Posted by Andrea Meyer on February 25, 2009
Point: Get to the Point Fast
Story: Jason Mendelson, Managing Director of the Foundry Group, gave the following advice last night to entrepreneurs seeking funding:
- Send an executive summary, not a business plan – VCs are short on time. Grab their attention quickly. They don’t want to wade through a 90-page business plan at the get-go.
- Know your business better than anyone.
- Don’t ask for an NDA – that’s a rookie mistake. VCs look at so many business plans a year that if they signed an NDA, they’d almost certainly get sued.
- Have a 3-sentence elevator pitch about your business ready if you meet the VC informally.
- Be smart, but don’t be arrogant. Saying your product “has no competitors” is not believable.
Action: Do your homework before you approach the VC. VCs like Jason enjoy talking with entrepreneurs informally, such as at Boulder Open Coffees, but don’t have the fundraising conversation before you’re ready. When you are ready, be crisp and concise in your communication.
For more about Jason Mendelson, read his blog: http://www.jasonmendelson.com/wp/
Learn more about the Foundry Group: http://www.foundrygroup.com/
Join the Discussion at Ask the VC: http://www.askthevc.com/blog/about.php
Tags: Opportunity, venture capital
Capital, Entrepreneurs, Opportunity
Posted by Andrea Meyer on February 17, 2009
Point: Use a simple formula to evaluate a design
Story: “Italian design” sparks images of beauty, the Renaissance, craftsmanship. Alessi, a leading Italian design firm, has been creating products for the home for three generations. CEO Alberto Alessi describes the company as an artistic mediator, bridging the highest possible expressions of product design with customer dreams. Given such intangible goals, how does Alessi access whether a new product design will succeed?
Alessi has a 4-part formula:
- Does it speak to the customer? (Do customers say “oh, that’s beautiful”?)
- Does it help the customer express a core value? (For example: simple yet elegant; uniqueness; earth-friendly)
- Function
- Price
CEO Alessi developed this formula after evaluating 300 of his firm’s products and asking why some were big successes and others were fiascoes.
Action: Look back over the portfolio of products or services that your firm has produced. Are there patterns in which ones succeeded and which ones failed? Use these commonalities to devise your own formula, or try Alessi’s.
For more information:
Interview with CEO Alberto Alessi in the McKinsey Quarterly
About Alessi: http://www.alessi.com/
Tags: assessment, CEO, design, goals, intangible, mission
Innovation, Metrics, New Product Development
Posted by meyerwk on February 13, 2009
Point: Color affects performance
Story: The background color on your computer screen might influence your creativity or productivity, according to a recent study by the University of British Columbia. Researchers gave participants work tasks on a computer. The experimenters varied whether the tasks were presented against a blue, red or neutral background on the computer screen. The results:
People performing tasks that required attention to detail (like proofreading) did better when the computer background was red.
People performing tasks that required a creativity (like creating new products) did better when the computer background was blue.
Action: Set your computer background to red when you need to focus on details. Set the background to blue when you want to make creative connections.
Sources for more information:
New York Times article
Wired Science
Tags: Creativity, Productivity
Creativity, Productivity
