30A - Final Reflection

Final Reflection

• My most formative experience during this semester was watching the first person the professor interviewed. It stuck with me because the idea that I had put together and looked in to developing a few years ago was about solving the same problem I was trying to solve. At first it knocked me on my butt then I remembered the professor saying that just because other people have the same or similar idea, it’s not the same as what you have in your mind. That helped me push on and refine the problem to the point that I discovered I used to think more about the solution than the problem.

• I have always seen myself as a type of entrepreneur, but I realized that is in mindset only. Being an entrepreneur requires you to take the next steps which can be challenging but offers up its own rewards. I have always toiled over starting something on my own and I think it’s time for me to get serious with that decision. 

• For those who want to take the class seriously I would recommend they really find a problem at the beginning for the bug list that they are very passionate about solving. If they can grasp on to that they will be engaged in the rest of the class to see how their idea develops. Planning is key. There are a lot of interviews and finding people can be a challenge, especially for older, working students with children. This was a big challenge for me that proved to be the biggest time crunch. If you want to do well on the cupcakes you have to watch the lectures, which personally I enjoyed.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I plan to exit the business as soon as I can make it profitable to do so. Unless the forecast for growth is enticing enough to stay. I wouldn’t plan this business to be something to pass on to a family member as I believe when the competition comes in I will be pushed out of the market.


2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
I picked this timeframe because I am passionate about the problem but there are bigger problems that I would like to focus my time on. I would like to use this problem as a lesson to learn how to launch something from scratch on my own.


3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

I do think that it influenced my opportunity after doing some research. When I found out there are other companies out there that are trying to solve this problem then it got me thinking about time. It hasn’t really influenced my growth potential or how I thought about acquiring resources. My exit strategy may even be to merge with a competitor to expand our growth potential.

27A - Reading Reflection 3

I read Elon Musk Tesla, SpaceX, and the quest for a fantastic future.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

a. What surprised you the most? I was surprised mainly with his early years as an entrepreneur, mostly his days at Zip2. I didn’t realize that was his first company. The second big surprise to me was that he did not create Tesla but merely invested in the company at first before taking over as the CEO.

b. What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? His non-stop work ethic seems to be out of this world. Almost everyone in the book that was interviewed spoke about this.

c. What did you least admire? Although his work ethic is to be admired, there are times when he expects everyone to work the same way he does. One example from the book that I did not agree with was when he called one of his senior leaders who was at the hospital during the birth of his child and berated him – telling him he needed to get his priorities in order.

d. Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? Elon has encountered much failure with both SpaceX and Tesla. With SpaceX he almost ran out of money to the point that he could not make payroll if he didn’t come up with funds in less than a week. This was due to all the failures they encountered trying to launch their first rockets.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Elon has exhibited many competencies we attribute to entrepreneurs. He built his first video game and won the competition at the age of 12. He is extremely disciplined when he has his mind set on a goal. He is not afraid to take chances – some more extreme than any of us will ever encounter. He accepts failure and moves on, most of the time getting stronger. He learns from mistakes, so he doesn’t make the same ones again.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. One part that confused me was early on when they spoke about their mother and father taking them on adventures in the airplane. It sounded like they had a great family upbringing only to find out his parents got divorced and Elon considers his upbringing horrible. For the most part he blames his father and being bullied at school.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? I would ask the following two questions:

a. If you could do it all again, what would you do differently?

b. What was the most valuable lesson you have learned on your journey so far?

I would ask these questions because they provide insight into learnings I could use on my own journey.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I would expect Elon to say there’s no such thing as hard and not hard work - all work should be hard or it is not worth doing. I share this opinion to some degree. I believe in working hard and big dreams are not easy to achieve. However, I would not treat my employees the way he does at times and expect them to devote their life to me and my ambition over their families or friends.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time.
I work in a very fast paced company and I am used to failure. We test a lot of hypothesis to get to the right solution, so you must have thick skin. In fact, you are going to fail more than you will succeed. This is something I have learned. I have failed in this class quite a few times also. I interviewed the wrong people. I completed the wrong assignments and missed deadlines I gave myself more than I can imagine.


2. Tell us what you learned from it.
I always learn from failing. In fact, I tell my kids not to be afraid to fail. I am a believer that failing is the path to success. I don’t know anyone that creating a worthy goal and didn’t fail along the way. They may have achieved that goal but it likely didn’t happen the way they thought it would. For me, failing is one step closer to achieving my goals.


3. Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago?
I think being an older student I have experienced failure more than some of the students who are in their late teens and early twenties. That’s ok, I understand they have had plenty of failures in their life already too. What I would like to say to them is – continue failing – just don’t give up on what you truly want. It’s there for the taking and you will get it if you put in the work. I deal with failure not as a ‘word’. I look at it as a decision problem. Maybe I didn’t have enough data – next time I need more data. Maybe it was a communication issue – I need to communicate more clearly. I first and foremost always look at my failures to become better. A better person, professional, husband, father, or whatever it is that I am striving toward. I wouldn’t say that I am more likely to take risks today than I was a few months ago but I feel better equipped to take on larger risks, especially in business, than I was a few months ago. I have really enjoyed this class and learned a lot.

25A - What's Next?

What’s Next

Existing Market

The next component of my product is going to be focused on the breadth of the service I provide. With the initial application being distributed for free to obtain users I need to come up with revenue drivers. The options that I plan to test in my interviews will be:

1. Free – An application that allows you to create your business contact information and share it with others. This will include the ability to record a 30 sec video of introducing yourself.

2. Basic – The basic plan will be an upgrade and cost $3.99/mth with a discount for those who pay annually. The basic plan will allow users to customize the introductory message, so it can be personalized to the individual they are sharing their contact information with.

3. Premium – The premium plan will have all the features from the Free and Basic plans above but also include a re-contact feature that can be automated to reach out to prospects with a custom message. This upgrade will cost $5.99/mth.

Interviews

· Janice, Senior Director of Trade Sales

· Chris, Regional Sales Manager, Outbound Sales

· Lisa, VP of Online Sales

Reflection

When I interviewed Janice, I expected this to be my home run. It was not. She has been attending Trade Shows for over 15 years and her first reaction was “not another app”. That took me back a little, so I asked her how well her business cards performed. When she told me, “the goal is not necessarily for her to make the sale but to generate interest, so the prospect is driven to the website” this was a new angle I didn’t even think about. I asked her to explain a little more about how they track this, and she mentioned they typically setup special web pages for Trade Show individuals, so they can monitor progress via Google Analytics or some other tracking software. OK, so this means I may have multiple segments in the Trade Show area that I need to investigate.

Chris was more receptive from the very beginning. He explained to me that todays sales process needs to incorporate a more personalized and consultative based approach. He liked the idea of being able to customize the message to a customer but told me he would not have much need for the free version of the product based on this consultative approach. He didn’t think the price point was too high, which was great feedback, but he was very persistent on the metrics. He explained Sales are very much data centric. They live and breathe data at the management level so anything that shows strength or weakness through the process would be a big reason for him to use the application.

Lisa has managed all sorts of Sales teams throughout her 25-year career. She gave me great insight into how the role of Sales is evolving in small/medium sized companies. The focus is now shifting from focus on the initial sale to more of a customer centric/building relationship role, so those relationships can grow in the future with the customer expanding their purchases in the future. To do this they need good data and an understanding of the customer journey. Providing the customer with a digital contact card she thought was a good idea to create the relationship. Pricing seemed low to her due to the high-end products her teams are selling. She suggested I investigate a model that would provide all the features for free and the end user only pays a % when they make a sale. This sounds like a good idea, but I can’t wrap my head around how I would connect my app to their sales tools.



New Market

Since I am going after the B2B market I have decided the most logical choice for my new market would be B2C. Logical because this market will have to use my product to communicate with the Sales person that shared their business contact information with them. If I could limit the product to work in a B2B to B2B environment that would be ideal for the initial launch, but I am realistic and know that will not happen. Sales people will inevitably distribute contact cards to individual consumer prospects. Therefore, it is necessary for me to keep this in mind anyway.


Interviews

Wife, Medical Professional, loves to shop online

Brother, Engineer, dislikes sales people in general


Reflection
When I described my product to my wife the first thing she said was “I have no need to buy that, if the sales person is good, he/she will know when I need their service”. Okay, now I must build a mind reading application I thought to myself. Once we got around to a serious conversation it was clear that she would not pay for such an app. She did agree that she would download the app but only if it was a seamless experience and she didn’t have to do anything. She liked the idea about having a recorded conversation of the sales pitch, so she could go back and have record of the deal she was pitched. One other area that I didn’t think of is when she mentioned the app being able to reduce robo calls. Aha! This may be another area worth pursuing.

My brother gave me the agreed upon time of 15 minutes. In his mind he doesn’t want to speak to sales people in person – only if it’s necessary. He certainly wouldn’t pay money for the application and would only use it if the sales person he was communicating with had to use the application.


When I reflect upon these interviews, I still believe B2B is where the market is. However, I need to be aware that the end user the Sales person is speaking to may be the direct consumer.

This will cause me to review my feature set to make sure I have the right options available for each end user.

What surprised me the most and something worth looking into is the possibility of eliminating robo calls. If I can change the culture of sales and my application becomes the new “contact” norm then that is a game changer.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

· Business professionals that utilize business cards to establish contacts for future business opportunities.

· The need is not focused on the business card itself but rather what data and feedback the contact card can provide to the customer.

· Business cards today generate almost $400 million dollars in revenue. From the 10 billion cards that are printed, approximately 8 billion are thrown in the trash.

· The market opportunity is broad since this is a global issue. However, the problem can be solved with a narrower focus to get things off the ground – such as Trade Show Sales people in the US.

· Today the need is satisfied by individuals using manual processes, if they even track them, to monitor how many contacts they received from distributing their business cards.

· Given there are 10 billion business cards created in the US alone I would conservatively estimate the market to be approximately 10 – 30 billion users.

· I believe this problem will be solved within the next 5 years.

Innovation

· The product will not only retain contacts that would otherwise be lost due to end users that receive business cards throwing them away.

· The real power behind the product is the performance reporting. Business professionals will be able to tell when their contact information was used, who reviewed it, what did they review, how long, and other details a static paper business card cannot provide.

· Individuals will download the application from an Android or Apple store initially. I will only launch in one for the MVP. There will be a simple setup procedure for the user to enter their contact information. Individuals that would like to receive a business card will be given a QR code to scan if they do not have the app (which they likely won’t until market saturation occurs). Once they have the app individuals can accept contact cards from anyone that has the app. The distributor of the contact card will be able to record a customized message for the recipient along with personal notes they can record for recall. The real power will be noticed through the performance tracking within the app. The business owner will be able to see how many times someone has viewed their contact information after they have distributed it. Who looked at it. Recall the conversation they had with that individual and all conversations that may have occurred in the past.

· How will you make money from it (what are you selling and for how much)?

· Revenue generation from the app is still an open question. However, this is a good thing as there are multiple models to choose from. The app itself will be downloaded for free. This way there’s no initial cut to pay to 3rd parties like Apple or Google. Right now, the thought is to allow the sharing of the business contacts for free as the initial creation is what costs money on the app and not sharing (sending) the information. We are still deciding on a Freemium model or a model that will expose more feature/functionality for paid vs. free users.

Venture Concept

· My innovation will solve the lack of feedback provided by paper stock business cards by turning them into digital contact cards that can track usage.

· Why will customers buy my innovation

· Customers will buy my innovation because they will be able to determine how and when their contact cards are performing.

· Customers will switch to my product because they will be able to define the right customer to distribute their business cards too. They will be able to use data to figure out what type of customer responds vs. those that just take the business card and throw it way.

· Since the contact card will be digital and most (if not all) of these individuals use smart phones I don’t see a problem with them switching from paper to digital.

· There are some smaller companies out there pursuing this opportunity, but the biggest competition is Vistaprint. They have a tight grip on the paper business market today and if they get their act together and focus on digital it will be hard for entrepreneurs like me to compete. Because they are so big is also a weakness – it takes much longer for them to turn things around and test in the market.

· Pricing is a big component to this venture. It is inexpensive today to buy business cards which is one of the reasons the industry hasn’t changed. Distribution is key as it must be very easy for individuals to share their contact information. Customer experience and customer support are always important no matter what type of business you are in.

· How would you organize the business to support ongoing production? How many employees? What roles are there in the venture?

· To begin this venture, I would need to start with two individuals. One to lead the technology efforts such as coding the app and getting the website up and running. The second would be myself leading the rest of the business efforts including customer service. I would look to bring in some other partners in a short time frame as I believe time to market is key to the success of this business given the competition that already exists. Since money will be tight this will have to be investment for stake in the company. Not my ideal approach but I have a lot of people I have worked with for many years that I trust would put the business first knowing the rewards ahead.

Unfair Advantage:

· The secret sauce in this application is delivering ROI to individuals that use the product. To make this happen several components, such as the analytics, the success plan, and recording revenue gained must be integrated.

What’s Next:

· Once I have it out to a single segment, I would like to expand to another and eventually across the US.

For Me:

Five years from now I would like to have exited the business and working on a new venture.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Human Capital – With over 20 years’ experience in technology and business I bring a lot of insight into product development.

a. Valuable: It’s very valuable to have this much experience.

b. Rare: I don’t believe it’s rare, but I have a lot of knowledge in all aspects of business.

c. Inimitable: Only with a similar background experience.

d. Non-substitutable: I don’t believe the exact experience is substitutable but similar experience can be found.

2. Human Capital – I have an extreme work ethic that drives me to work for very long hours and under extreme pressure.

a. Valuable: I believe this to be very valuable.

b. Rare: Not as rare as I would like it to be but there’s more individuals, I have met with very little work ethic.

c. Inimitable: I believe it is very hard to imitate the work ethic that I have.

d. Non-substitutable: It could be substituted by another person with a strong work ethic.

3. Social Capital – As a member of several application development focus groups I will be able to get early feedback on my ideas.

a. Valuable: This social network is very valuable

b. Rare: It is not rare. A lot of technology forums and groups are available.

c. Inimitable: This can be imitated with a similar social network.

d. Non-substitutable: Substitutes can be found.

4. Social Capital – My network of colleagues past and present have long term experience in every aspect of business from M&A, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Customer experience.

a. Valuable: It is extremely valuable to have this type of network. I can call on many individuals for financial, marketing, sales, and other advice.

b. Rare: I do not believe this is rare, but it does take time to build these connections.

c. Inimitable: This can be imitated through consulting services.

d. Non-substitutable: This can be substituted.

5. Social Capital – Partnering with many corporations over my twenty years of experience allows me to get my foot in the door easier so I can pitch my product. All of them currently use business cards in one way or another.

a. Valuable: Very valuable given that I need to get my product to other businesses.

b. Rare: This is not rare.

c. Inimitable: This can be imitated over time but I have a jump start knowing so many individuals.

d. Non-substitutable: This cannot be substituted but could be replicated with connections over time.

6. Social Capital – My closest friends are all application developers with many years of experience. They have already expressed interest in helping me with the project and some have expressed interest in joining the venture.

a. Valuable: Very valuable when it comes to building the application.

b. Rare: This is not rare.

c. Inimitable: This type of relationship can be imitated.

d. Non-substitutable: This can be substituted.

7. Financial Capital – I have been fortunate enough to put away enough funds that I can use to get the venture off the ground. I estimate that I can run the business for one full year with my current funding.

a. Valuable: Very valuable.

b. Rare: Not rare but it provides a bit of a head start without getting into debt.

c. Inimitable: It can be imitated with fundraising/grants.

d. Non-substitutable: This can be substituted for ownership and favors.

8. Financial Capital – I have an excellent credit score and a great relationship with a small credit union I have been using for over 30 years.

a. Valuable: Extremely.

b. Rare: It is rare today as most of the funding comes from large banks.

c. Inimitable: It can be over time but it takes a long time to build these relationships.

d. Non-substitutable: This cannot be substituted.

9. Operations – I have a home office that I can work out of and the business can be operated initially in a virtual environment.

a. Valuable: This is valuable as it keeps costs low.

b. Rare: It is not rare.

c. Inimitable: It can be imitated.

d. Non-substitutable: It can be substituted but will likely add to overall costs.

10. Operations – I already own the hardware/software necessary to build the product.

a. Valuable: This is also valuable to prevent new costs.

b. Rare: It is not rare.

c. Inimitable: It can be imitated.

d. Non-substitutable: It can be substituted with cloud storage/application development.

After completing the VRIN analysis I have a couple to choose from but the most important one that sticks out to me is my social capital. The people I have built networks with are going to be extremely important in this venture.

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

I received some great feedback from Elevator Pitch 1 & 2. The most valuable being that I had to extrapolate on the solution. I decided to do this by pitching for the follow up call based on a $400 million dollar market potential and the estimated cost to create a MVP.

My video for Elevator Pitch 3 is located below:

21A - Reading Reflection 2

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The book that I read for this reflection was Mindset. The reason I chose the book was because the subject can be used in business and personal life. The general theme of the book is there are two mindsets 1) Fixed Mindset 2) Growth Mindset. A fixed mindset is one that believes we are inherently born with qualities such as intelligence and talent. With this mindset individuals don’t believe they have to cultivate these qualities. The opposite is true for individuals with a growth mindset. They believe that the basic qualities they have need to be challenged to grow.


2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

The book connected with what we have learned mostly because we have seen numerous examples of individual entrepreneurs follow the growth mindset. They work extremely hard, fail, work harder, fail, and continue to work even harder. To be a successful entrepreneur you must have a growth mindset. To be an entrepreneur you must challenge your ego. Accept that you will fall but have the will to get back up and go again.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would use an example that was used in the book and one that I challenged my daughter with. I would create a small number of questions that ask specifically why an individual would ask these questions. The answer to these questions would indicate if you are more prone to be of a fixed or growth mindset.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

I think my biggest aha moment reading the book was understanding how many people that I know think a specific way. When I understood the concept, it became very clear to me why these people acted the way they did. The second aha moment was discovering that they did not have to have a fixed mindset. With practice, even in parenting, we change the way individuals look at challenges and approach them in a different way.

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert

1. Who they are, what their background is: 

• Elaine, Director of Tradeshow Sales. She has spent 15yrs is selling business software such as accounting, CRM, and lately Cloud solutions for Customer Success. 

2. How this person is a “domain expert”: 

• She travels around the country and meets with a lot of individuals during tradeshows. Each new person she meets she gives them her business card. 

3. How I found and contacted this person:

• A work colleague gave me her contact information as I am evaluating Customer Success software for the company I work for. 

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

• She answered my questions about the value of the business cards she uses today and gave me some ideas about how I could make them better. In return I agreed to sit through a demo of her product. 

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

• She also agreed to be a “beta tester” should I get my idea off the ground 😊 

Market Expert

1. Who they are, what their background is:

• Jon, Senior Product Specialist at Salesforce. He has worked for Salesforce for 9yrs. 

2. How this person is a “market expert”:

• His main focus is attracting B2B customers to his platform with the intent on improving sales within their organizations. 

3. How I found and contacted this person:

• We utilize Salesforce in our organization and he is one of our account specialists. 

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

• I explained my idea and asked him for feedback on how I could possibly make it better. He gave me some suggestions about using existing technologies and the idea of creating an integration with Salesforce itself. That was something that I did not even contemplate. 

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

• He said he would be happy to review my product when it I am ready to share it and if I wanted to look at integrating it with Salesforce he would be happy to point me in the right direction. 

Industry Supplier

1. Who they are, what their background is:

• Denise, Account Manager with Vistaprint. 

2. How this person is an “industry supplier”:

• Vistaprint is one the largest producers of business cards in the US. 

3. How I found and contacted this person:

• I have worked with Denise during partnerships with my company and Vistaprint. I haven’t spoken to her for a year or so but we keep in touch via email every once in a while. 

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

• This was a little bit of a weird conversation as in truth, my product will directly compete with them and if successful could put an end to paper business cards. She was very open and although she couldn’t tell me if Vistaprint are working on something similar she did say they have some exciting things in the pipe. In return I agreed to order a new batch of ‘paper’ business cards ☹ 

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

• I am not quite sure how this will enhance my ability to exploit the opportunity yet, but I am going to try to get more market data if I can. 

Finally Reflect: This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

This was a great experience talking to others with connections in the industry. It opened my eyes to how willing people are to talk about what they do and problems they have that I can help solve. My other networking experiences where good in their own way but I didn’t get as much market/industry insight than what I did this time around.

19A - Idea Napkin 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

My name is James Lang. I am an older online student and I have been an aspiring entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I say aspiring because my efforts always focused on a short term need to move forward at a very specific time in my life. I have been fortunate enough to work for a company that sows my entrepreneurial spirit with a safety net. Business and technology are what excites me. Combining both and being successful at it really excites me. I have failed more times than succeeded in my ventures but that’s what drives me. I have created products that have taken off and more that did not. My experience in the field is a key asset that I have, and my business maturity continues to evolve every day. This is an opportunity for me to test my abilities, years of learning, and give back. I am going to fall on my face and that is exciting!

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

In my previous posts I outlined that the business card market spends approximately $400 million per year with a waste of $352 million because people throw these business cards away. I am still working on verifying the facts around the environmental impact but so far it seems to be approximately 6 million trees needed to create this volume. What I am offering is an environmentally friendly way for B2B and B2C to utilize a product that is focused and measured on driving results for a fraction of the cost. A digital communication card that is dynamic to each recipient based on the moment the information was received. A communication channel for these individuals to stay in touch, negotiate, and build a relationship. The key to this digital information card is driving results with proven ROI to owners.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

B2B – This will be the initial market I will target. Corporations that spend money for their employees to carry around business cards that produce very little in return. This market will spend the most upfront and already see very little in return, so this will be my test market. To enter this market, I will focus on Sales managers.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will pay you money to use your product or service.

Given that 88% of traditional business cards are thrown away within the first week I believe there’s a compelling argument for a product that performs better than what they are used to today. If I told you that 88% of your groceries would be thrown in the trash within a week would you buy the same thing again? No, you would look for an alternative. Do you remember the conversation you had with the piano repair guy a year ago (true story) and what he quoted you? No – I have a business card with a phone number and that’s it. Recollection of some sort of price but nothing concrete. My product will create a loose relationship with recall on the conversation that can be used to pick up where parties left off no matter how long ago. It also provides individuals distributing their information a way to analyze the performance of their distribution. Take that one step higher at the corporation level and executives can monitor performance against distribution to see who their top employees are – those that know who their market is!

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

I have been in business for 20 years. I have been a Product Manager, IT Manager, Customer Service Rep, Project Manager, Director of UX Design, and currently a VP of Customer Success. I have worked in a private company with 400 employees downsizing to 70 and losing $750k/mth. Rebuilding the company as a senior leader to 3000 employees and going public. Along the way acquiring many companies to sustain growth.

I know what it takes to go from nothing to something and beyond. It is brutal at times and sometimes not a lot of fun. However, it can be magical if you believe. You get the right people together, everyone believes the mountain can be conquered, and you are willing to give it your all – it’s an amazing ride you will never forget!

Paragraphs 1 and 5 fit together as they speak about you and your competencies. Paragraphs 2-4 also fit together as forces you to focus on the product, the market, and why someone would pay for your product in the first place. If you don’t have these defined it is likely a weak idea.

The feedback I received was mostly encouraging and offered guidance to “un-complicate” things and provide a more descriptive solution. With this advice I decided to narrow down my target market and more importantly focus on the problem – proving ROI – instead of the solution.