Standing out from the crowd

 

Part of my job is to listen to the stories people who have built technologies and companies, and then translate those to be understood by the people who read the publications and websites I write for.

 

It’s something I’ve already done a lot of, having chosen to partly specialise in writing about Australian entrepreneurial start-ups. At times it is a gruelling task.

 

Why? Few Australian start-ups have any idea about how to actually explain what they do – let alone the capacity to do so in a way that is relevant to the listener.

 

Entrepreneurs tend to gloss over the communication component of building a company, focusing instead on perfecting the technology and building the business. But what hope do you have of receiving assistance – from investors, partners, customers or even the media – if you can’t articulate what makes you special, unique and relevant?

 

I was reminded of this when I attended the fifth annual ANZA Technology Network Showcase and Conference in the Silicon Valley suburb of Sunnyvale in October. Each year, ANZA brings across a dozen or so Australian and New Zealand tech start-ups to present to an audience of potential investors and partners, as well as their peers.

 

Chief executive Viki Forest and her team work hard to ensure that only the best and most ready companies make the trip over. Being ready does not just refer to the state of the technology – it’s got to do with the state of the company itself and the entrepreneurs behind it. And that includes the company pitch.

 

Australian companies will bang on ad nauseam about how the founder was a venerable research scientist and how the company has raised $50,000 in government grants. In the US, this is informational polystyrene. It hides the real story.

 

 

We fail to grasp what it is about what we do that will be interesting to a third party. Simple examples of how a product or service may be used in real life can go a long way to helping a person understand what you are talking about.

 

We also fail to articulate the things we do that are unique, or at least different to what anyone else in the market does, and why these points are important.

 

These are some of the things that I look for as a journalist, and they are also the things that any professional needs to understand if they are to assist your business.

 

The more difficulty you have in explaining what you do, the harder it is to spread that message through networks.

 

Professional networks are underrated in Australia, but are vital to doing business in the US. It is easy to forget that even if the person you are talking to has no direct means of enriching your company, there is always the possibility that their child might play hockey with the child of someone who can. If you can explain what you do – and what you need – in a way that anyone can understand, there is a good chance that that information may get passed around.

 

So get your pitch right. There’s no point in having a great technology or company if no one can understand it.