Last Saturday night was a Stag-Do, and on Sunday morning, as I review (and regret) the night before through the pall of a drunken haze, I recall talking to a buddy about a (nother) business idea of mine. He is clever and self made, but I still couldn't grab him with the idea. I can therefore eliminate the possibility that he is just too dumb, and I have every confidence that the idea is a flier; so the audience is good, and the idea is good, but nonetheless, in the two or three sentences at my disposal I couldn't sell it.
This reinforces my growing belief that to be successful you not only need to be clever and hard working, but need to be able to communicate your message effectively. The cornerstone of my success will not, therefore, be the quality of my idea, but will in fact be the quality of my communication to investors/users/partners. The vision should be delivered in the time you have at your disposal while sharing an elevator journey with someone. At the end of the elevator trip, your audience should understand and believe what it is you are trying to achieve.
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3 comments:
For what it is worth - I spend a lot of time wrestling with the same thing.
We have just completed a capital raise for Valuecruncher and getting a new concept across quickly and clearly is hard.
Every time I think I can do it I get proved wrong by some interaction...
Just keep pitching the ideas. You will get better and so will your thinking about the idea. If it is good someone will get it - listen to people but persevere.
I agree - you have to keep practising.
Arlene and I were working on a pitch for GetSmart, she has worked with people in media who are even more ruthless - not an elevator ride, but 10 seconds.
One sentence. That is what you get to pitch a TV show.
Reminds me of a classic line I read ' I would have written less but I didn't have the time'
Good to see you back blogging...
That same evening we were talking about fundamental valuation analysis - as you do.
This blog post was written with that conversation in mind. Enjoy...
http://blog.valuecruncher.com/2008/09/running-the-numbers-a-five-minute-valuation-of-microsoft/
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