Feel the Boot

I noticed a pattern among founders I meet, and it is something I did too. We have an idea and immediately start working on it before validating it with our potential customers. In many cases, we have practically finished the product before we start showing it to people.But, if we guessed wrong we have wasted a colossal amount of work.I think I know why this happens. For technical founders, coding and development are our comfort zone. We're happiest when we're behind the keyboard in a dark room, banging out code and creating new software. Creating that solution is why we founded the company in the first place. Also, for introverts, getting out and talking to people makes us uncomfortable. Also, we often feel that we already know what the customers want and need.We know our customers and feel that we can stand in as a good model for them when designing our solutions.Unfortunately, you're not a good model for your customers unless you're building a tool for people who are exactly like you. I made that mistake.I was building the first stand-alone application version of Anonymizer. As a privacy passionate person, building for other similarly passionate people, I thought I could just make what I wanted for myself. The product was incredible. It provided very fine-grained control over all aspects of what information websites could collect and on which sites or pages they could collect it.Our customers hated it, and even I rarely used most of the features. I was not even a good model for what I wanted myself!After finally talking with our customers, the next version of the product had exactly one control: on/off. It was a huge hit.My error had significant consequences. We spent many months focused on that first product, costing us money we could not afford to lose. It also significantly delayed our entry into the market with a solution people wanted to use. Once we realized the direction we needed to go, we had to scrap almost everything we had built.It is almost impossible to get your app perfectly right the first time, and there is no substitute for the learning you gain when your product is in a customer's hands. But, the more you can learn, pivot, and iterate before you build anything, the faster and more efficient you will be.I noticed a pattern among founders I meet, and it is something I did too. We have an idea and immediately start working on it before validating it with our potential customers. In many cases, we have practically finished the product before we start showing it to people.I think I know why this happens. For technical founders, coding and development are our comfort zone. We're happiest when we're behind the keyboard in a dark room, banging out code and creating new software. Creating that solution is why we founded the company in the first place. Also, for introverts, getting out and talking to people makes us uncomfortable. Also, we often feel that we already know what the customers want and need.We know our customers and feel that we can stand in as a good model for them when designing our solutions.Unfortunately, you're not a good model for your customers unless you're building a tool for people who are exactly like you. I made that mistake.I was building the first stand-alone application version of Anonymizer. As a privacy passionate person, building for other similarly passionate people, I thought I could just make what I wanted for myself. The product was incredible. It provided very fine-grained control over all aspects of what information websites could collect and on which sites or pages they could collect it.Our customers hated it, and even I rarely used most of the features. I was not even a good model for what I wanted myself!After finally talking with our customers, the next version of the product had exactly one control: on/off. It was a huge hit.My error had significant consequences. We spent many months focused on that first product, costing us money we could not afford to lose. It also significantly delayed our entry into the market with a solution people wanted to use. Once we realized the direction we needed to go, we had to scrap almost everything we had built.It is almost impossible to get your app perfectly right the first time, and there is no substitute for the learning you gain when your product is in a customer's hands. But, the more you can learn, pivot, and iterate before you build anything, the faster and more efficient you will be. Read this as a blog: https://ftb.bz/59BWatch the Video: https://ftb.bz/59V Join the Feel the Boot Founders Alliance https://ftb.bz/allianceSubscribe to Boot Prints and access to free office hours: https://ftb.bz/join Contents:Why do we code first and talk later?What do you need to ask customers? 1-What is the size of the pain point?2-What priority is this problem?3-What features do they need?4-What are the alternatives?5-What are their implementation concerns?6-How do they think about price and value for this?7-What messaging resonates with them?Getting to statistical significanceDon't let customers lead you around by the walletWho should you be talking to?Considerations for marketplace businessesGet it mostly right before starting to buildShut up and take my money!

When I started as a founder, I struggled with sales meetings. My scientific instincts worked against me. I often wanted to prove that I was right and argue my way to a sale. Fortunately, between fantastic coaching and excruciating failures, I eventually turned sales meetings into a personal strength. I want to share some of my key learnings with you so you can avoid the whole "pain and suffering" part of the process. Read the blog version of this episode: https://ftb.bz/58BWatch the video: https://ftb.bz/58V Feel the Boot Founders Alliance: https://ftb.bz/allianceJoin Feel the Boot: https://ftb.bz/join

Profitability Master Ruth King is the award-winning author of 5 books including “the Courage to be Profitable” and “Profit or Wealth?”  In this interview, we talked about the lifecycle of startups and particularly the challenges of a phase encountered by most companies that she calls “No Man’s Land.” Some of the specific topics we covered were:·      When to listen to friends encouraging you to start a company·      Talking to potential customers·      Characterizing your users·      Setting the right price·      Managing through No Man’s Land·      Transitioning from working in to working on your business·      Building an emergency fund to survive the inevitable crises LinksFeel the Boot “Boot Prints” signup: https://ftb.bz/joinFounder’s Alliance: https://ftb.bz/allianceBlog with transcript: https://ftb.bz/57BVideo of interview: https://ftb.bz/57V Recommended books:The Miracle Manager https://amzn.to/3ATK0GyThe Courage to be Profitable https://amzn.to/3ecnxdXProfit or Wealth? https://amzn.to/3kb0N1K About our guest, Ruth KingProfitability Master Ruth King has a passion for helping businesses get and stay profitable utilizing the latest systems/processes/technology.   After twelve years on the road, doing 200 flights per year, she knew there had to be a better way to reach business people who wanted to build their businesses and train their employees. She began training on the Internet in 1998 and began the first television like broadcasting in 2002. Her channels include www.hvacchannel.tv,  www.profitabilityrevolution.com and others. Ruth holds an MBA in Finance from Georgia State University and Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.  Her latest book, Profit or Wealth? reached #1 in October, 2020.  This book is preceded by The Ugly Truth about Cash and the #1 best-selling book, The Courage to be Profitable.  These two books were named two of 37 books start ups should read, along with the books of Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie and other esteemed authors.  She is also the author of two other award winning books, The Ugly Truth about Small Business and The Ugly Truth about Managing People. 

Should you bootstrap your startup to greatness or take outside investment to accelerate your growth? Making the right decision can determine if your company will succeed and change your payout at exit by orders of magnitude. Read the blog at https://ftb.bz/56BWatch the Video https://ftb.bz/55VJoin Feel the Boot for our newsletter and free personal coaching https://ftb.bz/joinMeet other founders in the Feel the Boot Founders Alliance group https://ftb.bz/alliance When is venture capital clearly the correct choice?When is bootstrapping clearly the correct choice?Implications for dilutionWhat if you have a modest exit?Managerial independenceResourcesResiliencyRelationshipsVC vs. Angel investorsBootstrapping vs. VC is not a binary choiceOther options for funding

Founders are often frustrated that, after struggling for weeks to perfect their pitch deck, investors just skim through it in a few seconds. Unfortunately, because they look at so many companies, they don't have a choice. I recently attended a webinar by Eric Bahn, GP and co-founder at Hustle Fund, where he talked about using better slide headlines to create a skimmable deck. His approach resonated with me, but I also had some additional thoughts on the topic. So, with his permission, I wrote this article to comment on and expand upon his concept.I created some example slides to demonstrate this concept. Take a look at the blog to see them https://ftb.bz/55B Eric suggests that the slide headlines should contain most of the vital information in the presentation. The contents of the slides only serve to support and amplify the titles. He advocates making the headlines complete sentences so that they can stand on their own. Furthermore, when read in order, they should create a comprehensible paragraph explaining the key aspects of the company and opportunity.This approach also has the advantage of helping you organize your slides. For readers to follow your message, presentations must flow logically and smoothly from topic to topic. Using complete sentences as headlines makes it obvious when your deck has a problem. Logical progression failures often happen when a deck goes through many rounds of revisions. A slide that made sense in its original position now does not follow from the previous ones. Reading through the headlines can quickly show you where you need to make changes.I encourage you to check out Eric's webinar. In addition to the presentation, he has extensive Q&A with the audience that helps explain the concept in more detail. Eric Bahn’s webinar https://youtu.be/z7icuhqPq5sBlog version of this episode: https://ftb.bz/55BVideo version https://ftb.bz/55V Founders Alliance https://ftb.bz/allianceJoin Feel the Boot https://ftb.bz/join

Today I want to address a problem faced by many founders, prioritizing development projects in the face of conflicting opinions and pressures. Because resources are usually critically limited, you must narrowly focus your development resources. What are you going to build, and more importantly, what will not get built? The problem compounds when you are a non-technical founder/CEO, and your CTO, developers, investors, or others are pushing to prioritize specific projects about which you have doubts.  Join Feel the Boot for office hours https://ftb.bz/join Feel the Boot Founders Alliance https://ftb.bz/allianceBlog Version https://ftb.bz/54BYouTube Version https://ftb.bz/54V Podcast https://ftb.bz/podcast  0:00 Introduction2:54 What Not to Build10:08 What to Build I recently advised two founders in this situation. One was pressured by their CTO and the other by a potential angel investor. In both cases, they wanted to re-implement third-party code they had licensed and which was performing adequately. These applications were core to their business but fairly commonplace with the same basic functionality available from multiple vendors. Writing their own version would be a significant undertaking.It can be challenging for founders to push back against more technical team members because they hired them for precisely those missing skills. The trick is to avoid having a technical debate. Reframe the discussion in terms of business needs and priorities. Start the discussion by looking at your options in the context of the company’s limited development resources. It is usually a zero-sum situation where every effort displaces something else. Typically, there are many projects on the roadmap which are absolutely essential to your growth.

At one time, almost all startup fundraising happened in person. Investors wanted to see the founders face-to-face to get a read on their passion, intensity, and integrity. With COVID, all that changed, and the industry quickly pivoted to conduct virtually all pitching and investing over video conferences, mostly Zoom. I don’t think we will ever go back to pitching entirely in person, so mastering remote fundraising is critical.A comment by Munly Leong on an earlier video prompted me to create this episode. He asked how he could find angels and VCs making investments using 100% virtual and remote processes. Before addressing the general advantages, disadvantages, and key tips for virtual pitching, I address his question specifically.0:00 How Virtual Pitching Changes Startup Fundraising2:36 Finding people willing to invest 100% virtually5:16 Finding investors for companies outside North America and Europe8:55 Upsides and downsides to virtual fundraising10:43 Pre-screening matters more12:37 The pitch is everything13:51 Present, Converse, Demo16:29 Improve your A/V setup19:37 Watch your audience24:27 Virtual pitching not so different I would love to hear about your experiences with online fundraising. Please let me know what you have seen, or any great stories, in the comments below.Till next time, Caio! ResourcesWebsites with Lists of angel investment groups and seed fundshttps://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/https://angel.cohttps://signal.nfx.com/https://crunchbase.com Referenced EpisodesWhy you need Two Pitch Decks: https://ftb.bz/5BFive Step Pitch Deck Process: https://ftb.bz/33BSlow Down While Pitching: https://ftb.bz/52BWhy Angels Demand 20X returns: https://ftb.bz/3BBuild a strong foundation by testing assumptions first: https://ftb.bz/21B

I judged a pitch competition last night and the other judges and I, all noticed something about most of the pitches. They were going way too fast. The founders were just tearing through the material and leaving us baffled about what it was they were talking about. So I was inspired to create a quick episode talking about this issue, unpacking why it happens so often, and some ways to try to avoid the problem yourselfRead the whole blog here: https://ftb.bz/52BWatch the video: https://ftb.bz/52VJoin Feel the Boot free for access to my office hours: https://ftb.bz/joinIt is not hard to guess why the founders were going so fast through their material. They only had three minutes to pitch their company, and so much they wanted to say about it. They felt that they had to rush to get through all of the things they thought we'd need to hear. And therein lies the problem. The presentations ended up being like a fire hose of completely undifferentiated words. So, the paradox is that you need to say a lot less. And the less time you have, the more rigorous you need to be about what you cut out. There is no way that you're going to say everything significant about your company. It's just, it's not possible. You're going to need to pick and choose. So say less, really edit down the information. Even if you know you need to provide a piece of information, you may be able to go through it quickly. Some points will only take a couple of seconds, then pause for it to be received, then move on. And the pause matters. Let things sink in. When I listened to the pitches, my inability to understand the key elements of their business was driving me insane. They spent two seconds on one topic, and as I was trying to work out what they meant, they were on to talking about the next topic. Because I was still thinking about the previous point that I thought might be important, now I've missed the following two things, and I'm trying to scramble to keep up. Not good.So take a breath, slow it down. It was funny to read the chat window during the pitch competition. The founders were talking to each other about how they were getting out of breath. They literally forgot to take breaths, and it showed. The key here is just to own your time, which also exudes confidence. If you slow down what you're saying, you're master of your space and time. You show that you know the points you want to make. You're not just trying to fill the time available, but rather convey exactly and only the information that you want to share. You pause to allow them to understand that, and then you move on. It shows that you are in control of the situation.We know that investors make a lot of their decisions based on the CEO. To a great extent, the job of a CEO is to communicate. Demonstrating that you're a strong communicator is essential. All this is a very long way of saying, "In your pitch, take your time, slow down, say less."Till next time, ciao

What are trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets, and how should you use them in your startup? Investors frequently pepper startups with questions about their intellectual property and how well it is protected. Most founders know very little about this somewhat arcane and complex topic. Fortunately, with a bit of information, you can start making the right decisions for your business and speaking intelligently about the issue with angels and VCs.I brought in Adam Philipp to get you up to speed on the basics and some initial strategies. Adam is the founder of the IP law firm AEON Law, a patent attorney, and has been practicing IP law for over 25 years. If you have any questions or would like us to go deeper on some topic, please let me know in the comments. I am sure Adam would be happy to come back for another episode. You can find Adam’s law firm at aeonlaw.com and follow him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamphilipp/ and @AdamPhilipp on ClubHouse where he can be found offering the occasional “Patents and IP Law AMA.” Read the blog version: https://ftb.bz/51BWatch the interview: https://ftb.bz/51VJoin Feel the Boot: https://ftb.bz/joinCheck out our community of founders: https://ftb.bz/allianceIn this interview we covered:1:37 What is intellectual property?5:08 What should founders do early on to protect their intellectual property?10:05 What are the elements of a patent?14:22 How can a founder talk safely to investors without an NDA?19:54 When should you file your patents?24:27 Which provisional patents are worth converting to full patents?27:32 How do you enforce patents?34:30 How should startups use copyright?42:10 Patents vs. Trade Secrets

I am concerned about a lot of the startup advice I see out on the internet. Much of the advice is sound, and almost all is well-intentioned, but I think that a significant fraction is problematic. The troubling advice is typically in the form of a recipe or template for success. It tells founders that if they take specific actions, follow a given pattern, or use a particular pitch deck, they will succeed. I often see this guidance in interviews with extremely successful founders. The implication is that if you do the same things they did, you will have a similar outcome.I worry that these kinds of guidance are too rigid and replace thinking with mimicking. Startups are not like snowflakes; they are far more diverse. Tips that apply to one company may be inappropriate or harmful to another. I suspect that this kind of advice often leads founders into cargo cult thinking. Since many of you might be unfamiliar with cargo cults, I will take a quick detour to explain them before discussing how the concept applies to startups.Read this as a blog: https://ftb.bz/50BWatch the Video: https://ftb.bz/50VListen to the Podcast: https://ftb.bz/podcastVisit the Founders Alliance: https://ftb.bz/allianceJoin Feel the Boot: https://ftb.bz/joinThe 5 step pitch deck process is here: https://ftb.bz/33B