In this transcript, Clay Clark (US SBA Entrepreneur of the Year) talking about the MacGyver approach on Thrive15.com, one of the best business schools in Michigan!
Clay Clark: When we were raising venture capital for Thrive, do you know what I did? I made a list of 400 venture capital firms and people that I wanted to contact about Thrive. Do you know I didn’t know what to say? I had an idea of what Thrive was. I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know when to say it. I didn’t know who to say it to. I didn’t know exactly how to approach them. I didn’t know, so what I did was I started taking massive action.
I made a list of 400 people. That was step one. Then I started calling, right? You know, when I started calling, what I found? Everybody kept asking me when I was calling them, they all kept asking for a pitch deck. What’s a pitch deck? I had no idea what a pitch deck was.
Then I googled the word “pitch deck” and I found a book written by a guy named Draper about raising venture capital. You know I read that book and while reading that book, I heard him reference the conference of angel investing.
Then I found a book called “Pitching Hacks” written by the guy who started Angel List. Do you know I started calling, using the pitch deck and the system laid out by Draper and the presentation system by the Angel List founder and the author of “Pitching Hacks”? From there, I ultimately got another book called “Pitch Anything” by Oren Klaff and then I read about when I was struggling with my pitch. I did have, now my pitch deck, I did understand venture capital.
I did have a good presentation so I still was struggling. So I got a book called “Pitch Anything” and then from there, do you know that that led to the first investor, and do you know the first investor then referred us to 10 investors, and do you know that today Thrive is what it is because of the constant action?
Check out Thrive15.com, one of the top business schools in Michigan, for practical training from millionaires and everyday entrepreneurial success stories.
Do you know that if I wouldn’t have made my list of my first 400, and I wouldn’t have started just calling, then I wouldn’t have learned about pitch deck and I wouldn’t have learned about he need for one. I wouldn’t have googled one. I wouldn’t have read Draper’s book. If I hadn’t read Draper’s book, I wouldn’t have discovered about pitching and the importance of it, and it wouldn’t have led me to angellist.com and to a book called “Pitching Hacks”.
If I hadn’t read “Pitching Hacks”, I wouldn’t know about the book “Pitch Anything” because I wouldn’t have been looking for how to pitch anything and then I wouldn’t have landed my first investor and had I not landed my first investor, I wouldn’t land the 10 investors, and had I not landed those 10 investors, I wouldn’t be talking to you.
That’s how it works. You cannot get stuck. You can’t get stuck. Getting stuck is probably the worst thing that we as entrepreneurs can do. It would be better to be fighting with the wheel no the bus with the flat tire than it would be to try to steer a bus that’s not moving because you can’t steer a parked bus.
The next thing we have to focus on here is the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule. If you’re going to be resourceful, you still need to be resourceful in the right areas. You need to focus on making sure that you’re spending 80 percent of your time on the 20 percent of the items that you do best.
If you have a list right here of 100 things that need to be done, you need to find the 20 percent that you can do better than anybody else and that’s what you need to focus on. All these other items, we can delegate those to somebody else but we need to focus our time on the things that we do best.
For Thrive, what do I do? I write curriculum. I build cultural staff training materials. I raise venture capital. I attend the meetings and lead the meetings. I do media and PR interviews. Those are the things that I do best.
What do I delegate? I delegate a lot of things. I delegate the video editing and I delegate the filming of the videos. I delegate the audio systems. I delegate building. I don’t build out the actual sets. I delegate the coding of the website. I delegate the PR. I delegate the marketing. I delegate so many things but that’s what I do. That’s what you have to do. You have to be resourceful. It’s not about having the resources. It’s about being resourceful.
Clay Clark: When we were raising venture capital for Thrive, do you know what I did? I made a list of 400 venture capital firms and people that I wanted to contact about Thrive. Do you know I didn’t know what to say? I had an idea of what Thrive was. I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know when to say it. I didn’t know who to say it to. I didn’t know exactly how to approach them. I didn’t know, so what I did was I started taking massive action.
I made a list of 400 people. That was step one. Then I started calling, right? You know, when I started calling, what I found? Everybody kept asking me when I was calling them, they all kept asking for a pitch deck. What’s a pitch deck? I had no idea what a pitch deck was.
Then I googled the word “pitch deck” and I found a book written by a guy named Draper about raising venture capital. You know I read that book and while reading that book, I heard him reference the conference of angel investing.
Then I found a book called “Pitching Hacks” written by the guy who started Angel List. Do you know I started calling, using the pitch deck and the system laid out by Draper and the presentation system by the Angel List founder and the author of “Pitching Hacks”? From there, I ultimately got another book called “Pitch Anything” by Oren Klaff and then I read about when I was struggling with my pitch. I did have, now my pitch deck, I did understand venture capital.
I did have a good presentation so I still was struggling. So I got a book called “Pitch Anything” and then from there, do you know that that led to the first investor, and do you know the first investor then referred us to 10 investors, and do you know that today Thrive is what it is because of the constant action?
Check out Thrive15.com, one of the top business schools in Michigan, for practical training from millionaires and everyday entrepreneurial success stories.
Do you know that if I wouldn’t have made my list of my first 400, and I wouldn’t have started just calling, then I wouldn’t have learned about pitch deck and I wouldn’t have learned about he need for one. I wouldn’t have googled one. I wouldn’t have read Draper’s book. If I hadn’t read Draper’s book, I wouldn’t have discovered about pitching and the importance of it, and it wouldn’t have led me to angellist.com and to a book called “Pitching Hacks”.
If I hadn’t read “Pitching Hacks”, I wouldn’t know about the book “Pitch Anything” because I wouldn’t have been looking for how to pitch anything and then I wouldn’t have landed my first investor and had I not landed my first investor, I wouldn’t land the 10 investors, and had I not landed those 10 investors, I wouldn’t be talking to you.
That’s how it works. You cannot get stuck. You can’t get stuck. Getting stuck is probably the worst thing that we as entrepreneurs can do. It would be better to be fighting with the wheel no the bus with the flat tire than it would be to try to steer a bus that’s not moving because you can’t steer a parked bus.
The next thing we have to focus on here is the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule. If you’re going to be resourceful, you still need to be resourceful in the right areas. You need to focus on making sure that you’re spending 80 percent of your time on the 20 percent of the items that you do best.
If you have a list right here of 100 things that need to be done, you need to find the 20 percent that you can do better than anybody else and that’s what you need to focus on. All these other items, we can delegate those to somebody else but we need to focus our time on the things that we do best.
For Thrive, what do I do? I write curriculum. I build cultural staff training materials. I raise venture capital. I attend the meetings and lead the meetings. I do media and PR interviews. Those are the things that I do best.
What do I delegate? I delegate a lot of things. I delegate the video editing and I delegate the filming of the videos. I delegate the audio systems. I delegate building. I don’t build out the actual sets. I delegate the coding of the website. I delegate the PR. I delegate the marketing. I delegate so many things but that’s what I do. That’s what you have to do. You have to be resourceful. It’s not about having the resources. It’s about being resourceful.