04/26/18

Pitch Dynamics

What does a pitch feel like? How should it feel? Pitch dynamics.

Big Red Car here on a spectacular Texas spring day, y’all. It doesn’t get better than this. It was 53F this morning and it will be 83F this afternoon. On Earth as it is in Austin By God Texas!

So, I’m talking to two founder CEOs and we get on the subject of the dynamics of pitching. [Huh, Big Red Car, the “dynamics?”]

By dynamics, I mean the sense of the encounter, the style with which you pitch, the personalization of the pitch, what the pitchee (the funder) is thinking and looking for. So, we discussed it for an hour and some fajitas.

Here is what we settled on.

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04/25/18

Tariffs and the American Market

Tariffs, Big Red Car? Really?

Big Red Car here thinking about tariffs. I am sure you are interested in tariffs. They are an effective tool to control access to the world’s best and biggest market – the United States of America. That is the big win for the rest of the world – access to our market.

Until 1913, tariffs also funded our government, before the advent of the income tax. They are an important element in the history of the US.

As you can see, the US had high tariff rates until the time of the World War II Era Bretton Woods Agreement. Starting in 1970, the US lowered its tariffs dramatically in support of notions of free trade.

Free trade should, also, be fair trade. As you can see, during times of higher tariffs, the US trade balance was positive. Since the advent of lowered tariffs, the US trade balance has gone and stayed negative.

I support the Trump admin’s efforts to drive equilibrium back into the trade balance with the strategic use of tariffs.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just an American made Big Red Car. Be good to yourself and think about tariffs, free trade, and fair trade.

 

 

 

 

04/25/18

Platoon Sergeants, the Secret Sauce

Platoon sergeants, God bless them all!

Big Red Car here on another perfect Texas spring day. Ahhhh, on Earth as it is in Austin By God Texas, y’all.

The Boss was up in Lexington, Virginia recently to give a talk at an entrepreneurs event. Lexington is, of course, the home of his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute – a hard place to be, a good place to be from.

VMI has an expansive campus carry program including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John at the foot of Stonewall’s statue. Those four cannons are combat veterans of the Mexican War and the Civil War. You get a rifle, a bayonet, maybe a sword, plus tanks, howitzers, cannons. Stonewall taught at VMI.

VMI is steeped in the history of the nation and the Civil War. The VMI cadets fought as a unit in the Civil War emerging victorious at the Battle of New Market wherein they conducted a bayonet charge across a muddy field and took Yankee cannons at bayonet point. They also took substantial casualties both killed (10 KIA) and wounded (45 WIA).

Lexington is also the home to Washington & Lee University, a bastion of Southern education. Rob’t E Lee is buried at W & L.

When you go to VMI, you look up your Brother Rats (classmates) who live in the area and you find a chance to swap some stories. The nature of your relationship is so close that if you haven’t seen them in 45 years you pick up right where you left off last time you saw them.

Which is a long way to say a discussion about platoon sergeants ensued. Platoon sergeants are the secret source which is applied to green shavetails to turn them into platoon leaders and soldiers. It is the beginning of a tutelage which is like a craft guild apprenticeship.

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04/24/18

CEO Shoptalk – Staying in Your Lane

Staying in your lane, Big Red Car? Huh?

Big Red Car here on a lovely, sunny Texas Spring day. On Earth as it is in Texas, y’all!

So, the Big Red Car talks to CEOs all the time and I am seeing an odd trend. CEOs are wandering a bit.

They wander a bit because they are successful and they wander a bit because they are not.

When they are successful, they wander because they can afford to do it. [Pro tip: We never make as many mistakes when we are broke. We can’t afford to.]

When they are struggling, they wander because they are looking for that inflection point which will put their compass on the azimuth to the Promised Land.

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04/24/18

James Shaw Jr — American Hero

James Shaw Jr. is an American hero. Let me tell you about him, may I?

On this night, this man refused to die in a Waffle House at 3:30 AM. He refused to accept his fate. He took matters into his own, capable, strong hands. His actions saved lives, most importantly, his own. He is a great American.

The Antioch Waffle House shooting was an enormous tragedy, but from it emerged an interesting story – that of James Shaw Jr, an unlikely hero who went mano-a-mano with the gunman and wrestled his weapon from him, throwing it behind the Waffle House countertop thereby stopping the killing spree. At 3:30 AM in a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee this man found out who he was and he let us in on the secret.

James is a reluctant hero who makes no bones about the proposition that he was acting in his own self-interest. Faced with the highly likely proposition of death, James refused to go quietly into that dark night. If the gunman was going to kill him, it would not be without a fight. It is a strikingly American thought. We Americans will not go without a fight.

What did he do? He attacked the gunman when the gunman was dealing with his weapon – not clear whether the gunman was dealing with a jam or re-loading. James was smart. James picked his moment and acted.

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04/23/18

Revenue, the Essential Nature of Revenue

Revenue. Big Red Car here to talk about revenue. Y’all love revenue as much as the Big Red Car loves revenue?

I think you do.

If you whip out your accounting text, you will read first about operating and non-operating revenue. Scratch a little harder, you will learn about sales, rent, dividends, and interest.

If you are really on your game, you may stumble on “contra” revenue. Contra revenue is discounts and returns.

For what we are doing — startups — the revenue picture is slightly different. Let’s bring it into focus, shall we?

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04/23/18

Building a Fundraising Database

Building a fundraising database, a perfect subject for an incredibly lovely Monday morning in the ATX. Cool, crisp, sunny — ahhh, on Earth as it is is Texas!

So, you are ready to begin fundraising. You need a target list, a database of potential investors. This is true whether you are in the family & friends, angels, syndicated angels, seed funders, or venture capitalists arena. You need to identify the funders.

So, how do you do it?

In our example, I will build on ten such campaigns I have assisted entrepreneurs in the last year.

Remember, you are dealing with people whose job is to invest money. If they don’t invest money, they don’t keep their job. You, dear entrepreneur, are helping them keep their job.

 

It is hard work, but it is not a difficult task.

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04/20/18

Trump on Oil

Trump on oil, Big Red Car?

We woke this morning to a Tweet from our Tweeter-in-Chief picking a long overdue fight with OPEC. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was formed in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Currently, it is composed of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emerates, and Venezuela. Sudan has applied to join. Indonesia was once a member.

[See what odd bedfellows a bit of oil and money creates?]

There is an “observer” class consisting of Egypt, Mexico, Norway, Oman, and Russia.

OPEC produces about 44% of the world’s oil while holding 73% of the world’s proven oil reserves.

OPEC exists to manipulate the price of oil by controlling the level of production thereby driving prices up through artificial scarcity.

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