Finding your Niche Stage

Blake Jennelle, one of the prime movers behind Philly Startup Leaders (PSL), was recently interviewed by Technically Philly as a part of their “Exit Interview” series. The focus of the series is entrepreneurs who have left Philadelphia: We hear a lot of chatter about Philadelphia’s brain drain, particularly from our technology community. We’ve read the reports and heard the studies, but we wanted to hear from the people who have actually left.

Most of our clients offer complex software products, frequently in combination with some amount of consulting services. Their sales are not the results of credit card transactions but a complex orchestrated sales process.

I mentioned in “3 Equations 3 Unknowns:  Customers, Features, and Message” that we spend a lot of time on the early customer stage. It requires very different sales style than you’ll see later on. It’s a conversational sales style. It’s much more about understanding the problem. You’re trying to solve three equations, three unknowns: Are you talking to the right people? Do you have the right features? Do those features translate into benefits that are going to be useful to them? The customer discovery interview process can be tough to master.

A baker’s dozen of common mistakes that I have seen founders make in preparing, delivering, and evaluating a new product presentation/demo. Don’t keep giving the same presentation if it’s not working.