How to Get an Enthusiastic Yes, Three Unconventional Tips From Successful Founders - Tactician: #0080

"Want to know the secret to getting an enthusiastic yes? Include a dance routine in your pitch. Nothing says ‘yes’ like a synchronized dance number. ‘So, do we have a deal?’ starts moonwalking."

19/03/24

How to Get an Enthusiastic Yes

Why Read:

• Learn effective strategies for enhancing stakeholder cooperation, focusing on mutual benefits to accelerate project momentum and achieve goals.

Author:

• Wes Kao, Co-Founder of Maven

Link: 

• “How to get an enthusiastic yes”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• The Value of Cooperation: 

  • "Having cooperation and support from stakeholders is a game-changer. It means more momentum for your project. More confidence and speed. More energy spent doing great work you're proud of. Less time worrying and trying to convince skeptics."

• Examples of Things You Might Ask For:

  • Warm introduction: “I'd love to meet your friend from X company. Would you be open to making an intro?”

  • Driving distribution: “Could you engage and share this on social?”

  • Improving your employee’s work: “There were lots of errors in the recent report. Could you be more detailed with these in the future?”

  • Getting a job: “I’d be a great fit for you and here’s what I can do.”

  • Closing a sale: “It sounds like we're aligned. To move forward….”

• Identify Why People Say No: 

  • "People say no because they don’t see why a situation is beneficial to them. This makes sense—you wouldn’t do something if there’s no upside for you. But too often, when you write or speak, you’re mainly thinking of why an idea is good for you. When in fact, this is the most important time to position why an idea is good for the other person."

• Focus on the Recipient's Benefits: 

  • "To counteract your default 'me'-centric viewpoint, you have to actively practice and consciously choose to see things from the other person's point of view. Then use those insights to frame and build a business case."

• Exercise to Shift Focus: 

  • "Highlight in yellow where you talk about yourself or your company. Highlight in green where you talk about your recipient... Notice how much of the note is about you vs your recipient."

• Internal Communication Strategy: 

  • "This person wanted to get out of a work trip... Luckily, he was sharp enough to frame 90% around his manager and their needs. Your manager doesn’t care if you think work is an inconvenience for you. But your manager does care about crucial work projects being put on the back burner and dividing your attention."

• Give Them a Reason to Say Yes:

  • "You’re going to have to ask for it. Show people what they gain, not what you gain. Give them a reason to say yes to you."

Three Unconventional Tips From Successful Founders

Why Read:

• Learn from successful founders about prioritizing customer needs, thinking globally, and managing capital efficiently for sustainable growth.

Author:

• Atlas Editors from Bessemer Venture Partners

Link: 

• “Advice or anti-advice? Five founders on the merits of breaking convention”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• Follow Customers Over Convention:

  • Context: Toast's founders decided to integrate a payment system into their POS solution despite it being unconventional.

  • "I felt like screaming. ‘You're going to build a system to replace a 40-year old software stack with 1,000s of required features?’" Their investor gave the team a 10% shot at a viable product, but the founders built it anyway.

  • "The Toast founder listened to what customers needed — not the wisdom of the day — and trusted that, with enough elbow grease, they would find a way to deliver."

  • Actionable Insight: Prioritize customer feedback and needs over industry norms or external advice.

• Global Vision from the Start:

  • Context: Canva's CEO, Melanie Perkins, focused on global expansion from the beginning, contrary to the popular lean startup approach.

  • "My enemy for a long time was the Lean Startup. When we were initially raising funds, it was all the rage."

  • Despite the prevailing startup methodology, she envisioned Canva as a global platform from the outset. "Today, Canva is available in over 100 languages [...] it ultimately paved the way for broad access and colossal growth. As a platform built for everyday people in 190 countries, Canva’s total addressable market (TAM) is enormous."

  • "Other than creating a product people love, focusing on global adoption since the early days has been the most significant driver of Canva’s growth to 35 million monthly users."

  • Actionable Insight: Don't be afraid to think big and global, even in the early stages, if your vision requires it.

• Consume Capital Cautiously:

  • Context: Ankur Nagpal of Teachable raised funds conservatively, focusing on sustainable growth rather than large cash infusions.

  • "Ankur’s approach to fundraising was a little unconventional. While it’s typical for founders to raise more with each successive round, Ankur only raised what was required to sustain the business. Since starting Teachable in 2013, he’s raised six rounds, never exceeding $4 million at a time.”

  • “Ankur maintains that a larger injection of capital wouldn’t have allowed him to scale the business so significantly without producing diminishing returns. Plus, unlike companies pouring money into ads, extra capital was never that helpful to Teachable since its best channels were organic."

  • Actionable Insight: Be strategic about fundraising, aiming for what's necessary to grow efficiently rather than the maximum amount possible.

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