SalesFounders - Startup Sales Strategy, Venture Capital, Entrepreneur, and Sales Development

"Passion is powerful," say's Jason Adams when asked about launching Bex sunglasses  with only $600. 8-years later, Bex is a multi-million dollar brand that sells hats, sunglasses and apparel throughout the world.  This week, Jason joins me to walk through the creation of what started as a passion for design and a belief that he could create a successful business doing something he loved. Well talk about branding, funding, growing pains, competing with major brands like Oakely, and RayBan, leadership, and some of the key lessons that can help you generate sales traction. 

Learn more at www.salesfounders.com

"Knowing thyself is the beginning of all wisdom" - Aristotle

How well do you know your strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur? Are you aware of your blindspots? Understanding who you are, your natural strengths, and disposition is the only way to truly leverage your potential as both a leader and a founder. On this episode, we explore how you can discover and align with your strengths and how to identify and mitigate your weaknesses. 

What if there was a formula that an entrepreneur could follow to ensure startup success?

This week, PrinterLogic CEO, Ryan Wedig shares 7 steps he's followed to transform a tech-founders epiphany into an world-class software company. From messaging and sales strategy, to cap tables and advisors, Ryan explains how PrinterLogic has grown to #141 on the Inc. 5000 list and become a disruptive force in the print management industry.

It's troubling that so many brilliant entrepreneurs cringe at the idea of selling. Selling is merely an exchange between two parties, and whether you realize it or not, you've been selling since the day you were born. When you break it down, the currency of the exchange is value.

The good news is that there is a simpler approach to selling. On this episode of Mastery, we explore salesmanship, human nature, and 3 simple models to understand why customers buy.

Eirini Schlosser is the CEO and Founder of Chuz, a mobile app that is being described as the “Spotify of where to go and what to order.” More specifically Chuz is disrupting lifestyle decision making with the mapping of human emotions.

On this episode we are going to break down the business model to learn more about how Chuz is disrupting mass-review sites like Yelp and Foursquare with a data-driven solution that adapts to the mood and behavior of its users. 

On this episode we discuss:

• Why Eirini walked from a very successful M&A execution role at Morgan Stanley.
• Launch strategies, channel partners, and a unique approach to data.
• Automating your go to market strategy with data.
• Validation strategy, key pivots and the revenue model.
• User growth vs revenue and the 5-year plan. 
• Why Chuz is focused on mapping human emotions

 Eirini Schlosser is the CEO and Founder of Chuz, a mobile app that curates quality spot content and replaces mass reviews with a data-driven, adaptive software that recommends spots for food, drink, and lifestyle based on menu-specific feedback, tastes, and habits.

Eirini Schlosser completed her masters at London Business School and started her career in investment banking in Morgan Stanley's M&A Execution Team in London.

At Morgan Stanley she had exposure working on multi-billion dollar technology, consumer, and retail deals. Though an incredible learning opportunity on how businesses scale, how to problem solve analytically, and how to execute and work very hard, she craved creative outside-the-box impact.

Introducing the SalesFounders Mastery series. Each weekly episode takes a step outside of your business to focus on you, the Founder. Join us as we explore the habits, strategies, and mindsets of successful founders and how you can lead your startup to the next level.  

The root cause of startup failure, or an individual's failure to succeed can be traced to a disconnect, or an imbalance between disciplines of salesmanship, entrepreneurship, and the organizational focus toward an ultimate objective or purpose.

Consequently, at SalesFounders we focus on these 3 disciplines to ensure that our clients have a balanced and sustainable approach to leading their organizations to their ultimate potential.

Entrepreneurship - An understanding of the entrepreneurial approach to innovate and validate a solution to a market need and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage amidst adversity and competitive forces. 

Salesmanship - An ability to establish rapport, discover the needs of your audience and communicate in a manner that adapts to the needs and demonstrates value in a way that naturally facilitates an exchange. 

Purpose - The underlying passion, reason or motivation that drives behavior. 

In spite of the obvious stigmas of entrepreneurship, the reality is that most successful entrepreneurs seek to avoid risk. Moreover, companies that have emerged from their humble garages did so NOT by brute force and good luck, but through disciplined learning and calculated risk. 

Dr. Eric Pedersen joins us this week to discuss strategies to mitigate startup uncertainty, and the calculated risks necessary to become a truly scalable organization. If there is even a shred of uncertainty as you think about the future of your company, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

“Plan the work and work the plan, but be flexible, adaptable and responsive to unexpected events”  - Dr. Eric Pedersen

• 3 consistent traits of successful entrepreneurs.
• Zero Risk? How to quantify and mitigate the inevitable risks of entrepreneurship.
• The problem with short-term technology and long-term debt.
• 5 Risks that pose the greatest threat to your company.
• Strategies to attract and retain key technical positions.
• BusyBusy.com and the risks necessary to become scalable.

Dr. Eric Pedersen, Dean of Science and Technology and Professor of Web Development at Dixie State University as well as being an active tech entrepreneur. He currently serves on the Board of InfoWest, BusyBusy, CodeChangers /GirlsGoDigital, and PurePickleball among others. He has been involved with the technology sector in Southern Utah for the past 25 years. He started the Center of Excellence for Computer Graphics at DSU and was a member of the research and development team that created the first web site in Utah. Dr. Pedersen received his PhD in MIS from Utah State University.

In 2004, David Williams was asked to help close down a startup that had amassed $2.5 million in debt and still had no product to offer. When David arrived on the scene, what he saw was “the opportunity of a lifetime.” On this episode, we explore the power of Social Capital and how 6 employees and 1 strategic partnership helped David  transform Fishbowl into the leading inventory management solution. Sure, his approach might have “broken a few rules” but the results will compel you to reconsider the way you lead your organization.

“No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability and knowledge to ensure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people.”  - Napoleon Hill

• Searching a troubled startup for signs of life.
• Why Social Capital should be given the highest priority.
• How to manage relationships with strategic alliances and channel partners.
• Why a startup needs a 100 year plan (even if you plan on selling in less than 5 years).
• How to build a culture of loyal employees.
• Should equity be given to employees as stock options?
• How to manage underperforming employees in a startup?
• Leadership and the simple skills that lead to big profits

Since 2004, David K. Williams has been the Chief Executive Officer of Fishbowl, the maker of the #1 manufacturing and warehouse management software for QuickBooks. He has worked in numerous industries during his career, and he has worked hard to help Fishbowl become one of the fastest-growing and most successful software companies in the state of Utah. Fishbowl has won numerous regional and national awards from a number of respected organizations, including Inc. 5000, Deloitte, MountainWest Capital, and Global Red Herring.

In July 2013, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. published Williams' book, which he wrote to inspire his fellow business professionals and leaders, The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results. In it, he detailed the secrets of his success as an entrepreneur. He writes a weekly column for Forbes, and he has also contributed to Harvard Business Review and Inc. Magazine in the past.

In addition to his work at Fishbowl, Williams also acts as the President of the Woodbury School of Business National Advisory Council at Utah Valley University, and he is a member of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce's Executive Board of Directors. For more information about Williams, visit the Wikipedia article dedicated to him.

Entrepreneurs need to constantly be thinking about lead sources and profitable strategies to generate customers. In spite of so many overpriced lead strategies, the most powerful and often underutilized lead source is your own expertise.

My guest this week is Brian Horn, a best-selling author, investor and entrepreneur who helps professionals leverage their knowledge to gain authority status and national media exposure. On this episode, we explore the strategies of thought leadership and how entrepreneurs can convert their expertise into scalable revenue.

Visit https://salesfounders.com/007-thought-leadership-funnel/ for more information. 

What does a venture capitalist look for in a winning startup? How does an entrepreneur know when it's time to scale? In this episode of SalesFounders, we explore the playbook of venture capitalist, Paul Ahlstrom, and take a deeper dive into his book, Nail it Then Scale it. Paul shares 4 key strategies that every startup must understand: What is a minimum feature set? How do I validate my solution? What is my go to market strategy? and Why VC's have no interest in your business plan. Do you know what it takes to build a scalable startup? Join us and find out!

Talking Points

• Understanding the difference between Minimum Viable Product and Minimum Feature Set
• Start with the features that solve the customer problem. What is the process to accomplish that.
• Focus on the feature set that is most compelling to the customer.

• Level 1 - You and your company - what are the things that I can do with my company to go satisfy that customer?
• Level 2 - Partners - Who are the people that are on the same side of the table as me wanting to sell that customer.
• Level 3 - Influencers - Boundary Spanners - both sides of the line - the people that are the glue of the industry - analysts and guru’s, press and media - key influencers in the space. Don’t go there till 1 and 2 are figured out.
• Level 4 - Advertising and Marketing - This is a branding exercise - the whole industry should scream your name -

Customers can validate but they cannot innovate - Paul Ahlstrom

• Getting the essence of the model figured out before you have too much infrastructure is important. It get’s harder to adapt the bigger you get.  
• The truth about business plans - a big fat guess
• Getting into the business model competition -
• Hypothesis - requires the big idea canvas
• Go into the field and start having a conversation around this. Discover and uncover the value exchange.
• Sensitivity analysis - When we have the interjection around 15 minutes, that would be good to narrate something different into it.

• What he didn’t know was the step-by-step process
• That’s been my mission - how do we increase the startup pace
• How do we increase the speed of doing things right more

• One of my life missions is to disrupt poverty
• Global corruption index (see below)
• Global poverty index map
• Intangible wealth - effective government and trust and effective judicial systems. It’s what we enjoy in America.  
• So how do you transport or create that wealth in other countries.

Paul Ahlstrom is a co-founder and managing director of Alta Ventures, an early-stage venture fund and co-author of Nail it Then Scale it. For more than 30 years, Paul has operated on both sides of the table as a venture-backed entrepreneur (founder of Knowlix, sold to Peregrine Systems, sold to HP) and as an investor. To date, he has raised over $1B and directly invested over $500M in more than 125 startup companies. He earned his BA in communications from Brigham Young University and an honorary doctorate from the Netanya Academic College in Israel.