You get what you pay for with free advisors. Maximize it!

Let’s say you are building a B2B SaaS tool for enterprise marketers. You’ve bootstrapped a following of 300 potential clients through Twitter, IndieHackers, Reddit, HackerNews. Woohoo! Lots of interest, people on your mailing list said your product will solve their pain points but then WHY isn’t anyone buying your product. Maybe if you had an advisor who built another SaaS tool for marketers from 0→$millions, they’d be able to give you the secret sauce to convert interest into cold hard $.

So, you start searching through LinkedIn, your university networks, asking friends of friends. Heck, your brother’s business school roommate’s girlfriend you met once is fair game. You spend a few hours drafting a pithy, charming, authentic “Are you interested in spending an hour to help me?” note. 2 out of 20 people respond. It takes 3 weeks to get an hour on their calendar. 10 mins is spent on intros, 10 mins explaining your product, 15 mins of the advisor, 5 mins of you telling them you’ve tried that already. 10 mins of actual discussion and just when you are getting into the meat. And then it feels awkward to ask for more time. And then you have to send multiple naggy follow up emails. Who’s been here before?!

Ok so while the advisor meeting was free, how many hours did it take to get that meeting? What could those hours have been used for (writing more code, talking to more customers, writing blog posts, creating a product roadmap). Then because it was a friendly favor... did you feel like you couldn’t ask all your questions because it would be rude? (It goes both ways, the advisor may not want to lay down the cold hard truth because if your feelings get hurt or you are offended, their boyfriend will definitely let them know about it.)

You are bootstrapping but your time as a founder is WAY too valuable to delay decisions and actions in exchange for free advice. If you are ready to get some rocket fuel with an Expert advisor on-demand and who guarantees results, find us here -> www.arisedaily.io

It's cool if you are not there yet. There are a ton of altruistic people who are out there wanting to help startup founders because they admire what you are doing, know how hard it is and just want to lend a hand. Based on the hundreds of founder-advisor meetings, I’ve observed, here’s how to land and get the most out of any advisor meeting:

Tips for getting that advisor meeting:

• Be very specific about why you need their help. Instead of “Can I buy you a coffee and pick your brain?”, say “Here are my specific challenge: Can’t seem to turn a few hundred fans into paying customers. I know you’ve done this before - is it my price? my product? or the way I talk about it? an onerous on-boarding process? If this isn’t in your wheelhouse, could you introduce me to someone who can help?” Being authentic, vulnerable and honest will appeal to advisors who
• Offer to compensate the advisor for their time (e.g. their hourly rate or a donation to their favorite community service organization). Most won’t take you up on it but appreciate the fact that you realize their time and expertise is valuable.

Tips for maximizing the advisor meeting:

• In advance of the meeting, send a list of questions (and solutions you’ve tried)
• Try to explain your company and product (target customer, pain point, how your product solves it) in less than 3 mins
• Ask how their advice can be applied in your situation
• Give the advisors 5-10 minutes back at the end of the meeting to send out all the intros and resources they promised you. You get what you need without having to write awkward follow up emails
• Summarize some of the key action items they suggested and ask if you can follow up in 4-6 weeks to share results from implementing the advice (this is how you get that second meeting!)

If you are done searching LinkedIn, writing cold emails, asking for friendly favors, or wishing you had better network, while feeling like you are stuck in a rut, there is an easier way!

I started www.AriseDaily.io, on-demand startup advisors who guarantee results. So everyone can get access to Expert operators who build and scale the best startups.You paid for the hour so you can be as “ask-y” as you want, you don’t need to impress us, and the Experts roll up their sleeves.

One of our clients - a beverage marketplace start up - spent 1-hour with an Arise Daily Expert who is an angel investor, ex-VC from a top tier firm, and currently head of strategy at a Series D startup. In that hour, the founder got advice on 1) traction metrics investors need to see and how to spend the next few months 2) feedback on their product roadmap and how to tweak it for more customers 3) understanding of how much they could raise in an angel round ($1M) if they build the metrics recommended 4) a list of angels who would be interested in investing.

Here’s what the founder said, “I'm such a believer in your service. It is really nice to be able to ask "dumb" questions without pressure. The quality of the advice and resources Expert mentioned are A+.”

Save weeks and months spinning on a product without progress. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Someone has done it before and is happy to work with you (not just tell you what you should do) to get paid traction.