I wrote last time about the difficulties of establishing contacts to get my end market questions answered. That is the bottleneck I currently have. Without answers to questions such as in what market will we focus, what value will we deliver, how will our product be differentiated, and how will we access this market I don’t feel I’m ready to talk to investors. These questions are often challenging but particularly so when involving a new technology with new capabilities that is not presently in the market. To properly address such questions one needs to develop a deep understanding of how the technology might be used, what advantages, disadvantages, and adoption costs a user would perceive, and how all these compare to existing solutions. This all requires detailed conversations with potential users which brings me back to the challenge of finding and accessing such users.
I have been seeking advisors in our candidate markets to help with this. One method I used was to join relevant LinkedIn Groups and post a description of what Uniqarta is doing and what I am looking for. I got a lot of responses (>30) that I am now vetting. Some of these will likely be valuable advisors. But what I also found was a lot of other useful contacts responding with various levels of interest and offers of help. These include potential users — precisely the type of people I am looking to reach — as well as others currently servicing my markets of interest. Yes, there is some filtering required as I’ve received some unwanted responses from paid consultants, people looking for employment, people looking to represent Uniqarta, etc. But mixed in within these is what is becoming a valuable pool of new contacts that can help me answer the questions I noted above.
I must say that I have grown to appreciate the value and power of LinkedIn tremendously. I had used it earlier in my career at times when I was considering a job change. My use stepped up markedly this past year once I left my big-company job and was seeking to expand my network to help me find a startup. And now, in the course of developing my startup I use it extensively to identify and contact people who can help me understand and evaluate candidate end markets. It really has become an indispensable tool and I struggle to imagine how I could have managed without it if I were attempting to do what I am doing, say, ten years ago.
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This is likely my last post of the year. It has been quite a year and one that flew by quickly! Twelve months ago to the day I wrote my first post. Re-reading it brings back the excitement, jubilation, and freedom I felt and also reminds me of the lack of apprehension I had. Things feel differently now that I’ve found my startup. Sure, I am excited about it and happy with my choice. But some of that sense of freedom has diminished and a small level of apprehension has materialized. That is to be expected as I commit myself to my new endeavor and I’m sure that as things progress my sense of freedom will diminish further and my level of apprehension will increase further. That goes with the territory.
I don’t really know who is reading this blog let alone any individual post. But I nonetheless would like to thank you all for your interest and wish you all a happy holiday season.
Ronn