All Things Startups
My career has been focused on creating something from nothing and overtime I’ve discovered that the challenge of a startup is many-fold. Throughout the journey there are highs and lows and multiple twists and turns. The changing winds of the marketplace blow us about. Too often we experience pain from self inflicted wounds.
As founders, we are our greatest cheerleaders and at times, our greatest adversary. It’s a constant battle of brilliance trouncing stupidity , then stupidity clawing back to beat down brilliance.
I believe that success is mostly a matter of luck. But I define luck as did the Roman philosopher, Seneca the Younger”.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”
There are many things you can’t control. But what you can control is preparation. So that when the time comes and opportunity knocks, you’re ready to answer the door. That’s what I do. I help you get prepared.
Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. Despite what the risk adverse majority warns, you’ve agreed wear the mantle of founder. It’s not so much that you’re brave. It’s just that you have a passionate desire to beat the challenge. You’re unemployable! Your days of working for others is behind you. Now you’re the one calling the shots.
It’s well documented that 9 out of 10 startups fail. Some in Silicon Valley find failure honorable. This Fail Early Fail Quick philosophy is questionable in my mind. It’s your responsibility to be the grown up and do the best that you can to mitigate the risk of failure. You’re always taking a chance, but it should be a case of measured risk. Let’s tip the scales in your favor. From my experience, I can guide your around stupid mistakes.
Many founders have a passion about their craft. They have years of work and education around some profession. That’s where the IDEA was born. But to take that idea and find a market for it (real paying customers) that’s something few founders have the skills to do. You can learn those skills and how to hire others who have those skills.
When it comes to business development there are three questions customers ask themselves before they are ready to buy?
- Are you a credible person?
- Is your company a credible company?
- Is your solution credible?
Customers only buy if they answer all three questions yes.
I would like to help you answer these questions about Pat Helmers. If you answer yes to each of these questions, I’m going to ask you to set up a time for a chat.
- Is Pat a credible guy? This is my LinkedIn profile. Note my rich career in technology and startups. You can see my ideas on business from my LinkedIn Posts. You can see the nice things clients have shared about me. They are all great people and honored to have served them. You’re welcomed to call them. Here is my story.
- Is Sales Babble a credible company? This is Sales Babble. We started as a podcast in March of 2014 to help non-sellers learn the secret of sales. We have 1000’s of listeners world-wide. We created an online course on business development called Selling With Confidence. You can see that we’re loved and revered. Take a listen!
- Is Pat’s Startup Consulting credible? Given my years of experience working with new ventures we can create a custom plan to get you on course. We will put the processes in place (and teach by example) so that you can scale up your business to the heights. We start with a simple assessment process that only takes an hour to complete. One assessment is for business development professionals. The other is for managers. You can tell by the questions we laser focus on you’re greatest needs. We assume you have few to none paying customers. Our desire to teach you how to put your foot to the floor and go from 0 to 60. And quick.
Too often founders fall in the trap of polishing their baby too long and never letting it leave the nest. Are you wasting time? Are you experiencing the paralysis of perfection? The hourglass is running out. Let’s make some sales today and prove you have a viable product.
I would like to invite you to a conversation today. This is my calendar. Please pick a convenient time and let’s chat. Even if you don’t have a plan or if you think you might be able to figure it out yourself, do yourself a favor, and let’s meet over a cup of coffee (or some other drink of your choice, I’m flexible).
Let’s Chat
