The interest level after I posted Calling All Entrepreneurs exceeded expectations. Not only did we have a record 29 meetings on Friday here at our office in Raleigh, but we had 20 meetings even before Friday! The 49 meetings were from entrepreneurs from 9 different states so there was strong geographic diversity.
Entrepreneurs that came in ranged from people with just an idea to companies that did over $1 million in revenue last year and growing rapidly. We met a lot of new, smart entrepreneurs and almost all of the people that we met with were new to us. There are definitely a few people we want to get to know better.
Here are some key thoughts from Friday:
1. Although I'm not a big fan of 15 minute meetings, it does force the entrepreneur to consolidate all their thoughts. This is an extreme, but can you even tell me what you do in 1 sentence?
2. What makes your company unique? Saying you want to be "like Google for the X industry," probably isn't the answer. Everyone wants to be Google. :)
3. We still see a lot of people spend way too much time on their business plan when we feel they should be channeling a lot of that time into building their company.
I appreciated all the people locally and out of state that blogged about it - Ryan, Lance, Scott, Robert, CED; people like Dan Allred at SVB that blasted it out to all his clients and the folks at TechJournal South for spreading the word. Thanks to my partners Ben Brooks, Dave Murray and David Jones and our intern Eric Johnson for jumping in on Friday, actively participating in the meetings, giving such great feedback to the entrepreneurs and helping keep me sane! :) On Friday night, I didn't leave here until 7:30pm. But MOST importantly, thanks to all the entrepreneurs for taking the time to go over their idea or business with us.
Glad that it went well -- you've done something here that's fresh and new. I'm eager to see what the end result is!
Posted by: Scott Hurff | April 24, 2007 at 07:56 PM
How about three short sentences?
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Posted by: Peter Cranstone | April 23, 2007 at 02:10 PM