Thoughts from Minnebar
This weekend, I was able to attend and present at Minnebar. I found it a useful event on multiple levels but figured I would post a few things here in the hopes it helps others. I know this is a long post but hopefully it has some good relevant content for everyone!
I have been to Minnebar in the past, so I had a pretty good idea of what it is like. For those that have not been, it is a community organized event where pretty much any tech (or non-tech) topic can be discussed if you are willing to sign up and present. This year, I planned to attend more of the bootstrap discussions than I have in the past. It is an excellent opportunity to hear from folks that have traveled down this path in the past.
The biggest recommendation I have for everyone is to try to find these groups near your home. I believe they are all no or low cost to attend and typically happen on the weekends so it is pretty easy on the schedule. I have learned so much and met so many people, I highly encourage everyone to get plugged in to their local tech/entrepreneur community. It’s not all about google and SEO! Don’t forget the resources in your own backyard.
This was also an exciting time for me because this was going to be the first time I talked about slidezing outside of my family (and one short post here). I had some invaluable lessons learned during the day:
- No matter how much I rehearsed in my head, the words that came out were not as clear as I would have liked.
- Most people were genuinely interested and willing to talk about my idea and were encouraging.
- Someone asked me, “So, what’s the next step for the product?” I realized I did not really know how to succinctly articulate it. I should always be prepared to answer that question.
- I spoke to one person that I thought would be a great candidate, but I quickly realized they had several objections. I will admit it was a little disheartening. The more I reflect on it, I am focusing on the positive. This person took several minutes of their time to give me some really good feedback. Hearing “That’s an awesome idea” is nice and strokes my ego. However, hearing 2-3 concrete objections or challenges is more useful. It forced me to think about things.
- Also, as I pitched the idea, I realized that there were several confusing parts that I need to improve during my delivery.
- I planned to use slidezing during my own presentation. However, the room was pretty small so it did not really work as planned. However, I did get some people to use it, so I know it works 😊
In addition to my personal experience, I learned a lot from the other bootstrappers in attendance.
- This marketing checklist looks really useful
- I really enjoyed @_adeel’s presentation
- I was very interested in the discussion about the power of bootstrapping and other funding models outside of traditional VC.
Overall it was a great experience and very helpful to learn from others. I hope you found my notes helpful.
