Specific not Pacific ** T's Mike Tyson impression (apologies to Mr. Tyson) ** Second Intro ** Process is the great unifier ** What can we impart to you that will get you to a decision faster ** Do a process map ** Step 1 is to do a journal ** An example of a process ** To set out a realistic calendar you need time stamps ** With a hard good it is easier to grasp the process ** Monitoring and mapping inputs and outputs will help you create a process ** You have to set expectations for yourself and hold yourself accountable ** It's what I'd call asset alignment or resource alignment ** Job description alignment and understanding job responsibilities ** Best value adds compared ** Part of a manager's job is to make sure employees have the tools they need ** Asset alignment and people alignment ** Your team will flourish when you don't have to micro-manage them ** Review and re-alignment ** You should be in real time all the time with scheduled feedback ** Process and metrics example ** That's a culture issue. We want unified goals ** As a manager, you put the right people in the right places that will create the most value ** Tracking work tied to metrics allows for real conversations ** Process includes training, checking in and following up ** You can always have a process map. Track your inputs and outputs and allocate the right resources.

The big thing with inventory is it depends on what stage of development you are at ** If you are stacking inventory, you should have sales scaled to your demand ** I'm an "on-demand" person ** Every step you go, you need more ** Don't order 2,000 if you only need 100 ** A lot of people think you have to have the product on hand to begin selling ** Do you want me to play devil's advocate ** I exist in the hard product world ** You want enough product to validate and iterate ** Most people don't consider shipping costs in their business model ** Everything is based on a number and a timeline ** Apologies to the U.K. ** Just in Time Inventory ** Some things you can stock in quantity ** Focus less on inventory and more on distribution ** I love waiting lists ** We could not do a deal with QVC ** Those big deals look really important but usually you take all the risk ** If you are pre-revenue and talking about inventory ... forget it ** The risks of holding inventory ** Until you get sales, keep your inventory low

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The idea of "You just need the ONE" ** Business like everything else in life is not static. It's constantly shifting and moving ** That comes back to knowing your market ** You have to go as far as possible on as little as possible ** A lot of people said to me, "If you could just get your bike to Brad Pitt" ** Being on tv alone isn't going to make or break your business ** You need a functioning business behind the scenes ** Jesse James doesn't get enough credit for capitalizing on being on the Discovery Channel ** A lot of those "tv opportunities" the subject actually pays for themselves ** Why people love the myth of Instant Traction ** It's great if 50 Cent promotes your product but if you're not set up for it, it doesn't matter ** The business needs to be set up to capitalize on the publicity ** Put your time and energy into building the fundamental business ** We teach marathons based on sprints, setting goals and reaching certain metrics ** You can make it happen but there is always more work ** Don't hang your hat on the one. You need a series of wins and the set up to capitalize ** Successful people work harder than everyone else ** As I built the business, I would take loses instead of lowering my quality standard ** I work more now because of expectations, demands and maintaining quality levels ** As things keep going in the right direction, there's more work ** The dream is that it becomes easier ** The hard work makes us better ** The goal is to build a good team ** The reality is that there are a lot of people this is not for ** You do burn the candle at both ends ** You have to know what your priorities are

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That's the mindset we want to work with ** Very successful companies are usually not the first mover ** A substitute is still a competitor ** Launching a new product you can run into group think or be overzealous ** In a big company group think is usually a hurdle to innovation ** Have the mindset of doing research to find your market fit

** The answer is never what you want, it is what is needed ** We have a vested interest in you ** We don't expect every company to make money with us ** Metrics are what leads us ** What "Fail Fast" really means ** You have to separate the personal from the business ** Are you open to listen to market intel and make changes?

** I don't want to work with people that don't want to see the research ** Consultants and focus group findings ** It's easier to change the name than change physics.

I have a rant, stop using the word "I" ** If you can't give me real metrics, you don't know ** It's the difference between theory and hypothesis ** Here's where I differ from you a little bit ** It always starts with "I" but has to quickly move on to who you are going to serve ** If I hear a certain amount of "I"s in an interview, I'm done ** You start with "I", but you must find your target market as quickly as possible ** It's not about you ** Most entrepreneurs and business owners think about the client 24 hours a day ** You cannot be a customer of one ** It's a spicy meatball ** They are saying prove it to me ** Product market fit and feature benefit alignment **The goal is to get your product in front of your target market and see what matters to them ** Remove yourself from the equation and test the data ** Go ask someone for money with your diatribe of "I" ** You put it out into the universe and wait for the hate comments to come in

If your whole business plan is to raise money, get a new plan.

I thought it was time to fundraise ** You have no market intelligence to share with an investor ** People don't usually invest in a business. They invest in people and look for a team ** How can I get market validation if I can't make my product? ** Your time is better spent building a team instead of fundraising ** A start up is not a business A start up is an idea looking for a business ** We never raise money until we have a pilot or a customer ** If you fundraise early on, you will probably be giving up equity ** You're better off finding a good partner structure.

If you fundraise to build a company, build the company ** I don't know who gives money without milestones ** The Greater Fool Theory of Investing ** Is your goal to be sold or to get your product to market? ** Joule strategy to market ** The quickest way to raise money is to get to revenue ** Do your research ** As a founder, you need to be realistic ** Your extended network is part of your team ** Surrounding yourself with the right people is worth its weight in gold ** Organizational Behavior 101: Conflict is good ** The further in development you get, the more valuable your company is ** I'm shocked at people who raise money and can't explain what their business actually is ** You have to be willing to be disproved ** Owners need to get a backbone ** Analyzing information is a practiced skill you need in business ** What is the best use of the resources around you?

I'm sick of people saying that entrepreneurs need grit ** Grit is more brawn than brains ** What you need is passion ** Grit is a short-term strategy ** It's not always Fun Dip and rainbows ** Passion alone does not make you successful ** It's about the vision that we need to get somewhere ** People are always trying to sell you something ** There are people rooting against you ** You need people around you that tell you what you need to hear ** Break it down so we can build it back up ** We are the shakedown run for your product or idea ** I took a low probability shot ** You have to be okay with the "suck" of it all ** At the end of the day, I'm going to put out a product that will move my company forward ** Passion goes a long way, but you need more than that ** This is going to upset people, but I don't care ** I disagree with that. It's hard to build anything ** You have a job to do, and you got it done. That's not grit.

How do you get through to people who are combative towards coaching? ** If you knocked it out of the park on your first design iteration, you are the best there is ** If we don't tell you now, the market will tell you later ** Sometimes you don't go to market. ** Our main goal here is finding the right products to take to market ** It's about the right resources at the right time ** You are not Nike ** Even Nike at the beginning took calculated risks ** You need one traction point ** The example I always like to use is Apple ** The iPod was the turning point for Apple ** A lot of features were rolled into the iPhone ** We have to take calculated risks ** We are not selling the movie poster ** They have to be open to the risk reward paradigm ** We are not guaranteeing success ** You have to be passionate about it ** True entrepreneurs don't put money first. It's freedom.

Can I tell you a brief story? ** You Big Timed me! ** Sometimes you have to take the client because you need the money ** I try to treat everyone like they are family ** Respect is a two-way street ** So is business ** Running and owning a small business is personal ** I don't view business as a zero-sum game ** True Capitalism means you have to be honest in relationships ** We rely on our relationships and networks ** Big Timing ** People don't hold themselves accountable ** Sometimes people confuse activity with being busy ** We look at everyone as a team member ** Relationship Capital ** What kind of person do you want to be? ** I will always try to show up for somebody ** If you are running a small business, you can't burn bandwidth ** Economy of Scale ** That's my rant for today ** Honesty ** To be successful you don't have to be everything to everybody ** Being honest isn't being rude.

Signs that it is the right consultant for you ** Build your internal dev team first ** A startup going to a consultant first thing off the bat is taking a long road ** Every business owner needs to do research ** A consultant can reveal team inefficiencies ** You should be the expert about your own business ** Most entrepreneurs don't build teams right the first time ** Having a consultant on your Board of Advisors is a long-term strategy ** The consultant should not be there to "yes" you ** There are two starting paths: building teams first and starting with consultants ** The key is research, review and doing your homework ahead of time ** Do you have all the resources to execute the plan? ** Consultants should give you options to fit your needs ** Understanding your limitations.