If there was one thing that I wish I had had drilled into me in college it would be regular expressions. If I could have had two things drilled into me I'd choose regexes and importance of likability.
I've watched a lot of very talented people languish just because they weren't "likable" enough. Not because they were bad people, but because they weren't interested in blogging, networking at meet ups, getting thousands of Twitter followers, or in making an email any less terse than it absolutely needed to be.
I've also seen people with terrible ideas or lackluster execution get massive amounts support because they approached likability as a skill and mastered it.
I couldn't imagine doing this at the YCF stage.
Effectively pitching over SnapChat requires a type of media training that most early stage founders won't have. It's hard to pitch in person, even harder to pitch when you're using a medium you've only used to send dumb stuff to your friends. I know I'm much better in person than I am on video so I don't even bother trying to raise money from firms that require a video upfront.
Likability and presentation are massively important, but I'd rather spend my early days building a product that works well than anxiously grasping at likability on SnapChat. There are so many great writers and media people out there, build something great, then bring them in to help you sell it.
I've watched a lot of very talented people languish just because they weren't "likable" enough. Not because they were bad people, but because they weren't interested in blogging, networking at meet ups, getting thousands of Twitter followers, or in making an email any less terse than it absolutely needed to be.
I've also seen people with terrible ideas or lackluster execution get massive amounts support because they approached likability as a skill and mastered it.
I couldn't imagine doing this at the YCF stage.
Effectively pitching over SnapChat requires a type of media training that most early stage founders won't have. It's hard to pitch in person, even harder to pitch when you're using a medium you've only used to send dumb stuff to your friends. I know I'm much better in person than I am on video so I don't even bother trying to raise money from firms that require a video upfront.
Likability and presentation are massively important, but I'd rather spend my early days building a product that works well than anxiously grasping at likability on SnapChat. There are so many great writers and media people out there, build something great, then bring them in to help you sell it.