Entrepreneurship

Early Moves

The term early moves is abstract on purpose. It can mean so many different things in entrepreneurship. Early moves are actions that brew progress. Initiative is rewarded with positive energy infused into moments that help us climb the mountain toward momentum.

The term early moves is used throughout this book. To get thinking, sharpen the sword with these tactical examples of early moves that keep leaders building:

listen
be honest
read a book
explore current markets
attend local community events
participate at hackathons
connect others
practice the pitch
discover resources
form the company
organize accounting
compete in pitch events
seek accountability
travel to learn
mentorship
create
do

Early moves are exhilarating, but there’s value in being efficient as you decide if something is going to work. When we say yes to something, we say no to something else. It’s tempting to say, “Let’s gooo,” but this is opportunity cost. Be strategic with early moves. As you build, collect feedback like a scientist. Use feedback as data, because an early and proper no is much better than a long, wrong yes.

To avoid swinging at a bad pitch, take time alone. Along with your experience and honest thoughts, the internet is too powerful not to research online. Don’t hope something doesn’t exist; try to find it. Run some numbers. Talk with people to begin customer discovery. Think about ways to prototype something worth testing. Practice storytelling and see if you can snag a pre-order. Will strangers buy in?

If enthusiasm remains genuine, talk with others who may be interested in collaborating. Think about your own real skills to identify where you’ll need help. Attend related events to further qualify early concepts. Even if you’re not ready to share details, the readiness to show up often links to new allies who can connect dots. Stay organized and see how it feels to create and post content online as you continue working through the early stages of any idea maze.

Before you go much further, take a pit stop with your future self. Is this a quest and environment you want to work in for the foreseeable future? Perhaps this should remain a hobby? For instance, if you like pinball, it doesn’t mean you should start a pinball business. The hardships that come with being a business owner can compress, divert, and decrease passion. At first, the allure of new-made things is fun and exciting, but pressures add up. If the dance remains motivating, positive tension is relieved by executing early moves that help sustain a sensation of growth.

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“Inspiration is perishable—act on it immediately.” –Naval Ravikant

Determining which actions to take when is a juggling act, but as early moves are blended and strategically sequenced, they collide to jolt a business idea forward. 

You Don’t Need This Book: Entrepreneurship in the Connected Era prompts diverse types of early moves that guide an idea toward commercialization. Here’s a reminder of that book’s table of contents for readers to revisit.

You Don't Need This Book: Entrepreneurship In The Connected EraChapter 1 – Ideation
Chapter 2 – Community
Chapter 3 – Team
Chapter 4 – Side Hustles
Chapter 5 – Research
Chapter 6 – Testing
Chapter 7 – Marketing
Chapter 8 – Sales
Chapter 9 – Results
Chapter 10 – Persistence

If this evolving business idea continues to touch your heart after internal and external analysis, you may have something ready to pursue. Yes!

Inspiration is perishable, so when this happens, be ready to take action. It’s not how fast you move; it’s that you find ways to get started and keep moving.

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Things you dedicate time to will grow.

As you make early moves, stay nimble. Agility is one of the best advantages to being small. It often takes many versions to land on something ready for the wild. Remain sustained by timing early moves based on personal bandwidth, the environment, things you do well, and things that make you uncomfortable. Leverage educational support, accelerator programs, and resources. Stay intellectually humble, work with others, and continue executing more early moves.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Slide Deck Design

Ready to inspire an audience? Maybe you’re looking to host a meaningful meeting? Let’s explore translating your transmission with a supportive slide deck.

Before we dive in, why are slides needed? Building a slide deck highlights your key points while establishing the tone, cadence, and flow for your storytelling. Think of a slide deck as the visualization of a story, which supports what you say when expressed in a natural way. The unconscious objective is to deliver impact in the least amount of time.

There are endless templates that will help you format the look of a slide deck, but find creative ways to make it your own. You can customize your slide deck with colors that match your brand, icons, and other graphics that add character beyond the status quo.

When every slide matters, it’s tempting to overload slides with too much text. This is a common mistake, but if the audience is tasked with reading, they’re unable to listen. One hack is to remove punctuation. This eliminates paragraphs, full sentences, and lengthy bullet points. Good storytelling, short titles, eye-catching images, and concise key phrases are all you need to guide the audience.

Make your slide deck stand out with bold imagery and less text coupled with simple transitions and creative movement of the content on each slide. Subtle animations will keep your audience curious, while graphs, charts, and other data visualizations keep things informative and easy to digest.

As content comes to life, include specific details related to any themes, goals, or requirements. For example, pitch competition judges often use a rubric to score each participant. Creatively addressing these details will answer questions before they become a distraction.

As you bring a presentation to a close, design the final slide with intention. The last slide is often on screen longer than any others, so combine heroic imagery, branding, calls to action, and simple contact information to finish in style.

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Pitches are built to impress.

Presentations are meant to share.

After you glide through your impressive slide deck, are questions allowed? If so, consider including back slides. Back slides live behind the final slide. They are used to highlight material not included in the main presentation. Handy back slides include detailed pricing, competitive analysis, marketing strategies, research data, testing results, and intricate financial information. People who understand what they’re talking about use fewer words and optional back slides allow you to simplify your storytelling. This reduces the numbing effect of information overload.

With back slides in place, you can be more concise. This makes for a more impactful tone. It can even be good to purposefully leave out a curious topic from the main presentation. When the inevitable question is asked, you can use the sneaky back slide to share a focused response. If your presentation includes back slides, memorize their order and you’ll soon be leading a more authoritative exchange. In short, back slides prove you’re a pro.

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When your story and slide deck resonate, the audience nods, laughs, asks questions, and takes action to connect with fellow attendees.

Being prepared is obviously important when all eyes are on you. With a striking slide deck in place, practice what you plan to say and sync the narrative to the timing of each slide. Whether you use animated content or not, it’s best to have a single click to move between each slide. As you speak, you should focus on connecting with the audience, not on the slide deck or the handheld clicker.

Memorization is also a trap. A more genuine tone comes from the heart. We’ve all seen people lose their place in a memorized script or fumble through notecards. Avoid this by practicing what you plan to say out loud. Memorize the order of your slides but not exactly what you plan to say.

As you practice, move around and find ways to keep track of where you’re at without reading from the slides. Further challenge yourself by introducing distractions. A small audience throwing ping-pong balls, starting from random slides, and practicing with strangers are a few ways to get past the ease of speaking in front of a mirror.

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Watch this presentation and notice the slide deck.

To complete your slide deck preparation, export everything into one PDF and create a JPG file for each slide. The richest presentation will come directly from the software your slide deck was built with (Apple Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.). These flat formats can be used as marketing materials, but they also provide a quick answer to unplanned technical issues. Deliver the digital assets on time, and organize everything on a backup flash drive.

When clarifying visuals become part of the equation, slide deck design will spark the imagination, guide storytelling, earn that pitch competition win, keep attention focused, seal the deals, and invite more inspired collaboration. As you tell your story, take feedback seriously. Feedback from people you don’t know will sharpen the business, your slide deck design, and your presentation overall.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Pitch Competitions

Pitch competitions create hype within conventions, conferences, and trade shows. Business competitions can also be standalone events. When a founder’s storytelling becomes award winning, pitch competitions can enrich your business. Feedback, awareness, complimentary services, and cold hard cash are all up for grabs.

As you explore business competitions, recognize the commitment required for each event. While application fees are rare, applying for pitch competitions can be time consuming. As you apply for different types of events, repetition makes the process more efficient. Save content before submitting each application for a head start on future submission forms. Along with bettering the application process, consider the competitive environment you’ll be occupying.

How can your initial application solidify a positive first impression? What will be required to participate in a meaningful way? Will the audience respond to a presentation meant to share or a pitch built to impress? How much time will you be given? Who are the judges? How can your narrative be catered to the judges’ scoring criteria? Will there be time for questions? If so, what questions should you be prepared to answer? With these considerations in mind, it’s time to prepare the transmission.

NEXT WEEK: Slide Deck Design

By Ben McDougal, ago

Content Creation: Organization

Think of the last time you moved into a new home. A clean slate is easy to work with, but can quickly become cluttered as you make it your own. As entrepreneurs develop more creative content, organization is a habit that helps you scale.

The best way to do this is on the front end. Take the time to name and organize your growing collection of files in a way that’s easy to navigate. This sounds simple, but cluttered folders with unrelated files form fast. Need proof? Take a look at your recent downloads or the mess that is a “My Documents” folder.

To boost efficiency, be quick to start new folders and subfolders. Such organizational diligence adds value now and later. You’ll build faster with quick access to what you need. You’ll also be able to more effectively return to past projects. Organization is hard on your own computer. It’s much harder with more people adding all their own materials into a library of files. If the team uses the same library, establish naming conventions and organizational standards.

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Thanks to all who made this YDNTB audiobook release party so special!

Another good organizational habit is to maintain external storage. This supports unlimited growth and ensures everything you build is backed up. It takes a bit of time, but storage space has become basically free. Throw that external hard drive in your bag and treat it like it’s part of your computer. Cloud storage is another good backup method, but online connectivity may be required. For added security, store one more external hard drive outside your home or office. A safety deposit box is a good off-site option. Don’t let data lose spark interest in a better backup plan.

Data management is important, but organization plays a role in other areas as well. Nobody likes working with people who miss deadlines or go silent without reason. Stay organized with your calendar, email, phone, social media landscape, and workspace. This reduces the distraction of clutter and creates a healthy space to do your best work.

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This concludes our 6-week skill building series. To see how everything fits into the broader marketing discussion, pop over and snag You Don’t Need This Book.

As your multimedia marketing skills evolve, merge them to generate all the feels. Learn how to write so it’s easy to read. Snap photos that tell stories. Shoot contrasting collections of video that are enjoyable to watch. Bring narratives to life with captivating graphic design. Get creative and stitch it together with sharp organization. This concoction of multimedia marketing skills is a potent formula for endless stories that sell.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Content Creation: Creativity

With status quo so easy to find, creativity may be your only chance to stand out.

Those who seem more creative have allowed themselves to be creative more often. Like training your mind to be an idea machine, creativity is a skill that comes with practice. The more you let yourself get creative, the easier it becomes. Start with a will to explore your past, current, and future environment through the lens of pure wonder. As this mental habit forms, try new things, conceptualize crazy ideas, doodle, or just daydream a bit more often. These exercises create space to explore creative ideas without limitations.

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Creatives don’t need to be inspired. Every day is a holiday. Celebrate it and let your practice inspire the art.

When you enjoy being creative for fun, you can focus that spirit into your work. As creativity flows through your work, the storytelling becomes more interesting. If you then combine interesting content with consistent execution, the potential to be remarkable is unlocked.

UP NEXT: Skill #6 – Organization

By Ben McDougal, ago