STARTUPS, EARLY STAGE, AND SMALL B2B TECH COMPANIES:
You Deserve Innovative Messaging Worthy of Your Innovations
That Is What We Provide.
But why does that matter? Why should you care?
I teamed up with my nieceto help clear the air.
WHAT WE DO
While we provide bespoke services for everyone, we do our most robust work with seeded startups, early-stage, or small companies in B2B Tech who have a few users and are ready to come out of stealth mode or go to market. That is our ideal client.
We not only provide a clear strategy, but also create content that executes that strategy. We have done so before and will continue doing so because we love doing it. We’re innovators who love working with and enabling other innovators.
Other tech or non-tech companies at various stages of their journey can also become clients if we can help each other.
New and small companies are more nimble, fun, and interesting than big companies. They have the best stories to tell, and they have the time and opportunity to tell them spectacularly.
They never get a second chance to make a great first impression to the market, and we make sure that they never need to.
HOW WE DO IT
START WITH INSIDE SIMPLE
First, there is inward simplicity. Here is an example: If I walked into NASA in 1965 and asked anyone “So what do you do here?” They’d all say, “we’re going to the moon.”
If I ask a founder that question and my eyes glaze over after 8 seconds, then that’s the first thing we’ll work on: finding a simple message that everyone can understand. There is a process to do this, and it is simple – not easy – but simple.
We can also make sure your team understands this message and that everyone is on the same page – a simple page. Then, no matter what pivots you make, or where the winds of the market forces blow – you have a foundation for your messaging and alignment throughout the company about who you are, what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, why it matters, and why anyone else should care.
Why is that important?
As Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
If you cannot get your own staff to have a common understanding of its own company’s unique value and why it’s worth caring about it, then how will you get anyone else to care?
Move to Outside Simple (Like Hollywood)
“There’s no business like show business”. This is false. B2B marketing is kind of like selling a screenplay in Hollywood. When you want to sell a script, you never know who you’re going to run into from which studio, or what type of influence they have on buying scripts. That is why screenwriters usually have a tight pitch ready to go – they know that at any moment, they may have a chance to create a “champion in the building” within a studio. This is especially important for new unproven screenwriters.
If you replace script with product and studio with potential customer, you can see why having that pitch is important. It’s even more crucial in tech. Everyone in a movie studio knows what a screenplay is and how it works, but few people in a business understand tech and how it works.
If you have the CTO as your “champion in the building”, your champion is going to have to explain your product to the people around him. We teach you how to craft a pitch for yourself, but also so you can give it to your champion, who can more easily create more champions by using the short and simple message you provided.
Tell Your Story
This is where it gets fun.
Simple draws the baseline. Interesting moves the needle. And your story makes things interesting.
You can have the most amazing product in the world, and even if you know who needs it and how to reach them, if you’re not interesting, then it’s unlikely anybody is going to listen.
This is where storytelling comes into play and where the mystery lives.
Look up any piece about “why storytelling is effective in business” and you’ll see the same variation of these things: know your audience, inspire action, be authentic, create compelling narratives, create content that resonates, connect emotionally, evoke emotions etc. (and usually a reference to Nike).
While those are all true, the real question about storytelling that is not addressed is HOW.
Know your audience?
How do you even find your audience let alone know them?
And inspire them?
HOW?
Create compelling content? .
What is compelling to this audience?
What interests them?
How am I supposed to be interesting?
HOW?
Well, as Dale Carnegie said, “To be interesting, be interested.”
Being interesting takes research, analysis, and some creativity.
HOW?
That’s what we do and have done long before “storytelling” took its place on the ash heap of jargon. So, let’s cut through all the generic stuff and get right to the point.
What is a Story?
Aside from the banalities cited above, there is a lot of faux knowledge about storytelling for business: the strategic story, the business story, etc. They all seem to cling to elements of the traditional/entertaining story too literally. I won’t get into the details now except to say that you don’t need characters per se, no princesses need be saved, and there is no three act structure to follow. That’s for the entertaining story in a galaxy far far away. We’re on Earth, right now, and we’re talking business.
While elements of traditional stories are always a great tool, the one overlap between the traditional story and the business story comes down to one thing: STAKES.
That is the power of stories – they create stakes. Stakes engage people. Stakes create urgency and usually provide the foundation for the overarching message. Stakes highlight and impact what matters and what we care about, and what we care about is what evokes our “emotions”.
What is a game show but a real time story about people with things at stake? What would a game show be if the people had nothing at stake? They’d be BORING. Remember how successful “Wheel of Fortune” was? Who would want to watch “Wheel of Certainty”?
“Take a spin of the wheel – we all know what will happen because every part of the wheel is exactly the same!”
Every product or company has a story to tell, you just have to find the right story. Know what’s at stake for your customer. Know what’s at stake for the – ahem!- stakeholders, and that can help guide you to your story.
Stories Stand Out
How can a new or early-stage company set itself apart? This is part of the process of “being interesting”, but here it is in a nutshell:
Take time and look at the competition.
What are they talking about? How are they talking about it? What is their tone? Their style? What is the subject matter? Etc. Eventually you will find trends – aka “zigs”.
When you can see the zigs, develop a strategy to zag. And if you can – zag hard and zag fast. BE A FEROCIOUS ZAGUAR.
If you want assistance or advice from the professionals who’ve been there and done that – please reach out, schedule a meeting, and ask us anything.
Client Testimonials
CONFER TECHNOLOGIES
Differentiation Through Tone
“He has a rare combination of skills, led brainstorming sessions that were always focused and productive, and he used innovative techniques to devise a clear positioning and communication strategy. Then he wrote, directed, edited – even played the score for – a video, which brought that message to life.
It was so effective, not only did it help us get acquired much more quickly, but also our competitors – who had far more resources – started aping what he had done.”
– Mark Quinlivan, Confer Co-Founder/CEO
SMARTLABS
Simplify The Complex. Make It Interesting.
“Coming out of stealth mode, we needed messaging that clearly explained what made SmartLabs unique and valuable. Mike was new to Biotech but proved to be a quick study. He understood which segments to target, where to reach them, and created tailored content that simplified the complex and provided the clarity we needed.”
-Amrit Chaudhuri, SmartLabs Co-Founder
SOCK PANDA & HQ
B2C. B2B. D2C. R2D2C2C3PO Whatever, They Always Start With Simplicity.
“Mike is not only very creative, but also strategic and analytical. He can boil down complicated ideas into simple messages and then tailor them to different audiences, which was incredibly effective at growing a B2C company like Sock Panda. I brought him in on my next venture, which was B2B, and he did the same thing. And he’s also great to work with – his sense of humor sets people at ease and it gets the most out of everyone around him.“
– David Peck, Sock Panda & HQ Founder/CEO
FAQ
Probably, but in a less robust way than if you’re seeded. Always happy to connect for a free consult to see if and how I can help with your business plan and provide an outsider’s perspective.
Here are some common topics that I have helped pre-seed founders with:
- Distinguishing customers from users.
- Positioning their product to be more attractive to investors.
- Understanding why segmentation matters and how to find the right segment to target.
- Seeing why some of their “competitors” could and should be “partners”.
- How to view their product through their customers’ eyes: a solution to a problem.
- Finding ways to differentiate at each point of the consumption chain and why it matters.
- Gain a more granular understanding of “awareness”. There are at least 4 different stages of awareness, and each should be approached differently.
- No. But we have partners who can do it very well and cost effectively, and we will find the right one for your needs.
- Not exclusively. While the needs of B2B tech align better with what we do best, we’re happy to work with any tech company – or any company – if it seems like a good fit. As Frank Zappa said, “the mind only works when it’s open”, so we keep an open mind.
- Every engagement is different and personalized. Depending on where you are on your journey and what you want or need, you may only need a free 30-minute consult to get feedback on your business plan, or someone to “steel man” your assumptions and play devil’s advocate. We may do this on an ongoing weekly or biweekly basis.
- You may require a project-based commitment, or even a fractional marketer. That would be a different discussion and longer conversation.
- You may have your strategy in place and need written or video content produced well without breaking the bank.
- One prospective client met with us twice, we modified their business plan, and they’ve since pivoted from hardware to software and are well on their way to a first round of funding. Another had a product that we did not see any potential in, and felt the best thing to do was tell them the hard truth as we saw it. And we also recommend they get a second opinion because we could be wrong.
- VC’s Incubators, and accelerators usually ask for equity. We don’t want to ask for equity. That is yours.
- VC’s provide funding but often provide little guidance.
- Incubators and accelerators provide guidance, but it comes with restrictions and commitments you may find constricting.
- We want you to think of us as an investment that will pay off for years to come, so we work with you on your terms without any restrictions or long-term commitments.
THINGS I'VE MADE
Be it writing words, playing music, producing/editing video - I make things.
Sometimes because I’m bored. Sometimes I want to. Sometimes I’m paid to.
Here are some of the things that you may find interesting, educational, or both.
But if you want to get a better sense of this muddle called me, this is the place to be.
After devising a positioning and messaging strategy for Confer's new cyber security product, I wrote, produced, edited, and scored this video.
Product Launch Video - Confer Technologies
(for a client)
No time. No money. No problem.
An Unusual Strategy That Launched a New Company.
(Part 2 available upon request)
The Sock Panda Story Part 1: An Unusual Strategy
(about a client)
Can the Basic Elements of Storytelling Make a Boring Topic Interesting?
CORPORATE ACCOUNTING FOR THE FOLKS! or HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE FARM
(for myself)
From Craft to Buzzword: A Story About Storytelling
Come and Listen to a Story About a Man Named Jeb
(for myself)
When The Lightning Breaks
(for myself)
The Jaws of Simplicity
(for myself)
Entrada Emerges
(for a client)
The Advantage of Amazing Socks in a Job Interview (and in life)
(for a client)
HR Emergency? Call the Sock Panda!
(for a client)
CONTACT US
Schedule a time to connect here
While we always appreciate a good message in a bottle, here are some other ways to reach us.