Pleased to share with you "Startup And Entrepreneurship Advice" from David Gardner at Cofounders Capital taken at the Startup Summit NC at NC State. In this interview David shares key wisdom with you on being successful when approaching VCs and what traits are key to be successful. If you can be humble,  open minded, and show a lot of hustle with productive activity  and be coach-able along the way then you have a better chance to make it. Focus on being a great communicator and be open to pivot too! Remember, it's ok to fail and make mistakes along the way. Fall forward and get back up like the Chinese proverb, "Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight". Enjoy!

     Happy to share wisdom to support you and your entrepreneurship endeavors per interview at the Startup Summit Conference at NC State with George Deeb, Managing Partner at Red Rocket Ventures. Always remember the importance of starting with a good product that is proven and validated showing the products works and is appreciated by others. Secondly,  demonstrate the product and business is scale-able and can grow in a profitable way. Investors are not just investing in a product or idea, but rather want to invest in a product that has already lit a fire and heating up so they can help make it become a big bright fire to light the world.
     Some key traits to succeed in start-ups=  Be smart. Show you know your product, market, and have done the research.  Additionally, be persistent. Persevere! Show you have the fortitude to get through hard times and march on! Be like a rhino and plow through!  Lastly, be a good listener and show that you are open to ideas and adjusting. Be flexible! 
     Here is video to help capture the essence of this wisdom. Hope you enjoy.

We just concluded the Startup Summit Conference at North Carolina State University. It was an exciting day of over 20+ speakers with over 200+ people in attendance. A great interactive and educational conference featuring keynotes and panelists from top entrepreneurs, innovators, and executives here in Research Triangle Park.

The conference provided a great opportunity to meet people in the startup, venture, and tech world with crash courses taught by experts on important topics faced throughout the startup journey. Plus, during breaks the conference featured the "Consulting Corner" with a team of pros in various areas including sales, hiring, marketing, business intelligence, and funding offering 1v1 advice. The Startup Summit educated, inspired, and connected hundreds of startup minded people and founders from all over the region. A great day to learn and apply key insights needed to be successful.

A huge special thanks to all the speakers for their time and sharing great advice. You can see all the kind speakers who contributed and made this conference possible along with the super sponsors here: http://startupsummitnc.com/schedule/ Enclosed are some wisdom points shared throughout the day from our keynotes David Gardner, Donald Thompson, and Jason Williamson to recap for you some key learnings:

• (Thanks to David Gardner from Cofounders Capital) Innovation will ultimately disrupt every industry and every company, 52% of all S&P 500 Top Companies over the last 61 years have gone away. Why? These bigger corporations have been beat out and taken over by new fast moving startups that emerged with new innovations that disrupted their business. Corporate leaders today must stay systematically involved with early stage innovation if they are to survive. Keep plugged in with startups and entrepreneurs with conversations and partnerships...
• Three examples of companies that missed out:

1. President of Western Union when given the opportunity to meet with and perhaps buy the patent rights to Alexanders Graham Bell’s telephone technology…“What use could we have for this electric toy?”
2. CEO of 20th Century Fox discussing the dominance of the movie theater in 1964 “Television won’t hold onto any market…people aren’t going to sit and stare into a plywood box every night.”
3. CEO of Blockbuster Video in 2008 when asked about steaming video services… “Netflix is not even on our radar in terms of competition”

• What hinders corporate innovation? 1)Belief that solutions are permanent. 2)Must be invented here syndrome. 3) Preference to build rather than to buy or partner. 4) Arrogance that innovation won’t profoundly affect the corporate business
• No Company Escapes the Wheel of Innovation. Corporate Rule of innovation: The thing that made you successful in the past is almost certainly not to be the thing that will make you successful in the future.
• Characteristics of high-performing corporations: 1)Formalized persistent innovation initiatives. 2) CEO is personally involved in leading innovation initiatives. 3)Regular access to and interactions with early stage companies 4)Twice as likely to partner and buy than to build internally 5)Failure in the pursuit of innovation is not punished but actually rewarded..
• The best way to predict the future is to help create it. Be a part of the inevitable disruption rather than under its wheel.

(Thanks to Donald Thompson from Walk West)

• Keys To Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Culture: 1)Recruit for talent and for different perspectives and alternative points of view. 2)The best idea wins. 3)Get diversity of thought by giving people a way to be a part of the conversation
• Diversity and Inclusion:

*“Diversity is about more than simply checking a box. It is about creating authentic opportunities for inclusion.”
*“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

• Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)

Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)

​​Overall a great conference thanks to the speakers, sponsors, experts, and NC State for hosting. A Big Thank you to Mark Bavisotto, Brooke Nivens, and Kristin Gabriele from the Startup Summit NC team to help make this conference come alive!

​Tonight The Hesburgh Lecture Series hosted Fr. Oliver F. Williams, CSC, Director of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business in the Mendoza College of Business. He discussed, "Can You Do Well While Doing Good?"  
As shared in the event post, many believe that business ethics is an oxymoron. Following the spirit of the famous line, “an ambassador is an honest man lying abroad for the good of his country,”some business leaders conduct their operations as if the bottom line is the only concern. Is it possible to do well while doing good? Fr. Oliver Williams discussed many examples such as 3M, Sumitomo, and Novartis, and how it's possible for a business manager to exhibit superior performance in business and yet be a model of virtue and ethical values.  It was a great night of networking and an engaging talk. Here are some wisdom points shared to help educate and enlighten you:

• Business is a noble vocation. Corporations can make the world a better place and should through creativity, innovation, good works etc The real power in the world is in business so if you want to change the world to make things better than doing so through business is a powerful vehicle to accomplish big change.
• What is the purpose of business? To make money? Or broader understanding, to create sustainable value for people (stakeholders). Doctor, purpose is to heal patients. Lawyer, purpose is to seek justice, professor purpose is to enlighten minds via teaching students, but they all have to make money to be there to work again, provide for themselves, and serve again, but their aim in work is bigger than money generation.
• Consider the three level view of work. First level, work is just work to make money and pay bills. 2nd level moves work from just a job to a significant career to that provides in more meaningful ways. 3rd stage, work is a special vocation. A calling to a greater good and serving a greater purpose. Doing what you love and called to do to best serve others with your talents.
• Look into the Global Compact of United Nations. A good model per set of agreed upon principles that companies operate under with sound ethics and practices to ensure doing good globally. Companies have to follow 10 Principles around human rights, environmental respect, safe labor, anti-corruption, etc. All the companies agree to follow these principles and report on them yearly per doing no harm in business. Think of the triple bottom line (Economic, Social, and Environmental. Planet, People,and Profits)
• Think of "Peace Through Business". Generate products which are useful to customers and result in economic value creation. Act responsible, respect the law but also fulfill legitimate expectations that society has of company and leaders.
• You must aspire toward grand ideals and show how you aim to hit good ideals with your work, products, and services.
• Doing well in business means creating sustainable value for your stakeholders to serve and make money for all parties involved, but doing good in your business means really doing noble things to care for the least advantaged and all involved in unselfish aways above and beyond your enterprise profit aims. Do the right thing.

About The Hesburgh Lecture Series: Inspired by the late Father Hesburgh’s example of lifelong learning, the Hesburgh Lecture Series has brought University faculty to Notre Dame clubs and their local communities since 1986. The lectures, presented by mostly tenured faculty, showcase the depth and breadth of Notre Dame’s academic expertise in research and teaching.

Tonight Vince Beese led the "Triangle Revenue Exchange" event and presented on "What Best Sellers do - Connect, Convince, Collaborate to Close". Vince focused on the dynamic changes in sales today and how the top performers are setting themselves up for success by mapping to the customer journey. This topic was relevant for anyone looking to learn more about making an impact with customers. It was a great event hosted by Smashing Boxes located in Downtown Durham. Here is a recap of top wisdom points shared:

• Best sellers at the end of the day close more deals than their peers. Best sales people sell more and close at higher % than industry average.
• Old school way of sales: ABC (Always Be Closing) or AIDA(Attention, Interest, Decision, Action), "Coffee is for closers!"
• New school way: "Connect, Convince, and Close".

Connect = Dots & People. Your selling a solution to a problem so connect that dot. Then connect on the people level with trust building. Get mutual agreement on this level. Key in connecting phase is to be the TRUSTED resource.
Convince = Why you? Why your benefit outweighs any risk. Convince you are the best solution for their needs. Know what your customer cares about and address. (Cost, Time, Efficiency, ROI). Key in convincing stage is the assure them the RISK is worth it. Give piece of mind!
Close = Understand there is a difference between closing the sale and closing the deal. Closing the sale is getting the yes I want to work with you. Then closing the deal is getting the signing of agreement to execute on partnership. Best sellers stay in the loop to get the sale across the finish line to execution and seeing it through.

• What best sellers do that separates them from the pack based on study is COLLABORATION (Educate as partner and colleague along the sales process via give & take communications. Help create ideas for customers and help customers see best opportunities for partnering and creative ways to execute). Key to the collaboration angle is to be a key part of their buying process.
• Top traits needed for best sales: You must be authentic in what you're selling and empathetic with clear care for the customer and your company. Sincerity with what you're selling and aiming to help customer and company via win/win is key to most successful sales. Lastly, you must have the determination and work ethic for doing what it takes to close the sale.

A great event thanks to TRE and Vince Beese presentation. A big thanks to "Smashing Boxes" for hosting!
About TRE: TRE is a forum for revenue generating leaders who are responsible for driving growth at their organizations. The mission of TRE is to empower learning, sharing and mentoring for the revenue generating community.
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