Tom Walker: All about the customer — Connecting products to customer needs may improve your business — and your elevator pitch

Whenever I meet with an entrepreneur, the first thing I ask the person is to describe the company. The entrepreneur will usually kick right into the “elevator” pitch.

Here’s a great example from Bruce Caldwell, CEO of 3Bar Biologics Inc., one of the companies in residence at TechColumbus’ SpringBox Labs accelerator: “We help farmers increase their yield while reducing their reliance on pesticides.”

Linking the product with need

What I appreciate so much about Caldwell’s response is that it squarely connects 3Bar Biologics’ product with the customers’ needs. 3Bar Biologics, a spinout from The Ohio State University, provides naturally beneficial microorganisms that promote crop health, enhance quality and improve yields.

Caldwell has plenty of quantitative market research; he can share statistics about how productivity varies across farms and how 3Bar Biologics has a tremendous opportunity to add value to Ohio’s agri-business supply chain.

But he always comes back to how 3Bar Biologics can help individual farmers improve their return on assets and investment through sustainable production of healthier crops.

You don’t have to know beans about growing beans to recognize that Caldwell thoroughly understands his customers’ problems and really cares about their bottom lines.

3Bar Biologics is just one example of the many new businesses in Ohio focused on creating products and services that solve problems for customers. Without understanding what customers need and will pay for, startups won’t become fundable.

Keeping it about customers

Here are some ways for entrepreneurs to keep it all about the customer:

  • Figure out who your customers are. Learn as much as you can about the industry, the companies, and especially the individuals who write checks and wield influence over buying decisions in those businesses
  • The only way to truly learn about customers is to talk to them. In-person is best. On the phone helps. Email doesn’t count. Time after time, we’ve been in business plan presentations where the entrepreneur moved potential investors toward due diligence through anecdotal information gathered from personal discussions with potential customers.
  • Ask customers to tell you what they like and don’t like about the companies they currently do business with. Best case, you’ll learn some specifics about what your competitors are or are not doing right. Worst case, you’ll gather generic information about how the companies in your industry like (and don’t like) to work with suppliers.
  • Create a well-defined value proposition that you road test with companies or individuals you expect to become customers. How does your product or service increase customers’ revenue or reduce costs? Look for people who can validate your assumptions, and especially for people who can prove you are wrong.

You may be surprised how many business people feel a special connection to startups that they helped.

The company that advises you on your value proposition while your business is in the concept stage may eventually become the paying customer that boosts your bottom line or accelerates your hockey stick of growth.

Tom Walker is the president and CEO of TechColumbus Inc. Tom is a seasoned founder and manager of venture funds and entrepreneurial initiatives. He has been a leader in entrepreneurship and turning innovation-based discoveries into commercial opportunities for 20 years. He is the author of “The Entrepreneur’s Path: A Handbook for High-Growth Companies,” a step-by-step guide to commercialization for entrepreneurs with big ideas. Reach him at (614) 487-3700, [email protected] or www.techcolumbus.org.

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