Red Deer Start Here Posts
Hi everybody. These are all the tips I posted on the LinkedIn Red Deer Start Here page for 2024. Hope they are helpful.
| Happy Monday. 2024 was a pretty wild year in business. Is “the economy” alright or not. Everyone waiting for a direction in politics. Spending cuts, yet record profits, at the biggest corporations. This end of year period I personally hope you can relax and regroup, even for just a moment. May you gain your own clarity of how you and your business can perform well, and happily, for 2025. The problems you set out to solve are still in the world and there are still customers out there. Your biggest issue now is if everything else they worry about has higher priority. If you really built a must-have pain-killer then what you do may be a key to helping your customer out and taking at least one thing off their backlogged to-do list. Good luck to all, hope you find the help you need and are able to help others. #reddeer #entrepreneurship #startups #startupcanada #smallbusiness |
| Happy Monday. You are busy making product improvements, better how-to docs, easier ways to do things and you are out trying to sell these new changes to new customers. Now you have the best way that will help them. But, what about your existing customers? Are you in regular communication with them to share and explain these changes? Hopefully your best ideas came from your customer base; did you remember to tell everyone else though? Monthly newsletters & how to tips about leveraging the improvements are great things to share and help your customers maximize the value you are offering. Don’t leave them confused or behind but make sure you bring them along on the journey. This also means you have a frequent channel to your customers that isn’t just post of the week on social media that you hope everyone might see. #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #founders #smalbusiness #startupcanada #startalberta |
| Happy Monday. Who are you listening to? Real customers? Well targeted ICPs and ECPs? ‘Best Practice’ advice? Or maybe LI posts like this one? How can you decide what is not only useful, but actually valid for your business? There is only one answer that matters is people that will pay you to help solve their problem. The early customers are more willing to try, but if you have a free level do they convert? That signal is what you need to hear. Best Practice advice is often highly context dependent. Playbooks and signals that may work in one situation may not apply in yours. LI posts? You already know, a lot of those are secret, or not so secret, pitches and conversion attempts to get you to buy into their ways and offerings. There is a huge amount of noise and tips and advice to be found and you too are hunting for anything to make it easier. Just remember why you did this and the real customer you are doing it for. Good luck. #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #founders #startupcanada |
| The last meetup of 2024. Come on out to a combined RDSH & RD Tech & Code and meet some programming students from RDP. |
| Happy Monday. Every week, Monday morning, I sit down to write this post (really, it’s true) Is that ‘efficient’ use of my time? Should I have other priorities to start my week? How can I schedule myself to get everything done? These can be a difficult question for founders. I think there are a few questions you can ask yourself to find a great match between your goals and your energy. - Is this something that energizes or drains me? Don’t write marketing messages when you feel like crap. - If I handle this now, respond now, does it give other people time to do their jobs and get back to me later. - Can you outsource this task. Don’t outsource your thinking though, just the parts that you can’t or don’t want to do. - Are you time-blocking, choosing periods to be intentional about the kind of work. Can you avoid being in panic response mode all the time. A bit of space helps you think clearly. There are always more things to do than you will have time to do them. Understanding all the things you get done will help you plan and manage them in a way that keeps this journey exciting and interesting and avoid getting trapped in the suck. Do you have any ways to manage your weeks and the unending tasks? Or how to decide what you love and what you could spread out? #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #alberta |
| Happy Monday. What is your feedback loop? As you build and run your business you are trying things, hearing from potential and converted customers and seeing new ideas you want to try. Do you have a way to collect this information? To distill it into topics and ideas you can decide if they are worth trying and how to treat them as tests to learn from. Put on your scientist hat and treat these things like experiments to be run and analyzed. If you are just taking in any random noise and poking at different socials or marketing or product features without any technique you can be wasting a lot of time on things that don’t move the needle. If you don’t think of these things in a proper test way you don’t even realize you aren’t moving. Pick something you are unsure about, eg which platforms to market on, and see if you can come up with a test, does LinkedIn convert better than IG? Does one message type work better than another on FB? Be specific and lets go learn something. #reddeer #startup #entrepreneurship #alberta #techalberta #startalberta #startupcanada #canadatech #smallbusiness |
| Happy Monday. Are you trying to create fancy formal processes for sales and on-boarding before you have even done one? You don’t need to replicate all that paperwork and process you see in the world just yet. Until you have made it go you don’t know what tools you need to make it go fast. In the early days the high touch experience isn’t just about convincing your first customers that you are great, it is about learning what they need to be convinced of your value and how they will connect with it. Once you have done this a bunch of times you will begin to see what works and what doesn’t. Those are the learning’s to work on building process around. Take the best things and build on them. Don’t guess what a perfect system is until you have lived it. #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #albertatech #startalberta #startupcanada |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are customers not buying into your vision? Should they? Maybe your product needs to fit into their vision, not yours. A new, wondrous, magical, life changing mouse relationship system doesn’t mean anything to your customer if their big problem is needing a mouse trap. Does your product meet their needs and deliver a lot of value or do you need a customer to see the world your way first? That isn’t to say the market won’t get to where you are going but in the mean time you need to be where they are, and then help them see where they can go with you. #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #olds #innisfail #startalberta #startupcanada #abtech #cdntech |
| Will I see you for the November meetup. Come say hi!. |
| Happy Tuesday RDSH. Even I sometimes slip the schedule and miss a Monday morning post 😃 As founders we can create all kinds of schedules and target dates for ourselves and our teams, and it is easy to get frustrated when they aren’t met. It may be little comfort but slippage is expected. You can’t predict how the work and how the business will unfold. Surprise meetings, new discoveries about your customer and product, and the randomness of entrepreneurship can all eat into a perfect schedule. Much like the gym having one off day or week doesn’t mean you stop, it means you just pick up and keep on going. The progress here isn’t measured in days, but months and years and as long as you keep moving forward then things are alright. #reddeer #startups #startalberta #startupcanada #albertatech #entrepreneurship #lacombe #innisfail #sylvanlake #canadatech |
| Happy Monday RDSH. What kind of risk are you comfortable with? If you are reading this probably more than most. Others may see only your activities that they can’t imagine themselves doing, but you have thought about this, pondered, questioned, doubted and finally persuaded yourself it is something that you can make happen. Entrepreneurship isn’t about being wild, it is just the opposite, determined, never ending focus on the problem you want to help solve for the market. #reddeer #startups #startalberta #startupcanada #alberta #entrepreneurship #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Can your buyer help themselves? Think about your own buying strategy, is it get on a demo or is it check out the website and other sources? If your product has made it onto a buyers radar then you must do everything you can to help them convince themselves to take a next step with you. A landing page with a ‘Call For Demo’ doesn’t cut it. Your buyer is looking for information to see how you fit their problem, how it works, how much it costs, who else is buying, how problems are handled and what the wider community thinks. They also need information and pages they would send to others on their buying committee/partners. Everything you want to say in a fit discovery or sales calls needs to be available to a modern buyer or you won’t even get a chance to have the call (and they still don’t want one anyways). #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #centralab #albertatech #startalberta #startupcanada #lacombe #innisfail #olds #smallbusiness |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Everybody is about the worst target you could pick for your business. You will be left making huge broad assumptions about messaging, product offering and sales programs. “Riches in Niches” is an idea that exists for a reason, and easy to overlook why it matters. You may think those big campaigns you see are the way to go but you only see them because you are in ‘everybody’, but you also ignore them. They don’t really resonate the way a > Specific Product for Specific Problem < would in your home or business. You don’t need another do everything product that does a lot of things so-so and needs your time to tweak it and neither do your customers. Even if you think everybody is a valid target in the future, they certainly aren’t today. Getting traction with a distinct group is the best way to connect and move fast, and you may realize you don’t really fit everybody either. #reddeer #startups #centralab #albertatech #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #alberta |
| See you on Thursday Oct 10 for the next Red Deer Start Here meetup. Come find us in the Boardwalk Entertainment Center (in the eating area) for a great chat about startups, programs, entrepreneurship. #reddeer #centralab #reddeercounty #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake |
| Morning RDSH. Stories are the basis of culture. The stories we tell about who we are, about who others are, beliefs in why things happen or do not. Understanding the power of stories can help you connect yourself to others and help you let them connect with you. History itself is the biggest story we tell and seeing how it is used makes you much more aware of biases and missing parts. Experiencing and listening to the stories and ideas of different cultures, families and communities can make you a better communicator and overall person, and will help you learn to tell your own stories to help others. |
| Happy Monday. Do you know what your product is being compared against? You may think you are in one category but your customer may be thinking of their problem in a different context. Imagine you have built a specialized sales tool but you are seen as being in the CRM space. The customer will expect certain features and behavior that you may not offer. Your sales process and messaging will be much harder, and conversions may be disappointed and churn quickly when you don’t meet their expectations. You need to understand what your audience is using as reference and how you have described your product. Getting the right category helps people quickly understand the who it is for and what it does. What do you think? Can you even identify if you are in the wrong context? #startupalberta #albertatech #startups #entrepreneurship #reddeer #abtech #startupcanada #centralab #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds |
| The Red Deer Tech & Code meetup #21 is next week. Want to talk tech, your favorite programming language? framework? Why AI is terrible? Come on out. |
| Come on out Red Deer, let’s show just how great rural innovation is in Alberta. |
| Happy Monday. Are you a startup or a small business? Startups are often expected to be crazy fast machines that exist only to generate massive returns for investors. Your small business is implied to be slow and have poor returns by comparison. I think it’s a false comparison. Did the brands you love all start out with monopoly goals and investor returns? of course not. They were people focused on a problem and a customer and solving it better. You don’t need to automatically choose the vc or small biz path to get going. You need to focus on delivering value to the buyer, not a funder. The ideal customer, the clarity of problem solving, the experiments to discover, connect and create happy buyers are the primary tasks that matter. #reddeer #lacombe #olds #startalberta #Alberta #startup #entrepreneur #centralab |
| Good morning. Hope to see you at the meetup tonight where I’ll be asking everyone to add to this anonymous, complete only the fields you want survey so that Red Deer can have the kind of startup events, connections and culture that you want. |
| Happy Monday RDSH. How flexible is your offering? Can your customer resize, downsize, pause? If a customer is struggling, or having trouble justifying your product what are you doing to prevent a full churn? Things that might help keep them - Flexible contract terms, are you rigid or can it be ‘odd’ lengths. - Feature pricing, can you narrow the product to fit them for the moment. - Pausing, will you just put things on hold for a bit instead of forcing them out and hoping to get them back in later. - Resizing, can you change the plan they are on, but keep their old stuff archived for later. Think creatively on ways to keep the customer in your system. Once they churn, especially if you forced their hand, they are very difficult to get back. #reddeer #alberta #centralalberta #albertatech #startalberta #olds #innisfail #lacombe #sylvanlake #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Are you coming to the meetup? Summer is over, but you never stopped right? If you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas. Are you a Founder, Product Manager, UXer, Designer, Marketer, Solopreneur? Looking for others that are all about better customer experiences. Come and join us. Why would you come? Because you want to chat about building businesses, growth, startup life and work. Sept 12 2024, 6-8pm at the Boardwalk Entertainment Center 2410 50 Ave, Red Deer, Alberta (Old Peavey) Sister group of Red Deer Tech & Code, focused on community and chatting about startups, product management, ux, design, building companies, and growing where you are. ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. RSVP’s appreciated https://lnkd.in/guWq6KNA **** If you are into this entrepreneur/founder/startup world please help with the survey about what this community needs **** https://lnkd.in/gr5htVd6 ***** I’m not buying or selling anything. This is about interesting conversations and connecting each other to resources and help. This isn’t a consulting pitch, networking session, sales room event. #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startalberta #alberta #startups |
| Hey RDSH. I’d really like this community to reflect you and figure out what else I can help enable. Please take a moment and take this anonymous & entirely optional survey so we can build great things together https://lnkd.in/gr5htVd6 Please feel free to repost and share with anyone you know in this startup/entrepreneur/builder community in the region #reddeer #centralab #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #blackfalds #lacombe #reddeercounty #alberta #centralalberta |
| Happy Monday RDSH. There is a Paul Graham (YC) article out now about ‘Founder Mode’ from a talk by Brian Chesky (AirBNB). It discusses the problem of hiring professional managers to scale your company and how that often doesn’t work out. Worth a read. I have a similar guideline at the smaller end, roughly “Don’t take advice from people that never bought their own pens” by which I mean that the bigCO Sales VP, the straight college to bigCO employee, the corporate only experience, may be lacking an understanding of what it takes to get the engine going. Their experience often started in an already running machine, with processes and policies defined by people they will never meet. Startup life is much more hands on and row as a team. Hoping someone else fills up the supply closet is the wrong strategy, you need people that will make it happen. #reddeer #centralab #lacombe #innisfail #startalberta #alberta #albertatech #startups #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #founders |
| Happy Monday RDSH. This was one of the replies on a local thread where someone was encourage to start a business when they couldn’t find work. “You need capital, market research and a business plan that a financial institution will support. And foremost, entrepreneurial skill set.” This is certainly one view starting a business and it may encourage people to think the wrong way about doing it. Not everything is built up from borrow money, buy inventory, start a huge shop and be a super entrepreneur on day 1. I’m amazed at how many organizations and programs exist in Alberta to help you learn about starting and running your business when it doesn’t fit this classic view. There are so many ways to become reliant on yourself in business and I encourage you to explore them. My friends at Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network - CARIN, Community Futures Central Alberta, Business Link AB, Alberta Catalyzer and the people at community meetups are more than happy to talk with you and help you get on the entrepreneur path even (and especially) if you don’t know how to make a plan, get capital or were somehow magically born with the skills. #reddeer #centralab #alberta #startalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #olds #albertatech #albertastartups #entrepreneurship #startups #smallbusiness |
| Happy Monday RDSH. You aren’t the only one that feels like you are struggling with sales. Every entrepreneur, creator and maker wants to find the community that gets them and their product. Have you considered how you think about sales though? Do you believe it is convincing people to buy against their will? To trick them into a choice to spend? Believing that sales is bad keeps you from coming up with the ways to connect. - Can you build a relationship? Think of your favorite stores and brands that you go back to because they feel trusted. - Are you actually showing any value? Does your work improve or solve or fill a real need? - Are you authentic? Is this a real conversation and openness about your product or do you have a running scheme in your thoughts? - Are you being empathic? Just like you that customer has their own sets of jobs and goals and needs. Do you want product pushed on you? #reddeer #startups #centralab #albertatech #startalberta #olds #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #entrepreneurship #sales #startupcanada |
| Happy Monday RDSH. So you are working on a sales lead and your interested buyer is a champion, someone that wants your product and is willing to fight for it with their team. How are you going to help them? The bigger the product and team the more work you need to do in order to help everyone at the other end understand. Your champion may be passionate but they can’t close the sale for you. They need evidence, they need more calls, more meetings, more of your time to get everyone on board. Don’t treat every sale the same. The entire buying committee at the customer is what you need to close and that means you need to have planned for and thought about good answers for everyone involved. Your perfect persona may be one, but your audience is many. #reddeer #centralab #innisfail #olds #blackfalds #sylvanlake #rdcounty #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startups #entrepreneurship #sales #b2bsales |
| Hey don’t forget the next RDSH meetup is tomorrow evening, Thursday Aug 8 6pm at Boardwalk Entertainment Center. See you there. #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #alberta #startalberta #reddeercounty https://lnkd.in/gq8s5ZNF |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Last week I was at AgSmart in Olds and it is a great reminder that business ideas can from from anywhere, both in thinking and in location. I saw people working on things that had come from solving their own problems (scratch your own itch), new products developed from one off customer asks, insights into market opportunities, dreamers working on changing the world and others in the real practical every day parts of helping other businesses. There are opportunities all over, sometimes they find you, sometimes you find them and sometimes you have an idea so crazy it just might work. #reddeer #centralab #centralalberta #alberta #agtech #olds #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #abtech #startalberta #startups #albertatech #aginnovation #entreprenuership |
| Jeff here. Looking forward to seeing AgSmart tomorrow (31st). I’ll be around in my Red Deer Start Here shirt and probably near the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network - CARIN booth. Come say hi. |
| Happy Tuesday! RDSH. You have the perfect presentation. Spent hours fiddling with fonts and pictures and placements. On that pitch stage you may not be using your own laptop, software or even the same version. Too many presentations are spoiled when the organizers and you don’t have exactly the same tech. Here are a few tips that might help. - Ask for access early enough to verify on their setup and make fixes. - Consider saving in an older format that might be better supported, eg ppt not pptx. - Try a PDF version where everything is more fixed in place. Do you have other tips on managing this? #reddeer #centralab #olds #innisfail #lacombe #blackfalds #startups #abtech #startalberta #alberta #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are you in the early days of building the spreadsheet model of your business? It’s easy to be optimistic, and you should be, but also be reasonable. Your big launch that brings in thousands of converting customers? Probably not. That you won’t have churn? Of course you will. Advertising is the easy magic knob you just turn up to make the business go? Unlikely. That your operating costs stay flat while your customer base grows? Nearly impossible. If everything clicks and the whole things goes fast, great, but the reality is that it will take more time to find, build and connect with your customers than you might expect. Being honest in your projections makes it easier, not harder, to plan and build the actions you need to grow. #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startup #entrepreneurship #alberta #techalberta #startalberta #startupcanada |
| If the startup scene isn’t your jam but you want to chat with nerds in Red Deer and Central AB then why not checkout the upcoming Red Deer Tech & Code meetup on July 25th 6-8pm, Boston Pizza (Gaetz @ 32nd) ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. Meetup.com https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #centralalberta #alberta #albertatech |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are you still in your early days? Trying to figure out if there is even a customer or have an mvp you are ready to “sell”? Well founder get out there and do it, make those connections and get that feedback loop going. You may think you can just hire a sales person and send them out to find customers but in the early days there is no one quite like the founder. You aren’t so much selling a product as trying to connect with an audience that wants to help you build it. You are the one that saw the problem. You are the one with a vision of how to fix it. You are the one that needs to adapt on feedback. You aren’t anywhere close to repeatable sale, call and close yet. Putting someone between you and the customer at this stage only disconnects you from the very people and problem you set out to work on. #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #centralab #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startupcanada #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Hope to see you on Thursday for the meetup. If you have learned the customer discovery methods, digging into problems and needs, then a technique like Question Based Selling might feel right too. Here you want to engage the customer through a certain type of questions. Can they explain the overall goal? How about the why behind it. What specific benefits are they looking to accomplish with the goal? Are they looking at the group benefits, and how those will affect the team? Are there previous attempts that didn’t work, or other parties that aren’t aligned? #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #centralab #albertatech #alberta #startups #startupcanada #startupalberta #entrepreneurship |
| Hello Red Deer Start Here. 7 of us out last month, maybe you too this time? If you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas. Are you a Founder, Product Manager, UXer, Designer, Marketer, Solopreneur? Looking for others that are all about better customer experiences. Come and join us. * CHANGED LOCATION * July 11, 2024, 6-8pm at the new Boardwalk Entertainment Center 2410 50 Ave, Red Deer, AB (Old Peavey) Sister group of Red Deer Tech & Code, but focused on community and chatting about startups, product management, ux, design, building companies, and growing where you are. Come out and join us to get this discussion started in Central Alberta. ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. I’m not buying or selling anything. Like the Tech & Code Meetup I’m looking to have interesting conversations and connect each other. This isn’t a consulting pitch or intense networking session. There are better events for that. If you have questions please contact me. Find us also on LinkedIn. https://lnkd.in/gGHybf8G By joining or following you can help convince the local and provincial agencies there is a community here worth supporting and deliver startup programs in the area. Are you looking for a more technical meetup? https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK #reddeer #centralab #alberta #startalberta #platformcalgary #edmontonunlimited |
| Happy Monday and Canada Day RDSH. You may have noticed that many brands use regular holidays to run promotions and sales campaigns, but have you ever considered you can make up any reason you want? Especially in games it is very common to create new and special events just to have reasons for a sale or attracting players in to experience them. You don’t need a grand reason to engage your audience, but do focus on events and specials that you can make meaning with them. #reddeer #centralab #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #albertatech #startalberta #startups #gamedev #entrepreneurship #alberta #startupcanada |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Do you outline your sales calls for your leads? Do you tell them how you are going to walk through the product and UVP and that you will ask for a commitment at the end if it looks like a fit? “Tell-Show-Tell” is a classic technique that helps your audience understand what is happening and what is next. Tell them the outline, tell them your message, summarize the message and ask for next steps. This can be a great way to communicate in all kinds of presentations, especially sales calls. #reddeer #centralab #alberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #ponoka #albertatech #startalberta |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Write it down. Whether lean canvas or the Amazon memo and working backwards techniques, getting those thoughts into writing will help you expose and work on all the little bits your brain is only too happy to gloss over. It’s easy to get excited by a problem, and you definitely want to be, but doing this work makes sure you end up with a more realistic definition of where you need to go. #reddder #centralab #centralalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startups #entrepreneurship #platformcalgary #edmontonunlimited |
| My friends at the Alberta Regional Innovation Networks are hosting an online event during ScaleUp Week https://lnkd.in/gjGw39-F Come join us online Tuesday June 18 2-5pm for a chat about growth strategies and some networking. #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #centralalberta #reddeer #lacombe #blackfalds #innisfail #sylvanlake #startups #entrepreneurship #ruralalberta https://lnkd.in/gtDXnTks |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Hope to see you on Thursday June 13 for the next meetup. Boston Pizza Gaetz/32nd 6pm. Suffering from a summer time slowdown? The sales take longer, everyone is out of office. Don’t forget that you should take downtime too. If you can’t help yourself but keep going 110% then consider reviewing your processes. Have you learned anything in the last while that you could turn into a repeatable checklist? Is there some work you could hand off to someone else? Making playbooks of things you know work well mean you can start to split your job up giving you more time for the parts you are great at. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #rockymountainhouse #ponoka #threehills #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #albertastartups #startup #entrepreneurship #startupcanada |
| Happy Monday RDSH. As a startup you may end up on the pitch circuit, going to events to compete on stage. You will see the superbly practiced, the never practiced, the mumbler, the choker and more. But that alone doesn’t indicate who will ‘win’ in that moment. Each panel of judges is very different. They bring their own understandings, biases and beliefs to the floor and as great as you were the presentation may simply not connect with them that day. Their questions may make no sense and you just leave flustered. Many of the biggest startup brands you know have stories of pitching, vc meetings and early days where it felt like they didn’t connect with anybody, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in the product you are building. Perseverance is given as a key entrepreneur skill for a reason. Getting up tomorrow and doing it again is one of the most important things. Pitches will not connect, sales calls will miss, leads won’t pan out. Your job now is to try again. - Jeff Horton #reddeerstarthere #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startups #startupalberta #startalberta #albertatech #alberta #entrepreneurs #yyctech #yegtech |
| Happy Monday RDSH. First off I hope to see some of you at Inventures 2024. Happy to find you and anyone else that wants to talk about getting more central Alberta startup culture going. What do you do? Are you simply a ‘Maker of x for y?’. Sure, that is technically what you do, but that isn’t the value you are trying to communicate. You don’t think of the products you enjoy that way so make sure you aren’t selling yourself short when describing what you are actually bringing to market. The unique value is your magic, make sure to mention it. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralalberta #alberta #yyctech #yegtech #startalberta #albertastartups #startupcanada #startups #entrepreneurship #valueproposition |
| If I can offer only one tip that you take to heart in your founder journey let it be this one. You will be presenting all the time, in the pitch days, in the sales days. ** When presenting slides, learn to use presentation mode, make it full screen for your audience. ** Doing that will at least focus attention on the slides. Once you get the hang of that you need to fix the rest; - Less text, no really, way less text. Take every sentence and cut it in half, and then half again. - If it doesn’t fit on the page at 30pt font you have too much, cut more - Write yourself some notes, speech to go with it, about 140 words per minute, on a show that should be 1-2 minutes per slide. - Practice your speaking, practice using your presentation software. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #centralalberta #alberta #techalberta #startalberta #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #founders #marketers |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are you fixed in your thinking about the use case of your product? Customers can surprise you by asking for changes that may take your business in a different (and sometimes bigger) direction. In a previous role we were very sure, all the way to a retail shipping product, when a customer asked about a modification into a different industry. That change quickly became the basis for a much stronger use case, higher profitability and a standout product to lead industry. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startups #albertastartup #startalberta #entrepreneurship #founders #albertatech #startupcanada |
| Can you explain your products interface over the phone? Could you walk someone through your process blindfolded? Many products have become so complicated that it may be difficult for even you, the one that knows it inside out, to explain. If you can’t do it then how do you expect your customers to solve things or help each other use it? Making sure you have clear usage paths, way-points, colors, actions and outcomes helps everyone get more from the product and feel more confident doing so. If you need some fancy game controller button presses to get something done then a critical review is needed. What do you think? Do you have favorite products with an interface you love? - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralab #startups #entrepreneurship #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startupcanada #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #ux #ui #design #platformcalgary #edmontonunlimited |
| Happy Monday RDSH. The down days are bad, and they can be a lot further down than you are ready for. For a lot of founders this is especially rough without support networks. Your co-founder, life partner, other founders you know and even staff that have been through it before are ready to listen and understand where you are. You will have times where things go from bad to worse to worse again. At least knowing it is expected and others have been through it you can prepare yourself for the journey back up. Everyone that matters will be there with you at both ends. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startups #entrepreneurship #founders #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #alberta #startalberta #centralab #albertatech #techalberta #startupalberta |
| Was great to have 6 of us out last night for the May meetup. Always an interesting chat and always learn new things. Hope to see you at the next event on June 13, 6pm, Boston Pizza Gaetz/32nd in Red Deer. #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #startups #startalberta #alberta |
| Who are you making this for? Builders? Not enough. How about Bob the Builder instead? In the early days you are wild with ideas and ambition, and if you are chasing investors a big goal can wow them too. But at the start, and generally ongoing, focusing on a specific people that can be true fans is the best way to progress. Sure it could be used by everyone in every way but how do you intend to build features and communicate that? Products and messaging for everyone lack the focus to connect well with individual buyers, especially the ones you desperately need at the start. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #centralab #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startupalberta #startups #entrepreneurship #marketing #b2b #b2c |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Reminder that the next meetup is this Thursday 6pm, May 9/Boston Pizza Gaetz/32nd in Red Deer. Now onto the post. You may do win/loss analysis on your sales outcomes, and if not you certainly should be. Have you also considered studying your best customers? The ones that you really connected with and that are continuously happy with the value you deliver? You may discover things you are unexpectedly great at, and if you aren’t already interviewing your existing customer base, learn where you are weak and what else you could be doing. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startups #albertastartups #startalberta #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #founders #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #albertatech #techalberta #alberta #centralab |
| You think you have the perfect fix for your customers problems, all they need to do is rollout your product across several teams. You may have considered your on-boarding process, how to order, how to install, how to add users. But have you ever considered theirs? It may seem easy to you, after all you live it daily. Have you worked on making it easy for them? Change management can be a critically important part to getting everyone excited and using the new thing. Your buyer will face internal resistance. Can you help them? Have you made materials that help everyone understand how this will make their job better? Do you know how to prevent the likely failures and fires as they start using it? Customer success means everyone gets value and their days get better by using your product. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startups #albertastartups #startalberta #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #founders #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #albertatech #techalberta #alberta #centralab |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are you suffering from obsession with perfection? Maybe next week you will ship, make that call or reach out to that customer once you get ‘just one more thing, just one more pixel’ ready. How long have you been doing that to yourself? Your strategy needs contact with the customer so you can learn and iterate and build something that is valuable and satisfies. The products you love didn’t start out in their current form but have been through years (or decades of feedback). Embrace the growth. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startups #albertastartups #startalberta #startupcanada #entrepreneurship #founders #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #albertatech #techalberta #alberta #centralab |
| I came across the 95:5 rule recently, originally published on LinkedIn and MarketingWeek. Something you should definitely give a read and think about as it can bring clarity to how fast you can sell and what your marketing efforts are doing. https://lnkd.in/g2Xyq\_nw - Jeff Horton #redeer #centralab #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #alberta #startalberta #albertatech #startups #entrepreneurship #marketing |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Are you one of those kids that were told to “use your words”. It was probably good advice then but maybe it isn’t now. Your marketing is better off if you “use their words”, not your parents, unless they are target market 😉, but your customers words and phrases. On discovery calls, sales calls, and how they tell their co-workers and friends, there will be a whole set of concepts and wording that you probably aren’t using. Listen carefully and investigate how they are describing you for clues you can use to tighten up your messaging and connect with your audience clearly the first time. Look for help in the recording, transcription tools and other systems that let you review what they are actually saying. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #centralab #alberta #albertatech #startalberta #startupalberta #startups #entrepreneurship #marketing #b2b #b2c |
| What is your on-boarding process like for new customers? Do you just hand them the keys and say good luck!. You spent all that marketing money and sales time to get them in the door, to demo, to test and then you would just drop them? It is easy to think that self-service, read the manual type help is all they need but that doesn’t help them truly engage or get the value you promised. Spending the time to develop clear instructions, what’s next tips, videos, newsletters, triggered lessons and being available through a customer success role and view will ensure that everyone is happy with the outcomes and you aren’t creating bad impressions or tempting churn unnecessarily. Do you do any of these things? Or are you dreaming of super low touch customers that don’t value you the way you hope. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #blackfalds #startups #startalberta #startupalberta #albertatech #alberta #entrepreneurship #onboarding #customerservice |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Do you have a personal brand behind your company? Many businesses today are built on a founders persona. Their story, their drive and their need to share a better product or service with you. It can be a powerful method to connect with an audience and convert them into customers while you build and expand the business brand itself. Many b2c and b2b founders are encouraged to leverage their networks and ‘personal’ accounts as much as possible to be a real face and identity instead of the generic ‘brand voice’ that is otherwise so common. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #centralalberta #startup #entrepreneurship #marketing #b2b #b2c #alberta #startalberta #startupalberta #albertatech |
| Do you know the loop in your product? In games there is a core loop, that set of actions that happen over and over again as you play. Understanding that loop, where it begins and ends and how it relates to other parts makes a big difference in the success of the game. Your product may be the same. Your users will have a set of regular actions when using your product. What are they doing minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day that you are enabling. How can you make that reliable, predictable and useful to them. Do you know where they get stuck, do you know how many steps they need to complete to be happy and successful using it? - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #startalberta #startupalberta #alberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #startupedmonton #startupcalgary #edmontonunlimited #platformcalgary #centralab |
| Come on out to the next meetup. This Thursday April 11, 6-8pm at the Boston Pizza Gaetz/32nd in Red Deer. If you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas. Are you a Founder, Product Manager, UXer, Designer, Marketer? Looking for others that are all about better customer experiences. Come and join us for a peers over beers type discussion and sharing. Sister group of Red Deer Tech & Code, but focused on community and chatting about startups, product management, ux, design, building companies, and growing where you are. Thursday, April 11, 2024 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM MDT Boston Pizza 32nd/Gaetz, Red Deer ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. I’m not buying or selling anything. Like the Tech & Code Meetup I’m looking to have interesting conversations and connect each other. This isn’t a consulting pitch or intense networking session. There are better events for that. https://lnkd.in/gNSVt3Jx If you have questions please contact me. Find us also on LinkedIn. https://lnkd.in/gGHybf8G Are you looking for a more technical meetup? https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK - Jeff Horton #reddeer #alberta #centralalberta #startalberta #albertastartups #lacombe #innisfail #olds #blackfalds #sylvanlake |
| Happy Monday RDSH. How open do you want to be with your staff? Do you want them to be empowered collaborators and create a culture where the truth rises? Or would you rather build something command and control where rumors fly and no one feels connected to the goals and plans that matter? These people aren’t just an assembly line, you picked them and they picked you because there was something worth doing together. The more you share the more you will get back. The ideas will flow, the goals will be aligned and the ‘staff’ will become your partners in success. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #centralab #albertastartup #startalberta #alberta #lacombe #innisfail #olds #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Good morning RDSH. Do you talk to your customers? I don’t mean just at time of sale but later and ongoing. Not just sending them an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey either but any kind of conversation about how your product is working for them, if there is anything else they wished it did, are they using other tools with yours to get what they need? These conversations are how you stay connected and find ways to increase value for your existing customers. Not only can this help you manage churn but you may find ways to increase pricing or options in the future. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #startups #entrepreneurship #startalberta #startupalberta #startupcanada #alberta #centralalberta |
| Good morning RDSH. For me entrepreneurship and the arts are close twins. Both rely on seeing and thinking differently about the world around them. The artist and the founder imagine and explore and develop the new. They both need a story, a promise, a resolution, a way to engage with an audience. The entrepreneur needs the arts to design, communicate, market and find ways to create joy in their customer. Its easy to imagine arts as pretty pictures or a few words (the premise of generative) but just as we want real founders with big ideas we also want real artists with big ideas. To that end I celebrate the local student arts at Red Deer Polytechnic for their creativity and seeing the world differently. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #startups #entrepreneurship #startalberta #albertastartups |
| Design isn’t only about making things pretty. It is about creating an experience with purpose. To invoke feelings, to make something that is familiar but different. Design isn’t just a one time thing, it is an ongoing process of aligning the product goals and customer outcomes, while being nice to look at and use. How your brand and products show themselves can have a big impact on buyers. Does it feel approachable or does it accidentally create feelings of danger or risk? Good design and thinking is critical and something you must pay attention to. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #carin #alberta #startalberta #startupalberta #albertatech #albertainnovates |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Ok, you’ve done it, product launched, closed some sales and things are feeling good. Now you or your investors want to crank it up, add a sales team and go go go. You bring on an experienced VP Sales and some Business Development Reps (BDRs) and let them loose. “How quickly can you ship a box to Guam?” “This (big) deal will close if you only add feature X in the next 30 days” “I told them we were working on Y and that it would be done by end of quarter, don’t make me lose this sale” Whoa, whoa. What happened? Without a very well defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and sales process the new team will go after anything it can and often you can waste months, and sometimes years, trying to catch up and fulfill all the promises they made, often making your brand look bad. But that isn’t customer feedback, it is a wish list of maybes that sales thought would help them close. A sales team doesn’t automatically understand and sell what you have, you need to train them and keep a tight reign on the materials and conversations they have in ordered to stay laser focused on the customers and revenue that matters. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #alberta #startalberta #startupalberta #entrepreneurship #startups #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #platformcalgary #edmontonunlimited #smallbusiness #carin #centralalberta #centralab #communityfutures |
| Whatever product or experience you are making the user experience must be clear and understandable. I think often about a book ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ which left me a few important ideas to reflect on. - Can someone figure out how to use it? The possible actions. - Is it understandable or does it require the manual constantly at hand? - Does it map onto known experiences or tools? - What kind of feedback does it give? Does it help someone use it? Your day is filled with handles, buttons, interfaces, tools and ‘everyday things’ in your home and work that you don’t think about anymore because they are familiar but also because they were designed and behave in ways that make sense. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #olds #carin #alberta #startalberta #startupalberta #albertatech #albertainnovates |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Last week I had a couple conversations where I explained ‘lifestyle’ businesses. A business where you want to use your skills and see an opportunity you can fulfill but without the express goal of growth into a massive business. The VC community sometimes uses the term in a derogatory way to suggest a business that isn’t worth it. But it only isn’t worth it to them. Many of the businesses you know were created by founders not to take over the world but to provide for themselves and their communities. You can still grow and have staff, and sell globally, but without the constant focus on your next round, your huge annualized growth that the investing community needs. - Jeff Horton #rdsh #reddeer #lacombe #innsifail #sylvanlake #blackfalds #startup #entrepreneurship #startupalberta #alberta |
| Yesterday I talked to a class of business students at Red Deer Polytechnic about startups/entrepreneurship and made sure to tell them some very real stories about how it can often not work out, take a lot longer, and end up in bad situations. But I also told them that it is great. It is a lot of fun and you can build real value for customers and even trying you will learn a lot of personal resilience and self-reliance too. Had some great questions and I think they got a lot of value from it. Looking forward to seeing the students around and doing it again in the fall semester. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #entrepreneurship #startups #startalberta #startupalberta #startupcanada #lacombe #innsfail #sylvanlake #alberta |
| Hello from the Red Deer Polytechnic research showcase. |
| Good (early) morning RDSH. *Reminder that the next meetup is this Thursday March 14. 6pm at Boston Pizza Gaetz/32nd* I don’t think founders or potential early employees hear enough about the grind. The daily workings to keep things moving forward. The great stories you hear are compressed, the big successful stories have often been re-written. Many stories were revised to leave out pure luck. Once you know this it all becomes easier. You aren’t falling way behind, you don’t need to compare yourself to a mythology. All you need to do is focus every day on your customer, connecting that value and delivering great experiences. If you can do that consistently you will be amazed at how far you will go. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startup #entrepreneurship #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #centralab #startalberta #abtech #alberta #centralalberta #olds #startupedmonton #startupcalgary |
| Fantastic project in Sylvan Lake. Lemonade Day is back on June 22, 2024. Officials with the Town of Sylvan Lake are inviting young Lakers to launch their own small business – a lemonade stand! Organizers say fun, hands-on experiences teach business planning, budgeting, and goal setting. The Town says young bosses will serve customers and make hard-earned cash. https://lnkd.in/geUttBEa #sylvanlake #alberta #entrepreneurship |
| Hello Red Deer Start Here people. Come join me for meetup #9. If you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas. Are you a Founder, Product Manager, UXer, Designer, Marketer? Looking for others that are all about better customer experiences. Come and join us Thursday March 14 2024, 6-8pm at Boston Pizza Gaetz @ 32nd. Sister group of Red Deer Tech & Code, but focused on community and chatting about startups, product management, ux, design, building companies, and growing where you are. Come out and join us to get this discussion started in Central Alberta. ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. I’m not buying or selling anything. Like the Tech & Code Meetup I’m looking to have interesting conversations and connect each other. This isn’t a consulting pitch or intense networking session. There are better events for that. If you have questions please contact me. https://lnkd.in/gNSVt3Jx Are you looking for a more technical meetup? https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK - Jeff Horton #reddeer #startupalberta #startalberta #centralab #caep #lacombe #innisfail #sylvanlake #blackfalds #reddeercounty #abtech #albertastartups #startup #entrepreneurship #founder #canada #alberta |
| Happy Monday RDSH. When do you practice? To be confident on stage and effective in your communications you must take the time to work on your material. The people that appear natural have spent time practicing their speeches, recording themselves for review and having friends and peers critique. They also prepared for the follow-up questions. Being on the ball takes work. Spend time preparing and both you and your audience will have a great experience and your message more likely received. - Jeff Horton #reddeerstarthere #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #olds #blackfalds #centralab #abtech #startupalberta #abstartups #alberta #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Good morning RDSH. Your new startup baby is ugly. It doesn’t work very well. The processes and systems that drive it should scare anyone. What are you going to do about it? Are you avoiding showing it to anyone? Are you avoiding feedback? Take the lesson “No plan survives contact with the enemy” to heart. The longer you wait to get feedback loops the more risk you take in building the wrong strategy, building the wrong product and frustrating yourself when ‘nobody gets it’ after you have made something for your personal vision only. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startups #abstartup #startupalberta #abtech #albertatech #centralab #entrepreneurship |
| Happy Family Day RDSH. If you have a business in your early 20s it is easy to work all the time and enjoy it for yourself. Once you get older and have kids motivations can change and now you are building to make their lives better. This family day I hope that you don’t see this message because you are too busy hanging out with the people in your lives that are a big part of the drive you use every other day. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #abtech #albertatech #yyctech #yegtech #startalberta #startab #techalberta #alberta #startups #entrepreneurs |
| From the Red Deer Tech & Code Meetup. -– Welcome to the next Red Deer Tech & Code meetup, #14 on Feb 22, 2024. Was great to see so many of you at the 1 year event #13 and hope you are rested and excited for your 2024 projects. Everyone has a good time and always interesting conversation or all kinds of technical and non-technical topics. If you like programming, devops, cloud computing, tech startups, regular IT, then come on out. If you have questions don’t hesitate to ask or pm me. Feb 22, 2024, 6-8pm Boston Pizza (Gaetz @ 32nd) Find us on LinkedIn Groups https://lnkd.in/dVaMKX39 Or Meetup.com https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK If you are more interested in startup community there is a meetup for that too, less technical, more product, business, marketing discussion. https://lnkd.in/gNSVt3Jx https://lnkd.in/dRFQSp3A htps://reddeerstarthere.com |
| Good morning RDSH. I had a chat this weekend and this was the lesson I shared. Have you made the call? Have you tried asking? Many people feel uncomfortable putting themselves out there for fear of rejection. You must remember that those programs, advisors, mentors, they are there to help, they _want_ to help. The startup and business community is full of great people that want you to succeed. We make ourselves available because we enjoy helping and sharing. One of the big life lessons is that asking works and a lot of people learn that too late. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralab #abtech #techab #startupalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #yyctech #yegtech #startups #entrepreneurship #albertatech #techalberta #startupcanada |
| Looking forward to seeing some of you tonight for the meetup. Find us in Red Deer at the Boston Pizza 32nd/Gaetz at 6pm. Come and chat about what you are building in a peers over beers setting without the pressure of trying to sell or be sold. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #meetup #startup #entrepreneurship #centralab |
| Happy Monday RDSH. How much did that service you are going to subscribe to cost yesterday? This isn’t about inflation but about realizing that the pricing model you created before may not be the right pricing model now. The customer that shows up today just thinks this how your pricing works, and as long as the strong value connection is there is what really matters. Of course you can legacy price some customers if you need to but don’t let them define the forward better pricing you need. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #abtech #albertatech #abstartup #albertastartups #startalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startups #yyctech #yegtech #startupcalgary #startupedmonton |
| Hello Red Deer Start Here. Time for meetup #8. Thursday Feb 8, 6-8pm, Boston Pizza (Gaetz/32nd) Are you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas? Do you work in startups or are trying to get your own business going and want to share your learning and tips? Are you are trying to learn to get a sense of what ‘startup’ actually means and the tools to work on one? Come out and join us to get this discussion started in Central Alberta. ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. I’m not buying or selling anything. Like the Tech & Code Meetup I’m looking to have interesting conversations and connect each other. This isn’t a consulting pitch or intense networking session. If you have questions please contact me. On LinkedIn. https://lnkd.in/gGHybf8G On Meetup https://lnkd.in/gNSVt3Jx By joining or following you can help convince the local and provincial agencies there is a community here worth supporting and deliver startup programs in the area. Are you looking for a more technical meetup? https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralalberta #centralab #sylvanlake #innisfail #lacombe #blackfalds #albertatech #techalberta #startalberta #albertastartups |
| Happy Monday, RDSH. Let’s explore where startup ideas can come from. - Personal Problems: A product or service that fails to meet your needs or expectations highlights an opportunity for innovation. - Skills and Expertise: Consider whether specialized knowledge or skills you possess could be applied in a different industry context. - Industry Trends: Understanding the direction in which your industry is moving can enable you to anticipate needs and develop new ideas accordingly. - Improvements: Identifying products that have become outdated or suffer from a lack of innovation can reveal opportunities for creating more advanced and competitive alternatives. - Regulatory Changes: Changes in regulations or laws can open new market niches and new products and services. - Technological Advancements: New technologies often present opportunities to transform existing products or create entirely new offerings. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralab #centralalberta #albertatech #techalberta #startalberta #startupalberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #yegtech #yyctech #startups #entrepreneurship |
| A great session. I encourage all to attend. |
| Good morning RDSH. How many businesses are you in? Are you trying to be the everything to everybody company? In the early days it is easy to imagine your product being right for everybody, and you may be encouraged to imagine the biggest market possible. That is a great as a vision, but a poor way to execute. What you need today is laser sharp focus on a specific use, a specific user and how you find them and get them deeply connected to your product. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #centralab #centralalberta #albertatech #techalberta #startalberta #albertastartups #startups #entrepreneurship #alberta #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake |
| Hey RDSH friends. The folks at Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network - CARIN are going to try their Grant Writing Session again, in person and online this time. #centralalberta #centralab #reddeer #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #rockymountainhouse |
| Happy Monday RDSH. Setting pricing for your product can be hard. You may think of only your costs to make it, underestimate the value it provides, or have outsized expectations of greatness. The product has a real value to your customer and you must know what that is. Are you giving someone superpowers? increasing their sales? That can be worth more than you think. Are you realistic on your costs, the costs to grow, and profits to be had? You may be undercharging and increasing your chances of failure. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #centralab #centralalberta #alberatech #startalberta #albertastartups #lacombe #innisfail #sylvanlake #blackfalds #yyctech #yegtech #startups #entrepreneurship |
| Was great to have a few brave / crazy startup risk taking people come out to the meetup last night. We chatted pricing, marketing, who is the customer, Alberta Innovates programs at Platform Calgary and Edmonton Unlimited and lessons from Craig Elias too. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralalberta #centralab #alberta #startups #entrepreneurship #lacombe #blackfalds #abtech #albertatech |
| Good morning RDSH. Have you ever been responsible for a big purchase at work, the choice that will have ramifications for years? How big was the FOMU, the Fear Of Messing Up? I bet it was huge, and maybe you still wonder today if you made the right choice. Selling people on your startup product is exactly that for your buyer. You need to help them mitigate and minimize the risks and give them the materials and tools to manage and communicate internally in their own orgs that you are a great and safe choice. I look forward to seeing some of you at the next meetup, this Thursday Jan 11, 6pm, at the Boston Pizza (32nd/Gaetz) in Red Deer. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #redderstarthere #albertastartups #startalberta #startups #entrepreneurship #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #centralab #centralalberta |
| Hey folks, the Edmonton Regional Innovation Network has a great resource platform worth checking out for additional resources and connections that may help you. #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #carin #startalberta #albertastartups #innovationalberta #yyctech #yegtech #lacombe #innisfail #olds #blackfalds #sylvanlake #rockymountanhouse #penhold |
| Hello Red Deer Start Here people. Come join me for meetup #7. If you are into startups, entrepreneurship, product management or innovation ideas, If you work in startups or are trying to get your own business going and want to share your learning and tips, If you are trying to learn to get a sense of what ‘startup’ actually means, Come out and join us to get this discussion started in Central Alberta. ** Not sponsored, you are responsible for your own food & drink. As part of experimentation this event will be tried on Thursday January 11th, 6-8pm at Boston Pizza (Gaetz/32nd) I’m not buying or selling anything. Like the Tech & Code Meetup I’m looking to have interesting conversations and connect each other. This isn’t a consulting pitch or intense networking session. If you have questions please contact me. https://lnkd.in/gNSVt3Jx By joining or following you can help convince the local and provincial agencies there is a community here worth supporting and deliver startup programs in the area. Are you looking for a more technical meetup? https://lnkd.in/gSNvk6FK - Jeff Horton #reddeer #centralalberta #centralab #lacombe #innisfail #olds #sylvanlake #blackfalds #startalberta #albertastartups #alberta #startups |
| Welcome to 2024 RDSH. Best wishes that the year brings you great new ideas, fantastic fit customers, short sales cycles and the capital and resources you need to get things done. - Jeff Horton #reddeer #reddeerstarthere #lacombe #innisfail #blackfalds #sylvanlake #startalberta #albertastartup #yyctech #yegtech #alberta #albertainnovates #startups #entrepreneurship |
