We’ve seen it before – sometimes the best ideas and superior technologies aren’t the market champions. Unfortunate? Yes. Avoidable? Absolutely. In the Lunch & Learn session today sponsored by RIoT, industry veteran, Sarah LaLiberte from Mainspire, talked about the role that networking, joint ventures, marketing, alliances and standards play in making a good idea great and a business venture successful. Enclosed is a summary of some key wisdom points shared that you can do today to improve your market position and make a positive impact on your bottom line – no matter your business’ size, age, funding or stage of development:

• Know what makes your product different and unique with clear ways to articulate and communicate this special offering to the world.
• Understand how your product fits into your company mission and the market so you can share the big picture effectively to focus on sharing a key message that matters.
• Grasp how your business concept is derived of key components like Research, Team, Fund, Market, and Launch/Evaluation then have a clear perspective and plan for covering all angles.
• Be clear with your target market. Don't just think targeting Millennials in USA. Focus on something more tangible and specific like targeting bowling alleys and people who bowl at night in Los Angeles.
• Partner with a team who knows you and your space inside and out. Work with companies and people who know your industry deeply, been in the trenches, and have clout in sector.
• Associate your product/brand with other leaders and best companies in your space so you can ride the halo effect being associated with top players. For example, at tradeshows try to get leading company brand logos next to your logo and product through shared space at booths or shared branding and messaging on collateral and signage. Explore partner marketing angles like this to help give your company more clout and credibility.
• You have to network, network, network in your space. Go to trade-shows, conferences, lunch & learns, and other events to meet people, share what you're doing, and learn. Expand your education for learning and expand your network for more relationships to make it easier to forge partnerships.
• In summary the top 3 wisdom points: Find a true challenge and problem in market that has not been fulfilled that you solve and give a great solution too. Focus on target market to reach the people with the problem you have solved with your excellent offering. Build team of experts around you to help you execute smartly, effectively, and efficiently per expertise being applied to the specific disciplines they lead for best results.

A big special thanks to the RIoT organization and Sarah LaLiberte from Mainspire for a great event!
About RIoT: RIoT connects technologists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and professional tinkerers with a stake in the Internet of Things industry — and through RIoT ED, they help these groups and their supporters learn new technologies and to create new opportunities.
About Mainspire: Mainspire is a full-service global marketing agency focused on the most innovative technologies driving the future. They develop and implement solid marketing strategies that help companies grow and improve our world.

Quick video shout featuring hashtag#MarkBavisotto sharing the Startup Summit Conference coming to Raleigh-Durham Tuesday October 16th at NC State! A power packed tech conference filled with learning, networking, speakers, keynotes, panels, and leading tech company sponsors plus fun VIP event! www.startupSummitNC.com hashtag#StartupSummitNC hashtag#summits hashtag#networking hashtag#vip hashtag#conferences hashtag#eventing

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This evening was a great night at Netsertive. Jim Doherty, EVP of Sales & Marketing at Netsertive, discussed "Why Storytelling Matters In Sales." He specifically addressed $10k/hour activities, unintended consequences, and the sad tale of “Creepy Bobby." A great message!
Everyone gathered around 5:30 @ Netsertive with Vince Beese & Eric Boggs leading the way from "The Triangle Revenue Exchange". TRE is a forum for revenue generating leaders who are responsible for driving growth at their organizations with a mission to empower learning and mentoring for the revenue generating community. Tonight was a wonderful evening of learning indeed as Jim Doherty shared helpful advice about why storytelling matters in sales. Here are some of the top wisdom points presented to support your career! Enjoy!

• Be mindful of unintended consequences. The more complex the system, the more likely consequences will happen that you need to be mindful of. Think through the 2nd and 3rd order of potential outcomes that can happen. Know potential impact and be prepared. Specifically be mindful around comp plans when launching a new product or service.
• Be aware of cognitive bias. Realize you have cognative bias and take the time to decide how you're going to decide. Two good resources to read, "Your Deceptive Mind" by the Great Courses and "Thinking Slow and Fast" by Daniel Kahnerman. For your sales process recognize that cognitive bias happens so ask your buyers how they decide and help them know how to decide.
• Know your 10,000 an hour activities. What are the special things you do that make the big payday difference and focus on those handful of things that make the big difference. All hours are not created equally. For sales executives it's your prospecting and ability to get calls/meetings to move forward with opportunities to propose. For a professional golfer it's the hours a day you focus on your putting and drives. Focus on doing what matters most and be ruthless about it. Manage your time!
• Remember the process and the key gates along the way you need to get through to be successful. You can't skip or jump gates. There is a best practice and proven process for being successful in your craft. For sales remember you need to be "invited in" before the next step in sales process. For example, people should ask for proposal and not be forced proposal. People need to be invited in. The sales process usually goes in order of Why? What? How? and How Much?
• Consider the gates in the sales process are everywhere and they all have sub-parts: Emails, pitch meetings, and relationship building. You only get to skip gates if the customer lets you. Ask for permission. Earn their time.
• Remember the power of story telling. It's what matters. It's what you remember and it's what resonates. Keep it simple. What you say has to survive the telephone game in sales to make it through the various decision makers in the sales process. Your message has to travel and be repeated to be successful. Because what you say to person A has to make it to other decision maker B. So use story telling to make things memorable and spread worthy.

A special thanks to Vince Beese & Eric Boggs from TRE for organizing event, Jim Doherty for leading the great sales talk, and Netsertive for hosting!

August was #crypto month at Startup Grind and we hosted the team from Morgan Creek's digital asset team. This team is made up of Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano, Mark Yusko, and Jason Williams. We discussed everything Crypto including Blockchain, Bitcoin, the future of tokenized securities and much more.
Here are some of the key points shared to help keep you in the know:

• Hedge Funds now shifting to focus on Crypto currencies and launching Bitcoin Funds
• Top talent from tech firms are leaving for Crypto
• Per investment success it's key to follow the money and follow the talent (ie In 1997 some of the best people started leaving top established companies to go to internet companies). Follow the migration of talent.
• Opportunity shifting from Internet to mobile and now future coming 2024 is the TrustNet, Crypto opportunities
• Think "Picks and Shovels" per opportunity viewing. The first person who discovered gold in California did not necessarily get rich as they pursued the little nuggets, but it was the people after who formed companies selling the pics, shovels, and pans to millions of people that made millions.
• Tokenized digital securities blockchain crypto phase is coming vs. this analog paper money system of the old that is shifting away. Get ready to catch the wave.
• Analog world shifting to digital world ie. Think of record to CD to MP3, think of letter mail and stamps to email, financial assets going to digital, get off zero, having zero investment allocated to Crypto is not smart based on where world is shifting per financials going digital.
• What the internet did for email and what the mobile phone did for ecommerce, TrustNet per digitizing securities and Crypto(Bitcoin) digital transformation, will be the biggest revolution we'll see in our lifetime. Imagine paying for rent with shares of your IBM. A future of this will exist.
• Equity market is overvalued right now so would put money in crypto. (Networks based). For Blockchain the wealth will be in the protocol. Tens and hundreds of trillions in value coming soon.
• Think who invented the internet? Not Al Gore, mainly it was Vint Cerf. Is he rich? Not really, but who is? Internet companies that rode upon this technology like Mark Z from Facebook. Think about it, Facebook is not free. If the service is free you're the product. You pay with your time/actions on platform.
• Recommend put 1% of wealth in Bitcoin asset class for you if you lose it low risk, but good chance it can generate 100x.
• Don't focus on minimizing expenses when investing like worrying about 2% management fee, focus on maximizing your profits with best people and investment channels. Always pay for quality.
• Top three takeaways on Crypto Currency: 1. Blockchain era and technological evolution that is Blockchain technology is just getting started. Technological break-throughs happen in approx 14 year cycles (ie. computers, internet, mobile) so 2024 will be TrustNet, ie. Crypto currency movement. We are just getting started so super early. Good time to still get in 2. Networks hard to value, grows non-linear, but remember open source wins. Think RedHat. Bitcoin will be like that angle in this new transformation. 3. Every investor needs exposure to Crypo currencies or you're missing the big new transformation. Get off zero % and at least try a small %. Bitchain Blockchain transactions has not experienced one fraudulent claim out of millions transactions. Decentralized and digitized secure trust based platform technology will win. JP Morgan put out 190+ page report saying this movement is real. Worth checking out...

Thank you Mark for the amazing talk and great wisdom sharing. Thanks to Justin and the entire team at Agio for supporting the #SGBlockchain event tonight. Also, special thanks to the sponsors this evening with great beer from Lonerider Brewery, delicious food from Big Al's BBQ, and great facility with Spaces in Raleigh! Lastly, a flash sale was announced for the Startup Summit conference so check it out at: http://startupsummitnc.com/. Thank you Mark Bavisotto.
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What Is Startup Grind?
​Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. We host monthly events in 200 cities and 85 countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, & investors. The monthly events are open to anyone interested or involved in startups and there are no annual or membership fees.