trendpreneur

Yesterday I had the mixed pleasure of getting up at the crack of dawn to head to Aberdeen for my third NESTA Starter for 6 workshop. S46, as it’s affectionately known, is a scheme whereby aspiring creative and technology entrepreneurs get some solid hands-on training in the various skills needed to run a successful business.

This month’s session was on marketing, run by two seasoned professionals from The Value Innovators. Obviously defining and then approaching your target market in the right way is crucial to a young business’s success, as startups rarely have the cash or even the time to absorb wasted marketing efforts.

The session focused on four key aspects of marketing: product, customers, promotion and PR.
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I had the pleasure a couple of days ago of attending a pitching workshop at the British Library, organised by Techcrunch and UKTI. (It’s part of the lead-up to Geek’n'Rolla). As well as meeting some awesome fellow entrepreneurs, there was a lot of solid advice on pitching, tailored towards the TC-style 2 minute pitch.

Having previously attended Bill Joos’ pitching seminar here in Edinburgh, tailored towards a full VC presentation, it was interesting to see the marked similarities between the London and Silicon Valley take on things.

Here are a few of the key points from the workshop (note – I’m clearly not a pitching expert, so please don’t take this as gospel!).

• Don’t be vague.
• Don’t be slide-heavy.
• Don’t be negative.
  
• Engage the audience.

Let’s drill into these a wee bit. [...]