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.

As CCAW scaled, I began noticing issues. We were growing so much and had so many things going on that it was hard for the team to keep up. And we weren’t measuring their workload. Generic questions like “How are things going?” weren’t cutting it. Then one day a complaint reached my desk, which meant it was already out of control. Digging in, I realized we’d taken on too much growth. We were stretching the team too thin. We’d hit an inflection point.

We reworked our processes and added to our team to ease the strain. We identified the three or so top metrics for each team. We systematized the metrics so they auto updated daily and added them to dashboards accessible to everyone. And we took it one step further and had our system email the dashboards to the entire team every morning.

This all made a big difference. Other leaders and I were able to recognize, based on data, when we were approaching inflection points. We made sure to stay ahead of them and not stretch our team again. Other interesting things also happened. Metrics improved across the board in every area. Our team was more self sufficient and required much less management. Our daily standups got shorter and everybody was crystal clear on what they needed to do. The dashboards were giving everyone clarity.

Those metrics and dashboards did wonders for us. They helped align everyone with what mattered most to the business. It was one thing to communicate orally and another for everything to be reinforced regularly with metrics.

Understanding what matters, measuring it, and sharing those metrics will help a company of any size. Even if it’s just a team of two!

Over the years, I’ve seen a pattern with successful people: they learn from the experiences of others. If they can learn from someone else who’s already done it (whatever “it” may be at the time) instead of wasting time and energy making mistakes, they do. This doesn’t mean that successful people don’t make mistakes or learn the hard way. They absolutely do. But they supplement their learnings with those of others.

Improving decision-making based on others’ experiences is easier said than done. It’s important to ask in the right way. First ask the person you’re talking to if they’ve ever been in a situation similar to the one you’re trying to deal with. Only if they say they have should you go on to ask what they learned from their decisions. This does two important things: First, it helps you learn from people who are credible. If the person hasn’t experienced a similar situation, it will be apparent and the conversation will end quickly. (You don’t want advice from someone who knows less than you do!) Second, it doesn’t put anyone in the uncomfortable position of telling you what to do. Instead, they’re reflecting on their own experience. It’s still up to you to digest the information and make a decision.

Experience is a big factor in good decision-making. It’s why people who are more seasoned in life are so wise. They have more life experiences and learnings to pull from. If you’re looking to accomplish something great, consider incorporating the experience of credible people into your decisions. It will help you avoid major pitfalls and get you to your destination much faster.

I never raised capital at CCAW, but I do remember having conversations with investors. They weren’t looking to invest, but they wanted to better understand the business. I vividly remember the nature of their questions. They asked about the most private, guarded details. Things no one else asked about (or knew to ask about). How much of the company do you own? How much cash do you have on hand? What was last month’s revenue? The questions always made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Not because I didn’t know the answers; I did. It just felt weird giving detailed information about my business to someone I’d just met and might never speak with again. It made me feel vulnerable.

In the end, I’m glad I was asked and answered these questions. My answers helped the investors benchmark my company against other companies they evaluated. They were able to point out the areas in which I was doing well—and the things that concerned them. The true value of their feedback was why they felt the way they did. They were able to explain what they’d seen with other companies (or their own companies if they were former founders). I was able to essentially learn from the experience of other founders (albeit through investors).

If you’re a founder looking to raise capital or get outside opinions about your business, get ready to feel slightly vulnerable and uncomfortable. If you’re talking with credible investors or former operators, they will ask tough questions. Rest assured that being forthcoming in answering them is likely to result in good things for you and your business. Get comfortable being uncomfortable—it means you’re learning!

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