Tag: marketing

That Series A Billboard On The 101

A reminder not to fall into the trap of first-order thinking.

My LinkedIn feed is full of posts making fun of that startup that has its Series A announcement up on a billboard on the 101.

This incident reminds me of a mental model I have learned & developed with experience over my career:

“When you come across something that looks stupidly irrational on the surface, instead of falling prey to first-order thinking, pause, take a step back, try putting yourself in that situation and think through some reasons why someone could indulge in that seemingly foolish or irrational behavior?”

In the case of this billboard, clearly the founders are smart enough & shrewd enough that institutional investors are handing them $25Mn. So it’s highly likely that they are trying to achieve some goal by putting up this cringeworthy sign.

Most likely, the goal was to drive awareness & word-of-mouth by making this meme-worthy. Similar to how celebrities say & do crazy, PR-worthy things strategically close to a big movie release.

While this billboard case is a bit frivolous, it highlights an important idea that we all should have in our mesh of mental models – when something doesn’t add up in plain sight, or when the herd has 100% consensus on an idea, it shouldn’t be believed prima facie. Rather, it deserves an even deeper investigation.

The crowd is largely a blob of first-order thinkers. Value almost always resides in second-order thinking & beyond. Train your cognitive radar to spot these signals & act accordingly!

Quick US GTM Tip For India-Based Founders

From recording many episodes of An Operator’s Blog on US-India GTM, one clear pattern is emerging from the experiences of many founders:

“If you are new to the US, don’t have a strong brand and/or connections to existing cliques (eg. haven’t done your Masters here, haven’t worked a Big Tech job, haven’t done YC etc.), cold outbound is likely to have a low success rate, especially in the initial phases of US GTM.”

Cold outbound tends to work better when done on the back of adequate customer validation, social proofing & ecosystem reputation, all of which take time to build.

Rather than depending too much on cold outbound, a better use of time when on the ground in the US is to:

1/ Build 1:1 ecosystem-level relationships with influential/ connected founders, operators, and investors.

2/ As you meet each person, try and get some warm intros. That’s your best shot at getting a relevant 30-minute meeting where the other side is leaning in.

Meet → Ask for one intro → Meet this new person → Again ask for another intro → Rinse & repeat…

3/ In parallel, execute an ongoing track of building your early reputation in the US (Bay Area?) ecosystem via social media content, engaging in relevant communities, regularly showing up in VC mixers & meetups, and generating value for the people you are meeting.

The main objective of the first 6 months of US GTM is to put the foundational elements of a future GTM engine in place. At the heart of it is:

(1) unique value + (2) reputation + (3) relationships = (4) brand.