War Story: True networks can bridge the information gap

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War Story: True networks can bridge the information gap

Thursday, June 22, 2000

By Michelangelo C. Celli, Director of Marketing, CommerBuilder.com

One of the most difficult challenges to confront entrepreneurs is that they are often faced with making extremely important decisions about the future of their company while they are still learning. It is not always easy to respond. As the head of a company, or a particular division, you may recognize that you may not have all of the data or experience you need, yet you are being forced to make decisions.

Celli

Simply recognizing that the information deficit is there is not enough to make it go away. It reminds me of the cartoon character Bullwinkle, the loveable moose who always had the next big idea, best illustrated by his famous pronouncement to his more discerning friend Rocky, "Watch me pull a rabbit out my hat!" That was always followed by his very passionate, yet unsuccessful attempts to deliver the rabbit. To be sure, he extricated lions, and tigers, and rhinos. Alas, never the rabbit. So it is with experience. This is an example, of the old adage "Fight smarter. Not harder."

But what can entrepreneurs do to enhance the probability for success if they do not have those past histories?

An entrepreneur's lack of experience can hurt a company economically. A poorly negotiated venture round can end by giving up an unfair amount of equity ownership to investors. Lack of experience can hurt a company strategically in lost market opportunities.

A true network drives this kind of experience-based information to the entrepreneur in ways that are meaningful. A true network goes beyond networking for the sake of making business contacts. A true network is a group of peers who have similar and more importantly, greater experience than you. If a company is going to go to the next level, the leadership itself must go to the next level. A true network can be called upon to help take you there. If not, then it is not a true network. The goal of a true network is

to learn from folks who have "been there, done that."

CommerBuilder.com
Application service provider CommerBuilder.com is a pioneer in providing complete e-commerce "software as service" solutions. CommerBuilder.com develops, markets, and sells e-commerce solution products and services for businesses to enable them to leverage Internet commerce technologies. Besides its CommerSite Server product line, CommerBuilder.com offers e-commerce hosting, development, and strategic consulting services. CommerBuilder.com has been identified by the Gartner Group as a leader in the creation of technologies for the application delivery channel for the next millennium.

With this information exchange, it should be possible for the entrepreneur to touch and feel the strategies and tactics used by other companies, as well as the measurable results that ensued. In a true network setting, the participants are just as open about what did not work as what did. There is a group in Pittsburgh called NextStep that is a true network made up of CEOs and principals of technology companies. The discussions range from funding strategies to human resourcing to telephone system selection. In this setting, by going around the room, you hear how different companies approached the same issue in different ways, as well as the specific reasoning behind their decisions. The lessons taken away from these meetings can be quickly translated into successful implementations as opposed to costly mistakes.

Within a true network, entrepreneurs can get real-world advice on battles won and lost. One of the ways that I have benefited directly from the experience of others in a true network setting has been by co-forming MarkeTek. Leading the marketing department of CommerBuilder.com, I was looking for a way to surround myself with as many excellent marketing ideas, strategies, and stories as possible for high tech start-ups. Unable to locate a true network to fit my needs, and being a marketer, I started polling other marketers from high-tech companies to see if they knew of anything like what I was seeking. From each one the response was the same: "No. But that might be really helpful for me."

Hence, the MarkeTek true network was created as a trusted resource for marketing professionals working with growing technology companies. Each member in the group is in a senior marketing role with some of Pittsburgh's most visible technology companies. Their roles vary from overall responsibility for the entire organization's marketing effort to director positions of specific functions.

The group has two components. There is a physical meeting that happens once a month at one of our offices with a focused topic that might address public relations, online advertising, branding, agency selection, etc. -- all areas with potentially disastrous pitfalls to the entrepreneur who has not been there to know what to embrace and what to sidestep when driving a company's marketing. The second component is a virtual e-mail forum for the group that facilitates follow-up on the physical meetings, and questions that hit out of the blue, such as "How do I get this press release out to Wired, and Information Week by the end of the day?"

The other day an e-mail request was sent out by one of the members in need of information on excellent online marketing resources to push traffic to his site. He had six emails back with possible plans of attack within an hour. And by the next day, his company had selected the resources that were right for the situation and incorporated them into its strategy.

These physical and virtual meetings are powerful ways to hear how other companies, ranging from the nascent stage to those that have completed their IPOs, approach the same issues differently and why. The result of MarkeTek has been an exchange of valuable information about the WWW (What Works When) for the marketing arm of high-tech start-ups.

True networks are one way to finance experience. One of the core success factors of technology-focused markets such as Silicon Valley, Austin and Boston is the strength of their true networks. Seeing true networks like NextStep and MarkeTek forming in Pittsburgh is a good good early sign that the region's technology sector is growing, and about to hit pace.

I would encourage any entrepreneur to seek out true networks, (they are recognizable by their measurable value to you), and leverage them for aiding in the success of your venture and career. However, if you can't find one that fits your value bill, there is probably a need, so do what entrepreneurs do best - build it - and share the value that you create. Rocky, for one, will thank you.

Earlier War Stories

Astro Teller of BodyMedia on how Pittsburgh almost lost his business

Matt Miller of Internet Venture Works on how Pittsburgh must start talking to the rest of the tech world

Sanjay Chopra of Online Choice on finding investors sometimes means finding yourself.

Dave Nelsen of CoManage on the physical challenges of managing in the New Economy