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Matt McGarvey

Matt McGarvey. What Business Are You In?. Who wants or needs what you are offering? Why do they want it? Who are your customers and consumers? Who else can offer it? What are they willing to pay? Can you make money offering it?. Source: Lyle Hawkins, . Product Features (Benefits).

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Matt McGarvey

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  1. Matt McGarvey

  2. What Business Are You In? • Who wants or needs what you are offering? • Why do they want it? • Who are your customers and consumers? • Who else can offer it? • What are they willing to pay? • Can you make money offering it? Source: Lyle Hawkins,

  3. Product Features (Benefits) Consumer Segment Needs Alignment Who Wants Or Needs It? Business Success Matching a company's capabilities with the wants of customers and consumers in order to achieve the objectives of both parties. Source: Marketing Plans by Malcolm McDonald and Marketing Management by Kotler.

  4. So how do you uncover the needs and wants?

  5. Consumer Interaction Benefits Features Core Product Features Consumer Interaction Benefits Consumer Interaction Focus On Benefits, Not Core Ask Them!

  6. What Business Are You In? • You are in the business of offering a sustainable (product or service) benefit to a targeted audience, while helping others make money as you do.

  7. Need a plan – make a business plan

  8. Commercialization: Step by Step • Idea – scalable technology, innovative • Initial assessment – pain being solved and will people pay for it? • Technical feasibility – does it work? Can it be produced? • Market study – Competition? how will it be sold? Partners? Channels? • 5 year financial forecast – will it make money for you and your investors? • Re-Assess • Prototype – build a model • Strategic Marketing plan – get partners and customers to commit • Capitalization – who will fund this? • Pitch – getting people to invest

  9. It Is: Building rapport & relationships Asking relevant questions Listening intently/actively Understanding & agreeing on needs Identifying a fit with features, advantages & benefits Mutually agreeing to do business (or not) Confirming & reinforcing why this is a great decision Source: Jodi Graham, Strategic Growth Advisors It Is Not: Advertising “Sales techniques” Talking versus listening Showing up & throwing up A “sales pitch” Telling them what they want to hear “Closing the deal” What is Sales & what it is not? Sales: involves most or many of the following activities, including cultivating prospective buyers (or leads) in a market segment; conveying the features, advantages and benefits of a product or service to the lead; and closing the sale.

  10. What should you know to maximize your resources & efforts? • Understand the buying process & how decisions are made for your product/service • Qualify all prospects • Know the average length of your sales cycle • Sell through referrals • Identify activities needed for success (phone calls, appointments, rfps, presentations, etc.) • Invest in tools for capturing this data (ACT, Salesforce.com, Microsoft CRM, etc.) • Establish metrics and track results on all activity (closing percentages, etc.) • Benchmark with others in your industry • Recognize & reward success Jodi Graham, Strategic Growth Advisors

  11. Financial Forecasts • The pro forma financials are the manifestation of an entrepreneur’s ability to create value • The value of a business is dependent upon what the market will bring – financial forecasts puts dollars on a marketing and sales plan • Smarter is better – the more an entrepreneur knows how the financials link, how they compare to others, what they imply as to value, the better he/she is able to navigate through the uncertain waters of commercialization

  12. Pitch - 10/20/30 • 10 slides, 20 minutes, no smaller than 30 point font • Cover – name, location, tagline (repeat over and over) • Product – put in terms that they can understand • Market Size – have a basis for the estimated size of the market • Differentiation – what makes your business special/unique? • Customers – do you have any? Or, how will you get and retain them? • Margins – will you make money? • High-Level financial projections – the ability to execute, valuation • Milestones – how will you measure yourself? • Management plan – skills, gaps, why you and your team • Summary Source: Chris Semones, Semones Ventures

  13. Answer this question • What is your unfair advantage?

  14. Avoid These… • Huge “Our market is huge!” • Conservative “We conservatively forecast that…” • Revolutionary “Our revolutionary technology…” • Assumptions “Assumptions for the figures in our financial statements” • We believe “We believe that…” • No competition “We have no competition.” Source: Steve Kaiser,

  15. Who will listen? • Angels • Enterprise Angels • Louisville Angels • BlueGrass Angels • Lincoln Trail Venture Club • Lexington Venture Club • Louisville Venture Club • Funds • Yearling Fund • Evermore Investments • BlueGrass Angel Fund • Cardinal Fund • Vogt Award • KSTC Funds

  16. $5K $2M – 20M $10-50K $200K – 1M Self Friends/Family Angel VC Pre-Seed Seed Development First Round Founder/CFO/Sales Founder/Interim Team Founder, team Founder 2-3 Months 2-12 Months 3-12 Months To Steady State How much? Amount Source Stage Name Employees Duration Research to concept to feasibility to commercialization

  17. Kevin Plank, Under Armour • “I've always been a hustler.” • “My first real business was bootlegging.” • “I probably had about 20 grand in the bank.” • “In order to compete, I'm gonna need some big friends.”

  18. Make sure they remember you!!! • Show a video of your product • Differentiate yourself • Cost? • Reliability? • Service? • Is your company “green”?

  19. Some info about KSTC

  20. 3 prong approach: KSTC Business Accelerators 19 full-time professionals Grants and Investments Executives in Residence Laurie Daugherty, Sean O’Leary, Ben Jennings, Jon-Michael Cain Jodi Graham, Kyle Keeney, David Goodnight

  21. Statewide accelerators – advice and introductions to capital sources Gary Marshall, Richmond ICC Jeff Hook, Bowling Green ICC (859) 200-6017 (270) 991-4944 gary.marshall@eku.eduwjhook@insightbb.com

  22. Funds • Potential funding sources: • Kentucky Enterprise Fund • Rural Innovation Fund • Kentucky New Energy Ventures • Number of awards: 462 for $30.0M (since 2002) • Grants: $7.5M • Investments: $22.5M www.startupkentucky.com

  23. Start your business? • Technology-based • $65 – credit card, operating agreement (single member LLC), consultation with an attorney, registration with state Secretary of State

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