It was an honor and a privledge to speak at Thursday’s first Sacramento Entreprenuership Breakfast. As a new VentureStart company, we have not been part of the program for long, but we are already seeing the benefits.
There are three benefits that I want to specifically point to that have positioned our company for success. The first is clarity of vision. The second is laser focus and the third is brain trust.
The Clarity of Vision for us really started with the application form. We all know that we need a perfect 30 second Elevator Pitch but as passionate entrepreneurs we often find it very hard to be that succinct. But when you are forced to tell your story in 140 characters, not 140 words; 140 characters, it is sort of like TWEETING your business plan. You get an amazing clarity of vision about your business.
In BrandVantage’s case, we reduced our wordy and somewhat squishy value statement:
FROM: We offer a Web-based marketing application that helps small business owners figure out the best way to market their products and services and provides them with effective and affordable solutions for marketing on and off-line.
TO: We offer a Web-based marketing application platform that helps associations attract and retain members and offers a new source of non-dues revenue. That’s 126 characters!
And in the process we realized that we needed to focus our efforts at our leveraged channel — chambers and professional associations — not the end user, the small business owner.
The second benefit that we have realized is laser focus. Being part of VentureStart has given us a real read on what our team needs to be focused on today. That benefit began with our initial presentation to the VentureStart committee and with a comment from Mark during the review. He said that when you are looking for funding, your product is not whatever product or service you are producing, its your company stock. Your company stock is your product. You have to sell that before you can build or sell anything else. WOW! Now I’ve been through several funding rounds with other companies as their VP of Marketing but never has the purpose of funding been put to me that clearly. For me and my team, it has really changed the way we view our roles, our approach to funding opportunities and our near term goals. And that laser focus has continued with the work we are doing with our mentor.
That brings me to the third benefit we have received from the VentureStart program. That benefit is the incredible brain trust, the team of experts, the resources and the mentorship we have already received. We have already established a great working relationship with our mentor and set out a specific plan to achieve key milestones such as putting together a star studded board of advisors, cutting our development costs and finding clever ways to do more with less, something we can all benefit from in this economy.
I would encourage all the entrepreneurs in the Sacramento area to consider taking advantage of the benefits of VentureStart. BrandVantage has already reaped the benefits of clarity of vision, focused purpose and the brain trust. Just imagine the benefits you could receive.
Clare Price, CEO, BrandVantage, Inc.
cprice@yourbrandvantage.com
Twitter @clarestweets
