Taking Networking to a New Level
Corrections or additions?
This article by Bart Jackson was prepared for the March 6, 2002
edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. Corrections to venture fair dates were
made on March 12. All rights reserved.
Venture Fairs’ Lush Spring Season
Venture Capital is stalled in Nuclear Winter? For some
folks maybe. But this past year over 200,000 private investors poured
a record $30 billion into promising enterprises. That’s double 2000’s
funding, which itself totaled more than the preceding 22 years.
Clearly,
the money is out there.
If your new business is looking for a piece of this action, the New
Jersey Entrepreneurs Forum (NJEF) is providing the game. As a warmup
to a whole spring season of funding events, NJEF is holding its second
skills-honing workshop, “How to Present at a Venture Fair,”
on Thursday, March 7, at 5 p.m. at McAteers Restaurant in Somerset.
Several start up firms will make presentations and Dan Conley,
founder of Silicon Garden Angels + Network Investors, will lay out
specific strategies and criticisms. Cost: $45. Call 908-789-3234,
or visit www.NJEF.org.
Following swiftly upon the workshop comes NJEF’s own third annual
Venture Fair on Monday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the
Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Over 150 new and expanding
companies will be showing products and services. Cost: $110. Call
856-787-9700, or visit www.NJTC.org.
Three additional venture fairs are scheduled a month apart along the
Eastern Corridor. All offer a fine proving ground for those attending
the NJEF workshop. These fairs are designed for entrepreneurs, growing
businesses, private investors, venture capital firms, banks and
institutional
lenders, attorneys, accountants, and dreamers of all sorts with a
solid fiscal plan in their back pockets.
Angel Venture Fair. Takes place on Tuesday, April 23,at the Union League in Philadelphia. It is sponsored by thePhiladelphiaPrivate Investors Group. Call 610-225-2437 or visit www.PPIG.comCrossroads Fair. The Connecticut Venture Group sponsorsthis fair as a showcase for firms seeking funds under $5 million.It takes place on Monday and Tuesday, May 13 and 14, inNew Haven, Connecticut.Early Stage East Showcase. Taking place on Monday andTuesday, June 17 and 18, Wilmington, Delaware, this eventspecializesin firms requiring $5 million or more. Visit www.earlystageeast.org.“The capital is still in our economy,” insists Conley,”butthe nature of the investor is changed. They have been thrice burnedin the dot-com and other fires. Caution is natural. There will befewer winners, but those new companies that do win will be fundedgood and proper, through rounds A, B, and C, right up through theback mezzanine.”Conley grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, “just down the roadfrom Harvard Yard.” At age 18 he began a sojourn which entailedfour years in the Marines, 10 years completing college, and countlessdeals along the way. He then began “initiating deal closures”for GE Investment Corp., Chancellor, and other companies. Finallyin l991, Conley opened the doors of Silicon Garden Angels + InvestorsNetwork. Here, he regards himself as “a Yenta — screeningventure capitalists along with profitable new firms and makingintroductions.”Says he: “It’s a contact sport.””In such a buyers’ market,” says Conley, “investors arelooking for a very specific set of standards. At any venture fair,you’ve got to bring out your fundraising tool kit and give exactelements,meeting exact criteria.” Among these he includes a well-honedeight-minute venture plan verbal presentation; a 10-page sell book;and some passion. The entrepreneur must be able to talk passionatelyabout his management’s commercial potential. He must reach beyondthe product, and sell the content of his character.Along with Conley’s 12-step strategy for displaying a business toinvestors, he presents 10 deadly sins, which he claims are guaranteeddeal crushers. A few of these errors include:Shotgunning your business. In a gush of excess enthusiasmor anxiety, many entrepreneurs blare out their entire productinformation,sales strategy, management goals, financial plans and market surveyin a single, boggling burst. Not only can your investor not take allthis in, but she will infer justifiably that your sales techniquemay not be worthy of her dollars.Cold calling investors. Before you knock on any door,or punch any phone button, you had best hold a ream of facts aboutyour investor in your head. In what kind of firms does he typicallyinvest? How much money, over how long a period? What are his sportsand what is his bourbon?Even after this study, don’t descend on him out of the blue.Introductionsmade through business contacts in a business setting tend to set abetter tone than the wrangled social meeting. But the round of beggingcold calls, no matter how persistent, stands nary a snowball’s chance.Not risking enough. “Any entrepreneur who thinks hecan quit his job, start a business with $5,000 in the bank and expecta backer to pony up the other $100,000 is absolutely dreaming,”says Conley. Starting virtually any business today demands $200,000.This level of funding demands at least $50,000 from the entrepreneurwith more revenue proof provided.Yet the largest failure on the part of entrepreneurs is lackof persistence. “There is a whole spring season of venture fairscoming up,” Conley says. “You can’t just take a shot at oneand hope for the best. Those new firms that haven’t signed up toexhibitin all four monthly fairs will wish desperately that they had.”If the inventor/businessperson bring the same tenacity and exactingprecision to funding his product that he did to creating it, perhapshe too will be one of Conley’s winners, who gets backed right up tothe mezzanine.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageE-Commerce LivesThe Panic of 1893 sent gold and silver soaring, thencrashing through the basement with disastrous results. Lots of folkslost it all, but we didn’t relegate gold to the slag heap or tosssilver dollars into the Delaware. Now after the soar and crash ofE-commerce, gloomy pundits have declared an Internet wasteland, withendless don’t-bet-the-‘Net caveats.But if you are one of those who believes that it’s about time forspring to follow the freeze, you might want to attend the ManagingE-Commerce Seminar Series of the Mercer/Middlesex Small BusinessDevelopmentCenter (SBDC) on Thursdays, March 7, 14 and 21, at 6 p.m. Each ofthe three seminars takes place at the offices of co-sponsoring NewJersey Association of Women Business Owners (NJAWBO) on Route 206in Hamilton.Titled “Initiating E-commerce,” “Developing a WinningWebsite,” and “Marketing Your Website,” the seminar seriesfeature Nat Bender, director of E-business services for theSBDC state office. Bender will lay out a coherent commercial programboth for firms initiating new products as well as those seeking toexpand sales of established brands. Cost: $20 one seminar, and $50for all three. Call 609-989-5232.”Sometimes I see my job as identifying possibilities in thedot-goneeconomy,” laughs Bender. “And while no one can deny the crash,we equally cannot proclaim the Internet’s death. Multi-tiered programsinvolving the ‘Net are even more viable for the retail, manufacturing,and service communities.” Granted, info tech has greatly suffered,Bender admits, yet the value of the individual product or companywebsite as an arm of sales has never been stronger.One of the E-commerce originals, Bender began his move into cyberspacewith the breakup of Ma Bell. Raised in Plainfield, Bender graduatedfrom Rutgers with a bachelor’s in journalism. After working forseveraltrade journals, he joined AT&T. When AT&T decided to fragment itselfand move into high tech telecommunications, Bender shifted in thesame direction. He returned to his alma mater, studied the ways ofWeb outreach, and for the past five years has directed the SmallBusinessCenter’s E-commerce efforts.In his first seminar, “Initiating E-Commerce,” Bender helpsentrepreneurs develop an online sales site by first examining thecommon mistakes of the past:Big corporate perspective. With the belief that anybusinessonline could automatically bootstrap into bigness, a great gapappearedin which the small businessperson could not find the products thatmet his E-commerce needs. With massive expectations, they installedhuge and expensive programs that became insupportable. Today, Bendersuggests that businesses budget their high tech expenditures, likeany other sales tool, strictly according to the realistic salespotentialthey can provide.Newer isn’t always better. Beware of pushing your siteout onto what Bender calls “the bleeding edge of technology.”For small items, this can include the use of flashing ads or flowstreamers which while ever-so-clever to install, are merelydistractingto the buyer’s eye. On the larger scale, beware of anticipating andadopting new response technology that your clients and vendors maynot as readily purchase and upgrade.Cash management. Simply put, there is no need to gambleyour financial resources on the hopes of grand online returns.Currently,E-commerce trade techniques are as fully analyzed and honed as directmail methods. The research is out there and deserves examination.In place of those close-your-eyes and wish-upon-the-Web-only ventures,Bender, admittedly conservative, outlines a more hybrid approach.He sees the Internet as one of several well-blended business tools.The initial step involves pinpointing your marketplace based on yoursuppliers’ and customers’ online capabilities. Where and how do yourclients search to buy? On what level do your suppliers operate? Asurprising number of the raw materials manufacturing firms conducttrade with low tech tools.Many business managers feel that online operations diminish thepersonalrole in business and all its effectiveness. Granted that many problemscan be ironed out more swiftly via a brief chat with that old familiarsupplier, yet how well does he stack up against competitors as asource?Says Bender: “If he’s not capable of dealing competently onlinewith you, he may not be around much longer to be your trustedsupplier.”Finally, before actually leaping onto the Web, analyze and focus yourmarket. Probably the greatest innovations for the E-businessman arethe new capabilities that can define your niche among specializedclientele. You no longer need to scatter your snowblower website toevery retiree in Florida. Featured placement using key search wordscan personalize your site. While such customizing still is a bitpricey,the results frequently justify the outlay.The March 14 seminar, “Developing a Winning Website,”will examine various outsourced site models and determine what worksand what doesn’t. “While we all stand enamored of high techcapabilities,we frequently forget the very user we are trying to reach,” warnsBender. “The whole goal should be to make it easy for the customerto buy.””Marketing Your Website,” on March 21, covers search enginestrategies and other online marketing techniques.”The whole process of operating E-commerce has become both easierand at the same time more defined,” says Bender. “The ‘Net’sa business necessity, and those without its capabilities may not stickaround for long. On the other hand, there is no need, nor is it wiseany longer, for the manager or owner to place E-trade strictly inthe hands of technical people.”— Bart JacksonTop Of PageTaking Networking to a New Leveld>Donna Coulson networked her way into her secondmarriage. “My ex-husband introduced me to my husband,” shesays, chuckling at the memory. She was a newlywed when her husbandtook her to meet his auto mechanic, Johnny Coulson, owner of a40-year-oldRed Bank family business, Coulson Automotive. Fifteen years later,after she and her first husband divorced, she and her auto mechanicmet for coffee. This year they celebrate their 13th weddinganniversary.But, says Coulson, an original thinker, “this is my 25thanniversary.Twelve years for my first marriage and 13 for my second.” Shesays many of her more “straight-laced” friends are shockedat her personal wedding celebration. Her ex-husband isn’t thrilledeither, but she reports that Johnny Coulson is on-board with the idea.Says Coulson: “He thinks it’s funny.”Networking has been a mainstay for Coulson in her business life aswell as her personal life. She speaks on “Time for NetworkingII: Let’s Get Strategic” on Monday, March 11, at 6 p.m. at ameetingof the Middlesex County Chapter of NJAWBO at the Clarion Hotel inEdison. Cost: $39. Call 732-828-3394.A 1977 graduate of Douglass — this is the 25th anniversary ofher graduation, too — Coulson spent 14 years with Prudential.There she did human resources training, development, and policy work,including a project to get women into management. In 1991 she leftPrudential to start her own personal and business coaching andconsultingbusiness. “I called it Live Your Life because I didn’t haveone,”she says.Newly re-married to a man with an 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. job, she says thetravel and commuting her job required became a problem. “I caughtthe 7:05 train — a.m. and p.m.,” she says. This everyday grindwas punctuated by business trips. Her job included visiting all 60of Prudential’s field offices twice a year. “I’d get home onFridaynight, and have to leave again on Monday morning.” In betweentimes, she farmed out chores, taking her underwear to a laundry, forinstance, so she would have a little time to spend with her newhusband.She got little sympathy at work. “I only traveled 25 percent ofthe time,” she says. “My bosses were high-level executives.They traveled 100 percent of the time doing institutional real estatedeals.”For a year before she left Prudential, Coulson began to plan for anew business life, using networking as the foundation. Here are someof the lessons she learned along the way.Join a good group. “I knew everyone inPrudential,”says Coulson, “but I knew no one in Red Bank.” Commuting andbusiness travel had left her no time to pick up the contacts a newbusiness would need. She joined NJAWBO to meet other women businessowners. She says the contacts she made were invaluable in startingand growing her business. She is still in close contact with NJAWBOmembers she met more than a decade ago.Find a new box to stand on. While membership in a goodnetworking group is valuable, there is a point where it is wise tocut back and put more energy into another group. “Once you’vebeen the president,” she says, “it’s time to turn theorganizationover to other people.” She gave this advice to Sandy Newman,a past president of NJAWBO, who owns the Raritan Container Companyand also has a coaching practice. “Organizations are starved forleadership,” she says. She suggested that Newman join the NewJersey Professional Coaches Association. Newman did so, and soonbecamepresident of that group.Burn no bridges. Coulson’s mentor from her undergraduatedays at Douglass, the women who taught her all about the field ofcorporate training, is still a close friend. Her new company’s firstclient was Prudential, her former employer.Get your name out there. Coulson, who is now a part-timefaculty member at Georgian Court College, where she teaches marketing,offered to speak for free in the early days of her business. She alsobegan teaching courses at Brookdale and Middlesex Community Colleges.”It got me up and out in the market,” she says, “and itbuilt up my confidence in dealing with strangers.”Go after bigger fish. These early experiences, where sheoften gave her time away, prepared Coulson to take her business tothe next level. Where she once took on any client, she began to bemore selective. Now, she says, “I don’t want to work with peoplewho are stuck.” She only accepts coaching clients who are alreadysuccessful and want to become more successful. On the consulting sideof her business, she has gone after larger corporations, adding thelikes of Johnson & Johnson, Rutgers, and the Teamsters Union to herclient rolls.Don’t talk to every stranger. In networking gatherings,Coulson doesn’t spend a lot of time on wallflowers. “If I seesomeone standing alone in a corner, I’ll go over and say hello andintroduce him to someone,” she says. She hopes the inept networkerwill catch on and start circulating, but she doesn’t spend too muchtime with him. Effective networking involves connecting with peoplewho are in a position to buy what you are selling.Ask the outrageous question. In networking gatherings,don’t waste too much time on idle chit chat. Cut right to the chase.Right now, for instance, Coulson is trying to fill up classes in acourse she teaches to show corporate women how to move up theexecutiveladder. The women are sponsored by their companies, so at networkingevents Coulson is asking: “What corporations are willing to spendmoney on high potential people?”Get the real scoop. “Networking is about what’s underthe surface,” says Coulson. Those who are out and have their earsto the ground, for example, know which New Jersey corporations investin their people, and which don’t. No matter what the economy, somecompanies are simply better places to work, she says, and networkingoften turns up their names.Expand the networking circle. “Variety is the spiceof life,” says Coulson. She works with personality evaluations,including Myers-Briggs, in her work, and finds teams overloaded withcreative types get little done, while teams made up only ofdetail-orientedpeople come up with few good ideas. “You need creative people,and implementers. And you need financial people to manage themoney,”she says. It’s the same thing with networking. Moving only amongsimilarpeople turns up only part of the picture, and only some of theopportunities.Coulson has found this to be true in both her business and herpersonal life. She gave her husband the Myers-Briggs test, whichconfirmedher suspicion that the two are complete opposites — at least onpaper. His embrace of her enthusiasm over her 25th wedding anniversarysuggests that there are important similarities as well.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
