Who has time for meetings.html

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    <p>
      A lot of entrepreneurs assume that the initial way to engage with an
      investor is to <em>insist</em> on a meeting. It’s a relatively safe
      assumption that anyone on the buy side (an investor, an advertiser, an
      executive at a large company) receives far more requests for meetings than
      they can follow up on, and are constantly looking for excuses to say “no.”
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    <p>
      Synchronous activities, such as phone calls, screencasts, videos, and
      webex conferences are almost as bad. If you’re trying to get the attention
      of an investor or exec at a major company, and don’t want to waste either
      your time or their time, pay very, very close attention to the cost of
      their time and you’ll fare better. In order of escalation, one should
      proceed as follows:
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      – Introduction – have your introducer send them an email
      <em>without putting you in the to or cc line.</em> That way, if the target
      does not wish to engage, you haven’t put them in the awkward position of
      having to supply an excuse or a turndown. The introducer protects their
      ability to be taken seriously this way.
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      – Once you have a response / interest, send something written for them to
      look over and offer a phone call, webex, or meeting as next steps. Written
      always beats a video or screencast, since most intelligent people can read
      a lot faster than they can listen. A webex demo is a crutch – if your
      product has to be explained, it probably isn’t ready for the average
      consumer. And if it’s in beta, you should at least know how to open up a
      password-protected demo version.
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      – If the target displays interest in learning more, then you can move to a
      call or in-person meeting.
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    <p>
      People who insist on a webex demo or in-person meeting at the outset are
      forcing the target to make a high-cost decision, and are subtly signaling
      that they don’t value their own time, and certainly don’t value the
      targets’ time. They might think that they are demonstrating persistence,
      but one wants to see persistence in chasing the product, not in chasing
      dead-ends.
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      In short, your high-value targets don’t have time for meetings between
      un-screened parties, and since you’re busy building a company, you
      shouldn’t have time for them either.
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