Inside Scoop

How do you explain what your business does?

If you have a long-running business in an established industry sector, that’s not a hard question. Thousands of different types of businesses are understood by most people, as we interact with them and/or their products every day. “We manufacture car parts” or “we operate a chain of convenience stores” are uncontroversial, readily comprehensible statements.

“We’re a 21st century media company” is not.

Nor is “We’re an online fashion media company that makes it easier to find, buy and wear clothing, but not just any clothing, only the clothing that’s exactly right for you.”

Nor is “We create media properties that adapt perfectly to their environment.”

These are all ways we’ve attempted to explain our nascent business in the past. Needless to say, they all tanked.

I wish I could say it only took us three failed attempts to explain what we want to do, and that our fourth attempt was successful. It wasn’t. It was more like a year of failed attempts.

I’m not alone though. I know many startup founders who’ve taken many iterations to find a great way to communicate what their business does. I know some who are still trying after far more than a year of attempts.

I’ve also met some startup founders who cling to a crap way of explaining what they do, despite the blank looks they get whenever they tell someone their brilliant idea. Perhaps they think confusing people makes them seem smart?

Needless to say, they’re having great difficulty attracting co-founders, investors, customers, buzz etc. Long story short, their businesses are going nowhere fast.

So if you have a startup, iterate your communication the same way you iterate your product. If what you say confuses people, try something different. If the new version still confuses people, try something different again.

Keep going ’til you fix it — and that doesn’t just mean an end to blank stares. Your communication is ‘good enough’ when your target customers get really excited when they hear what you’re creating. Nothing less will do.

Image: Erik Stattin via Flickr