Wondering how you can get coverage for your startup in major publications, even on a limited budget?

I sat down with David Barkoe, co-founder of Carve Communications, a PR firm specializing in serving startups right here in Miami to hear about his story as an entrepreneur and give practical advice on what startups and side hustles can do to get PR coverage and grow their business.

Key topics:

Why going out on his own was his only choice when he realized he couldn’t bare the thought of doing another job interview

What to make sure to do when bringing on a co-founder and how he now has “two wives” - his real wife and work wife and how they’ve become good friends through their entrepreneurial journey.

The four questions every startup needs to ask themselves and why, if you are a startup, you don’t need to be paying $10-$15/K per month for PR, and his top tips for how you can get going without hiring a firm and spending money.

David is committed to putting Miami on the global startup map with Carve’s PR expertise - I learned a few things about PR myself and I think you’ll get a lot from this interview.

Getting started as an entrepreneur

2:00 - His start as an entrepreneur back in NYC

2:45 - His story of coming to Miami

3:30 - Why he didn’t start his own firm right away in Miami and instead joined an existing one

4:40 - Why Carve chose to focus on the Miami startup ecosystem

5:30 - The debate going on in his head with going out on his own vs. staying put in the 9-5

6:30 - The challenges of being an entrepreneur with a family

7:20 - Advice he’d give to aspiring entrepreneurs

8:10 - The secret conversations he and his co-founder were having behind closed doors when starting the company

How to do PR right

13:30 - The four questions every startup needs to ask themselves

16:30 - How to get PR on a budget

19:30 - How to decide between different social media platforms

Doing business in Miami

21:10 - Advice for how to stand out in Miami

23:30 - Why it pays to be early and first

Closing questions

22:25 - Best advice he’s ever received

24:20 - How to learn from others

25:15 - What he’d do with $500 and starting a business in Miami

26:40 - Final advice: how to not get overcharged for PR

Mentioned in this Episode

Refresh Miami

Waffle Wednesday at Live Ninja

Nancy Dahlberg (Miami Herald)

Tech Crunch

Brad has seen everything when it comes to business, both as an entrepreneur and as a consultant to businesses.  This is a must-listen episode for business owners of all types and those thinking of their own startup or side hustle.

We went into the story of his start as an entrepreneur where he launched a surfboard business with his brother and how he had to fire himself from one of his first jobs but why it became one of the best business lesson he ever learned

We covered the importance of having a “why” in what you do and the difference between working IN your business and ON your business.

Some big lessons and deep wisdom here from Brad - I learned a lot myself and he is truly a one of a kind guy doing great work right here in Miami.

Getting started 

2:00 - His early childhood entrepreneurial story

3:00 - His first entrepreneurial experiences after graduating UM

4:15 - Biggest differences between 9-5 experience and being an entrepreneur

6:10 - How Alpha Current came to be

Top lessons in Business

7:40 - Common business problems he sees with clients

10:10 - First things he does when meeting with a new client

10:45 - The difference between working IN the business and ON the business

13:05 - The most important question an entrepreneur can ask themselves

14:15 - Why it’s important to have someone take an outside look at your business

15:30 - His “only as a consultant would I see that” stories

18:30 - His “only in Miami” stories

20:30 - How ThankYouSurfing came to be and the interesting lessons he’s learned from it

Closing questions

22:50 - Best advice he’s ever received

25:30 - Books he'd recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs

26:40 - What he would do if he were brand new to Miami and had $500 to start a side business

27:50 - Final advice

Mentioned in this episode

Hemingway on Writing

The E Myth

Struggling with how to find a profitable business idea?   One of the hardest things about getting started on the entrepreneur or the side hustle path is coming up with a good idea.  I’m going to do my best to give you a system for doing just that, so you can get on your way and stop feeling stuck about what to do next.  Existing startups or small business can also benefit from this approach because it is systematic and is almost guaranteed to help you come up with new ideas.

First off, let me say that if your goal is solely to get funded, or to get featured in TechCrunch - then what I talk about in this episode (and in my Podcast and in website in general is not for you) - it is intended for people (and companies) who want to come up with a great idea for creating something of value in the world, something that helps people.  I’m not saying that VC money or publicity doesn’t have its place, but often there is too much emphasis on these things and too little emphasis on doing the hard work that leads to those things happening naturally.  Just my perspective, others are welcome to their opinion.

Spending time out on the Miami scene here I’ve heard variations of these two questions - “what do I do if I don’t have an idea for a business?” and / or “how do I know if my idea is any good?”  This question comes from startup founders, people in 9-5 jobs, and small business alike.

So we are going to tackle this issue head-on, and instead of just waiting for an idea to hit us upside the head some day, we are going to walk through a step-by-step process for coming up with great ideas.

This is the first episode in a 4-part series on Idea Generation.

The parts of this series are:

1) Idea Generation - coming up with a series of ideas to evaluate

2) Idea Selection - picking one idea to dive into

3) Immersion - diving deeper into an idea

4) Idea Validation - deciding if an idea is worth building an MVP for

I've created step-by-step, printable worksheets you can use to go through each of these valuable steps. I highly recommend it as a thought exercise - even if you don't come up with ideas immediately, you are guaranteed to start stirring things up in your mind, making it more likely that new ideas will come up.

You can find these worksheets at miamihustle.co/resources to follow along - if you don't use these use blank sheets of paper!  Very important to go through the exercise of doing things by hand because it creates unique connections in your mind that will help spawn new ideas.

How do you keep going when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong does?

I met with Mary Wolff of Tap.tl, a company here in Miami making touch-screen, see-through TVs.  Yes, you heard that right - see-through TVs that are also touch-screen.  We covered some great topics including how having a law degree has helped her with her startup, how she has gone through the startup wringer and is still alive and kicking, despite having partners stealing money from the company

How their business changed when they went from focusing on big-company customers to a niche segment of the market willing to pay a premium for their product.

We also talked about what it’s like being a woman leading a startup and the pros and cons of running a startup in Miami.

Mary is a go-getter and is doing big things in the Miami ecosystem, including starting a blog called thesilicontropic.com.

Learn how you can find business opportunities right under your nose by overcoming adversity and taking advantage of your existing skills.  I met with James and Kristina Jones of CourtBuddy, an online service that links people needing legal assistance with attorneys they can afford.  

We covered how they used the power of observation to find customers in places they hadn’t looked and solving that ever-present chicken and the egg problem when you have two sets of users.

We went deep into why they feel personal development is so important to the long-term success of their business and talked about their top resources for entrepreneurs.

James & Kristina are doing big things by making attorneys affordable to nearly anyone and we can all learn a lot from their experience as startup founders.

In this episode I challenge the idea that it’s good advice to “follow your passion.”  I go into the reasons why I think this might not be the best advice and what you can do instead.  I start by sharing some stories of my own and am open about my current struggles to “find what I love."

Curious how a simple skill like tutoring can turn into a successful business?

I sat down with Johnny Betancourt from ClutchPrep and learned how he bypassed the 9-5 by taking his skills in tutoring and turning them into a profitable brick and mortar (and now, tech) business.  We talked about the pros and cons of launching a startup in Miami and how his strategy of giving away knowledge for free and focusing on quality over quantity has resulted in a profitable business that hasn’t required the typical levels of funding from venture capital and angel investors.  Johnny and his team have been quietly doing great things here in Miami and we can all learn a lot from what he has to share - I certainly did.

Wondering how to craft a killer pitch that attracts investors?  I walk through a step-by-step process for putting together a 5-minute pitch deck that tells the story of your startup and includes the key 8 slides that every deck needs.  Plus, some expert tips for making your deck stand out on an investor's mobile phone (the most likely place they will be viewing it).

I also provide some worksheets (miamihustle.co/resources) you can use in crafting your pitch, including a PPT template where you just need to fill in the key elements of your story.

This episode is based on some of the best resources out there on this topic plus my own experience crafting and delivering presentations over the last 5 years.  This is only a suggested format, but I would encourage you to ensure your pitch deck has most, if not all, of these elements to ensure it stands out in front of investors.