Twitter Pitch

In 240 character or less tell us...

What are you building?

This is the first question we ask founders. We want to know you’ve put enough thought to your idea to make a clear and concise argument that it deserves a place in the marketplace.

Why are you building it?

Making a profit is a result. We want to know about your purpose. What makes you believe this is worth building? As stated in a previous post, launching a startup is incredibly hard. It takes a long time, intense effort and resilience. As the founder, most of this responsibility will lie on your shoulders. Having a clear mission behind what is driving your startup (and you out of bed when times get hard) is key to sustaining your company in the long run.

These two questions, and how you communicate them, will be critical to your success. You’ll need them to recruit new hires, clients and potential investors.

Who are you building it for?

Whether a consumer or enterprise, we want to know that you understand the target user extremely well. Your idea will evolve as you receive feedback from users. This is why it’s so important you know, or get to know, your users.

What is the potential for scalability?

How big is the market today, tomorrow, in 10 years? We are not necessarily looking for an addressable market right now. In fact, most successes come from technological shifts that nobody was paying attention to. This is an area where established corporations often miss the mark and bold founders figure out a way to fill the gap.

A couple more thoughts as you conceive:

Make sure what you are building is in fact new. If it’s something that already exists, or 20 other companies with the same plan are tackling, it’s not a new idea. It’s actually easier to get people to help if it’s truly new, despite being hard. It’s harder to get people onboard if someone else is already doing it.

Don’t be afraid to share your idea with others. A typical mistake we see people make is asking for an NDA before telling anyone about their idea. This turns people off, particularly investors.

The secret sauce is in the execution. There are thousands of people with great ideas, but very few who are actually willing to implement them. Launching, maintaining and scaling a startup requires a lot of hustle and you are bound to experience failure along the way. Most people shy away from vulnerability and failure. Successful entrepreneurs embrace it.

Expect criticism and learn to embrace it. Some people will give you validation. Be weary of it. Others will tell you what you may not want to hear. Don't take it personally. Always be open to feedback. You don't have to take the advice or let it define you and your startup. Simply say thank you, reflect on it and make your own decisions.