Quest #7 - Graham Evans' Talk

Graham's discussion was a very practical one. He primarily tackled marketing, and how it affects a business' endeavors. I thought he put it well when he said that a great product with poor marketing will not do well, while a lousy product with decent marketing is more successful, and a great product with excellent marketing will do the best. He gave examples of British companies and their penetration into the U.S. market, and various factors that affected that. A common one was market research. I of course knew this was a part of the process of marketing, but Graham highlighted its importance very well. He talked about a store chain that made its way into the U.S. market, but did not take into account cultural factors in the way that Americans shop versus the way the British shop.

Graham also touched on some key "survival tips" of sorts when being an entrepreneur, similar to some of the maxims that Andrew introduced previously. "Know what you don't know" was probably the biggest thing he mentioned, and one that I think is key. Much like Andrew talked about, being aware of your strengths and weaknesses, your knowledge and your knowledge gaps, can make or break your business. Knowing your knowledge gaps allows you to either acquire people that complement those gaps, or can give you a checklist of things that you should work on learning.

Finally he talked about approaching investor groups, and provided an interesting tidbit of advice here too. He talked about how there will be investors that are interested in your idea and are involved in your industry, just as there will be some that are very uninterested. The advantage to pitching to the less interested investors first, interestingly, is that you will get more constructive criticism and be able to refine your pitch without taking a large credibility hit within circles of investors whom you really want to support you.

I felt that I learned a good handful of useful tips and perspectives from this talk, which I plan to keep in mind in the future.