WEBVTT

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Hey Chelsea ,

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Gonna go on mute

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We're gonna start in about 2 minutes ,

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everybody , just in case people are

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still coming from the parking garages .

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Going on mute .

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Name's Luke Schultz , uh , acting

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director of Small Business programs for

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Air Force Material Command , and then

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also the Air Force Life Cycle

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Management Small Business director .

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Thank you for coming in , both in

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person and virtually , uh , to our

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collider . Really look forward to these

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colliders and share . Got a lot of

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great information to share with you .

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This one's about opportunity validation ,

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knowing your defense , market , and

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making a sale collider . So we got some

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great speakers lined up for this event .

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If you came in , there's some brochures

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out here right when you came in the

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door on the left and right on the

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tables . This list a lot of great

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information about the Air Force Mari

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small business program , the various

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centers underneath , contact

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information , but if you're not in

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person , you can go to the website ,

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just search AFMC Small Business , and

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on the website , you can go to the

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website . Site , scroll down right

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above the map , you can click on the

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PDF and download it . There's also a

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great , uh , listing . You can ask for

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a listing of expiring contracts coming

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up . It's on the right-hand side where

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you can contact us and send an email ,

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uh , to the org box , and we'll send

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you a listing , list of the expiring

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contracts coming up for the next few

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years . I'll go ahead and kick . It

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over to our first speaker , Mr . Billy

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Grill with the Apex Accelerators . I

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know locally , uh , it's great having

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Billy here because he's just a wealth

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of information . He's also presented

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before talking about Sam , you know ,

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gov spending , and just really trying

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to hone in and look for those

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opportunities with the , uh , you know ,

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the defense market . Thank you . Thanks ,

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Luke . Yeah , if you guys need help

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with his expiring contracts list , I'm

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probably your guy . They'll they'll

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give you everything . Uh , the , the ,

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you know , the , the option there is to

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either go through it or to call us and

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have us help you get to . Actionable

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information , right ? I'm , I'm your

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local data wonk , your , your data guy .

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I love looking at the data , but

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today's conversation has nothing to do

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with that . Um , it's where we actually

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fall short as Apex accelerators . We

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can get you there , but uh we , we

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can't , nor would I ever want to help

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you guys and , and be your salesman .

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That's not what I do . I don't like

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people enough to do that . So , really

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what today is , and , and I'm looking

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forward to it too . It is your subject

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matter experts on how to really talk to

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your customer and find out pain points

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and solutions that you can create .

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Super interesting . It's probably one

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of the weak spots on my resume . I can

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get you to the water , but I , I can't

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make you guys go out and talk to the

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customer intelligently , right ? Uh ,

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next slide , Jim . And so just super

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excited about our lineup today , by the

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way . I'm gonna sit back there and take

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notes myself . Um , you guys probably

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shouldn't pay attention to me much .

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I'm gonna be about 5 minutes of this ,

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but overall , this afternoon is going

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to be full of your subject matter

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expertise and actually selling and

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discovering what the client really

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needs and wants . I always start off

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with this slide . A lot of you guys

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know me . I'm not going to waste a lot

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of time on it . Basically , we're your ,

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your one-stop shop , you know , we

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cover the basics , the foundation of

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working with federal , state , and

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local government . Uh , I like to say

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we help small businesses navigate the

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nuance of their government customer .

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Uh , next slide . So , you know ,

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market research , my , my favorite , my

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baby , my , you know , overall

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expertise is just a start . Um , you

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know , really what we wanna look at in ,

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in that research is your three C's ,

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your client , capability , and

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competition . Yeah , we can give you a

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contract number , we can give you , uh ,

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an awarding office , and we can give

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you an incumbent . That doesn't mean

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anything until you're actually in there

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talking to the customer . Does the

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customer like the incumbent ? Um , is

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the uh PWS old ? Is the next

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solicitation getting delayed ? Is there

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funding ? Is there a gap in funding ?

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Uh , so , I mean , all that , that

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stuff , you're , you're going to be

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looking at the more quantitative side

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of this today , or the more qualitative

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side of this today than , than just the ,

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the numbers and spreadsheets , uh ,

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which is , you know , it's . It's a lot

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more nuanced . People are messy . Data

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is clean , um , but overall , it , it

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gives you , it changes the game . It ,

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it opens up a whole new range of

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opportunity for you that's outside just

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the ones and twos . Uh , it also opens

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up a lot of teaming opportunity . Um ,

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you get to know who the customer likes ,

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who they don't like . You get to know ,

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uh , what teams you work with , what

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you don't . I mean , it's really going

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out there and , and working . With

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other people on difficult problems that

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may not present themselves in your

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basic sank.gov list . Uh , next slide .

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So , key aspects of selling , I'm not

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gonna harp on this too much . Like I

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said , I'm not the expert , but I can

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tell you that there's a lot more that

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goes into selling than just going out

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there and , and talking . I mean ,

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there's a lot of business development ,

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developing relationships , capture

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management , that's getting your intel .

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There's that relationship building

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thing that I'm not very good at . Then

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you , you know , your market research

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is just a start , but it also opens you

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up to more contracts , vehicles that

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might be available , more market intel ,

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um , and it really helps you

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strategically organize your efforts ,

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uh , way past what we can tell you with

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just some basic market research .

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Thanks . So tips and tricks ,

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this is my last slide . Um , I always

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say to know your customers' language ,

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to speak your customer's language ,

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that's fine and dandy to know the

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acronym S soup , but what about

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understanding your customer's language ?

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Asking the dumb questions . I always

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ask folks , you know , they , everybody

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says they go on TDY . What does TDY

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mean ? That's getting to the next level .

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Not only that , are there any current

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restrictions on TDY ? Are there any ,

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you know , I mean , that's really

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understanding what that acronym means

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instead of just knowing that TDY means

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you're out of town . Uh , it helps you

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think strategically . I was always

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taught that God gave us two ears and

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one mouth , although it doesn't work

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with me because we should listen twice

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as much as we speak . Um , and , and

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that's really the key to this is don't

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be afraid to ask and listen and really

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get to know your customer . And with

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that , I think that's all I got , Jim ,

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uh , next slide .

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Brusa , there we go . So probably good

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information for you guys to have .

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That's actually , that's not the right

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phone number . That should be , um ,

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that on purpose , Billy ? I look ,

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quite honestly guys , my email is the

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best bet to get a hold of me . Um ,

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yeah , we , we have , I think 700

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clients in Southwest Ohio . Many more

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across the state or use services 62 of

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the 88 counties here . Um , we , we are

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fairly busy people . And email always

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works . You can hit my office phone .

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I'll try to get back to you . Um , all ,

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all my information is online at this

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point , guys . I'm on about 10

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different websites , um , so you can

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probably find me if you give it a quick

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Google . Hey , Scott . Um , you know ,

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overall , really what I'm here to do is

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set the table . Uh , PK , Sally K ,

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they are , uh , I , I consider them

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friends and mentors . I learned

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something from them every time I talk

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to them . Um , so sit back , take notes ,

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ask dumb questions , guys . That's the

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key to this thing . Um , no such thing

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as a stupid question . I've asked them

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all , but if you think and you , you

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think you need to know something ,

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chances are somebody else in this room

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or somebody else online wants to know

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the same thing . So do everybody the

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favor and , and speak up . Uh , I want

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to be interactive , guys . We don't

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want to speak to you . We want to talk

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with you , have a conversation . That's

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really where we get the value out of

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these things . They're called colliders

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because we like collisions . So let's ,

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let's get active and um , you know ,

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have fun with it too . This isn't meant

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to , to drill you to death with

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information . This is meant to be

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valuable , not only to industry , but

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to government and to academia like

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myself , even though I don't really

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admit that . So , uh , yeah , what ,

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what am I missing something ? Are you

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available after the collider ? So what

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your schedule is . I'm sorry . Uh ,

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well , I do , uh , I have quarterly

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reporting due tomorrow and I have a

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class at 9 a.m. to teach , but yes , I

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will be available as long as 1 , and

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I'll just get in trouble for that stuff

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later . So yeah , that's good . Yeah ,

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I'll after the quieter , we usually do

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a little , we'll do a gather at

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gathering . A gathering at gathering

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guys , and that's really where , you

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know , more connections can be made ,

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right ? It's not just about connecting

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with folks like resource partners and

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government . Connect with each other

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because chances are you guys have

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similar problems , similar issues , and

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similar challenges , even across

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business industries and verticals .

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Businesses see similar types of issues

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no matter . We're here to help you with

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some of them , but some of the stuff

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you guys can solve together too in

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teaming . I mean , as a small business ,

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there is no competing in the government

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space on the federal level without

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teaming . I can tell you that , assure

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you that , unless you're very niche or

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very much a unicorn of a company . So

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yeah , learn each other , get to know

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us , and hopefully we , we get you guys

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some great knowledge today . That's all

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I got . So off to is Pete next , Sally .

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Sally is . I'll go ahead and Billy ,

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thanks again for all your help . Yeah ,

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I greatly appreciate it . Actually , I

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think I'll end up just sitting here

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because I've been looking at the back

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of your head on screen . So just for

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the people and virtual land . So , um ,

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so , but first I'd like to introduce

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Sally Kay . She spent 36 years with the

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Dow Chemical Company , Glas

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GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare .

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After working in R&D , finance , sales ,

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and marketing , her career was focused

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on various areas of innovation and new

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product development . Since she retired ,

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she started her own consulting business

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and , um , you know , focusing on

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strategic product development , kind of

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really on that , focusing on that front

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end of the innovation process . She

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also mentors startups and entrepreneurs

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through various programs in the

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Cincinnati area and also Purdue

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University and University of Tennessee .

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She serves on the Outstanding Corporate

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Innovator Award Committee , past chair

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of that committee , and then she was

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the associate editor of the 3rd edition

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of the Innovator Award Committee , or ,

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or of the , uh , PDMA Handbook of New

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Product Development and was the author

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of Lessons Learned from Outstanding

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Corporate Innovators , which is a , a

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chapter in the book . Just has a vast .

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Uh , experience base and just a great

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speaker , so we're very welcome to have

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her . So I'll go ahead and kick it over

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to you , Sally . Oh , thank you for the

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introduction . Good afternoon .

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Opportunity validation . What we're

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going to talk about today is how

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critical it is early on in the

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innovation process to validate that

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you don't just have a good idea or a

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patentable technology , but that you

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really have , next slide .

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A viable and sustainable business

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opportunity . Next slide .

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Validating the opportunity is a

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critical activity at the front end of

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the innovation process . Think of it as

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assessment before investment , even

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before you invest a lot of your

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personal time and perhaps even some

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personal finances , assess whether it

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is really an investable opportunity .

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During this stage , those early

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assumptions and hypotheses that you

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made about your opportunity should be

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replaced as much as possible with facts

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and data . Now , innovation is not a

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perfect science . There are going to be

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times you're going to have to make

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assumptions , but you want as much as

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possible to do , have informed and

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educated assumptions and not just

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guesses . During this stage , your

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primary focus is going to be on the

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market and the customer . Several years

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ago , I attended a webinar on angel

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investing . One of the presenters was

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an angel investor from Silicon Valley .

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He said he wished that founders used

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the same scientific rigor . On the

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market and the customer that they

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typically do on the product and the

15:29.729 --> 15:31.729
technology . Now think about this .

15:31.909 --> 15:34.900
Silicon Valley is all about technology .

15:35.150 --> 15:37.590
Yet here's an investor saying he wants

15:37.590 --> 15:39.710
the focus on the market and the

15:39.710 --> 15:43.330
customer . One of the reasons for doing

15:43.330 --> 15:45.809
opportunity validation early on is it's

15:45.809 --> 15:48.450
going to provide key inputs for your

15:48.450 --> 15:50.570
commercial and military investor

15:50.570 --> 15:52.514
pitches , for your business plan ,

15:52.570 --> 15:55.010
cyber applications , and potential

15:55.010 --> 15:57.969
collaboration documents . Think of it

15:57.969 --> 16:01.760
as creating a Dropbox , and all the

16:01.760 --> 16:05.450
files in that Dropbox have key

16:05.450 --> 16:07.770
information about your opportunity .

16:09.419 --> 16:12.630
Next slide , please . Another

16:12.630 --> 16:15.409
perspective on opportunity validation

16:16.070 --> 16:18.510
comes from an article that appeared in

16:18.510 --> 16:22.400
Fast Company titled Why Startups Fail .

16:22.789 --> 16:24.789
The authors , after researching the

16:24.789 --> 16:28.640
topic , had two key conclusions .

16:28.830 --> 16:31.750
If you don't validate your market

16:31.750 --> 16:35.239
aggressively , you can't build a good

16:35.239 --> 16:37.469
product . And secondly , without

16:37.469 --> 16:40.210
validating and optimizing the data you

16:40.210 --> 16:42.890
get from customers , it's not possible

16:42.890 --> 16:45.890
to create a viable product in high

16:45.890 --> 16:49.530
demand . So you need market facts and

16:49.530 --> 16:53.130
you need customer feedback . Next slide .

16:54.429 --> 16:57.650
Translation , you need relentless

16:57.869 --> 17:00.950
market and customer focus . Now , this

17:00.950 --> 17:03.190
is certainly critical for a startup ,

17:03.429 --> 17:05.310
but the reality is it's critical

17:05.310 --> 17:07.430
throughout the life cycle of any

17:07.430 --> 17:11.270
business or any product . Uh , as was

17:11.270 --> 17:13.949
mentioned in my bio , for many years ,

17:14.030 --> 17:16.729
I have been a member of a committee

17:16.949 --> 17:19.390
which gives a major global corporate

17:19.390 --> 17:23.040
innovation award . The key criteria for

17:23.040 --> 17:25.599
that award are sustained and

17:25.599 --> 17:29.430
quantifiable innovation success . Now ,

17:29.439 --> 17:31.829
after the committee verifies that

17:31.839 --> 17:35.640
candidates meet those criteria , the

17:35.640 --> 17:38.500
next thing we look at are the practices

17:38.599 --> 17:40.377
which have contributed to their

17:40.377 --> 17:43.239
innovation success , because we believe

17:43.239 --> 17:46.319
that those practices provide valuable

17:46.319 --> 17:49.849
lessons learned . For others trying to

17:49.849 --> 17:52.020
improve their own innovation process

17:52.020 --> 17:55.630
and practices . In recent years ,

17:56.579 --> 17:59.099
The all of the winners , despite their

17:59.099 --> 18:00.877
diversity of industry and their

18:00.877 --> 18:04.739
diversity of size , have used

18:04.739 --> 18:07.300
the practice of relentless market and

18:07.300 --> 18:10.180
customer focus to achieve innovation

18:10.180 --> 18:13.170
success . In fact , this past year ,

18:13.750 --> 18:15.917
the ultimate winner when we were doing

18:15.917 --> 18:18.550
the evaluation when the company was a

18:18.550 --> 18:22.439
finalist , they told us that they train

18:22.439 --> 18:25.270
all of their employees in best

18:25.270 --> 18:28.189
practices in market and customer

18:28.189 --> 18:31.650
discovery because this is so important

18:31.979 --> 18:35.140
to them achieving innovation success ,

18:35.630 --> 18:38.349
so relentless market and customer focus .

18:39.099 --> 18:41.900
Now you'll remember the title of the

18:41.900 --> 18:44.739
Fast Company article was Why Startups

18:44.739 --> 18:47.130
Fail . Those of us who work in

18:47.140 --> 18:49.819
innovation don't like to think about

18:49.819 --> 18:52.579
failure , but it is a reality . The

18:52.579 --> 18:55.859
good news is failure teaches us some of

18:55.859 --> 18:58.619
the best lessons , lessons about what

18:58.619 --> 19:01.500
we need to do differently in the future

19:01.500 --> 19:04.199
in order to improve our chances of

19:04.199 --> 19:07.800
success . Now Another

19:08.020 --> 19:10.020
good piece of news is that we don't

19:10.020 --> 19:11.798
just have to learn from our own

19:11.798 --> 19:14.900
failures , we can learn from the

19:14.900 --> 19:17.380
failures of others . Next slide ,

19:17.500 --> 19:21.130
please . And just like You know ,

19:21.250 --> 19:23.050
we've learned from successful

19:23.050 --> 19:25.640
corporation about the practices which

19:25.640 --> 19:28.089
have contributed to their success . We

19:28.089 --> 19:30.810
can learn from the failures of other

19:30.810 --> 19:33.032
startups . Failures of other startups ,

19:33.050 --> 19:35.410
the reasons they have failed , provide

19:35.410 --> 19:38.910
valuable lessons learned . Next slide ,

19:39.030 --> 19:42.229
please . And a great example of this

19:42.229 --> 19:45.989
comes from CB Insights . CBI is a

19:45.989 --> 19:47.949
research organization , and one of

19:47.949 --> 19:50.349
their primary focus areas is the

19:50.349 --> 19:53.430
startup world . At one time they were

19:53.430 --> 19:55.449
able to get their hands on

19:55.630 --> 19:58.170
156

19:58.510 --> 20:02.069
postmortems written by the founders of

20:02.069 --> 20:05.390
failed startups . CBI put a team

20:05.390 --> 20:07.410
together to go through these

20:07.630 --> 20:10.270
postmortems in great detail with one

20:10.270 --> 20:13.500
objective . What could be learned that

20:13.500 --> 20:16.010
would benefit the entrepreneurial

20:16.010 --> 20:19.069
community and help them be more

20:19.069 --> 20:22.339
successful ? One of the things the team

20:22.339 --> 20:25.339
learned was no startup fails for just

20:25.339 --> 20:27.739
one reason . There are always multiple

20:27.739 --> 20:30.420
reasons for startup failure , but the

20:30.420 --> 20:33.420
team was able to identify the top 20

20:33.420 --> 20:35.890
reasons for startup failure and was

20:35.890 --> 20:39.530
actually able to rank them 1 to 20 .

20:39.780 --> 20:43.729
Next slide . The number

20:43.729 --> 20:47.630
one reason for startup failure was lack

20:47.810 --> 20:50.290
of a market need for the product or

20:50.290 --> 20:54.130
service . There was no problem being

20:54.130 --> 20:56.609
solved . Next slide , please . And

20:56.609 --> 20:59.609
let's look at all of the data , all 20

20:59.609 --> 21:01.609
reasons here , and you can see that

21:01.609 --> 21:04.650
approximately 50% of the time , the

21:04.650 --> 21:07.329
primary reason for startup . Failure

21:07.329 --> 21:10.489
was no market need , no problem being

21:10.489 --> 21:13.060
solved , and you can see the big gap

21:13.489 --> 21:15.969
between that reason and all the other

21:15.969 --> 21:18.290
reasons for startup failure . So a

21:18.290 --> 21:21.170
really key reason , no market need , no

21:21.170 --> 21:25.160
problem being solved . Now before

21:25.160 --> 21:27.930
CBI did this research , there weren't

21:27.930 --> 21:30.770
really any good facts and data about

21:30.770 --> 21:33.050
startup failure . Certainly there were

21:33.050 --> 21:36.130
lots of theories and hypotheses about

21:36.130 --> 21:38.297
why startups failed , but not any good

21:38.297 --> 21:41.729
data . So when CBI published the

21:41.729 --> 21:44.930
results of their research , every major

21:44.930 --> 21:47.270
business publication picked up on it

21:47.410 --> 21:49.521
and wrote an article about it . We're

21:49.521 --> 21:51.743
talking about The Wall Street Journal ,

21:51.743 --> 21:54.089
Forbes , Fortune , Entrepreneur , Fast

21:54.089 --> 21:57.489
Company . Everybody viewed this as a

21:57.489 --> 21:59.829
really important piece of research .

22:00.390 --> 22:04.130
And here's what some of the , some of

22:04.130 --> 22:08.069
the Articles concluded .

22:08.310 --> 22:09.949
Sorry about that . Uh .

22:14.380 --> 22:15.829
Sally just went on mute .

22:18.229 --> 22:20.396
Sorry , I was trying to . Next slide ,

22:20.396 --> 22:24.359
please . So here were some of the

22:24.359 --> 22:27.010
conclusions that the publications had .

22:27.250 --> 22:29.449
They said the failed startups were

22:29.449 --> 22:32.599
building a solution without a problem ,

22:33.010 --> 22:35.729
or they may have solved a solving a

22:35.729 --> 22:37.790
problem , but they weren't uniquely

22:37.790 --> 22:41.729
solving a big problem . And then one

22:41.729 --> 22:44.359
of them concluded that it has to be a

22:44.359 --> 22:47.229
big problem and a way better solution

22:47.489 --> 22:51.170
than what already exists . Now

22:51.349 --> 22:54.459
if you search CBI why startups fail ,

22:54.670 --> 22:56.949
you may come across a second study that

22:56.949 --> 23:00.689
they did where they found 111 more

23:01.189 --> 23:03.356
postmortems written by the founders of

23:03.356 --> 23:05.709
failed startups . These postmortems

23:05.709 --> 23:09.540
were written between 2019 and 2022 to

23:09.540 --> 23:12.770
2020203 . And in this study ,

23:13.310 --> 23:17.310
ran out of cash surfaced as the

23:17.310 --> 23:20.069
number one reason for startup failure .

23:20.630 --> 23:23.709
Now , before you conclude that this

23:23.709 --> 23:25.542
discussion we just had about the

23:25.542 --> 23:28.030
importance of solving a problem maybe

23:28.030 --> 23:30.086
isn't relevant anymore , let's think

23:30.086 --> 23:32.197
about what was happening in that time

23:32.197 --> 23:35.079
frame . We had a pandemic going on , a

23:35.079 --> 23:38.199
pandemic that had major negative

23:38.199 --> 23:41.199
impacts on all aspects of the global

23:41.199 --> 23:45.000
economy . So not at all surprising to

23:45.000 --> 23:48.000
see ran out of cash surface as the

23:48.000 --> 23:50.599
number one reason in that timeframe for

23:50.599 --> 23:53.410
startup failure . In fact , last year ,

23:53.699 --> 23:56.880
CBI published some research that showed

23:56.880 --> 24:00.119
in that time frame , Angel and VC

24:00.119 --> 24:03.459
investments in startups went down

24:03.479 --> 24:06.359
significantly . So not surprising that

24:06.359 --> 24:09.119
startups ran out of cash , but no

24:09.119 --> 24:12.939
market need . was just about 3% points

24:12.939 --> 24:15.300
behind , ran out of cash , and once

24:15.300 --> 24:18.619
again , you see that big gap between no

24:18.619 --> 24:21.459
market need and all the other reasons

24:21.459 --> 24:24.140
for startup failure . Next slide ,

24:24.260 --> 24:28.069
please . We said we were

24:28.069 --> 24:31.390
looking at this data , CBI data , to

24:31.390 --> 24:35.170
take away lessons learned . I think the ,

24:35.469 --> 24:38.739
the lesson is pretty clear here . It is

24:38.739 --> 24:41.150
critical early on to identify ,

24:41.349 --> 24:44.550
validate , and quantify the problem

24:44.550 --> 24:46.630
which your product or service is

24:46.630 --> 24:49.739
solving . Let me give you a real world

24:49.739 --> 24:52.660
example of this . Several years ago , I

24:52.660 --> 24:55.699
was introduced to a startup which had

24:55.699 --> 24:59.699
acquired a medical device from the

24:59.699 --> 25:03.060
inventor of the device based upon lab

25:03.060 --> 25:05.459
data which he showed them that said

25:05.459 --> 25:09.449
this device was solving a problem . Now ,

25:09.489 --> 25:12.839
when I met them , they had had this

25:12.839 --> 25:15.229
device on the market for one year .

25:16.229 --> 25:19.910
They had not sold one device , not

25:19.910 --> 25:22.989
one . They asked me if I would help

25:22.989 --> 25:25.211
them try to understand why they weren't

25:25.211 --> 25:27.550
selling anything , and I said I would ,

25:28.170 --> 25:31.689
but because I was not familiar with the

25:31.689 --> 25:33.856
market or the customer base , I needed

25:33.856 --> 25:36.050
to do some research . So I did

25:36.050 --> 25:39.890
extensive internet research . I talked

25:39.890 --> 25:42.290
to thought leaders in the field . I

25:42.290 --> 25:45.560
actually found a government report that

25:45.849 --> 25:49.199
was applicable to this market . And

25:49.199 --> 25:52.119
then my final step in my research was

25:52.119 --> 25:55.680
to conduct a survey with close to 200

25:55.680 --> 25:58.479
people who worked in the environment

25:58.479 --> 26:01.660
where this device would be used . The

26:01.660 --> 26:04.020
primary conclusions from my research

26:04.020 --> 26:07.949
were That the problem occurred very

26:07.949 --> 26:11.020
infrequently , did not happen very

26:11.020 --> 26:14.099
often . When it did , there were not

26:14.099 --> 26:17.520
significant consequences because

26:17.900 --> 26:19.511
the people who worked in the

26:19.511 --> 26:21.511
environment already had solutions .

26:21.511 --> 26:23.678
They know , they knew how to solve the

26:23.678 --> 26:25.900
problem when it occurred , and they did

26:25.900 --> 26:29.010
not see this device as being unique in

26:29.010 --> 26:31.459
any way or bringing anything beneficial

26:31.459 --> 26:34.869
to the solutions . Now , I'm

26:35.270 --> 26:37.437
confident that had these founders done

26:37.437 --> 26:40.670
the research that I did and not relied

26:40.670 --> 26:42.790
on the founders' lab data or on the

26:42.790 --> 26:45.550
inventors , excuse me , lab data , they

26:45.550 --> 26:47.910
would never have made that acquisition .

26:48.770 --> 26:51.770
Unfortunately , not long after I

26:51.770 --> 26:54.680
reported my results to them , They

26:54.680 --> 26:56.719
closed shop , closed up shop . They

26:56.719 --> 26:59.599
closed down the business . They were a

26:59.599 --> 27:03.239
failed startup because they were not

27:03.239 --> 27:06.630
solving a problem . Next slide ,

27:06.790 --> 27:10.719
please . Hey Sally . Yes , hey Sally ,

27:11.239 --> 27:13.461
so we're getting a few questions piling

27:13.461 --> 27:15.461
up here . OK , I'm sorry . Can I go

27:15.461 --> 27:17.572
ahead ? I'm gonna go ahead and , uh ,

27:17.760 --> 27:19.871
share it with you . Yes , certainly .

27:19.871 --> 27:21.739
Question , question one , what

27:21.739 --> 27:24.280
framework do you recommend using when

27:24.280 --> 27:28.060
doing customer discovery ? We're going

27:28.060 --> 27:31.810
to talk about that , um , going forward ,

27:32.030 --> 27:35.219
but , uh , I'm trying to understand

27:35.219 --> 27:37.449
exactly when you talk about framework

27:37.449 --> 27:40.380
for customer qualitative , quantitative ,

27:40.430 --> 27:43.479
um , not quite sure what is .

27:44.310 --> 27:46.989
Intended by framework there , but we ,

27:47.089 --> 27:49.650
we are going to talk about customer

27:49.650 --> 27:52.349
discovery , yeah . OK , cool . All

27:52.349 --> 27:54.682
right , we'll get to that one , I guess .

27:54.682 --> 27:58.369
Uh And if I don't ,

27:58.469 --> 28:02.069
make sure they ask it again . So ,

28:02.140 --> 28:05.699
um , Next question , can you go any

28:05.699 --> 28:09.119
deeper on the not the right team

28:09.780 --> 28:12.540
finding ? I feel most startups entering

28:12.540 --> 28:14.819
the DOD slash federal market believe

28:14.819 --> 28:18.400
they can succeed as a solo artist

28:18.900 --> 28:21.199
and fail to recognize a team member

28:21.199 --> 28:23.900
with a foot in the right door could

28:23.900 --> 28:26.839
probably . Flip that their script .

28:27.959 --> 28:31.180
Yes , and I , I'd talk about this later

28:31.180 --> 28:34.819
also , but I know investors are

28:34.819 --> 28:38.819
very focused on the team and the

28:38.819 --> 28:41.380
board of advisors that a startup has

28:41.380 --> 28:45.180
built . They really want to see that a

28:45.180 --> 28:49.069
founder has surrounded . Himself

28:49.069 --> 28:51.719
with people that have extensive

28:51.719 --> 28:54.270
expertise and experience in the market

28:54.270 --> 28:57.609
in which they're going to compete . And

28:57.609 --> 28:59.553
again , we're gonna talk some more

28:59.553 --> 29:01.720
about that uh in just a little while ,

29:01.819 --> 29:03.652
but that , that from an investor

29:03.652 --> 29:07.209
perspective , I um work with quite a

29:07.209 --> 29:09.410
few investors . I'm not one , but work

29:09.410 --> 29:11.430
with them , and that is something

29:11.430 --> 29:13.541
that's really key . They always ask ,

29:13.541 --> 29:16.150
who's on your team ? Who's advising you ?

29:17.300 --> 29:19.356
So that , that is something that's ,

29:19.356 --> 29:22.030
that's very critical . All right , last

29:22.030 --> 29:24.308
one , then we'll go to your next slide .

29:25.229 --> 29:28.109
Would this be a way to frame it , ID

29:28.109 --> 29:31.760
the problem first . Then develop the

29:31.760 --> 29:34.219
technology to to solve that problem .

29:34.949 --> 29:37.239
But know what the current cost of the

29:37.239 --> 29:39.829
solution used in the market is via

29:40.390 --> 29:43.599
customer research related . How open

29:43.599 --> 29:45.766
would you , would a potential customer

29:45.766 --> 29:48.459
be in providing pricing slash cost data

29:48.880 --> 29:52.709
to a cold email . Mm Um ,

29:53.339 --> 29:55.283
the , the , the answer , the first

29:55.283 --> 29:57.339
answer is yes . It is critical , the

29:57.339 --> 29:59.561
first , and you're going to see that on

29:59.561 --> 30:02.920
the next slide , um , to identify that

30:03.380 --> 30:05.619
problem in the marketplace , identify

30:05.619 --> 30:08.680
it , validate it , quantify it , um ,

30:09.260 --> 30:12.359
and Once you do , and then we're also

30:12.359 --> 30:14.780
gonna talk about different ways to look

30:14.780 --> 30:18.339
at that market , uh , than you might

30:18.520 --> 30:22.500
typically do . So , but yes , I mean ,

30:22.569 --> 30:24.939
you wanna know who's , once you say ,

30:24.979 --> 30:27.035
OK , here's a problem , what are the

30:27.035 --> 30:29.300
current solutions that are out there ?

30:29.380 --> 30:32.140
You certainly , and , and again , I

30:32.140 --> 30:35.280
have a tool that is valuable in helping

30:35.510 --> 30:39.510
founders uh look at You know , what's

30:39.510 --> 30:41.454
what's currently in the market out

30:41.454 --> 30:45.079
there . Go to the next

30:45.079 --> 30:48.900
slide . OK . This next slide , I use

30:49.160 --> 30:52.209
to , I think , provide a lesson learned

30:52.209 --> 30:54.265
from what we just talked about , and

30:54.265 --> 30:56.487
it's a quote from Brad Smith , who is ,

30:56.487 --> 30:58.520
was , was the president and CEO of

30:58.520 --> 31:01.619
Intuit . Don't fall in love

31:02.619 --> 31:06.439
with your solution . Fall in love with

31:06.439 --> 31:09.459
the problem your customers are trying

31:09.459 --> 31:13.369
to solve . When , when I first got into

31:13.369 --> 31:15.425
the innovation space , I didn't have

31:15.425 --> 31:17.480
any background in that area at all ,

31:17.489 --> 31:19.729
but one of the first things I did was

31:19.729 --> 31:22.469
discover that I always wanted to start

31:22.469 --> 31:25.380
with a market need . So I would start

31:25.380 --> 31:28.359
doing studies in various areas

31:29.180 --> 31:31.900
and try to identify where there were

31:31.900 --> 31:35.459
unmet needs , and then I would start to

31:35.459 --> 31:37.739
work on developing the solutions for

31:37.739 --> 31:39.739
those needs , but that is really

31:39.739 --> 31:42.020
critical , and I , I think Brad Smith

31:42.020 --> 31:43.920
here , if , if you don't remember

31:43.920 --> 31:45.864
anything else I say today , I hope

31:45.900 --> 31:48.770
you'll remember this quote because that

31:49.160 --> 31:51.819
CBI data clearly shows .

31:52.969 --> 31:55.930
How important it is to in , in

31:55.930 --> 31:59.050
achieving success , to be solving a

31:59.050 --> 32:02.930
problem . Now , normally , if

32:02.930 --> 32:04.986
I were giving my regular opportunity

32:04.986 --> 32:08.979
validation presentation , I would talk

32:08.979 --> 32:12.250
to you about hacking for defense and

32:12.250 --> 32:14.800
show how what we just talked about with

32:14.800 --> 32:16.911
the criticalness of the problem , how

32:16.911 --> 32:20.140
that relates to military opportunities .

32:20.479 --> 32:23.050
But today you are going to be fortunate

32:23.050 --> 32:26.180
enough to hear the expert . On hacking

32:26.180 --> 32:29.099
for defense . Uh , Jeff Decker is going

32:29.099 --> 32:31.900
to be following me , and he is , is the

32:31.900 --> 32:34.640
expert . He runs hacking for Defense .

32:35.060 --> 32:37.859
And so , next slide , I'm gonna just

32:37.859 --> 32:41.680
skip this next slide because uh I ,

32:41.770 --> 32:44.489
I do not have nearly the depth of

32:44.489 --> 32:46.656
information that Jeff does . So you're

32:46.656 --> 32:48.656
really fortunate to be able to hear

32:48.656 --> 32:50.767
from Jeff today . So , I'm gonna move

32:50.767 --> 32:53.569
on to the next slide and talk about

32:53.569 --> 32:55.609
opportunity validation from the

32:55.609 --> 32:58.810
perspective of the investor , that

32:58.810 --> 33:00.921
individual or individuals to whom you

33:00.921 --> 33:04.510
will go and asking for funding for your

33:05.839 --> 33:08.170
opportunity . Now several years ago ,

33:08.209 --> 33:10.530
and I'm sure Jim remembers this , we

33:10.530 --> 33:14.329
put on a collider for small businesses

33:14.329 --> 33:18.250
and startups which had opportunities

33:18.250 --> 33:20.083
that had application in both the

33:20.083 --> 33:22.250
commercial market and in the military

33:22.250 --> 33:26.175
market . So we used angel . Investors

33:26.175 --> 33:29.094
to do all of the presentations . The

33:29.094 --> 33:31.261
angel investor who did the opportunity

33:31.261 --> 33:34.175
validation presentation was from the

33:34.175 --> 33:36.214
West Coast , a member of one of the

33:36.214 --> 33:39.854
most successful band of or successful

33:39.854 --> 33:42.076
angel investment groups called the Band

33:42.076 --> 33:44.415
of Angel . He borrowed a number of

33:44.415 --> 33:47.574
slides from my deck for his

33:47.574 --> 33:49.875
presentation . So with his permission ,

33:50.094 --> 33:52.555
I've borrowed this slide from his deck

33:53.055 --> 33:56.760
because it tells A startup , exactly

33:56.760 --> 33:59.239
what an investor is going to look for

33:59.239 --> 34:02.160
when they do due diligence trying to

34:02.160 --> 34:04.359
decide whether this is an opportunity

34:04.359 --> 34:07.750
they want to invest in . And he's , he

34:07.750 --> 34:09.870
told them that the first thing an

34:09.870 --> 34:11.926
investor is going to look at is , do

34:11.926 --> 34:15.790
you have a unique product solving an

34:15.790 --> 34:18.429
important and urgent problem for a

34:18.429 --> 34:21.879
large market . I think that's it ,

34:21.889 --> 34:24.409
and he didn't put that together having

34:24.409 --> 34:27.070
seen the CBI data . He put it together

34:27.729 --> 34:29.810
based on his own and his fellow

34:29.810 --> 34:32.090
investors' experience , but it

34:32.090 --> 34:34.257
certainly reflects what we just talked

34:34.257 --> 34:36.850
about . Does this market generate high

34:36.850 --> 34:40.550
value exits ? Investors want the

34:40.550 --> 34:42.717
startup to make money so they can make

34:42.717 --> 34:45.350
money . Do you have a strong product

34:45.350 --> 34:48.629
market fit ? Or if you're working in

34:48.629 --> 34:50.962
the military space , you may say , here ,

34:50.962 --> 34:53.018
do you have a strong product mission

34:53.070 --> 34:56.629
fit ? Do you have a strong

34:56.629 --> 35:00.100
company team market fit ? And that's

35:00.100 --> 35:02.600
what we just talked about , how

35:03.060 --> 35:05.899
important this is to an investor . They

35:05.899 --> 35:07.955
ask that question . One of the first

35:07.955 --> 35:10.010
questions they always ask , Who's on

35:10.010 --> 35:12.121
your team ? What's their experience ?

35:12.121 --> 35:14.540
Who is advising you ? What's their

35:14.540 --> 35:17.469
experience ? Does your business track

35:17.469 --> 35:20.270
the right metrics for this market ?

35:21.459 --> 35:23.515
They want to know that you are using

35:23.515 --> 35:27.350
facts and data , not just assumptions

35:27.350 --> 35:29.669
about it . Uh , one of the startups I

35:29.669 --> 35:32.729
mentor is a finalist for a major

35:32.729 --> 35:35.070
innovation competition down in

35:35.070 --> 35:38.409
Tennessee , and one of the criteria

35:38.949 --> 35:42.899
for that award and for investment is

35:43.679 --> 35:46.030
What are your business operations ?

35:46.320 --> 35:49.379
Show us that you are in fact reducing

35:50.040 --> 35:53.560
costs and increasing revenues at the

35:53.560 --> 35:56.739
same time . So two key metrics

35:57.199 --> 36:00.179
that this award is based upon .

36:01.360 --> 36:03.760
Also , investors want to think that you

36:03.760 --> 36:05.649
can become a leader in the market

36:05.649 --> 36:07.704
you're entering , not just enter the

36:07.704 --> 36:09.871
market , but can you become a leader ?

36:10.239 --> 36:13.239
And then finally , can this deal return

36:13.239 --> 36:16.320
a high multiple of my investment ?

36:16.719 --> 36:19.679
Again , obviously investors want to

36:19.679 --> 36:22.040
make money , and so that's a key

36:22.040 --> 36:24.040
question , and we'll talk some more

36:24.040 --> 36:26.199
about that later on . Now we talked

36:26.199 --> 36:28.989
about the fact that Investments , angel

36:28.989 --> 36:31.340
and VC investments and startups have

36:31.340 --> 36:33.790
declined since COVID , and that that's

36:33.790 --> 36:37.530
been a quite significant decline . But

36:38.219 --> 36:41.550
investors are still investing . They ,

36:41.629 --> 36:43.851
they , they haven't stopped investing .

36:43.851 --> 36:46.073
They still want to make money . They're

36:46.073 --> 36:48.240
still investing , but they're becoming

36:48.240 --> 36:51.389
more selective in what they choose to

36:51.389 --> 36:54.860
invest in . And they want startups

36:54.860 --> 36:58.040
which can answer all of these questions

36:58.290 --> 37:01.659
on this chart that the investor laid

37:01.659 --> 37:04.659
out . Can you sufficiently answer all

37:04.659 --> 37:08.100
of these questions ? So we're now going

37:08.100 --> 37:10.211
to talk about , all right , what kind

37:10.211 --> 37:13.179
of information do you need to pull

37:13.179 --> 37:16.459
together in order to answer these

37:16.459 --> 37:19.370
questions ? I call it opportunity

37:19.370 --> 37:23.169
analysis . Damon John of Shark Tank

37:23.169 --> 37:26.850
fame calls it doing your homework . I

37:26.850 --> 37:29.770
heard Damon speak at Purdue a few years

37:29.770 --> 37:32.310
ago . And at the conclusion of his

37:32.310 --> 37:34.477
presentation , knowing there are a lot

37:34.477 --> 37:36.588
of entrepreneurs in the audience , he

37:36.588 --> 37:39.209
wanted to leave them with key takeaways

37:39.399 --> 37:42.149
for achieving entrepreneurial success .

37:42.510 --> 37:44.830
So he used all the letters in shark .

37:45.149 --> 37:48.949
So S was set goals , H was do

37:48.949 --> 37:51.870
your homework . Never come before a

37:51.870 --> 37:55.739
shark without doing your homework .

37:56.149 --> 37:58.149
So let's start doing our homework .

37:58.229 --> 38:02.179
Next slide , please . The first thing

38:02.179 --> 38:04.346
the investor is going to ask is , what

38:04.346 --> 38:06.457
market are you competing in now ? You

38:06.457 --> 38:08.659
may think this is a no-brainer . I

38:08.659 --> 38:10.715
don't have to research that . I know

38:10.715 --> 38:13.139
what market I'm competing in . But I

38:13.139 --> 38:15.083
remember watching a shark tank one

38:15.083 --> 38:17.050
evening , and the entrepreneur had

38:17.050 --> 38:19.340
barely finished his pitch before two

38:19.340 --> 38:21.507
sharks almost came out of their chairs

38:21.507 --> 38:23.507
and said , You don't even know what

38:23.507 --> 38:26.469
market you're competing in . I thought

38:26.469 --> 38:28.750
to myself , if that entrepreneur had

38:28.750 --> 38:30.830
used the jobs theory , he would have

38:30.830 --> 38:32.774
been able to answer their question

38:32.774 --> 38:36.669
right away . Next slide , please . The

38:36.669 --> 38:39.790
jobs theory says that people hire

38:40.350 --> 38:43.429
products and services to do a job . The

38:43.429 --> 38:45.709
late Professor Clayton Christensen of

38:45.709 --> 38:48.060
Harvard , who was an entrepreneur

38:48.060 --> 38:51.949
himself and a very prolific researcher

38:51.949 --> 38:54.169
in the innovation space and a prolific

38:54.750 --> 38:56.806
author , as you can see with some of

38:56.806 --> 38:58.917
the books he wrote in that space , he

38:58.917 --> 39:00.909
was not the originator of the Jobs

39:00.909 --> 39:02.965
theory , but he is certainly the one

39:02.965 --> 39:06.429
that gets credit for having raised the

39:06.429 --> 39:09.199
awareness of it . Professor Christensen

39:09.199 --> 39:12.120
always used the drill bit example . He

39:12.120 --> 39:14.176
said people don't go to the hardware

39:14.176 --> 39:16.520
store and buy a drill bit just to put

39:16.520 --> 39:20.439
holes in the wall . They hire a drill

39:20.439 --> 39:23.520
bit to help them hang a picture or hang

39:23.520 --> 39:26.709
a shelf . Professor Christensen said

39:26.709 --> 39:29.830
you need to crawl under the skin of

39:29.830 --> 39:32.949
your customer or potential customer and

39:32.949 --> 39:35.229
understand how they are going to use

39:35.229 --> 39:38.189
your product . Another quick example ,

39:38.330 --> 39:40.870
very simple example . Let's say you've

39:40.870 --> 39:44.429
developed a new high fiber cereal . So

39:44.429 --> 39:46.651
you go to the supermarket , go down the

39:46.651 --> 39:48.873
cereal aisle , you write down all those

39:48.873 --> 39:50.985
boxes that say good source of fiber ,

39:51.070 --> 39:53.014
high fiber , and say , I've got my

39:53.014 --> 39:55.237
market identified . This is my frame of

39:55.237 --> 39:57.570
reference . Now that's a place to start .

39:57.590 --> 39:59.590
But let's think of it from the jobs

39:59.590 --> 40:02.350
theory . What are people hiring a high

40:02.350 --> 40:05.330
fiber cereal to do ? They're hiring it

40:05.550 --> 40:08.709
to fill the fiber gap . Nutritionists

40:08.709 --> 40:10.931
would tell you most of us don't get the

40:10.931 --> 40:14.239
25 to 35 g of fiber we need every day ,

40:14.600 --> 40:18.270
so we hire a high fiber cereal .

40:18.469 --> 40:20.636
But those same consumers could go over

40:20.636 --> 40:23.800
to the produce section and hire berries

40:23.800 --> 40:25.800
and broccoli . They could go to the

40:25.800 --> 40:28.360
pharmacy section and hire a fiber

40:28.360 --> 40:30.679
supplement like Citrucel or Metamucil

40:30.679 --> 40:34.020
and fill the fiber gap . So I think you

40:34.020 --> 40:37.469
can see . That the jobs

40:37.469 --> 40:39.350
theory provides a different and

40:39.350 --> 40:41.750
valuable perspective for you when

40:41.750 --> 40:45.010
you're thinking about your market . And

40:45.080 --> 40:46.858
also , I think one of the , the

40:46.858 --> 40:49.699
greatest values from the jobs theory is

40:49.699 --> 40:51.989
it forces you to go talk to the

40:51.989 --> 40:54.969
customer , crawl under that customer's

40:54.989 --> 40:58.709
skin . All right , next , uh , next

40:58.709 --> 41:02.580
slide . Next slide . Sorry ,

41:02.830 --> 41:06.340
so I lost my uh Little audio thing here .

41:10.149 --> 41:12.939
All right . The next thing the Investor

41:12.939 --> 41:15.161
is going to want to know is what is the

41:15.161 --> 41:17.300
specific market opportunity in that

41:17.300 --> 41:19.578
market you're going to be competing in ,

41:19.578 --> 41:22.860
and I put slash problem being solved

41:22.860 --> 41:25.939
because the opportunity is defined by

41:25.939 --> 41:28.939
the problem that you're solving . And

41:28.939 --> 41:30.717
so we're , I think we've talked

41:30.717 --> 41:33.179
sufficiently about that . So we'll go

41:33.179 --> 41:35.110
on to the next one , next slide .

41:35.989 --> 41:37.909
Market and project potential .

41:38.030 --> 41:40.350
Investors want to know how big is the

41:40.350 --> 41:42.461
market you're going to compete in and

41:42.461 --> 41:46.110
how big can your project become . What

41:46.110 --> 41:48.166
investors don't want to hear is that

41:48.166 --> 41:50.189
you're going to enter a really big

41:50.189 --> 41:52.245
market and you're going to get , you

41:52.245 --> 41:54.245
know , a certain , maybe 5 , 10% of

41:54.245 --> 41:56.300
that really big market . They do not

41:56.300 --> 41:58.467
want to know that . So here's a tool ,

41:58.467 --> 42:02.320
next slide . That you can

42:02.320 --> 42:04.379
use , and I , I suspect many of you

42:04.379 --> 42:06.601
have seen this and maybe have used it ,

42:07.320 --> 42:09.560
uh , because it's a , it's a tool that

42:09.560 --> 42:11.671
investors have become used to looking

42:12.080 --> 42:15.780
for . Now , because it better defines

42:16.000 --> 42:18.056
the market , the target market , the

42:18.056 --> 42:20.270
market potential . Now . Investors do

42:20.270 --> 42:22.381
want to know what the total available

42:22.381 --> 42:24.381
market is because they hope that at

42:24.381 --> 42:26.548
some stage you will be able to compete

42:26.550 --> 42:29.310
in the whole market , but they know

42:29.310 --> 42:31.629
that today you're a startup . You don't

42:31.629 --> 42:33.989
have the resources to compete in that

42:33.989 --> 42:36.156
whole market , so their focus is going

42:36.156 --> 42:39.000
to be on that green circle . Who are

42:39.000 --> 42:42.300
your most likely initial purchasers or

42:42.300 --> 42:46.080
those early adopters ? Can you clearly

42:46.080 --> 42:49.919
define that target , and they really

42:49.919 --> 42:52.141
would love to know that you've actually

42:52.141 --> 42:54.570
had some traction with that target .

42:55.120 --> 42:57.840
Let's a quick example here . Pete and I

42:57.840 --> 43:00.939
worked with a startup at Purdue had

43:00.939 --> 43:03.330
developed a proprietary decision

43:03.330 --> 43:05.639
support software tool for the

43:05.639 --> 43:08.820
production of perennial crops . So

43:08.820 --> 43:11.070
total available market , all perennial

43:11.070 --> 43:13.419
crops we're talking grapes , we're

43:13.419 --> 43:15.699
talking almonds , we're talking citrus

43:15.699 --> 43:17.979
fruits . The list goes on and on , very

43:17.979 --> 43:20.500
big market . Startup could not tackle

43:20.500 --> 43:22.580
that kind of market . Well , in this

43:22.580 --> 43:25.340
case , the startup had done a pilot in

43:25.340 --> 43:28.909
vineyards . So that became their served

43:28.909 --> 43:30.853
available market , but there are a

43:30.853 --> 43:33.020
whole lot of vineyards out there , and

43:33.020 --> 43:35.242
again too big a market for a startup to

43:35.242 --> 43:37.469
tackle with limited resources . So they

43:37.469 --> 43:39.790
looked at their data and they found

43:39.790 --> 43:42.600
that the most likely initial purchasers

43:42.600 --> 43:46.070
would be mid-sized vineyards whose

43:46.070 --> 43:49.790
wines sold for more than $25 a

43:49.790 --> 43:53.149
bottle . So a clearly defined target .

43:53.629 --> 43:56.949
And an accessible target , and from an

43:56.949 --> 43:59.270
investor's perspective , a credible

43:59.270 --> 44:02.570
target . So this is a great tool to use

44:03.149 --> 44:05.830
to better define your market and what

44:05.830 --> 44:09.429
your potential is . Next slide , please .

44:11.300 --> 44:14.709
Distribution channels . Where are you

44:14.709 --> 44:16.876
going to sell your product ? Where can

44:16.876 --> 44:19.042
the customer go find it ? Is , are you

44:19.042 --> 44:21.098
going to sell through the military ?

44:21.098 --> 44:23.431
Are you going to sell from your website ?

44:23.431 --> 44:25.542
Are you going to sell it retail ? Are

44:25.542 --> 44:27.598
you going to sell on Amazon ? That's

44:27.598 --> 44:29.542
something that needs to be clearly

44:29.542 --> 44:32.870
defined for the investor . Next ,

44:33.500 --> 44:36.250
uh , next slide , please . Thought

44:36.250 --> 44:38.528
leaders . Now , you might be wondering ,

44:38.528 --> 44:40.472
we're talking about market , we're

44:40.472 --> 44:42.583
talking about distribution channels ,

44:42.583 --> 44:44.806
problems . How do thought leaders , how

44:44.806 --> 44:48.530
do they fit into all of this ? Um , and

44:48.530 --> 44:51.760
let's , let's The reason I put them in

44:51.760 --> 44:54.719
here is because I'm hoping , as you'll

44:54.719 --> 44:58.239
see , thought leaders can be an

44:58.239 --> 45:00.919
extremely valuable resource for

45:00.919 --> 45:03.520
opportunity analysis and opportunity

45:03.520 --> 45:06.560
validation . Next slide , please .

45:08.090 --> 45:10.312
Who are thought leaders ? These are the

45:10.312 --> 45:13.750
people who have expertise in a given

45:13.750 --> 45:16.719
field . And they're highly regarded in

45:16.719 --> 45:19.679
the field by their peers . Their peers

45:19.679 --> 45:22.800
recognize that you might hear the term

45:22.800 --> 45:25.479
they sit atop the pyramid because they

45:25.479 --> 45:29.419
have such extensive experience and

45:29.739 --> 45:32.639
expertise in a given market . Every

45:32.639 --> 45:35.919
market has these . If you maybe if

45:35.919 --> 45:38.479
you're entering hypersonics or

45:38.479 --> 45:41.120
cybersecurity or propulsion , you may

45:41.120 --> 45:44.510
find a retired general . Who has

45:44.510 --> 45:47.189
expertise in that area , who could be a

45:47.189 --> 45:49.620
thought leader resource for you . You

45:49.620 --> 45:52.030
may find somebody in Air Force research

45:52.030 --> 45:55.550
labs whose research area

45:55.550 --> 45:58.570
is one of those areas , and he or she

45:58.570 --> 46:01.429
is considered to be an expert , a

46:01.429 --> 46:04.489
thought leader in that area . Well ,

46:04.610 --> 46:07.939
let's talk next slide about

46:07.939 --> 46:10.290
how these thought leaders can be used

46:10.290 --> 46:12.570
and their value to the startup because

46:12.570 --> 46:14.903
too many startups overlook these people .

46:15.489 --> 46:19.310
Thought leaders . Can be a source

46:19.310 --> 46:22.169
of unique knowledge about a market

46:22.169 --> 46:23.891
because of their experience or

46:23.891 --> 46:26.850
expertise . They have knowledge of a

46:26.850 --> 46:29.072
market you're not going to get anyplace

46:29.072 --> 46:31.183
else . You're not going to find it on

46:31.183 --> 46:33.406
the internet . You're not going to find

46:33.406 --> 46:35.461
it in a syndicated study , but these

46:35.461 --> 46:37.572
people are really knowledgeable about

46:37.572 --> 46:40.969
it . They can also validate

46:40.969 --> 46:43.090
your opportunity . I'll talk in a

46:43.090 --> 46:45.330
little while about doing interviews ,

46:45.550 --> 46:47.494
structured interviews with thought

46:47.494 --> 46:49.717
leaders , but I always tell the startup

46:49.717 --> 46:51.717
to include in that interview , your

46:51.717 --> 46:54.050
first interview with the thought leader ,

46:54.050 --> 46:56.250
a non-confidential concept of your

46:56.250 --> 46:58.330
product or service and get their

46:58.330 --> 47:01.520
response to it . If they respond

47:01.520 --> 47:04.189
positively and they want to know more ,

47:04.520 --> 47:07.080
that is validation that you have

47:07.080 --> 47:10.280
something . An experience I had

47:10.280 --> 47:12.840
recently , I was talking to a thought

47:12.840 --> 47:15.629
leader who truly is recognized as

47:15.629 --> 47:17.685
sitting at the top of the pyramid in

47:17.685 --> 47:19.879
his field . If you asked anybody in

47:19.879 --> 47:22.479
that field who's the person that sits

47:22.479 --> 47:24.719
atop of the field , this person's name

47:24.719 --> 47:27.199
would come up , and I was working with

47:27.199 --> 47:30.760
a startup that's developed . A

47:30.760 --> 47:34.360
new product in that field . So I did

47:34.360 --> 47:38.000
the interview . I read him a concept

47:38.000 --> 47:40.056
for the product that the startup was

47:40.056 --> 47:42.590
developing . He said to me , Sally ,

47:42.879 --> 47:46.840
that makes me smile . I

47:46.840 --> 47:49.040
knew right away that he thought this

47:49.040 --> 47:52.760
startup had something unique that was

47:52.760 --> 47:56.500
addressing a significant problem in

47:56.639 --> 47:59.800
his field , so validation from thought

47:59.800 --> 48:02.919
leaders can be very important . Thought

48:02.919 --> 48:05.141
leaders can also , if they think you've

48:05.141 --> 48:07.399
really got something unique , solving a

48:07.399 --> 48:10.760
problem , they can help you build

48:10.760 --> 48:13.699
awareness and adoption of your product .

48:14.199 --> 48:16.255
That example I just told you about ,

48:16.255 --> 48:19.229
the startup uh was applying for a sier

48:20.280 --> 48:23.669
and asked me . Whom should we ask to

48:23.669 --> 48:25.558
write letters of support ? And of

48:25.558 --> 48:27.780
course the first person that came to my

48:27.780 --> 48:29.947
mind was the thought leader . He wrote

48:29.947 --> 48:33.510
them a very strong letter of

48:33.510 --> 48:36.270
support , and they sort of found out

48:36.270 --> 48:39.340
last week they did get the SIBR grant ,

48:39.629 --> 48:41.870
and I'm confident that that letter of

48:41.870 --> 48:44.080
support from the thought leader at the

48:44.080 --> 48:47.189
top of the pyramid was a key factor

48:47.189 --> 48:50.129
when the people reviewing that CIBR

48:50.129 --> 48:52.375
application . his name , they knew he

48:52.375 --> 48:54.935
knew what he was talking about , but

48:54.935 --> 48:57.725
they can also thought leaders might be

48:57.725 --> 49:00.695
willing to do research for you . They

49:00.695 --> 49:03.254
might be willing to write articles for

49:03.254 --> 49:06.375
you . Another startup that Pete and I

49:06.375 --> 49:09.774
work with in my research , I

49:09.774 --> 49:12.084
identify thought leaders . They brought

49:12.084 --> 49:14.334
one of them on as an advisor . He has

49:14.334 --> 49:16.435
just published a significant ,

49:16.655 --> 49:19.780
significant art in a journal . Uh , in

49:19.780 --> 49:22.860
that industry and saying that this

49:22.860 --> 49:25.659
product is in the forefront of the

49:25.659 --> 49:27.770
industry . So publications , they may

49:27.770 --> 49:29.492
be willing to speak for you at

49:29.492 --> 49:32.500
conferences . So , they , they can

49:32.500 --> 49:35.550
really be very important resource for

49:35.550 --> 49:38.560
you . And we talked about how investors

49:38.939 --> 49:41.919
want . want you to be surrounded by

49:41.919 --> 49:44.219
people with expertise and experience

49:44.219 --> 49:46.850
that defines thought leaders . So ,

49:47.120 --> 49:48.953
putting a thought leader on your

49:48.953 --> 49:52.280
advisory board helps build tremendous

49:52.280 --> 49:55.219
credibility in your opportunity .

49:56.189 --> 50:00.149
Next slide . And

50:00.149 --> 50:02.316
so , I think we , yeah , I'm sorry . I

50:02.316 --> 50:05.030
think we have to go a couple , yeah ,

50:05.270 --> 50:07.103
sorry , this one I shouldn't , I

50:07.103 --> 50:09.103
shouldn't have made a bill . Keep ,

50:09.103 --> 50:11.214
yeah , keep going , keep going , keep

50:11.214 --> 50:13.214
going . We're almost there . Yeah .

50:13.270 --> 50:16.189
Next one . Competition . Another thing

50:16.189 --> 50:18.189
an investor doesn't want to hear is

50:18.189 --> 50:20.510
that you're so unique , you , you don't

50:20.510 --> 50:23.810
have any competition . So , next slide ,

50:24.110 --> 50:27.120
here is a tool . That you can use

50:27.120 --> 50:29.453
called a competitive matrix , and again ,

50:29.453 --> 50:31.676
many of you may be familiar with this ,

50:31.870 --> 50:34.669
where along one axis , you lay out what

50:34.669 --> 50:37.030
are the attributes or the benefits that

50:37.030 --> 50:40.310
drive purchase in that , in this market

50:40.310 --> 50:42.421
that you're going to compete in , and

50:42.421 --> 50:44.790
then you lay out all the competitive

50:44.790 --> 50:47.469
products in your product and compare

50:47.469 --> 50:50.489
them against those key attributes .

50:51.250 --> 50:54.590
And this gives an investor a very

50:55.159 --> 50:58.689
succinct look at where you are going to

50:58.689 --> 51:01.810
fit in the framework of your market ,

51:02.169 --> 51:04.610
you know , where , how do you compare

51:04.610 --> 51:07.129
with the products that are already out

51:07.129 --> 51:10.449
there . Next slide , please . What

51:10.590 --> 51:13.030
the investor really wants to know is

51:13.030 --> 51:16.189
that you have established a sustainable

51:16.189 --> 51:19.110
competitive advantage , that you've

51:19.110 --> 51:21.550
created a product with unique value ,

51:21.629 --> 51:23.750
but that you've also protected that

51:23.750 --> 51:26.409
value , that you have built a moat

51:26.949 --> 51:29.310
around your product or service . Warren

51:29.310 --> 51:32.689
Buffett says you need to build wide ,

51:32.909 --> 51:36.560
sustainable moats . Now , one

51:36.560 --> 51:39.000
obvious way to build a moat is with IP ,

51:39.040 --> 51:41.419
and , and everybody should be looking

51:41.419 --> 51:44.360
at the opportunities to , you know ,

51:44.520 --> 51:47.120
get IP to protect your product . But

51:47.120 --> 51:50.000
there are other ways . Perhaps there is

51:50.000 --> 51:52.870
some aspect of your supply chain that's

51:52.870 --> 51:56.110
unique , and nobody else can get that

51:56.320 --> 51:58.600
part of the supply chain . So that

51:58.600 --> 52:00.711
helps you build a moat . You may have

52:00.711 --> 52:03.639
somebody on your team that has a unique

52:03.639 --> 52:07.209
skill set . And again , a way to build

52:07.209 --> 52:10.889
a moat , you may actually be

52:10.889 --> 52:13.770
supplying a customer end to end . You

52:13.770 --> 52:16.090
supply the hardware , you supply the

52:16.090 --> 52:18.090
software , and you supply a

52:18.090 --> 52:20.889
subscription so that they're with you

52:20.889 --> 52:23.729
for several years to come . So

52:23.969 --> 52:26.191
different ways to think . Sometimes you

52:26.191 --> 52:28.358
have to think out of the box about how

52:28.358 --> 52:31.760
to build that moat . And , and how do

52:31.760 --> 52:35.300
you create and protect unique value ?

52:36.169 --> 52:39.689
Next slide . Next

52:39.689 --> 52:43.350
slide . OK . Barriers to entry . That's

52:43.350 --> 52:46.010
something investors look at very

52:46.010 --> 52:48.010
closely and sometimes this isn't

52:48.010 --> 52:51.550
obvious in your research . Uh ,

52:52.040 --> 52:53.984
it could be that you're entering a

52:53.984 --> 52:57.530
market that's resistant to change . And

52:57.530 --> 52:59.850
I've worked in several of those . How

52:59.850 --> 53:03.350
do you convince people to change

53:03.649 --> 53:05.850
and try your product or service ?

53:06.010 --> 53:08.570
Investors want to know that . Maybe

53:08.570 --> 53:10.649
you're entering a market where the

53:10.649 --> 53:12.538
current competitors are all major

53:12.538 --> 53:16.169
corporations with deep pockets . How

53:16.169 --> 53:19.050
can you overcome that ? Investors need

53:19.050 --> 53:20.969
to know that . Next slide .

53:23.060 --> 53:25.389
Hey Sally , there's a question . Uh ,

53:25.399 --> 53:27.621
do you want me to , I'll give it to you

53:27.621 --> 53:29.899
real quick here for , for finding

53:29.899 --> 53:32.070
thought leaders in industries that you

53:32.070 --> 53:34.729
have identified as a new target market .

53:35.669 --> 53:39.510
But you don't have any connection to or

53:39.510 --> 53:42.389
experience in . What would you do to

53:42.389 --> 53:45.610
find credible TLs and get a meeting

53:45.610 --> 53:49.110
with them ? Oh , I have done that many

53:49.110 --> 53:51.110
times . I hate to tell you how many

53:51.110 --> 53:53.389
times I've , I've done that . I do a

53:53.389 --> 53:56.469
lot of research on the internet to try

53:56.469 --> 53:59.550
to find out , you know , who's the

53:59.550 --> 54:03.419
thought leaders in a given market . Uh ,

54:03.479 --> 54:06.750
and , and , and then , you know ,

54:07.199 --> 54:10.580
oftentimes I have to do a cold call ,

54:10.989 --> 54:12.919
either a phone call or an email ,

54:13.250 --> 54:15.719
introduce myself , tell them I'm

54:15.719 --> 54:19.320
working with a startup which , which

54:19.320 --> 54:22.439
has developed a new product in , in

54:22.439 --> 54:25.959
that his , his or her field , and I

54:25.959 --> 54:29.100
would , I would value the opportunity

54:29.399 --> 54:31.679
to speak with him and interview him so

54:31.679 --> 54:33.860
that we could learn . more about the

54:33.860 --> 54:36.620
market and we could share with him the

54:36.620 --> 54:39.659
concept for the market . Now , one

54:39.659 --> 54:42.439
thing I always tell people is the last

54:42.439 --> 54:45.060
question on an interview guide with a

54:45.060 --> 54:47.171
thought leader is , can you introduce

54:47.171 --> 54:50.790
me to To other thought

54:50.790 --> 54:53.149
leaders because it's always easier if

54:53.149 --> 54:55.429
you can get a friendly introduction

54:55.429 --> 54:57.750
than than making that cold call . One

54:57.750 --> 55:00.229
time I was doing a project for a client

55:00.229 --> 55:03.830
in diabetic foot ulcers . I identified

55:03.830 --> 55:05.941
a group of thought leaders around the

55:05.941 --> 55:08.052
country , around the world actually ,

55:08.052 --> 55:09.941
in diabetic foot ulcers . Started

55:09.941 --> 55:12.108
interviewing them . I was interviewing

55:12.108 --> 55:14.570
this one , and he said , Sally , I'm

55:14.570 --> 55:17.570
known as the father of the diabetic

55:17.570 --> 55:19.929
foot ulcer . Now , I had not found that

55:19.929 --> 55:22.610
in any of my research , and I said , oh ,

55:22.810 --> 55:24.866
I , I didn't know that . He said , I

55:24.866 --> 55:27.800
can introduce you to anybody you'd like

55:27.800 --> 55:31.669
to meet , and he did . So I , I , once

55:31.669 --> 55:33.836
I can get in with one thought leader ,

55:33.870 --> 55:36.629
I really try to then use them to get

55:36.629 --> 55:38.979
introductions to other thought leaders ,

55:39.469 --> 55:41.899
but I'm happy , I'll say this at the

55:41.899 --> 55:45.270
end , but I'll say it now , is if you

55:45.270 --> 55:47.149
want any help with that , do not

55:47.149 --> 55:50.429
hesitate to contact me because I have

55:50.429 --> 55:53.469
done it many times in many different

55:53.469 --> 55:56.149
fields , and I do feel these people are

55:56.149 --> 55:59.590
so valuable that I

56:00.010 --> 56:02.389
I would be glad to work with any of you

56:02.530 --> 56:04.770
to help that . Uh , I'm working with a

56:04.770 --> 56:07.929
startup now that's her opportunity

56:07.929 --> 56:10.870
involves law enforcement . So we had to

56:10.870 --> 56:12.719
go out and find out who were the

56:12.719 --> 56:14.941
thought leaders in this particular area

56:14.941 --> 56:16.886
of law enforcement , but now we've

56:16.886 --> 56:20.709
found them , and they're now working

56:20.709 --> 56:24.310
with us . So , it's , it can be tough

56:24.310 --> 56:25.977
sometimes , but it's doable .

56:28.850 --> 56:32.840
Next slide . And

56:32.840 --> 56:35.709
to find the entry strategy . I have

56:35.709 --> 56:39.320
heard so many angel investors say you

56:39.320 --> 56:42.989
need to nail the entry strategy . It's

56:42.989 --> 56:45.322
just not another little marketing thing .

56:45.479 --> 56:47.479
You've got to nail it . You have to

56:47.479 --> 56:50.040
tell an investor how you're going to

56:50.040 --> 56:52.800
win when you get into the market , what

56:52.800 --> 56:55.879
is your go to market strategy . So this

56:55.879 --> 56:59.179
is key as you present

56:59.600 --> 57:03.100
to an investor . Next , next

57:03.100 --> 57:06.260
slide . Trends impacting the market .

57:06.590 --> 57:09.260
Sometimes we forget about trends , but

57:09.260 --> 57:11.427
there's a good chance that 2 years , 5

57:11.427 --> 57:14.219
years , 10 years from now , You know ,

57:14.340 --> 57:16.229
your market's going to look quite

57:16.229 --> 57:18.379
different , and an investor wants to

57:18.379 --> 57:20.435
know if it's going to be impacted by

57:20.435 --> 57:24.179
any trends , and you need to look both

57:24.179 --> 57:26.590
at market trends and then trends more

57:26.590 --> 57:28.534
globally , what's happening in the

57:28.534 --> 57:30.701
economy , what's happening in energy ,

57:30.701 --> 57:32.701
what's happening in the environment

57:32.701 --> 57:36.040
that might impact my business . I mean ,

57:36.159 --> 57:39.959
who of us 15 years ago would

57:39.959 --> 57:42.360
have predicted the impact of the

57:42.360 --> 57:45.179
sustainability trend on just about

57:45.389 --> 57:47.659
every business today .

57:48.550 --> 57:50.989
2010 , another committee member from

57:50.989 --> 57:53.129
the innovation Award I work on and I

57:53.590 --> 57:55.469
spent the day at the corporate

57:55.469 --> 57:57.691
headquarters for one of the finalists .

57:57.691 --> 57:59.802
We were obviously there to learn more

57:59.802 --> 58:02.030
about their innovation practices . All

58:02.030 --> 58:04.350
they wanted to talk about was their

58:04.350 --> 58:06.870
sustainability practices . And all day

58:06.870 --> 58:09.092
we went through this and they were just

58:09.092 --> 58:10.592
telling us all about their

58:10.592 --> 58:12.648
sustainability practices . Well , in

58:12.648 --> 58:14.648
2010 , there weren't People weren't

58:14.648 --> 58:17.870
talking about it , but that company had

58:18.050 --> 58:20.290
predicted and based on their research

58:20.290 --> 58:23.489
had predicted the impact of this trend

58:23.489 --> 58:27.290
way ahead of their competitors , and

58:27.290 --> 58:29.929
they were able to take significant

58:29.929 --> 58:33.370
advantage of having Discovered that

58:33.370 --> 58:35.929
trend . I still today , 15 years later ,

58:36.050 --> 58:37.939
they're still taking advantage of

58:37.939 --> 58:40.959
having been an early adopter in that

58:40.959 --> 58:43.010
field , and those are the kinds of

58:43.010 --> 58:45.409
trends you want to look for that could

58:45.409 --> 58:48.649
impact your market in the future . Next .

58:50.080 --> 58:53.090
Slide . OK , exit strategies . That's

58:53.090 --> 58:55.610
always , again , investors want to make

58:55.610 --> 58:57.929
money , so they , they need to know how

58:57.929 --> 59:01.850
are you going to exit . And today

59:01.850 --> 59:05.750
there's an opportunity for Startups

59:05.750 --> 59:08.110
that , that really didn't exist years

59:08.110 --> 59:10.570
ago , and that is that most major

59:10.570 --> 59:13.709
corporations today are very much

59:13.709 --> 59:17.010
focused on open innovation . Not

59:17.010 --> 59:19.250
developing everything internally , but

59:19.250 --> 59:22.649
looking externally for disruptive

59:22.649 --> 59:25.530
innovations that they might be able to

59:25.530 --> 59:28.760
collaborate with or acquire .

59:29.250 --> 59:31.370
So , this is an exit strategy .

59:31.465 --> 59:34.725
Startups that , as I said , really

59:35.344 --> 59:37.566
wasn't very prevalent in the past , but

59:37.566 --> 59:39.864
it is today . In fact , it's so

59:39.864 --> 59:42.031
prevalent that I've actually developed

59:42.031 --> 59:45.344
a whole presentation on how startups

59:45.344 --> 59:49.104
can collaborate with major corporations ,

59:49.264 --> 59:51.665
many of which have established their

59:51.665 --> 59:53.764
own venture funds , so they're

59:53.945 --> 59:57.304
investing in startups . So , but I'm

59:57.304 --> 59:59.471
not going to get into that right now .

59:59.471 --> 01:00:02.360
So next slide . All right , let's talk

01:00:02.360 --> 01:00:06.000
now . Now that we talked about what we

01:00:06.000 --> 01:00:08.479
need to pull together to present to the

01:00:08.479 --> 01:00:10.646
investors so we can do due diligence ,

01:00:10.719 --> 01:00:13.199
how do we do that ? Obviously , the

01:00:13.199 --> 01:00:16.280
internet . A chat GPT or , you know ,

01:00:16.530 --> 01:00:19.449
certainly great sources of information ,

01:00:19.729 --> 01:00:21.840
but do remember not everything you're

01:00:21.840 --> 01:00:24.090
going to find is going to be reliable .

01:00:24.169 --> 01:00:26.530
And if you're using something for an

01:00:26.530 --> 01:00:28.889
investor pitch or business plan , make

01:00:28.889 --> 01:00:32.040
sure it's a reliable source . It's also

01:00:32.040 --> 01:00:34.370
an iterative process . You're not going

01:00:34.370 --> 01:00:36.537
to sit down one day and say , Google ,

01:00:36.610 --> 01:00:38.832
tell me everything I need to know about

01:00:38.832 --> 01:00:41.054
the 3D printing market , and 30 minutes

01:00:41.054 --> 01:00:43.277
later you'll know . It now it's a place

01:00:43.277 --> 01:00:45.277
to start , but any search I've ever

01:00:45.277 --> 01:00:47.614
done like that always , I always

01:00:47.614 --> 01:00:49.814
identify other issues , other things I

01:00:49.814 --> 01:00:52.814
need to do further exploratory work on .

01:00:52.935 --> 01:00:54.715
So it's an iterative process .

01:00:55.014 --> 01:00:57.895
Syndicated studies are a great way to

01:00:57.895 --> 01:01:00.495
get an overview of a given industry or

01:01:00.495 --> 01:01:02.162
a given market . They're very

01:01:02.375 --> 01:01:05.975
comprehensive studies . The bad news is

01:01:05.975 --> 01:01:08.135
that they're expensive . Market

01:01:08.135 --> 01:01:10.135
research companies . These do these

01:01:10.135 --> 01:01:12.659
studies for corporations . They're

01:01:12.659 --> 01:01:14.800
selling them to major corporations ,

01:01:15.139 --> 01:01:18.540
but if you have access to a

01:01:18.540 --> 01:01:21.610
university library , you can often get

01:01:21.610 --> 01:01:24.419
these studies for free through the

01:01:24.419 --> 01:01:27.120
library . I've done that several times .

01:01:27.459 --> 01:01:29.681
Also , when these market research firms

01:01:29.681 --> 01:01:32.489
are advertising on the internet ,

01:01:32.780 --> 01:01:35.219
they're , you know , to entice those

01:01:35.219 --> 01:01:37.425
corporations to buy . They're sharing

01:01:37.425 --> 01:01:39.764
some of the data that's in the study ,

01:01:40.014 --> 01:01:42.425
and nothing preventing you from using

01:01:42.425 --> 01:01:45.125
that data that they're using to sell

01:01:45.304 --> 01:01:48.274
and using it in your in your

01:01:48.665 --> 01:01:51.544
exploratory work . Trade publications ,

01:01:51.665 --> 01:01:53.443
chemical and Engineering news ,

01:01:53.735 --> 01:01:55.985
Advanced manufacturing news , Institute

01:01:55.985 --> 01:01:57.929
of Food Technologists newsletter ,

01:01:58.064 --> 01:02:00.695
great place to get current information

01:02:01.705 --> 01:02:05.209
about your market . Government reports .

01:02:05.290 --> 01:02:08.229
I mentioned finding a government report

01:02:08.449 --> 01:02:10.505
when I was doing this , the research

01:02:10.505 --> 01:02:12.671
for the medical device startup , but ,

01:02:12.671 --> 01:02:15.669
you know , they're also uh Thought

01:02:15.669 --> 01:02:18.209
leader reports , there are um

01:02:18.750 --> 01:02:21.989
strategy policy documents that think

01:02:21.989 --> 01:02:24.469
tank reports that you might be able to

01:02:24.469 --> 01:02:27.899
find that would be a valuable source of

01:02:27.899 --> 01:02:30.370
information for you . Annual reports ,

01:02:30.449 --> 01:02:32.530
if you are thinking of collaborating

01:02:32.530 --> 01:02:35.409
with or being acquired by a corporation ,

01:02:35.449 --> 01:02:37.616
annual reports are a good place to get

01:02:37.616 --> 01:02:40.010
some information . Structured

01:02:40.010 --> 01:02:42.121
interviews with thought leaders , and

01:02:42.121 --> 01:02:44.010
we've already talked about this ,

01:02:44.010 --> 01:02:43.770
structured leaders with other

01:02:43.770 --> 01:02:47.070
stakeholders , but we're still talking

01:02:47.070 --> 01:02:50.689
qualitative research here . But if

01:02:50.689 --> 01:02:53.719
you ask each person you interview ,

01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:56.022
each thought leader you interview , the

01:02:56.022 --> 01:02:58.320
same questions after you've done 12 or

01:02:58.320 --> 01:03:02.179
15 , you've got a pretty good feel

01:03:02.600 --> 01:03:06.419
for the responses in that . And what I

01:03:06.719 --> 01:03:08.941
always tell startups to do is let's sit

01:03:08.941 --> 01:03:11.120
down and lay out what do we need to

01:03:11.120 --> 01:03:14.889
learn about the market . From thought

01:03:14.889 --> 01:03:17.250
leaders . The current market , if they

01:03:17.250 --> 01:03:19.417
know of any research that's going on ,

01:03:19.417 --> 01:03:21.610
what do we need to learn ? We lay out

01:03:21.610 --> 01:03:24.570
those questions in the interview guide ,

01:03:24.580 --> 01:03:26.691
and as I mentioned before , we always

01:03:26.691 --> 01:03:30.550
include a non-confidential concept for

01:03:30.550 --> 01:03:34.530
the uh of the product and , and

01:03:34.530 --> 01:03:36.419
get the response from the thought

01:03:36.419 --> 01:03:38.586
leaders to that . And so this can be ,

01:03:38.586 --> 01:03:40.899
like I say , if you do 10 and 12 this

01:03:40.899 --> 01:03:43.066
way , structured way , you're going to

01:03:43.066 --> 01:03:45.419
get good actionable information . If

01:03:45.419 --> 01:03:47.939
you ad-lib every interview , you're

01:03:47.939 --> 01:03:50.106
going to get a lot of data points that

01:03:50.106 --> 01:03:53.419
aren't very valuable to you , and I , I

01:03:53.419 --> 01:03:56.850
think that You know , one of the , the ,

01:03:56.860 --> 01:03:59.340
uh , things that , you know , you

01:03:59.340 --> 01:04:01.909
really wanna make sure you do here is ,

01:04:01.939 --> 01:04:04.250
is structure them and , and , and it

01:04:04.250 --> 01:04:07.020
doesn't prevent you from probing . If

01:04:07.020 --> 01:04:09.100
you , you know , if a thought leader

01:04:09.100 --> 01:04:11.211
says something , yeah , I wanna learn

01:04:11.211 --> 01:04:13.780
more about that . Uh , let me , you

01:04:13.780 --> 01:04:15.891
know , let me probe on that . You can

01:04:15.891 --> 01:04:17.947
certainly probe , but always go back

01:04:17.947 --> 01:04:19.891
and make sure you always ask every

01:04:19.891 --> 01:04:21.724
question that was in your , your

01:04:21.724 --> 01:04:24.280
interview guide . Um , let me Uh , I

01:04:24.280 --> 01:04:26.336
just , I didn't say this while I was

01:04:26.336 --> 01:04:28.558
talking about thought leaders , but I'm

01:04:28.558 --> 01:04:30.502
just gonna give you a really quick

01:04:30.502 --> 01:04:32.558
example of , of the value of thought

01:04:32.558 --> 01:04:35.979
leaders . Um , I was approached at a

01:04:35.979 --> 01:04:38.146
morning mentoring session , which is a

01:04:38.146 --> 01:04:40.201
program here in Cincinnati put on by

01:04:40.201 --> 01:04:42.423
the Queen City Angels and our incubator

01:04:42.423 --> 01:04:44.620
here , and one of the startups that

01:04:44.620 --> 01:04:47.100
presented uh approached me about

01:04:47.100 --> 01:04:49.679
helping them do market and customer

01:04:50.139 --> 01:04:52.250
discovery . I said , sure , glad to .

01:04:52.419 --> 01:04:54.586
First thing we're going to do is we're

01:04:54.586 --> 01:04:56.697
going to identify the thought leaders

01:04:56.697 --> 01:04:59.300
in the field , and we're going to

01:04:59.300 --> 01:05:01.540
contact them and do a structured

01:05:01.540 --> 01:05:03.939
interview with them . So we did that .

01:05:04.030 --> 01:05:06.330
I was probably on my 4th or 5th

01:05:06.330 --> 01:05:09.429
interview , and the thought leader with

01:05:09.429 --> 01:05:12.389
whom I was speaking said , Sally , you

01:05:12.389 --> 01:05:15.750
need to talk with a colleague of mine .

01:05:16.429 --> 01:05:19.510
She is seeing an increased incidence of

01:05:19.510 --> 01:05:23.110
a problem . I think this product can

01:05:23.110 --> 01:05:26.409
solve . I thought , wow , well , he

01:05:26.409 --> 01:05:29.370
made an introduction for me , and I

01:05:29.370 --> 01:05:31.370
interviewed this person . Well , it

01:05:31.370 --> 01:05:33.092
turns out this person was in a

01:05:33.092 --> 01:05:35.259
different field . This was a different

01:05:35.259 --> 01:05:37.770
target than what the startup had

01:05:37.770 --> 01:05:41.280
originally was focused on and the

01:05:41.290 --> 01:05:43.457
the thought leaders I'd already talked

01:05:43.457 --> 01:05:46.469
to . But after talking to his colleague ,

01:05:47.290 --> 01:05:50.129
I realized that we in fact probably had

01:05:50.129 --> 01:05:52.209
a better opportunity with this new

01:05:52.209 --> 01:05:55.409
target , so I followed up and did a lot

01:05:55.409 --> 01:05:57.330
of research on this new target ,

01:05:57.610 --> 01:05:59.554
identified thought leaders in that

01:05:59.554 --> 01:06:02.830
field , and they validated very quickly

01:06:03.129 --> 01:06:05.840
that this was a product that could

01:06:05.840 --> 01:06:08.330
truly make a difference in the market .

01:06:08.770 --> 01:06:11.489
So the startup pivoted . They went from

01:06:11.489 --> 01:06:14.050
the original target to this new target .

01:06:14.510 --> 01:06:16.677
And let me tell you something , before

01:06:16.677 --> 01:06:19.229
they pivoted . They didn't raise any

01:06:19.229 --> 01:06:22.219
money . They numerous angel groups ,

01:06:22.429 --> 01:06:25.750
they did not raise any money with the

01:06:25.750 --> 01:06:29.120
pivot . And the addition of thought

01:06:29.120 --> 01:06:31.600
leaders to their advisory board that

01:06:31.600 --> 01:06:34.719
brought credibility , the funds started

01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:37.959
flowing in . But the point I want to

01:06:37.959 --> 01:06:40.120
make from this is it was that unique

01:06:40.120 --> 01:06:42.342
insight from that thought leader in the

01:06:42.342 --> 01:06:45.479
original target market that got us to

01:06:45.479 --> 01:06:48.919
this new market . I don't think we ever

01:06:48.919 --> 01:06:50.919
would have gotten to this much more

01:06:50.919 --> 01:06:53.229
attractive market where they have a

01:06:53.229 --> 01:06:55.719
chance of disrupting the market had

01:06:55.719 --> 01:06:58.550
that . Thought leader not have that

01:06:58.550 --> 01:07:01.149
insight that I should be talking to his

01:07:01.149 --> 01:07:04.070
colleague . That's the value of thought

01:07:04.070 --> 01:07:06.510
leaders , why you need to talk to them .

01:07:06.830 --> 01:07:10.780
Next . Slide Now some

01:07:10.780 --> 01:07:13.860
of you may not , I don't know how you

01:07:13.860 --> 01:07:16.219
want to get into the whole quantitative

01:07:16.219 --> 01:07:18.441
research , but I just want to point out

01:07:18.441 --> 01:07:20.580
here that there are some really good

01:07:20.580 --> 01:07:23.500
and relatively inexpensive tools like

01:07:23.500 --> 01:07:26.739
SurveyMonkey and Quattrix which are

01:07:26.739 --> 01:07:29.260
easy to use and they've got great

01:07:29.260 --> 01:07:32.899
analytical capabilities , so something

01:07:32.899 --> 01:07:34.939
to think about . Association

01:07:34.939 --> 01:07:38.600
conferences , every Professional , I

01:07:38.600 --> 01:07:41.320
mean , all professional organizations ,

01:07:41.560 --> 01:07:43.800
you know , the Association of Chemical

01:07:43.800 --> 01:07:46.320
Engineers or Ele have annual

01:07:46.320 --> 01:07:49.560
conferences . These are great places to

01:07:49.560 --> 01:07:52.300
network with people in the industry .

01:07:52.600 --> 01:07:54.544
It's a great place to meet thought

01:07:54.544 --> 01:07:57.219
leaders . It's a great place to learn

01:07:57.399 --> 01:08:00.209
what research is being done , what What

01:08:00.209 --> 01:08:02.600
new , what new things are happening in

01:08:02.600 --> 01:08:05.600
an industry now , national conferences

01:08:05.600 --> 01:08:07.822
can be fairly expensive because they're

01:08:07.822 --> 01:08:10.330
in big cities , expensive hotels ,

01:08:10.409 --> 01:08:13.649
whatever , but almost all of these

01:08:13.649 --> 01:08:15.570
professional organizations have

01:08:15.570 --> 01:08:18.970
regional , state , local chapters , and

01:08:18.970 --> 01:08:22.969
these chapters have Annual meetings .

01:08:23.128 --> 01:08:25.350
They , in fact , they usually have more

01:08:25.350 --> 01:08:27.406
frequent meetings , and a lot of the

01:08:27.406 --> 01:08:29.572
benefits you would get from going to a

01:08:29.572 --> 01:08:31.684
national association conference , you

01:08:31.684 --> 01:08:33.850
can get from going to regional chapter

01:08:33.850 --> 01:08:36.930
conferences . And then social media is

01:08:36.930 --> 01:08:39.350
another tool again like the internet

01:08:39.350 --> 01:08:41.609
and all it it not everything's going to

01:08:41.609 --> 01:08:44.490
be reliable , but places like LinkedIn

01:08:44.490 --> 01:08:46.379
and all , you can get some really

01:08:46.379 --> 01:08:49.410
valuable information as you do your

01:08:49.410 --> 01:08:52.148
research . All right . Next slide , and

01:08:52.148 --> 01:08:55.458
we're gonna finish up here and um To ,

01:08:55.628 --> 01:08:58.499
to summarize what an investor or a

01:08:58.499 --> 01:09:00.898
potential collaborator or team member

01:09:00.898 --> 01:09:03.858
wants is confirmation that you really

01:09:03.858 --> 01:09:07.318
have a product and a sustainable

01:09:07.519 --> 01:09:10.298
business opportunity . They want

01:09:10.298 --> 01:09:12.738
evidence of market understanding and

01:09:12.738 --> 01:09:15.539
customer traction , and they want

01:09:15.539 --> 01:09:19.358
confidence in the team . So that's

01:09:19.539 --> 01:09:21.706
what we've tried to talk about today .

01:09:21.706 --> 01:09:24.310
How do you Build this and provide this

01:09:24.310 --> 01:09:27.029
kind of information . And then our

01:09:27.029 --> 01:09:30.750
final slide . is a

01:09:30.750 --> 01:09:32.750
definition of innovation . I'm sure

01:09:32.750 --> 01:09:34.839
you've probably all heard different

01:09:34.839 --> 01:09:37.669
definitions , but it's not the idea ,

01:09:37.799 --> 01:09:40.160
it's not the technology . It's turning

01:09:40.160 --> 01:09:43.879
the idea and or the technology into a

01:09:43.879 --> 01:09:47.399
useful and profitable product or

01:09:47.399 --> 01:09:49.839
service . That's what innovation is

01:09:49.839 --> 01:09:53.140
truly all about . Next

01:09:53.330 --> 01:09:56.970
slide . My contact information ,

01:09:57.740 --> 01:10:00.220
as I said earlier , please don't

01:10:00.220 --> 01:10:03.839
hesitate to uh to contact me . Um ,

01:10:04.339 --> 01:10:06.561
I , I think you've had some really good

01:10:06.561 --> 01:10:08.672
questions and hopefully we still have

01:10:08.672 --> 01:10:10.783
time for some more questions , but as

01:10:10.783 --> 01:10:12.939
you think more about your opportunity

01:10:12.939 --> 01:10:15.419
or think about some of the things we've

01:10:15.419 --> 01:10:17.899
talked about today , You've got my

01:10:17.899 --> 01:10:20.640
email , you've got my phone number . Uh ,

01:10:21.060 --> 01:10:24.209
please , um , reach out . Um , that's

01:10:24.209 --> 01:10:27.470
how I spend my days . Now , uh ,

01:10:27.490 --> 01:10:30.959
working with startups and so I'm glad

01:10:30.959 --> 01:10:33.729
to help if I can in any way . So let's ,

01:10:33.910 --> 01:10:36.720
Jim , any more questions ? We've got a

01:10:36.720 --> 01:10:39.459
question we've got , yeah . I got a

01:10:39.459 --> 01:10:41.626
question . Uh , Sally , uh , thank you

01:10:41.626 --> 01:10:43.792
for your presentation . I hope you can

01:10:43.792 --> 01:10:45.848
hear me . Um , but , uh , yeah , the

01:10:45.848 --> 01:10:47.848
question that I had for you , so it

01:10:47.848 --> 01:10:49.681
sounds like you have a corporate

01:10:49.681 --> 01:10:51.626
background and then you ultimately

01:10:51.626 --> 01:10:53.681
decided to start your own consulting

01:10:53.681 --> 01:10:55.792
business . Uh , my question for you ,

01:10:55.792 --> 01:10:57.903
um , how much of this process did you

01:10:57.903 --> 01:11:00.126
apply and were there some key learnings

01:11:00.126 --> 01:11:02.220
from , uh , getting in or out of a

01:11:02.220 --> 01:11:04.930
corporate job into a , uh , uh ,

01:11:04.939 --> 01:11:08.850
consulting business ? Well , yeah , I ,

01:11:09.540 --> 01:11:12.669
when I got into the innovation world

01:11:12.669 --> 01:11:14.613
and the corporate world was before

01:11:14.613 --> 01:11:17.069
companies realized the value of

01:11:17.069 --> 01:11:19.310
innovation . Today they get it .

01:11:19.399 --> 01:11:23.029
Innovation is critical to their success

01:11:23.029 --> 01:11:25.470
and even to their survival . But when I

01:11:25.470 --> 01:11:28.149
was asked to go over , I was at Dow at

01:11:28.149 --> 01:11:29.982
the time . I was at Dow had just

01:11:29.982 --> 01:11:32.109
acquired Merrill Pharmaceuticals . I

01:11:32.109 --> 01:11:34.310
was asked to go over and head up their

01:11:34.310 --> 01:11:36.879
new ventures department . I quickly

01:11:36.879 --> 01:11:38.935
realized it should be called the new

01:11:38.935 --> 01:11:41.220
adventures department because not a

01:11:41.220 --> 01:11:43.620
soul knew how do you identify new

01:11:43.620 --> 01:11:45.564
opportunities , how do you develop

01:11:45.564 --> 01:11:47.919
opportunities , so I really had to

01:11:48.140 --> 01:11:51.459
learn everything from scratch in that .

01:11:51.709 --> 01:11:54.540
But it was , so when I finally did

01:11:54.540 --> 01:11:56.651
start learning , I put together a new

01:11:56.651 --> 01:11:58.818
ventures handbook so that anybody that

01:11:58.818 --> 01:12:00.762
followed me wouldn't have the same

01:12:00.762 --> 01:12:04.020
struggles I had . But I , I would say I ,

01:12:04.220 --> 01:12:07.919
I use A lot of those same practices in

01:12:07.919 --> 01:12:10.141
my consulting business , yes , but more

01:12:10.141 --> 01:12:12.810
so with entrepreneurs . You know , so

01:12:12.810 --> 01:12:16.009
often entrepreneurs , startups think

01:12:16.009 --> 01:12:19.209
they can skip the opportunity

01:12:19.209 --> 01:12:22.450
validation stage . Oh , we've got a

01:12:22.450 --> 01:12:24.617
great idea . Everybody's going to love

01:12:24.617 --> 01:12:26.839
it . Oh , we've got a technology that's

01:12:26.839 --> 01:12:29.061
just really exciting . People are going

01:12:29.061 --> 01:12:31.172
to love it . They just tend to skip .

01:12:31.259 --> 01:12:33.740
The opportunity validation and you know ,

01:12:33.779 --> 01:12:36.700
as you can see from the CBI data and

01:12:36.700 --> 01:12:39.120
see from what investors are looking for ,

01:12:39.819 --> 01:12:42.859
you can't afford to do that . And so I

01:12:42.859 --> 01:12:45.220
learned a lot in my corporate job

01:12:45.220 --> 01:12:47.220
because I was kind of starting from

01:12:47.220 --> 01:12:49.442
scratch , didn't have a , there weren't

01:12:49.442 --> 01:12:51.331
manuals sitting on my desk when I

01:12:51.331 --> 01:12:53.498
walked in the first day telling me how

01:12:53.498 --> 01:12:55.498
to do this , so I did have to learn

01:12:55.498 --> 01:12:57.609
from scratch , but then , I've also ,

01:12:57.609 --> 01:12:59.930
as , as you saw in my introduction ,

01:13:00.020 --> 01:13:01.799
been very active in the Product

01:13:01.799 --> 01:13:03.966
Development and Management Association

01:13:03.966 --> 01:13:05.910
and with the Outstanding Corporate

01:13:05.910 --> 01:13:08.540
Innovation Award , and we really , as I

01:13:08.540 --> 01:13:10.819
mentioned , look very carefully at the

01:13:10.819 --> 01:13:13.259
practices of successful corporate

01:13:13.259 --> 01:13:17.169
innovators that I've created for PDMA

01:13:17.169 --> 01:13:19.979
a presentation called Lessons Learned .

01:13:20.299 --> 01:13:22.410
What have we learned over the years ?

01:13:22.990 --> 01:13:25.669
from successful corporate innovators .

01:13:25.899 --> 01:13:28.629
And I use those same practices with

01:13:28.629 --> 01:13:31.169
entrepreneurs . May have to modify them

01:13:31.350 --> 01:13:33.572
as the entrepreneurs don't have as much

01:13:33.572 --> 01:13:35.970
money , but we can do the same things

01:13:36.270 --> 01:13:37.839
to achieve success .

01:13:40.430 --> 01:13:41.430
You

01:13:44.959 --> 01:13:46.379
Any other questions ?

01:13:49.640 --> 01:13:51.959
Any online gym that you've , I think we

01:13:51.959 --> 01:13:53.959
went through all of them . OK , I'd

01:13:53.959 --> 01:13:56.181
just like to focus on one of the things

01:13:56.181 --> 01:13:58.403
that you said , Sally , when she talked

01:13:58.403 --> 01:14:00.459
about relentless market , market and

01:14:00.459 --> 01:14:02.570
customer focus , really understanding

01:14:02.570 --> 01:14:04.737
your customers . So for Air Force Life

01:14:04.737 --> 01:14:06.792
Cycle Management Center , understand

01:14:06.792 --> 01:14:08.903
the information that's out there . Go

01:14:08.903 --> 01:14:11.070
to the small business website . We try

01:14:11.070 --> 01:14:13.292
to put as much information out there as

01:14:13.292 --> 01:14:15.459
we can as far as contact information ,

01:14:15.459 --> 01:14:17.570
opportunities . Also , we spent a lot

01:14:17.570 --> 01:14:19.792
of time with public affairs . If you go

01:14:19.792 --> 01:14:22.580
to the AFLCMC website , you can go to

01:14:22.580 --> 01:14:25.040
the welcome . We've got the

01:14:25.089 --> 01:14:27.200
organizational chart which is updated

01:14:27.200 --> 01:14:30.209
monthly . We also have organization's

01:14:30.209 --> 01:14:32.487
information , so you can click on that .

01:14:32.487 --> 01:14:34.265
You can look over the mission ,

01:14:34.265 --> 01:14:36.970
execution , in essence information

01:14:36.970 --> 01:14:39.192
which are , which is like for example ,

01:14:39.250 --> 01:14:41.939
PO bomber . So , so what they focus on

01:14:41.939 --> 01:14:44.161
they . Focus on the bombers , the , you

01:14:44.161 --> 01:14:46.328
know , the aircrafts , the platforms ,

01:14:46.328 --> 01:14:48.439
understand the information that's out

01:14:48.439 --> 01:14:50.661
there on the websites , understand what

01:14:50.661 --> 01:14:52.661
they cover , really understand your

01:14:52.661 --> 01:14:54.550
customer and look for information

01:14:54.550 --> 01:14:56.883
that's already out there and , you know ,

01:14:56.883 --> 01:14:58.828
like Billy said before , there's a

01:14:58.828 --> 01:15:01.050
bunch of resources out there and please

01:15:01.050 --> 01:15:03.272
feel free to reach out to us . The next

01:15:03.272 --> 01:15:05.161
thing that she talked about too .

01:15:05.359 --> 01:15:07.470
Understand they're looking at teams .

01:15:07.470 --> 01:15:09.470
So if you're looking to do business

01:15:09.470 --> 01:15:11.526
with Air Force Life Cycle Management

01:15:11.526 --> 01:15:13.359
Center , some of the other DOD ,

01:15:13.799 --> 01:15:15.577
understand sometimes your first

01:15:15.577 --> 01:15:17.743
contract's going to be a subcontract .

01:15:17.743 --> 01:15:19.855
So look for the teaming partners that

01:15:19.855 --> 01:15:22.077
are out there . A lot of the other than

01:15:22.077 --> 01:15:23.966
small businesses , even the small

01:15:23.966 --> 01:15:26.132
businesses , they're looking for those

01:15:26.132 --> 01:15:28.243
small businesses that have capability

01:15:28.243 --> 01:15:31.540
and that are able to perform . OK , I

01:15:31.540 --> 01:15:33.373
know we're a little bit ahead of

01:15:33.373 --> 01:15:35.779
schedule , and I know Jeff's online now ,

01:15:35.899 --> 01:15:38.259
but we're gonna take just a 5 minute

01:15:38.259 --> 01:15:40.370
break , make sure he's up and good to

01:15:40.370 --> 01:15:43.220
go . So I've got 1:45 right now , so

01:15:43.220 --> 01:15:45.839
we'll start at 1:50 . Thank you .

01:23:24.410 --> 01:23:26.632
We've got a hot mic . Hey Jeff , can we

01:23:26.632 --> 01:23:28.743
go ahead and do just a mic check real

01:23:28.743 --> 01:23:32.060
quick ? Oh yeah , I'm so sorry . Check ,

01:23:32.100 --> 01:23:36.100
check Got you . OK . Sounds great . I

01:23:36.100 --> 01:23:38.100
appreciate it . I know you're gonna

01:23:38.100 --> 01:23:40.267
talk about penetrating and scaling the

01:23:40.267 --> 01:23:42.433
defense market . So Jeff Decker , he's

01:23:42.433 --> 01:23:44.544
a managing director of the Technology

01:23:44.544 --> 01:23:46.489
Transition for Defense Program and

01:23:46.489 --> 01:23:48.322
co-instructor of the hacking for

01:23:48.322 --> 01:23:50.544
defense course at Stanford University .

01:23:50.700 --> 01:23:53.060
Hacking for defense uses a lean startup

01:23:53.060 --> 01:23:55.220
technique to tackle complex problems

01:23:55.220 --> 01:23:57.109
critical to the government around

01:23:57.109 --> 01:23:59.164
national security , new technology .

01:23:59.540 --> 01:24:01.770
Several student student teams have gone

01:24:01.770 --> 01:24:04.169
on to form companies , winning sier

01:24:04.169 --> 01:24:07.419
sitters and gaining venture capital

01:24:07.419 --> 01:24:09.660
funding , funding , and one team even

01:24:09.660 --> 01:24:11.827
became a program of record . So it has

01:24:11.827 --> 01:24:14.580
a just a vast knowledge and has been

01:24:14.580 --> 01:24:17.379
just instrumental . I know I did a

01:24:17.379 --> 01:24:19.540
collider with you before on talking

01:24:19.540 --> 01:24:21.740
about subcontracting opportunities and

01:24:21.740 --> 01:24:23.899
prime . So looking forward to hearing

01:24:23.899 --> 01:24:26.066
you speak again , Jeff . I'll go ahead

01:24:26.066 --> 01:24:28.177
and kick it over to you . Thank you .

01:24:28.560 --> 01:24:30.671
Yeah , thank you . I appreciate the ,

01:24:30.671 --> 01:24:32.838
the introduction , Luke . Jim , thanks

01:24:32.838 --> 01:24:35.149
for , for running hard on this . I

01:24:35.149 --> 01:24:37.439
appreciate you being able to , to , to

01:24:37.439 --> 01:24:39.495
set this all up and thanks to all of

01:24:39.495 --> 01:24:42.470
you for joining . Um . Really excited

01:24:42.470 --> 01:24:44.910
to be here and I , I realize it's a

01:24:44.910 --> 01:24:48.479
pretty heterogeneous group . And with

01:24:48.479 --> 01:24:50.720
some , some folks being a little bit

01:24:50.720 --> 01:24:52.680
further along in the process than

01:24:52.680 --> 01:24:55.720
others , um , and so this is just meant

01:24:55.720 --> 01:24:58.000
to be , you know , my slides are really

01:24:58.000 --> 01:25:00.359
just meant to be , um , you know , high

01:25:00.359 --> 01:25:02.470
level conversation and the way I like

01:25:02.470 --> 01:25:04.470
to run any lecture that I deliver ,

01:25:04.720 --> 01:25:08.069
especially online , um , is if you

01:25:08.069 --> 01:25:10.180
wanna double click on anything that I

01:25:10.180 --> 01:25:12.236
say or if you have a question on any

01:25:12.236 --> 01:25:15.029
slide . Please just raise your hand . I ,

01:25:15.109 --> 01:25:17.450
I think I can see the majority of you

01:25:17.450 --> 01:25:20.029
on the screen , um , and if you're off

01:25:20.029 --> 01:25:22.390
screen , maybe just yell out . I

01:25:22.390 --> 01:25:24.612
appreciate being interrupted , um , and

01:25:24.612 --> 01:25:26.668
then we can , we can dig in a little

01:25:26.668 --> 01:25:29.870
bit more deeply . And the only thing I ,

01:25:29.939 --> 01:25:32.106
I , I'm , I'm also going to leave some

01:25:32.106 --> 01:25:34.217
time at the end for , for questions .

01:25:34.217 --> 01:25:37.359
So we'll have about 2020 minutes to do

01:25:38.180 --> 01:25:40.236
questions and discussion if you have

01:25:40.236 --> 01:25:42.810
them . The only thing I ask is that

01:25:42.810 --> 01:25:45.910
when you chime in . Either interrupting

01:25:45.910 --> 01:25:49.310
me during uh a slide or when you ask a

01:25:49.310 --> 01:25:51.477
question if you just say your name and

01:25:51.477 --> 01:25:54.430
and maybe just tell me um whether your

01:25:54.430 --> 01:25:56.549
software hardware and and who your

01:25:56.549 --> 01:25:58.771
customer is it'll really help vector me

01:25:58.771 --> 01:26:02.410
in on on who I'm speaking with and what

01:26:02.410 --> 01:26:04.521
information would be most valuable to

01:26:04.521 --> 01:26:07.339
you . But as , as Luke said , I've been

01:26:07.339 --> 01:26:10.060
at Stanford for a while . Um , I

01:26:10.060 --> 01:26:11.740
specialize in transitioning

01:26:11.740 --> 01:26:14.020
technologies from academic lab to

01:26:14.020 --> 01:26:17.020
defense capability . Oftentimes , as ,

01:26:17.140 --> 01:26:19.779
as you might realize , go , we , we go

01:26:19.779 --> 01:26:21.946
through the commercial market and so ,

01:26:22.350 --> 01:26:24.700
Stanford Lab commercial market defense

01:26:24.700 --> 01:26:27.819
capability or Stanford Lab straight to

01:26:27.819 --> 01:26:30.600
defense capability . I also work with a

01:26:30.600 --> 01:26:33.279
bunch of different startups , um , and

01:26:33.279 --> 01:26:35.501
small businesses , you know , that have

01:26:35.501 --> 01:26:38.319
come out of Y Y Combinator , etc . and

01:26:38.319 --> 01:26:41.209
so I think , you know . Again , this is

01:26:41.209 --> 01:26:43.810
kind of a high level , um , segueing

01:26:43.810 --> 01:26:47.049
from Sally's discussion into what I

01:26:47.049 --> 01:26:49.290
expect will be a more interesting and ,

01:26:49.359 --> 01:26:51.729
and hopefully rich environment for you

01:26:51.729 --> 01:26:53.810
to ask questions . That's a really

01:26:53.810 --> 01:26:55.921
long-winded way of saying this , this

01:26:56.049 --> 01:26:58.105
presentation I'm about to deliver is

01:26:58.129 --> 01:27:00.529
really only as valuable as , as your

01:27:00.529 --> 01:27:02.729
willingness to engage with me . Um ,

01:27:03.049 --> 01:27:05.529
and so I'll . In the spirit of of

01:27:05.529 --> 01:27:08.660
picking up where Sally left off , I

01:27:08.660 --> 01:27:10.716
wanna just talk a little bit about .

01:27:11.109 --> 01:27:14.049
Customer discoveries slide please . So

01:27:14.049 --> 01:27:16.160
I teach with this guy , maybe some of

01:27:16.160 --> 01:27:18.160
you have heard from him , his , his

01:27:18.160 --> 01:27:19.938
name is Steve Blank , and , and

01:27:19.938 --> 01:27:23.029
basically his whole shtick is , he's

01:27:23.029 --> 01:27:26.220
done 8 startups , as he'll tell you , 3

01:27:26.220 --> 01:27:30.109
of them cratered . Two of them were

01:27:30.109 --> 01:27:33.229
extremely successful , and then 3 of

01:27:33.229 --> 01:27:36.669
them were meh , and when he retired ,

01:27:36.750 --> 01:27:39.910
he , he realized that he didn't really

01:27:39.910 --> 01:27:42.243
know why some succeeded and some failed .

01:27:42.609 --> 01:27:44.720
And what he ended up putting together

01:27:44.720 --> 01:27:47.209
was , he realized that of those that

01:27:47.209 --> 01:27:50.520
succeeded . He was constantly engaging

01:27:50.520 --> 01:27:53.419
with his customers . During product

01:27:53.419 --> 01:27:55.030
development , during product

01:27:55.030 --> 01:27:57.252
engineering , during product ideation .

01:27:58.660 --> 01:28:00.720
In the instances where he failed .

01:28:03.200 --> 01:28:05.729
They had , they bore the hallmark of he

01:28:05.729 --> 01:28:07.896
went away with his company in a dark ,

01:28:07.896 --> 01:28:10.600
you know , proverbial dark room , built

01:28:10.600 --> 01:28:12.600
what he thought the customers would

01:28:12.600 --> 01:28:14.656
want , and then delivered it to them

01:28:14.656 --> 01:28:16.822
and only received their feedback after

01:28:17.680 --> 01:28:21.660
air quotes , finishing the product . So

01:28:21.660 --> 01:28:23.660
I just wanna call attention to that

01:28:23.660 --> 01:28:25.827
really quickly . And so the the extent

01:28:25.827 --> 01:28:27.827
that you and your work with the Air

01:28:27.827 --> 01:28:31.339
Force , the wider DOD , the federal

01:28:31.339 --> 01:28:33.672
sector , and even the commercial sector ,

01:28:33.672 --> 01:28:35.819
the sooner you can get in front of

01:28:35.819 --> 01:28:39.200
people . And interview them and have

01:28:39.200 --> 01:28:41.144
conversations with them about your

01:28:41.144 --> 01:28:43.410
ideas about how you think you can add

01:28:43.410 --> 01:28:47.390
value to airmen . The more likely you

01:28:47.390 --> 01:28:49.950
are to succeed , because they will tell

01:28:49.950 --> 01:28:52.470
you what metrics matter , why they

01:28:52.470 --> 01:28:55.930
matter , and to whom they matter . As

01:28:55.930 --> 01:28:58.529
opposed to you going to your garage or

01:28:58.529 --> 01:29:01.089
your office building or manufacturing

01:29:01.089 --> 01:29:03.529
facility and designing something that

01:29:03.529 --> 01:29:05.529
you think the Air Force wants , and

01:29:05.529 --> 01:29:07.751
ultimately after you've dumped a ton of

01:29:07.751 --> 01:29:10.180
time and money into . You , you realize

01:29:10.180 --> 01:29:12.779
that maybe it's , it's not what , what

01:29:12.779 --> 01:29:15.020
they wanted . And so the bumper sticker

01:29:15.020 --> 01:29:17.799
here is waste . We're trying to cut

01:29:17.799 --> 01:29:19.966
down on waste and being more efficient

01:29:19.966 --> 01:29:22.132
slide please . And if you hadn't heard

01:29:22.132 --> 01:29:24.355
of Steve Blank , you've certainly heard

01:29:24.355 --> 01:29:26.577
of this guy , um , you know , the , the

01:29:26.577 --> 01:29:29.419
boxer philosopher , Mike Tyson , um ,

01:29:30.640 --> 01:29:34.350
everybody can do a business plan . In

01:29:34.350 --> 01:29:36.589
terms of sitting down at your desk and

01:29:36.589 --> 01:29:38.790
then you know executing it and and

01:29:38.790 --> 01:29:40.790
seeing how it meets reality are are

01:29:40.790 --> 01:29:42.901
very two very , very different things

01:29:43.270 --> 01:29:46.310
slide please and so ultimately what

01:29:46.589 --> 01:29:49.709
looks like the the the the defense

01:29:49.709 --> 01:29:52.520
market . Product

01:29:53.169 --> 01:29:56.120
penetrating the the sector scaling the

01:29:56.120 --> 01:29:59.160
sector , um , it's , it looks like a

01:29:59.160 --> 01:30:02.759
drunken walk or a roller coaster . I've

01:30:02.759 --> 01:30:04.648
got some feedback is are you guys

01:30:04.648 --> 01:30:08.169
hearing it on your end ? Yes , sir .

01:30:08.990 --> 01:30:12.089
OK , all right . And basically what

01:30:12.089 --> 01:30:14.145
this looks like is company gets this

01:30:14.145 --> 01:30:17.410
SBIR or STTR sier or sitter , or they

01:30:17.410 --> 01:30:19.577
get some prototyping contract they win

01:30:19.577 --> 01:30:22.069
a pitch day competition . Whatever it

01:30:22.069 --> 01:30:25.029
is , not real money , not real customer ,

01:30:25.200 --> 01:30:27.144
people playing with other people's

01:30:27.144 --> 01:30:30.120
money , kind of deals , and so there's

01:30:30.120 --> 01:30:32.600
this elite sense of elation , like , oh

01:30:32.600 --> 01:30:34.767
wow , we've , we've , we've penetrated

01:30:34.767 --> 01:30:36.711
the defense market , we've got our

01:30:36.711 --> 01:30:39.319
first check . Great . Um , and then

01:30:39.319 --> 01:30:41.430
they quickly realized when they start

01:30:41.430 --> 01:30:43.263
doing discovery and having these

01:30:43.263 --> 01:30:46.379
conversations that like , oh . I just

01:30:46.390 --> 01:30:48.740
realized that my teapot isn't my

01:30:48.740 --> 01:30:52.189
customer . Who is my customer ? And so

01:30:52.189 --> 01:30:55.370
I fall into this . This , this valley

01:30:55.370 --> 01:30:58.359
of informed pessimism and realizing the

01:30:58.359 --> 01:30:59.970
complexity of , you know , a

01:30:59.970 --> 01:31:02.600
multi-million dollar or multi-million

01:31:02.600 --> 01:31:05.959
person bureaucracy , and I've got to

01:31:05.959 --> 01:31:08.200
figure out who the hell I'm building

01:31:08.200 --> 01:31:11.350
something for . And then over the

01:31:11.350 --> 01:31:14.970
series of of customer engagements ,

01:31:15.470 --> 01:31:17.692
lots of meetings , lots of interviews ,

01:31:17.692 --> 01:31:19.692
there's just this this higher trend

01:31:19.692 --> 01:31:21.859
upward and I'll I'll talk a little bit

01:31:21.859 --> 01:31:24.026
about what that looks like in practice

01:31:24.026 --> 01:31:26.192
here in a moment , but the bottom line

01:31:26.192 --> 01:31:28.248
is . You don't have real money right

01:31:28.248 --> 01:31:30.414
now . There are many of you don't have

01:31:30.414 --> 01:31:32.303
real money with sibbers because .

01:31:32.303 --> 01:31:35.569
Sivers is , is not necessarily um

01:31:35.850 --> 01:31:39.410
attached to uh a real customer um maybe

01:31:39.410 --> 01:31:41.521
for a small percentage of you that it

01:31:41.521 --> 01:31:43.799
might be , you know , TBD on , on your ,

01:31:43.799 --> 01:31:45.966
your conversations with them and , and

01:31:45.966 --> 01:31:47.743
if what you're building is , is

01:31:47.743 --> 01:31:49.966
something that they'll they'll actually

01:31:49.966 --> 01:31:51.966
spend their own money and their own

01:31:51.966 --> 01:31:53.910
budget purchasing . Slide please .

01:31:55.649 --> 01:31:58.109
And what this looks like is essentially

01:31:58.410 --> 01:32:00.521
you've got this key on the right hand

01:32:00.521 --> 01:32:03.790
side of your slide which is a a product

01:32:04.089 --> 01:32:07.899
a service . High high level

01:32:07.899 --> 01:32:09.979
solution and you're trying to figure

01:32:09.979 --> 01:32:13.009
out who in the government , who in the

01:32:13.009 --> 01:32:16.750
Air Force . This unlocks value for

01:32:17.290 --> 01:32:20.850
so solution . Who does it unlock

01:32:20.850 --> 01:32:23.450
value for and so you've got your , your

01:32:23.450 --> 01:32:25.450
letters of intent or your letters ,

01:32:25.520 --> 01:32:28.120
what is , um , letters of support , um ,

01:32:28.129 --> 01:32:30.129
from your customer from a potential

01:32:30.129 --> 01:32:33.080
buyer . They're generally saying they

01:32:33.080 --> 01:32:35.379
see value in it , but until you

01:32:35.379 --> 01:32:38.680
actually get a contract . Concluded

01:32:39.020 --> 01:32:41.720
and receive revenue in the bank .

01:32:42.819 --> 01:32:46.049
From a customer you're not you're not

01:32:46.049 --> 01:32:48.910
truly unlocking . You're not placing

01:32:48.910 --> 01:32:51.132
your key in the lock and and being able

01:32:51.132 --> 01:32:54.149
to turn it . And so this is a fairly

01:32:54.149 --> 01:32:57.549
simple process . Your solution , you

01:32:57.549 --> 01:33:00.350
gotta unlock the the DOD , but in

01:33:00.350 --> 01:33:03.959
reality , slide please . The way it

01:33:03.959 --> 01:33:06.790
looks in the the DOD is you don't need

01:33:06.790 --> 01:33:10.379
to just unlock one . One

01:33:10.379 --> 01:33:12.435
person and add value to one person ,

01:33:12.620 --> 01:33:15.000
you need to unlock value for multiple

01:33:15.000 --> 01:33:17.839
people . If you were to approach me on

01:33:17.839 --> 01:33:20.006
the sidewalk and you were to , to hand

01:33:20.006 --> 01:33:22.172
me your product and say , hey , Jeff ,

01:33:22.172 --> 01:33:24.879
this is , this is what I've built , um ,

01:33:25.399 --> 01:33:27.566
and I , I look at it and , and maybe I

01:33:27.566 --> 01:33:29.959
test it , and I say , you know what ? I

01:33:29.959 --> 01:33:33.160
like this . I reach into my pocket , I

01:33:33.160 --> 01:33:35.319
hand you some money , and you let me

01:33:35.319 --> 01:33:39.160
keep your , your product , so . I

01:33:39.160 --> 01:33:42.819
am The person that has money in my

01:33:42.819 --> 01:33:45.049
pocket , I'm the person that decides

01:33:45.049 --> 01:33:47.271
whether I'm going to pull the money out

01:33:47.271 --> 01:33:49.216
of my pocket , and usually I'm the

01:33:49.216 --> 01:33:51.271
person that will ultimately use your

01:33:51.271 --> 01:33:53.250
product . Now , in the Defense

01:33:53.250 --> 01:33:55.472
Department , as many of you have , have

01:33:55.472 --> 01:33:57.639
already come to realize , and , and in

01:33:57.639 --> 01:34:00.029
the Air Force as well , is these people

01:34:00.600 --> 01:34:04.009
reside , uh , these 3 people are , are

01:34:04.009 --> 01:34:06.450
very distinct . These 3 archetypes are

01:34:06.450 --> 01:34:08.450
very distinct , and maybe there are

01:34:08.450 --> 01:34:10.617
more decision makers than , than one ,

01:34:10.617 --> 01:34:12.506
and maybe there are a couple more

01:34:12.506 --> 01:34:14.728
buyers . But the bottom line is , there

01:34:14.728 --> 01:34:17.870
are 3 different archetypes . In

01:34:17.870 --> 01:34:21.540
addition , They tend to

01:34:21.540 --> 01:34:23.379
not know about one another .

01:34:25.479 --> 01:34:27.750
And they're geographically disparate .

01:34:28.129 --> 01:34:30.410
And so , at Wright Pat , there might be

01:34:30.410 --> 01:34:33.080
a buyer , the user might be at Anderson

01:34:33.080 --> 01:34:36.729
Air Force Base in Guam , and the

01:34:36.729 --> 01:34:39.770
decision maker could be in Indoaycom in

01:34:39.770 --> 01:34:43.370
Hawaii or or somewhere else . They

01:34:43.370 --> 01:34:45.537
don't , they , they typically won't be

01:34:45.537 --> 01:34:47.537
able to tell you , tell you , hey ,

01:34:47.569 --> 01:34:49.879
connect with Joe who will connect you

01:34:49.879 --> 01:34:53.850
to uh Susie to , to make the sale and

01:34:53.850 --> 01:34:56.072
so this is why customer discovery is so

01:34:56.072 --> 01:34:57.850
important because it's not just

01:34:57.970 --> 01:35:01.439
figuring out . Like , who wants what ?

01:35:02.399 --> 01:35:05.600
It's very much figuring out who is it ,

01:35:05.759 --> 01:35:08.240
who's who even in the zoo , so that you

01:35:08.240 --> 01:35:10.799
can begin to navigate it . And I'll

01:35:10.799 --> 01:35:13.021
talk a little bit more about that in in

01:35:13.021 --> 01:35:15.132
just a minute , slide please . And so

01:35:15.132 --> 01:35:17.188
effectively , what you're , you're ,

01:35:17.220 --> 01:35:18.879
you're just facing multiple

01:35:18.879 --> 01:35:21.240
perspectives . So some of you have

01:35:21.240 --> 01:35:23.073
likely heard of the , the Indian

01:35:23.073 --> 01:35:25.299
parable of the , the three blind men ,

01:35:25.959 --> 01:35:28.500
um , in the walking through a jungle ,

01:35:29.279 --> 01:35:31.223
they encounter an elephant for the

01:35:31.223 --> 01:35:34.040
first time . One guy puts his hand on

01:35:34.040 --> 01:35:36.096
the sides of the elephant and says ,

01:35:36.096 --> 01:35:38.207
hey , it's a wall . Another guy grabs

01:35:38.207 --> 01:35:40.373
the , the , the trunk and says , hey ,

01:35:40.373 --> 01:35:42.318
it's a rope , and then another one

01:35:42.318 --> 01:35:44.540
maybe wraps his , his arms around the ,

01:35:44.540 --> 01:35:46.707
the a leg and says , wow , I , I found

01:35:46.707 --> 01:35:50.229
a tree . And so the message here is is

01:35:50.229 --> 01:35:52.340
simple , and here's how it relates to

01:35:52.340 --> 01:35:56.049
your . Your personal customer discovery .

01:35:57.029 --> 01:35:59.870
Is that every single perspective you

01:35:59.870 --> 01:36:02.669
encounter is correct in their own way .

01:36:04.540 --> 01:36:07.060
It's up to you to speak to enough

01:36:07.060 --> 01:36:09.979
people to understand what the decision

01:36:09.979 --> 01:36:12.819
maker thinks is the problem .

01:36:14.080 --> 01:36:17.979
Thinks What of the the value that

01:36:17.979 --> 01:36:21.819
they need to solve the problem . And

01:36:21.819 --> 01:36:25.299
then thirdly , and not , not

01:36:25.299 --> 01:36:28.419
initially , thirdly , how your solution

01:36:28.419 --> 01:36:32.220
can provide that value to unlock . The

01:36:32.390 --> 01:36:35.910
mission achievement factor that matters

01:36:35.910 --> 01:36:39.870
to them . And

01:36:39.870 --> 01:36:42.549
this can't be done with just 1 or 2

01:36:42.549 --> 01:36:45.240
interviews . We'll say , hey , um ,

01:36:45.339 --> 01:36:47.339
I've got a product . I think the an

01:36:47.339 --> 01:36:51.180
F-35 pilot is my is my customer or

01:36:51.180 --> 01:36:53.459
squadron or wing commander is my

01:36:53.459 --> 01:36:55.640
customer . If you talked to one

01:36:55.640 --> 01:36:57.362
squadron commander or one wing

01:36:57.362 --> 01:37:00.729
commander or one pilot . You just have

01:37:00.729 --> 01:37:02.629
that single person's opinion .

01:37:05.140 --> 01:37:07.259
You , you can't generalize to all the

01:37:07.259 --> 01:37:09.830
entire population . And so you don't

01:37:09.830 --> 01:37:11.941
need to have statistical significance

01:37:11.941 --> 01:37:15.180
as far as I need to do , um , you know ,

01:37:15.259 --> 01:37:17.426
a certain percentage of the population

01:37:17.426 --> 01:37:19.537
to , to get a , a thumbs up or thumbs

01:37:19.537 --> 01:37:21.537
down , but it certainly needs to be

01:37:21.537 --> 01:37:23.537
more than one , and I would suggest

01:37:23.537 --> 01:37:26.750
that it needs to be roughly 10 to 15 .

01:37:27.709 --> 01:37:30.229
Specific type of person , so specific

01:37:30.229 --> 01:37:33.149
job title , in order for you to , to

01:37:33.149 --> 01:37:36.310
validate truly what their problem is ,

01:37:36.629 --> 01:37:38.950
what the value they need to surmount

01:37:38.950 --> 01:37:41.529
that problem , and then ultimately .

01:37:42.319 --> 01:37:44.500
Where they see value in your product .

01:37:47.200 --> 01:37:49.359
I'll pause there for a minute . Any ,

01:37:49.370 --> 01:37:53.049
any questions on any of this from ? In

01:37:53.049 --> 01:37:54.049
the audience ?

01:37:57.549 --> 01:37:59.589
Yeah , I'll ask , I'll ask a quick

01:37:59.589 --> 01:38:01.811
question . This is Ryan Chapin . um , I

01:38:01.811 --> 01:38:04.819
uh uh own a consulting company but have

01:38:04.819 --> 01:38:07.169
spent significant time in the aerospace

01:38:07.169 --> 01:38:10.229
industry . Um , so , in working with

01:38:10.229 --> 01:38:12.819
the , uh , digital transformation

01:38:12.819 --> 01:38:14.930
Office , this has been kind of one of

01:38:14.930 --> 01:38:17.041
the key questions I've been trying to

01:38:17.041 --> 01:38:19.041
ask them . I'd love your opinion on

01:38:19.041 --> 01:38:21.263
this , of , you know , yeah , how do we

01:38:21.263 --> 01:38:23.430
summarize the key problems that , that

01:38:23.430 --> 01:38:25.652
the Air Force , for instance , is going

01:38:25.652 --> 01:38:27.919
after . And so . You know , taking that

01:38:27.919 --> 01:38:30.200
as an example , how would you approach

01:38:30.200 --> 01:38:32.959
that with someone like the digital

01:38:32.959 --> 01:38:35.600
transformation office to kind of get ,

01:38:35.959 --> 01:38:38.390
get clarity around what are the key

01:38:38.390 --> 01:38:40.723
challenges that are trying to be solved .

01:38:41.740 --> 01:38:43.907
Yeah , that's a great question . Thank

01:38:43.907 --> 01:38:46.073
you , Ryan . And , and so this is from

01:38:46.073 --> 01:38:48.240
the government perspective , correct ?

01:38:48.240 --> 01:38:50.680
Yeah , yep , yeah . You know , one of

01:38:50.680 --> 01:38:53.319
the things that I'm constantly thinking

01:38:53.319 --> 01:38:56.120
about is , and just bear with me for

01:38:56.129 --> 01:38:58.296
for 30 seconds and I'll circle back to

01:38:58.296 --> 01:39:01.069
you . What's what's really interesting

01:39:01.069 --> 01:39:04.609
about . Venture capital .

01:39:06.220 --> 01:39:06.979
Is

01:39:10.330 --> 01:39:13.009
That everybody has a really good

01:39:13.009 --> 01:39:15.779
understanding that . The seed round

01:39:15.779 --> 01:39:17.946
goes to an A round , which goes to a B

01:39:17.946 --> 01:39:20.629
round on and on and on . And so , so

01:39:20.629 --> 01:39:22.796
not only is that sequential and linear

01:39:22.796 --> 01:39:25.799
and and well understood and Broadly

01:39:25.799 --> 01:39:29.799
communicated . Every

01:39:29.799 --> 01:39:32.000
single company and every single VC

01:39:32.000 --> 01:39:35.120
knows basically who plays in the seed

01:39:35.120 --> 01:39:37.287
round , who plays in the B round , who

01:39:37.287 --> 01:39:39.398
plays in all these different rounds ,

01:39:39.959 --> 01:39:42.279
and so it's , it's easier to navigate .

01:39:43.370 --> 01:39:45.648
And now directly to your your question ,

01:39:45.648 --> 01:39:47.970
Ryan , and , and it is a great one . I

01:39:47.970 --> 01:39:51.879
think that The the magic of VC is is

01:39:51.879 --> 01:39:54.819
more around the process . And less

01:39:54.819 --> 01:39:57.620
around the money , like the , the money

01:39:57.620 --> 01:39:59.819
isn't the magic , how the money moves

01:39:59.819 --> 01:40:03.419
and the transparency , um , and the

01:40:03.419 --> 01:40:05.586
network surrounding that money is , is

01:40:05.586 --> 01:40:07.697
where the magic is . And so as a , an

01:40:07.697 --> 01:40:09.863
army guy and somebody who spends a lot

01:40:09.863 --> 01:40:12.240
of time reading probably too many

01:40:12.540 --> 01:40:14.830
guidance documents from , from the DOD

01:40:14.830 --> 01:40:17.108
like many of you in the , the audience ,

01:40:17.540 --> 01:40:19.651
there's always this , this disconnect

01:40:19.651 --> 01:40:22.979
between Strategic guidance ,

01:40:23.930 --> 01:40:26.189
operational guidance . And then

01:40:26.189 --> 01:40:30.100
tactical execution . And imagine

01:40:30.100 --> 01:40:32.140
a world in which , of course , the

01:40:32.140 --> 01:40:34.419
president comes out with his national

01:40:34.419 --> 01:40:37.399
security strategy and the SEC then um

01:40:37.979 --> 01:40:39.812
responds with a national defense

01:40:39.812 --> 01:40:42.146
strategy and all the way down the chain .

01:40:43.049 --> 01:40:46.020
That's , that's super useful to begin

01:40:46.020 --> 01:40:49.600
bucketing ideas and directives . It's

01:40:49.600 --> 01:40:52.839
really difficult , I would submit to

01:40:52.839 --> 01:40:55.959
you is it's , it's really difficult to

01:40:55.959 --> 01:40:58.720
navigate from a topical perspective and

01:40:58.720 --> 01:41:00.839
so , hey , I care about vehicle

01:41:00.839 --> 01:41:02.561
maintenance whether I'm in the

01:41:02.561 --> 01:41:04.672
government or I'm a small business or

01:41:04.672 --> 01:41:07.709
I'm a scale up . And so who plays in ,

01:41:07.890 --> 01:41:11.200
who plays in that space ? And so one of

01:41:11.200 --> 01:41:13.200
the things that I might suggest for

01:41:13.200 --> 01:41:15.367
digital transformation is like what is

01:41:15.367 --> 01:41:17.478
the digital transformation world look

01:41:17.478 --> 01:41:19.729
like ? You know we've got cyber , we've

01:41:19.729 --> 01:41:22.770
got quantum , we've got autonomy ,

01:41:23.049 --> 01:41:25.890
computer vision , AIML like we could

01:41:25.890 --> 01:41:28.729
just list a ton out but really having a

01:41:28.729 --> 01:41:31.990
strong idea of which . Which

01:41:33.450 --> 01:41:37.089
Organizations play in those subspaces .

01:41:38.350 --> 01:41:40.517
It would be super helpful not only for

01:41:40.517 --> 01:41:42.739
strategic decision makers to understand

01:41:42.739 --> 01:41:44.709
how , how and if their guidance is

01:41:44.709 --> 01:41:47.859
being executed . And helpful for the

01:41:47.859 --> 01:41:50.459
tactical people on the ground to

01:41:50.459 --> 01:41:53.060
understand how , you know , put their

01:41:53.060 --> 01:41:55.227
one grain of sand that they put on top

01:41:55.227 --> 01:41:57.540
of the pile , you know , accumulates

01:41:57.540 --> 01:42:00.100
into something meaningful on a national

01:42:00.100 --> 01:42:02.419
security level , but ultimately for the

01:42:02.419 --> 01:42:04.530
people in this room , like , how does

01:42:04.530 --> 01:42:06.863
all this fit together and where might I ,

01:42:06.863 --> 01:42:09.160
me and my product play a part . I don't

01:42:09.160 --> 01:42:11.160
know , hopefully that that somewhat

01:42:11.160 --> 01:42:13.270
touched on your question . Yeah ,

01:42:13.490 --> 01:42:15.212
definitely helps . Thank you .

01:42:19.169 --> 01:42:22.970
OK . Um , if any other questions in the

01:42:22.970 --> 01:42:25.330
room or online ?

01:42:28.049 --> 01:42:30.890
OK , slide for this . Oh , so sorry ,

01:42:30.939 --> 01:42:33.350
go ahead . Yeah , there , Jeff , I

01:42:33.350 --> 01:42:35.461
think there are some questions on the

01:42:35.461 --> 01:42:37.794
Q&A there . Uh , I can check real quick .

01:42:39.540 --> 01:42:41.373
Unless you want to read them out

01:42:41.373 --> 01:42:44.089
yourself . I

01:42:45.169 --> 01:42:47.500
Uh , yes , I see the Q&A now , um .

01:42:49.439 --> 01:42:51.770
Would you say problem definition on

01:42:51.770 --> 01:42:55.640
OTAs take . So , uh , does everybody

01:42:55.640 --> 01:42:57.640
have a screen in front of them , or

01:42:57.640 --> 01:42:59.899
should I read it out ? Read it out

01:42:59.899 --> 01:43:02.121
please , because I'm all of a sudden my

01:43:02.121 --> 01:43:04.520
Q&A just disappeared again , so sorry .

01:43:05.379 --> 01:43:08.700
No , no problem , um , actually the

01:43:08.700 --> 01:43:11.700
person that submitted the question at

01:43:11.700 --> 01:43:15.259
11:12 . Would 11:12

01:43:15.259 --> 01:43:18.220
Pacific 2:12 Eastern , would you mind

01:43:18.220 --> 01:43:20.387
unmuting and just posing your question

01:43:20.387 --> 01:43:22.729
for the group ? Uh , I can't do that .

01:43:23.020 --> 01:43:26.169
Oh , OK . All right , yeah . All right ,

01:43:26.330 --> 01:43:30.089
so what would you say problem

01:43:30.089 --> 01:43:33.089
definition on OTAs takes into account

01:43:33.089 --> 01:43:35.450
more government perspectives , so you

01:43:35.450 --> 01:43:37.810
get closer to the whole elephant

01:43:37.810 --> 01:43:40.009
compared to the typical far-based

01:43:40.450 --> 01:43:42.890
problem definition , which seems to

01:43:42.890 --> 01:43:46.049
usually be solution seeking rather than

01:43:46.049 --> 01:43:49.040
problem defining . Excellent question .

01:43:49.160 --> 01:43:52.229
I , I , I love it . So for those of you

01:43:52.229 --> 01:43:55.750
in the room , um , and the , the person

01:43:55.750 --> 01:43:58.549
that asked the question . If , if I'm

01:43:58.549 --> 01:44:01.089
doing this injustice , please just , uh ,

01:44:01.109 --> 01:44:03.331
add , add some feedback in the , in the

01:44:03.331 --> 01:44:05.589
chat , but basically OTAs , other

01:44:05.589 --> 01:44:07.811
transaction authorities , they're non ,

01:44:07.950 --> 01:44:11.149
um , federal acquisition they , you

01:44:11.149 --> 01:44:14.250
know . Non-standard ways of , of

01:44:14.250 --> 01:44:17.350
contracting . Is that fair , Luke ? Yes .

01:44:18.919 --> 01:44:22.850
And , and typically OTAs , uh , at

01:44:22.850 --> 01:44:24.906
least through organizations like the

01:44:24.906 --> 01:44:27.229
Defense Innovation Unit . They're

01:44:27.229 --> 01:44:30.810
awarded um based off of

01:44:30.810 --> 01:44:33.569
uh . What , what's the acronym ? Uh ,

01:44:33.649 --> 01:44:37.370
it's not SCO , um . So , oh ,

01:44:38.009 --> 01:44:40.176
what , what's the , the acronym Luke ,

01:44:40.410 --> 01:44:43.830
uh , it's , it's not OSC or uh . I've

01:44:43.830 --> 01:44:45.997
got all these acronyms swimming around

01:44:45.997 --> 01:44:48.470
in my mind , um . What the commercial

01:44:48.470 --> 01:44:51.649
solutions opening or CSO er commercial

01:44:52.040 --> 01:44:54.709
CSO commercial solutions opening um

01:44:54.709 --> 01:44:57.229
where they they basically say hey this

01:44:57.229 --> 01:45:00.390
is our broader problem might you have a

01:45:00.390 --> 01:45:02.334
solution that fits in this broader

01:45:02.334 --> 01:45:05.680
problem and and respond . Versus

01:45:05.779 --> 01:45:08.459
traditional farbase BAA um

01:45:08.459 --> 01:45:10.600
solicitations where it's like , hey ,

01:45:10.819 --> 01:45:12.875
these are the requirements we need a

01:45:12.875 --> 01:45:15.620
widget that is this big and and this

01:45:15.620 --> 01:45:17.842
thick and it performs this way and it's

01:45:17.842 --> 01:45:19.898
made of these components very , very

01:45:19.898 --> 01:45:23.060
specific . Um , And so to , to answer

01:45:23.060 --> 01:45:26.609
your question directly . I think

01:45:28.810 --> 01:45:31.930
I think the elephant analogy applies to

01:45:31.930 --> 01:45:34.689
both , so from the perspective of a

01:45:34.689 --> 01:45:36.729
company trying to sell to a very

01:45:36.729 --> 01:45:39.549
requirements driven and specified

01:45:39.970 --> 01:45:42.290
announcement , you don't have any

01:45:42.290 --> 01:45:45.890
wiggle room with the commercial

01:45:45.890 --> 01:45:49.729
service , um . Offering you

01:45:49.729 --> 01:45:51.896
have more wiggle room , but the bottom

01:45:51.896 --> 01:45:53.785
line is you still need to do this

01:45:53.785 --> 01:45:56.007
customer discovery because the elephant

01:45:56.007 --> 01:45:58.370
analogy in in the way I'm using it is

01:45:58.370 --> 01:46:00.537
just meant that you need to understand

01:46:00.537 --> 01:46:02.592
your problem in order to demonstrate

01:46:02.592 --> 01:46:04.814
that you can deliver a , a , a solution

01:46:04.814 --> 01:46:06.870
that somebody cares about . Now with

01:46:06.870 --> 01:46:09.037
far-based contracting , the government

01:46:09.037 --> 01:46:11.259
has already pre-computed everything and

01:46:11.259 --> 01:46:13.370
so they , they've already said like ,

01:46:13.370 --> 01:46:15.481
hey . This is a leg , this is the leg

01:46:15.481 --> 01:46:17.648
of the elephant . This is the thing we

01:46:17.648 --> 01:46:19.870
care about , so respond to this , and ,

01:46:19.870 --> 01:46:21.814
and then you'll have , um , either

01:46:21.814 --> 01:46:24.037
success or or failure based on that . I

01:46:24.037 --> 01:46:26.350
don't know if that . That helps get ,

01:46:26.439 --> 01:46:28.439
get after your question , um .

01:46:30.729 --> 01:46:32.673
Maybe drop something in the chat .

01:46:38.419 --> 01:46:41.870
OK , well . The Second question , do

01:46:41.870 --> 01:46:43.439
you have uh

01:46:45.830 --> 01:46:49.410
OK , um , second question . Second

01:46:49.410 --> 01:46:51.577
question , do you have any suggestions

01:46:51.577 --> 01:46:53.577
of maintaining problem solution fit

01:46:53.577 --> 01:46:56.850
with DOD as it's a long sales R&D cycle

01:46:56.850 --> 01:46:59.209
takes more than one yes , and have lots

01:46:59.209 --> 01:47:01.490
of frequently moving parts , with

01:47:01.490 --> 01:47:04.490
PCSing retirements and leadership can

01:47:04.490 --> 01:47:06.890
easily feel like you're starting over

01:47:06.890 --> 01:47:10.390
in the validation process . Oh man ,

01:47:10.589 --> 01:47:14.270
this is a fantastic point and a really

01:47:14.270 --> 01:47:18.209
good question as well , um . Take away

01:47:18.209 --> 01:47:22.000
for for everybody in this room . Single

01:47:22.000 --> 01:47:23.833
points of failure will kill your

01:47:23.833 --> 01:47:27.529
business . Single points of

01:47:27.529 --> 01:47:29.751
failure will kill your business whether

01:47:29.751 --> 01:47:31.751
it's with the defense department or

01:47:31.751 --> 01:47:34.529
whether it's with some commercial buyer

01:47:34.529 --> 01:47:38.520
or . Any single organization

01:47:38.520 --> 01:47:41.560
or or type of um institution that

01:47:41.560 --> 01:47:43.671
you're dealing with . The reason is ,

01:47:44.200 --> 01:47:46.422
and if this is especially true is the ,

01:47:46.439 --> 01:47:48.759
the person posing the question points

01:47:48.759 --> 01:47:51.740
out in the DOD is people leave , people

01:47:51.740 --> 01:47:53.740
go on vacation , people have kids ,

01:47:54.040 --> 01:47:56.560
people will ghost you , and so you

01:47:56.560 --> 01:47:58.600
always need to find , even if you .

01:47:59.479 --> 01:48:01.646
Even if you found the best person that

01:48:01.646 --> 01:48:03.868
really loves your solution and wants to

01:48:03.868 --> 01:48:05.923
buy yesterday . You need to find out

01:48:05.923 --> 01:48:08.146
somebody else in that organization that

01:48:08.146 --> 01:48:10.201
they can introduce you to so if that

01:48:10.201 --> 01:48:12.146
person goes dark , you're not left

01:48:12.146 --> 01:48:14.479
hanging . And so in terms of , you know ,

01:48:14.479 --> 01:48:16.701
answering this question with respect to

01:48:16.701 --> 01:48:19.629
DOD , long sale cycle and R&D cycle .

01:48:20.620 --> 01:48:23.779
Takes more than one , yes . And this is

01:48:23.779 --> 01:48:27.350
why . I'm saying and Sally was talking

01:48:27.350 --> 01:48:29.790
about doing customer discovery is so

01:48:29.790 --> 01:48:32.012
important because you're not just going

01:48:32.012 --> 01:48:35.450
to have a . A a population of one ,

01:48:35.720 --> 01:48:37.930
sample size of one when you're dealing

01:48:37.930 --> 01:48:41.240
with F-35 pilots or squadron or wing

01:48:41.240 --> 01:48:43.073
commander , you're going to have

01:48:43.073 --> 01:48:46.310
multiple . And so even if one of them

01:48:46.310 --> 01:48:49.189
goes dark . Even if one of them doesn't

01:48:49.189 --> 01:48:51.859
have budget or hasn't palmed for your

01:48:52.600 --> 01:48:54.656
gone through the , the budgeting for

01:48:54.656 --> 01:48:56.950
your specific , uh , to acquire your

01:48:56.950 --> 01:49:00.080
specific widget , somebody else might .

01:49:01.750 --> 01:49:04.910
And so the more people you can begin to

01:49:04.910 --> 01:49:07.029
understand , helps you to understand

01:49:07.029 --> 01:49:09.549
your problem , helps you understand the

01:49:09.549 --> 01:49:11.549
people that care about solving that

01:49:11.549 --> 01:49:14.029
problem . And the more people that you

01:49:14.029 --> 01:49:16.910
know that can that they wanna procure

01:49:16.910 --> 01:49:20.129
your solution to solve their problem ,

01:49:20.669 --> 01:49:22.779
the higher the likelihood that they

01:49:22.779 --> 01:49:26.229
will have . Dollars that they can

01:49:26.229 --> 01:49:28.396
allocate immediately and they could be

01:49:28.396 --> 01:49:30.562
sweep up funds , end of the year sweep

01:49:30.562 --> 01:49:32.896
up funds that they can push towards you ,

01:49:32.896 --> 01:49:35.118
the , the higher the likelihood is that

01:49:35.118 --> 01:49:37.229
you're not going to have to just wait

01:49:37.229 --> 01:49:40.310
for one person to go eventually go to

01:49:40.310 --> 01:49:42.310
Congress , get funded by Congress ,

01:49:42.310 --> 01:49:44.366
have the money trickle down from big

01:49:44.366 --> 01:49:46.529
Air Force to specific Air Force

01:49:46.529 --> 01:49:48.919
organization to make the sale . I'm

01:49:48.919 --> 01:49:51.141
gonna get into that a little bit more ,

01:49:51.141 --> 01:49:53.363
but I , I hope that wasn't a completely

01:49:53.363 --> 01:49:55.530
unsatisfying answer to your question .

01:50:01.470 --> 01:50:03.470
OK , so I'm gonna talk a little bit

01:50:03.470 --> 01:50:06.759
about discovery um in the wild , and

01:50:06.759 --> 01:50:10.240
this is with a company . That I

01:50:10.240 --> 01:50:14.020
have worked with um initially at

01:50:14.020 --> 01:50:16.439
Stanford and then and then beyond , and

01:50:16.439 --> 01:50:20.160
I think this this should highlight . 1 ,

01:50:20.229 --> 01:50:22.879
the importance of discovery . 2 ,

01:50:23.160 --> 01:50:25.600
another buzzword that that Sally had on ,

01:50:26.040 --> 01:50:28.890
the necessity . And I'll say that word

01:50:28.890 --> 01:50:31.810
again , necessity of pivoting .

01:50:34.750 --> 01:50:37.910
In order to unlock dollars for your

01:50:37.910 --> 01:50:40.189
company , um , slide again , please .

01:50:43.399 --> 01:50:45.677
And so just to make sure we're aligned ,

01:50:45.677 --> 01:50:48.359
this is uh a fighter somebody ejecting

01:50:48.359 --> 01:50:49.500
from an aircraft .

01:50:52.549 --> 01:50:56.370
Is that correct ? Yeah , OK .

01:50:56.740 --> 01:51:00.490
All right . Um , and so this company

01:51:00.490 --> 01:51:02.601
had this , they're a bunch of battery

01:51:02.601 --> 01:51:04.720
technologists , like truly they're

01:51:04.720 --> 01:51:07.089
coming from what a Stanford lab that is

01:51:07.089 --> 01:51:11.089
on the bleeding edge of battery science

01:51:11.089 --> 01:51:14.129
and chemistry . And there are a couple

01:51:14.129 --> 01:51:17.470
of veterans within this this

01:51:17.470 --> 01:51:21.160
venture as well . And one of them

01:51:21.160 --> 01:51:23.327
happened to be a pilot , and he said ,

01:51:23.327 --> 01:51:25.271
hey , you know what , this battery

01:51:25.271 --> 01:51:28.819
would be fantastic . If we

01:51:28.819 --> 01:51:32.810
could . Put it in what the , the

01:51:32.810 --> 01:51:35.640
Air Force calls uh a C cell radio and

01:51:35.640 --> 01:51:37.759
it's from like the , the 80s and they

01:51:37.759 --> 01:51:40.520
still use it . Um and because it's from

01:51:40.520 --> 01:51:42.576
the 80s , the battery is janky , the

01:51:42.576 --> 01:51:45.879
tech is super old and um we're gonna

01:51:45.879 --> 01:51:47.910
try and sell it to them . And we're

01:51:47.910 --> 01:51:49.854
gonna try to sell the battery as a

01:51:49.854 --> 01:51:52.077
component of this , and the people that

01:51:52.077 --> 01:51:54.830
will care the most . Our isolated

01:51:54.830 --> 01:51:57.529
personnel , but more specifically

01:51:57.790 --> 01:52:00.549
pilots because they could potentially

01:52:00.549 --> 01:52:03.689
find themselves behind enemy lines and

01:52:03.689 --> 01:52:06.750
need to use this radio to to call for

01:52:06.750 --> 01:52:09.500
help and say , hey , come get me . My ,

01:52:09.509 --> 01:52:12.629
my plane broke down . um , I need , I

01:52:12.629 --> 01:52:14.879
need to be rescued immediately . And so

01:52:14.879 --> 01:52:18.770
the logic is sound . Better battery

01:52:20.669 --> 01:52:22.859
Powering a radio that's mission

01:52:22.859 --> 01:52:25.290
critical to people that really matter

01:52:25.290 --> 01:52:28.930
to the Air Force . Obviously , the

01:52:28.930 --> 01:52:31.819
logic holds that people would , the Air

01:52:31.819 --> 01:52:34.100
Force would jump to buy this . And so

01:52:34.100 --> 01:52:36.500
the , the , the company went out and

01:52:36.500 --> 01:52:38.620
they , they did some discovery slide

01:52:38.620 --> 01:52:42.290
please . And they began to

01:52:42.290 --> 01:52:45.149
understand that . You know , the , the

01:52:45.149 --> 01:52:47.316
little green box on the left side is ,

01:52:47.316 --> 01:52:49.205
you know , the , the world of the

01:52:49.205 --> 01:52:51.430
isolated personnel , but beyond the

01:52:51.430 --> 01:52:53.950
isolated personnel , there's an entire

01:52:53.950 --> 01:52:57.790
network of people and platforms that

01:52:57.790 --> 01:52:59.734
are involved in the , the personal

01:52:59.910 --> 01:53:02.629
recovery ecosystem or PR personal

01:53:02.629 --> 01:53:05.979
recovery ecosystem . And so they , they

01:53:05.979 --> 01:53:08.319
started having conversations , um ,

01:53:08.330 --> 01:53:11.060
with all of the , the organizations and ,

01:53:11.100 --> 01:53:13.879
and people manning the platforms , um .

01:53:15.000 --> 01:53:17.160
And I think the number was something

01:53:17.160 --> 01:53:20.270
around 60 . And what they were startled

01:53:20.270 --> 01:53:23.370
to learn . You know , again , remember

01:53:23.370 --> 01:53:25.203
the , the roller coaster kind of

01:53:25.203 --> 01:53:27.729
diagram of , you know , they , they

01:53:27.729 --> 01:53:30.089
entered with lots of optimism , they

01:53:30.089 --> 01:53:32.089
started to talk to people , they're

01:53:32.089 --> 01:53:34.089
mapping out the ecosystem , they're

01:53:34.089 --> 01:53:36.033
super excited about the value they

01:53:36.033 --> 01:53:38.256
could add , and then ultimately , slide

01:53:38.256 --> 01:53:41.830
please . What they were told by pilots

01:53:42.169 --> 01:53:45.169
was basically We don't care

01:53:46.129 --> 01:53:48.330
We don't care about your solution . We

01:53:48.330 --> 01:53:50.689
don't care about carrying a better

01:53:50.689 --> 01:53:53.720
battery or more batteries . If you gave

01:53:53.720 --> 01:53:56.810
us the choice , we're going to bring

01:53:56.810 --> 01:54:00.049
extra food or water and as a matter of

01:54:00.049 --> 01:54:02.770
fact , the C cell radio I have , like ,

01:54:02.879 --> 01:54:06.370
yeah , it's a pile of . However , We

01:54:06.370 --> 01:54:08.592
know how to work with it and so we just

01:54:08.592 --> 01:54:11.430
turn it off and on , um , do a call ,

01:54:11.770 --> 01:54:13.881
power it down and so basically we can

01:54:13.881 --> 01:54:16.089
make it last for upwards of 7 to 10

01:54:16.089 --> 01:54:18.367
days so it's really just not a problem .

01:54:19.439 --> 01:54:21.328
And so the power of discovery and

01:54:21.328 --> 01:54:23.729
having conversations with people is you

01:54:23.729 --> 01:54:26.009
realize before you , in this case , the

01:54:26.009 --> 01:54:28.065
company , before they actually built

01:54:28.065 --> 01:54:30.689
anything , before they built the form

01:54:30.689 --> 01:54:32.633
factor for the seesaw radio , they

01:54:32.633 --> 01:54:34.856
learned like , hey , we shouldn't spend

01:54:34.856 --> 01:54:36.689
our time or money on this , this

01:54:36.689 --> 01:54:39.140
doesn't make sense . Moreover , in this .

01:54:40.549 --> 01:54:42.771
Discovery process , they learned that a

01:54:42.771 --> 01:54:46.109
prime contractor owned . The contract

01:54:46.109 --> 01:54:48.209
for the seesaw radio and the battery

01:54:48.209 --> 01:54:50.520
distribution , and so even if the

01:54:50.520 --> 01:54:53.009
pilots wanted it , they couldn't

01:54:53.009 --> 01:54:55.176
deliver because the government already

01:54:55.176 --> 01:54:57.540
had it on contract . So ,

01:54:59.680 --> 01:55:03.240
Key thing for all of you . Your

01:55:03.240 --> 01:55:06.220
product does any is anybody else

01:55:06.879 --> 01:55:09.279
delivering something similar to the

01:55:09.279 --> 01:55:12.500
government ? Does a contract exist

01:55:13.040 --> 01:55:16.740
for a product that is similar or maybe

01:55:17.279 --> 01:55:21.279
um a competitor of yours ? I would

01:55:21.410 --> 01:55:23.700
absolutely recommend that tonight or

01:55:23.700 --> 01:55:26.250
later today . Certainly this week you

01:55:26.250 --> 01:55:28.194
hop on GovDrive and do some search

01:55:28.194 --> 01:55:30.417
terms to figure out who's been awarding

01:55:30.417 --> 01:55:32.850
the contracts and if anything , any

01:55:32.850 --> 01:55:35.128
company or product is similar to yours .

01:55:35.660 --> 01:55:37.580
And run that to ground because if

01:55:37.979 --> 01:55:39.868
that's a nonstarter if a contract

01:55:39.868 --> 01:55:42.090
exists , you may not be able to compete

01:55:42.090 --> 01:55:44.580
with them , but also an opportunity if

01:55:44.580 --> 01:55:46.469
a contract exists that could be a

01:55:46.469 --> 01:55:49.430
strategic partner for you . So anyway ,

01:55:49.549 --> 01:55:52.750
back , back to the story of And throw ,

01:55:53.720 --> 01:55:56.439
so the team was going down . They found

01:55:56.439 --> 01:55:58.495
themselves in this trough where they

01:55:58.495 --> 01:56:00.550
didn't know who their customer was .

01:56:00.550 --> 01:56:02.772
They knew they had cutting edge battery

01:56:02.772 --> 01:56:04.995
technology , but the government doesn't

01:56:04.995 --> 01:56:06.883
actually care about how great the

01:56:06.883 --> 01:56:06.399
technology is . What the government

01:56:06.399 --> 01:56:08.621
cares about is the value it unlocks and

01:56:08.621 --> 01:56:11.459
whether people think that the value is ,

01:56:11.479 --> 01:56:15.390
is necessary . Um , and , but

01:56:15.390 --> 01:56:17.723
during the course of their conversation ,

01:56:17.723 --> 01:56:19.834
slide please , they kept hearing this

01:56:19.834 --> 01:56:22.040
term . This acronym SOCOM that they've

01:56:22.040 --> 01:56:23.929
never heard of before , and SOCOM

01:56:23.929 --> 01:56:27.189
Special Operations Command . They

01:56:27.189 --> 01:56:29.245
didn't know what it was , but they ,

01:56:29.310 --> 01:56:31.477
they were constantly said , oh , SOCOM

01:56:31.477 --> 01:56:33.810
would love this . SOCOM , SOCOM , SOCOM .

01:56:34.419 --> 01:56:38.160
And because the company . There was one

01:56:38.160 --> 01:56:42.000
pilot , um , but beyond this person ,

01:56:42.299 --> 01:56:44.466
the company didn't know much about the

01:56:44.466 --> 01:56:46.299
Defense Department . And so they

01:56:46.299 --> 01:56:49.279
thought SOCOM was was one buyer , um ,

01:56:49.319 --> 01:56:51.375
they didn't realize that Army Navy ,

01:56:51.375 --> 01:56:53.479
Air Force , Marine Corps all have

01:56:53.479 --> 01:56:55.479
different components within SOCOM .

01:56:56.930 --> 01:56:59.540
And so they started having lots of

01:56:59.540 --> 01:57:01.651
conversations , we're getting lots of

01:57:01.651 --> 01:57:04.189
um conflicting advice in terms of Navy

01:57:04.189 --> 01:57:06.220
SEALs think this is great , Rangers

01:57:06.220 --> 01:57:09.069
hate it , or Air Force Special

01:57:09.069 --> 01:57:11.569
Operations love it for the reasons that

01:57:11.569 --> 01:57:15.270
you can see on the screen . Um , Marine

01:57:15.270 --> 01:57:17.870
Special operations Force Recon hates it .

01:57:18.560 --> 01:57:21.919
And so they quickly realized that the

01:57:21.919 --> 01:57:25.259
Guardian angels within the Air Force

01:57:25.259 --> 01:57:27.370
were the people that cared about this

01:57:27.370 --> 01:57:29.537
the most , and the reason why , and so

01:57:29.537 --> 01:57:31.592
this goes back to the metrics , when

01:57:31.592 --> 01:57:33.926
you're selling to somebody who wants it ,

01:57:33.926 --> 01:57:35.981
knowing why they want it or why they

01:57:35.981 --> 01:57:38.203
like it is incredibly important . As it

01:57:38.203 --> 01:57:41.620
turns out , um , guardian angels . Not

01:57:41.620 --> 01:57:44.259
only do they have a ton of electronics

01:57:44.259 --> 01:57:46.370
to power , which I'll cover in just a

01:57:46.370 --> 01:57:48.592
minute . But they need to be incredibly

01:57:48.592 --> 01:57:50.759
mobile when they're when they're doing

01:57:50.759 --> 01:57:52.870
their work and so carrying a rucksack

01:57:52.870 --> 01:57:55.470
like what you see on the screen . It

01:57:55.470 --> 01:57:57.470
that's loaded down with batteries ,

01:57:57.959 --> 01:58:00.292
doesn't actually help them do their job .

01:58:00.790 --> 01:58:03.319
And so the , the , the team started to

01:58:03.319 --> 01:58:05.430
think like , oh wow , so this battery

01:58:05.430 --> 01:58:07.652
could serve in in multiple purposes and

01:58:07.652 --> 01:58:09.875
I'll , I'll talk about that in a minute

01:58:09.875 --> 01:58:11.930
slide please . And so with this idea

01:58:11.930 --> 01:58:13.930
that they could solve a problem for

01:58:13.930 --> 01:58:16.129
guardian angels . They went and they

01:58:16.129 --> 01:58:18.529
said , all right , well , What are ,

01:58:18.609 --> 01:58:20.776
what are all the things that the , the

01:58:20.776 --> 01:58:23.490
guardian angels or carry electronically

01:58:23.490 --> 01:58:26.009
that they need to power , so really

01:58:26.009 --> 01:58:28.169
getting into the pain points of the ,

01:58:28.410 --> 01:58:32.080
the potential user . To to realize that

01:58:32.080 --> 01:58:34.439
oh my gosh , these people carry 20 to

01:58:34.439 --> 01:58:37.830
30 pounds of batteries . And they're

01:58:37.830 --> 01:58:41.680
expected to be incredibly mobile . And

01:58:41.680 --> 01:58:43.791
the , the reason why they're carrying

01:58:43.791 --> 01:58:45.902
so many batteries is not only because

01:58:45.902 --> 01:58:48.069
they've got a dozen different kinds of

01:58:48.069 --> 01:58:50.180
electronics . But because each one of

01:58:50.180 --> 01:58:52.890
them basically carry requires its own

01:58:52.890 --> 01:58:56.459
power source . So like just to make

01:58:56.459 --> 01:58:58.709
this kind of simple , like some do D

01:58:58.709 --> 01:59:01.240
batteries , the others are doing AA A's ,

01:59:01.250 --> 01:59:03.139
and so we've got to carry lots of

01:59:03.139 --> 01:59:05.361
different batteries and different types

01:59:05.361 --> 01:59:07.306
of batteries because there's not a

01:59:07.306 --> 01:59:09.639
universal battery um to charge them all .

01:59:09.850 --> 01:59:12.299
Um , and so the takeaway for you in

01:59:12.299 --> 01:59:14.939
this slide is is getting some sort of

01:59:14.939 --> 01:59:18.270
demand signal from people is great .

01:59:18.540 --> 01:59:20.819
You need to understand why they're

01:59:20.819 --> 01:59:23.479
giving you a demand signal , understand

01:59:23.700 --> 01:59:26.540
very specifically the value that

01:59:26.540 --> 01:59:30.069
they're hoping to unlock with . Your

01:59:30.569 --> 01:59:34.129
product and and the metrics in which .

01:59:34.819 --> 01:59:38.529
They measured them Metrics

01:59:38.990 --> 01:59:41.470
very important here and so are they in

01:59:41.470 --> 01:59:43.581
this case , are they measuring weight

01:59:43.581 --> 01:59:46.509
in grams , pounds , tons when they say

01:59:46.509 --> 01:59:48.750
we wanna reduce weight , how much

01:59:48.750 --> 01:59:52.689
weight . Is is important , and then

01:59:52.689 --> 01:59:55.689
what is the threshold of change that

01:59:55.689 --> 01:59:58.060
will , will , will become valuable to

01:59:58.060 --> 02:00:01.959
them . Slide please . And

02:00:01.959 --> 02:00:04.720
so learning about this in the quickest ,

02:00:04.879 --> 02:00:08.540
most effective , and least costly way .

02:00:09.319 --> 02:00:12.000
Is by doing what we call um minimum

02:00:12.000 --> 02:00:14.339
viable products , which I know that

02:00:14.339 --> 02:00:17.069
many of you are familiar with . And so

02:00:17.069 --> 02:00:19.669
this company , they didn't develop any

02:00:19.669 --> 02:00:22.002
kind of battery , so they had a battery ,

02:00:22.002 --> 02:00:23.836
but they didn't develop anything

02:00:23.836 --> 02:00:26.113
bespoke to guardian angels . They said ,

02:00:26.113 --> 02:00:28.225
hey , if we were to reduce the weight

02:00:28.225 --> 02:00:30.280
and maybe distribute it amongst your

02:00:30.280 --> 02:00:32.959
body armor , would this be helpful ? So

02:00:32.959 --> 02:00:34.848
the takeaway here for you is , is

02:00:34.848 --> 02:00:38.479
twofold . First , the team spent ,

02:00:38.879 --> 02:00:41.359
I think it was a half an hour to 1 hour

02:00:41.359 --> 02:00:44.259
developing this PowerPoint slide . And

02:00:44.259 --> 02:00:47.000
getting in collecting insights from it .

02:00:48.020 --> 02:00:50.187
And so not only did it help accelerate

02:00:50.187 --> 02:00:52.830
their learning . But secondly ,

02:00:54.540 --> 02:00:56.762
Nobody wants to tell you that your baby

02:00:56.762 --> 02:00:59.700
is ugly . And so the more , the , the

02:00:59.700 --> 02:01:03.649
more that people see . How much time

02:01:03.649 --> 02:01:05.705
and effort and money that you've put

02:01:05.705 --> 02:01:08.339
into your product , the less likely

02:01:08.339 --> 02:01:10.506
they are as humans to say like , hey ,

02:01:10.506 --> 02:01:12.930
this thing sucks . Like I wouldn't buy

02:01:12.930 --> 02:01:15.097
this if you gave it to me for free . I

02:01:15.097 --> 02:01:17.263
wouldn't buy it . I wouldn't use it if

02:01:17.263 --> 02:01:19.430
you gave it to me and paid me . And so

02:01:19.430 --> 02:01:22.589
if you're using slide slides and

02:01:22.919 --> 02:01:25.450
cardboard , uh , mockups and wire

02:01:25.450 --> 02:01:28.129
frames to just demonstrate portions of

02:01:28.129 --> 02:01:30.680
your product . They're more than likely

02:01:30.680 --> 02:01:32.847
to give you honest feedback as opposed

02:01:32.847 --> 02:01:35.410
to you showing them a polished solution

02:01:35.410 --> 02:01:38.649
that you know . They poured your heart

02:01:38.649 --> 02:01:41.149
and soul into um and getting feedback .

02:01:42.089 --> 02:01:45.259
Um , last slide here and on , on

02:01:45.259 --> 02:01:48.660
this second to last slide here , um .

02:01:49.790 --> 02:01:53.620
And so the the power of of discovery is ,

02:01:53.950 --> 02:01:56.990
again , you figure out who cares , why

02:01:56.990 --> 02:01:59.870
they care , how much they care .

02:02:00.770 --> 02:02:03.660
But also , you figure out who could

02:02:03.660 --> 02:02:05.493
actually buy this thing . So you

02:02:05.493 --> 02:02:07.716
remember back to the the previous slide

02:02:07.716 --> 02:02:10.640
with the 3 locks . You need to figure

02:02:10.640 --> 02:02:12.862
out who your buyers are , your decision

02:02:12.862 --> 02:02:14.862
makers , and your users . Discovery

02:02:14.862 --> 02:02:17.029
will help you do all of those things .

02:02:17.169 --> 02:02:19.336
Now this , this slide that the company

02:02:19.336 --> 02:02:22.709
built . And they ended up executing on

02:02:22.709 --> 02:02:25.569
almost half of it . Over the course of

02:02:25.569 --> 02:02:27.513
their conversations , they learned

02:02:27.513 --> 02:02:29.625
about this thing called an SBIR which

02:02:29.625 --> 02:02:31.625
all of you are familiar with . They

02:02:31.625 --> 02:02:33.791
learned about this organization called

02:02:33.791 --> 02:02:36.850
IncuTel . They learned about the uh

02:02:36.850 --> 02:02:39.072
another funding opportunity through the

02:02:39.072 --> 02:02:41.330
Defense Innovation Unit called NNSIC

02:02:41.330 --> 02:02:44.149
National Security Innovation Capital ,

02:02:44.810 --> 02:02:47.609
which delivers non-diutive equity to

02:02:47.609 --> 02:02:50.950
hardware solutions and a host of other ,

02:02:51.000 --> 02:02:53.430
other opportunities . And so as they

02:02:53.430 --> 02:02:55.374
learned this , learned about these

02:02:55.374 --> 02:02:57.629
different opportunities , they plotted

02:02:57.629 --> 02:03:00.890
out like , oh , OK , if You know , this

02:03:00.890 --> 02:03:03.870
might be the first . Target of

02:03:03.870 --> 02:03:07.080
opportunity and then after after we

02:03:07.080 --> 02:03:09.479
could get this then maybe in our

02:03:09.479 --> 02:03:11.535
technology readiness levels a little

02:03:11.535 --> 02:03:13.757
bit higher then we could go after these

02:03:13.757 --> 02:03:15.979
kinds of things and so they essentially

02:03:15.979 --> 02:03:18.520
created an ad hoc pipeline similar to

02:03:18.520 --> 02:03:20.853
venture capital where they've organized .

02:03:22.029 --> 02:03:24.085
All of the different opportunities ,

02:03:24.085 --> 02:03:26.140
all the different organizations that

02:03:26.140 --> 02:03:28.362
they could move from as they've matured

02:03:28.362 --> 02:03:30.585
their technology as they penetrated the

02:03:30.585 --> 02:03:32.918
defense market so they could scale , um ,

02:03:32.918 --> 02:03:36.899
slide please . And , you know , as

02:03:36.899 --> 02:03:39.899
of a year and a half ago , they had .

02:03:40.729 --> 02:03:44.549
Executed on Nearly half of what

02:03:44.549 --> 02:03:47.560
they thought they were going to . And

02:03:47.560 --> 02:03:51.279
captured over $2 million to to put

02:03:51.279 --> 02:03:53.520
towards their product slide please and

02:03:53.520 --> 02:03:55.687
what ultimately ended up happening for

02:03:55.687 --> 02:03:57.687
for the companies in this room that

02:03:57.687 --> 02:03:59.979
have dual use products , they were able

02:04:00.680 --> 02:04:02.736
to not only sell to the government .

02:04:03.319 --> 02:04:05.430
They were also to use able to use the

02:04:05.430 --> 02:04:07.541
government non-diluted equity as well

02:04:07.541 --> 02:04:09.763
as the revenue that they generated from

02:04:09.763 --> 02:04:11.990
the government . To build a more robust

02:04:12.129 --> 02:04:15.279
commercial product . Causing this is a

02:04:15.290 --> 02:04:18.540
a Forbes quote here , um .

02:04:19.740 --> 02:04:21.684
To say of the company that they're

02:04:21.684 --> 02:04:23.851
powering a more sustainable future and

02:04:23.851 --> 02:04:26.379
the MIT review to to really they made

02:04:26.379 --> 02:04:29.160
the top 10 from the MIT review in terms

02:04:29.160 --> 02:04:32.299
of cutting edge technologies and so .

02:04:34.129 --> 02:04:37.430
The takeaway from this . Duke

02:04:37.430 --> 02:04:40.410
Discovery , make sure you're mining all

02:04:40.410 --> 02:04:42.910
of the , the notes you're taking from

02:04:43.290 --> 02:04:46.950
the , the interviews . To begin to

02:04:46.950 --> 02:04:49.172
think about different opportunities and

02:04:49.172 --> 02:04:51.283
organizations and what you can engage

02:04:51.283 --> 02:04:53.339
with and potentially sell to , maybe

02:04:53.339 --> 02:04:55.450
not now , maybe it's 2 years down the

02:04:55.450 --> 02:04:57.450
road when your readiness level is a

02:04:57.450 --> 02:04:59.450
little bit higher . So that you can

02:04:59.450 --> 02:05:01.394
create that deployment pathway for

02:05:01.394 --> 02:05:05.029
scale . And then , secondly , If you

02:05:05.029 --> 02:05:08.290
have a dual use product . They don't

02:05:08.290 --> 02:05:11.390
need to be . Completely isolated from

02:05:11.390 --> 02:05:13.439
one another . You can use .

02:05:14.959 --> 02:05:17.680
Private funding to support your defense ,

02:05:18.120 --> 02:05:21.479
um , play , you can use defense funding

02:05:21.479 --> 02:05:23.590
for a product that can also influence

02:05:23.590 --> 02:05:25.757
and inform and develop your commercial

02:05:25.757 --> 02:05:28.330
play . And so it's , it's , it's more

02:05:28.330 --> 02:05:30.497
of a hybrid kind of approach , and you

02:05:30.497 --> 02:05:33.629
can do this when you have . This team

02:05:33.629 --> 02:05:37.620
did over 500 interviews . When

02:05:37.620 --> 02:05:39.676
you think about it , $500 is a lot ,

02:05:39.676 --> 02:05:41.898
it's a lot of hours , it's a lot of , a

02:05:41.898 --> 02:05:45.009
lot of time , um , but it , it yielded

02:05:45.020 --> 02:05:47.479
initially to

02:05:47.479 --> 02:05:51.339
$2.6 million in non-diluted

02:05:51.339 --> 02:05:54.299
equity , and so do the math , it , it's ,

02:05:54.450 --> 02:05:56.117
it can be worth your time and

02:05:56.117 --> 02:05:58.117
especially now as they're scaling .

02:05:58.270 --> 02:05:59.270
Slide please .

02:06:03.419 --> 02:06:07.069
OK , this is a C blankism . You can't

02:06:07.069 --> 02:06:09.529
pre-comput anything . You can't sit in

02:06:09.529 --> 02:06:11.696
this room and just have a conversation

02:06:11.890 --> 02:06:15.020
with Luke and because if you have your

02:06:15.020 --> 02:06:17.353
conversation with Luke and Luke is very ,

02:06:17.353 --> 02:06:19.131
very good at his job and hugely

02:06:19.131 --> 02:06:21.330
knowledgeable , you will only get one

02:06:21.330 --> 02:06:24.629
perspective . You need to marry Luke's

02:06:24.629 --> 02:06:27.470
perspective . With other people with

02:06:27.470 --> 02:06:30.950
his job title within the Air Force to

02:06:30.950 --> 02:06:33.870
understand . What people like him think

02:06:34.209 --> 02:06:36.569
as well as to talk to operational users

02:06:36.569 --> 02:06:38.850
and decision makers and people that

02:06:38.850 --> 02:06:42.000
have contracting dollars . In order for

02:06:42.000 --> 02:06:44.640
you to be successful . And you do that

02:06:44.640 --> 02:06:46.696
by getting outside of the building ,

02:06:46.696 --> 02:06:48.751
talking to people , building rapport

02:06:48.751 --> 02:06:51.160
with people , not an email , not a

02:06:51.160 --> 02:06:53.479
phone call , face to face , good old

02:06:53.479 --> 02:06:56.359
fashioned in person stuff so that when

02:06:56.359 --> 02:06:58.560
you reach out to them like , hey , I

02:06:58.560 --> 02:07:01.399
just saw this , maybe it's a BAA maybe

02:07:01.399 --> 02:07:05.359
it's um the uh uh

02:07:05.359 --> 02:07:07.470
another kind of contracting mechanism

02:07:07.640 --> 02:07:10.080
you can just say hey remember me we had

02:07:10.080 --> 02:07:12.640
a conversation . Would , would this be

02:07:12.640 --> 02:07:14.640
useful to your organization ? I saw

02:07:14.640 --> 02:07:17.839
this call that has a high , far higher

02:07:17.839 --> 02:07:20.061
hit rate and response rate than , hey ,

02:07:20.061 --> 02:07:22.779
I don't know who you are . We emailed .

02:07:23.919 --> 02:07:26.359
Would this potentially with this with

02:07:26.359 --> 02:07:29.740
my product be a fit for you um . All

02:07:29.740 --> 02:07:33.100
right . Any , any questions before we ,

02:07:33.109 --> 02:07:35.810
we transition into the the last segment

02:07:35.810 --> 02:07:37.088
of this presentation ?

02:07:42.350 --> 02:07:44.517
Hey Jeff , can you just share a little

02:07:44.517 --> 02:07:46.794
bit more information ? I know , I mean ,

02:07:46.794 --> 02:07:48.683
it's interesting what what you've

02:07:48.683 --> 02:07:50.739
provided , you know , understand the

02:07:50.739 --> 02:07:53.072
customer , understand who's touching it .

02:07:53.072 --> 02:07:55.350
You know , you brought up a good point .

02:07:55.350 --> 02:07:55.310
You know , sometimes we have to palm

02:07:55.310 --> 02:07:57.366
for things . It's trying to find the

02:07:57.366 --> 02:07:59.950
funding , so it may take us a while ,

02:07:59.990 --> 02:08:02.046
being the government to buy it , but

02:08:02.046 --> 02:08:04.268
can you , you know , touch a little bit

02:08:04.268 --> 02:08:07.229
more on lessons learned or successes .

02:08:07.910 --> 02:08:10.689
Um , you know , with that sier sitter

02:08:10.689 --> 02:08:12.578
technology to be able to apply it

02:08:12.578 --> 02:08:14.629
within like the other than small

02:08:14.629 --> 02:08:17.129
businesses , some of your large primes ,

02:08:17.390 --> 02:08:19.557
um , because I think that's definitely

02:08:19.830 --> 02:08:22.529
an interesting market market for people

02:08:22.939 --> 02:08:24.995
and then just wanted to let everyone

02:08:24.995 --> 02:08:27.430
know in the room , um , the Air Force

02:08:27.430 --> 02:08:29.709
Research Labs , uh , small business

02:08:29.709 --> 02:08:31.820
director , Mr . Brian McJilton , he's

02:08:31.820 --> 02:08:33.987
right here . He just came in , so this

02:08:33.987 --> 02:08:36.042
is another point of contact that you

02:08:36.042 --> 02:08:38.859
can reach out to to help you out . Yeah ,

02:08:40.169 --> 02:08:42.330
The , so everybody in this room

02:08:42.330 --> 02:08:44.552
shouldn't leave without talking to , to

02:08:44.552 --> 02:08:47.470
Luke if you haven't already , and um Mr .

02:08:47.479 --> 02:08:49.609
Brian Chilton because , you know ,

02:08:49.770 --> 02:08:52.390
customer discovery started yesterday or

02:08:52.569 --> 02:08:54.569
whenever you're awarded your , your

02:08:54.569 --> 02:08:58.439
sier . um . Yeah , so one thing

02:08:58.439 --> 02:09:02.060
to know and , and please . Luke and and

02:09:02.060 --> 02:09:04.979
Brian and Jim chime in if , if you ,

02:09:05.299 --> 02:09:08.709
you think differently , um , so prime

02:09:08.709 --> 02:09:11.220
contractors can be a fantastic entry

02:09:11.220 --> 02:09:14.859
point beyond your sier , um , and we

02:09:14.859 --> 02:09:17.026
can talk about pros and cons of that ,

02:09:17.100 --> 02:09:19.700
um , but every major prime contractor

02:09:19.700 --> 02:09:22.819
has a sier office . Or a small business

02:09:22.819 --> 02:09:24.875
office they might not be called sier

02:09:24.875 --> 02:09:27.819
but they're certainly small business in

02:09:27.819 --> 02:09:30.140
their their title and so that could be

02:09:30.140 --> 02:09:32.919
a great way to talk about potential

02:09:33.459 --> 02:09:36.419
joint venturing , um , maybe be able to

02:09:36.419 --> 02:09:38.641
capture some commercial venture capital

02:09:38.641 --> 02:09:40.808
dollars from them just to get a better

02:09:40.808 --> 02:09:42.752
sense of what their business units

02:09:42.859 --> 02:09:45.379
operative word business units are

02:09:45.379 --> 02:09:48.299
looking at with respect to the problems

02:09:48.299 --> 02:09:51.080
that your solutions may be solving . Um ,

02:09:51.319 --> 02:09:53.486
you can always engage with the venture

02:09:53.486 --> 02:09:55.652
capital arms . But those are different

02:09:55.652 --> 02:09:58.939
from the business units . But the most

02:09:58.939 --> 02:10:02.379
of the big top big fives , so Lockheed

02:10:02.379 --> 02:10:04.379
Martin , Northrop Grumman , General

02:10:04.379 --> 02:10:06.669
Dynamics , on and on , uh , Boeing .

02:10:07.410 --> 02:10:09.299
They , they operate their venture

02:10:09.299 --> 02:10:11.299
capital outside of their profit and

02:10:11.299 --> 02:10:14.419
loss , their , their P&L . The business

02:10:14.419 --> 02:10:16.819
units operate within PNL and so they

02:10:16.819 --> 02:10:18.986
have again kind of like the government

02:10:18.986 --> 02:10:21.152
bureaucracy we're talking about they ,

02:10:21.152 --> 02:10:23.263
they have real dollars and real needs

02:10:23.263 --> 02:10:25.375
that need to be satisfied immediately

02:10:25.375 --> 02:10:27.041
and so reach out to the small

02:10:27.041 --> 02:10:29.097
businesses . One of the first asks I

02:10:29.097 --> 02:10:32.089
would personally make during that that

02:10:32.089 --> 02:10:34.311
conversation is which business unit can

02:10:34.311 --> 02:10:37.310
you connect me with . And I don't mind

02:10:37.310 --> 02:10:40.379
waiting for you to connect me while I'm

02:10:40.379 --> 02:10:42.435
sitting in front of you just to make

02:10:42.435 --> 02:10:45.509
sure it gets done , um . But go to the

02:10:45.509 --> 02:10:47.565
business units , those are the , the

02:10:47.565 --> 02:10:49.731
ones that , that , that really move it

02:10:49.731 --> 02:10:52.419
will move the needle for you . Lots of

02:10:52.419 --> 02:10:54.641
people are are worried about or lots of

02:10:54.641 --> 02:10:56.863
companies and entrepreneurs are worried

02:10:56.863 --> 02:10:59.770
about working with primes because . And

02:10:59.770 --> 02:11:02.600
Frankly , Your business is a rounding

02:11:02.600 --> 02:11:06.600
error to them . Um , They can

02:11:06.600 --> 02:11:10.049
crush you . And not care and not even

02:11:10.049 --> 02:11:12.129
know , not because they're , they're

02:11:12.129 --> 02:11:14.640
nefarious , but because Lockheed

02:11:14.640 --> 02:11:18.049
Martin's 300,000+ people , they love

02:11:18.049 --> 02:11:20.910
your product . It's almost like a a

02:11:20.910 --> 02:11:23.350
cybersecurity attack on you if 3000

02:11:23.350 --> 02:11:25.572
people reach out to you and want , want

02:11:25.572 --> 02:11:27.683
to engage , like how do you deal with

02:11:27.683 --> 02:11:31.660
that ? Um , and so , you

02:11:31.660 --> 02:11:34.970
know , there , I'm not a lawyer , um ,

02:11:35.319 --> 02:11:37.263
but lots of different ways you can

02:11:37.263 --> 02:11:39.319
protect IP . I see a ton of value in

02:11:39.319 --> 02:11:41.430
working with primes . I've seen a lot

02:11:41.430 --> 02:11:43.652
of companies that I've worked with gain

02:11:43.652 --> 02:11:45.819
market entry through prime contractors

02:11:45.819 --> 02:11:47.541
as a subcontractor because the

02:11:47.541 --> 02:11:49.375
government's not stupid . If I'm

02:11:49.375 --> 02:11:51.486
Lockheed Martin and , and I'm subbing

02:11:51.486 --> 02:11:53.541
to Ryan , it's not going to take the

02:11:53.541 --> 02:11:55.541
Air Force very long to realize that

02:11:55.541 --> 02:11:57.541
Ryan's doing all the work that they

02:11:57.541 --> 02:11:59.729
care about . And I'm Jeff or Lockheed

02:11:59.729 --> 02:12:02.580
Martin am not . And so the ability to

02:12:02.580 --> 02:12:06.089
transition from subcontractor to direct

02:12:06.089 --> 02:12:08.200
contractor with the Air Force becomes

02:12:08.200 --> 02:12:10.080
available . 12 .

02:12:11.939 --> 02:12:15.270
As a subcontractor . You

02:12:15.569 --> 02:12:18.979
get information on who the customers

02:12:18.979 --> 02:12:21.169
are and what they need and so you can

02:12:21.169 --> 02:12:24.410
design or tailor your products to meet

02:12:24.410 --> 02:12:27.410
those needs . With that knowledge .

02:12:29.060 --> 02:12:32.229
Thirdly All these prime , the majority

02:12:32.229 --> 02:12:34.350
of the prime contractors have existed

02:12:34.350 --> 02:12:37.029
at least 100 years , and so they have

02:12:37.029 --> 02:12:39.196
all the infrastructure , they know how

02:12:39.196 --> 02:12:41.307
things are bought , they know all the

02:12:41.307 --> 02:12:41.270
different contracts , they know all the

02:12:41.270 --> 02:12:43.381
different colors of money , they know

02:12:43.381 --> 02:12:45.714
who owns them , they have the lobbyists ,

02:12:45.714 --> 02:12:47.881
and you get that as a small business .

02:12:48.790 --> 02:12:50.846
From the beginning , so you'll pay a

02:12:50.846 --> 02:12:52.957
premium off of like maybe you're only

02:12:52.957 --> 02:12:55.390
gonna capture a fraction of the , the

02:12:55.390 --> 02:12:58.770
revenue you would otherwise . But the

02:12:58.770 --> 02:13:00.826
value you get and the potential that

02:13:00.826 --> 02:13:03.450
that partnership offers you for scale .

02:13:04.100 --> 02:13:08.020
Is immeasurable So

02:13:08.500 --> 02:13:10.833
that that's my , my two cents on primes .

02:13:10.833 --> 02:13:13.056
Happy to , to dig deeper if you want to

02:13:13.056 --> 02:13:15.222
take that into a different direction .

02:13:16.370 --> 02:13:20.160
Thank you . All right , so , um ,

02:13:20.379 --> 02:13:22.979
if any of you are old enough , um , and

02:13:22.979 --> 02:13:24.979
I think I'm amongst my peers here ,

02:13:24.979 --> 02:13:27.439
unlike being in the classroom , um .

02:13:28.529 --> 02:13:30.970
You know , Letterman's top 10 , uh , so

02:13:30.970 --> 02:13:33.248
I'm gonna , I'm gonna go to , you know ,

02:13:33.248 --> 02:13:35.303
top 10 things that I've seen in my 8

02:13:35.303 --> 02:13:37.529
years of , of doing this as far as what

02:13:37.529 --> 02:13:39.696
companies should do , but mostly under

02:13:39.696 --> 02:13:41.529
the guise of what will kill your

02:13:41.529 --> 02:13:43.640
company or what will seriously impair

02:13:43.640 --> 02:13:45.862
your company's ability to penetrate and

02:13:45.862 --> 02:13:48.609
scale , um , so if you would slide

02:13:48.609 --> 02:13:49.890
please , Jim .

02:13:52.669 --> 02:13:55.149
And slide one more , yes .

02:13:57.640 --> 02:13:59.696
OK , so I , I might be dating myself

02:13:59.696 --> 02:14:01.807
again here a little bit , but Wolf of

02:14:01.807 --> 02:14:04.029
Wall Street , everybody has likely seen

02:14:04.029 --> 02:14:06.251
it , you know , the , the whole idea of

02:14:06.251 --> 02:14:10.240
sell me this pen . That

02:14:10.240 --> 02:14:13.600
whole scene . If just to refresh your

02:14:13.600 --> 02:14:16.569
memory , was Leonardo DiCaprio or

02:14:16.569 --> 02:14:18.513
Jordan Belfor , the character he's

02:14:18.513 --> 02:14:20.625
playing , was teaching his sales team

02:14:20.625 --> 02:14:24.500
how to actually sell . And so In

02:14:24.500 --> 02:14:26.722
this case , it was a pen , like , hey ,

02:14:26.722 --> 02:14:28.944
sell me this pen , and the first person

02:14:28.944 --> 02:14:31.379
says like , oh , it's a , it's a black

02:14:31.379 --> 02:14:34.020
pen , it writes really smoothly , you

02:14:34.020 --> 02:14:36.187
know , it never fails me , whatever it

02:14:36.187 --> 02:14:38.353
might be . And he's like , no , that's

02:14:38.353 --> 02:14:41.830
not it , on to the next guy . Same kind

02:14:41.830 --> 02:14:44.069
of thing , and then on to the next

02:14:44.069 --> 02:14:47.509
person . And the person said something

02:14:47.509 --> 02:14:49.842
like , hey , write down my phone number .

02:14:49.842 --> 02:14:52.029
I wanna give you something , I forget

02:14:52.029 --> 02:14:54.370
what what and so there was demand that

02:14:54.370 --> 02:14:57.439
person created demand . So the lesson

02:14:57.439 --> 02:15:01.049
for you is . In order to sell your

02:15:01.049 --> 02:15:03.216
product , it doesn't matter how smooth

02:15:03.216 --> 02:15:05.271
your pitch is because the government

02:15:05.271 --> 02:15:07.220
doesn't care about buying the best

02:15:07.220 --> 02:15:09.276
technology . Sure , they want to get

02:15:09.276 --> 02:15:11.109
the best technology , but what's

02:15:11.109 --> 02:15:13.649
primary for them is figuring out . Does

02:15:13.649 --> 02:15:16.049
this product unlock value for me ? Does

02:15:16.049 --> 02:15:19.129
this product give me mission impact in

02:15:19.129 --> 02:15:21.240
a way that's very interesting to me ?

02:15:21.290 --> 02:15:23.623
And so defense priorities are essential .

02:15:24.430 --> 02:15:26.430
We talked a little bit before about

02:15:26.430 --> 02:15:28.708
strategic , operational , and tactical .

02:15:28.708 --> 02:15:30.930
So if I'm talking to a decision maker ,

02:15:30.930 --> 02:15:32.930
again , maybe this wing commander ,

02:15:32.930 --> 02:15:36.220
what do they care about ? Do they care

02:15:36.220 --> 02:15:38.387
about , you know , they might tell you

02:15:38.387 --> 02:15:40.664
something kind of nebulous , like , oh ,

02:15:40.664 --> 02:15:42.887
we care about aircraft readiness . OK ,

02:15:42.887 --> 02:15:45.053
well , what does that mean ? Well , we

02:15:45.053 --> 02:15:47.164
need to do 10 amount of sorties a day

02:15:47.164 --> 02:15:49.276
in order to , to maintain readiness ,

02:15:49.276 --> 02:15:51.979
so we need to have Y amount of planes ,

02:15:52.200 --> 02:15:54.680
um , able to fly at any given point in

02:15:54.680 --> 02:15:57.549
time . So digging into what the

02:15:57.549 --> 02:16:00.669
priorities are . That your product

02:16:00.669 --> 02:16:03.069
solves and can deliver value on and how

02:16:03.069 --> 02:16:05.709
those are measured . Our table stakes ,

02:16:05.750 --> 02:16:07.639
otherwise you're gonna be the the

02:16:07.639 --> 02:16:09.528
person in The Wolf of Wall Street

02:16:09.528 --> 02:16:11.639
rolling in and saying , hey . Look at

02:16:11.639 --> 02:16:13.806
my little red wagon . This is the best

02:16:13.806 --> 02:16:16.139
little red wagon there is on the market .

02:16:16.139 --> 02:16:18.083
You should buy my little red wagon

02:16:18.083 --> 02:16:20.028
because it's better than everybody

02:16:20.028 --> 02:16:22.083
else's and it's a bright , beautiful

02:16:22.083 --> 02:16:24.459
red color . And you have no idea what

02:16:24.459 --> 02:16:26.500
they could use or how they could

02:16:26.500 --> 02:16:29.259
benefit from that red wagon . So

02:16:29.259 --> 02:16:31.779
concentrate on the priorities as the

02:16:31.779 --> 02:16:34.360
primary focus and then in your product .

02:16:36.120 --> 02:16:38.342
And how it can deliver the solutions is

02:16:38.342 --> 02:16:40.287
a secondary focus , slide please .

02:16:45.639 --> 02:16:47.695
I can't tell you the number of times

02:16:47.695 --> 02:16:49.695
that that I have conversations with

02:16:49.695 --> 02:16:52.980
people , um . Especially those that

02:16:52.980 --> 02:16:55.870
have gotten a siver or sitter . And I

02:16:55.870 --> 02:16:58.037
asked them , OK , well who's gonna use

02:16:58.037 --> 02:17:00.219
your product ? And they tell me like ,

02:17:00.230 --> 02:17:04.230
oh my teapot , or , oh , you know ,

02:17:04.429 --> 02:17:08.230
AFRL sponsored my project . AFRL is

02:17:08.230 --> 02:17:09.809
my my my customer .

02:17:12.878 --> 02:17:16.359
AFRL is probably not the your customer .

02:17:16.439 --> 02:17:18.217
Your Tupac is probably not your

02:17:18.217 --> 02:17:20.272
customer . Your customer is somebody

02:17:20.272 --> 02:17:22.439
that will , or I'm sorry , the user is

02:17:22.439 --> 02:17:24.661
somebody that will actively use it . So

02:17:24.661 --> 02:17:26.883
maybe there's you , you're working on a

02:17:26.883 --> 02:17:28.717
product that has , uh , research

02:17:28.717 --> 02:17:30.883
potential to help AirFL researchers or

02:17:30.883 --> 02:17:32.883
engineers do their work . That's an

02:17:32.883 --> 02:17:35.829
exception . But beyond that , ARL

02:17:35.829 --> 02:17:38.780
budget . Tupac budget is probably not

02:17:38.780 --> 02:17:42.750
going to to send . Um , uh , be , be

02:17:42.750 --> 02:17:44.917
used to procure your , your solution .

02:17:46.258 --> 02:17:47.258
Slide please .

02:17:54.799 --> 02:17:58.580
Another , another common killer is , um ,

02:17:58.919 --> 02:18:00.919
I , I , I have conversations with ,

02:18:00.919 --> 02:18:03.030
with companies and they say something

02:18:03.030 --> 02:18:05.086
to the effect of , oh , every single

02:18:05.086 --> 02:18:07.197
pilot we talked to wants my product ,

02:18:07.197 --> 02:18:09.910
or every single maintainer , or pick

02:18:09.910 --> 02:18:10.929
your job title .

02:18:13.709 --> 02:18:16.509
And they automatically assume that

02:18:16.509 --> 02:18:19.150
because the user wants it , the

02:18:19.150 --> 02:18:22.910
decision maker will pay for it . Again ,

02:18:23.110 --> 02:18:25.190
remember , 3 locks , user , decision

02:18:25.190 --> 02:18:29.160
maker , buyer . Users

02:18:29.589 --> 02:18:32.929
almost never . have the authority to

02:18:32.929 --> 02:18:35.096
decide what is being purchased . In my

02:18:35.096 --> 02:18:37.889
entire time in the army , I was told

02:18:37.889 --> 02:18:39.945
what boots I would wear . I was told

02:18:39.945 --> 02:18:42.111
what kind of rucksack I would use . It

02:18:42.111 --> 02:18:45.490
didn't matter if I looked on Amazon or

02:18:45.530 --> 02:18:47.419
wherever and found something from

02:18:47.419 --> 02:18:49.929
Patagonia or pick your brand that was

02:18:49.929 --> 02:18:53.400
way better . I couldn't use it . It was

02:18:53.400 --> 02:18:57.280
up to Several echelons higher than

02:18:57.280 --> 02:19:00.519
me to decide what I , the user would

02:19:00.519 --> 02:19:02.959
use and so until you figure out who

02:19:02.959 --> 02:19:05.040
that decision maker is , who has the

02:19:05.040 --> 02:19:08.929
money and authority . To decide how

02:19:09.219 --> 02:19:11.889
funding can or will be allocated to you ,

02:19:12.469 --> 02:19:14.525
it doesn't matter how many users you

02:19:14.525 --> 02:19:17.059
have . And how many users want your

02:19:17.059 --> 02:19:20.139
thing so find the person that can can

02:19:20.139 --> 02:19:23.839
either veto . Or either

02:19:23.839 --> 02:19:27.428
say um . You know users want your thing

02:19:27.428 --> 02:19:29.628
and and veto and say that actually I'm

02:19:29.628 --> 02:19:32.829
not gonna buy that for users or there ,

02:19:32.909 --> 02:19:34.965
there are also instances where users

02:19:34.965 --> 02:19:37.089
may not want it . But the decision

02:19:37.089 --> 02:19:39.033
maker says too bad , I'm buying it

02:19:39.033 --> 02:19:41.256
anyway . You need to find that person .

02:19:42.000 --> 02:19:44.169
If you don't find that person , you

02:19:44.169 --> 02:19:47.809
will be like the 10,000 other companies

02:19:47.809 --> 02:19:49.809
that leave the defense market every

02:19:49.809 --> 02:19:53.589
year . You will fail . Slide

02:19:53.589 --> 02:19:54.589
please .

02:20:00.290 --> 02:20:01.290
All right

02:20:04.320 --> 02:20:06.431
I , I think I , I already , I already

02:20:06.431 --> 02:20:08.589
covered this . Um ,

02:20:11.150 --> 02:20:13.150
The one of the important things and

02:20:13.150 --> 02:20:17.019
just to to be redundant . Talking to

02:20:17.019 --> 02:20:19.540
operational users . is essential

02:20:21.589 --> 02:20:23.811
Talking to decision makers in the field

02:20:23.811 --> 02:20:26.980
is essential . Until you know their

02:20:26.980 --> 02:20:30.309
pain points . And how you can

02:20:30.540 --> 02:20:33.070
narrate your products to address those

02:20:33.070 --> 02:20:35.900
pain points , you're yourself . Bottom

02:20:35.900 --> 02:20:39.849
line , One thing I will tack

02:20:39.849 --> 02:20:42.290
onto this is that , you know , 95% of

02:20:42.290 --> 02:20:44.457
government officials , whether they're

02:20:44.457 --> 02:20:46.679
military or civilian . Do not have your

02:20:46.679 --> 02:20:48.734
authority . Do not have authority to

02:20:48.734 --> 02:20:50.790
buy your product . I , I say again ,

02:20:50.820 --> 02:20:54.230
95% of the government does not have

02:20:54.230 --> 02:20:56.790
authority to buy your solution .

02:20:58.730 --> 02:21:00.730
If they don't have authority to buy

02:21:00.730 --> 02:21:04.059
your solution and you're and and I'm

02:21:04.059 --> 02:21:06.226
guessing you're , you're in business ,

02:21:06.226 --> 02:21:08.170
you're , you're trying to generate

02:21:08.170 --> 02:21:10.281
revenue , if they don't have money to

02:21:10.281 --> 02:21:12.281
buy your solution , everything they

02:21:12.281 --> 02:21:14.940
offer you is an opinion that doesn't

02:21:14.940 --> 02:21:15.940
really matter .

02:21:19.030 --> 02:21:22.719
5% Have money , 5%

02:21:22.919 --> 02:21:25.141
can give you meaningful feedback that's

02:21:25.141 --> 02:21:28.389
actually worth . Telling your engineers

02:21:28.389 --> 02:21:30.509
on how to redesign your products so

02:21:30.509 --> 02:21:33.150
that the government can buy . Slide

02:21:33.150 --> 02:21:36.040
please . Hey Jeff , this is , uh , this

02:21:36.040 --> 02:21:38.160
is Brianman Chilton from AFRL . Hey ,

02:21:38.240 --> 02:21:40.351
just something I wanna kind of , uh ,

02:21:40.519 --> 02:21:42.686
kind of foot stomp based upon what you

02:21:42.686 --> 02:21:44.852
said , you know , going back to number

02:21:44.852 --> 02:21:46.908
2 , you know , don't not knowing who

02:21:46.908 --> 02:21:48.797
your user is and making the super

02:21:48.797 --> 02:21:50.575
sitter people as your , as your

02:21:50.575 --> 02:21:52.630
customers . I think one of the other

02:21:52.630 --> 02:21:54.959
things that we commonly find as , as

02:21:54.959 --> 02:21:57.070
issues with the small businesses that

02:21:57.070 --> 02:21:59.181
we engage with is that . You've got a

02:21:59.181 --> 02:22:01.181
great opportunity when you do get a

02:22:01.181 --> 02:22:03.348
sier sitter . Uh , you get a , you got

02:22:03.348 --> 02:22:05.515
a great opportunity when you , you get

02:22:05.515 --> 02:22:07.570
other opportunities to engage with a

02:22:07.570 --> 02:22:09.681
teapot or somebody with an AFRL . And

02:22:09.681 --> 02:22:11.681
specifically if you're working on a

02:22:11.681 --> 02:22:13.348
sier sitter , this is a great

02:22:13.348 --> 02:22:13.190
opportunity for you to start

02:22:13.190 --> 02:22:15.357
understanding from them where they see

02:22:15.357 --> 02:22:17.357
the pathway , the technologies that

02:22:17.357 --> 02:22:19.523
they're working on , because we have a

02:22:19.523 --> 02:22:21.579
customer that we are supporting from

02:22:21.579 --> 02:22:23.523
AFRL . We are , we are not the end

02:22:23.523 --> 02:22:25.246
customer of a product . We are

02:22:25.246 --> 02:22:27.579
developing capability up to TRL level 6 .

02:22:27.579 --> 02:22:29.746
At the most , and then we transition .

02:22:29.746 --> 02:22:31.801
So everything we're doing inside the

02:22:31.801 --> 02:22:33.746
laboratory is , is from a research

02:22:33.746 --> 02:22:36.259
evolution perspective up to that TRLL 6 ,

02:22:36.570 --> 02:22:38.792
but it's ultimately going to a customer

02:22:38.792 --> 02:22:41.370
need that we have . And so , as we

02:22:41.370 --> 02:22:43.203
think about , I know Jeff talked

02:22:43.203 --> 02:22:45.209
earlier about the strategic , the

02:22:45.209 --> 02:22:47.320
operational , and the tactical levels

02:22:47.320 --> 02:22:49.459
of understanding . Um , you know , I

02:22:49.459 --> 02:22:51.792
will tell you , to be completely honest ,

02:22:51.792 --> 02:22:53.903
not , not every one of our SMEs , but

02:22:53.903 --> 02:22:55.737
our teapots understand what that

02:22:55.737 --> 02:22:57.848
operational and that strategic vision

02:22:57.848 --> 02:23:00.410
is , but in many cases there are those

02:23:00.410 --> 02:23:02.077
that do . So please take that

02:23:02.077 --> 02:23:04.299
opportunity to engage with them at that

02:23:04.299 --> 02:23:06.410
level . Just don't , you know , don't

02:23:06.410 --> 02:23:08.632
let the engagement be . Here's the work

02:23:08.632 --> 02:23:10.799
I'm doing , uh , give me some feedback

02:23:10.799 --> 02:23:12.743
on that work . Use them as another

02:23:12.743 --> 02:23:14.799
vehicle to better understand . Where

02:23:14.799 --> 02:23:16.910
that work that you're supporting them

02:23:16.910 --> 02:23:19.132
on , where it's going to next , or , or

02:23:19.132 --> 02:23:21.354
what is that customer base that they're

02:23:21.354 --> 02:23:23.688
supporting , um , because in many cases ,

02:23:23.688 --> 02:23:25.743
they know , they know what that is ,

02:23:25.759 --> 02:23:27.759
and that can really help you as you

02:23:27.759 --> 02:23:29.870
continue to think about your business

02:23:29.870 --> 02:23:31.592
strategy of where to take that

02:23:31.592 --> 02:23:34.209
technology next . Oh , that , that is

02:23:34.209 --> 02:23:36.098
awesome , Brian . You're , you're

02:23:36.098 --> 02:23:38.431
dropping gold dust on , on these people .

02:23:38.431 --> 02:23:42.419
Um , seriously , I mean , I , you

02:23:42.419 --> 02:23:44.586
may not realize it , but he just saved

02:23:44.586 --> 02:23:47.980
you at least 120 hours of , of customer

02:23:47.980 --> 02:23:50.440
discovery right there , um , and so I ,

02:23:50.490 --> 02:23:52.490
I kind of wanna riff on what , what

02:23:52.490 --> 02:23:56.000
Brian said , um . AFL

02:23:56.000 --> 02:23:58.959
people are fantastic . DARPA people ,

02:23:58.980 --> 02:24:01.080
fantastic . Research lab people ,

02:24:01.209 --> 02:24:04.889
fantastic . Pick your innovation lab in

02:24:04.889 --> 02:24:07.000
whichever organization , those people

02:24:07.000 --> 02:24:08.778
are fantastic . Tech scouts are

02:24:08.778 --> 02:24:10.900
fantastic . They are middlemen .

02:24:12.700 --> 02:24:14.811
They might be your customer , maybe ,

02:24:14.889 --> 02:24:17.860
but largely they're looking to deliver

02:24:17.860 --> 02:24:20.099
something to the to their own customers

02:24:20.099 --> 02:24:22.769
within DOD and so they could be

02:24:22.769 --> 02:24:25.700
fantastic top of funnel people to

02:24:25.700 --> 02:24:27.533
direct you against to direct you

02:24:27.533 --> 02:24:29.367
towards people that are actually

02:24:29.367 --> 02:24:31.367
afflicted by the , the problem that

02:24:31.367 --> 02:24:34.549
you're getting after . But does that ,

02:24:34.660 --> 02:24:36.604
does that rhyme with what you're ,

02:24:36.604 --> 02:24:38.549
you're , you're thinking , Brian ?

02:24:38.860 --> 02:24:40.693
Absolutely , yeah , absolutely .

02:24:43.650 --> 02:24:46.169
Thank you , sir . Um , slide , please .

02:24:49.940 --> 02:24:51.884
We talked about this one as well ,

02:24:51.884 --> 02:24:53.996
really , you know , if I were to , to

02:24:53.996 --> 02:24:56.107
rack and stack this top 10 problems ,

02:24:56.107 --> 02:24:58.969
it'd either be 10 or number 1 because

02:24:58.980 --> 02:25:01.091
this is probably the most important .

02:25:01.091 --> 02:25:02.980
Again , think Wolf of Wall Street

02:25:02.980 --> 02:25:05.147
whenever you go into an interview with

02:25:05.147 --> 02:25:06.924
a customer , whenever you are a

02:25:06.924 --> 02:25:09.036
potential customer , think about what

02:25:09.036 --> 02:25:12.599
is it that they need . What mission are

02:25:12.599 --> 02:25:15.839
they trying to accomplish ? How do they

02:25:15.839 --> 02:25:18.879
measure ? The success of that mission .

02:25:21.339 --> 02:25:23.561
And how much of the needle do I need to

02:25:23.561 --> 02:25:26.070
move until they care ? You know ,

02:25:26.150 --> 02:25:28.206
recently , you know , a couple weeks

02:25:28.206 --> 02:25:30.206
ago I was on a call with a , uh , a

02:25:30.206 --> 02:25:32.389
drone operator , a UAS company , and

02:25:32.389 --> 02:25:35.330
they said something like , oh . You

02:25:35.330 --> 02:25:38.440
know , my , my platform flies flies way

02:25:38.440 --> 02:25:40.849
faster than the competitors , and I

02:25:40.849 --> 02:25:43.540
said , OK , that's awesome . How fast ,

02:25:43.980 --> 02:25:46.280
how much faster does it need to travel

02:25:46.620 --> 02:25:48.780
in order for the defense customer to

02:25:48.780 --> 02:25:52.209
care ? So this is , this could mean two

02:25:52.209 --> 02:25:54.610
things for you . One , finding out the

02:25:54.610 --> 02:25:57.280
threshold of value can tell you , like ,

02:25:57.309 --> 02:26:00.150
holy smokes , I can't achieve this in

02:26:00.240 --> 02:26:02.351
50 years . Maybe the technology isn't

02:26:02.351 --> 02:26:04.407
there , and sometimes the government

02:26:04.407 --> 02:26:06.629
wants things that are science fiction .

02:26:06.660 --> 02:26:08.620
And so if they want 10 from a

02:26:08.620 --> 02:26:10.870
technology that that doesn't exist ,

02:26:11.259 --> 02:26:13.780
it's better for you to know this now of

02:26:13.780 --> 02:26:16.179
what threshold of value they want so

02:26:16.179 --> 02:26:18.012
you can just move on to the next

02:26:18.012 --> 02:26:20.620
potential customer or , and I've also

02:26:20.620 --> 02:26:23.750
seen this as well . Where you might

02:26:23.750 --> 02:26:26.830
have a 10X solution , and they may only

02:26:26.830 --> 02:26:28.709
care about having 2X value .

02:26:30.839 --> 02:26:32.860
I'll say that again , they may want

02:26:33.000 --> 02:26:35.056
something far less than what you can

02:26:35.056 --> 02:26:37.480
deliver and so you can immediately go

02:26:37.480 --> 02:26:39.536
back to your engineering or your dev

02:26:39.536 --> 02:26:41.536
team and say , hey , like , let's ,

02:26:41.559 --> 02:26:43.919
let's , you know , polish up this bell

02:26:43.919 --> 02:26:46.429
or whistle or feature . Because we

02:26:46.429 --> 02:26:48.469
don't need to be any better in this

02:26:48.469 --> 02:26:51.740
other , in this other area . Slide

02:26:51.740 --> 02:26:52.740
please .

02:26:55.750 --> 02:26:57.889
This is one that I hear almost

02:26:57.900 --> 02:26:59.160
regularly , um .

02:27:07.790 --> 02:27:10.040
Decision when a decision maker wants

02:27:10.040 --> 02:27:12.318
your thing and they want it bad enough ,

02:27:12.639 --> 02:27:16.290
they will find a way . To procure it .

02:27:20.860 --> 02:27:23.459
Sure , contracting officers , so we

02:27:23.459 --> 02:27:25.669
talked about before , 95% of the force

02:27:25.669 --> 02:27:27.669
can't buy your thing . They're just

02:27:27.669 --> 02:27:29.725
offering opinions . It's something ,

02:27:29.725 --> 02:27:31.780
and then of the remaining 5% , there

02:27:31.780 --> 02:27:33.891
are requirements people and there are

02:27:33.891 --> 02:27:37.839
contracting officers . Not

02:27:37.839 --> 02:27:40.440
all contracting officers are able to do

02:27:40.440 --> 02:27:43.719
far-based and non-f based things and so

02:27:43.719 --> 02:27:45.941
they may not know how to do your , uh ,

02:27:45.941 --> 02:27:47.997
a contract vehicle or use a color of

02:27:47.997 --> 02:27:51.040
money that is , is , is what your your

02:27:51.040 --> 02:27:55.000
platform needs . But a decision maker

02:27:55.509 --> 02:27:57.620
will always be able to find the right

02:27:57.620 --> 02:27:59.919
contracting officer or . Figure out a

02:27:59.919 --> 02:28:02.240
loophole or a way to bypass things to

02:28:02.240 --> 02:28:04.462
purchase your product if you're getting

02:28:04.462 --> 02:28:06.407
cold signals from your contracting

02:28:06.407 --> 02:28:08.129
officer , that's a fantastic .

02:28:08.629 --> 02:28:10.796
Opportunity for your decision maker to

02:28:10.796 --> 02:28:12.907
weigh in to to help you out and maybe

02:28:12.907 --> 02:28:14.962
find a different contracting officer

02:28:14.962 --> 02:28:16.849
and if they won't , well , your

02:28:16.849 --> 02:28:18.960
decision maker doesn't really care as

02:28:18.960 --> 02:28:20.905
much as you thought they did . You

02:28:20.905 --> 02:28:23.071
haven't hit on a defense priority that

02:28:23.071 --> 02:28:25.238
matters enough . Slide please . I know

02:28:25.238 --> 02:28:25.160
we're running out of time .

02:28:31.200 --> 02:28:33.422
There's so many different facets of the

02:28:33.422 --> 02:28:35.422
defense sector . I've , I've talked

02:28:35.422 --> 02:28:37.422
about colors of money . Many of you

02:28:37.422 --> 02:28:39.644
have already bumped into this , whether

02:28:39.644 --> 02:28:41.756
it's operations and , and maintenance

02:28:41.756 --> 02:28:43.867
or procurement or Milpers or Milon or

02:28:43.867 --> 02:28:47.750
RDT&E , um , so many acronym soup

02:28:47.750 --> 02:28:49.806
of contracting authorities , whether

02:28:49.806 --> 02:28:52.559
it's OTA , IDIQ , FAR , um .

02:28:53.389 --> 02:28:55.790
Uh , you know , cost plus , you know ,

02:28:55.910 --> 02:28:58.021
all these different terms . You don't

02:28:58.021 --> 02:29:00.132
need to be an expert in all of them .

02:29:00.132 --> 02:29:01.966
You do need to know enough to be

02:29:01.966 --> 02:29:04.132
dangerous so that when , yeah , you're

02:29:04.132 --> 02:29:06.354
blowing minds , you , you're absolutely

02:29:06.354 --> 02:29:08.410
right . There's just so much there .

02:29:08.410 --> 02:29:10.354
You need to be familiar enough and

02:29:10.354 --> 02:29:12.410
Andreessen had a pretty good article

02:29:12.410 --> 02:29:14.632
that came out a couple weeks ago , um ,

02:29:14.632 --> 02:29:16.849
on just high level contracting 101 .

02:29:16.889 --> 02:29:19.056
It's called Defense Contracting 101 if

02:29:19.056 --> 02:29:21.167
you wanna Google it , and that's from

02:29:21.167 --> 02:29:24.610
Andreessen Horowitz . Um , You just

02:29:24.610 --> 02:29:26.910
need to know enough about potential

02:29:27.570 --> 02:29:30.990
contracts or different types of funding

02:29:30.990 --> 02:29:34.259
that match your product . So that you

02:29:34.259 --> 02:29:36.780
can ask decision makers that want your

02:29:36.780 --> 02:29:40.679
solution . Which vehicle is best for

02:29:40.730 --> 02:29:43.379
for them to procure your product and so

02:29:43.379 --> 02:29:45.601
you can carry that conversation over to

02:29:45.601 --> 02:29:47.601
contracting officers and it doesn't

02:29:47.601 --> 02:29:49.712
need to be a declarative conversation

02:29:49.712 --> 02:29:51.879
because we don't expect nobody expects

02:29:51.879 --> 02:29:54.046
you to become an expert saying like oh

02:29:54.046 --> 02:29:57.440
I need to use an IDIQ with proc funding

02:29:57.580 --> 02:30:00.179
or whatever it might be . You just need

02:30:00.179 --> 02:30:02.000
to be armed well enough to ask

02:30:02.000 --> 02:30:04.820
questions . So enough situational

02:30:04.820 --> 02:30:06.487
awareness , enough background

02:30:06.487 --> 02:30:08.598
information to ask questions that you

02:30:08.598 --> 02:30:10.598
at least know what you don't know .

02:30:11.559 --> 02:30:12.559
Side please .

02:30:18.679 --> 02:30:20.623
Oh man , I can't tell you how many

02:30:20.623 --> 02:30:22.790
times I've heard this one . Luke , you

02:30:22.790 --> 02:30:24.790
probably engaged with this multiple

02:30:24.790 --> 02:30:26.901
times yourself . You will kill , no ,

02:30:26.901 --> 02:30:28.790
no , no , your , your engineering

02:30:28.790 --> 02:30:32.160
department . will stage an

02:30:32.160 --> 02:30:35.459
uprising if you try to create bespoke

02:30:35.459 --> 02:30:37.459
products for every single potential

02:30:37.459 --> 02:30:40.709
defense customer . If you talk to an

02:30:40.709 --> 02:30:43.240
Air Force customer that wants a drone ,

02:30:43.599 --> 02:30:45.877
I'll just use drone as an example here ,

02:30:46.160 --> 02:30:48.327
and the Air Force customer wants it to

02:30:48.327 --> 02:30:51.259
fly farther . So it needs to cover more

02:30:51.259 --> 02:30:53.315
distance . Talk to the Marines . The

02:30:53.315 --> 02:30:55.203
Marines needed to carry , carry a

02:30:55.203 --> 02:30:58.980
heavier payload . You talk to um . You

02:30:58.980 --> 02:31:01.091
know , the Navy and the Navy needs it

02:31:01.091 --> 02:31:03.509
to fly faster . If you try to have your

02:31:03.509 --> 02:31:05.453
engineering team solve each one of

02:31:05.453 --> 02:31:07.620
these things for a bespoke product for

02:31:07.620 --> 02:31:09.898
every single customer , you're screwed .

02:31:10.389 --> 02:31:12.990
Because you need to get to a pain point

02:31:12.990 --> 02:31:14.879
again with defense priorities and

02:31:14.879 --> 02:31:17.740
understanding what the mission is . And

02:31:17.740 --> 02:31:20.160
know that the mission is big enough ,

02:31:20.780 --> 02:31:23.139
uh , of , of a , of an area where you

02:31:23.139 --> 02:31:25.028
can solve it , so you can sell to

02:31:25.028 --> 02:31:26.917
multiple people selling different

02:31:26.917 --> 02:31:28.750
versions of your product to many

02:31:28.750 --> 02:31:30.695
different people is not the way to

02:31:30.695 --> 02:31:32.806
scale . It's the best way to run your

02:31:32.806 --> 02:31:35.320
company into the ground . Slide please .

02:31:37.790 --> 02:31:41.530
No commercial traction , um . You know

02:31:41.530 --> 02:31:43.641
this is more for dual use if you have

02:31:43.641 --> 02:31:45.474
commercial traction and you're a

02:31:45.474 --> 02:31:47.530
company that hasn't sold the defense

02:31:47.530 --> 02:31:49.752
before , you can at least leverage your

02:31:49.752 --> 02:31:51.919
your sales and the revenue that you've

02:31:51.919 --> 02:31:53.919
generated on the commercial side to

02:31:53.919 --> 02:31:56.086
demonstrate that you're serious , that

02:31:56.086 --> 02:31:58.252
you will stay in business , that , you

02:31:58.252 --> 02:32:00.530
know , the government has some sort of .

02:32:00.530 --> 02:32:02.697
Reasonable probability that you're not

02:32:02.697 --> 02:32:04.919
going to go out of business in 5 months

02:32:04.919 --> 02:32:07.086
after signing a contract with them and

02:32:07.086 --> 02:32:09.197
so the extent that you can talk about

02:32:09.197 --> 02:32:11.419
your commercial customers in a way that

02:32:11.419 --> 02:32:13.308
even if you don't have history of

02:32:13.308 --> 02:32:15.363
performance with the government like

02:32:15.363 --> 02:32:17.030
that that can be a meaningful

02:32:17.030 --> 02:32:20.570
conversation slide . Defense market

02:32:20.570 --> 02:32:23.969
ROI is insufficient , so I know of a

02:32:23.969 --> 02:32:26.230
couple companies where they actually

02:32:26.230 --> 02:32:29.639
penetrated and scaled within DOD . Only

02:32:29.639 --> 02:32:32.080
to realize that the TA that that Sally

02:32:32.080 --> 02:32:34.302
talked about the total available market

02:32:34.302 --> 02:32:37.490
within the DOD was so minuscule . And

02:32:37.490 --> 02:32:40.490
the ROI within the defense space was so

02:32:40.490 --> 02:32:42.712
small that they would make , you know ,

02:32:42.769 --> 02:32:45.290
put $100 into selling to the government

02:32:45.290 --> 02:32:48.370
and they might get $200 out as opposed

02:32:48.370 --> 02:32:51.370
to the commercial market where put $100

02:32:51.370 --> 02:32:54.410
in and you get $1000 out , you're just

02:32:54.410 --> 02:32:56.188
wasting money and time with the

02:32:56.188 --> 02:32:58.660
government . To get a good sense of

02:32:58.660 --> 02:33:00.910
what the ROI is from the defense base

02:33:01.129 --> 02:33:03.129
and what the TAM is before going in

02:33:03.580 --> 02:33:05.802
because you know the two companies that

02:33:05.802 --> 02:33:08.024
I mentioned , they had success with the

02:33:08.024 --> 02:33:10.136
government and they could close their

02:33:10.136 --> 02:33:12.358
federal federal arm because they , they

02:33:12.358 --> 02:33:14.247
could allocate those resources to

02:33:14.247 --> 02:33:16.940
another sector and get way more , way

02:33:16.940 --> 02:33:20.870
more return . Um , alright , well ,

02:33:21.000 --> 02:33:23.222
slide please , and then we'll just wrap

02:33:23.222 --> 02:33:25.278
this up . Sorry I'm running a little

02:33:25.278 --> 02:33:28.870
over . So this is what , you know , uh .

02:33:29.660 --> 02:33:31.740
A quick snapshot of all of them

02:33:31.740 --> 02:33:35.219
together , um , if you wanna learn more

02:33:35.219 --> 02:33:37.441
slide please , I , I just pushed a book

02:33:37.441 --> 02:33:39.608
out in August . This is geared towards

02:33:39.608 --> 02:33:41.941
the class that I teach with Steve Blank ,

02:33:41.941 --> 02:33:44.052
um , a lot . I go into all this stuff

02:33:44.052 --> 02:33:46.163
and , and a lot deeper if you wanna ,

02:33:46.179 --> 02:33:48.512
you know , take a look at the book . Um ,

02:33:48.512 --> 02:33:51.219
I'm currently writing the , the book

02:33:51.219 --> 02:33:54.219
for companies , so stay tuned on , on

02:33:54.219 --> 02:33:56.275
that . It should be available in the

02:33:56.275 --> 02:33:58.370
next . God willing , the next couple

02:33:58.370 --> 02:34:01.490
months , um , with that , I don't know

02:34:01.490 --> 02:34:03.809
that I have time for questions slide

02:34:03.809 --> 02:34:06.519
please . Um , Jeff , there's , there's

02:34:06.519 --> 02:34:08.630
2 , there's 2 questions up there . Do

02:34:08.630 --> 02:34:10.797
you just wanna look at them real quick

02:34:10.797 --> 02:34:12.963
to see if you , you just have a couple

02:34:12.963 --> 02:34:12.959
minutes on them ? Yeah , yeah ,

02:34:13.080 --> 02:34:15.040
absolutely , um , and then if you

02:34:15.040 --> 02:34:17.440
wouldn't mind just slide one more time

02:34:17.440 --> 02:34:19.440
while I'm , while I'm answering the

02:34:19.440 --> 02:34:21.607
questions , um , so if you don't wanna

02:34:21.607 --> 02:34:23.440
spend money on the book , I do a

02:34:23.440 --> 02:34:25.551
newsletter blog , you can scan that ,

02:34:25.551 --> 02:34:27.607
and my email address is there if you

02:34:27.607 --> 02:34:30.009
wanna reach out as well , um . OK ,

02:34:30.129 --> 02:34:32.129
Luke , did you have any questions ?

02:34:32.129 --> 02:34:34.407
What , oh , and the Q&A , not the chat ,

02:34:34.407 --> 02:34:37.110
right ? Yes , sorry about that . Yeah ,

02:34:37.190 --> 02:34:39.509
no problem , Marissa , good to see you

02:34:39.509 --> 02:34:43.139
again , um . Follow up on knowing your

02:34:43.139 --> 02:34:46.480
user . How do we best convey the

02:34:46.480 --> 02:34:49.360
potential of our air quotes product to

02:34:49.360 --> 02:34:51.700
the user before the product is well

02:34:51.700 --> 02:34:55.339
developed , i.e. , starting in SBIR

02:34:55.339 --> 02:34:57.799
phase one . We have run into the

02:34:57.799 --> 02:34:59.910
problem of reviewing the defense need

02:34:59.910 --> 02:35:01.743
and priority and reaching out to

02:35:01.743 --> 02:35:03.910
potential users . The users tell us to

02:35:03.910 --> 02:35:06.188
come back when the TRL level is higher .

02:35:06.188 --> 02:35:08.355
When we come back with a higher TRL or

02:35:08.355 --> 02:35:10.410
receive feedback that we should have

02:35:10.410 --> 02:35:12.466
reached out earlier , what is a good

02:35:12.466 --> 02:35:14.521
middle ground ? Of when to reach out

02:35:14.521 --> 02:35:16.521
and get feedback during the R and D

02:35:16.521 --> 02:35:19.290
phases . Great question

02:35:20.339 --> 02:35:23.629
Thank you . Um , I think reaching out

02:35:23.629 --> 02:35:26.190
early and often is , is the best

02:35:26.190 --> 02:35:28.230
approach . I mean that that kind of

02:35:28.230 --> 02:35:30.349
sounds like a non-answer , but if

02:35:30.349 --> 02:35:32.549
you're , if you're constantly , let me

02:35:32.549 --> 02:35:34.438
take a step back , doing customer

02:35:34.438 --> 02:35:36.382
discovery , getting a sense of who

02:35:36.382 --> 02:35:39.110
wants what when , hugely helpful . One

02:35:39.110 --> 02:35:40.999
of the things that I've seen with

02:35:40.999 --> 02:35:44.139
companies . That has been extremely

02:35:44.519 --> 02:35:47.919
helpful to them is , hey , Jim , we

02:35:47.919 --> 02:35:51.879
spoke last week , um . My product

02:35:51.879 --> 02:35:55.120
is one line since our discussion I've

02:35:55.120 --> 02:35:59.070
engaged with , you know . 50

02:35:59.370 --> 02:36:02.169
pilots or whatever the whatever the job

02:36:02.169 --> 02:36:04.200
titles are that rhyme with the

02:36:04.200 --> 02:36:06.422
conversation that you had with Jim just

02:36:06.422 --> 02:36:08.422
to give him or her an update and so

02:36:08.422 --> 02:36:10.700
it's not like you're you're constantly ,

02:36:10.700 --> 02:36:12.811
you know , maybe a monthly cadence of

02:36:12.811 --> 02:36:15.250
like 4 lines pushing them information

02:36:15.250 --> 02:36:18.129
about where you are in your process to

02:36:18.129 --> 02:36:22.030
constantly give them the . Not only

02:36:22.030 --> 02:36:24.700
a sense of where you are now but also

02:36:24.709 --> 02:36:28.070
remind them that maybe it's that your

02:36:28.070 --> 02:36:30.769
solution is mature enough or you can

02:36:31.589 --> 02:36:33.922
now begin to to do a contract with them ,

02:36:34.150 --> 02:36:36.150
you know , that's , you know , high

02:36:36.150 --> 02:36:38.206
level the the best way , um , and so

02:36:38.206 --> 02:36:40.317
capturing things like Marissa says in

02:36:40.317 --> 02:36:42.594
the chat like what is your current TRL .

02:36:43.480 --> 02:36:46.129
Um , maybe you just did a , a

02:36:46.129 --> 02:36:48.450
demonstration or a field exercise and

02:36:48.450 --> 02:36:51.009
so you have , um , a field operations

02:36:51.009 --> 02:36:54.910
assessment that you can . Link or uh

02:36:54.910 --> 02:36:57.040
attached to the email , but just keep

02:36:57.040 --> 02:36:59.559
people updated keep people updated and

02:36:59.559 --> 02:37:01.503
so you reach out early , keep them

02:37:01.503 --> 02:37:03.559
updated , and then that keeps things

02:37:03.559 --> 02:37:05.503
warm for when something does pop .

02:37:05.503 --> 02:37:07.726
That's , I , I , I realized , Marissa ,

02:37:07.726 --> 02:37:09.892
we can go into that a lot deeper , but

02:37:09.959 --> 02:37:12.292
uh realizing that I'm running over , um ,

02:37:12.292 --> 02:37:14.559
I'm , I'm gonna leave it at that . Um ,

02:37:14.589 --> 02:37:16.669
we're currently working , second

02:37:16.669 --> 02:37:18.891
question , we're currently working on a

02:37:18.891 --> 02:37:21.058
direct to phase two and developing our

02:37:21.058 --> 02:37:23.080
technology for a program we can't .

02:37:23.790 --> 02:37:27.169
Much We can't get much visibility into

02:37:27.500 --> 02:37:29.556
because it is being classified . Any

02:37:29.556 --> 02:37:31.611
suggestions on how you can work with

02:37:31.611 --> 02:37:33.722
Tapox and what they're describing for

02:37:33.722 --> 02:37:35.889
understanding how to sell our pen that

02:37:35.889 --> 02:37:37.944
is part of a larger unknown office .

02:37:37.944 --> 02:37:40.370
Yeah , so whenever I , I , I bump into

02:37:40.370 --> 02:37:43.900
clearance . And , and as an aside , I

02:37:43.900 --> 02:37:46.011
think the government's done a , a far

02:37:46.011 --> 02:37:48.980
better job at , at improving your FCL

02:37:48.980 --> 02:37:51.147
and ability to get clearance and , and

02:37:51.147 --> 02:37:53.202
have that conversation with people ,

02:37:53.202 --> 02:37:55.536
especially over the last 24 months . Um ,

02:37:55.790 --> 02:37:58.068
so less of an issue than it was before .

02:37:58.299 --> 02:38:00.521
One thing that you can do when you come

02:38:00.521 --> 02:38:02.577
into a classified environment is ask

02:38:02.577 --> 02:38:04.799
them when they say , hey , I can't talk

02:38:04.799 --> 02:38:06.799
about it , it's classified . If you

02:38:06.799 --> 02:38:08.077
start to think about .

02:38:10.179 --> 02:38:12.900
Commercial proxies or analogs for your

02:38:12.900 --> 02:38:15.169
product before going into the

02:38:15.169 --> 02:38:17.058
conversation , that is incredibly

02:38:17.058 --> 02:38:20.280
helpful . What do I mean by this ? One

02:38:20.280 --> 02:38:22.447
company that I was engaged with , um ,

02:38:22.889 --> 02:38:26.379
I was working with the NSA . And the

02:38:26.410 --> 02:38:28.632
the the the company was developing some

02:38:28.632 --> 02:38:32.089
cyber um security thing and the

02:38:32.089 --> 02:38:34.790
company was able to have an

02:38:35.049 --> 02:38:38.209
unclass conversation and get deep

02:38:38.209 --> 02:38:41.370
insights from the NSA people by talking

02:38:41.370 --> 02:38:43.530
about catfishing on Facebook .

02:38:46.059 --> 02:38:47.889
The NSA was able to talk about

02:38:47.889 --> 02:38:49.820
catfishing on Facebook in a very

02:38:49.820 --> 02:38:51.839
open-ended way and talk about the

02:38:52.139 --> 02:38:56.139
things . You know that the catfishers

02:38:56.139 --> 02:38:58.660
or the the fake accounts or whatever on

02:38:58.660 --> 02:39:01.089
Facebook and how they were exploiting

02:39:01.089 --> 02:39:04.379
Facebook to to cause a problem in a way

02:39:04.379 --> 02:39:07.339
that was unclassified that the company

02:39:07.339 --> 02:39:09.540
was able to ask questions about their

02:39:09.540 --> 02:39:11.429
product and how it would apply to

02:39:11.429 --> 02:39:14.139
Facebook and catfishing as a mechanism

02:39:14.139 --> 02:39:16.083
to get around the , the classified

02:39:16.083 --> 02:39:18.306
environment and so the , the takeaway I

02:39:18.306 --> 02:39:21.750
think for for you um is think about

02:39:21.750 --> 02:39:24.129
your product , think about . The

02:39:24.129 --> 02:39:26.351
defense priority or the defense mission

02:39:26.351 --> 02:39:29.250
that you're adding value to and whether

02:39:29.250 --> 02:39:31.709
there is a commercial mission .

02:39:33.330 --> 02:39:35.274
That you could use it as an analog

02:39:35.274 --> 02:39:37.163
should the classified environment

02:39:37.163 --> 02:39:39.052
restricted conversation come up .

02:39:41.320 --> 02:39:43.487
Hey Jeff , that's great . I appreciate

02:39:43.487 --> 02:39:45.740
it . I know we'll go ahead and and

02:39:45.830 --> 02:39:47.774
press into the next one , but just

02:39:47.774 --> 02:39:49.886
wanted to point out , you know , from

02:39:49.886 --> 02:39:51.997
the classification standpoint , we've

02:39:51.997 --> 02:39:53.997
tried to lean forward with security

02:39:53.997 --> 02:39:55.830
office using the Defense Defense

02:39:55.830 --> 02:39:58.052
Enhanced Security Program . If a person

02:39:58.052 --> 02:39:59.941
has , you know , a clearance at a

02:39:59.941 --> 02:40:02.030
certain level , we can work with the

02:40:02.030 --> 02:40:04.252
team and they can get into a little bit

02:40:04.252 --> 02:40:06.419
more discussion from that standpoint .

02:40:06.419 --> 02:40:08.474
We continue to try to find ways like

02:40:08.474 --> 02:40:10.419
that to discuss , but yeah , great

02:40:10.419 --> 02:40:12.474
points . The other thing I'd like to

02:40:12.474 --> 02:40:14.530
mention too , with the Cibber sitter

02:40:14.530 --> 02:40:16.419
technology , it used to always be

02:40:16.419 --> 02:40:18.586
focused on , oh man , Cibber phase 3 ,

02:40:18.586 --> 02:40:20.808
that's the end , program a record , but

02:40:20.808 --> 02:40:22.697
understand . I did a panel with a

02:40:22.697 --> 02:40:24.586
company that in essence they were

02:40:24.586 --> 02:40:27.259
getting cyber phase 1s and phase 2 ,

02:40:27.480 --> 02:40:30.559
and they were able to use that funding

02:40:30.839 --> 02:40:32.950
and use commercial applications of it

02:40:32.950 --> 02:40:35.519
and kind of further that technology and

02:40:35.519 --> 02:40:37.852
then it was brought up into the program .

02:40:37.884 --> 02:40:40.535
Through another defense program , so ,

02:40:40.695 --> 02:40:42.735
so understand really when you're

02:40:42.735 --> 02:40:44.679
getting that cyber phase funding ,

02:40:44.679 --> 02:40:46.679
there's ways , and that's why I was

02:40:46.679 --> 02:40:48.735
like , man , why are they so worried

02:40:48.735 --> 02:40:50.957
about sometimes the commercialization ?

02:40:50.957 --> 02:40:53.179
It's because of that they wanna enhance

02:40:53.179 --> 02:40:55.513
or further that technology and you know ,

02:40:55.513 --> 02:40:57.679
just don't be all caught up on , hey ,

02:40:57.679 --> 02:40:59.846
I , it's not successful , it's if it's

02:40:59.846 --> 02:41:02.068
not a program or record , if it's not a

02:41:02.068 --> 02:41:04.124
super phase 3 , understand . You can

02:41:04.124 --> 02:41:06.124
push that technology and it may get

02:41:06.124 --> 02:41:07.791
taken up through , you know ,

02:41:07.791 --> 02:41:10.124
subcontractors , commercial marketplace ,

02:41:10.124 --> 02:41:12.346
so I understand that . So great , thank

02:41:12.346 --> 02:41:14.402
you for your time , Jeff . I greatly

02:41:14.402 --> 02:41:16.624
appreciate it . Well , thank you . Uh ,

02:41:16.624 --> 02:41:19.419
111 thing to just tag on , um , you've

02:41:19.419 --> 02:41:21.586
got some , some powerful people in the

02:41:21.586 --> 02:41:23.586
room with lots of knowledge between

02:41:23.586 --> 02:41:25.752
their ears . Cibber sitter is probably

02:41:25.752 --> 02:41:28.019
the best thing for getting sole source

02:41:28.019 --> 02:41:30.440
authority . Um , if you don't know what

02:41:30.440 --> 02:41:32.730
that is , make sure you ask Luke or

02:41:32.730 --> 02:41:35.769
Brian or Jim , um , because leveraging

02:41:35.769 --> 02:41:38.410
that is , is , is an important way to ,

02:41:38.530 --> 02:41:42.410
to gain scale in the duty . Great ,

02:41:42.959 --> 02:41:45.237
thanks , Jeff . I really appreciate it .

02:41:45.540 --> 02:41:47.940
I'll go ahead and , uh , we'll , great ,

02:41:48.040 --> 02:41:50.262
thank you . We'll go ahead and close it

02:41:50.262 --> 02:41:51.984
out . So characteristics of an

02:41:51.984 --> 02:41:53.929
effective sale call , sales call ,

02:41:54.259 --> 02:41:56.339
we'll have , uh , Pete K , uh , he

02:41:56.339 --> 02:41:58.379
spent 20 years with Fortune 20

02:41:58.379 --> 02:42:00.268
companies helping create and grow

02:42:00.268 --> 02:42:02.212
businesses ranging in size from 10

02:42:02.212 --> 02:42:04.709
million to 3 billion . For the last 35

02:42:04.709 --> 02:42:06.765
years , he's consulted with small to

02:42:06.765 --> 02:42:08.709
mid-sized companies , helping them

02:42:08.709 --> 02:42:10.598
create and implement a culture of

02:42:10.598 --> 02:42:12.765
strategic management . Today he spends

02:42:12.765 --> 02:42:14.265
most of the time mentoring

02:42:14.265 --> 02:42:16.820
entrepreneurial businesses throughout

02:42:16.820 --> 02:42:19.980
Ohio , Indiana . One of the big things

02:42:19.980 --> 02:42:22.769
that Pete does is he was part of the

02:42:22.769 --> 02:42:24.602
United States Air Force Material

02:42:24.602 --> 02:42:26.910
Command Civic Leaders program . And was

02:42:26.910 --> 02:42:29.820
a longtime chair of the program , which

02:42:29.820 --> 02:42:33.339
is really instrumental for the defense

02:42:33.339 --> 02:42:35.870
industry and helping to work with , um ,

02:42:36.179 --> 02:42:38.346
you know , especially , you know , Air

02:42:38.346 --> 02:42:40.457
Force Material Command and and Wright

02:42:40.457 --> 02:42:42.679
Patterson Air Force Bases and the other

02:42:42.679 --> 02:42:44.790
locations . I'll go ahead and kick it

02:42:44.790 --> 02:42:46.790
over to you , Pete . OK , thank you

02:42:46.790 --> 02:42:49.219
very much . Good afternoon to you , and

02:42:49.500 --> 02:42:51.556
I'll try to keep this as brief as we

02:42:51.556 --> 02:42:53.778
can . I know it's getting a little late

02:42:53.778 --> 02:42:55.722
in the afternoon . But I'd like to

02:42:55.722 --> 02:42:58.299
start by a big thanks to Jim Mason

02:42:58.299 --> 02:43:01.259
Brink . You may not know it , but he's ,

02:43:01.339 --> 02:43:04.419
he's the person behind these WBI

02:43:04.419 --> 02:43:06.586
colliders , and he makes them come off

02:43:06.879 --> 02:43:08.990
without a hitch . I've been listening

02:43:08.990 --> 02:43:11.379
to him now for several years and can

02:43:11.379 --> 02:43:13.980
tell you that those entrepreneurs who

02:43:13.980 --> 02:43:16.459
have listened to these are far ahead of

02:43:16.459 --> 02:43:18.681
those that have not listened to them if

02:43:18.681 --> 02:43:21.620
they want to deal with the Air Force or

02:43:21.620 --> 02:43:24.509
anywhere else , quite frankly . And I'd

02:43:24.509 --> 02:43:26.849
also like to add a little something to

02:43:26.849 --> 02:43:29.530
what Luke Schultz talked about earlier

02:43:29.790 --> 02:43:32.012
in terms of getting a hold of people in

02:43:32.012 --> 02:43:35.389
the Air Force , and I'll use LCMC . A

02:43:35.389 --> 02:43:37.389
few years ago I was introduced to a

02:43:37.389 --> 02:43:40.269
company that was trying to make a

02:43:40.269 --> 02:43:43.709
better simulator , aircraft simulator .

02:43:44.169 --> 02:43:46.280
And I've talked to them for a while .

02:43:46.290 --> 02:43:48.512
I've told them what they needed to do ,

02:43:48.512 --> 02:43:50.679
and they said they had interest in the

02:43:50.679 --> 02:43:52.679
military , and I said , Well , when

02:43:52.679 --> 02:43:54.790
your product gets along , get back to

02:43:54.790 --> 02:43:56.901
me . Well , they came back to me this

02:43:56.901 --> 02:43:58.623
year , and they've developed a

02:43:58.623 --> 02:44:00.734
simulator that does something that no

02:44:00.734 --> 02:44:02.957
Air Force simulator can do and probably

02:44:02.957 --> 02:44:05.179
has great potential for the Air Force .

02:44:05.610 --> 02:44:07.777
And so I said , Well , have you talked

02:44:07.777 --> 02:44:09.943
to anybody in the Air Force ? And they

02:44:09.943 --> 02:44:11.999
said , no . I said , your first step

02:44:11.999 --> 02:44:14.166
needs to be to talk to somebody in the

02:44:14.166 --> 02:44:16.388
Air Force . Find out what the Air Force

02:44:16.388 --> 02:44:18.639
thinks of your idea and how you need to

02:44:18.639 --> 02:44:20.839
perfect that idea to be of potential

02:44:20.839 --> 02:44:23.769
value . And so he said , Can you help

02:44:23.769 --> 02:44:26.969
me ? So I went online and I looked up

02:44:26.969 --> 02:44:30.250
Air Force simulators and lo and behold

02:44:30.250 --> 02:44:33.129
found out that simulators are run by a

02:44:33.129 --> 02:44:36.690
subset of LCMC . And digging a little

02:44:36.690 --> 02:44:39.690
bit deeper and finding that website , I

02:44:39.690 --> 02:44:42.759
found a few names . Sent an email to

02:44:42.759 --> 02:44:44.648
one of the names listed there , a

02:44:44.648 --> 02:44:46.815
colonel , and it took me a few weeks ,

02:44:46.879 --> 02:44:49.389
but I finally got a response , and he's

02:44:49.389 --> 02:44:52.360
made a direct connection to somebody in

02:44:52.360 --> 02:44:55.679
that organization that can help us . So

02:44:55.679 --> 02:44:58.440
what what was talked about earlier by

02:44:58.440 --> 02:45:00.799
Luke in terms of getting a hold of

02:45:00.799 --> 02:45:03.525
people in the Air Force . Such as LCMC

02:45:03.844 --> 02:45:06.084
makes a lot of sense . Go do a little

02:45:06.084 --> 02:45:08.195
homework and you'll find out where to

02:45:08.195 --> 02:45:10.417
go . And if you can't get any further ,

02:45:10.924 --> 02:45:13.125
contact somebody in the small business

02:45:13.125 --> 02:45:15.924
organization at AFMC and they'll help

02:45:15.924 --> 02:45:18.485
you make a connection as appropriate .

02:45:19.360 --> 02:45:22.759
Now all the speakers who whom you've

02:45:22.759 --> 02:45:26.110
listened to today have talked about

02:45:26.120 --> 02:45:29.980
problem and solution and understanding

02:45:29.980 --> 02:45:33.070
the customer . And the customer's

02:45:33.070 --> 02:45:36.719
problem being key to being effective

02:45:37.019 --> 02:45:39.459
to selling to the Air Force or anybody

02:45:39.459 --> 02:45:42.900
for that sake . And so I'm going to do

02:45:42.900 --> 02:45:44.940
the same thing and as we talk about

02:45:44.940 --> 02:45:46.996
selling , you're going to hear those

02:45:46.996 --> 02:45:49.089
words repeated , understanding the

02:45:49.089 --> 02:45:51.900
customer problem problem and being sure

02:45:51.900 --> 02:45:54.067
that what you're offering the customer

02:45:54.299 --> 02:45:56.929
is a solution to that problem .

02:45:58.250 --> 02:46:01.490
So as we get started , Probably it's a

02:46:01.490 --> 02:46:03.700
good idea to define what selling is .

02:46:04.530 --> 02:46:08.500
Slide please . Oxford

02:46:08.500 --> 02:46:11.129
Dictionary has 3 definitions slide .

02:46:12.139 --> 02:46:14.580
The first is to give or hand something

02:46:14.860 --> 02:46:17.700
in exchange for money that's been

02:46:17.700 --> 02:46:19.700
around forever . We're all familiar

02:46:19.700 --> 02:46:22.799
with that . Slide please . The second

02:46:22.799 --> 02:46:24.700
one is to persuade someone of the

02:46:24.700 --> 02:46:27.059
merits of something , and if you think

02:46:27.059 --> 02:46:29.580
about being an entrepreneur , you're

02:46:29.580 --> 02:46:32.339
forever trying to convince somebody to

02:46:32.339 --> 02:46:34.740
do something for you . And the third

02:46:34.740 --> 02:46:36.780
one , which we'll put up , and then

02:46:36.780 --> 02:46:38.919
hopefully you'll forget it forever

02:46:38.919 --> 02:46:42.419
slide please , is to trick or deceive

02:46:42.419 --> 02:46:45.000
somebody , some , some , someone .

02:46:45.259 --> 02:46:47.820
That's not something we want to do . So

02:46:47.820 --> 02:46:50.690
let's move on from that one . Slide ,

02:46:50.780 --> 02:46:54.019
please . However , an entrepreneur has

02:46:54.019 --> 02:46:57.070
a very , very different and more

02:46:57.070 --> 02:46:59.870
complex definition for selling slide .

02:47:01.339 --> 02:47:03.700
Persuading somebody to take a desired

02:47:03.700 --> 02:47:05.679
action . Slide .

02:47:07.469 --> 02:47:09.830
Persuading somebody of the merits of

02:47:09.830 --> 02:47:13.290
something . And think about that .

02:47:13.440 --> 02:47:15.662
Almost all your time is spent trying to

02:47:15.662 --> 02:47:18.900
do that . Slide , please . Persuading

02:47:18.900 --> 02:47:21.067
someone of your business's viability .

02:47:22.400 --> 02:47:24.559
And think about that . If you're

02:47:24.559 --> 02:47:26.726
talking to someone , they want to know

02:47:26.726 --> 02:47:28.837
that you've got a reasonable business

02:47:28.879 --> 02:47:30.657
that can deliver on what you're

02:47:30.657 --> 02:47:33.589
promising . Slide , please . Persuading

02:47:33.589 --> 02:47:35.422
somebody that you're competent .

02:47:35.709 --> 02:47:37.931
Somebody may love your product , but if

02:47:37.931 --> 02:47:39.931
they don't think you're competent ,

02:47:39.931 --> 02:47:39.860
they're probably not going to be

02:47:39.860 --> 02:47:41.860
confident that you'll deliver it to

02:47:41.860 --> 02:47:44.138
them , so you won't get their business .

02:47:44.138 --> 02:47:47.179
Slide . Persuading somebody to give or

02:47:47.179 --> 02:47:49.580
loan you money , that's what ibber and

02:47:49.580 --> 02:47:52.059
sitter is all about after all , slide ,

02:47:52.139 --> 02:47:55.219
please . And persuading somebody that

02:47:55.219 --> 02:47:57.330
you have the ability to be a leader .

02:47:57.580 --> 02:47:59.691
If they don't think you're a leader ,

02:47:59.691 --> 02:48:01.858
they're not going to be confident that

02:48:01.858 --> 02:48:03.747
you can build a business that can

02:48:03.747 --> 02:48:05.747
provide whatever you're promising .

02:48:05.747 --> 02:48:08.139
Slide , please . And then finally ,

02:48:08.360 --> 02:48:10.679
last but not least , persuading

02:48:10.679 --> 02:48:13.719
somebody to buy your product or your

02:48:13.719 --> 02:48:17.250
service . Slide please . Now ,

02:48:17.740 --> 02:48:19.851
what does it take to be successful as

02:48:19.851 --> 02:48:22.700
an entrepreneur ? Slide , slide .

02:48:25.009 --> 02:48:27.870
Selling has to be a 24/7

02:48:28.440 --> 02:48:31.290
activity , and if you think about

02:48:31.290 --> 02:48:33.730
everything you do , everything that all

02:48:33.730 --> 02:48:35.839
of my predecessors talked about this

02:48:35.969 --> 02:48:39.290
this afternoon . It's all about selling .

02:48:39.540 --> 02:48:41.540
No matter what you're trying to get

02:48:41.540 --> 02:48:44.160
done , you've got to convince somebody

02:48:44.339 --> 02:48:47.019
to do something long before you make a

02:48:47.019 --> 02:48:50.849
sale . Slide please . Slide .

02:48:54.429 --> 02:48:56.469
Here's a famous quote . Whether you

02:48:56.469 --> 02:48:59.990
believe you can do a thing or not , you

02:48:59.990 --> 02:49:02.509
are right , slide , slide , slide .

02:49:04.759 --> 02:49:07.599
Henry Ford said that slide please .

02:49:08.990 --> 02:49:12.700
I believe you can sell . Do you ? Slide .

02:49:14.389 --> 02:49:16.480
Now , one of the ways to learn about

02:49:16.480 --> 02:49:18.813
how to do something is to look at books ,

02:49:18.990 --> 02:49:21.046
and if you want to look at books and

02:49:21.046 --> 02:49:24.309
you do what I did at least a few years

02:49:24.309 --> 02:49:26.910
ago when I looked up world's best books

02:49:26.910 --> 02:49:29.870
on selling , there were 10 million hits .

02:49:30.879 --> 02:49:33.290
Or a million hits . I wasn't about to

02:49:33.290 --> 02:49:35.401
go through a million hits , but I did

02:49:35.401 --> 02:49:37.929
look at the 1st 40 or 50 , and I chose

02:49:37.929 --> 02:49:40.049
4 that make a lot of sense . Slide ,

02:49:40.089 --> 02:49:42.679
please . The first one is the Little

02:49:42.679 --> 02:49:45.059
Red Book of Selling by Jeff Gidimmer .

02:49:45.360 --> 02:49:48.719
He talks about , he talks about the

02:49:48.719 --> 02:49:51.959
color red . It stands for passion . You

02:49:51.959 --> 02:49:53.792
need to be passionate about your

02:49:53.792 --> 02:49:55.950
business . It stands for love . You

02:49:55.950 --> 02:49:58.360
need to love what you're doing . It's a

02:49:58.360 --> 02:50:00.719
bright color . You need to be seen as a

02:50:00.719 --> 02:50:03.750
bright person . It's a visible color .

02:50:04.000 --> 02:50:06.959
You need to be seen . It's the color of

02:50:06.959 --> 02:50:10.070
fire . You need to be always on fire

02:50:10.410 --> 02:50:12.769
about making your business go . It's

02:50:12.769 --> 02:50:15.790
all about loving your business enough

02:50:15.969 --> 02:50:18.191
to do the things you need to do to make

02:50:18.191 --> 02:50:20.450
other people love it as well . Slide .

02:50:23.280 --> 02:50:25.480
The second book is The Psychology of

02:50:25.480 --> 02:50:28.790
Selling by Brian Tracy . He talks about

02:50:28.790 --> 02:50:32.030
goals and self-concept . If you think

02:50:32.030 --> 02:50:34.190
about it , almost every entrepreneur

02:50:34.190 --> 02:50:36.620
that looks for Air Force funding is

02:50:36.620 --> 02:50:39.190
either a great engineer or a great

02:50:39.190 --> 02:50:41.549
scientist , but probably the majority

02:50:41.549 --> 02:50:44.230
of them have not had any experience in

02:50:44.230 --> 02:50:47.230
the sales arena . And so what he says

02:50:47.230 --> 02:50:49.669
is , here are the things you have to

02:50:49.669 --> 02:50:51.836
think about . Here are the things that

02:50:51.836 --> 02:50:54.610
you have to adjust your psychology to

02:50:54.950 --> 02:50:58.419
to understand the new . Endeavor you're

02:50:58.419 --> 02:51:01.070
undertaking that is of being a

02:51:01.070 --> 02:51:03.629
salesperson in addition to being what

02:51:03.629 --> 02:51:06.309
you already are . Slide , please .

02:51:07.900 --> 02:51:09.956
Then there's Zig Ziglar , Secrets of

02:51:09.956 --> 02:51:12.540
closing the sale , and this again is a

02:51:12.540 --> 02:51:15.000
psychological approach . He talks about

02:51:15.259 --> 02:51:17.580
how do you create relationships with

02:51:17.580 --> 02:51:20.519
people so they respond positively to

02:51:20.519 --> 02:51:22.797
you , so that they want to talk to you ,

02:51:22.797 --> 02:51:24.963
that they want to have a dialogue with

02:51:24.963 --> 02:51:28.580
you , and then finally slide . Spin

02:51:28.580 --> 02:51:31.059
Selling by Neil Rackham . This is a

02:51:31.059 --> 02:51:33.660
book that begins to undertake the

02:51:33.660 --> 02:51:36.780
mechanisms of how do you actually go

02:51:36.780 --> 02:51:39.900
about selling a product , and what he

02:51:39.900 --> 02:51:43.160
talks about is a situation . Your

02:51:43.160 --> 02:51:45.639
potential customer has a situation ,

02:51:45.980 --> 02:51:48.559
and that situation manifests itself

02:51:49.129 --> 02:51:51.299
into a problem that creates an issue

02:51:51.299 --> 02:51:53.980
for the customer . And that issue can

02:51:53.980 --> 02:51:55.869
have lots of implications for the

02:51:55.869 --> 02:51:58.860
customer . And so your job is to

02:51:58.860 --> 02:52:01.809
understand those three things and then

02:52:01.809 --> 02:52:04.379
understand the need . What's the payoff

02:52:04.379 --> 02:52:06.900
for the customer if you're able to

02:52:06.900 --> 02:52:09.419
address that situation , problem , and

02:52:09.419 --> 02:52:12.820
implication and solve it ? Slide please .

02:52:13.809 --> 02:52:15.809
There are other resources as well ,

02:52:15.809 --> 02:52:19.610
slide . You can take courses AMA , Dale

02:52:19.610 --> 02:52:21.929
Carnegie , which has been around longer

02:52:21.929 --> 02:52:24.769
than I have , and Toastmasters . Those

02:52:24.769 --> 02:52:27.570
are all great things . Slide , please .

02:52:28.370 --> 02:52:30.426
Then there's the hard way , which is

02:52:30.426 --> 02:52:32.690
the best teacher , and I will tell you

02:52:32.690 --> 02:52:35.889
that one lost sale will teach you more

02:52:35.889 --> 02:52:38.290
than 10 sales that you made

02:52:38.290 --> 02:52:40.623
successfully . It's a hard way to learn ,

02:52:40.929 --> 02:52:43.151
and it's a lesson you'll never forget ,

02:52:43.160 --> 02:52:45.450
and I can clearly remember the first

02:52:45.450 --> 02:52:48.000
sales loss I had , and I won't forget

02:52:48.000 --> 02:52:51.410
it till the day I day I die . Slide

02:52:51.410 --> 02:52:54.879
please . And then there's the Xerox way .

02:52:55.910 --> 02:52:59.629
Xerox , slide please . I thought they

02:52:59.629 --> 02:53:01.919
were in the copier business . Well ,

02:53:01.990 --> 02:53:04.046
they were . Let me give you a little

02:53:04.046 --> 02:53:06.129
bit of history . Back in the 50s ,

02:53:06.450 --> 02:53:09.290
there was no way to copy a printed page .

02:53:09.530 --> 02:53:11.719
You could take a picture of it , but

02:53:11.719 --> 02:53:13.839
that was about the only way . And the

02:53:13.839 --> 02:53:17.490
only way to reproduce a page multiple

02:53:17.490 --> 02:53:20.070
times was by something called

02:53:20.450 --> 02:53:23.049
mimeography , and that was a pretty

02:53:23.049 --> 02:53:25.105
complicated problem . You could make

02:53:25.105 --> 02:53:27.610
hundreds of copies , but it took quite

02:53:27.610 --> 02:53:30.169
a while to get set up to do it . So why

02:53:30.169 --> 02:53:32.360
are we talking about Xerox slide ,

02:53:32.450 --> 02:53:35.980
please . They invented

02:53:36.480 --> 02:53:39.219
the copier that we all know about today .

02:53:39.519 --> 02:53:41.519
As a matter of fact , it was called

02:53:41.879 --> 02:53:44.650
xerography . And their machine was

02:53:44.650 --> 02:53:47.089
called a Xerox machine . They had a

02:53:47.089 --> 02:53:50.250
worldwide patent , and for the better

02:53:50.250 --> 02:53:54.250
part of the 60s and 70s , they

02:53:54.250 --> 02:53:57.049
had no competition and they became a

02:53:57.049 --> 02:54:00.379
very , very large company . But as they

02:54:00.379 --> 02:54:02.435
looked at their sales , they said to

02:54:02.435 --> 02:54:04.660
themselves , you know , we are the only

02:54:04.660 --> 02:54:07.379
company in the world doing this . Why

02:54:07.379 --> 02:54:09.900
do we have a variety of salespeople ?

02:54:10.259 --> 02:54:12.049
Why is it we've got 10% of our

02:54:12.049 --> 02:54:14.049
salespeople that are outstanding ,

02:54:14.580 --> 02:54:17.980
maybe 80% that are average , and the

02:54:17.980 --> 02:54:19.924
rest of them are people that we're

02:54:19.924 --> 02:54:22.147
going to suggest go find another career

02:54:22.147 --> 02:54:24.580
somewhere else ? Why is that ? And so

02:54:24.580 --> 02:54:26.580
they said we need to take a look at

02:54:26.580 --> 02:54:29.889
that slide please . They brought on

02:54:30.110 --> 02:54:32.830
15 psychologists , and they sent them

02:54:32.830 --> 02:54:34.941
out with their best , their average ,

02:54:34.941 --> 02:54:37.290
and their worst salespeople . And they

02:54:37.290 --> 02:54:39.346
learned something very interesting ,

02:54:39.346 --> 02:54:42.169
slide please . They learned that there

02:54:42.169 --> 02:54:44.610
was commonality when they looked at

02:54:44.610 --> 02:54:46.832
their best people . There were 8 things

02:54:46.832 --> 02:54:48.943
that their best people did . They may

02:54:48.943 --> 02:54:51.110
not have done them in the same order ,

02:54:51.110 --> 02:54:53.410
but they did the same 8 things every

02:54:53.410 --> 02:54:55.650
time they went out to sell , and the

02:54:55.650 --> 02:54:58.610
average salesman probably did 45 , or 6

02:54:58.610 --> 02:55:01.190
of those , and the worst salespeople

02:55:01.370 --> 02:55:04.400
did very few of those . And when they

02:55:04.400 --> 02:55:06.679
learned that , they said , let's see if

02:55:06.679 --> 02:55:09.240
we can train our sales force to be more

02:55:09.240 --> 02:55:12.519
effective . They did , and their sales

02:55:12.519 --> 02:55:16.269
increased by 15 to 20% . And they said ,

02:55:16.360 --> 02:55:18.582
you know , we're onto something . Let's

02:55:18.582 --> 02:55:21.799
form a company and sell this . And so

02:55:21.799 --> 02:55:24.599
they formed a company called Xerox

02:55:24.599 --> 02:55:27.240
Professional Selling Skills , and they

02:55:27.240 --> 02:55:30.719
sold it throughout the Fortune 500 . It

02:55:30.719 --> 02:55:33.360
was very , very popular . I had the

02:55:33.360 --> 02:55:35.540
great opportunity to take that course

02:55:35.759 --> 02:55:37.870
as a young man when I was first going

02:55:37.870 --> 02:55:41.679
into sales in 1970 , and in that

02:55:41.679 --> 02:55:44.469
course , slide please . We had a guy

02:55:44.469 --> 02:55:46.650
that looked like this slide , please .

02:55:47.679 --> 02:55:49.846
That was what an old timer looked like

02:55:49.919 --> 02:55:52.639
when I was a young man . And after we

02:55:52.639 --> 02:55:54.861
finished the 3 day course , we went out

02:55:54.861 --> 02:55:56.917
for a couple of beers after the last

02:55:56.917 --> 02:55:59.028
day , and he looked at us . He said ,

02:55:59.028 --> 02:56:01.450
Ladies and gentlemen , it took me 40

02:56:01.450 --> 02:56:04.209
years in the school of hard knocks to

02:56:04.209 --> 02:56:06.431
become the leading salesperson for this

02:56:06.431 --> 02:56:08.950
company . What you learned today took

02:56:08.950 --> 02:56:12.330
me 40 years to learn . If you do what

02:56:12.330 --> 02:56:15.500
they tell you , you will be outstanding

02:56:15.500 --> 02:56:18.009
salespeople in the next year or so . We

02:56:18.009 --> 02:56:20.410
were in a new business . Slide , please .

02:56:21.879 --> 02:56:23.990
So what are those elements of selling

02:56:23.990 --> 02:56:27.790
that Xerox sold in those days ? Slide

02:56:27.790 --> 02:56:31.419
please . Do your homework ,

02:56:31.660 --> 02:56:35.049
boy , you've heard that before . Focus

02:56:35.049 --> 02:56:37.105
on the customer problem , and if you

02:56:37.105 --> 02:56:39.730
take one thing away from this afternoon ,

02:56:39.929 --> 02:56:42.809
one lesson , make sure it's the lesson

02:56:42.809 --> 02:56:46.450
that Sally encapsulated with the quote

02:56:46.450 --> 02:56:48.929
that said , fall in love with your

02:56:48.929 --> 02:56:52.549
customer's problem . Do that . Next

02:56:52.690 --> 02:56:55.690
slide slide , please . When you've done

02:56:55.690 --> 02:56:57.857
all that homework and you've looked at

02:56:57.857 --> 02:56:59.857
your product and you've figured out

02:56:59.857 --> 02:57:01.690
that your product is in fact the

02:57:01.690 --> 02:57:03.759
solution to the customer's problem ,

02:57:04.089 --> 02:57:06.599
you're ready for a sales call . But

02:57:06.599 --> 02:57:08.919
when you go on that sales call , spend

02:57:08.919 --> 02:57:11.400
a few minutes up front establishing

02:57:11.400 --> 02:57:14.280
rapport , trying to figure out how best

02:57:14.280 --> 02:57:17.400
to communicate with that person that

02:57:17.400 --> 02:57:19.169
you're talking with , slide .

02:57:21.139 --> 02:57:24.379
Interview the customer . Confirm the

02:57:24.379 --> 02:57:27.980
problem . Take the time to ask the

02:57:27.980 --> 02:57:30.480
customer again whether your homework

02:57:30.620 --> 02:57:33.299
was correct and whether you had really

02:57:33.299 --> 02:57:35.500
identified the problem that the

02:57:35.500 --> 02:57:37.219
customer's having . Slide .

02:57:39.049 --> 02:57:42.530
Address the problem . Review what the

02:57:42.530 --> 02:57:45.549
customer said to you , position your ,

02:57:45.599 --> 02:57:47.570
your solution as a solution to the

02:57:47.570 --> 02:57:50.830
problem , slide please . And when

02:57:50.830 --> 02:57:53.629
you've done that , immediately ask for

02:57:53.629 --> 02:57:55.990
the clothes . So as soon as you've said

02:57:55.990 --> 02:57:58.389
to the customer , I understand this is

02:57:58.389 --> 02:58:00.870
your problem . Here's what we think is

02:58:00.870 --> 02:58:03.092
the solution to your problem . How many

02:58:03.092 --> 02:58:05.509
would you like to order today ? Slide

02:58:05.509 --> 02:58:09.269
please . And if your customers anything

02:58:09.269 --> 02:58:11.549
like all the other customers I've ever

02:58:11.549 --> 02:58:13.827
talked to , there will be an objection .

02:58:14.110 --> 02:58:16.459
There will be a yes , but , or , well ,

02:58:16.509 --> 02:58:18.519
I don't know , whatever it may be ,

02:58:18.629 --> 02:58:20.990
there'll be an objection . So answer

02:58:20.990 --> 02:58:24.669
the objection , slide please . And when

02:58:24.669 --> 02:58:27.110
you answer the objection , immediately

02:58:27.110 --> 02:58:30.230
ask for the clothes . Address the

02:58:30.230 --> 02:58:32.870
customer's objection , answer it , and

02:58:32.870 --> 02:58:35.190
ask for the close again . And if

02:58:35.190 --> 02:58:37.589
another objection comes up , go through

02:58:37.589 --> 02:58:40.589
steps 6 and 7 until you get to the

02:58:40.589 --> 02:58:42.867
point where no more objections come up .

02:58:42.940 --> 02:58:46.459
Slide , please . And leave with a yes ,

02:58:46.759 --> 02:58:49.610
yes being a euphemism for an order .

02:58:50.000 --> 02:58:53.629
Slide please . But one thing to

02:58:53.629 --> 02:58:56.209
remember , you must remember to listen ,

02:58:56.410 --> 02:58:59.780
slide . If you don't hear your

02:58:59.780 --> 02:59:02.780
customer , you'll definitely hear your

02:59:02.780 --> 02:59:05.019
competitor walking away from the

02:59:05.019 --> 02:59:07.019
customer with the business that you

02:59:07.019 --> 02:59:10.480
hoped to get slide . Slide

02:59:11.209 --> 02:59:14.950
Slide So pretend you're the

02:59:14.950 --> 02:59:17.360
basset hound with ears bigger than his

02:59:17.360 --> 02:59:19.599
body . Remember that when you're

02:59:19.599 --> 02:59:21.710
listening , you're learning , and you

02:59:21.710 --> 02:59:24.040
heard that earlier today as well . And

02:59:24.040 --> 02:59:26.096
the difference between listening and

02:59:26.096 --> 02:59:28.509
learning and not doing that is the

02:59:28.509 --> 02:59:31.940
difference between success and failure .

02:59:32.440 --> 02:59:35.000
Slide , please . All right , let's

02:59:35.000 --> 02:59:37.509
start . Step one , do your homework ,

02:59:38.049 --> 02:59:38.610
slide .

02:59:41.780 --> 02:59:44.290
Learn about the customer's business .

02:59:44.620 --> 02:59:47.400
You did all that homework that Sally

02:59:47.400 --> 02:59:49.900
and Jeff and everybody in front of them

02:59:49.900 --> 02:59:52.759
told you to do , but you want to verify

02:59:52.759 --> 02:59:55.799
it . So use the opportunity again

02:59:56.379 --> 02:59:58.669
to understand the customer's business

02:59:58.669 --> 03:00:02.110
slide . Learn about the customer's

03:00:02.110 --> 03:00:05.269
competition . The competition may have

03:00:05.269 --> 03:00:07.709
seen the problems you've identified and

03:00:07.709 --> 03:00:10.259
taken a different approach . And they

03:00:10.259 --> 03:00:12.559
may have identified other opportunities

03:00:12.740 --> 03:00:14.940
that your customer might be interested

03:00:14.940 --> 03:00:18.599
in slide . Learn about the

03:00:18.599 --> 03:00:21.160
market and the industry . There are

03:00:21.160 --> 03:00:23.327
trends in the market . The markets are

03:00:23.327 --> 03:00:26.280
constantly changing , so it's worth

03:00:26.280 --> 03:00:28.480
staying on top of that so that you can

03:00:28.480 --> 03:00:30.639
make sure that everything that you're

03:00:30.639 --> 03:00:32.417
getting ready to present to the

03:00:32.417 --> 03:00:35.280
customer fits in with the market in

03:00:35.280 --> 03:00:36.759
general . Slide please .

03:00:39.839 --> 03:00:41.950
Learn about the customer's problems ,

03:00:42.080 --> 03:00:44.302
and there's lots of ways to learn about

03:00:44.302 --> 03:00:46.413
that . You can find online people who

03:00:46.413 --> 03:00:48.469
love the customer , people who don't

03:00:48.469 --> 03:00:50.919
like the customer , and why . Slide

03:00:50.919 --> 03:00:53.910
please . Learn about the customer as a

03:00:53.910 --> 03:00:56.750
person . Pretty easy to do today with

03:00:56.750 --> 03:00:58.917
LinkedIn and all the other things that

03:00:58.917 --> 03:01:02.280
are available . Slide please . And

03:01:02.459 --> 03:01:05.019
figure out potential connections . And

03:01:05.019 --> 03:01:07.241
again that's easy . LinkedIn is a great

03:01:07.241 --> 03:01:11.089
source . Slide please . All right , so

03:01:11.089 --> 03:01:13.422
let's say you've done all this homework ,

03:01:13.422 --> 03:01:15.478
you've done all the preparation that

03:01:15.478 --> 03:01:17.367
Sally and Jeff said you should do

03:01:17.367 --> 03:01:19.490
before you get started . First thing

03:01:19.490 --> 03:01:21.601
you need to do when you go in to talk

03:01:21.601 --> 03:01:23.870
to a customer is to establish rapport .

03:01:24.049 --> 03:01:27.860
Slide , please , slide . It's

03:01:27.860 --> 03:01:31.820
like Break the ice . How do

03:01:31.820 --> 03:01:34.200
you break the ice ? The easy way is to

03:01:34.200 --> 03:01:36.256
talk about something the customer is

03:01:36.256 --> 03:01:38.256
interested in . If you've done your

03:01:38.256 --> 03:01:40.311
homework , you can probably find out

03:01:40.311 --> 03:01:43.009
about it . Slide . Or you can talk

03:01:43.009 --> 03:01:45.490
about a local or national topic of

03:01:45.490 --> 03:01:47.601
interest . If you live in the greater

03:01:47.601 --> 03:01:50.200
Cincinnati area in southwestern Ohio .

03:01:50.570 --> 03:01:52.681
Probably the topic the last couple of

03:01:52.681 --> 03:01:54.959
weeks to break the ice would have been ,

03:01:55.129 --> 03:01:57.296
how did you survive the flooding we've

03:01:57.296 --> 03:01:59.610
had over the last , last two weeks or

03:01:59.610 --> 03:02:02.110
how much do you like the sunshine slide .

03:02:03.980 --> 03:02:06.036
Or you can talk about the customer's

03:02:06.036 --> 03:02:08.259
business . Most customers are very

03:02:08.259 --> 03:02:10.426
happy to talk about their business and

03:02:10.426 --> 03:02:12.426
tell you how great it is and what a

03:02:12.426 --> 03:02:14.426
great job they're doing . So that's

03:02:14.426 --> 03:02:16.481
always a good way to break the ice .

03:02:16.481 --> 03:02:20.250
Slide . Make it brief , slide .

03:02:22.330 --> 03:02:24.552
While you're having that conversation ,

03:02:24.769 --> 03:02:27.230
you can learn the customer's style .

03:02:27.769 --> 03:02:30.290
Customer may be somebody who's a , a

03:02:30.290 --> 03:02:32.370
real listener , and so you're gonna

03:02:32.370 --> 03:02:34.330
have to adapt to maybe telling the

03:02:34.330 --> 03:02:37.759
customer things because . The customer

03:02:37.759 --> 03:02:40.360
wants to listen , or maybe the customer

03:02:40.360 --> 03:02:43.360
likes to talk , so maybe you adapt by

03:02:43.360 --> 03:02:45.249
asking a question and hearing the

03:02:45.249 --> 03:02:47.500
customer chat and learning even more

03:02:47.500 --> 03:02:51.080
slide . Adapt to the customers

03:02:51.080 --> 03:02:54.980
slide . Slide And move

03:02:54.980 --> 03:02:56.900
on to business . Slide please .

03:02:58.709 --> 03:03:00.889
Next step , interview the customer .

03:03:01.709 --> 03:03:04.389
Notice that cocked ear on the dog . How

03:03:04.389 --> 03:03:06.611
well that doggie is listening . Slide ,

03:03:06.611 --> 03:03:09.660
please . How's , what's your sales

03:03:09.660 --> 03:03:13.040
target ? Remember , we've done all that

03:03:13.040 --> 03:03:15.262
homework to get ready to be in front of

03:03:15.262 --> 03:03:17.759
that customer , but maybe we need to

03:03:17.759 --> 03:03:19.648
say , hey , we're in front of our

03:03:19.648 --> 03:03:21.759
target now . Maybe we can do a little

03:03:21.759 --> 03:03:24.750
more homework . Slide please . You can

03:03:24.750 --> 03:03:27.040
ask the customer how they do it . One

03:03:27.040 --> 03:03:29.151
of the tricks I used to do when I was

03:03:29.151 --> 03:03:31.318
selling lab equipment was to ask for a

03:03:31.318 --> 03:03:33.318
tour of the lab so I could see what

03:03:33.318 --> 03:03:35.540
they had and see where my opportunities

03:03:35.540 --> 03:03:37.000
were . Slide , please .

03:03:39.200 --> 03:03:41.690
While you're having those conversations ,

03:03:42.120 --> 03:03:44.519
you can dig into the problems the

03:03:44.519 --> 03:03:47.480
customer has , asking a question like

03:03:47.480 --> 03:03:49.900
what keeps you up at night these days .

03:03:50.240 --> 03:03:52.480
You'll learn a lot and you'll also

03:03:52.480 --> 03:03:55.120
verify how good your homework was and

03:03:55.120 --> 03:03:57.287
whether you need to make some pivots .

03:03:57.360 --> 03:04:00.849
Slide , please . Also allows you to

03:04:00.849 --> 03:04:02.960
identify opportunities that you might

03:04:02.960 --> 03:04:05.230
not have thought of or opportunities

03:04:05.230 --> 03:04:07.610
other than the ones that you have come

03:04:07.610 --> 03:04:11.440
up with . Slide please . Also

03:04:11.440 --> 03:04:12.773
allows you to determine

03:04:12.773 --> 03:04:14.839
non-opportunities . You may find out

03:04:14.839 --> 03:04:17.269
the customer's taken something on

03:04:17.269 --> 03:04:19.325
that's competitive with you , so you

03:04:19.325 --> 03:04:21.380
don't want to get in that particular

03:04:21.380 --> 03:04:24.500
arena . Slide please . Get as much

03:04:24.500 --> 03:04:27.219
detail as necessary and remember this

03:04:27.219 --> 03:04:29.275
is an opportunity where the customer

03:04:29.275 --> 03:04:31.275
will probably be very happy to talk

03:04:31.580 --> 03:04:34.099
because they want to demonstrate what a

03:04:34.099 --> 03:04:36.339
great company they have slide please .

03:04:37.570 --> 03:04:39.514
And when you've done all of that ,

03:04:39.530 --> 03:04:41.697
you're ready to move on to the selling

03:04:41.697 --> 03:04:45.150
mode . Slide please . And the selling

03:04:45.150 --> 03:04:47.309
mode . Now we're going to address the

03:04:47.309 --> 03:04:51.190
problem slide . Focus on

03:04:51.190 --> 03:04:53.246
the problem that's been identified .

03:04:53.889 --> 03:04:57.820
Slide , please . Position your

03:04:57.820 --> 03:05:01.139
product or your solution . So you've

03:05:01.139 --> 03:05:03.620
identified the problem , you restate

03:05:03.620 --> 03:05:06.620
the problem , and then you say , here's

03:05:06.620 --> 03:05:08.731
my solution and here's how it's going

03:05:08.731 --> 03:05:11.450
to work . Slide please . How do we do

03:05:11.450 --> 03:05:15.330
that ? We talk about features . My

03:05:15.330 --> 03:05:18.940
product offers this slide . And the

03:05:18.940 --> 03:05:22.809
benefit to you is that . Slide ,

03:05:22.889 --> 03:05:26.769
please . It could be faster , slide ,

03:05:27.309 --> 03:05:30.370
easier slide . Cheaper

03:05:31.230 --> 03:05:33.230
So in other words , you've got a

03:05:33.230 --> 03:05:35.669
problem , I've got a solution . Here's

03:05:35.669 --> 03:05:37.780
what it's going to do for you , slide

03:05:37.780 --> 03:05:41.559
please . Or it's more competitive slide .

03:05:43.209 --> 03:05:45.370
Let's take an example . We talk about

03:05:45.370 --> 03:05:47.370
close air support with the Republic

03:05:47.370 --> 03:05:49.570
A-10 Warthog . I can't imagine there's

03:05:49.570 --> 03:05:51.690
one of you on this call that hasn't

03:05:51.690 --> 03:05:54.009
heard about the WarTOG and the effort

03:05:54.009 --> 03:05:56.176
for the Air Force to get rid of it and

03:05:56.176 --> 03:05:58.065
the resistance they've run into ,

03:05:58.129 --> 03:06:00.296
specifically and particularly from the

03:06:00.296 --> 03:06:03.459
Marine Corps or SOCOM . So let's say

03:06:03.459 --> 03:06:05.348
you're talking to a general right

03:06:05.348 --> 03:06:07.860
before Desert Storm in the 90s . And

03:06:07.860 --> 03:06:09.916
you're in front of the general , you

03:06:09.916 --> 03:06:13.599
talk about features slide . The

03:06:13.599 --> 03:06:15.870
A-10 has short takeoff and landing

03:06:15.870 --> 03:06:18.480
capability . It's very maneuverable at

03:06:18.480 --> 03:06:21.440
low speed and at low altitude . The

03:06:21.440 --> 03:06:25.190
benefit to you , slide blaze . It can

03:06:25.190 --> 03:06:27.349
be forward deployed . It has

03:06:27.349 --> 03:06:30.349
outstanding loiter time . Slide please .

03:06:31.030 --> 03:06:33.190
This aircraft has multiple weapons

03:06:33.190 --> 03:06:36.730
systems slide . General , that means

03:06:36.730 --> 03:06:39.889
it's got great firepower capability for

03:06:39.889 --> 03:06:43.650
CAS both on the ground and in the air .

03:06:43.969 --> 03:06:46.309
Slide , please . It's got a

03:06:46.309 --> 03:06:50.169
nose-mounted GET out G at Gatling gun ,

03:06:50.419 --> 03:06:53.919
3900 RPMs uranium tipped

03:06:54.150 --> 03:06:57.849
slide . It's a tank killer and it can

03:06:57.849 --> 03:07:00.809
also pierce armored vehicles . Slide

03:07:00.809 --> 03:07:04.209
please . It has self-sealing tanks ,

03:07:04.419 --> 03:07:06.540
titanium armor for the pilot , and

03:07:06.540 --> 03:07:09.950
flight controls . Slide please . High

03:07:09.950 --> 03:07:12.410
survivability and which one of you

03:07:12.410 --> 03:07:15.959
hasn't seen film of A-10s landed

03:07:15.959 --> 03:07:18.549
landing with half their tail shot off

03:07:18.809 --> 03:07:20.920
and with bullet holes up and down the

03:07:20.920 --> 03:07:24.839
fuselage slide . General , how many

03:07:24.839 --> 03:07:26.728
A-10s would you like to order for

03:07:26.728 --> 03:07:30.160
desert combat ? How can he say no ?

03:07:31.019 --> 03:07:33.379
And you all know the success that the

03:07:33.379 --> 03:07:36.219
A-10 had in the desert slide .

03:07:37.750 --> 03:07:41.280
Slight It's time to close

03:07:41.660 --> 03:07:45.000
slide . Slide Slide

03:07:47.040 --> 03:07:49.207
If you've gone through all that , it's

03:07:49.207 --> 03:07:51.373
time to look at that journal and say ,

03:07:51.373 --> 03:07:53.207
let's shake hands , let's sign a

03:07:53.207 --> 03:07:55.719
contract , and let's agree on the price .

03:07:56.480 --> 03:08:00.429
Slide please . How do we do that slide .

03:08:02.400 --> 03:08:04.980
My product or service provides this

03:08:05.160 --> 03:08:09.150
slide . That will let you do

03:08:09.150 --> 03:08:12.849
that slide . And because of that ,

03:08:12.940 --> 03:08:16.459
you will slide . How many will you

03:08:16.459 --> 03:08:20.000
order today ? Piece of cake ,

03:08:20.389 --> 03:08:23.990
slide , please . But we talked about

03:08:23.990 --> 03:08:26.150
getting objections , and you will get

03:08:26.150 --> 03:08:28.709
them . How do we answer them ? Slide .

03:08:30.719 --> 03:08:32.886
Here's the kind of thing that can come

03:08:32.886 --> 03:08:35.320
up . I'm not sure about what you just

03:08:35.320 --> 03:08:39.190
said , slide . Well , I need to talk

03:08:39.190 --> 03:08:41.246
to somebody . That's not my field of

03:08:41.246 --> 03:08:44.849
expertise , slide . It's

03:08:44.849 --> 03:08:47.129
extremely expensive . My costs already

03:08:47.129 --> 03:08:48.969
very high , slide .

03:08:52.799 --> 03:08:55.099
We don't have the budget slide .

03:08:56.740 --> 03:09:00.070
I really like the competitors slide .

03:09:01.459 --> 03:09:04.929
Your timing is bad . Slide please .

03:09:07.110 --> 03:09:09.730
Well , ask for the clothes again ,

03:09:09.990 --> 03:09:13.070
slide . Close after you

03:09:13.070 --> 03:09:16.370
redress each objection in order

03:09:16.500 --> 03:09:20.379
slide . One at a time till you get the

03:09:20.379 --> 03:09:23.250
sale . Slide

03:09:24.599 --> 03:09:27.269
You may not get the order . Slide .

03:09:29.139 --> 03:09:31.306
Maybe I need to schedule another visit

03:09:31.306 --> 03:09:34.799
if you can slide . Or you failed .

03:09:35.259 --> 03:09:38.169
Now what ? You've gone through all of

03:09:38.169 --> 03:09:40.280
that . You've gone through everything

03:09:40.280 --> 03:09:42.502
we said . We've gone through 6 of the 7

03:09:42.502 --> 03:09:44.780
steps , but we don't have an order yet .

03:09:44.780 --> 03:09:48.559
Slide , please . Well , you've got to

03:09:48.559 --> 03:09:51.009
leave with an S in order or a next step ,

03:09:51.099 --> 03:09:53.950
slide . Here are the kinds of things

03:09:53.950 --> 03:09:56.389
that you may have to address and how

03:09:56.389 --> 03:10:00.009
you might get after them . May I review

03:10:00.009 --> 03:10:02.231
it with your IT department and get back

03:10:02.231 --> 03:10:05.650
to you ? Slide , please . I'd be happy

03:10:05.650 --> 03:10:07.750
to verify the numbers with your CFO

03:10:07.750 --> 03:10:11.469
slide . I'll get back to you

03:10:11.469 --> 03:10:15.299
with additional data slide . Can

03:10:15.299 --> 03:10:17.355
I check back after your new budget's

03:10:17.355 --> 03:10:21.209
approved , slide . When can I take you

03:10:21.209 --> 03:10:23.240
to see another customer , slide .

03:10:24.969 --> 03:10:27.959
When can I take you to see a demo ? And

03:10:27.959 --> 03:10:30.980
by the way , another customer or a demo

03:10:30.980 --> 03:10:34.120
is a great way to sell a customer . Let

03:10:34.120 --> 03:10:36.287
the customer you already have sell the

03:10:36.287 --> 03:10:38.629
customer you're trying to close . Slide

03:10:38.629 --> 03:10:42.540
please . One can have our x meet with

03:10:42.540 --> 03:10:46.500
your y . Slide please . Would you be

03:10:46.500 --> 03:10:48.500
interested in a no cost or low cost

03:10:48.500 --> 03:10:52.330
trial ? Slide If

03:10:52.330 --> 03:10:55.610
all this fails , You don't have much

03:10:55.610 --> 03:10:58.400
choice . It's time to say thank you .

03:10:58.730 --> 03:11:00.674
You've done everything you could .

03:11:01.269 --> 03:11:04.839
Slide What part of

03:11:04.839 --> 03:11:08.790
no do I not understand ? I told

03:11:08.790 --> 03:11:11.530
you don't leave with anything other

03:11:11.530 --> 03:11:13.990
than a yes , and here we're talking

03:11:13.990 --> 03:11:16.589
about failure . Well , there are some

03:11:16.589 --> 03:11:18.370
other things you can do slide .

03:11:20.419 --> 03:11:23.019
Ask three questions why ?

03:11:24.429 --> 03:11:27.429
What was it about my presentation that

03:11:27.429 --> 03:11:29.207
didn't make sense , or is there

03:11:29.207 --> 03:11:31.262
something that I didn't cover that I

03:11:31.262 --> 03:11:33.485
should have covered ? And maybe that'll

03:11:33.485 --> 03:11:35.596
give you the opportunity to come back

03:11:35.596 --> 03:11:38.780
again . Or you could say , if that

03:11:38.780 --> 03:11:41.113
doesn't get you to where you need to be ,

03:11:41.169 --> 03:11:43.391
do you have any suggestions ? You had a

03:11:43.391 --> 03:11:45.558
chance to look at what I have opposite

03:11:45.558 --> 03:11:47.502
your problem . Are there things we

03:11:47.502 --> 03:11:49.889
could do to maybe modify our product

03:11:50.230 --> 03:11:52.650
and make it better and more applicable

03:11:53.030 --> 03:11:55.469
to what you're trying to do ? And if

03:11:55.469 --> 03:11:57.950
that fails , you can say , well , I

03:11:57.950 --> 03:12:00.117
know this isn't right for your company

03:12:00.117 --> 03:12:02.269
right now , but you do know a lot of

03:12:02.269 --> 03:12:04.240
people in this business , in this

03:12:04.240 --> 03:12:06.296
industry . Are there people that you

03:12:06.296 --> 03:12:08.669
might recommend ? Now you might say ,

03:12:08.790 --> 03:12:11.349
why would somebody waste their time to

03:12:11.349 --> 03:12:14.709
do this ? People don't like to say no .

03:12:14.790 --> 03:12:16.957
They don't like to disappoint somebody

03:12:16.957 --> 03:12:19.690
by refusing an offer or saying , gee ,

03:12:19.870 --> 03:12:22.629
I'm not interested . And so they'll

03:12:22.629 --> 03:12:24.809
take the time to let you down easily .

03:12:25.110 --> 03:12:27.349
And by the way , you may get some other

03:12:27.349 --> 03:12:30.330
places that you could go to . So that's

03:12:30.330 --> 03:12:34.049
the 8 steps slide please . Now ,

03:12:34.849 --> 03:12:36.793
If you were to go out and try this

03:12:36.793 --> 03:12:38.905
tomorrow , you probably couldn't even

03:12:38.905 --> 03:12:41.410
name those eight steps in order . And

03:12:41.410 --> 03:12:43.599
if you asked me what was step number 3

03:12:43.599 --> 03:12:45.655
or step number 5 , I'd have to think

03:12:45.655 --> 03:12:47.766
about it for a minute to come up with

03:12:47.766 --> 03:12:49.988
it . So how do you learn to do this and

03:12:49.988 --> 03:12:52.210
how do you , how do you become adept at

03:12:52.210 --> 03:12:54.370
it ? You practice and how do you

03:12:54.370 --> 03:12:57.719
practice ? slide . Your significant

03:12:57.719 --> 03:13:00.160
other , and if your significant other

03:13:00.160 --> 03:13:02.349
is anything like Sally , bless her

03:13:02.349 --> 03:13:05.280
heart . And you go to her and you say ,

03:13:05.620 --> 03:13:07.342
would you like to listen to my

03:13:07.342 --> 03:13:09.342
presentation ? Sally would say , Of

03:13:09.342 --> 03:13:11.564
course , I'll be happy to do that , and

03:13:11.564 --> 03:13:13.610
she'll spend the half hour or hour

03:13:13.839 --> 03:13:15.950
doing that , and we've done that with

03:13:15.950 --> 03:13:18.820
these presentations today . And if you

03:13:18.820 --> 03:13:21.620
go back a 2nd time , she'll say yes ,

03:13:21.740 --> 03:13:23.860
she won't be quite as enthusiastic ,

03:13:24.259 --> 03:13:26.740
and if you go back a 3rd time , you'll

03:13:26.740 --> 03:13:29.250
get that beady eyed look that knows you

03:13:29.250 --> 03:13:31.820
have overstayed your welcome . Slide

03:13:31.820 --> 03:13:34.889
please . Well , you can always turn to

03:13:34.889 --> 03:13:36.945
your dog , your cat , your bird , or

03:13:36.945 --> 03:13:39.056
your fish , and Sally's going to kill

03:13:39.056 --> 03:13:41.111
me for this , but I'll tell you that

03:13:41.111 --> 03:13:43.570
more than once I would visit her , and

03:13:43.570 --> 03:13:45.681
she'd be sitting in front of her fish

03:13:45.681 --> 03:13:48.769
tank giving her talk to the fish , the

03:13:48.769 --> 03:13:52.719
tropical fish , slide . If that doesn't

03:13:52.719 --> 03:13:55.200
work , if your animals walk away from

03:13:55.200 --> 03:13:57.480
you or your fish turn their tails , you

03:13:57.480 --> 03:13:59.702
can always talk to your sofa . The good

03:13:59.702 --> 03:14:02.000
news about a sofa is it can't get up

03:14:02.000 --> 03:14:04.320
and leave the room . Slide , please .

03:14:05.139 --> 03:14:07.361
Then there's the mirror , and I'll tell

03:14:07.361 --> 03:14:09.250
you an interesting story . A past

03:14:09.250 --> 03:14:11.306
president of Purdue that Sally and I

03:14:11.306 --> 03:14:13.472
knew quite well was perhaps one of the

03:14:13.472 --> 03:14:16.110
best salespeople we ever ran into . He

03:14:16.110 --> 03:14:19.070
could put on his face whatever look was

03:14:19.070 --> 03:14:21.870
necessary a smile , a frown , a

03:14:21.870 --> 03:14:25.250
quizzical look , whatever face needed .

03:14:25.610 --> 03:14:27.554
It was appropriate for what he was

03:14:27.554 --> 03:14:29.889
saying was on his face . We were out to

03:14:29.889 --> 03:14:32.056
dinner one night with him and with his

03:14:32.056 --> 03:14:34.519
wife , and I turned to her and I said ,

03:14:34.889 --> 03:14:38.009
Pattie , what makes Martin such a great

03:14:38.009 --> 03:14:41.240
salesman ? And she said , he practices

03:14:41.240 --> 03:14:43.351
in front of the mirror when he has an

03:14:43.351 --> 03:14:46.000
important speech . And as he practices ,

03:14:46.080 --> 03:14:48.570
as he makes each point , he looks at

03:14:48.570 --> 03:14:51.570
the mirror and makes sure his face is

03:14:51.570 --> 03:14:54.509
just perfectly what he wants it to be .

03:14:55.290 --> 03:14:59.179
Slide please . Do this until

03:14:59.179 --> 03:15:01.940
you're confident . And you'll be ready

03:15:01.940 --> 03:15:05.240
to go slide . Slide

03:15:06.030 --> 03:15:08.197
Does this all really happen the way we

03:15:08.197 --> 03:15:11.610
talked about it , slide ? It's

03:15:13.519 --> 03:15:17.370
And Yes , it

03:15:17.370 --> 03:15:20.509
does , and I'll tell you that Xerox

03:15:20.509 --> 03:15:22.730
professional selling skills was in

03:15:22.730 --> 03:15:26.610
business for 20 years until about 1980 ,

03:15:26.650 --> 03:15:28.706
1990 . I'm not sure when they , when

03:15:28.706 --> 03:15:30.620
they ended , and they sold it to

03:15:30.620 --> 03:15:32.453
another company which kept it in

03:15:32.453 --> 03:15:35.330
business well into this century . And

03:15:35.330 --> 03:15:37.330
while that business has gone by the

03:15:37.330 --> 03:15:41.169
wayside , what you've just heard is

03:15:41.169 --> 03:15:43.410
included in most of the leading sales

03:15:43.410 --> 03:15:46.570
books of today , one way or another .

03:15:47.209 --> 03:15:49.487
And what I'd like to do , slide please .

03:15:51.860 --> 03:15:54.030
I look at an example and give you an

03:15:54.030 --> 03:15:56.269
example of just how intricate this can

03:15:56.269 --> 03:15:58.589
get . I want to talk about a fellow by

03:15:58.589 --> 03:16:01.070
the name of Brandon , and Brandon was

03:16:01.070 --> 03:16:03.809
selling to a company . Now , Sally and

03:16:03.809 --> 03:16:07.049
I taught a course at Purdue for post

03:16:07.049 --> 03:16:11.049
9/11 disabled veterans who wanted

03:16:11.049 --> 03:16:14.009
to become entrepreneurs , and Brandon

03:16:14.009 --> 03:16:16.169
was part of that course , as was Jeff

03:16:16.169 --> 03:16:19.009
Decker at one time , and that's where

03:16:19.009 --> 03:16:22.469
we met Jeff . But anyhow , we liked

03:16:22.469 --> 03:16:25.549
Brandon and we liked his product and we

03:16:25.549 --> 03:16:27.549
said we'd love to mentor you as you

03:16:27.549 --> 03:16:29.605
move forward with your product as we

03:16:29.605 --> 03:16:31.830
did with uh with Jeff Decker . The

03:16:31.830 --> 03:16:34.150
company he was selling to was General

03:16:34.150 --> 03:16:36.679
Electric , now known as General

03:16:36.679 --> 03:16:39.620
Electric Aircraft Engines , and we'll

03:16:39.620 --> 03:16:41.731
go through some of the things that we

03:16:41.731 --> 03:16:43.509
went through with him , slide .

03:16:45.349 --> 03:16:47.719
Brandon said , you know , I can't get

03:16:47.719 --> 03:16:51.629
through to GE . R&D . I just can't get

03:16:51.629 --> 03:16:53.750
through to them , but I've got a GE

03:16:53.750 --> 03:16:55.750
plant in my backyard here in North

03:16:55.750 --> 03:16:58.110
Carolina , and I'd like to visit that

03:16:58.110 --> 03:16:59.589
plant . Slide .

03:17:01.980 --> 03:17:03.959
So , I said , you know , that that

03:17:03.959 --> 03:17:05.959
probably makes a lot of sense , but

03:17:05.959 --> 03:17:08.070
before you do that , we'd really like

03:17:08.070 --> 03:17:10.292
to understand your mission . You know ,

03:17:10.292 --> 03:17:12.348
you've been a , you've been a marine

03:17:12.348 --> 03:17:14.348
all your life and you've never done

03:17:14.348 --> 03:17:16.348
anything like this , so we'd really

03:17:16.348 --> 03:17:18.626
like to understand what your goals are ,

03:17:18.626 --> 03:17:22.419
slide . So Brandon outlined

03:17:22.889 --> 03:17:25.000
what he wanted to do , what he wanted

03:17:25.000 --> 03:17:27.111
to talk about , what he wanted to ask

03:17:27.111 --> 03:17:30.610
about slide . Mel and

03:17:30.610 --> 03:17:33.049
I took some time to review it , discuss

03:17:33.049 --> 03:17:34.969
it amongst ourselves , slides .

03:17:37.570 --> 03:17:39.737
Well , we thought he was ready to go ,

03:17:39.737 --> 03:17:39.669
slide .

03:17:43.459 --> 03:17:45.839
But we said , you know , before you go

03:17:45.839 --> 03:17:48.339
doing this , you've never done this

03:17:48.339 --> 03:17:50.283
before , you've never done selling

03:17:50.283 --> 03:17:52.299
before , we'd really like to have a

03:17:52.299 --> 03:17:53.820
role play slide .

03:17:56.469 --> 03:17:58.691
So we got done with the role play , and

03:17:58.691 --> 03:18:00.913
it turns out we knew a senior executive

03:18:01.269 --> 03:18:04.830
at GE Aircraft Engines , and so we said ,

03:18:05.110 --> 03:18:07.054
hey , we'll introduce him to Tom ,

03:18:07.054 --> 03:18:10.990
Slide . So we called Tom .

03:18:11.599 --> 03:18:13.821
Tom said , hey , I know you guys well .

03:18:13.821 --> 03:18:16.000
I trust you . I'm sure this is a good

03:18:16.000 --> 03:18:17.667
idea , but I'd like some more

03:18:17.667 --> 03:18:21.610
information . Slide . So

03:18:21.610 --> 03:18:23.769
we emailed some information to Tom

03:18:23.769 --> 03:18:27.719
slide . Tom said , I'd

03:18:27.719 --> 03:18:30.040
like a business plan , so we called

03:18:30.040 --> 03:18:32.360
Brandon . Brandon submits the business

03:18:32.360 --> 03:18:36.280
plan slide . Brandon wants to call

03:18:36.280 --> 03:18:40.070
Tom slide . You're not

03:18:40.070 --> 03:18:42.070
surprised , are you ? By now you've

03:18:42.070 --> 03:18:44.292
learned a lot about how Sally and , and

03:18:44.292 --> 03:18:46.589
I operate . So we said , well , we want

03:18:46.589 --> 03:18:48.645
to do a role play with you and coach

03:18:48.645 --> 03:18:50.700
you and get you ready so that you're

03:18:50.700 --> 03:18:52.867
really prepared when you talk to Tom .

03:18:52.867 --> 03:18:56.820
Slide ? Brennan calls Tom slide .

03:18:58.370 --> 03:19:00.481
Tom says , hey , you know , this is a

03:19:00.481 --> 03:19:02.759
really interesting plan . I've got , I ,

03:19:02.849 --> 03:19:04.849
I think you might want to make some

03:19:04.849 --> 03:19:08.660
updates to this slide . Brandon updates

03:19:08.660 --> 03:19:10.860
the plan . You guessed it , slide .

03:19:12.459 --> 03:19:15.519
We reviewed it . We endorsed it , slide .

03:19:17.240 --> 03:19:20.219
Brandon sends the plan to Tom . Slide .

03:19:21.700 --> 03:19:24.480
Tom contacts the company plant manager .

03:19:24.740 --> 03:19:27.179
Wow , looks like success , slide .

03:19:28.940 --> 03:19:31.719
Brandon calls the company contact slide .

03:19:33.110 --> 03:19:35.790
You know what , Brandon , I really like

03:19:35.790 --> 03:19:37.957
what you're , what you want to talk to

03:19:37.957 --> 03:19:40.179
us about , but end of 3rd quarter we're

03:19:40.179 --> 03:19:42.457
just closing our books for 3rd quarter ,

03:19:42.457 --> 03:19:45.030
and next week we start our planning for

03:19:45.030 --> 03:19:48.349
next year . So it's just a bad time .

03:19:48.429 --> 03:19:51.110
We're really buried right now , but we

03:19:51.110 --> 03:19:53.388
do want to talk to you . Call us later ,

03:19:53.388 --> 03:19:57.080
slide . Brennan calls again a few weeks

03:19:57.080 --> 03:20:00.099
later , slide . Hey , we haven't

03:20:00.099 --> 03:20:02.839
forgotten you later , slide .

03:20:04.400 --> 03:20:06.669
Still no response , slide .

03:20:08.160 --> 03:20:12.089
We call Tom Slide . Tom calls a

03:20:12.089 --> 03:20:15.950
senior plant management slide . Brandon

03:20:15.950 --> 03:20:18.089
gets the visit scheduled slide .

03:20:19.700 --> 03:20:22.799
Success took over 8 weeks

03:20:23.259 --> 03:20:25.370
just to get the opportunity to make a

03:20:25.370 --> 03:20:27.860
sales call . And if you go back through

03:20:27.860 --> 03:20:29.860
the chart we've just gone through ,

03:20:30.139 --> 03:20:32.969
every one of those was a selling

03:20:32.969 --> 03:20:35.620
opportunity . Brandon had to sell us in

03:20:35.620 --> 03:20:38.980
step 1 on his mission . In step 2 , he

03:20:38.980 --> 03:20:41.147
had to sell us on what he was going to

03:20:41.147 --> 03:20:44.360
ask for . Then he had to sell us on how

03:20:44.360 --> 03:20:46.527
well he could present it , and then he

03:20:46.527 --> 03:20:49.240
had to sell Tom , and it went on and on

03:20:49.240 --> 03:20:52.719
and on , but finally , success was

03:20:52.719 --> 03:20:55.030
achieved , and this brings me back to

03:20:55.030 --> 03:20:57.360
where we started . For an entrepreneur ,

03:20:58.280 --> 03:21:02.219
selling is a 24/7 a day

03:21:02.599 --> 03:21:04.879
activity . And if you can't get your

03:21:04.879 --> 03:21:08.009
work done in 24 hours a day , you end

03:21:08.009 --> 03:21:10.330
up working nights as well , and all

03:21:10.330 --> 03:21:13.290
that time is spent selling as well . So

03:21:13.290 --> 03:21:16.129
with that , we'll end it . If you hit

03:21:16.129 --> 03:21:19.330
slide a couple of times , you'll see my

03:21:19.330 --> 03:21:21.650
contact information below , and we've

03:21:21.650 --> 03:21:23.872
got some time for questions if you have

03:21:23.872 --> 03:21:23.700
any .

03:21:29.360 --> 03:21:31.582
Any questions online that you can see ,

03:21:31.599 --> 03:21:32.599
Jim ?

03:21:36.799 --> 03:21:39.200
Hey Pete , can you talk about the uh

03:21:39.200 --> 03:21:41.299
influence or or just kind of what ,

03:21:41.480 --> 03:21:43.480
what it's been like to serve in the

03:21:43.480 --> 03:21:45.519
civic leader program for Air Force

03:21:45.519 --> 03:21:49.250
Material Command ? It's been the honor

03:21:49.250 --> 03:21:51.459
and the experience of a lifetime . I ,

03:21:52.129 --> 03:21:54.250
I didn't go into the Air Force when I

03:21:54.250 --> 03:21:57.290
took AFROTC because when I took it ,

03:21:57.330 --> 03:21:59.480
you had to have 20/20 uncorrected

03:21:59.480 --> 03:22:01.849
vision to fly , and I didn't want to go

03:22:01.849 --> 03:22:04.330
in if I didn't fly . Biggest mistake I

03:22:04.330 --> 03:22:07.089
ever made . I accidentally got

03:22:07.089 --> 03:22:09.209
introduced to the Air Force through

03:22:09.209 --> 03:22:12.650
some . A tours that they used to do for

03:22:12.650 --> 03:22:16.650
civilians and after a few , few going

03:22:16.650 --> 03:22:19.410
on a few tours and expressing a lot of

03:22:19.410 --> 03:22:21.610
interest , I got invited to join the

03:22:21.610 --> 03:22:23.759
civic leaders program and I was on it

03:22:23.759 --> 03:22:26.889
for 25 years . There was the

03:22:26.889 --> 03:22:29.129
opportunity to interact with senior

03:22:29.129 --> 03:22:32.009
leadership of Air Force Mariel Command ,

03:22:32.250 --> 03:22:35.009
the four-star general who runs it , and

03:22:35.009 --> 03:22:38.889
we were a Different window

03:22:38.889 --> 03:22:41.370
for that general to interact with the

03:22:41.370 --> 03:22:44.879
many bases that he , he leads .

03:22:45.290 --> 03:22:48.650
And so he would feed us information on

03:22:48.650 --> 03:22:51.750
what the Air Force and AFMC was doing .

03:22:52.309 --> 03:22:54.629
And we would feed it back to the

03:22:54.629 --> 03:22:57.830
civilians at the base sites that we

03:22:57.830 --> 03:23:00.469
represented . And in the other

03:23:00.469 --> 03:23:02.790
direction , he would ask us what we

03:23:02.790 --> 03:23:04.950
were hearing from the civilians that

03:23:04.950 --> 03:23:07.750
were working with all of his bases , so

03:23:07.750 --> 03:23:10.790
he got another input and feedback

03:23:10.790 --> 03:23:13.730
mechanism to interact with his bases

03:23:13.860 --> 03:23:16.940
and the civic communities . And each of

03:23:16.940 --> 03:23:19.830
us on that civic leaders program took

03:23:19.830 --> 03:23:22.309
one thing or another . I ended up

03:23:22.309 --> 03:23:24.790
focusing on working with entrepreneurs

03:23:24.790 --> 03:23:28.629
such as those on the call and who

03:23:28.629 --> 03:23:30.796
were interested in doing business with

03:23:30.796 --> 03:23:33.018
the Air Force , and I've spent the last

03:23:33.018 --> 03:23:35.049
25 years plus doing it , and it's ,

03:23:35.230 --> 03:23:37.809
it's literally been the most

03:23:38.660 --> 03:23:40.500
rewarding thing I've done in my

03:23:40.500 --> 03:23:43.860
lifetime . Yeah , we

03:23:43.860 --> 03:23:45.916
definitely appreciate all your input

03:23:45.916 --> 03:23:48.669
and , and you're definitely a strategic

03:23:48.669 --> 03:23:51.709
resource for us for sure so and just

03:23:51.709 --> 03:23:53.765
wanna follow back up any other , any

03:23:53.765 --> 03:23:56.042
other questions ? I know , I know Pete ,

03:23:56.042 --> 03:23:58.589
you really closed the sale on that so

03:23:58.830 --> 03:24:01.240
and uh . You know , I just wanna thank

03:24:01.240 --> 03:24:04.320
you , Sally , and Jeff , and you know ,

03:24:04.400 --> 03:24:06.599
you can really tell just like that uh

03:24:06.599 --> 03:24:08.710
little red book of selling , you guys

03:24:08.710 --> 03:24:10.877
really have a , a passion and love for

03:24:10.877 --> 03:24:13.099
what you guys do and , and really are ,

03:24:13.099 --> 03:24:15.266
are a great resource and we're here to

03:24:15.266 --> 03:24:18.200
help you . Well , we do , and anything

03:24:18.200 --> 03:24:19.867
we can do to pay it forward ,

03:24:20.040 --> 03:24:23.580
particularly towards those who like you

03:24:24.400 --> 03:24:26.456
spend their full time working in the

03:24:26.456 --> 03:24:29.169
Air Force or wearing the uniform . It

03:24:29.169 --> 03:24:32.250
is , is something that that we all owe

03:24:32.250 --> 03:24:34.530
everybody who takes that , that plunge

03:24:34.530 --> 03:24:35.910
and works in the DOD .

03:24:40.049 --> 03:24:41.827
Great , thank you very much . I

03:24:41.827 --> 03:24:43.716
appreciate it . Any other closing

03:24:43.716 --> 03:24:46.639
remarks , Jim ? Um , other than if you

03:24:46.639 --> 03:24:48.861
would like to do a little networking or

03:24:48.861 --> 03:24:51.028
wherever , like I said , normally just

03:24:51.028 --> 03:24:53.139
go down to gather right here . I it's

03:24:53.139 --> 03:24:55.361
just right on the corner , uh , just go

03:24:55.361 --> 03:24:57.549
down to the first floor . It goes

03:24:57.549 --> 03:24:59.660
straight out the door , it's right in

03:24:59.660 --> 03:25:01.493
the middle , like right straight

03:25:01.493 --> 03:25:03.438
underneath this , and then over to

03:25:03.438 --> 03:25:06.099
gather . You network networking for a

03:25:06.099 --> 03:25:08.849
little bit . Used to go to Dayton Beer

03:25:08.849 --> 03:25:11.182
Company , but now it's , now we're here .

03:25:12.089 --> 03:25:15.349
And I guess the most important thing ,

03:25:15.469 --> 03:25:17.636
the slides and recording will be up on

03:25:17.636 --> 03:25:19.858
the site . Yes sir , the slides and the

03:25:19.858 --> 03:25:22.025
recording will be on the , excuse me ,

03:25:22.025 --> 03:25:24.191
on the website tomorrow . Uh , great .

03:25:24.469 --> 03:25:26.302
Well , thank you for your time .

03:25:26.302 --> 03:25:28.358
Definitely look into the information

03:25:28.358 --> 03:25:30.136
that's out there and the , uh ,

03:25:30.136 --> 03:25:31.747
upcoming colliders and , and

03:25:31.747 --> 03:25:33.969
information that we're gonna be sharing

03:25:33.969 --> 03:25:36.191
you , sharing . I appreciate it . Thank

03:25:36.191 --> 03:25:38.450
you . Take care , everybody . Yeah .

03:25:45.610 --> 03:25:45.620
Mhm