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.

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.

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.

A well written value proposition helps create an immediate connection with your target audience whether they are future customers, partners or investors. People want to know immediately, what do I get for my time or money and why should I tell other people about it? In other words, what value are you bringing me?

Although a value proposition is short and easy to read, they can be one of the most difficult tasks for many start-ups and companies to complete, which is why many mistakenly go to market without one.

Although extensive homework is a prerequisite of this exercise, it will be one of the best time investments towards the marketing and development your company you can make.

By creating a value proposition that is relevant to your target audience you are saying that you know where they are coming from, where they’ve been and where they wish they could go. You’re doing the work for them, creating a connection and making it easier for them to say yes, you know my issues, I want to know more.

To build your best value proposition address these eight bullet points and remember to keep your focus heavily on understanding the core values of your target audience and what business need or pain point your offer solves.

• What are the core competencies of you company or service?
• Define who you are targeting, listen to them and understand the trends
• What problem do you solve?
• Study your competition
• Prioritize your values and choose one or two that make you stand apart from the competition
• Write an easy to read value proposition (It may be best to have a professional business writer enter at this point. Be sure to do all of the research yourself first and write out a few value propositions that your writer can start from to save $$)
• Test, test, test (Try-out at networking events or with other colleagues not familiar with your company)
• Finalize and publish (Add it to your website, business card, brochures, and networking intro)

Look closely at a product, the package of a piece of software or even in the small print at the bottom of a website, and you may see two small words, “patent pending.” But what exactly does this mean? In the case of a website, does this mean a patent will soon issue, is the whole website to be patented, or only a small aspect, perhaps just a small applet? And, when I can I put “patent pending” on my product or software.

“Patent Pending” means that an application for a patent application has been submitted to a national patent office, e.g. the US Patent Office. At least the applicant believes that the patent application covers a new, non-obvious and useful invention, e.g. a device or process. The patent application can be a provisional or non-provisional application filed in the United States or an international PCT application.  Due to an involved examination process, there is no guarantee that a pending patent application will ever issue as a patent. Further, provisional patent applications expire after one year, so if another provisional or a non-provisional patent covering the same invention is not filed within that year, the subject matter or invention of the provisional ceases to be considered “patent pending.”

See future posts for more on the distinction between provisional, non-provisional and international patent application in subsequent posts.

Review of breakkup.com website

Unsure on your current relationship? Can’t decide whether to break it off? Well fear not, the interweb is here to save the day. Simply outline your dilemma at breakkup.com (note the two k’s) and randoms from across the internet will vote to break up or stay together.  In addition they offer a paid break up service where they will send a professionally written message by email or old fashioned snail mail, if you can’t pull the trigger yourself.

Pros:

• Clean, easy to browse site
• Good content that is fun to read

Cons:

• Some content is boring, they should add celebrity content and other content that will attract visitors
• Visitor retention problems as they have had traffic in the past, but people are not staying