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The Seedcamp Week took off Today. Smart entrepreneurs are getting plenty of advice – quite often from people that didn’t have the balls to start their own business. Often from real experts in their respective fields – rock star VCs, deadly marketers and colleagues entrepreneurs. Fresh Founders hear that their prices should be super low, and they should market their product via word of mouth and social networks. And go for scale. Next hour they hear that the price should be super high, sales done direct and service provided with high maintenance. The following day it’s about funding. So they hear they should raise a lot, as they’re in a competitive space, will need the budget to develop multiple countries and have to accelerate product development. Or they should raise very little, preserve equity, prove their model and then raise a big round with much better valuation. Not to mention all the advice on the product. That it should be changed, address completely different market, stay the same, is killing it.
All of it is not confusing – it’s completely contradictory.
What does it really tell a founder. Price is important. Pricing and sales model are very connected issues. It’s important how much you raise, you have to strategise it. People are passionate about your product, your market, your clients. All of this advice is just pointing your attention to areas of business you perhaps haven’t thought about yet. It’s asking: Did you really think about X, Y and Z? The more forcefully the advice is given – the more passion for your product and company the mentor shows – not necessarily that she is right.
So listen between the lines of all the advice you’re getting. It’s not what they hit that’s important – it’s the direction they’re shooting in.
Related articles
- What one startup learned from Seedcamp: Location, lean ideas and listening to good advice (thenextweb.com)
- Seedcamp’s Saul Klein on four years of tapping startup trends (guardian.co.uk)
- Seedcamp Week – Breaking Records yet again! (seedcamp.com)
