the publications and have a solid idea about who you want to talk to.
3) Tailor your story to the needs of the blog or publication and the interests of the blogger or reporter
...and What Not to Do
Last week, I interviewed a very nice gentleman who was starting a fundraising company targeted at helping the Christian community do their fundraising. I should mention that he has a lot of optimism and drive to see his company through, but there were definite challenges in trying to get the story. Also, he is OK with the idea that I'm using this as a blog post.
First of all, it's a challenging story to write because religion is a sensitive subject. I felt that with the right story, I could dance around the religion subject, to meet the needs of The Millennium Marketer, a corporate-targeted, social media-oriented, start-up mentality blog.
1) Don't forget to read the publication that you are speaking to. In other words, make your ideas relevant.
Unfortunately, my friend with the Christian start-up company tied every message that he had to God. It sounded to me that Jesus is the CEO and he is the sub-CEO, but that is the message he was telling me. Every other word was, "I did this to follow God's word...my motivation is God...my role model is God...my passion is church." That is totally fine for a Christian blog or publication, but maybe that won't work so well for other media outlets that you want to reach out to.
2) Don't come unprepared. Practice makes perfect.
This goes back to the first point. This friend didn't have quick answers for simple questions, such as what are your hobbies, what do you enjoy doing? You have to know yourself, your company, and be able to pull up all the history of your company on the spot. Lack of preparation is probably one of the reasons for the fall-back "God" answer.
3) Don't forget what your message is and the reason why you want to get in front of the media.
At different times of the interview, this gentleman also mentioned his weaknesses, which wasn't part of any question that I asked him. I didn't have any choice but to record this information. He didn't seem quite sure what the story was that he wanted to tell me.
There are many great Christians out there in the world, but many people have heard about the Bible, a thousand-year document, for many, many years.
Bottom line: If you want to inspire others, come up with an original story and message that will get people excited about you and the product that you are trying to sell.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Start-Up 101: How to Be a Media Darling (And What Not to Do)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Start-Up 101: The Beat of a Different Drum
This may be stepping away from the norm but one of the challenges in the hi-tech world, but it seems necessary to take a different perspective. Social media-ists are really into their social media world and just waiting for creative tools to take off.
We really forget that Silicon Valley isn't made up of just social media-ists or web 2.0 or those who support all these new ventures made possible by the Internet.
True--Silicon Valley is a place for start-ups and it is only here that people are willing to try, financial pros are willing to fund and overall, everyone is prepared for failure, if it happens.
I spoke with a professional drummer with a 20+ year career, Dave Gary, Jr. and asked him what he thought about Silicon Valley. Dave has talent--at age 14, he picked up a drum set for the first time and impressed a teacher.
I couldn't tease much information out of him with the typical interview questions. When asked about his professional goals, he asked in return, "What is the goal in life?"
When asked about his passions other than drumming, he wouldn't answer. "I do what most people do as a hobby, and that's just what I do."
But really, Dave isn't any different from your VC, entrepreneur or the next CEO. His biggest frustration is "bad musicians that think they're good, and they just don't have any idea what it takes to be good." Not even people with talent cannot take their gifts for granted.
He says that whoever you are, whether a doctor or a businessman, you will always face challenges. "A lot of college kids come out of college thinking they can just get a job. But what about the guy next to you who also has that piece of paper?"
He also sees Silicon Valley as a working beehive and he isn't sure if most people know how to think for themselves. "Most people in Silicon Valley attend (music) shows, but they don't really listen. They hang out because they have money to pour into The Place (whatever is trendy) but they don't really listen. They don't know what to do--they're a bit robotic."
He talks about passion and doing what you love. At age 18, he majored in accounting at university for "almost a semester--I quit right before finals." But when he went to college, he realized fast that an accounting major may please his parents but it wasn't making him money. When he played music, he was making money--at 16, "I made more money than most of my friends playing music than they made working at McDonald's."
But Dave is making money because he is doing what is important to him. He says people in Silicon Valley face a lot of competition and work hard, but it's not enough to just work hard. "Make money or invent something--those without vision perish."
As I spoke to Dave, it was simply clear that it's not enough to just work a 9 to 5 job, not enough to do what everybody else does. And, career paths aren't linear. Without redacting the message, it seemed to me that this was just a man who has done what he is passionate about all his life. It has made his personal life simple and his professional life challenging.
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Start-Up 101 Series: Sumaya Kazi
The Young Entrepreneur in Millenia 2.0
With the rise of web 2.0, social networking and RSS feeds, there is a lot of noise out there in the marketing world. But how about marketing yourself?
I had the pleasure of speaking with Sumaya Kazi over the phone last weekend. Recognized as one of CNN’s Young People Who Rock last year, we spoke from our individual home offices—she in San Francisco East Bay and me in San Jose.
So how exactly does Sumaya rock? Nicknamed the “media maven” by Brass Magazine, she’s got the stuff to rival Mark Zuckerberg because she practically holds down three jobs as a social media manager at Sun Microsystems and the founder of two entrepreneurial ventures: The Cultural Connect and I Give a Damn! (IGAD) network. She is also incredibly smart: she can identify pressure points quickly and qualify questions to get her message across.
Sumaya has accurately identified two pressure points for young people in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. In Silicon Valley, entry-level jobs are hard to come by and with her website, The Cultural Connect, Sumaya pushed the envelope on entry-level jobs. Job titles don't faze her. Her belief is that it doesn’t matter how old or young you are, all it takes a little creativity and resource management.
Second, the need for role models and inspiration is fierce and The Cultural Connect inspires people to consider that young people (particularly those with hyphenated cultural backgrounds who aren’t as exposed in the media) have the tools and skill sets that they need to succeed. The Cultural Connect features five separate media outlets (DesiConnect, AsiaConnect, MidEast Connect, LatinConnect and AfricanaConnect) to showcase young professionals and encourages others to connect if they are interested in learning more about someone in their profession.
Sumaya may not think of herself as an entrepreneur, but she tells me that opportunities for business stem from complaints that people have. “If there is a problem and there’s an ability to fix a need, then you have a business.”
But while most people have one business, Sumaya is juggling three. What is her secret? Like Grégoire Gentil, she says it’s important to delegate.
Delegating tasks is key. It is what allows her to have time for friends and family, salsa dancing, and other activities that let her bring stress levels down. "The busier I get the more I would go out dancing."
She admits that juggling three businesses is tough, but she keeps going because it’s exciting to work with young people who are so inspired themselves. Some are recent college graduates and they are the people who make The Cultural Connect and IGAD network come alive.
In other words, young people aren't limited by the opportunities that are out there. All we have to do is open our eyes to the fact, create our own opportunities and chase after our dreams in a new way.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Start Up 101 Series - Zonbu
*I was going to post about revenue models today but I met with one of the co-founders of Zonbu today and could not resist posting this instead.*
Business is often an elusive practice. For some odd reason, some businesses succeed and others fail simply by trial and error. So is the term entrepreneurship, and so I should point out here that for all the academic theory and research surrounding this idea, it is those who have been able to embody the spirit of entrepreneurship who have been truly successful.
As for Grégoire Gentil, when I met him in his office on El Camino Real, it became evident that whatever the traits are for an entrepreneur, he is inexplicably an individual that embodies those traits not only in spirit but in action.
Gentil launched three businesses since 1996. In 2006, Gentil and his colleague Alain Rossman created Zonbu.
So what is Zonbu? The technology has the look and feel of the traditional desktop (for $99) or laptop (for $279) but isn't quite the desktop or laptop that we know. Aimed at casual laptop users, Zonbu provides an open source software where the computer is more of a portal to the data stored on a server somewhere rather than a computer.
In addition to that, most of the company's revenue comes from a subscription based service rather than the device itself--a type of HP printer model where the printer itself is a cheap base price, but you pay more for the print cartridges later.
Gentil, as a technology geek and avid trendwatcher, has been able to create what he calls a "disruptive technology"--the very thing that will keep away corporate giants like Dell and Microsoft from his market niche.
As a disruptive technology, it tends to just elusive enough for the corporate giants not to move into this space, and Gentil attributes this to defining a very clear and specific niche where larger players may not be able to support.
So how has Gentil been so successful at creating 4 start-ups to date? Gentil had no direct answer, except to say, "You have to be stubborn enough to believe in yourself and what you are doing, because others may not believe in what you are doing."
He has also been very good at simply identifying solid trends and opportunities. Zonbu is the intersection between cloud computing, sound hardware design and open source. It's an ambitious idea for sure, as he has also been able to integrate poignant environmental issues into the benefits of the technology.
For those of us who want to start a business, Gentil advises, "You have to start early." The older you are the less opportunity there is to succeed. My perception of this is that perhaps the more responsibilities and pressures there are to succeed. This is centrally against the principle that entrepreneurs must be able to pursue risk without boundaries because entrepreneurs risk failure just as much as success.
However it seems that Gentil's skill at identifying opportunities, "stubborn" nature and technology knowledge have contributed most to Gentil's success thus far.
In addition to that, it also helps if you "hire people who are smarter than you."
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Start Up 101 Series - The Opportunity
Last week, I posted a little bit about what makes an entrepreneur, and that's the drive to succeed, stay focused and know when you see a good opportunity.
There's a joke that I hear often in Silicon Valley that whenever someone says "I have a good idea," the common response is "You should start a company and get some VCs on that."
A lot of times they don't mean it and anyway, it never matters what your friends or family say if you have an entrepreneurial idea. The only exception to that rule is if your friends are in the market that you want to appeal to.
It's important to get it straight: opportunities and ideas are two different entities. An idea is something creative, fun and can certainly spark opportunities, but opportunities mean that you have something with which to create a business.
Here's an example:
At the Girl Geek Dinner hosted at Google, Katherine Barr of Mohr Davidow Ventures made a great suggestion to me. "If you think you have an opportunity, do some research first, test out your idea and ask them if they will buy your product or service."
Let's say I am a former veterinarian with lots of experience and I decide that I want to sell fancy, customized natural dog food diet because I find that it's easy to make at home in manageable batches in my home oven.
Will anyone buy it? If I do my research, I could go to a dog park and chat with the owners because that is where they all hang out and ask them, "I have this great customizable dog food product that is good for your dog, would you buy it?" It's best if I find places where dog fans, breeders, and owners hang out. Maybe at a dog park or a breeder's association gathering.
If I talk to one hundred people and they all say "yes, I would buy it" then I have an opportunity. If they all say no, then I have a great idea but no opportunity. Maybe you have an 80 out of 100, then your chances are still high.
Basic, but hard to put into practice. Next week, we'll talk about risk and revenue models specific to Web 2.0
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Start Up 101 Series - Traits of the Entrepreneur
In the next week or so, I will be writing a series of articles that I will call "The Start Up 101" Series which will be my observations on entrepreneurship from meeting entrepreneurs and what makes a start-up opportunity successful. Not only that--but people can be entrepreneurial while working at corporate companies and there are several Silicon Valley companies prefer this approach than the traditional corporate style.
Some of things that I will cover in the next week based on my observations:
- Characteristics of an entrepreneur
- Identifying opportunities
- Goal setting and creating benchmarks
- Surveying the competitive landscape
- And more as I think of other related topics.
Today is about defining characteristics of entrepreneurs.
First, I'll start by defining my personally coined term "Rookie Stylie." I don't think I had a chance up to now to define what "Rookie Stylie" really means to me. It is finesse, confidence and individuality to make connections and think critically about the business world. Not only that, I will have to say that it is also about being a young professional, maybe in your twenties and having a ton of potential to live up to your passions versus the old skool paradigm of working for the Man.
Entrepreneurship is the art of "taking or entering into opportunities" and many people here have dreams of having their own start-up or company. In Silicon Valley, where everyone is trying to stay competitive, we have to be our own agents or consultants, even if we are working in the corporate world. I don't think you have to be a public figure in your community to be an entrepreneur, per se, but you can be an aspiring entrepreneur if you have passion and motivation to work towards dreams and life goals. The fame comes afterwards (and only if it really is fame that you are seeking. Personally I think being a strong thought leader is a service to the community not a celebrity role.)
Another aspect that is important is to stay focused. I learned recently that it is easy to get distracted because there are a lot of wonderful things in the world that can pull away one's attention, but having an entrepreneurial spirit means you're able to seperate the important stuff from the "crap" much like we have to do with a lot of the information that is available us through the internet today.
Next up: how can you recognize you have a good opportunity to pursue?
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