Lessons From the Dragon’s Den
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One of the things that I can see is happening to me as I attempt to create wealth by building a business is the constant need to do things that are outside of my comfort zone.
My biggest fear in life is and has always been public speaking. I get terrified. No different now than in seventh grade.
Tonight I went to see a talk by Sean Wise [a thank you to Terry Ross of iCore.ca for orgainizing the event]. Sean is the guy behind the popular Canadian show [it's a big hit] the Dragon’s Den. The show is a “reality” show where budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to real VCs in an effort to make real deals for real dollars…my kind of reality TV. I watched it every week, of course.
When I heard that Sean [the guy behind the recent $2m deal that the b5 guys landed] was coming to Edmonton, I just had to go and hear his talk Lessons from the Dragon’s Den.
It was -23 Celsius in Edmonton tonight and when leaving for the talk, my always reliable vehicle wouldn’t start. Walking 30 minutes into a 10 mile an hour wind chill I was able to arrive just as the evening was getting started.
The talk was excellent [check the link above to watch a video of the presentation] but at the end of the talk Sean decided to have a live “battle of the pitches” and asked for two volunteers to come up in front of 150 or so other entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, educators and industry insiders and give an elevator pitch for their company.
A clear voice in my head said something like, “This is the kind of opportunity that a real CEO doesn’t miss!” Up went my hand and a minute later I was trembling my way through why my new blog network would be a slam dunk investment for any VC.
Did anyone cut me a check? No.
Did I make a complete fool of myself? Maybe. I was extremely nervous and completely unprepared.
Do some of the players in Canadian business now know who I am and know about my blog network? Yup.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.
I feel like I grew a mile tonight at that meeting. There is a price to pay for success and it is to be able to do things that ARE good but still may FEEL bad or may scare the crap out of you.
Commit to throwing up your hand when you get the tug from inside and you’re instantly a success.
Jon Symons
Stay tuned for more adventures beyond the comfort zone.
Sounds like fun! I actually like that show and have been watching it regularly since .. end of summer? Anyway ..will we see you on TV on a future episode?
Ok, let’s set the record straight…….YOU DID GREAT tonight……thanks for having the courage to stand in front of room of strangers and pitch hard.
Well done,
Sean,
the guy “you think” was behind b5 and dragons den
HART, don’t know about being on the show, right now my project is in the pilot stage, so I’ll be more confident pitching once I have revenue and a model that works. If all goes according to plan, I will need funds at some point though.
Sean, thanks for the comments. Great talk tonight and thanks for the opportunity to move beyond my comfort zone.
Pitching is *HARD*!!! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Huge kudos for walking up and doing that. I’m not sure I would have had the balls
Way to go, Jon!
BTW, you don’t need to watch the show - you can participate in it. Find your local investors group and ask to be invited to the meetings where businesses pitch their ideas. For example in Vancouver there are a couple, I go every month to Vancouver Angel Technology Network.
Thanks Stas…so are you a pitcher or an angel?
I subscribed to your blog just when you were going thru your identity crisis, questioning what you were doing with your blog and what you wanted to be doing with it. (I didn’t add my comments because I felt like I didn’t know enough about your blog to advise you which way to go.)
I kept the subscription as you kind of stumbled thru the whole thing. Reading this particular entry, I feel like I made the right decision.
One thing about Howard Stern that his imitators never seem to get is that he says what’s on his mind — the good, the bad, the ugly. Okay, mostly ugly. But it’s that sharing which makes his listeners feel like they know him. And how could you hate someone you know?
Reading your post today is great. It’s the human stuff so many of us are struggling with. I think you’ve been searching for answers to give us on our journey. You don’t have to give us answers. You can share your journey and that’s enough.
Thanks Sojourner. Very good point and yes you are right, I struggle with exactly that issue. Here’s a quote that I love and need to heed a bit more:
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” - Maya Angelou
Sojourner— Jon doesn’t have chicks getting naked for his blog tho either.
-J
How cool for you! Keep following that voice and seizing those moments and pretty soon you’ll be the one fielding the questions and making the $2MM deals.
Congrats on being a B.A.D. Blogger. I understand the public speaking thing. It’s amazing when you find something (your passion?) and your voice becomes loud and clear. Good luck with your new venture.
Sandy
[...] Now, Sean has coached entrepreneurs through and been involved in VC deals approaching $1b of capital raised. I met Sean here in Edmonton a week ago and it was very clear that he knows his stuff inside out. Besides all the real world experience and connections to everyone in the biz, Sean mentioned that he has been mentored by Guy Kawasaki for the past 7 years…which means he must be cool. [...]
[...] Lessons From the Dragon’s Den, Jon Symons [...]
Hey, a belated high-five to you: I auditioned for the dragon’s den …. and got eaten alive! I kept my cool though the process, but honestly, it was like auditioning for American Idol, but not getting a chance to sing. Later, a guy in the UK who coaches people trying out for the UK version, reminded me that it’s not truly about pitching for venture capital; it’s all the entertainment value, baby. So, I shook off the experience and decided to stick to more traditional routes!