Introduction

BestenoLogo

I gave a short presentation at GreatPreneurs’ conference (#GPConf2014) in Manchester this weekend on the subject of “What does your support network do for you?”

I wasn’t talking about friends or family, but rather the startup events and meetings that occur in your city.

Value

I’m pretty convinced you could eat for a month without having to buy any food by attending an event in the morning, a different one in the afternoon and one or two in the evening. Every day. In Manchester, UK, there are enough events to do this. But if you were to do so, that’s all you’d manage to accomplish. Well, that plus swapping business cards and talking to people. You wouldn’t actually get any work done.

When you’re pre-startup, bouncing around ideas and wondering what you’re business is going to be, these events can be ideal. They allow you to learn from others, get a feel for what your city provides and understand how others have succeeded or failed.

Shift of Focus

At the point that you commit to having a startup, then the focus changes. You’re no longer going to these events just for yourself, you’re going as a founder of your startup. The question of value also changes. My rule is “has my company progress further by me attending this event than if I’d focussed on growing the company instead”. That could mean developing new features, ringing up a customer, creating some marketing collateral, etc.

This shift of focus vastly reduces the number of events that are worth attending. In fact, it highlights gaps in the current support network. You may find, as we did, that there weren’t events focussed on what you wanted. So we created our own. The good thing is that nowadays, with tools such as eventbrite and meet up, you can create an event really easily. I’d recommend treating the event as a mini startup in itself, so think about the customer development very early on before you scale.

Pay It Forward

However, events shouldn’t just be about receiving. For equitable events with everyone sharing, rather than those where you pay to attend, the events only work if you give. You may be giving information, advice, consultancy, some information about yourself, friendship. That all needs to be provided for someone else to receive. Sometimes, it will be you receiving and that’s good. I’d ask everyone to give before they receive and to give more while they have the time, because when they near the end of the runway, they’ll really require some help. Think of it as investing in your future.

Slides and Comments

I’ve embedded the slides here and I’d be happy to hear comments. You can find me @alanward.