Many years ago, I was explaining what my company did to a good friend. All she knew was that I was an entrepreneur building a business. My explanation included details about the industry and lots of industry jargon. At the end of it, she said, “I don’t really understand what all that means or what you do, but it sounds cool. I hope it turns out well for you.”

This week I spoke with a founder who made the same mistake. After listening to him pitch his company, I still wasn’t exactly sure what it did. Conveying what you do in simple terms is important, and it’s usually a sign of a strong founder. Making it easy to understand what your company does and how it creates value for customers is the first step in getting people to support it.

All those years ago, when I heard my friend’s feedback, I backed up and rephrased. “We help connect consumers to hard-to-find auto parts using technology.” That time, she got it! And she gave me the names of a few people she thought I should connect with who could help my business.

If you’re a founder or considering entrepreneurship, make sure others can understand what you do. If they don’t, simplify it.

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A few months ago, I met with a founder who asked my opinion on the current state of his company. I said the salaries he was offering were large for an early-stage startup. The people earning them were qualified and deserving, but the company couldn’t afford-big corporation salaries. It was burning too much money every month and needed to double or triple for that level of payroll to make sense. I told him that I projected he would need to either reduce salaries or raise cash.

I caught up with him this week. He told me that he’d just survived a near-death experience. The company is still growing, but the high payroll caused him to run dangerously low on cash. He reduced his team’s salaries, parted ways with some team members, and raised emergency capital. Doing all of that at once was painful and stressful for him and his investors. It taught him to make a point of having a good sense of the trajectory of his company at all times and to make tough decisions early to avoid getting so close to the abyss.

I never raised outside capital for CCAW, but I did have near-death experiences. I concur with this founder: try not to let this happen. They’re awful. They took a toll on my team and me. Some are unavoidable and you have to do the best you can with the hand you’ve been dealt. (A global pandemic comes to mind.) Others are entirely avoidable.

Founders should always have a finger on the pulse of their company. If this isn’t one of their strengths, they should have at least one person on the team who can fill this gap. It sounds crazy, but so much happens so quickly that it’s not unheard of to wake up and realize you’re almost out of cash. The company’s heart just stops beating, and it may be too late to resuscitate it.

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Today marks my 365th consecutive day of sharing my thoughts. Exactly one year ago, I began posting because of a friend's challenge. Little did I know the impact that decision would have. Our sixty-day challenge has gone on for a year and counting.

Thanks, Ethan, for encouraging me to share more. I never would have gotten to this point without your suggestion. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who’s read any of my posts. Your time is valuable, and I appreciate your spending some of it with me. I hope they were helpful and added value to your life.

Posting over the last year has been one of the most challenging, but also fulfilling, things I’ve done in a long time. It’s become something I look forward to and plan to continue!

I was working with a founder on his pitch.  He had a big vision and was passionate, but he needed to fine-tune his delivery. Over the course of our conversations, I realized something. There was a disconnect. How he perceived himself and what others saw was different. He thought his presentation sounded one way, but it actually sounded quite different. Seeing is believing, so I suggested he record his next pitch and send me the recording.

By the next time we spoke, he’d had a realization. He said he’d had no idea how he sounded. With the recording, he could self-critique and correct the part of his delivery he didn’t like.  The recording was the pitch version of looking at himself in the mirror. He saw exactly what everyone else saw.

We decided to take it a step further. Instead of booking time with peers to get their feedback, he sent them links to his recorded pitch. This worked well for a few reasons. First, it forced him to put his best self forward. Who doesn’t watch a video of themselves before sending it to other people? No one. He watched the pitch, redid it, and got it to sound exactly how he wanted before clicking “send.” Second, the recipients could watch it and send their feedback whenever it was convenient for them. And third, he was able to share his pitch with more people and get more feedback than if he’d scheduled one-on-one time with each person.

Recording yourself isn’t novel. It’s a time-tested tool that’s still highly effective. If you want to perfect your pitch, consider tapping “record”!

I recently had an idea I was super excited about. I’ve been considering how to help more entrepreneurs accelerate their success, and I’d only come up with a few ideas that were essentially tweaks of something others have done. When I decided to look at the problem from a different angle, this new idea occurred to me. I was excited about it, but I knew there was a lot I hadn’t thought about. My instinct was to flesh it out more before talking about it. But I soon remembered that I’d taken that approach before, and it was wrong.

I decided to share the idea with a few credible people, and I’m glad I did. These were conceptual conversations, since I hadn’t done a ton of research. Some of the feedback was very positive. Others felt there was value in doing what I was talking about. I already felt good about the idea, and this feedback boosted my confidence. It energized me and made me want to continue to share it. Next, I received feedback from someone intimately knowledgeable about the space. It was more along the lines of “This is an interesting idea. Have you considered X, though?” This person zeroed in on something that might have taken me months to realize and was kind enough to share his wisdom. I appreciate his feedback.

The idea is still just that. An idea. But I’m glad I didn’t hold it close to my chest. These conversations helped me adjust my thinking, made me aware of my blind spots, and boosted my confidence about the idea. I’m not sure where this will end up, but one thing is certain: I’ll continue to share the idea as it evolves.

A few months back, a friend asked me for a favor. It involved doing something with high stakes—something I wasn’t particularly good at and hadn’t done recently. I didn’t think I was qualified. My friend thought otherwise. It was something that I’d always wanted to get better at, so it was an opportunity to gain experience. Still, I was deeply uncomfortable with what was being asked of me.

Over the years, I’ve learned to lean into discomfort when the task will take me in a good direction and aligns with my goals. I’ve usually learned and grown. But I’m not saying it’s always had a happy ending. More than a few of these attempts ended in failure. Regardless of the outcome, though, they ended up being amazing opportunities from which I gained wisdom or experience.

In the end, I said yes to my friend. I took my time to ensure that I did things to the best of my ability, and it was a success. I learned a ton about myself in the process and picked up some skills I’ve used regularly since then.

If you’re offered a chance to do something but it makes you uncomfortable, think twice before turning it down. If it will take you in the right direction or help you achieve a goal, it could be a great growth opportunity

Today marks the end of my forty-ninth week of working from home (mostly). Here are my takeaways from week forty-nine:

• Patience – Sometimes great things don’t happen exactly when we want. Just because you want it to happen, that doesn’t mean it’s the right time. Patience is important if you truly believe in something or someone.
• Priorities – I have a finite amount of time and energy. I have to prioritize how I use them.
• Weather – Sunshine is known to affect people’s moods. It does mine! Atlanta was warmer and sunnier this week. I noticed that I was more productive and in an overall better mood. Spring is around the corner, thank goodness.

Week forty-nine was a balanced week. I’m looking forward to warmer weather and a productive spring.  

I recently spoke with a founder who shared an interesting vision of the future of community. He believes community lead growth will be a way for companies to acquire and retain customers. Companies will create digital communities where people of similar interests come together. The company will support each community and provide resources to help it thrive. It will become the go-to place for people interested in its topic. People will go to not only learn but also share their expertise. Users will become loyal customers and evangelists for the community, the company, and the company’s brand. It will mushroom— more people will contribute to the community; the company will get more customers. There’s more to it, but you get the gist.

I’ve shared my thoughts on community before. The world has evolved so much in the last year. People are seeking digital communities focused on the things that matter to them. I think providing them is a huge opportunity. I like this founder’s idea, and I see it as a way for companies to connect with people in an authentic manner. I’m interested to learn more about community lead growth and how technology can support this movement.

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This week I spoke with entrepreneurs working on an interesting product that could help restaurants solve one of their biggest challenges. As we talked, it became apparent that restaurant owners will love the idea. It will make their locations more profitable. But it’s also clear that restaurant employees may be less than thrilled with the product. It dawned on me that this entrepreneur has to convince restaurant owners to pay for the idea and also convince restaurant employees that the product isn’t a threat. If employees don’t buy into the idea, it won’t be used.

Commendably, these entrepreneurs had thought about this. They have a well-crafted message for employees. First, the idea will significantly reduce the time and energy employees spend on a task they hate: from many hours a week to zero. Second, it reduces errors that employees are currently held accountable for. Third, it could give them more discretion in dealing with loyal customers. Finally, it will help with administrative decision-making so what customers want is always available.

These founders have done a great job of understanding who the stakeholders are and what they care about. They have a well-thought-out plan to address concerns. Hopefully this will lead to a smoother sales and implementation process.

It’s important to understand all stakeholders when you’re selling a new product or service, not just the person who will write the check. Getting the product paid for and getting it used can be different. Companies succeed when they’re able to do both. After all . . . is it likely that a product that isn’t used will continue to sell?

Today I attended Outlander’s first-ever demo day. All the presenters were Outlander portfolio companies. They’re tackling interesting problems and are great representatives of Southeast start-ups. Here are the demo day companies:

• Talli – An IoT device and software that provides one-touch, mobile, and hands-free logging for infant care, senior care, and home health.
• ChipEleven – An open-source chip-building ecosystem that will spur hardware innovation just like Linux did for software.
• Barometer (formerly Vericrypt ) – AI-based software to help companies analyze, identify, and score bias in their writing.
• Spaceship – A continuous-delivery platform that helps companies deploy software faster.
• Strapt  – Cashless and contactless IoT dispensers that drive new brand engagement and insights for brands through free product sampling and actionable consumer data.

I personally worked with some of these founders to prepare for demo day and couldn’t be prouder of them! They did a great job and I’ll be excited to watch their continued success.