If you're like most entrepreneurs, dealing with legal firms for issues like company formation, financing and business contracts is like visiting your dentist. You cringe just thinking about it because you know it's going to hurt. I'm talking about your pocketbook. Hiring big law firms these days will cost you $400+ per hour and you're often handed a junior attorney that's learning the ropes. But entrepreneurs in the know have found great alternatives in a new breed of firms like Paragon Legal.
Paragon provides startups with senior level attorneys (10+ years experience) who have worked at the best law firms in the country at 50%+ less than the average associate from a large law firm. How do they do it? Paragon has striped out the overhead. Instead of operating under the traditional law-firm pyramid, they have removed the bulk of the costs associated with that management structure. This allows them to offer services at greatly reduced rates but still attract the best attorneys. Like many internet businesses they are just stripping out most of the middleman costs.
For most startups looking at cutting every cost possible, you'll want to look at Paragon.
*For full-disclosure I have to admit that my SO is the managing attorney at Paragon..but this has only made me more aware of the issue and alternatives;)
With all the services being launched on the Web today you'd think every segment has been saturated. But one segment has been grossly under-served; namely the aging population. For years the discussion has always centered around the fact that the older population did not use the web and avoided technology. Things are changing rapidly.
According to the TNS Compete and the Consumer Electronics Association joint study, Greying Gadgets: How Older Americans Shop for and Use Consumer Electronics, the age segments of 50-somethings, 60-somethings and 70+ use many technologies at or near comparable rates as younger age segments. For example, eighty percent of 60-somethings used a cell phone in the past week, nearly equal the usage rates of 18-34 year olds. Additionally, 71 percent of 60-somethings and 52 percent of 70-somethings used a search engine in the past week, compared to 77 percent of 18-34 year olds.
The Older Segment is a Growing Market
Not only is the Older segment becoming more inclined to technology but it's also growing. Over the next 10 years, the Older Americans segment (50+) is projected to
grow 23%. By 2020, this market segment should be nearing 119 million
people and represent 35% of the total population, as provided by the US
Census.
They are Also a Growing Market On the Web
Here are some basic stats from the Greying Gadgets report that tell the story:
78% of 50-54 year olds are online
45% of 70-75 year olds are online
67% of 70-somethings use a cell phone on a weekly basis
Older
Americans are 27% more likely to visit travel websites than the
average internet user, and 98% more likely to visit health sites
77%
of 50-somethings, 71% percent of 60-somethings and 52% of
70-somethings report having used a search engine in the past week
20% of 50-somethings have used a social networking site in the past week
24% of those 70+ have watched an online video in the past week
Simplicity Sells...You May Need a Modified Offering
As might be expected, sixty percent of consumers aged 50 and older indicated that a product having too many features was a main reason for being frustrated with technology, compared to 39 percent of consumers aged 18-49. So, if you're creating a solution for this segment you'll need to keep this in mind.
So, if you're looking for that killer audience...you might just want to think Older;)
You're looking to change the world. But, you need to get people to take notice and inspire them into telling others. Whether you're talking at TechCrunch, DEMO, to investors or customers you need a demo that sticks.
If you're looking for basic tactics behind great demos you'll want to read GuyKawasaki's blog, 'How to be A Demo God' or Michael Arrington's TechCrunch post, 'How to Demo your Startup'.
But a great demo is more than just tactics, it's an artform that when done well leaves your audience in awe. Don't get me wrong, tactics are incredibly important. In fact, one of the most important tactics is often screwed up. Namely, people do the demo last when it should be done upfront. Jeff Bonforte outlines some great thoughts on the necessities of doing a demo upfront on his blog post, 'Boom, Demo First'.
But to really reach your audience, your idea needs to stick. With this in mind, I'd suggest taking a read of Made to Stick because the same principles Chip and Dan Heath discuss apply to demoing your product. Here are their 6 principles:
PRINCIPLE 1: SIMPLICITY - How do you find the essential core of your ideas?
“It’s hard to make ideas stick in a noisy, unpredictable, chaotic
environment. If we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple.
Not simple in terms of ‘dumbing down’ or ’sound bites.’ What we mean by
’simple’ is finding the core of the idea. ‘Finding the core’ means
stripping an idea down to its most critical essence.” (pgs. 27, 28)
PRINCIPLE 2: UNEXPECTEDNESS - How do you get our audience to pay
attention to our ideas, and how do you maintain their interest when you
need time to get the ideas across?
“The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a
pattern. Humans adapt incredibly quickly to consistent patterns. Figure
out what is counterintuitive about the message-i.e., What are the
unexpected implications of your core message? Communicate your message
in a way that breaks your audiences’ guessing machines.” (pgs. 64, 72)
PRINCIPLE 3: CONCRETENESS - How do you make your ideas clear?
“Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember
it. It also makes it harder to coordinate our activities with others,
who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways. Concreteness
helps us avoid these problems.” (pg. 100)
PRINCIPLE 4: CREDIBILITY - How do you make people believe your ideas?
“How do we get people to believe our ideas? We’ve got to find a
source of credibility to draw on. A person’s knowledge of details is
often a good proxy for her expertise. Think of how a history buff can
quickly establish her credibility by telling an interesting Civil War
anecdote. But concrete details don’t just lend credibility to the
authorities who provide them; they lend credibility to the idea itself.” (pgs. 138, 163)
PRINCIPLE 5: EMOTIONS - How do you get people to care about your ideas?
“How can we make people care about our ideas? We get them to take
off their Analytical Hats. We create empathy for specific individuals.
We show how our ideas are associated with things that people already
care about. We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to
their identities-not only to the people they are right now but also to
the people they would like to be.” (pg. 203)
PRINCIPLE 6: STORIES - How do you get people to act on your ideas?
“A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from
abstract prose. This is the role that stories play-putting knowledge
into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day
existence. Stories are almost always CONCRETE. Most of them have
EMOTIONAL and UNEXPECTED elements. The hardest part of using stories
effectively is make sure they’re SIMPLE-that they reflect your core
message. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the story has to
reflect your agenda.” (pgs. 214, 237)
So, now all you have to do is pull all of these principles together;) If you're looking for someone who has mastered the skill look at some of the demo's by Steve Jobs...a master in my mind. Here is his demo of the IPhone (IPod capabilities) at MacWorld. Notice how he captures his audience by sticking to most of these principles.
