Tech Business? Looking For That Unfair Advantage?

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Stuck at early stages of growth and struggling to build sales In this episode I talk to Alison Arnoff – founder of Unfair Advantage Consulting where she helps tech companies find their unique unfair advantage to scale their business Find out about the typical problems tech startups face and how to solve them Get the inside track on what makes a company investible to VCs 1 20 – Introducing Alison and some background on what she does 2 55 – Alison s perspective on sales ability in startups 3 44 – What she normally sees in the companies that she works with 5 12 – How many companies get stuck at early stages of growth and struggling to approach sales effectively in a startup environment 7 14 – What Alison sees as one of the biggest most common problems in tech startups 8 30 – Beginning the conversation with the companies she works with 10 47 – Balancing an incremental marketing plan with having a large enough potential market to become a successful company 11 58 – Some typical problems that startups have and understanding their market during development a story about a company who needed to adjust their messaging 13 44 – Convincing clients that the messaging and marketing is just as important as the product and getting to the companies before it s too late 15 01 – What Alison sees VCs looking for in early stage companies and the kinds of teams that she thinks work well 16 40 – Approaching VCs with enough humility to accept the help and guidance available 17 42 – The things startups do that make Alison cringe 19 27 – Approaching sales and scalability through arming your sales team with the right message 21 18 – Not being able to see the label from inside the bottle and being open to inviting in outside help 22 11 – Describing Alison as a consultant more than a coach focusing on quality content 25 26 – These principles apply more broadly than tech companies differences in business to business and business to consumer 26 06 – Approaches to changing founders mindsets on recruitment for high quality sales teams 27 14 – The success rate Alison has seen in companies that she s worked with and commonalities between failed startups 29 03 – The role of crowdfunding platforms in verifying product demand 30 04 – Looking at the scope and process for the multi-million dollar fundraising situations 32 46 – Why Alison is steering clear of blockchain style technologies 34 08 – A common progression Alison sees in many tech companies 36 00 – The one piece of advice Alison would offer to people trying to get over the wall 37 19 – Benefits of asking for help from someone who has done what you re trying to do 38 42 – The value of perspective at any stage of a business and the willingness of successful people to share knowledge 39 45 – Being productively paranoid and Alison s story about working at Intel during their huge growth period 41 02 – The questionnaire segment borrowed from James Lipton 45 09 – Contacting Alison Resources and Links Mentioned Unfair Advantage Consulting Simon Sinek s Ted Talk How great leaders inspire action Marcus Lemonis Tony Robbins LinkedIn Email Alison at alison unfairadvantage consulting get in touch for a preview of her upcoming blog series Click here to visit this podcast episode