In my previous posting I introduced the concept of The Human Factor, which I noticed was missing from the very many presentations and pitches which I witnessed during 2018 as I travelled around the world. Often the core idea of a start-up might be good, and sometimes the whitepaper, website and roadmap could be quite professional, but the missing part was almost always the connection to people. In my book 6 Proven Steps to Attract ICO Investors, I stressed the importance of the ‘Front Runner.’ This is very often the founder of a project, and also the CEO, (but not always). The Front Runner has to know the project inside out, and live and breathe it. They must be the enthusiast, and above all, they must be passionate about the project. It’s passion that has been missing in so many of the young enterprises I’ve seen trying to gain traction, and to attract the attention of investors.
One problem is that passion is hard to measure, and it’s impossible to fake, so most entrepreneurs avoid the issue. There’s this attitude of, ‘However I come across, that’s just the way it is – that’s how I am.” So is boring good? Is unexciting the way to impress investors? I think not!
What absolutely does impress investors is when The Human Factor is engaged. We all recognize it when we see it – the light in someone’s eyes which shows that they are enthusiastic, and they want to pass on their enthusiasm to us.
The problem is that in the cryptosphere, people are spread around the world, and while investors can read the bios of a team, and see their pictures, it doesn’t really tell us how that person talks and moves and behaves. Video does that, very well, but especially for start-ups the perceived costs of making a corporate video often seem too high.
Because of this, I decided to launch my Human Factor initiative, where I travel to enterprises and shoot video of members of the team – or meet them at mutually convenient locations such as conferences. What we will do is concentrate on what makes the team members tick, so that investors can see and understand their motivations. Sure, the website still needs to be great, but The Human Factor will provide the missing ingredient of person-to-person connection.
And while the enterprise will be able to use the resulting edited videos for their marketing and meet-up purposes, I will also introduce them to my own extensive network. What it means is that an enterprise reaches out to investors - and investors reach back to it - far more quickly and efficiently, because The Human Factor is in place from early on in the process. The bottom line is that people buy from people.
Next time you see me at an airport or conference, the chances are I’ll be toting my camera gear, en route to meeting new and passionate people, who it will be my job to encourage to tell their story from their heart and soul – truthfully, and with passion! I believe that everyone has this ability, and I’ll be working on bringing it out of my interviewees over the year, with two upcoming shoots already confirmed. I’m not yet in the Steven Spielberg category (as if!) but new challenges are always a great way to start a new year, and The Human Factor video programs are certainly that!
Read more about the Human Factor at:
https://humanfactor.capital
