Where do you go for honest and direct feedback?
Photo by Steve Fernie via Flickr
In William Fisher's post this morning, "Sorry…but your baby is ugly!", the serial entrepreneur and angel investor made no apologies for the honest and direct feedback he regularly gives to entrepreneurs who pitch their ideas to him. "I try to inject humor; I try to be direct," Fisher wrote, "I try to let them know that it is only my opinion and that others may easily see the beauty in their creation."
Though Fisher may not warm up to your idea, it's important to remember that others may find it appealing. When I met with Fisher last month, he made a point of this, saying that it's very important for our region's entrepreneurs to knock on door after door, pitching their ideas, receiving feedback and improving both their ideas and pitches. This, of course, requires a lot of doors to knock on – VCs, angels, mentors, serial entrepreneurs, potential customers, etc.
So, that begs the question: what doors are you knocking on? Or, do you have a door for entrepreneurs to knock on?
Here's how you can help
- If you're willing to give feedback: Leave a comment below with your name and area of expertise or fill out this form.
- If you're looking for feedback: Leave a comment below with your name and what type of feedback you're looking to receive, or fill out this form.
Here's how we'll help
- Publish a follow-up post: We'll compile the entries from the comments and form and, if you give us permission, we'll publish them in a follow-up post. (note: we'll publish all relevant comments below in the follow-up)
- Make connections via email: If we see an opportunity to connect an individual looking for feedback with someone willing to provide it, we'll connect you via email.
Through this post, it's our goal to bring about a dozen connections in which honest and direct feedback is provided to an entrepreneur in the Silicon Prairie.
ARCHIVED COMMENTS
How about some feedback to kick things off? I love this concept of enabling access to immediate feedback. While things like Twitter will get you started, it may not represent your target audience. I'd be happy to be a resource for others, whether it be feedback on an idea or as a conduit to meet others.
I love helping others break down their ideas to its simplest form and then translating them into product design and the surrounding user experience.
I am in negotiations with a distributor about licensing my CornFinger concept. I would love to talk with someone who has experience licensing.
I'm more than happy to provide feedback on any idea or concept within the community. I'm also equally as willing to make any personal introduction that may serve useful, and fits the goals of the business & individual's plans.
Mike, Dan, Cody - Thanks for your participation!
I'd also like to add my own name to one of the lists -
Looking for feedback - We have a project we're currently working on that would help journalists and the everyday consumer better understand a business model of an unknown or known company. It's a pretty simple idea, and if you have experience in business journalism or building directories, I'd appreciate your one-on-one feedback.
I like where this thread is going. I think Silicon Prairie needs an online forum for ideas and feedback to keep the ball rolling between Big Omahas.
I have several ideas in my head. i'm looking for feedback and how to get started.
I would definitely like to help out here, I think this is a great idea for the community. My background is more on the technical side, so I'd be glad to help out with implementation or feasibility feedback/questions, or vendor recommendations. I would also be more than happy to provide feedback on ideas, or make any personal introductions where it fits.
Facilitating connections is a great idea. We could use feedback/advice from anyone with experience in sports broadcast production and deals. We are way past the idea stage. We have a profitable sports property and are working on our first broadcast deal.
Looking for feedback from software entrepreneurs! I built a bug tracker (http://trackjumper.com) aimed at helping small teams and freelancers keep on top of their projects without the overhead, expense, and client training issues of a fully-featured issue tracking system. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, please sign up for a free trial and poke around (no credit card required). Then email me at damon@trackjumper.com with your likes, dislikes and wishes. Thanks!
I am working on a few projects at different stages and I would love feedback, especially info on how to take my early beta projects to the next level, sales advice, they all have some active users but the sites are still pretty rough in the design area especially the front end sales marketing area (just need to put in some time) GatherOpinion.com, FeelProductive.com, CouponTracks.com Let me know if you are interested in a demo or a test account @thatsluke @renmind
Also if anyone visits the homepages above you will find them sorely lacking... I have an older youtube video demo for FeelProductive ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNnSnfhfI1o ) and some screenshots at ( http://facebook.com/renmind ) . Hopefully soon I will be updating their respective frontends look more like captivecrowd.com. Wish I had more done but alas, things are as they are when you've got lots on your plate :)
I'm looking for feedback on how to attract users to the site I've created here:
http://www.frugalpharmacies.com/
I'd be glad to look at any other sites or ideas, particularly those geared toward the mom crowd or those that deal with personal finance.
It would be interesting to put together a page on SPN of profiles of entrepreneurs that are willing to help in an advisory role. We could add hash tags for some of the common terms that were submitted in the feedback form. I can't find the link but there use to be a Des Moines creative personalities that gave a head shot and a little background. Something along those lines that people could reach out to individuals in the praire that are willing to mentor, coach, and even invest.
@Wade I think this might be the site you're thinking of: http://desmob.com/ also inspired this site in Iowa City/Cedar Rapids: http://iccreatives.us/
Love the idea!
I would love to network with other software entrepreneurs and bounce ideas around. I just launched my first web product (http://www.donorelf.com) and it would be great to receive feedback from people that have similar experience.
Happy to help Iowa entrepreneurs make connections outside the state. Also happy to help event organizers and community managers get started, grow their membership, and improve their operations.
I'm always available from both technology and business perspectives to help vet / brainstorm ideas, business models, software architectures, application usability, etc etc etc. I lvoe to solve problems, and I love to help the community.