The same must apply when seeking out potential advisors and investors.
I am feeling this incredible wave of inspiration, creativity and hopefulness at the moment. The past few hours have seen me glimpse behind that heavy curtain of uncertainty. I am feeling clearer about my preparations for my Silicon Valley trip.
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, describes in her TED talk how Ruth Stone, a 90 year old poet experiences creativity - something you feel coming towards you. You are not the source. You are the conduit. And you have to be receptive to it. It will pass through you and leave the creative result 'in you'; a book, a poem, a painting, a fully-formed idea or business strategy. You have to seize it or it disappears.
Writing this blog post before it vanishes is really important, so I have something to reflect on later.
Until today, I was feeling very confused and inadequate about my trip to Silicon Valley. But today was a great day.
Today I took matters into my own hands.
I feel as though I know the answers already, that they are about to barrel through me and I must seize the moment; who I need to speak to, the people in SV who see my vision, who think in the same commercial space as I do. The potential investors and advisors who have already invested in creative, disruptive start-ups. These people will be my tribe.
And action brings clarity.
All day I have been trawling Crunch Base to identify the home and interiors companies who have had $$$millions invested in recent years. Companies like One Kings Lane, Houzz and Custom Made. I will use these 3 as my bench marks. Their founders, investors and the people who orbit around these companies are the people I really ache to meet when I'm in SV. I have hand written every name, every investor, the size of their rounds (paying particular attention to the seed rounds because that is where I am at), HQ locations and snippets of info that may be of use.
From tracking the curve of their initial seed funds to the more recent C or D Rounds, I can begin to glimpse at the value and potential of My Bespoke Chair and my mass-customisation, co-designing dreams.
It is my conundrum of HAVING to put a valuation on my business before I get to SV that has seen me do this research. In the absence of any solid historical financial data for My Bespoke Chair, I need to see how comparable companies have grown. And where they started. How they were valued at the beginning, and their initial seed round investment. I am trying to find the balance between where I am, the potential size of my market and the precedence set by similar companies who have gone before me.
It is through this research that I can paint my valuation story and back it up with solid evidence.
So, my next step is finding ways to meet the founders, investors and advisors to these success stories. And warm introductions are the only way to do this. You cannot call them up and ask for a meeting. We all respond better when a trusted and valued colleague or friend recommend we meet someone. And these high-flyers simply do not have the time or inclination to meet everyone, so their inner circles become reliable filters.
So I am trawling my contacts, the people I know from coffee-meetings, online masterminds, friends of friends and people who I know would happily recommend me. LinkedIn is a platform I've been slow to grasp. About 3 months ago I employed a VA to help me set up my profile. It's not hard but it was one of those jobs I kept putting off. Paying $60 was good use of my time and money. The '6 degrees of separation' are openly highlighted in LinkedIn, so that is my focus.
I will hustle and call and make the best case I can in order to meet with my tribe for breakfast, lunch, coffee, a cocktail or even a bus ride. And I need to have something, even one little 5 minute meeting, arranged before I leave in October.
P.S If anyone knows Alison Gelb Pincus, I'd love an intro!
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