Ask HN: How to find advisers
8 comments
Depending on what you're building, see if you can turn a customer into an advisor. For a product I once put together for other businesses, one of the earliest users ended up being very helpful as an informal advisor: giving feedback on the app, introducing me to other folks who'd potentially be interested in using it, and giving me insight on that field because I had none.
I've found that if you have someone on your hands who was one of the first people to use your product and they were especially enthusiastic about it, they'd be happy to serve in that role (even if just informally).
I've found that if you have someone on your hands who was one of the first people to use your product and they were especially enthusiastic about it, they'd be happy to serve in that role (even if just informally).
A lot of bloggers, site owners, entrepreneurs and other people you've heard of are surprisingly approachable, and are happy to respond to email, phone calls or requests to take them to lunch. Many are quite generous with their time, especially the less-famous ones -- and there are many, many less-famous ones.
Give it a try, what can it hurt?
Give it a try, what can it hurt?
The problem is finding the less-famous ones. Try hitting up the Inc 5000 for owners of similar firms. Maybe start in the 2k-3k range.
It's damn good question, and I can't really help you, only sympathise.
Yes maybe you can find advisers with your best interests at heart by ferociously networking. But in my experience it's a long shot. Why is some (essentially random) guy with lots of experience gonna help you for free? Unless there are real mutual synergies - i.e he'll get from you something equivalent - it's never going to happen. And even if you can pay for it - that's probably not _quite_ what you're looking for as a small start-up.
If you don't have these connections to start with, I'd plan for not having them at all. The best you can probably do is - whenever it is you get around to commercialising your product - is hire a lawyer. They'll be able to offer you sound business advice.
Yes maybe you can find advisers with your best interests at heart by ferociously networking. But in my experience it's a long shot. Why is some (essentially random) guy with lots of experience gonna help you for free? Unless there are real mutual synergies - i.e he'll get from you something equivalent - it's never going to happen. And even if you can pay for it - that's probably not _quite_ what you're looking for as a small start-up.
If you don't have these connections to start with, I'd plan for not having them at all. The best you can probably do is - whenever it is you get around to commercialising your product - is hire a lawyer. They'll be able to offer you sound business advice.
Yes maybe you can find advisers with your best interests at
heart by ferociously networking. But in my experience it's
a long shot. Why is some (essentially random) guy with lots
of experience gonna help you for free?
And some people simply like helping other people, for whatever reason. Maybe somebody loaned them a hand when they were first starting out, and now they feel a need to reciprocate by helping others. Maybe there's no such thing as pure altruism, but there are people who derive pleasure from helping others and sharing information and advice.
Finally, you can always offer equity in your startup. Some reading I've been doing lately suggests that it's normal to offer a small chunk of equity n exchange for a more formal relationship / commitment from an advisor.
Sure. I love helping people, I really do. And yes I might yap away at some meet to some guy and give him the best advice I can. But am I going to enter into a long-term relationship with him? A long-term commitment? Highly unlikely. This is only going to happen if there is some personal connection.
Edit: and re our discussion here, on this thread: a couple of passing minutes to spit out a comment is not exactly in them same league as committing to being a company's adviser.
Edit: and re our discussion here, on this thread: a couple of passing minutes to spit out a comment is not exactly in them same league as committing to being a company's adviser.
Edit: and re our discussion here, on this thread: a couple
of passing minutes to spit out a comment is not exactly in
them same league as committing to being a company's adviser.
This is only going to happen if there is some personal
connection.
Please don't listen to your lawyer for sound business advice. They can advise you on legal issues, but they generally will be very conservative when giving general business advice, because they view their job as eliminating risk rather than maximizing upside. Some of them can be very good negotiators too, within confines.
Lawyers can, however, be a great source for referrals to advisors.
Lawyers can, however, be a great source for referrals to advisors.
The value of a lawyer is that they'll likely have seen your situation before. They'll have advised companies through issues and decisions like yours in the past. They'll have seen this stuff over and over.
Try my site http://EveryMentor.com. It might be a long-shot, or a little off of what you ideally would like, but you might just find someone. You can create multiple accounts to match up with several people too!
Have you considered speaking with 'consultants' rather than formal advisers? I often advise my friends on web usability, UI, and their online strategy. I don't charge a fee and love giving out advice and answering their questions.
Any time they e-mail, I'm there to answer, but I don't consider it a traditional 'mentor' relationship.
Any time they e-mail, I'm there to answer, but I don't consider it a traditional 'mentor' relationship.
I just came back from lunch with a guy that I consider an informal "advisor" and who I hope may agree to join my advisory board later. We met at a LinkedIn themed networking event, aka "LinkedIn Live." Not sure if those happen all over or not, but here in the Raleigh area, there's a guy who hosts a networking event about once a quarter that's targeted at people in this area who are connected to each other, through him, on LinkedIn.
I find those kind of events valuable, but you have to separate a lot of chaff from the wheat, ya know. That is, in a given night, you might meet 70 people and collect 50 business cards, but maybe only one or two of those people will actually offer any kind of mutually beneficial connection in the future.
As for LinkedIn itself, yeah, I occasionally get cold contacts from people who said "I saw your profile, looks like you're interested in some of the same stuff I am, let's meet" or "Looks like you're an entrepreneur, I like meeting people like that, let's grab coffee." Some of those connections have been some of the more interesting / useful ones I've made, to be honest.
Other thoughts: leverage former co-workers or classmates. Want to meet a professor who teaches a certain topic, because you think he might have useful info or be a potential advisor? Maybe a coworker graduated from that school and knows him/her. Don't be shy about calling around and asking people. Maintain a big list of connections, even if they're "weak ties" Weak ties can be very useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_ties#Weak_tie_hyp...
Also, Barcamp or similar events. If your town doesn't have a HN Meetup / Open Coffee Club or something similar, start one. If there is one, join it and attend. Join "business development" related Meetups on Meetup.com, if there are any near you.
There's potential to meet people all over the place, look around. Does a local community college or university offer free seminars for entrepreneurs? Attend those, even if the content isn't all that interesting, just to meet the other people. Go to a Startup Weekend. Hang out in the "business" section at Barnes & Noble or Borders and strike up conversations with random people. If you see somebody reading an interesting book in the cafe at Barnes & Noble or Borders, strike up a conversation.
Edit: another thought on LinkedIn. Use it to find and connect with people from former employers, who worked in different departments, even if you didn't know them well. In my experience, most people will accept link requests if you actually worked at the same company at the same time, even if they don't really know you on a deep level. So, if you are, say, a techie, and looking to make some biz dev connections... go back to a former employer, link with the marketing / biz dev / sales people from there, and message them and arrange to meet for coffee or drinks or what-have-you. Even if they can't help you themselves, the'll likely have other contacts they can refer you to.
I find those kind of events valuable, but you have to separate a lot of chaff from the wheat, ya know. That is, in a given night, you might meet 70 people and collect 50 business cards, but maybe only one or two of those people will actually offer any kind of mutually beneficial connection in the future.
As for LinkedIn itself, yeah, I occasionally get cold contacts from people who said "I saw your profile, looks like you're interested in some of the same stuff I am, let's meet" or "Looks like you're an entrepreneur, I like meeting people like that, let's grab coffee." Some of those connections have been some of the more interesting / useful ones I've made, to be honest.
Other thoughts: leverage former co-workers or classmates. Want to meet a professor who teaches a certain topic, because you think he might have useful info or be a potential advisor? Maybe a coworker graduated from that school and knows him/her. Don't be shy about calling around and asking people. Maintain a big list of connections, even if they're "weak ties" Weak ties can be very useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_ties#Weak_tie_hyp...
Also, Barcamp or similar events. If your town doesn't have a HN Meetup / Open Coffee Club or something similar, start one. If there is one, join it and attend. Join "business development" related Meetups on Meetup.com, if there are any near you.
There's potential to meet people all over the place, look around. Does a local community college or university offer free seminars for entrepreneurs? Attend those, even if the content isn't all that interesting, just to meet the other people. Go to a Startup Weekend. Hang out in the "business" section at Barnes & Noble or Borders and strike up conversations with random people. If you see somebody reading an interesting book in the cafe at Barnes & Noble or Borders, strike up a conversation.
Edit: another thought on LinkedIn. Use it to find and connect with people from former employers, who worked in different departments, even if you didn't know them well. In my experience, most people will accept link requests if you actually worked at the same company at the same time, even if they don't really know you on a deep level. So, if you are, say, a techie, and looking to make some biz dev connections... go back to a former employer, link with the marketing / biz dev / sales people from there, and message them and arrange to meet for coffee or drinks or what-have-you. Even if they can't help you themselves, the'll likely have other contacts they can refer you to.
This brings me to my question, how do other hackers/solopreneurs find advisers that can help them grow? Networking events? Any success story with Linkedin?
Thanks in advance.
Jerry