For those of you following my blog, I felt that I absolutely had to share this.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on some conference calls with Angels and VC's alike. I was asked to explain the business model of Modded. So I started off telling them how Modded got it start and our vision. We then headed into our business model. About half way through my presentation on one very specific call, I was told by one of the VC's "while we understand you are in your infancy and just getting started, you're business model is flawed and no one will ever invest in your company". Now mind you, I spent several days assembling the proper requested documentation, and the fact that this particular VC is an industry heavy weight.
I took his comments with a grain assault, and keep moving along with my pitch. Mind you, that over the course of 6 months. We have started one of the first fully functional Social and Digital Media managed services company with large scale projects and revenue projects heading into 2011 with close to $16 Million in potential revenue. So as we continued to move along, another gentlemen spoke up and said "I don't get it". With that said, I had two options, continue to move forward on the original pitch or stop and start to educate them on why this model makes sense, and why clients and prospects care. As we started to wrap up, they thanked me and decided that this just wasn't their cup of tea.
With complete due respect to VC's and Angels, I sincerely respect this executive guidance and even in some cases education. More importantly I realized that these folks simply just don't get it. Social and Digital Media operate in a disparate/fragmented industry. Today most medium to enterprise companies have social and digital media staff on hand. That's an expensive value proposition, because a good portion of those on staff lack the require skill set to execute a fully functional social brand strategy. As I continue to educate folks, your brand is an extension of who you are as an organization. The more folks who touch and enable your brand, the more fragmented your brand becomes. Modded becomes that single voice of reason for your brand. Why hire full time employees who lack the required skill set, and then if you do hire those with a specific skill set, they still have to hire or retain the services of a 3rd party vendor to fulfill the obligations of either the campaign, go-to-market, or product offering around your brand.
Part of what we've done at Modded in the last week, is start to assemble educational tools not only for potential investors, but for clients and client prospects as well. I feel that it is a crucial step in our client acquisition strategy to come as prepared as possible based on either assumptions or due diligence calls to educate these folks.
Anyways, on this Sunday morning. I wanted to share with all of you and chronicle my experience of starting our company. More importantly, just because one person says "no", others will say "yes". We continue to move forward with great enthusiasm and passion, and will continue to provide expert guidance and deliverables as we continue to grow Modded into the world leader for Digital and Social Media Managed Services.
Have a great Sunday!
Matt
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