PS27 Leadership Day 2021
by Parker · 164 things on Twos
- 10:00 a.m. Welcome Remarks, Jim Stallings, CEO of PS27 Ventures
- There is a difference between a founder of a company and a CEO. It takes incredible leadership to build a company
- Hard work, continuous focus, leading with purpose
- 10:15 a.m. Purpose-Driven Leadership, presented by Ed Buckley, CEO Peerfit
- Self-learning
- Discipline in learning what we don't know
- Obsessed with reading
- Need to have the best information in front of you to make the best decisions
- Can't make time, can only prioritize time
- Why are you on this mission?
- What's my role in serving the company?
- To visualize, built, promote, delegate, solve, promote, and share Twos
- When do people need to move seats and when do people need to get off the bus?
- CEOs don't do all the work, founders do the work
- If you are doing things other people can do, you are robbing them of their energy
- Get out of people's way and empower them
- Reads books about other founders and people who have done things
- The CEO has to put their head on their shoulders and set the tone for the company
- The company culture comes from your values and personalities
- Share information with your company
- Are you dedicated to surviving at all costs?
- Recommends reading Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell
- https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Magic-Common-Leadership-Strategies/dp/0385523866
- Working through problems with other people (other founders and mentors) helps him
- Provide updates to investors that are initially uninterested
- Investor pitches are free analysis of your company
- Tell investors about the future growth opportunity of your company after reaching a milestone
- Took him about 6 months on average to raise a round
- Anyone can be a leader as long as they listen, take in great ideas, and do what's best for the company
- 11:15 a.m. Effective Communication, presented by Mark Vickers
- Respect the org chart
- Make sure the lines of communication are clear
- Surround yourself with the best people you can to build the business
- Clarity in how you communicate is essential
- What is the cost of having unclear communication?
- 4 Keys to clarity in communication
- Substance
- What do you have to say that is important to the other person?
- What do they want to hear?
- What is important to them?
- It is irrelevant what you think is important
- Craft your message for your audience
- Features are okay, but will not get you the next level of funding
- Features create benefits. Benefits are better
- What are the emotional benefits?
- We provide a product that saves your family if you are ever in a crash
- Touch the emotion
- Technical details are a trap. We get too wrapped up in them. The application is just the application until you realize the true emotional benefits
- Be intentional about the information you want to share and why
- Mission statement should be something that really hits home. Say what you really do. Exactly what you do
- We help people live their best life by giving them a place to record, remember, and share the things they don't want to forget
- Think through the substance you have and how to craft it into a message that is as simple as possible
- Substance is different for an investor than a customer. Tune your substance to your audience
- Developing a value prop for each segment is critical
- Customers - save time, money, relationships, and peace of mind by quickly writing down things you can’t forget
- Investors - help people live their best lives by stopping forgetting things
- Employees - help people live their best lives by stopping forgetting things
- Advisors - helps us help people live their best lives by stopping forgetting things
- Simplicity
- We're in a distracting world
- The message needs to cut through all the distractions
- Our attention spans are getting smaller and smaller
- You need a simple message to keep people engaged
- Present your message in a way that is easy to hear it, process it, and take action on it
- You want the sharks to hear it and take action on it
- Use short sentences
- Present one idea or concept at a time
- Multiple objectives at once are too hard to understand
- Keep it simple and understandable
- Cut the fluff
- This guy is awesome
- How do you draw the listener into something they initially can't relate to?
- Get them to ask the question you want to answer: how does that work? Now they are invested
- Structure
- Give thought about how to sequence the messages to be easily heard and allows them to take action
- How do you open your presentation?
- Asking questions is a great way to engage your audience
- The shorter your presentation, the more important it is to engage your audience
- Made up gossip. Company great at marketing
- Everyone in the company needs to know the mission
- Take a simple concept and don't pile words on top of it to be sure they still know the core message
- Entrepreneurs tend to bury the lead
- The core message gets buried when you get too excited
- Investors miss opportunities because they miss the core message
- Ask yourself why? Why are we creating this product? Why does your customer want this product? If you ask why 5 times you will get to the core nugget. That is the substance you want to present
- A creative message doesn't usually work. Stay focused on the facts and pull
- Speed
- How you present your information
- Reengage your audience all the time
- Change up the tempo of your presentation. It re-engages the audience when things change
- Be aware that adrenaline kicks in. You've got to slow it down
- It's all about preparation. Rehearse, record, practice
- You'll know how to manage the adrenaline when you present if you practice
- Speed can show your enthusiastic
- Slowness can give a sense of importance. The audience will lean in
- Care about the person you are presenting to
- Silence. Give the audience time to think
- Silence is the most underused presentation tool for presenters
- Speaking is selling. You are always selling yourself
- Employees are your single most important audience
- Without your employees, you aren't going anywhere
- Perfect these tools with your team
- Present your product and mission to everyone with the same clarity and enthusiasm
- People will present what you tell them to other people with the same enthusiasm
- Your team is your sales people. They emulate what you share with them
- The CEO has to be the CCO
- The founder has to be the person to present the message with power and conviction
- Clear, passionate, and articulate
- Prepare: know your message, have it scripted out, know what is most important, and the most important part is to practice
- Record yourself presenting your pitch. Listen to it. Don't watch it. You'll hate it. Then turn the volume off and watch it. You'll see all the little things you hate about yourself, but you'll learn
- "The King’s Speech". Victory over fear
- Seek feedback. Get insight from other people who can listen to you
- Find a way to create an emotional connection
- Money can be one way to trigger an emotional reaction
- Meeting with your leadership team every two weeks
- He likes Tuesday Thursday formal meetings to set goals and make sure they are accomplishing those goals each week
- Get people together so you can share the message that keeps everyone moving in the same direction
- Know your audience
- 12:20 p.m. Break
- 12:40 p.m. Shark Tank Competition (Top 3 teams only)
- Who is the customer that really cares about this product?
- Did that answer your question?
- What are you trying to raise and what are you going to do with that money?
- What are the costs to acquire a customer?
- Who pays for this?
- What motivates you?
- How do you plan to bring it to market?
- 1:25 p.m. Break
- 1:30 p.m. Keynote Presentation, presented by Lakshman Rathnam, CEO & Founder of Wordly
- Conviction
- Pick a north star
- Hire a great team
- Constantly look for new ways to innovate
- Perseverance
- Everyone will face many failures
- Adapt
- Curiosity
- What would make the experience easier for the customer?
- Everything is a hypothesis, everything is A/B testing
- Provide a convincing story to your customers
- Attract talent by telling them about the impact people can have on customers of the company and their own personal growth
- 2:15 p.m. Shark Tank Winner Announcement & Wrap Up
- Shark Tank Competition
- Pitch: You will have a total of 5 minutes to conduct your pitch to our Shark Tank Judges and virtual audience / NO presentations. We prefer that only 1 person from your team conducts the pitch.
- Q&A: You will have 5 minutes to take questions from the Shark Tank Judges
- Judges: Shark Tank Judges and our virtual audience will choose the winner
- Prize: $10,000 cash to be deposited into your bank account on October 27th!
- Shark Tank Tips
- Offer the most compelling & engaging presentation possible
- Connect with an audience who really needs to hear what you have to say, even if they can't see you in person
- What's your "one thing?"
- Practice
- Know your audience
- Write & rehearse your script
- Make it actionable
- Add a touch of *red* dress nice
- Share your name and experience in a friendly way
- Encourage people to ask questions
- Make it fun, funny, and enjoyable
- Sharks:
- Sarah Lucas: New World Angels
- Quang Pham: Westwood Therapeutics
- Tyler Brown: Vertus Ventures
- Tampa Bay people: Omar Fuentes, Titus Calloway, Ed Buckley