Being Mark Cohen

I spent the day at the Tech23 event in Surry Hills today, seeing some of what the Australian startup scene has to offer.  There were a wide array of startups – some pitching to get started and some already off the ground, pitching to get equity to try fire up the business and take it to the next level.  One or two who didn’t need investors at all, who were looking for relationships.

The key take-aways for me were that (possibly a massive and cruel generalisation) the success indicators can really be summed up as two points:

1. The crew working on a project should have significant experience in the target market between them.
2. The team are led by someone who is at least a little charismatic, and is visibly passionate about their space.

If you can’t do an elevator pitch you’ll lose what little attention you attract.  As an extension of that, if you can’t explain your idea in an elevator pitch you’re not going to be able to sell it to the person you’re pitching.  That doesn’t make it wrong, but it does tell you you’re selling it wrong – or maybe just to the wrong target audience.

For more info on who presented and what they showed off, search Twitter for #tech23 and check out the site at http://www.tech23.com.au

On Gaping Void, Hugh Macleod has a post about a Microsoft employee getting the Blue Monster tattooed onto himself.  First reaction: Wow, big move for a branding icon. 

You’d have to ask yourself: What makes someone buy into a brand to this level?  It’s not just fanaticism – I haven’t seen any obese people wandering around town with the golden arches tattooed on their biceps.

Hugh quotes the tattooed employee:

While I can never forget how much I love this company and all of the great things we do, I wanted a daily reminder of the fact that I, as a Microsoftie, need to change the world every single day. That is why, as part of MGX this year, I decided to fully embrace the Blue Monster and all it stands for. That is my very own Blue Monster tattoo (and yes, he is real!). He’s there to make sure I don’t forget why I am here and what it is that I am doing — changing the world

<humour>An observation that is particularly interesting to me: the word “branding” applies to corporate identity logos as well as to the mark applied to cattle to show who owns them. </humour>  

The Afrikaans / Dutch word for burn is “brand”; German for burnt is verbrannt; and Merriam Webster define “brand” as having the following etymology:

Etymology: Middle English, torch, sword, from Old English; akin to Old English bærnan to burn
Date:before 12th century

I ask myself why someone would “brand” themselves with a symbol.  I think it comes down to this: Dan Woodman might be a zealot or he might be a pragmatist – I have no idea which.  Either way, if someone will voluntarily tattoo your branding onto their flesh they must have a very enduring and permanent belief in what that symbol stands for.  More than who you as a company are, it must be about what the symbol says to them.  ”Change the world or go home” is a very personal message with personal meaning and personal objectives.  It rings true for a lot of people who want to change the world.  Guy Kawasaki’s blog is called “How to Change the World“.  

It’s all about Passion.  Belief.  Purpose. And little Blue Monsters.

I was lucky enough to be one of the 200 people who gathered at The Wesley centre today to hear Garr do a presentation on Presentation Zen.  I think the entire presentation can be summed up as follows:  Your slides must look professional and be simple, clean and elegant.  You must know your material well.  You are not there to talk to your powerpoint or show what the technology can do.  You’re there to tell a story.

As Garr said, most of his content is already available through the website, my notes follow:

Intro

• Currently living in Japan. Some humorous talk about “Garr”
• From the US originally, from Oregon
• Touches on Manga and Kawaii culture
• Talks about the clutter and how busy things look in Japan, and contrasts buying a fridge which is so covered in promo material with buying a desk, where oyu can see the whole thing
• On ABC Radio National at 09h00 tomorrow (Saturday 5 July – I recomend tuning in to listen) 
• Used to work for Sumitomo Electric – A global Japanese corporation
• Today, he is a tenured professor of management at Kansai Gaidai University
• Also Runs “design matters” design group  in Osaka, like a mini-TED
• Also a Musician, plays in a jazz band for fun.
• Quotes Sir Ken Robinson “I always think of public speaking as a little bit like playing Jazz”
• Worked at Apple.  Learned to prepare his presentations away the computer there.  

On presentation, quotes: “Presentation is the ‘Killer Skill’ we take into the real world. It’s almost an unfair advantage” - Quoted from The McKinsey Mind

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