Many presentations are presented by people who suffer from a disease I call “business speak” which grates on me like fingernails on a chalk board.
“Business speak” words, phases and jargon, tossed around by a writer or a lecturer/speaker/presenter, as shorthand, make the article/presentation tedious to read or to listen. Often the trite terms are used out of context when a more precise word should be used. Most importantly, the use of business speak removes all originality or creativity from the article or presentation. It’s like saying “You know… you know… you know…”
Business speak phrases to be banned:
“thinking out of the box”- this ridiculously overused phrase has become so ubiquitous that its mere use, ironically, now demonstrates that the writer or speaker is not thinking outside the box, but instead, is locked up inside the box, going down the same old rout path.
“siloing”- too often used as a shorthand from describing the problem with individuals or agencies working independently when, for whatever reason, they should be working together, for an integrated solution to some problem. However, the term is most often used to describe a relationship between two or more entities, without diving more deeply into the issues of why there is independence among entities.
“Just north of…” - (to describe a value, number, or figure, e.g. the national debt is just north of one trillion dollars). Use it once in a presentation and I am fine with it. Use it “north of one time” and now you have annoyed me with your lack of creativity.
“mission critical”- again, use it once. Cool. More than once, not so good.
“workspace” (”space”) - just overly used. Often in discussions which are overly general, superficial and vague. If you want to grab someone’s attention, at some point you need to be specific. So focus, focus, focus. Otherwise your article or presentation become business fluff.
“color blind society” - (to describe a world in which discrimination does not exist) As someone who suffers from the affliction of colorblindness, I find it offensive to use the term, in such a heartless manner. All kidding aside, the ironic thing is that it is used in a scientifically, incorrect manner. Even if, arguendo, we were all color blind, we still could distinguish black from white. In other words, we still could distinguish a black person from a white person. So, in fact, the phrase “color blind society” is not only offensive but completely inaccurate to describe a world in which one would not make determinations based on color of ones skin, with the proviso that people are not red-brown or blue-green.
We have a special edition of our startup podcast this week as we are joined by start-up entrepreneur Bill Hunt. L ast week Gabrielle posted a synopsis of Bill’s discussion on fundraising for your startup. We discussed the salient points of Gabrielle’s post with Bill and asked some additional questions on fund raising, venture capital, start-up patents and making your pitch stand out.
Please write in with any questions or comments for Bill or our regular contributors.
I hear this question often from new clients. It’s as if the magic Google bullet will cure all website ills. Often these clients could spend time and money elsewhere, like improving conversion, making their site easier to use, or adding another site. But those are topics for another post.
Today, we discuss the same thing that I have been discussing for years: “Content is King”, meaning that the more information you provide on your website the better chance someone will find it. Google has long ranked sites with lots of pages highly. In addition to links from other websites, content is one of the most important factors in search engine optimization.
In addition, lots of content is not just for SEO, it is helpful to customers who want to make an informed decision about your products and services. You can develop strong customer relationships if you’re site becomes a trusted source for information.
Sites such as hubpages.com and about.com are good examples. These sites list many topics in a structured, deep hierarchy on their site. Due to the large number of pages in these sites, they often gain front page status on many Google searches.
In a future post we will discuss content on social networking sites and how that is the Queen to your King. But until then, go write another couple of informative fact filled pages on your site today.
This may be the question of the day, but not necessarily the first you should be asking yourself. When it comes to promoting your company, the first question I encourage people to ask is “why”. Why am I or my company getting involved and what, if anything, do I (we) intend to contribute? In essence, I’m asking that you consider what your social media strategy is and define in detail what you want to get out of it.
Define, evaluate, observe and engage
Define – What do I want to get out of participating? Why am I here? To listen and discover? To stay on top of trends? To promote and educate? To sell?
Evaluate – See what social media tools are available and which align with your company objectives. Research and discover where your audience is, they may not be where you think.
Observe - Follow thought leaders, competitors and companies with a purpose driven strategy for social media. Listen and discover what is being said in your industry and by your target audience.
Engage – Decide which media is right for you and get started. Remember to be consistent and that the purpose of any social media involvement is to enable a more interactive relationship between people.
Putting together a social media strategy, like any other business strategy, will help greatly in gaining a faster return on your investment. Design your strategy with a specific business purpose in mind. Let’s face it, although many of the social tools are free, the time it takes to truly engage and get the most from this opportunity can be significant but at the same time very rewarding if you’ve defined your goals and measurements of success ahead of time.
What happens when a product or process is erroneously labeled “patent pending” and it is not? This occurs more often than one may think. Not surprisingly, it is illegal to intentional mislabel a product as “patent pending” if a patent has not been filed, if the mislabeling is done with the purpose to deceive the public. The penalty is a maximum of $500.00 per mislabeling act so one can easily envision this fine adding up quickly if you ship a lot of products which are mislabeled. Ship 10,000 mislabeled products and you could be looking at a maximum of a $ 5,000,000 fine.
What do you do if you inadvertently discover that you labeled something as “patent pending” and, in fact, no patent has been filed? Again, this happens more often then you may imagine. Serendipitously, this issue just came up today. Consider the following, typically fact pattern. You intend to file a patent application before you roll out new software. As a result, within the software start-up screen is the label, “patent pending.” However, right before you roll out the new software, the world economy falls apart, and you are short of capital resources, so you decide to release the software without first filing a patent application. Unfortunately, you fail to realize that the software includes the label “patent pending.”
Based on the facts as outlined above, there was no intent to deceive the public. Nevertheless, you have mislabeled the product as “patent pending” and it is not. Rather than pulling all product from the store shelves, one simple solution would be to file a patent application is relatively short order, after you discover the inadvertent mislabeling. (See future posts regarding the timing of when to file a patent application.) Please note, failure to remedy the oversight within a reasonably time after it is discovered could be used as evidence that you did intend to deceive. Should you discover that you have mislabeled a product or process, it is recommended that you consult a patent attorney so that he or she can review the specific facts of you case and advise you accordingly.
Fumble Free Demo: There’s nothing worse than an awesome concept, strategy, and months of development than stumbling when presenting your idea to the public, or worse, venture capitalists. Use your friends, peers, small sample groups to practice your “elevator pitch” and get your demo to work 100% no matter the conditions that may be present. Don’t rely on anthing, don’t assume there will be power or internet access. Prepare as if you are presenting outside in the rain. You never know when that one “big” opportunity will come to knock it out of the park so get it right every time.
Also the demo should be impactful but short. You want to leave with the audience wanting to ask questions and learn more about what you’re doing. Try and keep it under 10 minutes if possible which should provide time to explain the concept, impact to user(s), and then quick demo. Don’t cover too much but be prepared to answer obvious questions such as monetization strategy, time to release, problems in development and if solved, etc.
Not everything has been solved, Google is not the best at everything.
I am surprised at the number of people with entrepreneurial spirit that discount any new idea, just because “its already been done”. Or “Google already does that”. Search is still in its infancy, its still barely works in my opinion. Here is a test you can do right now, find the best doctor/hotel/restaurant in your town for what you need right now.
If you search Google for the answers to the above, you may find general answers from many different people each with their own opinion and views, or you might not find an answer at all. Even if you do find an answer, more often than not, those views are not the same as yours.
The missing piece is personalization - the content that links you to the answer. The part that is the right answer for you and, potentially, no one else. Each person has unique situations, needs, and goals. What is the right restaurant or doctor or hotel for one, is not right for all.
If you have an idea, it need to address someone’s pain, and it has to solve that problem. It doesn’t matter that it is loosely grouped into “search” or another topic that is already “done”. Go out, address a pain and build a solution, especially if its around personalization on the web.
The Silicon Valley New Tech Meetup finished this month’s event strong with a wonderful presentation on fundraising by Bill Hunt, entrepreneur at large. Nothing will inspire fellow entrepreneurs (me anyway) like a tactical list of action items to check off; especially when shared from a proven veteran. The following is my take away from that presentation.
Note to self: the goal of the first pitch is to get a second pitch.
Make sure things are easy to visualize with a demo or mock up if necessary. VCs normally give an hour time slot, be prepared to give a 30 minute presentation leaving room for questions and answers. Adjust your pitch on the fly if necessary and have back up slides prepared for the zinger, could be beneficial and make you look even more prepared. Also, be aware of how you run the meeting and the confidence you convey. They are, after all, considering giving you money.
Know what problem or pain you’re solving and how deep that pain is. Talk about your unique solution and things that set you apart from the competition. Talk about your team and any patents or potential patents you may have that overcome roadblocks others can’t.
Talk about the market size, validate with third party data and potential. Make sure financials are realistic and are in line with the market size. Don’t be too aggressive with financials; VCs have a really good memory for numbers. Have a go to market plan and realize that how you plan to execute is critical.
Finally, remember to consider what value beyond the dollar particular investors will bring. Know what industry expertise a particular investor has, what they are currently looking for in a potential and what size investments they are making now. Is their portfolio complimentary or competitive?
Now that you know what “patent pending” means (i.e. a patent application is pending), a more complicated, and not so straightforward matter is to know what, exactly, is being patented. In the case of software, is it the entire program, or just a small, function or individual application within the complete software package.
Further complicating matters, the country where the patent application is pending may also be unclear. Therefore, one cannot simply consult a central patent application database to discern what is being patented. Typically, one needs to conduct a patent search using various different databases, most often done by a trained professional such as a search agent, with the results reviewed by a patent attorney. Therefore, it is recommended that you consult your friendly neighborhood patent attorney.
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