I am back from the TechCrunch party and I'm overwhelmed by the crowd. I've met some interesting and smart people like Scott Wheeler from Directed Edge, and many others. I've also met many of my friends, but I already know that they're interesting and smart, so it was no so big surprise.
Anyway, there were seven or eight start-up elevator pitches presented, and I was quite happy to see the presenters well prepared. I hate boring presentations, and believe me, you can get people bored in less than two minutes.
I remember when my friend and I wrote a TV sitcom pitch. It is possible that our sitcom was funny, but the pitch definitely wasn't. We tried so hard to put too much on one page that we lost our main desire: fun. Or pitch failed and so did we.
It is hard to be short. Look at me, this is my forth paragraph, you've already read 158 words, and I haven't tell you anything about writing good elevator pitch yet.
Here it is: Solve my problem.
It's not easy to do, but that's the point. Don't tell me who you are, how many employees you have, don't bother me with your blabla mission. Just tell me you have a solution for my problem.
Do you need to understand your data, do you need to have a report prepared for tomorrow presentation but your IT department cannot help you? We in Good Data can. Yes, it is on-demand, software-as-a-service, collaborative, Ajax, heuristic ETL, automatic, intuitive - but these are only features. Who cares, if it solves your problem?
I believe that when you do something, it solves somebody's problem. Find that somebody, invite her to an elevator, and tell her your solution. If it really solves the problem, you can always present your company later.
TechCrunch meet-up in Prague starts in one hour
Good Data is proud to be part of it. It's exciting how many people promised to come. I guess there will be so many questions about Good Data, but I would like to be a big ear tonight, to listen what's going on in other heads than mine.
:. Labels:
meeting
Video kills the rock'n'roll
I read faster than you talk. This is only one of the reasons I actually don't like video blogspots. I see it more and more often - a video without any added value.
To create a video is a long but funny process. However, the fun is over when you have to watch it. It's a little bit strange - why would anyone spend several hours producing a videospot if writing text is so fast?
To answer it, we have to think about the preparation. To write a text, you have to know how to write, and you have to know your point. It should be the same with audio and video recordings, but it's not.
Today, you don't even need an expensive camcorder to be a video hero. You don't need to have a point, just aim, shoot, cut, and publish. Should we blame the technology for that? Or are we victims of our laziness?
I can work with text. I can easily look at the end of it, to read its conclusion, I can look at the paragraph beginnings only, I can skip boring parts and re-reads the interesting ones, I can highlight them, and save them, and share them.
But I'm not able to work with video in that way. I don't know how much time should I skip to watch something interesting, and I have not even a little intention to watch talking heads for minutes if I can read the same in seconds.
That's why I don't like video and why I don't listen to podcasts (nor audiobooks). I am bored to listen to something I can read easily.
Think before shoot. Is your video necessary? Helpful? Does it really show something that's better watched that described?
If not, please save my time.
To create a video is a long but funny process. However, the fun is over when you have to watch it. It's a little bit strange - why would anyone spend several hours producing a videospot if writing text is so fast?
To answer it, we have to think about the preparation. To write a text, you have to know how to write, and you have to know your point. It should be the same with audio and video recordings, but it's not.
Today, you don't even need an expensive camcorder to be a video hero. You don't need to have a point, just aim, shoot, cut, and publish. Should we blame the technology for that? Or are we victims of our laziness?
I can work with text. I can easily look at the end of it, to read its conclusion, I can look at the paragraph beginnings only, I can skip boring parts and re-reads the interesting ones, I can highlight them, and save them, and share them.
But I'm not able to work with video in that way. I don't know how much time should I skip to watch something interesting, and I have not even a little intention to watch talking heads for minutes if I can read the same in seconds.
That's why I don't like video and why I don't listen to podcasts (nor audiobooks). I am bored to listen to something I can read easily.
Think before shoot. Is your video necessary? Helpful? Does it really show something that's better watched that described?
If not, please save my time.
:. Labels:
video
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