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Get On the Idea Train, Direction: International Startup Festival!

“All aboard the ThreeFortyNine Roadtrip!!”

Looking for a way to spice up your summer?

This summer, ThreeFortyNine, an awesome coworking space in Guelph, is filling a first-class train car with Ontario startups, investors and the startup curious for a ride to the International Startup Festival! That’s over ten hours on a train with over 50 startup junkies–not to mention activities and networking opportunities to boot! They’ve got great plans lined up to make it the most fun and enriching train ride you’ve ever been on, like mentor speed dating, powerpoint karaoke, and a pitch competition. Sign up and get a ride to and from the festival from either Kitchener, Guelph, or Toronto, and have the chance to meet Ontario startups, investors and mentors. Don’t miss it! 

Check out the event and register here. 

Over the last few days, and up until Demo Day, the teams have been split up for a lot of the time in preparation for the big day. The CEOs will be put to work fine-tuning their pitches, while the technical leads, designers and marketing people will be working full speed to bring their products to the top of their game and assemble kick-ass pitch decks.

“Engineers vs. ad operations. Product vs. public relations. Often, the “geeks” of the office operate differently than other departments. The question is how to bring them all together.” (Mashable)

With this in mind, it’s important to consider the differences that might arise between the various roles that exist in a startup. Fostering healthy relationships between the members of your team means embodying a positive company culture. Doing this while the CEO is off practicing their pitch all day and the rest of the company is working on the product can be hard. That’s why it’s important to maintain open channels of communication, assume equal responsibilities (as much as this is possible), build a good team, and to cross pollinate (sharing is caring) with information. The more each person knows about how the rest of the company is working, the better they will be able to do their job. “Both sides need to understand the why, not just the what.”

“All team members hear and see all issues. Encourage engineers to go to call centers to meet the folks on the customer front line. Have sales people attend development meetings. And finally, place executives in the trenches with product and technology. Whether it’s pizza at 4 a.m. or a brief strategy meeting in the CEO’s office, it’s a team effort — from first year grads to the very top.”

Finally, even if you have completely opposite schedules, take the time to sit down at least once a week and talk over what’s been happening. If you’ve been pitching all week and struggling with how to communicate your vision or a certain feature, ask the person who wrote or designed it. If you’re building part of the product and aren’t sure exactly what the company had in mind, ask. These sessions will give everyone time to openly talk about problems or achievements, thus keeping communication open and progress a number one priority. 

There’s no need for separation anxiety as the roles within the company become more defined or as responsibilities mean less time spent with your team. Just keep communication open and honest, do your best to embody a positive company culture, and your business will come out stronger as a result.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. It’s all the teams seem to do these days. Very often, after a pitching session, teams must return to the drawing board to rework, reword, and get their ideas flowing. Hence a little look into the art of brainstorming (and how our teams do it)

Can you count the number of times your primary and secondary teachers would draw a big cloud with a word in it on the board with satellite clouds around it and ask you to raise your hand and shout out ideas? Chances are, it happened a lot — and we remember it: brainstorming. You’re expected to spit out as many words/ideas you can possibly think of related to the word or idea in the big cloud. And no ideas are to be laughed at or considered stupid. 

It turns out brainstorming is not as earth-shatteringly productive as we all thought it to be back in the day. Sure, you’d think that criticism would slow creativity. But in FastCompany’s article entitled “The Brainstorming Process is BS but Can We Rework It?,” they look at the fact that “Numerous studies have [verified that]: Putting people into big groups doesn’t actually increase the flow of ideas. Group dynamics themselves–rather than overt criticism–work to stifle each person’s potential.”

Through studies by Jonah Lehrer and Susan Cain, it’s been proven that “the presence of criticism actually increases the flow of ideas.” Go figure. Susan Cain’s study and book, Quiet, shows that there’s also something to be said about thinking on your own. Susan Cain analyzes the New Groupthink in a New York Times article, looking at the ability and necessity of an individual to think creatively on their own. She points out that “most humans have two contradictory impulses: we love and need one another, yet we crave privacy and autonomy,” meaning that for many, working alone is when we’re most productive, but that the chance to give and receive criticism as well as to discuss with our peers is an invaluable part of our creative process and helps us to find better answers to our questions. Traditional brainstorming might be dead, but research is giving way to a new way of approaching creative processes, and it doesn’t start with a cloud on the blackboard. It starts within each one of us. 

So, we’ve all got ideas within us. But “Good ideas usually don’t hang by themselves, unattached. They come about as solutions.” How does the new breed of brainstorming (the one that allows criticism) play a part in the process of problem solving?

FastCompany’s Cliff Kuang argues that “allowing criticism into a room full of people trying to brainstorm allows them to refine and redefine a problem. Adding more and more complex problems to the mix doesn’t stifle creativity–it actually gives the mind more to work with, simply by demanding that we find better and better answers.” In a follow-up article to calling the brainstorming process BS, Daniel Sobol looks into the power and importance of “deliberative discussion” – argue, discuss, argue, discuss. Rinse and repeat.

The idea of getting a group of people together to throw ideas around is a constructive one–given that it involves criticism, and looks not only at solutions, but problems as well (which usually ends up bringing about even better solutions). The group aspect of brainstorming was not entirely wrong. They just didn’t realize that “brainstorms can activate a neurological fear of rejection and that groups are not necessarily more creative than individuals. Brainstorming can actually be detrimental to good ideas.” They were, however, on the right track with the environment–they just didn’t hit the nail exactly on the head. For some rules to follow during your new brainstorming (aka deliberative discussion) sessions, check out what Daniel Sobol had to say here.

Here are the articles in their entirety:

The Brainstorming Process is BS But Can We Rework It? 

Innovation Is About Arguing, Not Brainstorming. Here’s How To Argue Productively

The Rise of the New Groupthink

Groupthink

We asked our 11 teams how they view the creative process and when they are most creative/innovative. Here’s what came of the pseudo e-mail brainstorm: 

We bid last week’s rain adieu and said hello to over 100 people for the first-ever FounderFuel Community BBQ! The event was a hit, with hot dogs and Molson Canadian for all. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the community, meet great people, and enjoy the beginning of summer!  Here are some photos from the evening: 

Thank you to our generous sponsors, Molson Coors for the beer and Notman House for hosting the event. 

We’re near the end of the accelerator road for our 11 startups, and it’s just the beginning for them! Here’s a bit on the bumpy rise of a startup: 

HackFwd is a European pre-seed investment company and they put together this great infographic, which was shared by FastCompany as the infographic of the day a while ago. They called it the “bumpy rise of a startup.” So appropriate. If anything, the teams know by now that the rise (and falls) of a startup are as bumpy as a road made out of speed bumps. 

Our favourite parts of the infographic? “Can I bring my light saber on an airplane?,” “Get to know your peers” (that’s part of what FounderFuel’s all about), and “Passionate about an idea.” So many of these steps are embodied in the FounderFuel program, and we’d like to thank the guys at HackFwd for putting together this roadmap of the rise of a startup! 

Sometimes the little things get overlooked when preparing your pitch. Here’s a list of things you might forget but should always keep in mind:

1. Stand straight on two feet. Don’t sway from side to side.

2. Be excited and share your enthusiasm with the audience.

3. Don’t be afraid to smile.

4. Make eye contact with the audience and scan the room.

5. Say your brand name as often as possible rather than “we”. For example, “FounderFuel features 100+ mentors” rather than “We feature 100+ mentors.”

6. Be assertive: don’t say things like “we think we can do XYZ.” Instead say “we will do XYZ.”

7. Speak in short sentences. Get to the point fast.

8. Insert ‘pauses’ in your script. They’re powerful and dramatic, allowing you to put emphasis on important points. Moreover, they give the audience a chance to really understand the point you’re making.

9. Use voice variations in your speed, volume, etc. so that it isn’t the same tone throughout.

10. Never look at the big screen behind you. You have a monitor for that.

11. Don’t have things (mobile phone, change, keys, etc.) in your pockets that could lead to a distraction. Nothing! 

12. Keep your hands out of your pocket. Keep your arms free for gestures.

13. Hold the clicker in one hand. Don’t move it from one hand to another or hold it with 2 hands.

14. Don’t say “sorry” if there’s any kind of error. Just move on.

15. Have a bottle of water nearby to avoid dry mouth.

There you have it! Put these tips into practice when giving your pitch and you’ll be drawing a crowd of investors when you’re done. 

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Shakespeare wrote these words in his oft-quoted Romeo and Juliet. But was he right? Juliet speaks these words to Romeo, implying that a name means nothing and she and Romeo ought to be together (despite their feuding families). When it comes to naming your startup, contrary to what Juliet thought (oh, silly Juliet), a name is not nothing, and it deserves a lot of thought. 

“Never forget that your name is the first thing to come out of your mouth every time you pitch your company.” (Julian Shapiro, TheNextWeb)

The name of your startup is the first impression you make: it can be an attention catcher, or it can be off-putting. It’s not something to be overlooked nor is it something that necessarily comes to you right away. Already during this cohort, two companies have renamed themselves and are undergoing rebranding. And it’s not a small task. Choosing a name that resonates with your customers, your audience, and reflects your vision is a big undertaking. 

“In spite of the frustration startups experience, coming up with a name is a straightforward process,” says Julian Shapiro of TheNextWeb. He says to compile a list of keywords (from company names you like, relevant topics to your startup, what makes you different), find out if the domain is available, “and you’ll find yourself with a handful of great names at reasonable prices.” “With your top name choices in mind, there are two things you need to do before making your final decision: You must decide how much money to spend, and you must collect feedback.” Once you’ve done that, you’re pretty much set. Shapiro also goes into what makes a name weak vs. strong, and some great success stories. 

Just as you wouldn’t name your child or dog just anything, you shouldn’t name your company just anything either. Get all the details and the guide on how to name your startup in the TNW article here. 

Today John Elton from iNovia Capital stopped by for lunch and spoke to the teams about mergers and acquisitions. Here are a few things he shared with us:

First off, he knew what we were thinking: “Why would I talk to early-stage entrepreneurs about planning an exit? You guys have bigger fish to fry right now. But I think it’s useful to discuss right now [...] Ron Conway says if you can’t name ten companies in ten seconds that would potentially acquire a company then he wouldn’t invest.” – That’s why it’s important to think about exits from the get go. 

The fundamental question is “What’s your goal? [...] Do you want to hit a home run, raise a lot of venture capital? [...] Are you really looking to build a business that’s looking to fulfill some of your own individual goals? [...] Or are you trying to do a quick flip?”

“So one of the things I always hear when entrepreneurs pitch is “This is either going to be huge or it’s going to be nothing.” And the reality is that it’s neither. Most exits happen around $74 million, and the numbers are skewed by the larger numbers. Most outcomes are small [...] We [investors] don’t necessarily want to swing for the fences every time, we want to have a profitable fund with smaller outcomes.” 

“New trends: secondary markets are a new thing [...] Founder liquidity [...] Financial investors, later stage fund, hedge funds, private equity firms [...] other characters that traditionally haven’t been in this market.”

M&A: “A lot of it comes down to ego. It’s still very much a people-driven enterprise where someone falls in love with an opportunity [...] and wants to make it happen, to own the company. Or there’s some sort of necessity that there’s companies laying in their tracks that they need to acquire to keep going.”

“My advice to you guys [...] is to keep your options open. The best way to combat some of the inertia is to be capital efficient, getting profitable, really building value to your business, and making the right decisions early.”

A central question that startups ask themselves is, “How do we keep people coming back?”

User retention is a big question mark and a it’s difficult to hit the nail on the head when it comes to designing a product that makes the user want to come back over a long period of time. Many apps get downloaded and then deleted within a matter of weeks (if not days) because the user can’t remember what value the app brought to them. So the question startups ask themselves is, “What motivates people to come back?”

One answer is usability. It’s no surprise that user experience is becoming one of the biggest game changers in the industries of web and mobile applications. User experience has become the keystone to user retention, and usefulness the center of attention of many startups.

In her article on user experience as the heart of any company, Mary Ellen Muckerman notes that ”Usefulness is best achieved by thinking about everything as user experience. If you start with “useful” as a first principle, then you automatically place customer need and experience first. And you’re less inclined to get lost in your own jargon, product-development silos, or legacy.”

When you think about some of the most popular and used apps, they’re not feature frenzied, they’re simple, usable, and get users coming back. They’re focused on how people use the product, which brings me to another good point that Muckerman makes: UX principles say that “how people actually use your product is much more important than how it was intended to be used. So engaging your consumer in ongoing, iterative product development is more valuable than holding out for a “perfect” product launch. It is far better to get started in a live environment and be prepared to change fast around the needs of the user.”

Don’t say that you want to build an online community and not be a part of it. You need to be present and active in what you’re building–you should be a user, too. When Facebook started integrating new features, they made a point (after not making a point and seeing how people reacted) to share the changes with their users by explaining them, giving them the option to opt out, and being there if the user had any trouble. This made “them more fluid, responsive, and relevant than their competitors.”

In her segment of the Game Changers report (download it here), Mucker looks at the fact that ”companies that put usefulness at the heart of what they do become part of their customers’ lifestyle. It makes marketing an ongoing conversation instead of the stop-start engagement that characterised the twentieth century. This makes it much easier for customers to come back, and keep coming back.” Being a part of your users’ lifestyle means that you’ve seamlessly integrated what you do with what they do. Aim to be seamless, useful, and create an experience that keeps your customers coming back.

Learn about the game changers that are changing the way we do business (purposeful, useful, experimental, boundaryless, and value creative) in Wolff Olin’s (not so ironically beautifully designed) report. 

We’ve included several cool UX infographics below (they’re all linked to the original files if you can’t read them). Let us know what you think of UX and how you’re putting your customers first in the comments!

We’re fewer than 20 days away from Demo Day and at this point in the game, the CEOs need to start seriously thinking about pitching. That’s why we’ve got them pitching day in and day out, taking feedback, and rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.

Today was the first day of pitching practice in the lead up to Demo Day. During the course of the day, lots of feedback was given, taken down in notes, and will show through next week when we start again.

A good point that Real Ventures partner John Stokes made was that, “everyone in this cohort needs to strip naked in front of a mirror and say to themselves, “What am I about?” and really know what you’re about. Once you know what you’re really about, that’s what your presentation is going to be.” A recurring comment throughout the presentations was the importance of knowing your story. Seth Godin touched on this point in his post titled, “Your voice will give you away”:

“It’s extremely difficult to read a speech and sound as if you mean it.

For most of us, when reading, posture changes, the throat tightens and people can tell. Reading is different from speaking, and a different sort of attention is paid.

Before you give a speech, then, you must do one of two things if your goal is to persuade:

Learn to read the same way you speak (unlikely)

or, learn to speak without reading. Learn your message well enough that you can communicate it without reading it. We want your humanity.

If you can’t do that, don’t bother giving a speech. Just send everyone a memo and save time and stress for all concerned.”

As the teams begin to pitch, they’ll need to learn their messages well enough to communicate them. Know your story and be ready to tell it.