Today I woke up to find this email in my inbox:
I just wanted to thank you for your time on Friday. It really was a perfect time for us to be hearing your advice. Some of the questions you asked about marketing touched off some incredibly productive conversations this weekend… not only about our marketing strategy but more importantly, our company strategy. Here’s to newfound focus!
Basically a startup founder was thanking for me for spending about an hour and a half of my time consulting for them on marketing strategies that would take their product and company to the next level.
The founders were great guys who are really ambitious but know their own limitations when it comes to marketing. Having me come in as an outsider was a great exercise for them because I brought in a fresh perspective to some problems that the were experiencing and gave a few suggestions and ways to think about marketing their product.
Too many startups can get trapped in their own downward spiral in a variety of areas: hiring, marketing, product development, brainstorming, engineering issues, etc. What I’ve found immensely valuable is to talk about it within your own team, but then to also solicit feedback and solutions from people on the outside.
Here’s the approach I take when I consult or give advice:
1. Understand the company and product history
You need to dig in and see where the company started, what they’ve accomplished, and where they’re headed next. The other is to also understand what strategies they’ve already tried out and perhaps do a quick postmortem on why those strategies succeeded or failed. Sometimes just running through a postmortem gets the team thinking of different approaches.
2. Don’t tell people what to do, give them a principle
This goes back to the old adage of “teaching a man to fish”. I give startups some basic principles or tools that will help them out. For example, the startup that I was consulting for wanted to know how to write better blog posts. I took a step back and asked them what the position of their company was and what problem they are trying to solve for their users. Going through that process helped them understand what the mission of the company is and how that can translate to conveying that message to their users. Their blog posts should focus on the major problems their users are experiencing and solutions to those problems rather that just pushing product and feature how-to’s. The posts can provide solutions that come from the startup’s products, but most of the time its worthwhile to write posts that provide free advice to problems so that users know anytime they experience a problem in a particular area they can come back and read the startup’s blog for suggestions.
Instead of telling the founders what to write, I helped the startup understand that blogging is just a way of positioning their company i.e. controlling the messages and perception users have of their company, and how they can find their unique voice.
3. Focus on small changes
You don’t want to overwhelm people with advice and tackle every single problem. Yes its true startups have many problems, but the point is to focus and prioritize. Pick one problem area and spend time brainstorming just that. Often times picking one will expose errors in judgment, process, and execution that the team will then realize and start applying to other problems, and that goes back to #2.
Advisee’s Role
Don’t just take whatever advice people throw at you. You want understand the context that its coming from. Be open to it and don’t take suggestions as a personal affront. Also make sure it fits in with your startup’s culture and timeline. Your role as the advisee is to evaluate the advice and apply it when and where you think its appropriate.
