Today was the first day of the Enterprise Start programme run by the PDC (Hothouse) in DIT. I am going to detail some of what I took out of each day. I will post it up here each day (Friday and Saturday for 6 weeks) feel free to comment etc. A word of warning, I wont be talking about any of the business ideas being pitched (Including my own).
I was a tad nervous as I haven’t done one of these programmes before. To be honest I was delighted to be accepted in the first place. I’m not sure if it’s normally difficult to get in to this kind of thing, or if anyone has ever been refused, but I was delighted to have the opportunity.
We had to switch to a bigger room as 17 people are in the programme this year. Thats compared to about 10 last year, not a bad jump in numbers! It looks like I am the youngest of the lot, but whats new there! I have always seemed to have been the youngest person in any group since I was about 15. Im not sure what that says about me but I try not to read into it too much.
Note that this will be the summary of my almost illegible scribbles.
First hurdles - inability to share
The group was asked to do pitch their ideas to the group.
At the first hurdle, the reluctance of the entrepreneur reared its head over concerns of patentability and IP. The message here was if you want to protect you IP then keep it to yourself. Intellectual property and protecting you ideas come later in the programme.
Duncan Ballantine * talked about this in his book “Anyone Can Do It: My Story”. This seems to be one of the major pitfalls for a budding entrepreneur is the inability to share their idea with other people. It was noted that sharing with a family member or relation just doesnt count. You will more than likely get the optimistic slant on your idea.
Luckily for me, I have one of the world’s most pessimistic friends to bounce ideas off. (You know who you are if your reading this!) Honestly he can be one of best people to have around when that light bulb moment of inspiration strikes. A no nonsense, hows she cutting attitudes can be a fantastic trait. If you want to stay well grounded find one of these people (preferably someone who will still listen to you after 4 years!).
We were told was that many people do a bit of a spin on protecting their idea by pushing benefits and highlighting what problem you’re solving without actually detailing any processes. That being said, it was noted that the above may conflict when trying to patent, so each to their own.
Wanting to Jump
I wanted to jump out of my seat at times to tell people about my business idea! That time never actually came because honestly, I was shitting bricks. I had visions of someone in the group turning around and going well why anyone would need that kind of an idea?. So for the moment I held of.
End of pitching
After about 7-8 pitches we moved on to why we were all here and what we want out of the programme. There was a really mixed bag response from the group but the main message seemed to be clear.. I have always wanted to do this, but honestly I just never knew where to start?.
Can anyone become one?
The last part of the night the group was split in half. We were asked to have a mini debate on the subject, Can anyone become an entrepreneur?. We were put in two separate rooms and asked to work as a team on this. This was really difficult as I was on the side that had to debate that anyone could become an entrepreneur! Not one person in the room actually believed this was true, yet we struggled on anyway.
I personally dont think that “anyone” can be an entrepreneur unless they are willing to put the time and effort into creating, implementing and following through with an idea. Not to mention my feelings about peoples inability (including my own) to jump ship and risk it all for a chance to make it big. Thats living the dream!
This is where we closed off .. More tomorrow.
Some side notes:
Elevator pitches- The main messages were always and include the following:
Who you are.
The name of your company.
Your target customers / market.
What problem are you trying to fix.
What solution do you have or what can you bring to the idea.
The profitability of the offer you are presenting
What kind of ROI can your idea bring in
Elements of the pitch
The benefit of your idea, is it unique?
Whos in your market space
What category do you fit into (Sales, ops or financial) . You always need the first 2 in some form.
* I may have misquoted/paraphrased the wrong person on this. It was either this book or Seth Godin the idea virus. I didnt have it to hand!
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. Alex suggests that the role of a brand marketer is to guide a brand not control it.
