Preparing for the perfect pitch…

30 March. After working on our internet start-up the entire year, the day has come to give a pitch to the investors. Because we have put a lot of work in the development of our idea and the preparation of our business plan,we should prepare properly for the pitch.

Therefore I googled ‘giving a good investor pitch’. The first result I came across showed me that I wasn’t the first to use Google to look for information on the best way to persuade the investors, Scott Gerber had the same idea. However Google wasn’t able to prepare him for his meeting with the investors.

Scott Gerber entered the meeting room with a lot of confidence, he was sure he would be able to persuade the investors. However things took another turn and Scott Gerber had to leave the room without any money.

Fortunately for us, Scott Gerber analysed his failure and consequently he wrote a blog about the 6 lessons he learned.

1. Less is always more: present your business to the point in a short and enthusiastic way
2. Never hypothesize: execute, execute, execute: inspire confidence with facts not fiction.
3. Leave the hockey sticks on the ice: excite investors about your big picture, but be reasonable and responsible.
4. Learn to love discount stores: prove you’re a fiscally responsible manager who knows how to get the most out of a buck.
5. Rome wasn’t built in a day – your business won’t be either: investors appreciate companies with sustainable step-and-repeat business models that are poised for exponential growth.
6. Choose not to be the smartest person in the room: build a team of credible experts.

Taking all these 6 tips into account, our first pitch will hopefully be more successful than Scott Gerber’s first pitch. We will do everything we can to convince the investors to join our RateMyStyle adventure.

(http://www.businessinsider.com/6-guidelines-for-the-perfect-pitch-2010-2)

A new type of consumer: ‘the sellsumer’

Due to the economic crisis people have been losing a lot of money and the end is not in sight yet. When people find themselves in such a difficult financial situation they start looking for opportunities to make the most of their money. This means everyone is constantly looking for the best deals available. But that’s not all. Nowadays consumers don’t just want to get the best value for their money, they want to make some additional money themselves. A new type of consumer is born: the ‘sellsumer’.

Trendwatching.com defines the ‘sellsumer’ as follows:

Whether it’s selling their insights to corporations, hawking their creative output to fellow consumers, or renting out unused assets, consumers will increasingly become ‘sellsumers’, too. Made possible by the online revolution’s great democratization of demand and supply, and further fuelled by a global recession that leaves consumers strapped for cash, the ‘sellsumers’ phenomenon is yet another manifestation of the mega-trend that is ‘consumer participation’.

 ‘Sellsumers’ have been around selling products on websites, for example Ebay, for many years. Why does this all of a sudden become a trend? As more and more people are looking for an additional source of income and start offering products and services online, more and more specialised trading platforms are launched. They can be divided into two broad categories: ‘sellsumers and properties’ and ‘sellsumers and creation’.

There are a lot of examples of ‘sellsumers’ selling their properties online. The properties can be everything ranging from space, for example parking space  or storage space to home-produced green electricity.

The second category consists of the creative ‘sellsumers’. They sell their designs, software, manufacturing… online. Etsy.com is one of the largest sites for craftsmen with 200 000 members and over 3 million products.  Also in this category are websites were content and software are sold. Well-known examples are redesignme.com and the Swedish metrobloggen.se. 

As mentioned previously we are trying to create a successful internet start-up. It might be a good idea to try to capitalize on the ‘sellsumer’ trend by creating a trading platform for a target audience that hasn’t been addressed yet.

Check out our blog regularly to see if we have found a new way to address the ‘sellsumers’.

Source: http://trendwatching.com/trends/sellsumers/

Gold Diggers

Wild Life: Walking with the aureavores.

In this series about wildlife on planet earth, research, observation and most of all curiosity, have taken us on an itinerary with some of history’s most impressive animals. We have been focussing on carnivores (feed on flesh) as well as on herbivores (feed on greens), but we have saved the best for last. In this episode, the mystery of the “aureavores” (feed on gold) will finally be revealed!

Their name is derived from the Latin term ‘aurum’, which means gold, their motive is quite clear; their hunger for gold.

In my humble opinion as an observer and specialist by experience, three types of the family of the ‘aureavores or gold diggers’ were and are roaming the earth in search of the most profitable ‘digging areas’.

Although there is some disagreement among scientists about the origins of the family of the ‘aureavores’ (some believe the ancestor is to be found in the person of King Midas, whose touch turned everything into gold, others brush this aside as just a myth), the members of the first group are generally known as ‘the traditional diggers’. This tribe is considered to be the initiator, followed by many as an example. In a period of fleverish migration, workers from all over the world populated Argentine, Australia, Canada, Chili, New-Zealand, the USA and South-Africa, in search of little pieces of gold metal. The labour was hard and many ‘diggers’ even died before they were rich, from an epidemic, called ‘the golden rage’. Nowadays these primitive tribes are almost extinct, leaving only the large gold mining companies and very slick gold traders to continue this primitive type of gold searching.

A second family of ‘aureavores’ is a notorious one, called ‘the gold bunnies’. Related to the oldest job in the world –prostitution- this family consists mostly of women. As the process of finding gold proved to be too labour-intensive, this tribe has figured out a new way of reaching the ‘rich (and famous) status’. No shovels and spades needed for this type of digging! Instead, pounds of make-up and a series of boob jobs, should do the trick. What it comes down to is this: make sure you appear to be a young, beautiful and slutty individual, find yourself a very rich and old mate and wait for him to die, so you can start running away with your legacy, escaping the angry family members.

However, this is very simply put. We must not overlook the harshness of the mind games, emotional roller coasters and legal pitfalls that are involved. Undoubtedly, this tribe will exist for many many years to come!

And last, but by no means least, there’s the tribe of the ‘MTB-diggers’. They are young, dynamic, educated and doing things like writing this blog post. They will spend the next few months coming up with a billion dollar idea to fill the socalled gap in the e-market.

Not a lot is known about this newly discovered tribe, so stay tuned for more details!

Eurasian definition of cool

The Trendconsulting agency Science of the Time asked about three thousand Eurasian students to tell them what products or trends grabbed their attention. The agency calls it coolhunting: the participants have to search for things, products, services, etcetera that are “attractive and inspiring with future growth potential”. The result was amazing. Here are the most eye-catching trends.

1.If you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you’re going

Eurasian students like to travel all around the world, but they still cherish the intimacy of their own home. Traditional festivals are booming and people design products with a playful wink to the past. One of my favourite examples is the I-deck: an Ipod shaped like an old record player.

2. Hello world

The presence of virtual platforms is still growing. Apparently, Eurasian students like to share their experiences with the world. They talk about their dreams (www.dreambank.com), their goals (www.43things.com) and they try to get some social contacts (www.rentafriend.com). I especially liked the site fmylife. It’s a website where people relate how they are dogged by misfortune. Other users can reply with “I agree your life sucks” or “you totally deserved it”. And they eagerly do so. After all, it’s always good to know that someone’s worse off than you.

3. Be the latest craze and save the world

Socially sound projects are popular with Eurasian youngsters, especially when they are trendy and free of charges. One of the most refreshing designs is the dance floor in Club Watt (Rotterdam). It generates power from the movements of the people dancing. So when you dance, you literally light up the room.

4. Pimp your city

Youngsters express the love for their city in various and creative ways. WallsNoteBook shows the empty walls of New York City and gives you the opportunity to practice graffiti online. If you would rather do something artistic in your own neighbourhood, you can pattern yourself on Slinkachu. This London artist gives snails a total makeover and sets them free again. You can find pictures of his slow-moving street art project online.

5. Be different

Eurasian students want to stand out and they revamp their style time and again. They want to express their identity in their clothes and appliances. Jeans with a computer keyboard? A chopsticks bra? If you can design a cool outfit expressing creativity, you can easily reach thousands of youngsters.

6. Be innovative

A trend which should not be underestimated is the creation of design. In the research, Eurasian youngsters expressed their love for the newest and most original products. A USB-stick in the shape of a clothes pin and a little carpet of organic moss are instances of this trend.

7. Boys will be boys

The male participants of the research want to grin and bear it. They are involved in provoking activities like fake kidnap sessions and weekends of war playing. These macho activities are a reaction against the feminized world in which they grow up.

8. Women of the world

When it comes to cool femininity, the Eurasian women want to engage in ambitious projects. Women in Asia start their own e-commerce sites, because they want to conduct business with other parts of the world. They believe that a woman is cool when she’s realistic, independent and has both feet firmly on the ground. While hubby is being kidnapped, his wife is making it to the top in the real world.

9. Alternative advertisements

If you want to tell someone about your product, alternative advertisements are the coolest way to do so. The Lipton garden in Istanbul is a point in case. It became very popular with the youngsters. Another example is the introduction of Gorgio Max Coffee in Japan. Coca-Cola introduced this new product on creatively redecorated toilets. The toilets are painted as if you were standing on a ski run and of course there are skis attached to the lavatory bowl. People see these commercial activities as very creative and outstanding.

10. Enrich your life

It’s striking that no gadgets were mentioned in the Top 100 of Science of the Time. This is because gadgets are often seen as too artificial and commercial. The Eurasian students want to buy something that enriches their life rather than to be right with the latest gadgets. Good marketers will have to respond to this need if they want their products to be appreciated by the youth.

As a Eurasian youngster, I want to add that I found the site of Science of the Time pretty cool itself. It gives people the opportunity to discover new ideas and creative products. Moreover, it’s a good site for marketers who want to follow the latest trends.

Sources:

Cool Editorial Staff. “Eurasian Student Top-25.” Science of the Time by Carl Rohde – A virtual network of trend watchers and market researchers worldwide previously known as Signs of the Time – Karl Rode Sign Times. Science of the time, 3 Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. <http://www.scienceofthetime.com/top15/eurasian_student_top_25/>.

Rohde, Carl. “Euraziatisch cool.” Pub 17 Sept. 2009: 30-31. Print.

Gold Fever

One idea. One website. One billion dollars. Team up! The rush for the Holy Grail of the World Wide Web has begun.

January 8, 1848. James Wilson Marshall, an American sawmill operator, is inspecting the work carried out by his crew at Sutters Mill near the small town of Coloma, California. Suddenly some shiny fragments at the river bed attract his attention. Marshall curiously approaches the magical glance and discovers… Gold. With the news spreading quickly, Marshall’s discovery unleashes a domino effect, luring 300,000 gold-seekers from all over the world to California. Arriving at the promised land they are all living the same dream: getting incredibly rich by only using a pickaxe.

Obviously, times change. The ancient mining towns on the Californian mainland died out and are nowadays exploited exclusively as tourist attractions. Modern gold diggers refocused and found new resources with the emergence of the Internet. The key to success on the World Wide Web is simple: be original, be first and be useful. Pierre Omidyar experienced an Archimedes-moment in September 1995, when he founded the auction site eBay. Fourteen years later, the Iranian Frenchy has a bank account worth €2.5 Billion. The fairy tale of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the social network site Facebook, produced close to €70 Million. And we’re not even discussing the pecuniary details of Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both godfathers of Internet giant Google.

Still a bit dizzy because of these wealthy stories? Don’t worry, being struck by the gold fever isn’t painful. The only medical complication is that your head starts spinning and all these crazy questions are popping into your brain: “Which idea isn’t on the online market yet? What’s this one tool Internet users are truly missing?” Yet, whatever you do, don’t go out of the house since your illness is highly contagious! We, four students of Multilingual Business Communication, infected each other and are being quarantined near the University of Ghent. With this blog, we will keep you posted on our illness and the process of finding the Holy Grail of the World Wide Web. Code name for this highly secret mission: ‘Project Barcode’.

Stay tuned!
Sarah, Barbara, Ans and Niels.