Confidence And Presence – Interview with Alexa Fischer
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Episode Summary
Alexa Fischer was laying down, pretending to be dead, on the set of Bones, when she had an awakening. She loves acting, but she thought, “What am I doing with my life?” Call it luck, call it a sign, but less than a week later, Alexa got a call, out of the blue, to become a media trainer, and this is how she made the shift out of acting and into coaching. Today, she teaches her high-profile clients how to speak with confidence — not with arrogance — and how they can cultivate engaging conversations with the people they serve.
Confidence And Presence – Interview with Alexa Fischer
Hi. Welcome to The Successful Pitch podcast. Today’s guest is Alexa Fischer. She uses the skills she learned at, no less, the Yale School of Drama, which I believe Meryl Streep went to as well. We can ask her about that. She’s been on countless prime time television shows to help people speak with confidence and stay calm in any situation. Not only is she talented, but she’s versatile and her methods can be applied to board room pitches, public speaking and even cocktail small talk and probably pitching for funding. She’s worked with Fortune 500 companies like Trader Joe’s and Sony and worked with smaller philanthropic organizations like Step Up Women’s Network and Dress for Success.
She works with clients in group workshops, online training, one on one. She’s all about polishing your speaking and presentation skills. We can never get too many of those tips. She’s the creator of her signature program, Radiate Confidence; How to Create 1,000 Watt Presence, as well as launching her first physical product Wishbeads. Can’t wait to hear about that. Alexa, welcome to the show.
Thank you very much. You are correct, Meryl Streep did go to Yale.
That’s an impressive place to get into. I’m sure the auditions for that were not easy.
No, but you know what, it’s a great story. Because I will tell you, it was all about being in a great state of mind. When I went to that audition, you actually go to a hotel and there’s lots of different graduate programs all auditioning at the same time. I had just come from another audition for the University of California San Diego. I had so much fun in the room and I had worked with one of my personal heroes of stage. I went from that audition and literally walked into my Yale audition. I must have just been literally radiating this good energy because I was not thinking about, “Dun-da-da-da, it’s Yale. There’s a lot of pressure.” It was just great. I’m telling you, it was probably the reason why I got in, truthfully.
Listeners, we can take that right off the get go. There’s some great takeaways right there because auditioning for schools, colleges, whatever, is very similar to getting in front of investors. You probably do multiple meetings sometimes and your mindset before you step in that room is everything. Before we get into all of the goodies Alexa, paint the picture a little bit about your background. You made the decision to become an actress, and then when did you decide and why, it’s always the interesting question behind that, to become an entrepreneur?
Confidence And Presence: The reason why I was drawn to acting was truly because of my love of people.
For people who are not really familiar with how the entertainment industry works, is that it all seems so glamorous from the outside. Again, I was very honored to work at some really amazing television shows and some films and a ton of commercials. What you discover is that there is so much downtime, there is so much sitting around. For me, the reason why I was drawn to acting was truly because of my love of people. I’m fascinated by people. I’m fascinated by their motivations, by the way they express themselves. That’s really what great acting.
Yet, two things bothered me. One, I felt like I was wasting a lot of time sitting around on set endlessly. The second thing was, I fundamentally was bothered by this idea of people comparing themselves to the airbrush images of celebrities on People Magazine. It drove me crazy because celebrities are just like you and me. They really are. Some are fabulous, some are not so fabulous. They look like you and me, believe it or not. There’s is not anything super magical about them other than they have a very high profile job.
I’ve told this story because it is the God honest truth. I was working fifteen hours in at the shoot, filming an episode of the TV show Bones. I was playing a lawyer, something bad happened to my character. In the movie, in the script, I’m lying on the floor with blood coming out of my mouth, fake blood. I literally had that moment, after all of my training, after all of my dedication, after all of the countless successes and rejections of being in the entertainment industry, I had that moment where I said, “What am I doing with my life?” Because I’m lying there, just looking like a jerk, in my opinion. So ridiculous.
I literally put a call out to the universe internally and said, “Give me a sign.” There’s so much passion that I have. There’s so many talents that I feel that I have. Why can’t I put them to a higher calling? It’s not to say that I didn’t love acting, I still do. That was the shift. I kid you not, it was less than a week that I get a call out of the blue from a friend, a contact that I’d made in the entertainment industry. She was looking for a media trainer for a very high profile client of hers. She said, “I thought of you and I think you’d be terrific.”
Confidence And Presence: It was a journey of incredible tenacity but a great deal of curiosity
Boom, I was set on a different path. It was a journey of incredible tenacity but a great deal of curiosity because I was driven by this idea of, wow, I know how to do this instinctually but yet I’m going to have to learn how to build a program, to build a website, to market myself, to meet new people, to learn about branding, marketing. I began filming myself before people were really making online video classes. I was really pioneering that. It was a lot of hustle, a lot of heart but a lot of humility because I had to really find out information, I had to study.
It was a whole new world which I actually did in parallel to my acting career because it wasn’t like I just had this epiphany, started this new thing. I was still acting, that’s really how I made my living. It was until the consulting and the teaching, that took up so much of my time. I had to really do a dance with my agents, who were like, “Excuse me, what are you doing and why aren’t you available?” There was a crossover.
I love what you said, that curiosity and tenacity are a powerful combination. We’re going to tweet that out from show. That’s a great takeaway. I love that because you need to have both. You can’t just be curious or you’ll, “Okay, but then now, this is hard. I’m stopping.” If you just have tenacity but you don’t have curiosity to keep learning, you probably get bored and stop. The combination is really great.
[Tweet “Confidence And Presence: Curiosity and tenacity are a powerful combination”]
Before the show, we were talking about the difference between confidence and arrogance. As everybody knows who listens to The Successful Pitch podcast, you have to come across as someone who is confident because investors want to feel confident in giving their money to someone who could execute the idea. They really invest in the team. Let’s talk about your perceptions and definitions of confidence versus arrogance.
I love this idea because sure, as a culture, we get that confidence basically says, you’re wearing this billboard, this fake pretend billboard, energetic billboard that says, “Yes. Yes to life. Yes to meeting people. Yes to pursuing your dreams.” Yet, what really is that? For me, this idea that we have, this light that’s inside of us, it’s something that everybody is born with. It’s not like you have to go get it or someone’s going to give it to you. You have all of the magnificence inside of you.
Most of the time, we block it because of fear. We don’t think that we have the right thing to say, or we don’t have the right connections, or the right knowledge, or the right fill in the blank. We block that. But the knowledge and the light is inside of us. When we can release some of that fear, we naturally let that light shine. That’s what I call unlocking your 1000 watt presence. It’s not so that you can go into the room and blind everybody like, “I’m so great!” No, it’s more of just this quiet confidence.
[Tweet “Confidence And Presence: You have all of the magnificence inside of you.”]
Now, if you are someone who is pitching an idea, you’re just talking about an idea, you’re connected to this idea. Again, it’s not because you want everybody to love it immediately. It’s this idea that you know why, you know inside, why is this idea important? Why is it going to serve people? Why is it going to be successful? What is your why? When you are connected to that, you are in service to it as you’re meeting people. Ironically, it’s not about you anymore. It’s about this thing that’s coming through you in service to others.
Part of our fear, I think, kicks in when we’re like, “Do they like me? Am I going to get this money?” You’re so self-absorbed, so in your head, you’re not present with the people in the room is what I hear you saying.
That’s absolutely correct. Let’s just take something. I think perhaps women can relate to this more than men. This idea of, “I don’t know if I’m wearing the right thing.” You’ll sit there and go in your closet and you’ll try to figure it out, “What’s the appropriate thing to wear?” Forgive me, maybe men have this feeling as well. You spend all this time. Think about it John, do you really pay attention to what other people are wearing, really? Do you really genuinely notice?
Only if it’s really one way or the other, if it’s really like, “Oh God, you’re wearing shorts to a business meeting?” Or you’re so outrageously dressed, unless you’re a creative artist, that’s not appropriate. I do think there is a whole thoughtfulness that goes into deciding who you are as a brand and having your clothes reflect and your culture.
I totally agree with you. I’m talking about on an everyday basis.
We’re too busy with our own stuff.
Exactly, that’s my whole point. When you have the habit of having a habitual internal reflection, a inner critic narrative going on in your head, you’re blocking yourself from delivering your gift, from being able to share you why, to be able to connect with people and be present. The truth is, most people are consumed with the inner dialogue that’s in their head or their to-do list or what they’re going to do in the future, where they just came from.
When you can think about showing up in life and being able to be present and communicate your light or just let your light shine in front of someone, then there is the flow. That’s the thing that makes people stop and pay attention to you. That’s what’s pretty amazing. I’ll tell you, I have a funny story, speaking about the power of why.
Confidence And Presence: Be present and communicate your light or just let your light shine in front of someone.
Simon Sinek of course wrote the book Start with Why. I had the privilege, I think it was in 2013, I went to a Marie Forleo’s live event which she had. I think it’s actually called Rich, Happy and Hot, which is kind of a fun. I actually think that’s what it’s called. Anyway, it was in New York City. The morning before it took place, I was at a little coffee shop in the Meatpacking District in New York, which sounds gross but it’s actually very trendy right now.
I saw Simon Sinek sitting with a bunch of people and I just kept on being drawn to his energy and, “Should I say something to him? Should I not?” In that moment, I said, “No, I’m just going to let him … He’s having a business meeting.” Didn’t quite realize that he was the guest speaker at this event. I see him on stage, he absolutely blows my mind, he’s just a wonderful speaker.
Afterwards, I’m like, “I absolutely must speak with him.” I find him afterward. The most remarkable thing, when we connected afterward, he had this ability, despite the fact that so many people wanted to talk to him afterward, when he was standing in front of you, he was so present. He was just there.
He wasn’t worried about other people.”I’m taking this moment and I’m looking at you and listening to you.” That whole message of why is so important because investors want to know what’s the why behind your why doing this startup. It can’t just be to make money. You have to be personally passionate about it. Whether you experienced your own frustration or own pain of something that you’re trying to solve. It has to be a bigger purpose than just, “I want to make a lot of money.” Because that’s what keeps you motivated during the tough times.
Exactly. When I met Simon, he gave me this medallion. He literally put a medallion in my hand that looks like a bull’s eye that says, “Why?” When he put it in my hand and closed it around this medallion, I understood the passion that he has for his work. Because it was as if I got the message of my why matters. It’s up to you to bring it into the world. I say that because whatever your business is, now, I’m again, pivoting because I, in addition to doing my business, I’m also building this physical product.
[Tweet “Confidence And Presence: Your why matters.”]
I am, just like many of the people that you teach, on the cusp of sharing it with the world, pitching it in front of people. I’ve already began pitching to people. It was this idea that I even viscerally felt from Simon, which was, my why matters. Even though it is a grand vision, it is up to me to voice it, to find the courage to voice it. Again, it’s that borderline thing. There’s a humility that comes with that, honoring it, allowing this thing to come through me. Not, “Oh my goodness, I’m the biggest smarty pants girl in the universe because I came up with this thing.” No. It’s through me, it’s through me.
What a great example of branding. He’s passionate enough to have a medallion to give to people as a keepsake of who he is but also then it inspires them to live his message. It’s so smart on so many levels. I’m telling you, if you do something like that in a pitch meeting and can give an investor something to remember you by, because they hear so many pitches and your story has to be memorable. If you give them something besides, “Here’s my PowerPoint deck print out as a leave behind,” that is right on brand like that, it really sets you apart.
Let’s get back a little bit to confidence versus arrogance, because I think it’s really important to flush that out just a tad more because most people feel it’s one or the other. Being coachable is one of the key things that investors look for. If you’re not coachable because you’re arrogant and think you know everything, the investors aren’t interested because they want you to take their ideas sometimes and decide whether they work or not. It’s that fine line that you still have to be a leader but coachable, but not be so easily influenced that you’re just constantly changing your strategy all the time. It’s really challenging, I think, for people the figure out, “How do I do that?”
I think that’s a great point. I was having a really interesting conversation with Judy Robinett earlier this week. One sentence that I shared with her, which was, “I know what I know but I also know what I don’t know.” What I don’t know, I’m going to go get very deeply curious about and go seek those answers. Now, I’m not saying you use those words in a pitch, but it’s the energy of humility that I think helps fuel confidence. Before you go into that pitch meeting, you want to be able to articulate certainly what you have done to build this idea, to flush it out, to cover all of your bases. You want to be incredibly prepared. But there is also this energy or humility that must be present, because when you are overly confident, that does come across as arrogant. Arrogance, I think, is really is the mask of fear.
[Tweet “Confidence And Presence: Arrogance is the mask of fear.”]
That’s great. We’re going to tweet that out. Arrogance is the mask of fear. Have you said that before? It’s great.
No, I just said it right now.
I love it. Heard it here first.
Yay. The question that comes to my mind is, how do you know the difference? I think someone who is humble listens, is a great listener. I think someone who is humble speaks with warmth and generosity. I think someone who is humble walks into a room and connects with people. I believe that your pitch begins when you leave your house and you’re driving to your pitch meeting. There is an energy there that by the time that you show up, your focus needs to be on the individuals in the room, the people. In terms of just a warm handshake, looking someone in the eye, being lighthearted, being genuinely enthusiastic. That’s a warm energy. It’s very hard to be arrogant when you’re coming from that warm positive place.
I love what you said so much. We’ve never had anybody quite articulate it like that. It’s so great. Humble people listen, show warmth, show generosity and have a genuine human connection. When you do that, folks, you don’t have to worry about coming across as arrogant and you will come across as confident. Fantastic. Really, really great stuff. Let’s talk about your why behind your why. Because stories are so great as an example for people to go, “Okay, I understand I have to have a why behind my why.” If you tell us your why behind your why of your new product and describe how you got inspired by it and what it is.
Absolutely. In my work, what I discovered was there’s some energy that’s inside of us. I talked about it before, this 1000 watt presence. I would go in with CEOs, I would go in with their teams. I would talk about this and I would give them some experiences. But a lot of times people would not really get this idea that what they see, what they imagine, they can achieve for themselves. This sounds a little esoteric, but what I discovered was maybe I could create an experience for people to let them have something that they physically do to help them achieve what they want in life. Because what I realized in my coaching was it wasn’t just about communication and confidence. It was giving people the tools to have them feel confident that they can get what they want.
Confidence And Presence: In my work, what I discovered was there’s some energy that’s inside of us.
My community over at AlexaFischer.com, my students who take my online courses, they’re on the cusp of greatness. These are my people. This is what I discovered after five years of doing this. Anyone who finds my work, it’s because they know they’re capable of more but they need just a little guidance to get them there.
One day, I kid you not, in the shower, because I don’t know about you, but all great ideas come in the shower. I literally had a complete vision of this product that I was to create. It was to be called Wishbeads. Wishbeads, without going into too much detail, is a bracelet making kit that stems from the idea of the law of attraction. Meaning, when you pause your busy, busy life to really see a moment in time where your wish has come true, that’s the first step of Wishbeads, and then you write it down, you anchor it with language, you physically write down what you saw in delicious detail and you do that on paper that I include then you turn that paper into paper beads, wear it on your wrist. It inspires you to see your wish. It inspires you to keep it top of mind, it inspires you to take action towards your wish.
In this kit, I include a little 21 day action journal to get people to train their minds, to see signs, coincidences, to be taking small decisive steps toward their wish. That literally helps make that wish come true. John, the crazy thing is this thing works. It works crazy, it works really, really well.
I’m a believer. I know that whatever we focus on, we get more of.
Exactly, it’s the law of attraction.
What you’ve done here is you’ve given people a tool to become aware and then literally make your own bead out of paper and then ground that energy into something that you’re wearing, so you’re tapping into all of the senses. I think it’s really great. If I maybe so bold, my guess is the why behind your why Alexa, is your whole intent is to transform people’s lives and you realize that this is the tool to do so. Would that be a good guess?
Absolutely. I’ll tell you, it also stemmed from a conversation with too many CEOs that I was working with. Eventually there’d be this moment where they’d say, “Is there any way that you could talk to my daughter? Is there some way that you could talk to my son?” I said to myself, “I must bring this to young people. I must find a way to work with young people, to give them this idea that look, life is tricky. We didn’t come here for this fun, easy breezy ride. We actually came here to learn something. Yet, the obstacles don’t have to be these barriers in your life. Your obstacles are your greatest teachers.
[Tweet “Confidence And Presence: Your obstacles are your greatest teachers.”]
We can embrace the challenge but also hold the wish, hold the dream and pursue what you want. I have a very big vision of giving people a tool of personal empowerment, helping them achieve their goals, having a phenomenal experience along the way of bringing people together, women together in something I call Wish Circles. It’s been a wild ride to learn how to build a product from scratch. This has been a passion project for about two years in the making. Literally, as I’m talking to you, I’m on the cusp of launching a Kickstarter campaign, which is really a way for me to just get a lot of eyeballs on this all at one time. Then I have a very comprehensive marketing strategy after that.
Fantastic. I know that that’s going to be something we’re all going to be supporting and looking for, because with your tenacity and curiosity, you’re going to transform the world. Before I let you go Alexa, is there a book that you would like to recommend that’s either helped in business or life, whatever, that you think would be great for the listeners?
The First Key; How to Remove Subconscious Sabotage
I do. There is a woman that have collaborated with for years. We have an online course together. Her name is Dr. Daphna Slonim. She’s a psychiatrist and she wrote a book called The First Key; How to Remove Subconscious Sabotage. She collaborated with me years ago to help her do a DVD series to promote her own book. I ended up doing her work, which is based on a lot of energy, psychology techniques. I ended up doing that work. I kid you not, I believe it was one of the reasons why I had my a-ha moment on the set of Bones, was because something energetically lifted in front of me.
Once I removed my subconscious blocks, which look, let’s face it, everybody has subconscious blocks because we get crazy mixed messages in this lifetime. It was very amazing. Doing the technique with her, just to learn it, I did remove subconscious blocks I had to happiness, to success, to career fulfillment. I will tell you, things started showing up more effortlessly in my own life. I really strongly recommend this book. You may not have any experience with energy psychology but she certainly walks you through it and gives you techniques to do them yourself. It’s a remarkable publication.
I highly encourage everyone to get that. We’ll put it in the show notes. The whole mindfulness concept is so big in Silicon Valley with all the successful founders. If you want to get on that path, this is a great tool to get there. Alexa, how can people get more of you? What’s your Twitter handle and all that good stuff?
My Twitter handle is @1000WattAlexa. You can also find me on my website at AlexaFischer.com. You can also find me on Facebook and you can also check out Wishbeads at Wishbeads.com.
Nice. Again, thank you. It’s been a great episode. You’ve given us so many great takeaways. I think my favorite is arrogance is the mask of fear. Alexa, thanks for helping us remove that mask. We can’t wait to watch you continue to soar.
Thank you, John. It’s been a pleasure to speak with you. I’m actually learning so much from your podcast. Thank you for the work that you do. I will certainly put it to good use.
You’re welcome. Thanks again.
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Holistic Entrepreneurship – Interview with Samira Salman
Posted by John Livesay in podcast | 0 comments
Listen To The Episode Here
Episode Summary
Samira Salman is the CEO & Founder of Salman Solutions, a firm that advises executives, startup founders, and entrepreneurs on how to build better companies and raise capital. Samira had a very successful career as a tax lawyer. Now, she uses her expertise in both corporate and tax law to advise her clients, and she speaks heavily on topics such as entrepreneurship, brand building, negotiation, and more. Discover how you can build trust with an investor, on this week’s episode!
Holistic Entrepreneurship – Interview with Samira Salman
Hello and welcome to The Successful Pitch Podcast. Today’s guest is Samira Salman, who is a business advisor, a tax lawyer, and entrepreneur, and a speaker. She’s the founder and CEO of Salman Solutions, which is a strategic planning and business development firm. For the past 20 years, she’s been all about out of the box thinking, not only in corporate and tax law, but she’s advised over 75 executives in all kinds of businesses, built and sold over 30 companies and, get this, raised over $60 million in startup and growth capital. Clearly, she’s someone we want to have on the show. Welcome, Samira.
Thank you, John.
I’m always fascinated to see someone’s journey of how did you get to where you were, and most people have to have quite a bit of experience. I know you went to law school, obviously, and studied in a lot of other places. Can you talk about some of your experiences when you were in law school? Did you always know you wanted to get into the tech investment world? How did all of that come about?
I wanted to buy and sell companies and I wanted to be a deal lawyer.
When I was in law school, I wanted to be Richard Gere in Pretty Woman. I wanted to buy and sell companies and I wanted to be a deal lawyer. When I started doing that type of work in the corporate section, I realized and learned very quickly that the tax lawyers were the ones who actually structured the nitty gritty of the deal. That’s what I chose to do as my legal profession and I practiced tax law for eight and a half years. I worked in a very exciting time. I worked at Arthur Andersen in Houston when the whole Enron scandal was happening. I also was in house at Shell Oil Company. I got to see some really interesting transactions throughout my career.
I’ll say.
One day, I woke up and I said, “It can’t just be these different deals and transactions.” I was like, “I really want to do more and I want to help companies with more than just the tax structure or the financial modeling.” I went on a year and a half personal development journey, trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do next. The whole time, I was still employed at Shell Oil Company as a lawyer, but I was also exploring. I was doing a lot of informational interviewing, reading, speaking to people, trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
I decided that I was going to open up a firm, and I called it Salman Solutions. My purpose was to help build and grow companies and brands, and to put deals together and raise funding. I wanted to help companies holistically, not just with tax law or a financial model. I wanted to be able to come in and be a trusted advisor to whoever was leading the company and really help them problem solve at a comprehensive level.
I love that because it’s not just one little piece of the pie. It’s the big picture from start to finish, it sounds like. Because if you’re an investor and a trusted advisor, that’s gold. Because you’ve got skin in the game, you care about the founder, you care about the company.
Holistic Entrepreneurship: Do the hard work that’s necessary to take companies to the next level.
Right, absolutely. My clients become a part of my life, a part of my family, and I really enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting in there and sitting next to them and helping do the hard work that’s necessary often to take companies to the next level or to turn them around if they’re not experiencing the type of growth that they’d like to.
When do startups typically start engaging with you? Is it at the very beginning before their revenue, or do you like to engage with more series A?
I work with companies in all different stages. I’ve worked with brand new startups that don’t even have a penny of funding. I’ve also worked with companies in the mature stage who are trying to figure out what their exit plan, succession planning is. The only criteria for me to work with a company is that the place where they want to accomplish what it is they say that they want to accomplish, and that they’re really engaged in the process and all hands are on deck.
I think a lot of our listeners are probably startups that are pre-revenue, but they’ve got a couple of people on their team, they might even have a little bit of traction. What do you look for when you hear a pitch from someone like that?
The first thing I always ask for is I ask to see what they have organized as their pitch materials and their financial model. That really speaks volumes about where they are in the, “We’re starting our company and we’re laying the platform and the foundation for real growth.” Too many times, companies are making these pitch decks to just look pretty and snazzy and help them with the pitch, but they’re not really, really understanding the components of what it takes to build a company and penetrate a market.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: A business is 100% based on the numbers.”]
Once I first look at those materials and I first look at them, from there, I can tell, “Okay, here’s where we need to start.” It’s very important that I understand where the client is so I can move with them where they need to go, but I always like to start where they are. The other component is a financial model, and as you know, and I’m sure many of your listeners know, a business is 100% based on the numbers. If it’s not, then it’s just a hobby. I like to really understand what they built in their financial model, and really to understand what are the assumptions behind this. “Okay, so you’re projecting revenue of X in year one? How are you going to get those revenue projections, and have you modeled out the necessary expenses that you’re going to have to incur in order to meet those revenue projections?”
I can tell a lot about where a company is in position just from reviewing their initial materials. Then from there, we sit down and we work on a process to ensure that all components of the financial model and the business model have been thought through before we go and sit down with investors. We have our process and it lasts anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks, and it’s called capital raise consulting. It’s a straight-up process that only prepares you to go sit in the meetings. Because it’s not just about having a beautiful pitch deck and financial model, but it’s about having thought through all the necessary components to success of your business and being able to answer all those questions when an investors asks you, “Have you thought of this? What about that? How are you going to address this?”
We really do a very deep dive under the hood, especially with market positioning and understanding what are the pain points that this product or solution or service is solving, what is the value proposition, why is your company much better positioned to solve this problem, what are your unique qualities, characteristics, attributes. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done with companies before they sit with investors. That’s my favorite thing to do, because it’s really like a birthing process.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: Starting a company is like a birthing process.”]
You’re taking something and you’re planting a seed in the ground and then you’re watering and you’re allowing the sun to shine on it. Then later, the seeds sprouted, which means we’re able to raise funding. It’s a very rewarding process for my team and I, and it’s exciting to see a company go from having an idea and maybe a skeletal business plan and financial model, and then really to build those things up robustly and to get into the meat and the nitty gritty. When we sit with the investors, we’ve unturned every stone and we’ve answered every question, and we’re fully, fully prepared.
That’s really what makes investors say yes, is the credibility is there. They see how you think and that you’ve thought through something. Because, they’re going to say no, I have found, and I’d love your opinion on this. If two things happen, one, if you confuse them, if you don’t have a clear pitch on who you are and what problem you’re solving, and secondly, if your numbers don’t make sense. They’re either too aggressive or not big enough for them to see a big ROI. Are those the two things that you see is big challenges and mistakes people make?
I absolutely agree. I think the first one, if you confuse them, what that means is you don’t understand your company. You don’t understand the business, you don’t understand the marketplace, and you don’t understand the necessary critical components to get your company from point A to point B. The second component about the numbers. I see a lot of inflated pitch decks, and I’m okay with very large numbers. I worked at Shell Oil Company, so I saw huge numbers.
Holistic Entrepreneurship: If you confuse your investors, that means you don’t understand your company.
But, you need to be able to explain exactly how you’re going to accomplish those numbers, and what are those numbers based on, what are the assumptions, and what are the marketplace steps that are going to lead you from point A to point B. Because, at the end of the day, we both know that investors invest in people, and what they’re looking for is a person who has done their homework, they’re organized, they’re thorough, they play in correctly, but yet, they’re nimble enough to make decisions on their feet and to move and to pivot when necessary.
I always teach my clients, “You’re negotiating from the first communication with the potential investor, whether it is a text message, an email, you bump into them in a cocktail party and you say hello.” You want to make sure that you have your A game on and you’re presenting excellence in communication. Even the way that you type your emails speaks volumes about, are you going to be thorough? Are you going to be organized? Are you going to make sure that things are written correctly and you’ve thought through what you’re actually saying? Your use of social media is another dictator to investors about do you have good judgment? Do you post things you shouldn’t be posting? These are all things that I try to bring to my clients and I educate them.
Another big mistake that I see, and this one’s a little bit funny, but I see clients interrupting potential investors in meetings. The potential investor will be speaking and the client will feel the need to jump in and share their viewpoint right then. We do a lot of that coaching, we do a lot of role playing. At the end of the day, nothing replaces having done your homework, and having done your homework 500 times. Especially in this day and age, I think investors are inundated with all kinds of interesting companies and projects. You really have to do the homework to clearly communicate why are you different and better, and going to be more successful and less risky than the 50 other really cool tech companies that that investor has probably seen that month.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: Do the homework.”]
Yes. You touched on so many great things there. I love this emphasis on doing your homework and being prepared because I keep telling people, “You cannot wing your pitch. It doesn’t have to sound robotic, but you better practice it enough that you can come across conversational and clear.” Because nobody has a great pitch without practice, and the same thing is true with their numbers. I love that you are all about the preparation from top to bottom.
You also really brought up a great point there, Samira, about branding. You brand yourself from the way you dress, the way you talk to somebody. Even what you put in an email, the subject line. Is it concise? Is it compelling? Or is it hard to follow? All that stuff is so important for people. It’s your A game. I say when you meet with investors, it’s the Super Bowl of the meetings, it’s your Olympic moment. That’s, to me, what you just described.
Absolutely, and one of the things that I think is most important is the speed of your communication also. If your investor is emailing with you, make sure you email him back in a very timely manner.
Yes. Don’t go, “I’ll get to that later,” because then they think it’s not important. Listen. They should be your number one person. If you’re trying to woo somebody in dating, you don’t wait four days to get back to them, do you? No, of course not. There’s two things more I want to talk about: use of social media and this all-important active listening. Let’s do a deep dive into social media for a minute. I have a lot of founders that say, “I don’t really have much on my LinkedIn profile because I’m an entrepreneur. I’m not trying to get a job.” I said to them, “You don’t think investors are looking at your LinkedIn profile?”
That should be a branding opportunity, that should be a place for references, a whole history of how you got to where you are, any successful exits. You need to have not just crazy pictures deleted from your Facebook, or Pinterest, or Instagram, or whatever, but a really professional LinkedIn profile for investments, don’t you think?
I absolutely agree with that. I teach classes called Building Your Personal Brand. I teach in the law school, Building Your Business and Your Brand. I teach a lot of personal branding seminars and I give a lot of how to build your brand keynote speeches to all different groups. I believe that there is no difference in your personal life or your business life now, especially with transparency and the internet. You are who you are, and how you put yourself out there and present yourself speaks volumes about how you’re going to do business.
Holistic Entrepreneurship: There is no difference in your personal life or your business life
Do you pay attention to details? Is your LinkedIn profile organized? Is it clear? Have you listed your education? Have you listed your jobs sequentially? Are there major gaps in your work history? All these components, you’re exactly correct. Investors are looking at that. Before I even take on a client, I Google and I look at who they are. I look at their social media pages, because that tells me a lot about their judgment and their attention to detail. Especially if you’re the founder or CEO of a business, you have an obligation to be the face of the business and to be out there selling your business.
LinkedIn is a really great tool for doing that. If you don’t understand that, or you don’t believe that, or you haven’t invested the time to use it, what that’s going to tell the investor is you’re not going to use their resources wisely. Because here’s an amazing resource that’s free that you could use. You have to understand that it’s not just about, “You need to be active on social media,” but social media, in general, is an amazing, economical resource for building a business and building a brand. If you’re not using that and you’re not maximizing the free tools, why am I going to give you money? Because that tells me you’re not going to use my money in a really efficient, effective manner.
Let me just underline that for all the listeners. I’ve never heard anybody put it quite like that, Samira. I love the way you’ve connected the dots of how an investor thinks. If you’re not using a good, free tool like LinkedIn, professionally, to establish your brand, then you probably will not be a good person to use my resources and my money wisely. It all just points to authentic, who you are is how you perform in small details and big details. If you can’t be bothered to take care of branding yourself as the founder especially on social media, then you probably will not take care of the big details of managing all the way you could spend my money as an investor. That is so valuable. I love it. Thank you, thank you.
You’re welcome, and I want to add, if you don’t mind.
Yes, please.
Let me add one more component to this that’s super important that adds onto that. We also look at how have you used your money to date. If I’m seeing that you have all these company cars and a really fancy office with fancy furniture and you’re still in startup mode, that tells me you’re not going to be a good steward of my cash. Another thing that I look at, and I think this is a little, this one’s funny, but it’s really true. When you’re in a super startup mode and I see pitch deck materials that look like they’ve had $50,000 spent on them and they’re all beautiful and on thick paper and in fancy customized folders, what that tells me is you’re wasting my money.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: It’s not about materials, it’s about the content.”]
Most of the money that I’ve raised, I’ve used really it was like Word documents or very simple PowerPoints printed on regular paper with a staple. Because it’s not about the quality of the materials, it’s about the content of them. It’s that funny thing. You can’t really put lipstick on a pig. If you have really, really good stuff there and there is substance in there, you don’t have to dress it up with too much fancy school supplies. The numbers and the words will speak for themselves.
At the same token, don’t ignore details. God forbid, if you have a typo on your pitch deck or if you have really ugly slides that are not pleasant to look at. It doesn’t have to be $50,000, but it should be, in my opinion, at least somewhat professionally designed, because everyone now has the skills to do that, or hire a graphic designer for a nominal amount of money to make it look professional. There’s a minimum standard of what’s acceptable, I think, especially when you’re asking for money.
Absolutely, and there’s really creative ways to be able to execute that. You don’t have to spend a ton of money. You can figure out, “How do I get a professional, great looking product without spending a ton of money?”
One of the other things you talked about, which I just love, is not interrupting investors, or in my case, what I talk to people about is active listening to make sure that they ask you a question. First, don’t interrupt them. Second, if they ask you a question, make sure you heard the question properly before you answer it. Because what I hear time and again, and I love your insight on this, is you get asked a question or you as an investor ask somebody a question and they don’t answer the question, maybe because they didn’t hear you properly. They thought you asked something else, and you feel like, “They’re trying to avoid answering my question. I’m so frustrated.” What are your thoughts on active listening going along with not interrupting people when they’re talking?
I agree with both of those points. What I would say is this. You’re in that meeting to have a conversation with the potential investor. Your job is to be extra 500,000% prepared, but then put all your notes and pitches aside and walk into that ring with a blank slate, prepared to have a conversation. Don’t feel like, “I’m not going to get my funding if I don’t put these certain things out there into the conversation.” Sit there and really listen to what they’re asking. Pause to make sure you understood it, and then answer. If you don’t fully understand the question, ask for clarification. A common technique that’s useful is after you’ve answered them, “Did I answer your question? Do you have any follow-ups?”
Holistic Entrepreneurship: You’re in that meeting to have a conversation with the potential investor.
Additionally, the other thing that I see is you have to really read body language. If you’re so intent on getting out your statements and your phrases, and things that you feel you must tell them and you’re not watching them, they may have questions throughout your presentation. It’s a really good idea to pause and say, “Do you have a question? Is there something I can answer for you?” Because, what does that do? That keeps the listener, and in this case, your potential investor, interested and it keeps them in line with the conversation so you’re not going to lose them.
If you keep talking and talking and you have to get everything you say out and he or she has questions that are not getting answered, by the time you get to the end, they’re not going to be with you through the end of your story. I always encourage individuals to understand, this needs to be a conversation. You need to be able to talk to this person the same way as you would be talking to anybody else in a give and take, pause, ask for clarification, make sure you’re understanding. It’s not just a fire hose of information.
Right. Nobody wants to drown in information. I really like this technique of not only after you answer the question saying, “Did I answer your question?” Let’s just, again, have some empathy for the investor. If you were the investor and someone said that to you, think how you would feel. You would feel great. You would feel listened to. “Wow, that guy or that women really cares that they’ve answered my question. I’m going to like working with them.” You could either say yes or, “No, I have a follow-up.”
The other thing you said, Samira, that is so valuable is watch the body language. Sometimes, people can just show you slight, the brows go like, “I’m confused.” People will wrinkle their brows when they don’t understand something. That’s your cue to pause and say, “Do you have a question?” Invite them to ask a question. If you have 10 minutes or 15 minutes and you want to cover, let’s just say, three points, it’s more important, if I’ve heard you properly, to cover two that’s a dialogue where the person has all those questions answered and not get to everything that you have prepared. Because, if they’re interested and don’t have any questions and feel like they have a connection with you, they’ll set up another meeting.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: People do business with people.”]
You are extremely 120% correct. The other component that I want to add to that is people do business with people. They do business with people they like and people they trust. They always have and they always will. That’s a Samira Salman phrase and you can take that phrase and extrapolate it to, investors invest in people. People they like and people they trust. They always have, they always will. There are countless examples of times that a person went in to pitch a certain company or a certain business concept to an investor, and the investor says, “I really like you but I’m not into this business. Go back to the drawing board, tweak these seven things, reposition a bit, and come back and visit me.”
That’s how you start building a relationship and you’re able to go back to the same investor for multiple projects because they like you, they want to work with you, they like the way you work, they like the way you communicate, and they want to work with your team. I think that’s the most important message to get across, is your job is not to sell your company, but it’s to sell yourself, as a founder, as a leader, as the CEO, and as a person that this investor can work with on a long-term basis, build a relationship, and you guys can be nimble and make good decisions and be good stewards of the investor’s money together.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: Don’t sell your company. Sell yourself.”]
I think that that’s a big gaping hole that I’ve seen in the pitch world, is that the people pitching forget that. They skip that part of building rapport, finding common ground and especially making assumptions about what the investor is looking for. Unless it’s a fund that has very strict details and we know what the criteria is, it’s always a good idea to have some rapport building, stakeholder analysis questions at the beginning to make sure you understand who this person is, what makes them tick and how they make investment decisions, especially if they’re raising from a private individual, or a family office or some other type of entity that doesn’t have a strict scripted mandate for how they invest. It’s important to ask questions and make sure that you understand what they are looking for and who they are, because that’s what you need to speak to.
Do you have any stories that you can share with us about someone that either was introduced to you or somehow you guys connected and you said, “This is my person, and I’m going to help this person go from, basically, just an idea to getting funded”?
I do. I have several stories where clients came to me and they had very infancy projects and businesses. Some of them were product-based, some of them were service-based. What I pride myself on is I say that I have a unicorn picker, which means when I choose a company or a project to work with, most of the time, it ends up being successful. The reason why is because I have this innate gift for knowing, will this product and service, coupled with this leader and this team, be able to make it? What we do is we provide the funding and we provide the strategy and the know-how and the secret sauce that sticks everything together. But is that leader, that company founder, do they have what it’s going to take to make it to the next level?
Holistic Entrepreneurship: I say that I have a unicorn picker, which means when I choose a company or a project, most of the time it ends up being successful.
I do come across a lot of projects that I pass on, but every now and then, when I come across one, I’m like, “I’m going to go work with this person because I see a future there.” I’ve worked in different consumer goods industries, but I’m pretty good at calling it. It’s just the way that the person has what it takes to move through each day of being entrepreneur, because as you know, entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It’s a pretty brutal, grueling profession. I really look for the people, because I can teach anybody any aspect of the business.
One of my most proud accomplishments is we have somebody who’s the right hand person of one of our founders and they graduated from college not too long ago with a Liberal Arts degree. We were able to teach them how to build financial models. They keep all the books, they do all our monthly reporting. We basically turned him into a CFO overnight. My point in that illustration is when you have really great team members who are open and willing to learn, anybody can learn anything.
The most important part is the demeanor and the disposition of the team. You have to find people that work the way you do and the team has to work together in a cohesive mechanism. Even if components of the team have these really stellar resumes, if the people can’t work together, it doesn’t matter because it’s not going to work. That’s what I look for, is a leader who has the right leadership skills and they know how to properly and lovingly motivate their teams and I look for team members who are willing to learn, and who are comfortable working in the very nimble startup entrepreneurial environment.
[Tweet “Holistic Entrepreneurship: Demeanor and disposition of the team is vital.”]
Sometimes I see teams that they have really great resumes but all the folks came from corporate America, and those teams sometimes have problems gelling and learning how to work in the nimble startup environment, especially when there’s funding gaps and it’s very stressful. Sometimes we bring in professionals to help us work through that team building and we do all kinds of different interesting things. My role as the trusted advisor is to keep my eye on all these components and make sure that everything is moving in the right direction.
One of the most successful characteristics I see of founders and CEOs, leaders of companies, is that they cut off the dead tree limbs when they need to. If an employee’s not working out or a team member’s not working out, they make really quick, nimble decisions. That always ends up being the better answer than the long run. When you keep folks around that aren’t really an asset to the team, it tends to affect the entire team and moral, etc.
Great advice. You sound like you’re an air traffic controller as this trusted advisor, making sure there’s no problems. I love this cut off the dead tree limbs when you need to because that whole analogy, one bad apple causes the whole group to go bad.
My best friend says that phrase.
Is there a book you’d recommend for people to read either about entrepreneurship or life, in general?
The 50th Law – written collaboratively by rapper 50 Cent and author Robert Greene.
My favorite business book is called The 50th Law. It’s written by 50 Cent, the rapper, and Robert Greene. He’s a motivational speaker. He had some financial challenges, bankruptcy, and financial fluctuation I think is a rite of passage for entrepreneurship. The book has 10 different rules to get basically from the streets to becoming a multi-hundred-million dollar businessman. The thing that I like about the book is it’s really different from most other books out there on business. It’s more on the scrappy human side of business and not necessarily the metrics and the spreadsheets and the numbers. Even though I’m a former tax lawyer, at the end of the day, people do business with people.
What his rules help you understand is how to move within this web or network of people more nimbly and more strategically and more successfully. Because really, when you break it all down, business is just a bunch of people running around. Some of us are investors, some of us are CEOs, some of us are secretaries, but we’re all human beings trying to figure out how to work together. That’s what a lot of my career has been, at this point. I do a lot of coaching and a lot of consulting on how to work more effectively with clients, with team members, with investors. At the end of the day, the communication is what makes or breaks a company. If the environment and tone is set for open and honest communication and subordinates feel comfortable going to leadership and voicing problems, we can solve those problems sooner. I really enjoy that book.
The Alchemist; Novel by Paulo Coelho
One of my all-time favorites is The Alchemist by, the famous alchemist, Paulo Coelho. I just love that because it really helps you understand you have to go through some of the same lessons in life over and over. I think many of the lessons in that book are very applicable to the entrepreneurial journey. I think you can take some of those phrases and paste them. One of my favorite quotes is from that book and it says, “The soul of the world tests you about lessons while you’re on the journey not because it’s cruel, but it wants to make sure you’ve mastered the lessons.”
It’s basically saying you may run into some of the same challenges over and over not because it just wants you to learn from it, but master the lesson. I think a lot of times when you see entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurial world, they may have had some of the same challenges, whether it came to funding, or selecting partnerships, or strategic collaborations, or whatever their Achilles heel is. They’ll continue to have some of those same lessons until they master them. I just love that because I think it speaks volumes to how we are on this journey and you’re just collecting skills and experiences as you go.
I can’t thank you enough for all your words of wisdom about what it takes to be successful as a founder, as a team member and what investors are looking for. Samira, how can people follow you? What’s your Twitter handle and all that good stuff?
My Twitter is @samira_salman. My Instagram is SamiraSalman. I’m on Facebook. Salman Solutions is my company. I have a professional Facebook. It’s just Samira Salman Professional Page. I also have a YouTube. If you go to my website, it’s SalmanSolutions.com, you can click, all my social media links are on there.
Perfect, and we’ll put those in the show notes as well. Thank you so much. You’ve been a great guest. We look forward to watching and tracking all your posts. Thanks again.
Thanks so much, John. I appreciate it.
Links Mentioned
J Robinett Enterprises
John Livesay Funding Strategist
Crack The Funding Code!
Register now for the free webinar
The Successful Pitch – Book Trailer
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How To Get Investors To Trust You, Samira Salman | TSP086
Posted by John Livesay in podcast | 0 comments
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Episode Summary
Samira Salman is the CEO & Founder of Salman Solutions, a firm that advises executives, startup founders, and entrepreneurs on how to build better companies and raise capital. Samira had a very successful career as a tax lawyer. Now, she uses her expertise in both corporate and tax law to advise her clients, and she speaks heavily on topics such as entrepreneurship, brand building, negotiation, and more. Discover how you can build trust with an investor, on this week’s episode!
What Was Covered
- 04:05 – How did Samira get into tech investments?
- 06:35 – Samira works with companies at all funding stages.
- 07:00 – What does Samira look for when a company is pre-revenue?
- 11:05 – If you don’t know what problem you’re solving, then you don’t understand what your company does.
- 13:45 – You can’t wing your pitch! You have to prepare, and prepare, and prepare, if you really want to wow investors.
- 16:05 – Samira believes there’s no difference between your personal life and your business life. The internet makes our lives so transparent.
- 16:40 – Before Samira takes on a client, she Googles them.
- 17:40 – Brand yourself! investors will be looking at your online profiles.
- 20:10 – Make sure your pitch deck looks professional. These days you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create a good looking presentation.
- 22:10 – It’s always a great idea to pause your presentation, and ask whether your investors have a question. Think of your pitch deck as a conversation between investors.
- 24:10 – Remember, people do business with people they know, like, and trust.
- 25:30 – You job isn’t to sell your company, it’s to sell yourself.
- 26:55 – Samira knows how to pick unicorns.
- 30:15 – You have to ‘cut off the dead tree limbs’ when you need to. If an employee isn’t working out, it’s best to let them go.
- 31:20 – Samira recommends the book, The 50th Law, by 50 Cent and Robert Greene.
Tweetables
[Tweet “Cut off dead tree limbs whenever someone is not working out on your team”]
[Tweet “Show investors you are prepared and organized”]
[Tweet “Use LinkedIn to brand yourself to investors”]
[Tweet “Be authentic and have a conversation where you listen”]
Links Mentioned
J Robinett Enterprises
John Livesay Funding Strategist
Salman Solutions Website
Samira on Twitter
The 50th Law, by 50 Cent and Robert Greene
Crack The Funding Code!
Register now for the free webinar
Share The Show
Did you enjoy the show? I’d love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review!
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- Click this link
- Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork
- Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section
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