Why I love the Startup Leadership Program

This year I have taken on the running of the Startup Leadership Program chapter in Lisbon for its second year of operation.  We are just four modules in and I have to confess I love it!

The whole spirit of the SLP is about helping first time founders to have a more rounded view of the skills they need to make a success of their startup journey.  It's like an Executive MBA over 15 modules.

The hardest bit about the format is the commitment in terms of time.  We run a module every two weeks on a Monday evening from 7pm through to 10pm, with people arriving from 6:30pm and invariably discussions or mentoring go on through to 10:30/11:00.  As a family guy this is not easy for me, and I recognise not always easy for the attendees on the course either.  Our choice to be there is therefore all the more strengthened!

So far we have 16 people on the cohort, all first time founders with two not for profits in the mix.  This is more than double the attendees from last year so it's trending in the right direction, probably reflective of how Lisbon is growing as a startup city and that year one added good value to those that took part.

SLP is a not for profit.  It means all the fees go into running the program.  There is no equity exchanged either.  We pick up some sponsorship for the food, drinks and venue.  (thank you for that Startup Lisboa, Compal and Dominos) and use some of the money to send people onto pitch competitions or visit other chapters.  None of the team that run things locally receive payment.

At its heart the course aims to inspire people to change the world - to build startups that deliver real value to humanity as well as financially.

The founder - Anupendra - is a great guy and very inspirational too.  Based in Boston he has managed to create the global organisation that runs across 27 cities as a side endeavour to his day job as a corporate VC.

So, why do I love it so much?  Well experiences like this Monday really make it.
We took a subject like termsheets which can be quite hard for first time founders (and experienced ones too).  The class CEO (one of the cohort) had spent a lot of time learning about the subject and preparing to share the knowledge with the group.  We had four wonderful mentors who volunteered their time to come and help out - bringing real life legal, accounting and entrepreneurial experience to share with the group.  Their interactions were also fantastic.  Of course there was the cohort who all turned up fresh and ready to go at the end of their days and made it so much fun.  They got out what they put in!

And now to the real kicker -> the reason I love it so much ... at 10:30pm when everyone had finished chatting and exchanging ideas I managed to get them out of the building and there on the street as I got into my uber to go home was a group of about 10/12 working out where they could go next to hang out and continue their exchange.  One member of the group was an SLP alumni who was visiting from India and came by to say hello.  He instantly found a new family to welcome him to Lisbon and the entire group was full of energy for their startup journeys and also for each other.

Wonderful!  What's not to love about that!

Already looking forward to the 12th December!  If you are interested come along to check things out.  It would be great to have you there particularly if you are an alum visiting from out of town.

S.

Too old to do a startup?

I saw an article the other day that headlined "Yes, you can do your startup when you are 45!" and it made me smile.  I'd never even contemplated that it might not!  But it seems that some people really do think that this stuff is just for the "youth of today".  A game reserved for the so called millennials (and even younger) as a right of passage, an almost expected part of natural progression from seeds sown by celebs around the world - some of whom have gone on to be President!  

So, I am 43, involved with lots of startups and have been running my own businesses since the age of 26.  Don't feel like stopping, but do very much recognise that the challenges I face now in terms of balancing my passion for entrepreneurship with the other priorities, challenges and joys in my life are very different to when I first started.

Back at the age of 26 I was able to devote significant hours across every day to my ideas and to furthering the business.  Whatever it needed, whatever it took 80, 90, 100+ hours per week I found a way to make it happen.  And despite how tired I became at times, there was aways some resilience there.  Travel too was a big part of it, and a lot of this took place in anti social times.  There were casualties along the way to health, friendships and even relationships but the businesses kept surviving and growing (despite the many setbacks that arose).

My attitude to risk was also different.  There's always a high likelihood of failure in being an entrepreneur but at 26 I was not even remotely afraid of the potential impact.  Give back the keys on an apartment - absolutely!  Find a job - easy!  Declare bankruptcy - messy, but always a contingency option!

Interestingly back then I was quite creative in solving problems, and built a lot of solutions from first principles without the need of guidance, education or reading.  My inexperience when it became a limiting factor brought me to mentors and others around me for help or occasionally I just got got plain stuck or didn't listen.  

Sometimes I felt pretty uncomfortable asking 'ignorant' questions, but if something stood between me and success I felt compelled to find a way round it.  When I didn't do that, there were often consequences I didn't enjoy, and that feeling was worse than the potential embarrassment of asking the question.

Now, I have a lot more experience, and can solve the 'familiar problems' that come up time and time again quite efficiently.  There are 'battle scars' on my back, IP in my kit bag and things I can reuse to handle matters that arise.  But these themselves can occasionally be limiters to creativity, because I have to think through and then past them rather than just seeing the problem for what it is and addressing it uniquely in that situation.  

Emotionally through these journeys I believe I'm a lot more stable and less stressed by the environment, partly because of the reassurance I have from completing the full embryo to exit of a number of entities.  There is always an awareness of potential failure though, which burns and gnaws at times.

A big change since my twenties and early 30s is that I now have my own beautiful family, and there is time they need and time/experiences I want to share with them.  Meeting the ebbs and flows of startup survival while also being part of family routines, disrupted sleep patterns, unpredictable cash flows, long planned vacations and above all being present is not particularly easy and I can't say I am the best at it.  I'm also not the best at saying 'No' to things, particularly when its bringing something new to the world.  This is an area I am consciously working on.

Despite all the reason, reading, feedback and logic to the contrary I instinctively blink when I see a business need and survival issues.  I'm also notoriously bad at being consistent and proactive when things go well for long periods of time.  It's not complacency, I just don't find it as much fun when times are easy and something in me switches off until an emergency arises!  That vibe of new businesses in their first 18 to 24 months seems to be central to my DNA.  

So how will it look 10 years from now, or even 20.  Will I still have the desire or energy to drive a new business?  Well I cant say for sure, but I've certainly met many people in their 50s and 60s who have that kind of hootzspa and I really hope I end up being one of those.   Will I look back and know for sure if the 'juice was worth the squeeze' with the compromises and adjustments I asked of myself or others?

One thing is certain in my mind though - I don't believe that being an entrepreneur is for any one single demographic in terms of age, gender, education, background or orientation but that put simply some people are made for it and some people aren't.  The reasons for their success, or otherwise, will sometimes have common factors but often no two stories are the same.  No two paths to success are similar enough to truly find a cohorent common denominator.  

I've met and shared time with entrepreneurs & Innovators on five continents, in multiple sectors and who have been driving businesses at various stages.  It's been a wondrous experience to meet amazing people of all walks of life who have inspired me and amazed me with what they have endured, achieved and survived in their quests.  Some of them I was able to help.  Some helped me and others achieved heights I will never find.

Amongst it all the most common thread I have identified is that they were endowed with the will to make things succeed.  That when their will was stronger than all the dissent around them the business found its own way to survive and flourish.  Regardless of their unique stories and everything going on around them there was always a point where you could see that quality in their eyes.

If you haven't got that in your DNA, it really doesn't matter how many years you have (or haven't) been on the planet.  You're just better off doing something else.  As for the author of the article that first got me started on this post - perhaps you and I should have a drink some time and chat about this stuff :) 

S.

Virtual Incubation Program - For first time founders all around the world

How are you going to change the world?  It's a question that buzzes around my head.  I've delivered impactful projects and programs in several countries but still feel I can do more and never quite feel like I've done enough.  At the core of my mission is to empower entrepreneurs to live their dreams.  In turn their success will transform lives and communities.  At my own core, I have never felt more successful or fulfilled than when I have helped others to go on and achieve their potential.

Something I have been working out in my head for a while now is how to do virtual incubation for first time founders.  There were two drivers for it really, the first being that for early stage startups the idea of keeping to a rigid schedule can be tough.  The dynamics for the startup are hard enough to balance and so I wanted to find a way to deliver support more on their terms.  Then, there was my experience of mentoring in the USA, India, UK and Portugal.  So many of the lessons were transferable,  but it was always stuck in my head - not easy for others to reach without me being there in person.

As I started to run the Startup Leadership Program in Lisbon this year a few different thoughts came together, in particular how powerful a cohort can be in supporting each other in their early stage ideas.   So I've built a program that I hope will strike a chord with first time founders and am delivering it in a way that is accessible to them all over the world.

It's launching on 14th December - by Webex with the module "How not to be one of the 9 - Why startups fail" and builds on some studies along with personal experience of how and why so many startups fail for avoidable, predictable reasons.  Webex sessions will then be held once per month after that for 12 months.

This, I would say is the MVP!  If you are interested to be an early adopted please signup here by typeform: https://canopycity.typeform.com/to/LGqE8N

Alongside these modules are monthly cohort mentoring sessions by google hangout, one on one mentoring sessions via Savvy.is and a slack group for open Q&A and adhoc support.

Supporting materials, templates and vids will be made available via Slack across the year too.
Modules list: 

1. Why startups fail, 
2. Startup Presentation Skills, 
3. Launching Lean, 
4. Building a founder team, 
5. Raising seed funds, 
6. Term Sheets, 
7. Startup Leadership vs Startup Management, 
8. Managing Board, 
9. Entrepreneurial Sales, 
10. Marking and PR, 
11. Hiring and Firing, 
12. Going International.

The entire thing will close with a Video Pitch Session - where attendees will have 60seconds to pitch their idea in a google hangout and receive feedback from a panel of entrepreneurs and investors.
Places are limited to 15 on this first cohort, with up to 5 places available to Not for Profit founders.
Price options: $50 per month or $500 for the 12 month program***. 


For each person accepted onto the program we will include 4 x one day guest passes for use at Canopy.city locations.


Not for Profit founders are free of charge

*** Make a trade - if it's too early for you to afford this program don't worry.  Make a trade in something that you can add to the program or to Canopy.  Perhaps some digital marketing skills / time or a premium account to your platform, or some home cooking.  Whatever it is, we're open to ideas :) 

If you are a first time founder of an early stage startup or not for profit then I've built this for you.  As we go through the program I'll keep asking you for feedback and ideas to improve things so that we create the most impactful and enjoyable experience for everyone.

#LiveYourDreams
S.

Route 1 Football - the startup treasure map

When you go on any adventure it is a good idea to have a map!  Sometimes a detailed map is important, particularly if you are heading off road and want to know the contours and gradients of the hills.  Sometimes a simple map is all you need!  To that end, in todays post I provide a treasure map of sorts that depicts a 'Route 1 Football' journey for a startup.

At the beginning there is an idea.  "You are Here' kind of point.  Through the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) phase the founders are trying to shape that idea into something that the market wants and needs.  With enough credibility from this phase there is the potential to raise funds, a small amount - roughly speaking up to 500K.

Seed funds are typically used to round out the platform that was put together quickly and with limited scope for a specific set of target demographic.  With this more robust platform the rest of the demographic can be reached.  Then the credentials are needed to raise the next phase of capital -Series A.

With Series A cash, the typical drive is to expand from the first target demographic to another, perhaps more profitable set.  Rarely is seed or Series A cash used to go international.  It might however be to reach a different home state geography.

Over subsequent rounds (Series B, C, D, ...'N'), the capital is used to expand the team, the platform, the demographics, the geographies or the product lines until the point where there is a tangible exit available.

Each round of funds is raised with a specific purpose.  Trying to do too much in any round is sure fire way to secure failure / death to the startup.

Exits principally take three positive forms, and one negative one - Death - which of course may happen at any time.  Of the positive outcomes, the most commonly discussed is IPO (Initial Public Offering) where the equity of the company becomes publicly traded on somewhere like the NASDAQ.  For this to be achieved there usually needs to be more than hype.  There needs to be predictable revenues and robust management structures.  With this kind of organisation another legitimate exit approach is to run it as a mature Private corporation, that pays dividends to its original founders and equity holders.

The third popular exit point is that of a trade sale, typically to a larger - probably publicly traded organisation.  Such organisations seek the innovation, the team, the customers or sometimes just the revenues of the startup and are prepared to pay for them in the belief that they can make more in the long term through the acquisition. 

From idea to exit is typically a horizon of 5 to 7 years.  Any exit prior to that will be for reasons unique to that situation.  Perhaps an acquihire or a spoiler purchase (to remove the idea from the market) or perhaps a purchase by another, better funded, startup looking to grow even quicker.

The use of growth funds is to accelerate the journey faster than could be achieved through revenues / profits.  It is predicated on the notion that innovation can take a while to mature, and that to bring any meaningful innovation to market there has to be a period (of whatever size) where it cannot be supported by its own revenues. 

The people and institutions who invest along the way do so knowing that the startup has a high chance of failure along the way.  Within the first two years up to 90% of all startups will fail and the risk profile gets easier as the years go on.  When balancing their portfolios the investors must therefore seek a multiple of their investment over time.  A 10X return on seed investment is not unreasonable alongside such high failure rates, although it may seem a very high price to pay compared to debt or other alternative mechanisms.

Please keep in mind that I throw this simple map out there as a reference point.  It's not designed to answer all questions or to be the only route for everyone to follow.  It's more of a benchmark from which you can bring some context to your own journey.  I hope you find it useful :)

S.

Get the Yes - Lessons in Startup Sales

Sales is all about getting the word YES!
Sounds simple, but everything else is just window dressing that surrounds that essential word.  You need to be able to provide something that people want and they have to be prepared to pay for it.

Early stage startups are full of teams that haven't done much of this before and people who may have done it before but not in the same context.  For example, "How do you sell something when you have a zero dollar marketing budget?" is a common area first time founders hit a brick wall.

So where to begin....here are my top 4 lessons learnt over the last years of success and failure at sales

Firstly, lets not pretend that startup sales (B2B or B2C) is a part time job.  It is full time, full on and essential.  Good deal flow alongside sustainable pipeline is life blood for the startup.  It is a founder responsibility.  You can't outsource it effectively and you can't delegate it effectively because it is too important to the very survivability of the new venture.

Secondly, lets not compromise our thinking about whether startup sales requires a lot of effort.  It is a hyper responsive, all in, double down, exhausting and continuously demanding activity in a startup that is living on the edge of the product roadmap and cash flows for the business.

Thirdly, lets also recognise that sales requires a particular kind of DNA and that DNA is a key influence on the development of the product, the team and the organisation.  It has to have a voice at the top table of decisions.  An equal voice, but not an unequal voice (up or down).

I've got great respect for people who are natural sales people.  I've met good and bad, and been good and bad at it myself.  Throughout it all I can tell you that a sales process is essential for the best sales people, as well as some form of appropriate tool that helps bring it all together.  That tool can be a spreadsheet or something likes Salesforce.com, but it must be there and integrated to the process for all.

(More about Sales process another time)

Surrounding these four lessons is the acknowledgement that all the theory, planning and work that goes into sales amounts to nothing if you don't get that YES!

Stop failing before you even start - Explore and Validate then build

Lots of startups fail, it's true!  Of the many reasons for this, some are completely predictable and common to so many it could almost be called criminal.   It certainly can't be regarded as sustainable.

Take market validation for example.  Too many startup founders (me included) try to build product without rooting it in the true needs of the customer.  They perceive those needs through their own filters and in their own minds, but don't examine those needs enough with their target demographic and then the product doesn't get the traction they hope for when the market sees it.

Two tools I have found incredibly useful in this early stage (and also to repeatedly use in future stages of product evolution) of the development cycle are the Exploratory and Validation Interviews.

Put simply, the exploratory interview helps you understand your target demographic and their frame of reference.  The interview consists of two or three open questions like "tell me about your last experience going to x" and then listening to the answers.  

Validation interviews are where you take the key learnings from the exploratory interviews and present them to a new set of target demographic so they can validate what is most important to them.  A neat way to do this is with the use of cards - one card per learning - and putting them in front of the interviewee simply ask something like "when you last went to x, what was most important to you?".

They key to success with these tools is to ensure you don't bring your own frame of reference to bear on the subject.  No questions like - "if I built a system that did this would you buy it?".  Let their views and observations flow uninterrupted.  Record them.  Learn from them.  Rewatch and relearn regularly.

These tools are simple, cheap and effective.  You need some empathy, some confidence and an iphone along with a little bit of time to both plan and execute the interviews.  They become powerful when the number of interviews is increased to around 50.  100 accumulative across both sets (Exploratory and Validation) and there should be a really clear message coming through about what your target wants, why they want it and the value they see from having it.

The MVP should be built to address the top 1 (or maybe 2) areas that have been clearly identified as a priority by your target group - not by you!

Founders must never delegate these interviews and where possible these should always be done face to face.  The nuance and interpretation of both the answers and the body language are essential to the end result.  Founder instincts and insights are unique.  As much as I encourage the 'open filter' review, it is the special way that founders see the world that creates a difference in what comes next -> finding a solution.

Why do I keep forgetting this lesson?  I don't know!  

Why do so many others?  I am equally at a loss to comment.  

When we use these tools we are much more likely to build products that people want and need.  That must surely be our goal :)

What am I doing here?

Here I am in Portugal!  An Englishman with nomadic tendencies.  A husband and a father of two.  So what am I doing? 

As a family we made a decision at the end of last year to base ourselves in Cascais, Portugal.   The dream all started when we took the seeds of inspiration and looked to see if Portugal could be more than a fantastic, vacation spot.  Timing on this was important because our kids were fast approaching school age.  If we didn't do it now. We probably never would.

Last year, for various reasons we ended up in Cascais for around 5 months.  Although regularly traveling to the UK, USA and India I found myself based in Portugal with no professional network.  I took an opportunity to visit Lisbon, and go to Startup Lisboa to see what the local startup scene was like.   I found an 'open door', a great community, and a wonderful spirit of endeavor.  I also found an opportunity to meet likeminded souls who were inspiring to be around.

So, uplifted by the opportunity I begun to meet people across Portugal that were travelling their own startup journies.  In each one I saw a special kind of drive and was impressed with their attitude towards their friends and family.

After mentoring a few startups in Braga, and becoming part of the advisory board for FollowPrice, I started reaching out to different accelerators and incubators.  One of these was Fabrica de Startups and its founder Antonio.

In Antonio I recognised something special in the way he organised a programme of education for 500 people across Portugal.  It's focus was on digital marketing skills and he delivered it simultaneously to five locations using webcasts.  He did this intense work, giving all the energy he could to support what could be potentially life changing digital skills for this group.  I fully respected how much he put of himself into the programme and when he offered me the opportunity to be part of the Fabrica journey this year I felt compelled to find a way to make it happen.

As a family, we recognised in Portugal that we had a great set of life opportunities.  To enjoy a very different climate to the UK, in a region with relatively low crime and with an easier pace of day to day life.  We also recognised how much we enjoyed the people and of course the many opportunities for cake.  

Until we came here this year pretty much everyone we knew in Portugal was Portuguese.  We had barely spent any time with expats.  That started to change as we looked for schools etc.  

We knew that the language would be hard for us, but that it also presented an opportunity for our children to get experience of more than just english and for them to embrace a different cultural paradigm along the way.

So, did we do the right thing?  Bringing our young family here and disrupting the 'normal flow' of things that would have been their way of life in the UK.  Early signs are good!  Only time will really tell.  What's important for now, is to keep looking for the new experiences that make this is a unique opportunity for all of us.

I'm writing this blog to track many things, including my exploits in search of the perfect nata.  From time to time I may also add in some updates about our family and how we are doing here too.

S.

Nata e pao

New stuff alert!  Natas with Nutella!  How cool is that?

Many thanks to Malik who came to our meeting today with a box full of treasures curtesy of Nata e Pao in Benfica.

Great pastry.  Good deep dish.  Light custard - very similar to that from Versailles - and a lovely thin layer of Nutella in the base next to the pastry.

Summary : awesome!  Couldn't eat every day, but as a treat every now and then it's a must!  Kudos to Nata e Pao!  Muito obrigado Malik :)

 

How long will your founder team last?

One of the top 3 reasons that startups fail is rooted in team.  

Sole founders find it much harder to scale their companies, and so it is very likely that new people have to join the mix quite quickly.  As they arrive the questions of equity, compensation, decision making, responsibilities and some might say boundaries are all key to the successful human dynamic of that top team.  If the team stutters in its evolution, so does the startup.

For me, in setting up for success from the start there are three key roles to look at beyond the technologist part of the equation.  Ideally there will be founders in each:

1. CEO - the Chief Executive Officer is the primary face of the business, the leader and decision maker.  No matter how flat the organisation of a startup someone has to lead and to be credible in doing so.  Experience counts for a lot here as does strong belief in the journey.
2. Revenue driver - if a startup is going to scale then it needs to find sales.  A strong revenue driver being in place from the beginning is good as it's one of the hardest hires later on.  This person will be closest to customers and bring insights and feedback that will be essential to the roadmap.
3. CFO - Chief Financial Officers are more than interpreters of accounting rules.  They are the people that make the money happen.  With accute sense of timing they enable the money to be there when it's needed and in a fast growth startup this is a skilled job.  Either a part time CFO with oodles of experience in at the start or a co-founder committed in this area is a simple way of ensuring your dreams grow as quick as they might and don't get stopped in their tracks by lack of cash.

In all these roles the big question is experience.  Can first time founders cover all this off or should there be a blend of experience?   In my eyes the decision is firstly about speed -> first time founders are most likely to be slower covering all this ground, and secondly the decision should focus on funding.

If your intent is to raise serious amounts of money, particularly in the USA, then investors will look for these kinds of roles to be covered by experienced people.  

They want to see multiple attempts and some successes in these key areas to give them confidence the team can make a reality out of the potential unfolding.

Will first time founders not be able to raise cash?  Of course not, but the lower the experience and credentials of the team the smaller the pool of investors who will take a gamble.

Will first time founders or sole founders crash and burn within 18 months.  Not always, of course not!  But failure rates are globally around 90% for startups and this team question is a big part of that stat.

There's no single right way of course.  No absolutes in terms of team management and no one way of predicting the future precisely into a paradigm you can begin today.  

At the end of your startup journey, the ultimate arbiter of whether you got it right or wrong is you.  Did you do what you wanted to do, as fast as it could be done, as fast as it needed to be done, with what you had at your disposal to do it?  A great question to ask yourself at the end of each team meeting.

S.

Versailles - sounds French but very Portuguese

Ok so it's the first working day back after a long weekend which means there is a desperate need for coffee and where there is coffee there must be cake!

As I am working from Saldanha today it meant a chance to go to Versailles which is a lovely place indeed.  Here's what they had for me today 

 

I am happy to say that the combined total for the two was 1 euro 90, which was excellent.

The natas here are smaller than I like but delicious.  A light creamy filling.  Deep dish, but small casing with a nice flakey texture.

These guys are definitely in my top 5!

Always take at the counter and do some people watching.  It's a great place for that.

Summary : great nata, great price, great place #recommend 

Surprise! Ice cream flavour

 

Oh my goodness, Artisani what have you done?  It's pastel da nata ice cream and it's very very nice indeed.  Tried a small amount today.  Too rich for me to eat a whole tub but very nice indeed.  Well worth a try.  #recommend

Sical!

Great news!  You can find Sical everywhere here and they do their natas at just 90cents.  A cafe and a nata just 1.5 euros.

As a result there is always a lot of churn at the counter.  But is it just price or is there something to it?  Harry and I went to find out.

 

Now my sample this time was only 50% as Harry was feeling a little peckish too, but I can confirm it was a winner!  Certainly a top 5 experience and if value for money was the only factor this would be in first place :)

The perfect scenario - Natas from heaven

Taking on a taste challenge is not something to be done too casually.  You need a framework in which to operate or it's hard to compare and contrast what is going on.   Let's not forget cake is a very serious business :)

Just in case you want to try your own taste challenge, here's the model I use....

1. Receive with thanks - In whatever condition or temperature the nata is served, take it with thanks.  It is served, and sampled as is.  Do not select, or change or fashion the sample.
2. Canela or not - The first bite always without.  Up to 50% with.  Cinnamon is lovely, but it can really change the sample.
3. Coffee? - for a true sample the coffee must be kept away from the nata.  The bitterness of the bean changes things, particularly if the nata is oversweet.
4. Alone or with company - I really don't mind, but I have to say cake for me is a team sport :)

When I am sampling, I like to make a note on whether the nata was warm or room temperature, I also like to note observations around the pastry, the custard, the surface of the nata (sometimes more burnt) and the smell.  I also like to note the price and make a judgement on whether it has been a value for money experience. 

For me the perfect scearnio is a nata that is:

• directly received from the oven
• crispy, flakey, slightly greasy pastry for the outer case
• Deep dish (not shallow)
• a warm, slightly runny custanrd
• Light burning to the surface
• Dusted with fresh Canela
• Costs less than 1 euro 50 cents.

Everyone thinks about these things differntly of course.  This is just how I like it!

League table of experiences to follow soon.

Stew

Go natural? What was I thinking?

So here I am at the airport in Lisboa.  It's nearly time to board and its therefore important for me to grab a farewell Nata.  Surprisingly in go natural at the airport I could get one and as I'd just picked up some sushi for the flight it seemed like fate had dealt me a favourable blow when I saw these little parcel of filo joy next to the counter.

 

So how did they rate?
Eye appeal - 7/10 -> I felt compelled
Pastry -> 3/10 - crispy crunch, not greasy.  Not flakey.
Custard -> 1/10 - not a lot and not that nice!

Overall, that's a 3.5 / 10.  Recommendation : don't do it to yourself.  I have no idea what I was thinking!  

Ranking: not even top 15.
Any extenuating circumstances?  Well this was an airport.

Overall value for money - at one euro ninety cents this was not a good value experience.

P.s. The sushi was awesome!  Stick to the knitting, go natural :)

Blast from the Past - Launching TechHub Bangalore in 2014

I was trawling through some stuff over the weekend, and I found this.  Brought back some great memories of times in Bangalore and some amazing people that I met there on both my journey to grow a testing company as well as the journey to take TechHub to India.

Wanted to share it and in its own little way I hope it inspires you to follow some of your own dreams.  We will never achieve 100% of the dreams we never even start.  The rest is all about you!

#liveyourdreams

:) Smile - it's time to Demo!

Following the great demo night yesterday @FabricaStartups, I thought it was a great time to add to my thoughts around how to make the most of these types of events.......

Some of the best advice I ever read about presentations is that before you start, you need to truly understand why you are there to present in the first place. Is it to inform, motivate or inspire?

Each of these requires different approaches, different styles and work better or worse with different formats for delivery. The head space you use to build the presentation along with the energy, rhythm and focus of the presentation will be quite different between all three. Informing someone should be quite heavy on data and accurate in its delivery. Inspiring someone to make a change is more charged with emotion, and motivation is more oft reached with a middle ground between the two. A stable and rational basis of fact laced with the compelling emotional necessity for action.

In startup world, there are two much talked about presentations that everyone wants to be awesome at: the pitch and the demo.   To pitch, most likely for funds, is where you need to bring the story of the startup to life for potential investors.   To show them the unique qualities of the idea, the traction it has gained and how you and your team will turn that into a profitable business. A lot of informing, with a touch of motivation on top. You want them to write cheques after all!

 

In doing a demo the real motivation is to prove Product Market fit.  What does that mean?  Well, put simply it’s to find out if the people you want to use your idea actually think its great.   To hear from them about whether it solves their problems, if it meets their needs in terms of user experience and interface and whether the overall package is appealing to them including the price of engaging with it (be that in terms of the data they give you or the money they exchange).  Which one is that though?  Is it informing? Motivating?  Inspiring?

Demos are hard to get right and I have seen many of them in different countries. Here’s some top tips from my experience:

• Be authentic - by that I mean be “you”.   Let the audience see who you are as a person, and the journey you are on as a founder.   Doesn’t matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert, let them in to your thought process and the emotional journey you are on.  It’s exciting, it’s inspiring, it’s a the heart of why entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs.  Don’t avoid being authentic and don’t avoid making connections with the people in the audience particularly if you are getting hard questions.  Those are the ones you really want!

• Show and (do a little bit of) Tell! - No matter what state your product or idea is at make sure that at least 80% of your time at a demo is showing it to people.  Don’t waste time with slides about market segments or timelines of development or even pretty pictures of the team.  SHOW THE PRODUCT!  If its an app, plug in a dongle and project it.  Do that from the start.  Avoid preamble.  Give out download codes and get people to try it there and then.  If possible, also show insights from customers.  These are golden.  A nice 30 second video of your customer saying why they use your stuff can never be argued with!  If your product or idea allows, give the demo audience a chance to interact with it and be integral to the overall experience.  Do not worry about bugs.  Do not worry about crashes.  Do not worry about anything.  Just let the experience happen.

• Look for feedback and embrace it - the main reason you give a demo is to hear what people think and feel about your idea. So look for that feedback. Give time to that feedback. Embrace that feedback with a smile. Don’t panic, no matter what that feedback is. Make notes of it and go away to think about it. Don’t shout it down or counter heckle. Look particularly hard at the feedback you get from people that match your target demographic. This is from where the most important iterations will be derived.

• Short and Sweet - A good demo is no more than 10 minutes. A great demo is no more than 5 minutes. Q & A can happen on top of that. A great demo of less than 5 minutes, might get 30+ minutes of Q&A on the evening both during and after the demo itself.

• Be Social - Whatever your format, whatever the platform, get your conversation started at the demo. Get your # out there front and centre.  Tell people where to share and where to follow.  Make sure they all use the sharing info for your demo hosts too as this is a force multiplier for you.  See if you can get the audience to answer a question, a survey or a poll for you or leave a comment about your demo for all to see.  It’s all part of your story.  It’s all part of spreading the message.  In most audiences at a demo you can never be 100% certain who is there.  Typically there will be other entrepreneurs and their friends, some press, investors, politicians, mentors, business angels, service providers and connectors of all sorts. Mavens, sales people and connectors abound. Where will their comments get shared?  What serendipity or good fortune can you generate?

• Remember just two things - In your head there are thousands of thoughts and ideas. A lot of these will flow through a demo, and letting that happen is part of the process.  Before, during and after the demo remind yourself what are the two things you want your audience to remember?  Do you have a single call to action you can leave them with?  50% of your audience will remember one thing you tell them.  25% will remember two.  5% will remember more than that.  Throw a 100 things at them and you wont get much return over just giving them a few.

• Practice - You wouldn't try and run a marathon without some training and you shouldn't try and demo your idea without some either.  In particular the best thing you can do is to practice practice practice your 5 minutes of demo stardom, with family, friends and anyone who will listen.  Your goal is to achieve a comfortable fit with time and messages that are clearly engaging with your audience. 

The best demos I ever saw where very interactive. They involved the entire audience in things like a video selfie or the building of a multi layered musical track.  They left their audience with a legacy of experience, and sometimes a tangible outcome.  In the case of the MP3 made at one demo, the audience literally could go home listening to it in the car.  These great demos were also fun.  I laughed with the teams and for a moment saw inside the dynamic of their relationships as well as the journey of the idea.  Where I didn’t understand things their approach made me want to find out more.

I still remember the good demos months and years afterwards and why? Well, here’s the most important piece of advice I can give you about being awesome at giving demos....they enjoyed it and I did too!

Human energy is one of the most powerful forces on the planet. When you stand up and demo your idea with a smile people will enjoy the experience. That kind of positive energy is something everyone can embrace. It will pay back ten fold on the investment you make in getting up there :)

#liveyourdreams

My First Nata

So, you come to Portugal and unless you are in a very weird mood you can't help but notice that there is a lot of cake!  In particular, a national treasure is the Nata.  What most english might call a custard tart, but with filo pastry rather than short crust.

When I first came to Portugal, I took these little cakes for granted.  They were everywhere, and I didn't really give them much time.  There were all sorts of chocolate creations and pastries.  So much to choose from, why have the little nata?  But you can't help to recognise how many are made and how many are sold every day and so, I gave one a try.

Now, truth be told, my first Nata was not great!  It was a bit old and tired and it really didn't impress.  But as my time in Portugal became less vacation and more real life I began to see these little cakes in a whole new light.  I began to realise my first impressions were hiding from me the magic of the Nata.

You see, when done well these simple friends to the Portuguese are really very awesome!  In fact, I have to say I don't think that they can be beaten.

Since the epiphany took hold, I've taken it upon myself to sample one wherever I can on my travels.  The results make a significant difference to my intentions to return to that establishment in the future.

So, after 6 months of traveling around Portugal and sampling various wares,  here's my top 3 locations for a Nata.

1. Lapa Palace Hotel - simply awesome!  (But watch that price).  This is not a daily treat kind of place!
2. Sacolinha Villa Bicuda - Try and get them when they are fresh.  End of the day is not great.  This is one of my regular go to places.
3. Orquidea cafe - morning is best!  Love this place :)  Once a week, at least.

More locations and the review process in future posts!

Thank you for tuning in to my first Nata!