5 ms·

How to Find and Recruit a Killer Advisory Board

26 points by earbitscom 15y ago

benologist 15y ago
Unless your goal is to just be the online radio some subset of HN users listen to you guys really need a better marketing strategy than churning out blog posts for HN. There's a bunch of music sites and blogs, work your contacts and get cuddly with anyone who can get your startup on or referenced on those sites where tons of music aficionados can click thru and see earbits the music startup, not earbits the blog about startups.
- ericflo 15y ago
  What makes you assume that blog posts are all they're doing? Wouldn't it be better to assume that these blog posts are just a small fraction of their marketing strategy?
  - benologist 15y ago
    I don't know what they're doing elsewhere but they're certainly laying it on thick and strong here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2574303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2574303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2572001 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2572001 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2569660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2569660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2565564 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2565564 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2564939 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2564939 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2561226 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2561226 and of course this one, within the last 4 days.
  - ericflo 15y ago
    Since people don't typically act irrationally, why not assume that if they're still doing it, it's because it's working by some metric that they're measuring? I guess I just don't understand the default-hostile attitude.
    - jamesbritt 15y ago
      Since people don't typically act irrationally, ... No? I see it all the time. Not with everything, but at least a few things, especially when something is near and dear to the heart. People often believe the things they really want to be true, and rational calculation doesn't figure into it. Not to say that the Earbits wave is or is not based on some measured plan, just that repetition of behavior is no indication that someone has made a rational judgement. In any event, the user 'earbitscom' is clearly interested in one thing: http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=earbitscom http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=earbitscom
      - ericflo 15y ago
        Sorry, I should have specified that I was using the word rational in this way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory namely, "that an individual acts as if balancing costs against benefits to arrive at action that maximizes personal advantage"
        jamesbritt 15y ago
        Right. I'm rejecting that claim. Quite often people do things that clearly do not fit rational choice theory.
        earbitscom 15y ago
        Okay, let's just stop the speculation. My team is focused on all kinds of marketing. We were just written up in TheNextWeb, were just interviewed by Earwolff, were on Eye On Business in Orange County, have closed two very large marketing partnerships scheduled to launch soon, as well as are launching some great contests designed to draw eyeballs. We've written 29 blog posts in May, 65-75% of them are album reviews, recaps of the week's new music releases and information about festivals and concerts. The other 25 are either about startups, music industry chat, or both. Has it proven beneficial to us to write about our startup experience and post to HN? Yes, it has. And based on the number of votes our posts have received, people find the information valuable. We'll try not to make it so frequent that it's annoying, but the content is relevant for this forum and it has driven some great, very feedback-oriented tech people to our website, which is important for not only early adopter traffic but also getting smart people to tell us what they think of our product. In other words, it's not the core of our marketing plan, but it's not an accident and we'll try not to abuse it. Thanks.
- OoTheNigerian 15y ago
  I think the posts have quite a lot of value and are really relevant to this audience.
skmurphy 15y ago
If you can get introduced it's normally more effective than an e-mail.
- earbitscom 15y ago
  That's absolutely true. Some people don't yet have those connections, just like we didn't, and I think you can still shoot for those people. It's different than investors, who almost never take meetings with people they don't know. The kind of advisor you want to work with should be friendly enough to respond to someone they have never met, and probably doesn't get the volume of email that an investor gets. That's been my experience anyway.
  - skmurphy 15y ago
    E-mail is easy to send but is not as effective as an introduction for that reason. You might see if you know someone in common and ask them to introduce you. Expecting an advisor to be friendly to strangers is a high bar.Ditto if you are trying to reach prospects or partners.

26 points by earbitscom 15y ago

Unless your goal is to just be the online radio some subset of HN users listen to you guys really need a better marketing strategy than churning out blog posts for HN. There's a bunch of music sites and blogs, work your contacts and get cuddly with anyone who can get your startup on or referenced on those sites where tons of music aficionados can click thru and see earbits the music startup, not earbits the blog about startups.

ericflo 15y ago
What makes you assume that blog posts are all they're doing? Wouldn't it be better to assume that these blog posts are just a small fraction of their marketing strategy?
- benologist 15y ago
  I don't know what they're doing elsewhere but they're certainly laying it on thick and strong here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2574303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2574303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2572001 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2572001 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2569660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2569660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2565564 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2565564 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2564939 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2564939 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2561226 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2561226 and of course this one, within the last 4 days.
- ericflo 15y ago
  Since people don't typically act irrationally, why not assume that if they're still doing it, it's because it's working by some metric that they're measuring? I guess I just don't understand the default-hostile attitude.
  - jamesbritt 15y ago
    Since people don't typically act irrationally, ... No? I see it all the time. Not with everything, but at least a few things, especially when something is near and dear to the heart. People often believe the things they really want to be true, and rational calculation doesn't figure into it. Not to say that the Earbits wave is or is not based on some measured plan, just that repetition of behavior is no indication that someone has made a rational judgement. In any event, the user 'earbitscom' is clearly interested in one thing: http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=earbitscom http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=earbitscom
    - ericflo 15y ago
      Sorry, I should have specified that I was using the word rational in this way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory namely, "that an individual acts as if balancing costs against benefits to arrive at action that maximizes personal advantage"
      - jamesbritt 15y ago
        Right. I'm rejecting that claim. Quite often people do things that clearly do not fit rational choice theory.
        earbitscom 15y ago
        Okay, let's just stop the speculation. My team is focused on all kinds of marketing. We were just written up in TheNextWeb, were just interviewed by Earwolff, were on Eye On Business in Orange County, have closed two very large marketing partnerships scheduled to launch soon, as well as are launching some great contests designed to draw eyeballs. We've written 29 blog posts in May, 65-75% of them are album reviews, recaps of the week's new music releases and information about festivals and concerts. The other 25 are either about startups, music industry chat, or both. Has it proven beneficial to us to write about our startup experience and post to HN? Yes, it has. And based on the number of votes our posts have received, people find the information valuable. We'll try not to make it so frequent that it's annoying, but the content is relevant for this forum and it has driven some great, very feedback-oriented tech people to our website, which is important for not only early adopter traffic but also getting smart people to tell us what they think of our product. In other words, it's not the core of our marketing plan, but it's not an accident and we'll try not to abuse it. Thanks.
OoTheNigerian 15y ago
I think the posts have quite a lot of value and are really relevant to this audience.

skmurphy 15y ago

If you can get introduced it's normally more effective than an e-mail.

earbitscom 15y ago
That's absolutely true. Some people don't yet have those connections, just like we didn't, and I think you can still shoot for those people. It's different than investors, who almost never take meetings with people they don't know. The kind of advisor you want to work with should be friendly enough to respond to someone they have never met, and probably doesn't get the volume of email that an investor gets. That's been my experience anyway.
- skmurphy 15y ago
  E-mail is easy to send but is not as effective as an introduction for that reason. You might see if you know someone in common and ask them to introduce you. Expecting an advisor to be friendly to strangers is a high bar.Ditto if you are trying to reach prospects or partners.