3. WARNING!!!â¨
this deck is guaranteed to offend,
provide tragically incorrect advice, â¨
and perhaps get you arrested.
so Fucking Deal with it.
4. [This Talk]
⢠WTF is a BRAND?!?
⢠Be Different, Take Risk!!!
⢠Stand 4 SOMEthing. (or u stand 4 NOthing.)
⢠Tap Into Humanity: Fear, SEX, Power, etc.
⢠Be a Hero, or a Villain. (just donât fucking BORE me.)
⢠Pictures, Text, Music: they all say 1000 words.
⢠When It Works, Double Down.
⢠Be Yourself⌠Only More So
!
KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
5. Dave McClureâ¨
Founding Partner & Chief Troublemaker, 500 Startups
00âs & 10âs:
VC: Founders Fund, Facebook fbFund, 500 Startups
Angel: Mashery, Mint.com, SlideShare, Twilio, Wildfire, SendGrid
Marketing: PayPal, Simply Hired, Mint.com, OâReilly
!
!
80âs & 90âs:
Entrepreneur: Aslan Computing (acqâd by Servinet/Panurgy)
Developer: Windows / SQL DB consultant (Intel, MSFT)
Engineer: Johns Hopkinsâ88, BS Eng / Applied Math
6. 500 Startupsâ¨
Global Seed Fund & Startup Accelerator
What is 500?
$100M silicon valley VC fund + startup accelerator
30+ people / 10 investing partners
Locations: SV, NYC, MEX, BRZ, IND, CHN, SE Asia
1500+ Founders / 200+ Mentors
Community + Content + Conferences
!
800+ Portfolio Coâs / 40+ Countries
Wildfire (acq GOOG, $350M)
MakerBot (acq SSYS, $400M)
Viki (acq Rakuten, $200M)
Simple (acq BBVA, $117M)
Twilio
SendGrid
Credit Karma
Udemy
Barkbox
HomeJoy
Builk
Taamkru
Playbasis
Eko
Noonswoon
13. DO! Marketing & BRANDingâ¨
(itâs not Evil⌠most of the time ;)
⢠Tell a Story, Build a Storytelling Culture
⢠Identify by a Color, Animal, Number, Word,
or other SINGULAR element
⢠Create Unique Position in Mind of the
Market, relative to [Visible] Competition
⢠Embrace & Adopt Negative or Shameful
Positioning when Necessary
⢠Know When to Get Back to Product
14. What is BRAND?
⢠Brand (def): a name, term, design, symbol
that identifies one seller's good or service
as distinct from those of other sellers.
⢠Branding began as way to tell one person's
cattle from another by a hot iron stamp.
⢠Branding is usually full of PAIN.
15. Q: Who FEELS Your Brand?
⢠Customers
⢠Partners
⢠Investors
⢠Employees
⢠Press
17. Be Different.
⢠Take Risk Early. U Have Nothing 2 Lose.
⢠Playing it Safe = Death.
⢠Pissing People Off is OK. (in fact, #WINNING)
⢠U Canât Build Brand around INDIFFERENCE.
⢠âNiche 2 WINâ (see blog post)
⢠Love *or* Hate are Ok. Both are Good Signal.
20. Stand 4 SOMEthing, â¨
or Stand 4 NOthing.
⢠Be Iconic.
⢠Single word or emotion.
⢠Donât be afraid 2b Hated.
⢠Donât be afraid 2b Shamed.
⢠Aim for the Moon. [Land on the Roof]
22. Tap Into Humanity
⢠Fear: What u run from
⢠Sex: Who we love, lust 4
⢠Power: Ability 2 Control Ur World
⢠Family: Find Ur Tribe.
⢠Anger: Fight 4 Ur Right [2 Party]
24. Be a Hero⌠or Villain
⢠Who do u LOVE, Admire, Want 2 B?
⢠Who do u HATE, Despise, [secretly] jealous?
⢠Whatever u are Drawn 2
⢠Just Donât Be BORING.
⢠Again: Indifference = Death.
26. Say 1000 words.
⢠1 awesome picture.
⢠3 powerful words, or a few sentences.
⢠30 sec meaningful music or video.
⢠Less is more.
!
note: these slides are not less.
28. When It Works, Double Down.
⢠If someone loves u, itâs working.
⢠If someone hates u, itâs working.
⢠Once u get signal, try iteration, repetition.
⢠Once u get repetition, try variation.
⢠Good artists COPY; great artists STEAL
(from themSELVES!)
30. Always Be Your [SUPER] Self
⢠Start from the Heart.
⢠Be Yourself. Be Authentic. Be Comfortable.
⢠But: the MOST AWESOME, PASSIONATE u.
⢠Find a feeling or emotion u can sustain
⢠[sometimes even weakness can be ok]