How to Increase Interest in Your Start-Up and Product Concept

January 5, 2010

What would you give to have the insight of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or Sam Walton? If you could ask these people just one question, what would it be? What was the most valuable business lesson they learned during the early stages of their companies? A start up is the ultimate challenge of a professional career. It is difficult to just get one started, much less make it successful. So here is some advice I collected from various experts on the subject.

Choosing Your Product and Funding Path

VCs are only interested in investing in companies offering prospects of netting 1000 percent returns. So unless you’ve indentified a path to building a billion dollar company, and are prepared to confront the complexities associated with accomplishing that, choose a different path. If you conclude that the VC-funded path is impractical or not your preferred trajectory, don’t target your venture where you will be competing head-to-head with companies that have raised megabucks from VCs. That tends to be a recipe for an untimely demise. – MARK SIGAL

Innovation

Innovations are like genetic mutations. Most of them are mistakes. Most fail. What we have around us are only the innovations that have succeeded. – BILL BONNER and ADDISON WIGGIN

The install base acts as a giant counter measure to any innovation that might perturb it. Instead of innovation, the world wants low-cost, integration and ease of use today. — ANONYMOUS

Innovation comes from freedom. It comes from those who are obligated to no one. It comes from people who are responsible only to themselves. –W. EDWARDS DEMING

The irony of innovation is that people want to be on the cutting edge; they want the latest technology; they pine for the next new thing. Time and again, when confronted with the next new thing, they resist it tooth and nail. People simply cannot imagine needing or using anything they haven’t experienced – unless it is explained in terms they already know and love. – ANNE MILLER

Selling the Truly Innovative, Unproven and New Product Ideas

The trick to selling something brand new – something no one has experienced or seen before – is to visualize it in the context of the familiar images. The dirty little secret about the human brain it’s still wired to respond more to the emotional than cognitive, more to the visual than the verbal. What gets our attention, what sticks in our memory, what moves us is to see and consequently feel. The lesson for sales people: you have greater impact when you use words that create images in your listener’s mind. – ANNE MILLER

Selling the Product Ideas that has been Tried Before

I have seen countless product proposals that were tried and failed in the past; selling these concepts is tough. It’s uphill all the way.

Your client may have had a bad experience with a product similar to yours and he cannot shake the conviction that is such products are flawed. His skepticism won’t be pushed aside by another explanation, it isn’t based on reason. You need him to see your product in a whole new light. This type of resistance is subjective and is not easily overcome and won’t be dislodged with facts. – ANNE MILLER

Listeners cut short the sales person who is not concise and they tune out the presenter who shovels out details. – ANNE MILLER