Few–If Any–Silicon Valley Secrets

I signed up for a mailing list a while ago from a reasonably famous entrepreneur and he sent me this mass email in late November promising to share “Silicon Valley Secrets.” I don’t know if it’s because I have worked in Silicon Valley for more than three decades but I found the whole thing kind of sad (of course, he’s probably laughing all the way to the bank).

Silicon Valley Secrets?

Sean,

Seeing that it’s almost 2015, I wanted to create a special webinar for just for you.

During this FREE webinar, I’ll share 5 killer strategies to double your business that I learned from some of the top entrepreneurial minds in Silicon Valley.

These secrets have never been shared publicly, and have directly contributed to helping us grow [Our Company] by 15X over the past 16 months.

I wanted to share these tips before the holidays to allow you to skyrocket into the new year with the best information & strategies to win big!

Date: Thursday, Dec 4th @ 2PM EST
Unfortunately, this webinar will NOT be recorded.

To learn more: [Landing Page]

I hope you can make it!

P.S. If you have any entrepreneurial friends that you think would benefit – feel free to share this link: [Landing Page]

If you go to the landing page it says:

5 Killer Strategies To Doubling Your Business in 2015
Discover my Silicon Valley secrets to skyrocket your business by implementing 5 little changes that no one is talking about.

Just as the Nigerian 419 scams are profitable these emails must make him money but I don’t see how he can look at himself in the mirror in the morning when he is shaving. For all I know it’s immensely profitable and I am missing an opportunity to get into the “Startup Fantasy Camp” business.

It’s certainly possible five small changes would double my business in 2015 and that his business has grown 15X in 16 months, although for the latter figure I suspect he is comparing his first month’s revenue to his most recent. It’s a shame he couldn’t record the webinar, I guess that helps to protect the secret knowledge and keep it precious.

Few–If Any–Silicon Valley Secrets

I can’t promise you any secret knowledge. There is a lot to learn about business from Silicon Valley but very little–if any–is secret. At best some “Silicon Valley secrets” are hiding in plain sight.

I have been helping startup entrepreneurs for almost 12 years now and before that worked in a variety of startups and some very large firms for more than two decades. I have probably seen much more go wrong than right and focus on asking questions to help entrepreneurs walk around their challenges, plan experiments, and  anticipate the risks and likely consequences of each of the possible courses of action open to them. Some possibilities may have occurred to them after we started walking around the situation, questioning assumptions about constraints and resources.

But You Are Welcome to Schedule Office Hours

You are welcome to schedule an “office hours session if you are looking for advice on lead generation or closing deals and want to walk around your current sales process or a particular opportunity you are trying to close. Also happy to help you craft an MVP, prepare for customer interviews, or try and make sense of what you have heard in discovery conversations you’ve had. Here are some other blog posts about office hours:

• Founders Want Leads and Deals
• Office Hours: Schedule Time to Review Your MVP Readiness
• Crafting a Value Proposition
• We Help You Design Experiments That Move Your Business Forward
• Office Hours: Schedule Time To Walk Around Your MVP

Photo © Mark Murphy, used with permission.