Category: Startups and Entrepreneurs

Crowdfunding and the importance of early engagement

Posted on by Richard Mojel

Even if you’re not crowdfunding, engagement with your community is equally as important if you’re seeking investment via other sources, just as it is if your focus is ‘simply’ on building your business. So read on.

Many of you will know that one of the keys to a successful crowdfunding raise is your ability to bring a fair bit of the crowd, and their wallets, to your campaign. Opinions differ as to what proportion needs to come from your own networks, but if pushed to a number 30% isn’t an unreasonable figure. There is certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence clearly showing the higher proportion you can introduce the better. The variables, such as sector, business maturity, campaign target, current market conditions etc are far and wide so do note that this 30% figure, or any other one you may hear of, is very generalised. Nevertheless whatever the size and financial status of your network, communicating and engaging with that network is critical if it’s to be of any use to you. For avoidance of doubt, engagement isn’t a passive activity and sending off a three-sentence email isn’t communication.

Having been around the startup and crowdfunding scenes a while now, my observation is that typically businesses take way too long to start talking to their networks about what they’re doing. Same story when businesses are marketing and building their prospective customer bases. Often there’s some sort of precipitating event….or a platform catches fire….and suddenly there’s an imperative to start talking to people urgently. Problematically, this is usually associated with needing these people to do something, which might be support a crowdfunding campaign or buy your service, and for them to do that now. Such time constraints aren’t helpful for various reasons; people often don’t respond favourably to time pressures. And especially if you are crowdfunding, your campaign-clock will be ticking; you won’t have the luxury of time.

There’s another truism to be mindful of. And it’s very much part of the British psyche. In a nutshell, your typical Brit is more comfortable sharing the intimate details of their sex lives with friends, colleagues, and random strangers than they are talking about money. There’s a whole other topic here, but suffice to say arousing your network of friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances etc. takes time and can’t be successfully rushed. Yes, I resisted the urge to continue the double entendre and we’re back to talking about crowdfunding. Cutting to the chase, you don’t want to first start sharing the details of your exciting business opportunity with your network on the day your funding campaign gets underway. The courting needs to start much earlier in the piece.

The solution is alarmingly simple; get your early conversations underway early. (Social Media channels, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are ideal for this; but one day you’ll need to include other communication tools, including old-style face to face chats.) You may be 6-12 months away from launching your product or crowdfunding campaign, but there’s nothing stopping you from casually socialising your plans and ideas at these early stages. The fact that you won’t have much detail isn’t a problem, and it will all probably change anyway. And as you get closer to the day you need your network to come to the party, you can and should progressively lift the level and frequency of what you’re saying to who. This will include, when the time is right, becoming very clear on what your call-to-action is i.e. the ask you will have of your network. Amongst other things, when you start having those more direct conversations about how you’re wanting people’s support, it won’t at all come as a surprise to them. Decisions will come quicker and easier. Objections will have been identified earlier on and dealt with as appropriate.

Hopefully you’re reading this article at the right time; if I have however suddenly ambushed you by identifying a problem you didn’t previously know exists, my apologies. That being the case, and taking liberties with part of an ancient Chinese proverb, “the second best time is today”.

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Richard works with entrepreneurs, startups, and other high-potential businesses helping them to fly. You can get in touch with him at richard@mojel.co.uk

He’s also a director of IdeaSquares Worldwide Ltd. We at IdeaSquares support businesses raising investment through equity crowdfunding. Working with us significantly increases the chances of your crowdfunding campaign succeeding. Get in touch http://www.ideasquares.com

It May Not Have Worked Because You Didn’t Do It

Posted on by Richard Mojel

I’ve had someone reply to my suggestion about getting some time management training that they didn’t have time to attend. Similarly someone who had attended such a course told me that it wasn’t any good. When I asked which of the techniques taught on the course had been implemented the response was, ‘none’. Go figure.

In the days before I knew better, I tried to paint new timber without bothering with primer or undercoat. I reasoned it would save time and effort and a long-lasting result wasn’t necessary, the timber being part of the stage set for a play.

A fellow more seasoned in matters DIY pointed out that my approach wouldn’t work. He explained the gloss paint I was applying wouldn’t stick properly and the bare timber would also suck up a lot of it. Naturally I ignored this guidance; after quite some time and with close to no paint left I came to the horrifying conclusion I had indeed done it all wrong; the old guy (probably all of 30) was right.

Amongst the consequences were that once I did get the job done it had taken probably three times longer than it should have and I wasted a lot of paint.

I see parallels of this scenario regularly. Sometimes I’m the ‘seasoned DIY expert’, other times an observer from the sidelines. And once in a while I guess I’m still the one trying to gloss unprepared timber….

On occasion the learning experience for the other party is pretty tough. They had been guided to Take This Action in order to Make This Happen. For whatever reason they didn’t TTA and MTH didn’t happen, potentially a significant and unwelcome outcome. It is sometimes true that TTA won’t guarantee MTH happening, but often it’s clear that not doing TTA certainly doesn’t help to achieve the goal being pursued. This doesn’t of course mean you should blindly follow every piece of advice given to you; often exactly the right thing to do is consign it to the ‘not-on-my-watch’ basket. But if you’re seeking out qualified guidance to achieve a certain end and glibly ignore that guidance without seeking to understand it or drilling down to the pros and cons etc., be prepared to find the reason for ‘It’ not going to plan in the mirror.

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Richard works with entrepreneurs, startups, and other high-potential businesses helping them to fly. You can get in touch with him at richard@mojel.co.uk

He’s also a director of IdeaSquares Worldwide Ltd. We at IdeaSquares support businesses raising investment through equity crowdfunding. Working with us significantly increases the chances of your crowdfunding campaign succeeding. Get in touch http://www.ideasquares.com

Does your busy produce cash?

Posted on by Richard Mojel

Back in the days when the term entrepreneur was somewhat avant garde, a former colleague decided to leave the corporate jungle and set up her own HR consultancy. Sally spent the next several months kitting out her new home office. She devoted each and every day to researching the best office chair for posture and back health, locating just the right size desk, buying all sorts of stationery ( I helped her with that, I’ve always loved stationery) setting up an elaborate filing system, and of course choosing the best coloured laptop.

What I didn’t see Sally doing was anything related to actually creating her business. There was a rudimentary outline of a business plan – from a typical corporate template- and a simple budget based largely on how much money she wanted to earn from the business. But there was nothing which even approximated determining things like target market and routes to that market let alone going out to find prospective clients to have a chat with.

After quite some time, Sally felt the inevitable pinch of no money coming into the household. She was genuinely  bewildered. Why didn’t she have any clients? After all her friends and former colleagues knew what she was doing including how they could support her. Didn’t they? And what about all the hard work she’d done, including stuff like preparing swathes of useful material such as staff appraisal templates, a guide to managing poor performance, training needs analysis tools and much more. She had certainly built it; why did they not come?

Unsurprisingly Sally came to the conclusion that the commercial world wasn’t quite ready for her yet. She returned to the familiar surroundings of management meetings, report writing, and those business lunches which to be fair she had missed. But Sally Global HR Consultancy Ltd was no more; and nor was it ever.

Sally’s journey was and is far from unusual. And it’s no less prevalent today than it was when Mark Z. was recruiting his fellow under-grads onto a totally new way of organising frat parties and sharing study tips. And rarely is the outcome Sally experienced any different.

Today’s entrepreneur has more tasks on their to-do list than they can ever hope to clear, even with help. Most of these tasks are important. All of them can be confidently justified. And there’s absolutely no doubt that many of these ‘things’ must be done. Yes you do need to see what your competitors are up to on social media, and tracking where your website traffic has come from is pretty much critical. And the myriad of other things that need doing in any business.

But here’s the kicker. At the end of the proverbial, your business needs cash. Cash means clients paying you actual money. Clients are not self-generating.

Most – but not all – of that ‘other stuff’ is important, but if you’re not devoting adequate time to those activities that directly result in more money coming into your bank account than you’re needing to spend, your next best scenario is this: You’re going to be catching up with Sally for a skinny no-foam double mocha, ideally a bit before the lunch rush.  Please tell her Richard says “hi”.

Richard works with entrepreneurs, startups, and other high-potential businesses helping them to fly. You can get in touch with him at richard@mojel.co.uk

He’s also a director of IdeaSquares Worldwide Ltd. We at IdeaSquares support businesses raising investment through equity crowdfunding. Working with us significantly increases the chances of your crowdfunding campaign succeeding. Get in touch http://www.ideasquares.com

Planning isn’t necessary

Posted on by Richard Mojel

Said no successful entrepreneur ever. Establishing and running your own business is exciting and rewarding. It’s also challenging and most of us need some discipline to keep the multiple plates spinning. You need to plan your success. 

There are lots of new ideas out there; and there always have been. That doesn’t make the tried-and-true clichés wrong though. Yes folks, feel free to disagree at your peril but failing to plan is planning to fail. Really. 

Look at your diary for next week; next month; the next six months. 

  • You should know right now where most of your time will be spent next week. 
  • You should know right now what your main objectives are, what needs to be done and achieved, for next month. 
  • You should know right now what the higher-level outcomes are must haves for your business six months out. 

If you don’t honestly know what your future plans and objectives are in those terms then that future could well prove to be bleak. How can you hit your target if you don’t know where to aim? 

Of course you can’t plan and predict for every minute of next week. And yes there does need to be flexibility for unexpected and ad hoc events and happenings. But most of what you can and should achieve will happen because you planned and prepared for it in advance. Argue the semantics if you like, but it’s a fair general rule that if you’re not getting the results you’re needing it’s because you’re not planning to achieve them. 

Finally, what tools should you use? Who cares! Go with what works for you. There are numerous planning and task apps, such as Trello, out there. But there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a paper diary or a wall covered in post-it notes. If it works for you it will work for you. 

As an entrepreneur time is your most valuable resource. You’ve got to be smart in how you use it. And sometimes you’re going to need to devote energy to stuff you don’t like doing; but that’s another topic! 

Do yourself a favour. Check if you’re really planning effectively. If not…well just do it! 

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Richard works with entrepreneurs, startups, and other high-potential businesses helping them to fly. You can get in touch with him at richard@mojel.co.uk.