Welcome to another episode of Develomentor. Today's guest is Rebecca Watson. 

Rebecca Weeks Watson is a digital media and tech entrepreneur who has been awarded two U.S. patents. After starting her career in finance and then consulting for Match.com, she decided to pursue her interest in the startup world. She was on the founding team and led Business Development for two different marketing technology companies, one of which was acquired by Meredith Corporation. During that time she led the product development, launch, and distribution of social media products that became adopted by publishers and brands with a total of 200 million users worldwide. 

She has spoken at 50 conferences nationwide and founded a groundbreaking interview series called The Reveal that uncovers the personal stories of world-class leaders. Currently, she enjoys teaching a Lean Startup class at Davidson College and lecturing at UVA’s undergraduate school of business.

Episode Summary

"Too often I think people in the startup world feel like they have to know all the answers. They have to build these perfect shiny bright products to then reveal to the world. And at that point, it's too late."

—Rebecca Watson

In this episode we’ll cover:

1. What is relationship building and why it is key in any venture
2. Why Rebecca often reads headlines on LinkedIn instead of books
3. How technical do you have to be to do tech sales?
4. What is pre-selling? Why it is an essential tool for startups to build a product that users crave. 

Key Milestones

[1:53] – Rebecca fell in love with finance in school and decided to become an investment banking analyst. She got an early opportunity to work in Silicon Valley with founders and operators.
[2:57] – Doing analysis got monotonous, so Rebecca moved to LA and accepted a job organizing summits for digital media creators. Soon Rebecca decided to co-found a software company focused on facilitating digital media.
[4:56] – Being recognized in business development, Rebecca joined another startup to help them optimize software. She was the first person involved in sales before the product was even built! In 4 years, Rebecca helped build the company from no revenue to 90 million.
[6:02] – Rebecca became a consultant when she had kids. She also kept producing summits for thought leaders. The summits led to her creating her own video series, The Reveal.
[10:23]- Initially, money drew Rebecca to finance. Why did she get out of finance? Rebecca talks about visiting a career counselor for gaining clarity.
[12:49] – What is pre-selling? Why it is an essential tool for startups to build a product that users crave.

You can find more resources and a full transcript in the show notes

To learn more about our podcast go to https://develomentor.com/

To listen to previous episodes go to https://develomentor.com/blog/

Follow Rebecca Watson
Twitter: @TheRevealCo
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebeccaweeks
Rebecca's interview series, The Reveal
[email protected]

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