Are you watching The Founders Season 3 on TechStars.TV? If not, why not? Episode 2 (and Go!) is below – it echoes the points made yesterday in my post If You Can’t Explain What You Do In A Paragraph, You’ve Got A Problem.

There’s a cameo from my dad (Stan Feld) at 2:05. See – even dad’s care about TechStars. In addition to seeing Stan, you get to learn what a 10:10 meeting is. And you get to see the teams struggle with their shitty elevator pitches at the very beginning of the program.

Early this morning I got a note from Allen Morgan pointing to a blog he wrote titled Entrepreneurs: For Venture Capital Pitches, Say What Your Startup “Does” not What It “Is”. It nicely reinforces the point that active voice wins over passive voice. As Allen says at the end, “Be active, not passive. Passive puts audiences to sleep; not good in a pitch where you’re asking for money.”

October 7th, 2012 Categories: TechStars Tags: TechStars, the founders

http://www.samedaydr.com/ Rich Weisberger

If you aren’t ready to demo, you arn’t ready to pitch.

As to the demo, the dilema is live vs video (idemo) with live voice and or recorded voice overlay?

Best to set up “problem” you are solving during the demo or establish it prior?

Why are startups still going through financials during a demo pitch?
- http://www.feld.com bfeld
  
  Re: going through financials – they probably won’t be by the time they get to demo day!
http://www.charliecrystle.com Charlie Crystle

good stuff…passed it on to our founders.
http://engag.io/ William Mougayar

Yes! Active vs. Passive. I like it. The message needs to elicit a response like:

- I agree
- I want this/Need it or many users out there need this
- This can be big
fwmiller

I know I’m a curmudgeon and maybe this is a nit, but why do folks find it necessary to curse? Don’t. Why take a chance on turning somebody off if you don’t have to?
- http://www.feld.com bfeld
  
  Because that’s the way we talk as a species. I’ve used words like “shit” since I was a kid. My parents used them. I suppose I could use “crap” instead, but I don’t really see the difference.
  - fwmiller
    
    I understand, and I’m an adult so of course its water off a ducks back. But… Why not say “Why should we care?” instead of your phrasing?
    
    You’re not the only one who does this (as demonstrated in the video as one example). It seems to be a culture thing that I’ve seen since I moved out here. I’ve found it to be one of the differences between the East Coast and the West Coast. Certainly it probably doesn’t matter around here since everybody seems to feel comfortable doing it. But its not pervasive everywhere and IMHO there’s a certain disrespect that it fosters. I think its just better to not do it in case you do run into somebody that doesn’t appreciate it. And, with all due respect, you’re in a leadership position in the community so if you’re doing it, that sort of gives it more tacit acceptance.
    
    Maybe I’m also being affected by how this seems to be pervasive in social networks as well. I guess I just think people should treat each other with more civility than they seem to do now than it seemed when I was younger and it seems like this is just a a symptom of that. Obviously you can’t change people, but if noone says anything, it will never get any “better.”
    
    Finally, its one thing to have this kind of communication in private. Its quite another to see it in public. I recall a video I saw a few months back of a Microsoft employee talking about how they analyzed some cyberattack. The guy was spewing the F word every other sentence on a video that was probably watched by 10s of thousands of people. I know if I had been a manager at M$ at the time, I’d have shown him the door, no matter how good he was. It was just unprofessional and not what you would want your corporate image to be. Again, just MHO.
    - http://www.feld.com bfeld
      
      The title of the post came specifically from the line in the video.
      
      I completely respect your opinion. I just don’t share it.
http://byJess.net/ Jess Bachman

these episodes are good but I wish they were longer or more in depth. As much as the bloomberg show was a farce, it did go deeper. These almost feel like 5 minute commercials each time (which I suppose they are ultimately). You should let the editor know it ok to linger on a shot or a person for longer than 1 second.
- http://www.feld.com bfeld
  
  Why do you say the Bloomberg show was a farce? There were plenty of things that could have been a lot better about it but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it described as a farse before, nor do I feel like it was a farce. Just curious as to your perception here.
  - http://byJess.net/ Jess Bachman
    
    Sorry, first I really enjoyed the Bloomberg show personally, but afterwards I read a blog post by one of the participants (ToVieFor) that described a lot of manipulations that the producers engaged in. So while the bloomberg show did linger on certain characters, i assumed much of the tension was made-for-tv. I almost can’t fault the producers though, as their job is to produce some compelling stories, which they did. The pain and anguish in the show was always more interesting to me than the unbridled enthusiasm which is what the current show focuses on.
    - http://www.feld.com bfeld
      
      None of the tension was artificial – all of the video was real and none was scripted. How Bloomberg chose to put it together in the end set the tone and it could have been a lot more balanced.
- http://httpcolonslashslashwww.www.startupjerkfest.com StartUpJerkFest
  
  the link: http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/techstars/
- http://httpcolonslashslashwww.www.startupjerkfest.com StartUpJerkFest
  
  @jessbachman:disqus
  – i agree with your view on the lack of depth and stability, and that’s part of my decision to not watch it. It’s too damn hyper / flashy for me. I could understand if you’re justifying your actions for an audience that can’t sit still for longer than 30 seconds, and you fear they are going to change the channel or surf away if they get bored, but I think if you are watching this targeted content show, then you are watching it to learn something (not because you’re bored and looking for something to watch on the web). So can you learn anything if the camera and the shots are constantly bouncing around in an effort to capture your attention and make it “interesting”? All I’ve learned is this show is not for me. I’m 45.
  
  @bfeld:disqus
  
  what kind of people would be watching this? It seems to me that it’s only romanticizing the concept of a startup. Is your target audience people who want to be in a startup because they’ve seen how much money some of them make, or they’ve watched the social network movie and think everything is drinking games? Or is this a show for old timers who want to be hip with the young crowd and invest in some high tech, for bragging rights at the golf course?
  
  I tried a second time, I watched the S3E1 clip (…part of the dream), but felt it was void of anything important to me as a startup founder trying to validate my market assumptions. I’m living the nightmare of being a startup (test fail, revise, test, burn up savings, etc), and this 5 minute reality tv thing did nothing to help me.
  
  I learn more at a local meetup with other founders where we can talk about what’s important to us, so I see watching this show as a waste of my time that could be better spent with customer discovery.
  
  i didn’t read the part why you give a shit, was it omitted?
  
  and I learned what a 10:10 meeting is – a meeting at 10:10 pm on Wednesday nights where everyone reviews their weekly progress. what good does that do me? should i use that buzzword / catch phrase at local meetups to show how cool, connected and hip I think I am? i’m so fed up I have to go punch a kitten now.
  - http://www.feld.com bfeld
    
    Please don’t punch a kitten – that’s never worth it. Sorry you don’t like it – I’ll pass the feedback on.
    
    In contrast to your perspective, there are a lot of folks who love The Founders series (me included and I’m 46). It’s a great way to get a feel for the TechStars teams and the program. It unfolds over the next dozen episodes – there will definitely be plenty of “learning lessons.” Right now it’s early character development.
http://www.engag.io/Abdallah Abdallah Al-Hakim

I love that advice regarding passive versus active. So simple yet it puts you in different mind frame. I will be definitely tech stars series
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The Founders: The Problem, The Solution, and Why We Give A Shit

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