Powered by Evolyte

Vouched Referral Database

We're continually running into people who are looking for very specific expertise (e.g., Rails development, Adobe Aftereffects, VC/funding sources), but either have no clue where to start looking or are overwhelmed by options.  μ Instead of prescribing a vitamin, we're going to start offering pain pills.  Through our network, we've managed to identify, organize, and catalog an entire spectrum of extreme expertise in a breadth of areas, whether intangible like business strategy or extremely tangible like development and design. For lack of a better phrase, we've been calling this our "Vouched Referral Database".  As such, if you're looking for say, the best of the best logo designer, we can put you in touch with extremely high-quality individuals whose work we've either paid for in the past or have extremely close personal relationships with others who have.  The participants have been vetted multiple times, inclusion is by invite only, and only after an arduous application process. Thus, you no longer have to spend months on an RFP or search process.  You can simply come to Evolyte and ask us for explicitly what and who you need, whether you're a brand new startup or a small to medium-sized business. We're in the process of transferring this database to an online portal and are discussing whether to open a bit more broadly.  In the meantime, however, if you're interesting in including yourself or your business in our database, or just need someone with niche expertise, feel free to contact me or shoot me a message on Twitter: @seanMeverett.

Past, Present, Future

This post is meant to give people a little more transparency into my past, what I'm up to now, and where I'm headed in the future.  μ

Past

I've spent the last 29 years of my life preparing for 2010.  I started at 8 with my first business (a paper route, duh) and have been hooked on entrepreneurship ever since.  I didn't know it then but the unending supply of nervous energy I had was meant to be directed specifically into the area of my own startups and helping others run theirs. I double majored in Mathematics and Actuarial Science in undergrad at the University of Iowa (also had two minors in Business and Statistics), spent all four years with my head buried in a book or behind a computer screen. I didn't go on spring break, I barely went out. I saw what I wanted and thankfully had the maturity not to waste time on silly endeavors. I studied, worked, read, ran 4 student organizations (including the largest ever at the University of Iowa), was in the President's campaign plane, and wrote business plans in my spare time, from 8am to 10pm or later, every night. My parents got married at 18 right after high school and moved into a trailer with nothing to their names but close friends. They worked hard and loved me probably more than I can ever comprehend.  Now they live in Dallas in a brick house.  That's where my work ethic stems from.  If something needs to get done, you don't wait, you don't try to convince someone else to do it, you just finish it. After working in strategy/management and consulting to companies of all sizes (from startups and small businesses to middle-market companies, and even to enormous, global brand name corporations you visit or buy from on a daily basis...hint: one of them is in the Fortune 2), I started various businesses, one of which is in the process of being sold. I also applied to and matriculated into one of the top 5 business schools in the nation, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where I've met and become close friends with some of the brightest leaders that will be running our country in the next 30 years.

Present

The puzzle pieces have been arduously coming together for the last three decades.  You only see 5% of what's actually been happening with me and our team.  The number of meetings have accelerated to the point where we can barely keep track of them in our calendars, web apps, phones, etc. We've also spent the last few months visiting the retail, bar and restaurant scene to gather competitive intelligence not only for these brick and mortar Chicago-based businesses, but also to get a deeper understanding of the consumer's behavioral interaction in these areas.  Like I said, you only ever see 5% of the entire story... Our team includes a former professional athlete, real estate developer, comedian, attorney, mathematician, entrepreneurs, trader, financial analysts, two MBAs from top 5 schools, and a track record of involvement, relationships, and success that we'd put up against any other team on the planet. And the best part?  We've been friends since we were kids growing up in Iowa.  Family doesn't even begin to describe our connection.  I am absolutely proud to stand and shout it from the rooftops: no monetary transaction could ever break us up, and we will stand up for our family and our ethics even if it costs us on financial statements. For the Evolyte team, relationships (both internal and external) define us.  It isn't always about dollars and cents, it's first and foremost about establishing lasting relationships. If you disagree, the conversation stops there.

Future

Some people can talk a huge game and never back it up, or what I like to call "empty suits".  In contrast, we put our money where our mouth is.  We source deals and invest our time, sweat, and money into only those projects with the highest returns.  We will scrap on our knees, down in the filth in order to win.  We will sell things we don't use anymore on eBay to compile more cash than you.  We will take on the smallest clients with the smallest budgets if we see potential, and we will still treat them like they're the only client in our portfolio. Did you know that the number one reason small businesses fail is due to low or negative cash flow?  The phrase, "cash is king" is an understatement.  I prefer the phrase, "cash is freedom".  Freedom to follow the return.  And that's exactly where we're headed: Google's 20% time, 100% of the time. Every person on the Evolyte team is working on side projects that could potentially be the next Gmail.  Stay tuned, things are about to get interesting. Here's one teaser:  we're currently working on developing a huge network of entrepreneurs in Chicago, partnering with the city's 15-year-old program that's collecting dust.  The goal is to provide connections, resources, and money so we can lift the entire startup scene on Chicago's collective entrepreneurial shoulders. You may not have heard of us, but you're damn sure going to feel us. You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here but only if you want to :)

Culture

This is our culture, how we work, and what we believe in.  μ
  1. There is no hierarchy, no titles, and no ego (though the phrase "raised in Iowa" is an ongoing source of pride).
  2. No matter how much sweat we've put into something, if it's not working, we trash it or shift it, no questions asked.
  3. We look for business opportunities everywhere and try to establish lasting relationships wherever we can.
  4. We despise meetings, but love action.  Action breeds more action.
  5. We either all end up in a mansion or in a cardboard box, but either way we're going to have a blast doing it.
  6. We work our asses off.
  7. Complexity is actually where the dollars are at, simplicity is only a marketing ploy.
  8. There are only two functions of any business:  manufacturing and marketing.  Build the product, then sell the product.
  9. We will fight for what we believe in, and for that "inch", but if you propose a more logical argument, you will win.
  10. Most importantly, friendship and relationships supersede any monetary endeavors.
You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here but only if you want to :)

What I Learned Last Night

After analyzing the very specific individual actions of a group of people over the last two weeks from a variety of perspectives, I've come to realize a few things about myself, about others, and about emotional interactions.  μ Note that there is no sarcasm, comedy, or ill will present in any of these statements, just a few things I've discovered in my own journey through life.
  1. Act with integrity. Always.
  2. Even if you act with integrity, there will always be people who try to undermine it. Some people even hated Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi and Mother Theresa.
  3. If you try pleasing all the people all of the time, you'll end up pleasing no one.
  4. Give love to everyone.  Always. Even those with unfavorable motivation towards you and others.
  5. Your parents are the only two people that will always give you more love than you could ever give them.
  6. Always be the bigger person, second chances are only the beginning.  Your greatest friend may make more than one mistake; be humble enough to realize we are all human.
  7. The more you give, the more people will take:  in life, love, and money.  But it's okay, they may need it more than you.
  8. You deserve to make yourself happy. Always. Try to hurt as few as people as possible in the process (the sad truth is that it's sometimes unavoidable but do the best you can).
  9. Everyone has their own perspective. If you can see all others and forget about yours, you'll always know the answer and right path to choose.
  10. Go back and read Letters To My Future Son.
You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here but only if you want to :)

Behavioral Decision Making

I've been thinking about the human decision making process lately, especially as it relates to influencing actions in sales situations.  I'm specifically interested in the non-logical, subconscious drivers and how businesses can exploit this knowledge for their own profit. In layman terms, how do you get someone to spend more money on your product or service without him/her realizing it? Note:  I've left much of the technical and scientific background out of this post for the sake of simplicity and conciseness. If you're curious about digging deeper in this area, feel free to give me a shout on twitter or through the contact form and I can send you the relevant academic research.

First, The Background

If you've ever seen print ads from 50 or 100 years ago, you've seen the direct (e.g., "Eat at Joes"), and often less effective, methods that were used.  They started to get better by tying in spokespeople and/or expertise.  Painfully inaccurate comes to mind...
Media_httpwwwseanmeve_htngl
The real insight came when FMRI studies were conducted (basically MRI scans of your brain to see which areas were activated while decisions are made).  Researchers in behavioral marketing found that while people will give logical reasons for explaining purchases, it's actually the subconscious, emotional reasoning that drove their behavior.

Second, The Emotional Drivers

Take, for instance, the marketing for Coca-Cola.  If they simply showed you the features and benefits of Coke, you would never buy it: "Buy new coke featuring brown food coloring, sugar water, and carbonation!" Instead they focus on the experience of drinking Coke.  A major example you're likely familiar with is the "Coke Side of Life" campaigns that play before movies showing three teens drinking Coke while their environment changes from a movie theater to a forest, consistent with the movie they're watching. In a nutshell, Coke is saying subconsciously that if you're going to watch a movie, you need to drink Coke to get the best experience.  Smart, eh? Ok, that's an obvious example, but what about a more subtle example?  Enter the genius of Alka-Seltzer.  Yah, who'd of thought...

Introducing The Champ:  Alka-Seltzer

The marketing/sales Money Mayweather wizards that got everything right:  Alka-Seltzer.  Let's break down their tagline for a minute, which, by the way, is only peeling back one layer of this perfectly marketed onion: Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, what a relief it is!
  • Sound: this is so genius I need about an hour to describe all the nuances...I'll keep it brief.  Studies have shown that consistent sounds exponentially increase consumer awareness and therefore sales (think of the Intel Inside 5-tone dings at the end of all their commercials).  Alka-Seltzer's genius was to translate the sound into print (and they did it before scientific evidence was ever produced)!
  • Usage: the tagline also showed consumers how to use their product. Plop 'em in, watch 'em fizz, and boom goes the dynamite.
  • 2 Versus 1: did you notice how each of the tag line, print ads, and tv ads always show two tablets being used, not just one?  Guess what, this simple move made consumers think that it required two tablets for relief and subsequently doubled their sales overnight!
  • Emotional Tie-In: finally, note the last part of the tagline. They directly tie their product to the emotional and physical benefit of relieving heart burn so you can relax again. Who doesn't like relaxing?  What other product can you think of with this strong of a tie to heart burn?
The lesson is pick one emotional attribute your product solves and create a tie so strong that when anyone thinks of that emotion, they immediately think of your product!

The Now:  Current Behavioral Ads

If you've been following the huge internet/tech battle between Adobe and Apple, you may have come across the Ad adobe published today (from Engadget post):
Media_httpwwwblogcdnc_dbadr
If you're reading Engadget today (and let's be honest, you're reading it right now), then you might have noticed that Adobe has launched a pretty full-force campaign to call out Apple on its anti-Flash mission. If you don't know what we're talking about, it's the advertisements that start with "We [heart] Apple." Along with the web ads, the company has also snagged a full page in today's Washington Post to address the battle in which the two companies have been engaged. All of this links back to a new statement from Adobe, as well as an open letter from founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock ("Our thoughts on open markets"), addressing Apple's recent spate of clear and direct attacks against the company and its products.

Mel Gibson, He Likes Freedom

Now, what Adobe has done is pretty clever.  They've actually thrown Steve Jobs open letter back in his (and Apple's) face using an emotional response. They're relating to customers to who love Apple (not trying to compete against the brand) to get these customers on Adobe's side.  THEN, they go on to tug at our "freedom" heart strings circa Mel Gibson's Braveheart (though he looks a little constipated)...
Media_httpwwwseanmeve_drdlg
Anyways, the lesson here is that you need to connect with your customers on an emotional level and express empathy for their concerns (or maybe educate them on what some of those concerns should be).  If you're successful at this, then slowly, over time, you can even convert the most die hard competing fans to come to your side. Don't believe me?  Let's put it this way.  Only a few short years ago, most of the US population was referring to Apple as Mac-in-trash. Now they're the darling of Wall Street with a market cap bigger than Microsoft, and have produced the two most innovative products probably ever.

Million Dollar Question: How Can I Use This Info?

This is the place where damn near every blog post stop shorts or fails, and it f*ing continues to piss me off.  I'm going to do my best to describe in three simple and actionable, yet detailed steps how you should use this information to drive your own top-line revenue growth (i.e., make it rain and make babies cry <-- duh). First, a disclaimer.  As you can see from the various real-world examples I outlined above, much of the detail for why these things work are extremely situational dependent (see: Alka-Seltzer discussion).  Unfortunately, I can only give you the somewhat theoretical next steps since I don't know your company, brand, or product/service as intimately as you, so I'm going to continue to use The Champ Alka-Seltzer ("AK") as an example.  Here we go...
  1. Features, Benefits, & Use Cases -- sit down with your business partners and brainstorm the various features and benefits of your product and relate them to actual use cases.  For AK, this is reducing the negative symptoms associated with heartburn and indigestion from eating triggering foods, like an entire Lou Malnatis deep dish pizza (Chi town!).
  2. Emotional Aspects -- now, brainstorm all the emotional aspects of your product solving those specific use cases and rank according to prevalence in the marketplace from highest to lowest.  For AK, this is the relaxation and relief feeling after the burning sensation is reduced or removed.  There are also sub-emotional benefits like knowing you can eat an entire deep dish pizza without worrying about the awful side effects (aside from the high cholesterol, obvs).
  3. Sensory Overload -- finally, you want to bring each of the above together in the most simple explanation possible for your customers.  Be sure to use an unused or very low prevalence emotional tie-in so your customers relate that emotion only to your brand.  For AK, this was the "plop, plop, fizz, fizz oh what a relief it is" tagline.  This jingle included the sound effects too, which you get extra bonus points for doing, but is often extremely difficult to execute effectively.
I promise that if you do these things, you're going to be lightyears beyond your competition, especially if you're running a startup or small business.  Most of these folks simply don't have the resources, mental capacity, or see the value in emotional decision making. But you do, don't you, cuz all you do is win!  So go put your hands up, and make em stay there! (Please note the horrible DJ Khaled reference.  Kthanks.) Oh, one last thing: you should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here :)

Startup Resources: Pitch Deck & Financial Model

Two great resources for startups looking to get venture capital (VC) funding, both a pitch deck and financial model. I came across during my daily startup treks around the internet.  I can attest after looking at McClure's startup viagra deck and other "how to" pitch decks.  While most say 10 slides max (and I agree this version can be condensed a bit), there is something to be said for moving through slides quickly (this is how CEOs/CFOs do investor presentations). Big thanks to youphonics, see link below:

FREE Startup Toolkit, Vol. 1 (Startup Week 2010 edition) -- Financial Model + VC Pitch Deck

You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

iPad For Sale

I'm what some call an "early adopter", and true to form I'm thinking of selling my brand-spanking new iPad in exchange for the new 3G version.  It's obviously in pristine condition (I don't even let fingerprints get on it) and it's only 28 days old.  μ Before I throw it up on eBay I'm willing to sell to my friends for $100 off retail plus no tax. That's a total savings of $170 (over 20%)! Bonus: if you respond and retweet this (Twitter > Facebook) before Cinco de Mayo (that's May 5th for you non-Spanish speaking readers), I'll even throw in the hard-to-find Apple iPad case that protects and props it up while watching movies on the Netflix app. Finally, if you've been living in some sort of Amish commune over the last few months, here's a picture:
Media_httpwwwseanmeve_mafrx
You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.

Letter to My Future Son

If you could only tell your future son ten things, what would they be?  μ
  1. Above all, act with integrity.
  2. Wear your heart on your sleeve.
  3. Everything you do, do it with passion. Celebrate the small successes and get angry at the failures.
  4. Value relationships over financial gain.
  5. Speak from your heart, always tell the truth, and even leaders will follow you into the breach.
  6. Take note of those who visit or message you while in the hospital. This is your true family.
  7. The human spirit is built on hope and even the most ghastly atrocities cannot sway it for some.  Give people a reason to hope.
  8. If you had 24 hours to live, what would you regret?  This is your life's priority.
  9. Treat women with respect, especially the one you love. Her soft touch can quiet the largest storm.
  10. Find your dream, and follow it regardless of the cost.  It's easy to find, it's the thing you can't get enough of, go to sleep thinking about, and wake up thinking about, and are proud to be involved in.
Follow these principles in business and in life.  Surround yourself with friends and family who feel the same. You should follow @seanMeverett on Twitter here.