I’m amazed at how so called entrepreneurial experts can listen to a pitch and make a decision in an instant. I can only guess at how many really cool products will never be made because some so called expert shot down the idea and disillusioned the entrepreneur. For the most part, in my experience, the reasons for a shut down of a great idea can be attributed to either the lack of a great presentation skills by the entrepreneur or the lack of vision in the so called expert.
In the first instance, the fellow pitching the idea, might lack presentation skills. In this election year, it’s appropriate to correlate presentation skills with performance skills. A great communicator might not be the best politician. Lord knows we have lots of great presenters who turn out to be idiots in office.
The time allotted to pitch might also be less than what’s needed to describe the product. Contrary to popular belief, the more revolutionary the concept, the less likely it can be pitched in a few sentences. This is especially true is the concept involves new markets. The co-called expert will claim they don’t see a market. What they’re saying is that they don’t see the product fitting into a market they understand.
I like to consider entrepreneurial history when considering great concepts and premature rejections.
Imagine if wikipedia with a $9 billion valuation pitched to an entrepreneurial expert when still in the concept stage. I can see an expert asking and reasoning: “There’s too much established competition. Why wouldn’t Encyclopedia Britannica just do it themselves? You can’t compete with real authoritative data using stuff anyone can post. I can’t see the profit model”.
Consider Twitter in front of these same experts: Who cares what you’re doing at any moment, who are you?! How you gonna make money off of that?
Consider Starbucks: “Why would I buy a $1.50 cup of burnt tasting coffee when I can get a cup for $0.50 that comes with free refills”?! They’d probably add that the entrepreneur was star-STRUCK.
On a personal note, I was completely guilty of this one. I was having a donut and coffee at a shop in an relatively affluent neighborhood when I heard a story on NPR about the new trend towards coffee shops, a kind of Viennese resurgence. It sounded interesting until I discovered the coffee would cost nearly three time as much as the donut shop across the street. I had to laugh. 30 years later, the donut shop is closed and three coffee shops have sprung up on the same block, one in the same space as the donut shop selling terrible pastries and burnt coffee with no free refills.
My experience with the Indonique Tea & Chai Cafe was another example. The cafe was a huge success. The post Katrina internet store was a flop. I understand now that anyone can offer a quality cup of tea. Only Indonique could offer the cool ambiance and community that folks were really buying. But what entrepreneur 30 years ago would have understood this?
Inclosing, when discussing your concept with entrepreneurial experts, understand that their opinion is just that and that alone. They might be over looking what's obvious to you. But listen and consider everything. It might be you who are over-looking something. Also understand that many entrepreneurial investors can be sold on revolutionary concepts. The entrepreneur must understand what they are looking for, where the lack of understanding will be and tailor the pitch for this understanding. We’d love to help you develop that pitch and find the appropriate entrepreneur.
