8 ms·

Can I ask what you are looking for in terms of stories? Sector? I'm a B2B guy - so I never build anything until I have ~1M~2M/year in soft commitments. Then as

by ci5er 9y ago

Can I ask what you are looking for in terms of stories? Sector? I'm a B2B guy - so I never build anything until I have ~1M~2M/year in soft commitments. Then as I build it, I try to get the soft commitments to sign-off on early purchases (at a discount). Usually - where it gets hard - is customer support if the "B"s you are selling into have a lot of employees that need a lot of handholding. That is a 24x7 hell that you don't want to deal with (but that I don't know how to avoid).

alex_hitchins 9y ago
At the moment I'm leaving myself open to any good oportuity that comes along. I have a feeling B2B would be easier however this is only based on my assumptions. I'll not be in the position of getting anywhere near those figures you shoot for and considering this will be my first, I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I've just spent all my career to date (15 years +) building products for other people that I feel I know enough to do my own. Again, it all comes down to finding that need. This is where physical networking and schmoozing pay off, sadly not my forte!
- ci5er 9y ago
  I hear you. I had a pretty amazing job at Motorola (remember them? :-) ) when I moved back to the US from Japan. They wanted me to run around the world (on their credit card) to figure out what business they needed to be next. I found one. They didn't get it. I ended up quitting: "Fine - I will do it myself". I remember the first meetings I had a 6.30am or 7.00am at breakfast places with VCs... They would listen and then (essentially) pat me on my head and say: "You're a nice boy. Go back to being an engineering cube-monkey". It was so frustrating. I did not know what I was doing. I was a fairly competent engineer - but I did not know the code-words for the VC-world or the business-world (and there is definitely a tribal language). Finally - mostly by luck - I found a guy to partner with. We ended up raising $100M, before we got caught in the back-wash of the dot-com implosion (we weren't a dot-com, but it didn't matter). Now - I know how to speak their language to them. But I will say: It's hard. The only way to learn is to get into it. Go try to sell. Fail. Get dirty. You'll figure it out. I believe in you! :-) EDIT: I do remember this. This was the 90s, but I remember that I pitched customer-types and investor-types about 2000 times in about 350 days (a year). I am an engineer, not a sales-type, so this was uncomfortable. But I updated my/our pitch deck after every meeting. You do get better with practice. It sounds cold, but I would say: "Hit The Road".
  - alex_hitchins 9y ago
    Thanks for your posts, very encouraging and all good advice. I'm going to booststrap for the first one. As you say, try > fail, try again > fail, try yet again > modicum of interest. Really is good to hear your words of encouragement.
    - ci5er 9y ago
      Seriously - good luck. IF I knew then, what I know now - I would be too afraid to start. But all progress is made by people who are not too afraid to start. I wish you all the luck and fortune in the world.
  - Denzel 9y ago
    Can you provide any links or books that'd provide guidance on speaking "their language"? Seems like a wonderful opportunity to educate. I'd love to learn more as someone that tried to raise money, albeit from a smaller sample (~50 engagements), and failed miserably.
    - ci5er 9y ago
      That's a great question. Let me go through my collection and see if I can find any that might provide guidance. I found that it was like a fraternity, though. I only learned it by hanging out with them. Kind of like how doctors call bruises 'hematoma's. They all know what it means, but it wouldn't occur to us normies to call it that. If that book doesn't exist, maybe somebody should write it!
      - acct1771 9y ago
        Assuming you believe you aren't able to secure commitments >$1M in publisher cash for that book, then?
        ci5er 9y ago
        Does that exist for tech books?
ericb 9y ago
Not the op, but any chance I could ping you for some advice on this soft commitments stage and your approach? edit: My details are also in my bio if you want to shoot me an email.
- alex_hitchins 9y ago
  Ditto - be interested in this side too. If you don't want to post to all my details are in my bio. Fascinating to hear how this area is conducted.
  - Flavius 9y ago
    I would be interested to learn more about this, though I suspect that this approach is actually harder. From my experience companies will not even bother to try your product unless you're already selling to consumers or other companies. You really need some deep connections in order to get anything started with a company before you have a product.
    - g10r 9y ago
      Connections certainly help but aren't required. You need grit and a solution (or an idea of a solution) that's solving a pain point worth paying to alleviate. Ideally 10x better and cheaper than what's currently in the market. At first, you will be the salesperson and you have to realize that comes with a lot of rejection.

by ci5er 9y ago

alex_hitchins 9y ago

At the moment I'm leaving myself open to any good oportuity that comes along. I have a feeling B2B would be easier however this is only based on my assumptions. I'll not be in the position of getting anywhere near those figures you shoot for and considering this will be my first, I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I've just spent all my career to date (15 years +) building products for other people that I feel I know enough to do my own. Again, it all comes down to finding that need. This is where physical networking and schmoozing pay off, sadly not my forte!

ci5er 9y ago
I hear you. I had a pretty amazing job at Motorola (remember them? :-) ) when I moved back to the US from Japan. They wanted me to run around the world (on their credit card) to figure out what business they needed to be next. I found one. They didn't get it. I ended up quitting: "Fine - I will do it myself". I remember the first meetings I had a 6.30am or 7.00am at breakfast places with VCs... They would listen and then (essentially) pat me on my head and say: "You're a nice boy. Go back to being an engineering cube-monkey". It was so frustrating. I did not know what I was doing. I was a fairly competent engineer - but I did not know the code-words for the VC-world or the business-world (and there is definitely a tribal language). Finally - mostly by luck - I found a guy to partner with. We ended up raising $100M, before we got caught in the back-wash of the dot-com implosion (we weren't a dot-com, but it didn't matter). Now - I know how to speak their language to them. But I will say: It's hard. The only way to learn is to get into it. Go try to sell. Fail. Get dirty. You'll figure it out. I believe in you! :-) EDIT: I do remember this. This was the 90s, but I remember that I pitched customer-types and investor-types about 2000 times in about 350 days (a year). I am an engineer, not a sales-type, so this was uncomfortable. But I updated my/our pitch deck after every meeting. You do get better with practice. It sounds cold, but I would say: "Hit The Road".
- alex_hitchins 9y ago
  Thanks for your posts, very encouraging and all good advice. I'm going to booststrap for the first one. As you say, try > fail, try again > fail, try yet again > modicum of interest. Really is good to hear your words of encouragement.
  - ci5er 9y ago
    Seriously - good luck. IF I knew then, what I know now - I would be too afraid to start. But all progress is made by people who are not too afraid to start. I wish you all the luck and fortune in the world.
- Denzel 9y ago
  Can you provide any links or books that'd provide guidance on speaking "their language"? Seems like a wonderful opportunity to educate. I'd love to learn more as someone that tried to raise money, albeit from a smaller sample (~50 engagements), and failed miserably.
  - ci5er 9y ago
    That's a great question. Let me go through my collection and see if I can find any that might provide guidance. I found that it was like a fraternity, though. I only learned it by hanging out with them. Kind of like how doctors call bruises 'hematoma's. They all know what it means, but it wouldn't occur to us normies to call it that. If that book doesn't exist, maybe somebody should write it!
    - acct1771 9y ago
      Assuming you believe you aren't able to secure commitments >$1M in publisher cash for that book, then?
      - ci5er 9y ago
        Does that exist for tech books?

ericb 9y ago

Not the op, but any chance I could ping you for some advice on this soft commitments stage and your approach? edit: My details are also in my bio if you want to shoot me an email.

alex_hitchins 9y ago
Ditto - be interested in this side too. If you don't want to post to all my details are in my bio. Fascinating to hear how this area is conducted.
- Flavius 9y ago
  I would be interested to learn more about this, though I suspect that this approach is actually harder. From my experience companies will not even bother to try your product unless you're already selling to consumers or other companies. You really need some deep connections in order to get anything started with a company before you have a product.
  - g10r 9y ago
    Connections certainly help but aren't required. You need grit and a solution (or an idea of a solution) that's solving a pain point worth paying to alleviate. Ideally 10x better and cheaper than what's currently in the market. At first, you will be the salesperson and you have to realize that comes with a lot of rejection.