Advisory Email – Jan 2023

Tune it to hear Andy and I discuss the essential soft-skills that are often overlooked. We touch on the role of luck in entrepreneurship, self-awareness, leading with compassion, and walking the fine line between tenacity vs. stubbornness.

Brenden shares his experience facing criticism as a young founder, how he builds credibility, and deals with imposter syndrome.

Tai and I discuss some observations and personal experiences around dating, characteristics we value in a good partner, work-life balance/harmony, managing a business amidst starting a family, and how they all intersect with our ability to stay motivated and disciplined in our business.

Building a CPG company comes with it’s own set of unique challenges, more so in a highly competitive and saturated market with big incumbents. Tune in to hear Glenn share his insights from his 24+ year career in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies and how he’s working to build an equitable and authentic brand for RED Chocolate.

Given the lack of historic data, pricing is often a difficult topic for companies in their early days. Tune in to hear Kevin and I discuss free vs. paid offerings, intentional pricing based on your intended audience, and experimenting + adjusting pricing.

Tune in for a deep dive with Jacinthe where we discuss topics like: loans vs. line of credit, cashflow, budgeting, debt vs. investor capital, profit margins, and more.

Hear Say share her personal experience with burnout, what she’s learned about managing stress, and how organizations should approach designing workplace culture to account for stress + burnout.

• Why purpose matters both personally, but also in a business.
• Purpose vs. Opportunity.
• Shiny Object Syndrome in entrepreneurs.
• Grit vs. Stubbornness.
• How purpose awareness manifests in decision making in business.
• How to navigate business pivots (hint: it’s related to purpose).
• How personal and business values play a role in decision making.
• Exercises to help you identify your core values.

• Benefits of community for a business.
• How to foster a healthy and engaging community.
• Ideas on seeding engagement.
• Possible places to start building your community.

• Mediums for communication.
• Authentic communication.
• Empathizing with the recipient/listener + how to process feedback.
• How to approach communicating failure, setbacks, delays, complaints.

• How expectations affect the customer’s experience.
• Identifying existing expectations and preconceptions.
• How to set and manage expectations.

• Elements that bolster credibility.
• How to position yourself as an expert.
• How to build rapport through common ground with people who share little in common with you.

• What is the Impostor/Imposter Syndrome.
• Recognizing it.
• Reframing failure.
• The role of luck in our success and how we can “create” luck.
• Perfectionism vs. Progress.
• Handling judgement and critique + escaping negative self-fulfilling prophecies.
• Authenticity in approaching our feelings of being “fake” when we’re subject to the impostor syndrome.

• Metrics to track for retention.
• Tips for improving retention in a competitive marketplace.
• Retention campaign ideas for tech and non-tech companies.

• Frameworks for coming up with initial pricing.
• A scientific approach to optimizing pricing.
• Cost-based vs. value-based pricing.
• Brand value vs. pricing.
• Calculating customer acquisition cost and lifetime value.

• Understanding how people evaluate the decision to adopt a new solution or make a change.
• Cost of changing vs. Cost of staying the same.
• Adjusting your main offering or creating micro offerings to reduce the perceived risk of changing.
• Examples of different companies and their micro offerings.

• What a normal sales cycle should be.
• Things to avoid that will lengthen your sales cycle.
• Methods to speed up conversion.
• Better qualifying your leads to properly define your sales cycle.