Five Thirty ONE eighty-seven

Ari Emanuel. What more do you need to say? I was buying the book before this post, but for those of you who don’t know the Co-CEO of WME. Here’s a great post Ari wrote on Loyalty in Business earlier this week:

I always believe in getting to the point. And the point of this is to get you to buy Brothers Emanuel. Is LinkedIn the right platform to do a plug for my brother’s book? Probably not. But fuck it, I’m doing it anyway.

There’s a running theme through Brothers Emanuel, which Zeke, Rahm and I have integrated into our personal and professional lives. And that is, to always look out for each other. It’s a lesson our parents instilled in us and it’s what we preach to our kids.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love taking risks. And my biggest risks would have easily failed had it not been for the support from my family and friends. Loyalty was a huge component in the success of Endeavor. When I broke away from the comforts of an established agency to start my own venture, I got a real sense of who had my back. A handful of agents took the leap of faith, leaving steady paychecks and 401k’s for the great unknown. The same goes for my clients, who took a huge gamble following me (often against the advice of their managers). But they all knew that I would do the same for them in a heartbeat.

Four years ago, loyalty came into play again when Endeavor merged with William Morris. But this time, hundreds of staffers were asked to put their trust into WME. And you know what? Every one of them rose to the occasion and had faith that our new company would thrive. Loyalty is what makes businesses strong and I have no doubt that it’s been responsible for the continued success of WME.

Flip through the pages of Brothers Emanuel and you’ll see how important loyalty is to our family. Each of us has an amazing support system in place. Whether it’s Zeke and his medical colleagues, Rahm and his political staff or myself and the agents of WME. Always surround yourself with people you can trust and people you’re willing to go into battle with.

Now go buy the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-Emanuel-Memoir-American-Family/dp/1400069033

Started writing my own recap to SXSW 2013 - but Diana Kander pretty much summed it up. Here are 10 SXSW Lessons to live by:

SXSW Interactive just wrapped up, and it’s been an intense five days. It was inspiring, exhausting and thought provoking. Not long into my first day I began to notice parallels between surviving SXSW and succeeding as a business owner, so I put together this list of lessons learned:

1. The plan is just a roadmap. You can plan and plan for what you think your SXSW experience will look like and what events you are going to attend, but most of what you’ll end up doing will be impromptu and off the schedule. You have to understand that the plan is just a roadmap; as long as you have a good idea of where you are going, you’ll really benefit from and enjoy all the detours you’ll inevitably encounter along the way.

2. People are much more likely to listen or help if you don’t try to sell them. I saw a lot of people try to push their ideas like street peddlers.SXSW attendees are tired of being repeatedly accosted, so street peddlers get ignored. Focus on helping others first. Listen to their ideas and passions, and their interest in your pursuits will follow.

3. You need a lot of energy! Just like SXSW, business life is non-stop. You have to figure out how to work until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., get up at 7 a.m., and still function and produce day after day.

4. Follow up immediately after meeting someone. If you delay getting in touch with someone after getting their card, you’ll likely forget all the details of the interaction or what you were supposed to follow up about; and the longer you wait, the less they will remember about you.

5. Your pitch needs to be simple and easy to understand. Meeting hundreds of people who only give you a moment of their time really helps you hone your pitch. You quickly learn that if your explanation is not simple to understand or interesting, they are going to move on and talk to someone else. Tip: if you want to know if you have a strong pitch, occasionally ask someone to tell you what they think your company does after you introduce yourself.

6. There’s a lot of competition out there. There’s no place like SXSW to learn that no matter how brilliant your idea, there’s at least three other companies that think they are going to own the same market. When ideas are plentiful, execution is everything.

7. Potential mentors are everywhere. SXSW has the best and the brightest in attendance, but you have to be selective about who to solicit for advice. Critically assess who will provide the most value to your company and your personal needs and figure out a way to get them to listen. And don’t worry: If they say no, there are at least 10 more people around who can provide you with great advice.

8. Always be prepared to pitch. At SXSW, you never know who might share your elevator or literally bump into you as you round a corner, so look your best, have your pitch down, and always carry your product or something to demo.

9. Have a strategy to market your company. Don’t just give your card to anyone who makes eye contact. Your product or business isn’t for everyone. If you can narrow your focus to a target customer and think of creative ways to reach that target, you will get better results. Otherwise, you just look desperate and your ideas will be ignored.

10. Give yourself time to expand your mind. There are so many thought-provoking lectures and panels at SXSW that can have profound impacts on your business or your personal life. But you don’t need to wait for SXSW each year to reflect and learn something new. Opportunities to learn and develop are all around you, so remember to make time for them every now and then.

What did you learn from SXSW that will help you in your company? Use the comments to help keep the conversation going.

Diana Kander is an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Kauffman Foundation and an author at www.dianakander.com.

A great piece in @ Entrepreneur this month - Here are his six steps to connecting with influencers in your industry.

1. Offer something.
“Give three things and ask for one,” Babitsky says. In other words: Give more than you take. When he’s interested in making contact with an influencer, Babitsky first determines what he can offer that will be of value to the contact. He may be writing a white paper or book or be organizing a conference where he can offer the individual a speaking gig.

Of course, not everyone is writing books or organizing conferences every day. However, you can offer to interview the person for your blog or for a special report on your web site. Alternatively, you might be involved with a professional or trade organization where you can introduce the individual to your own network of influencers.

2. Do your homework.
It’s usually possible to research influencers’ past writing and speeches, interests, and pet causes with a simple online search. Don’t waste their time asking basic questions or for information that is easily available online. Instead, find common points and use those to find areas where you might connect.

3. Get in touch.
Babitsky likes to reach out via phone or email instead of social media because it’s more personal, he says. However, take your lead from the influencer’s cues. If he or she is active on Twitter or carries on online conversations on his or her blog, that might be a good way to get in touch, too.

4. Limit the ask.
When reaching out for the first time, make it short and sweet. Don’t ask for anything that will take more than 10 or 15 minutes — a brief interview or a straightforward question or two. People generally like to help, but they may not have time to answer lengthy questionnaires or get involved in a seemingly endless back-and-forth.

5. Keep in touch.
Maintain a database of contacts that also includes searchable keywords related to interests. That way, if you come across an article or information related to some of your contacts’ interests, you can easily send it along, keeping you relevant and memorable.

6. Ask to reciprocate.
If someone has helped you, Babitsky recommends asking the individual if there is anything you might do to help him or her. The individual may be dealing with a challenge you can help alleviate, he says. If not, the ask is another form of relationship building, showing the influencer that you’re interested in giving back.

Entrepreneurs: You’re More Important Than Your Business Plan

by Rich Leimsider and Cheryl Dorsey  |   9:00 AM February 18, 2013

“Would you take a look at my business plan?”

Some member of our staff at Echoing Green, an angel investor and grantmaker in social enterprise, hears this request every week. And we are often happy to review these start-up plans — which include the typical elements such as a product description, competitive analysis, estimate of market size, and projected financials. But we are interested in much more than these traditional plans. We use other criteria to find new people and ideas that can create large-scale social change.

In short, the business plan is overrated.

Like the vast majority of start-ups, most new social enterprises are bootstrapping efforts. As Amar Bhide said in “Bootstrap Finance: The Art of Start-ups” (a 20-year-old HBR article that is an uncanny precursor to today’s “lean startup” meme), traditional business planning processes are less relevant to bootstrappers — where resilience trumps planning and energy trumps experience.

Applying a formal spreadsheet-type analysis to an early stage concept can be “disastrous.” Instead, we look at eight broad rules for success, half of which are about the entrepreneur herself (not her business plan). These are lessons we’ve learned from investing $30 million over the last 25 years in 500+ social start-ups about what make a promising social entrepreneur, but they are equally applicable to any entrepreneur.

Purpose and Passion. Do they care deeply about this issue or community? Do we understand why?In 2012 Echoing Green invested in 28-year-old Marquis Taylor as one of our Open Society Black Male Achievement Fellows. Marquis created an organization called Coaching For Change to engage young Black men as entrepreneurs pursuing business opportunities related to basketball, football, and other sports. His passion was evident from his initial application — as the child of a single mother in South Central Los Angeles, basketball was his ticket to college. But he also understood that while a career as a professional athlete was extremely unlikely, sports itself was a multi-billion dollar industry with great opportunity as coaches, trainers, even youth camp organizers.

Perspective and Resilience. Will this person bounce back from the obstacles they will surely face in building this business? According to official statistics, more than 50% of new enterprises fail in the first 5 years. But in our experience 100% of new entrepreneurs face partial failure regularly. Even when a particular challenge doesn’t end the business immediately, the ability to bounce back is crucial. Although this is Marquis’ first entrepreneurial endeavor, his journey from academically struggling high school student to graduate student at Smith College demonstrated the grit and tenacity to consistently overcome obstacles.

Point of Entry and Leadership. Can you envision this person entering a field in a transformative way and inspiring others to action? All leaders must demonstrate authenticity and legitimacy with their customer base and other stakeholders. Marquis is building his organization in Massachusetts, a far cry from the Los Angeles of his youth. But his authentic presence and open attitude have given him access to the insular industry and geography where he now works.

Power Source and Resource Magnetism. Can this person attract money, people, and other resources to their cause? At Echoing Green we’ve learned that more important than charisma is what we call resource magnetism. Whether or not the entrepreneur has a thousand-watt smile (and it just so happens that Marquis does!) it is much more important that she is able to quietly persuade people around her to volunteer their time, talent, and treasure. Somehow Marquis is able to use the most tenuous of connections to arrange a conversation with a busy but influential leader, and then walk out with a financial commitment or five more introductions.

Even the most entrepreneurial leader, of course, needs a great idea. Here are our four rules we use to evaluate the underlying business concept:

Innovation. Has it been tried this way before? There are hundreds of organizations that use athletics as a way of engaging low-income teenagers. But too many of these organizations fail young people by neglecting to make the connection between athletic success and professional success. Marquis found a way to do this. Coaching For Change asks young people to build their own businesses around youth clinics, summer sports camps, and coaching. The kids develop discipline and focus, but also practical, marketable skills.

Importance. Does this organization tackle an issue that matters in the world? Our Fellows must not only have a clever idea — they need to tackle one of society’s major pain points. Marquis reminds us that nearly half of all young black men who start high school will not graduate. His work matters.

Potential for Big, Bold Impact. Could this organization directly, or by example, change a big system? Truly great organizations don’t merely grow, they also influence their field. Marquis is ambitious and he hopes Coaching for Change will work with as many young people as possible. Butreaching scale through copycat businesses is just fine and if Marquis can demonstrate the viability of his model, we believe it will be adopted more broadly and faster than Coaching for Change can spread it.

A Good Business Plan. Does the start-up plan (budget, timeline, staffing, etc.) seem thoughtful?Of course, the business plan remains an important element and we don’t neglect to look at it. While Marquis’ plan today is well-structured, the truth is that when we met him it was not the strongest part of his overall presentation. But we invested in him because we believe that helping an early-stage entrepreneur articulate a detailed plan is one of the ways that risk-tolerant investors can be most helpful.

Coaching for Change is by no means an established success. And even the most promising social enterprise take wrong turns. We are proud to have made early investments in the work of Andrew Youn, who founded One Acre Fund; Wendy Kopp, who founded Teach for America; and Vikram Akula, who founded SKS Microfinance. Each has led their start-up to massive impact for hundreds of thousands of people and influenced the way resources are deployed in their fields. But we’re equally proud of Angel Taveras, whose Echoing Green-funded mentoring program never reached scale, but who now pursues social change as the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. So while we know that Marquis Taylor meets our eight criteria and has a better than average chance of success, we’re still buckled in for what might be a bumpy ride.

The point is that a business planning process can be extremely valuable to an entrepreneur. But if we’re going to truly see change through entrepreneurship, we have to focus on the person first and the business plan second.

How brands adapt marketing to the second-screen experience

Published January 28, 2013, Page 24

The traditional viewing experience continues to evolve for sports fans. Gone are the days of experiencing the game as a static spectator. Instead, fans are gravitating toward social sites to enrich their viewing experience and cultivate a deeper connection with the games they watch.

Capitalizing on this shift towards a second-screen experience is essential for brands wanting to remain relevant, particularly with millennials. Surprisingly, many brands are coming up short.

While major sporting events, such as league championships, generate millions of viewers and spark massive amounts of social commentary, brands are continuing to segment their strategies. A brand may sponsor the event — with its logo on the field and its advertisements airing during commercial breaks — but its social strategy is either tactically different or missing altogether. This lackluster approach does little to consolidate the team’s fan base, let alone spark engagement from fans who are tuning in remotely.

Conversations surrounding these high-profile sporting events will occur on Twitter and Facebook, regardless of the brand’s involvement. This presents a huge opportunity. However, the challenge for brands is: How do we capitalize on these conversations while keeping our branding consistent and providing meaningful content for fans?

While very few brands have succeeded in creating this type of experience, during Super Bowl XLVI, Coca-Cola was able to effectively pilot this type of strategy. Coca-Cola fully understood that in order to execute a successful advertising campaign, it would need to incorporate an extended social experience for fans.

The company relied heavily on fan nostalgia and utilized the polar bears traditionally seen in their holiday advertisements. The approach was simple: The polar bears (one a Giants fan and one a Patriots fan) hosted a Super Bowl party named the Polar Bowl.

During the game the bears would react to plays, advertisements, tweets and Facebook messages, all in real time. All of the social and multimedia content associated with the Polar Bowl was easily accessible to fans at CokePolarBowl.com.

Coca-Cola’s strategy not only engaged fans on multiple screens, but it also created a branded ecosystem directly connected to the Super Bowl. Coca-Cola was able to integrate its brand into an interactive experience for fans while capitalizing on the buzz already created around one of the biggest events in sports.

The campaign was a grand slam. Coca-Cola reported higher volumes of engagement over longer periods of time than it had originally anticipated. The company blazed the trail, and now it’s time for more brands to follow suit. The second-screen experience is the future of endorsements, particularly in the sports industry. However, this type of complex strategy must be executed properly in order to have the greatest amount of impact.

■ Opportunities for fan activation

The key to fully turning spectators into active participants is to establish a sense of inclusion. Fans must be exposed to the strategy from the onset, and their path to engagement must be clearly outlined. One way to execute this would be through a simple, branded hashtag.

Let’s paint a picture. Say a sports apparel brand recognized that many fans of a particular NHL team use a simple slogan when referencing their team. The brand then decides to capitalize on this opportunity and turn the slogan into a branded hashtag.

With the NHL and team’s cooperation, the hashtag, along with the brand’s logo, would be branded on the arena board lining the rink, as well as on towels and T-shirts given away to fans at the game.

In order to fully support the fan experience and further incentivize fans, there would also be a sweepstakes run on Twitter as well as on a customized app on the brand’s Facebook page. Fan participation would grant them the opportunity to win exclusive prizes.

■ Consistent branding

In the aforementioned scenario, the consistency is in the branding. Taking an endorsement strategy to a second screen presents the risk of sloppy or inconsistent branding. One solution would be to create a microsite to consolidate all of the socially endorsed experiences offered to fans.

A microsite, similar to the site used during Coca-Cola’s Polar Bowl, gives users a centralized location to access all the engagement opportunities the brand is providing. Moreover, it gives fans a more tangible location to discuss the game they are viewing, ultimately creating community feel.

■ Connection to experience

The benefit for brands executing a social endorsement strategy is the ability to connect with fans in real time. What’s more, sports fans develop a certain level of emotional attachment to their team and sport. By tapping into this connection, brands have the opportunity to link their brand synonymously with this emotional attachment. This is the connection brands should always strive to achieve when creating social endorsement strategies.

An endorsed strategy with social media sites as the catalyst allows brands to create a more personalized experience for fans. Moreover, activating these fans on social media gives the brand, as well as the endorsed team or event, a pulse on fan conversations. This critical information can then be repurposed and used to their benefit. By understanding what topics and mediums fans are most willing to engage on, brands and teams can then develop targeted content that they know will resonate with fans.

Creating a campaign that aggregates social endorsements in conjunction with traditional endorsements is the future. This strategy is the key to maximizing exposure and fortifying extremely high levels of fan engagement for brands. Targeting sports is the perfect segue for brands to begin piloting integrated social endorsement strategies using a second-screen experience as a catalyst.

Crystalyn Stuart (CrystalynS@5Loom.com) is vice president of social marketing at IMRE Sports.