By Sydney Tyler
This fall, Georgia State’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute collaborated with Georgia Tech’s Office of Undergraduate Education for Student Innovation and Research to host a virtual workshop series designed for student and alumni entrepreneurs from both institutions. The sessions were led by experts from Atlanta’s entrepreneurial ecosystem on topics relevant to burgeoning startup entrepreneurs.
On September 22, “Pitch Like a Pro” was taught by, Dr. Nammy Vedire. The session provided step-by-step guidance on how to create a compelling and effective presentation to your audience through four key points. In addition, Dr. Vedire explained the importance of storytelling as an entrepreneur and the most effective ways to do so. Vedire shared three crucial steps to making your presentation a success: 1) organize the content, 2) choose a structure for your presentation that accurately presents your topic, and 3) design and deliver your content in a way that promotes clarity and authenticity.
Click here to watch the full Pitch Like a Pro event.
On October 6th, “Customer Discovery in a Socially Distanced World” was led by Brandy Stanfield-Nagel, Research Faculty and Entrepreneur Educator at the Enterprise Innovation Institute at Georgia Tech. Stanfield-Nagel presented techniques startup founders can use to interact with potential customers in a socially distanced world.
When starting a business, it is important to conduct research in order to create a product that consumers want and are willing to pay money for. A large part of this process is Customer Discovery, which requires speaking to potential customers. Given the current, socially distanced, state of the world Standfield-Nagel has identified LinkedIn as a tool for virtual Customer Discovery. On the webinar, she shared her three-step process: 1) follow up with and secure an interview with your new connection; 2): take notes from your interview and analyze your data to look for patterns throughout other interviews, in order to pinpoint the aspects of your company that are “nice to have” vs. “must haves”; 3) test your assumptions based on the data you have gathered through Customer Discovery and enjoy the journey of establishing a proactive startup!
Click here to watch the full Customer Discovery in a Socially Distanced World event.
On November 10th, Holly Beilin, the Director of Communications and Community at Engage Ventures joined us to present, “Marketing Your Idea or Startup.” She provided tips on how to build your brand in an out-of-the-box way. Beilin began by defining marketing as the deliberate creation and communication of value, intended to influence customer decisions. She then explained the difference between organic marketing that does not have a direct cost (i.e. word-of-mouth, educational resources, etc.) and paid marketing that does have a direct cost (i.e. advertising, product placement, etc.). Beilin also explained the definition of brand: it is more than just the logo, but also the mission, vision, target audience, personality, and core values of your company. It is important for founders to utilize marketing to exhibit key attributes of their product/service to attract customers, in conjunction with a logo or tagline. She then broke down the process of marketing into three steps: targeting, segmentation, and positioning. A startup must then implement the G-STIC Framework (goal, strategy, tactics, implementation, control) in order to fully launch a marketing campaign that drives traffic and customers in a deliberate and innovative way.
Click here to watch Marketing Your Idea or Start Up: Part 1 – Marketing Basics or Part 2 – Getting Strategic.