We had a good discussion at this morning at Voyager Coffee in San Jose for the Fri-Nov-3 Bootstrappers Breakfast. Here are some key items we discussed and my take-aways.
Key Take-aways from Fri-Nov-3 Bootstrappers Breakfast
A roundup of events in November 2023 for Bootstrappers
https://bootstrappersbreakfast.com/2023/10/24/roundup-of-november-2023-bootstrapper-events/
Mike Risich on his startup journey offers a number of clever tips for identifying opportunities and forming partnerships with customers. He built an add on product which allowed him to laser target his prospects. See video and additional notes in “Entrepreneurship’s Ups and Downs”
We talked about the “J curve” change function. Here is a short video that offers a succinct explanation and explores several key parameters that drive the shape of the curve and their impact on the likely success of a change initiative: Chalk Talk on Technology Adoption
Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg offers many many useful insights on bringing change to team’s and organizations, which is one the root objectives both of you will have to accomplish as entrepreneurs selling to business. One rule of thumb Weinberg offers is the Buffalo Bridle:
- You can make a buffalo go anywhere as long as it wants to go there.
- You can keep a buffalo out of anywhere as long as it doesn’t want to go there.
In short there is no Buffalo Bridle that lets you make someone do something. Consider if you are contributing negative incentives or causing yourself problems in getting partners to take the actions you would like them to. Peter Block offers similar advice with his “step back to see yourself in the problem (see Step Back to See Yourself In the Problem for video and additional commentary).
More resources related to Gerald Weinberg:
- Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg
- SKMurphy interview with Jerry Weinberg Weinberg is one of my personal heroes and I had a chance to interview him in 2016. This post also contains a guide to his books.
- Weinberg’s Fieldstone Method Also Useful for Entrepreneurs I like his “Fieldstone Method” and apply it not only to writing but market research / customer discovery and helping entrepreneurs build teams.
- Keeping Your Customer’s Trust includes Weinberg’s 11 Laws of Trust which are directly applicable to sales and marketing challenges startups face
- Uncertain Times: includes another one of Weinberg’s rules of thumb: “what looks like a crisis is just the end of an illusion.” I wrote that post in 2009 in the middle of the Great Recession when economic uncertainty was high but the rule applies to any setback or significant unexpected result in good times or bad.
Some resources for entrepreneurs learning B2B sales