From technology strategy and implementation to product and market development, the Pollenizer team played an integral part.

SportsPassion’s suite of free online community tools allow team managers and teammates to better communicate and collaborate, while sharing the fun and spirit of their sport.

Pollenizer Gets A Guernsey

So how does Pollenizer help? 3eep CEO Rob Antulov says the Pollenizer team has the ability to take an entrepreneur or business from the early concept phase into development and then beyond, once a product becomes live.

“In any company, let alone in a start-up, the real risk is that you try to do too much,” Antulov says. “In a start-up that can be particularly dangerous since there are so many things that are not yet proven – so, you can easily expend scarce resources doing the wrong thing.

“The cases where Pollenizer has helped us focus are numerous, ranging from understanding which clients are the right ones to listen to, through to which features in a new product design are the ones we should develop and which ones we should drop.” Pollenizer has also helped define and then target SportsPassion market campaigns.

“After you work with Pollenizer – if you really listen – you’ll know what you need to do, and why. Then, comes the hard part. Doing it. Lucky they help with that too!”

Rob Antulov, CEO 3eep

@pollenizer – Our company news account.
@philmorle – This is me, Phil Morle. CTO and co-founder.
@liubinskas – Mick Liubinskas. Co-founder and focus guy.
@batmir – Amir Suissa. Head of Pollenizer in Europe. Biz dev.
@bigyahu – Alan Jones. Product evangelist, wordsmith and social media junkie.
@bmatt – Bruno Mattarollo. CTO and scrummaster
@armyofdolls – Pete Fellows. UX Director
@jtyson – Jon Tyson – CTO
@pierre_s – Pierre Sauvignon – Product Director
@clarehallam – Accounting
@marcooda – “The Apprentice”

See you in the flow…

Whilst having a sushi/beer dinner with Atari Boy last night, we were talking about how sometimes you have an idea, flesh it out, then as you start telling people, it starts whittling down and dying on the vine.

Don’t get me (us) wrong, the feedback is great, but we realised that we wanted the feedback at different times.

There is lessons here for pitchers and pitchees.

For the pitcher

Try and pre-frame, which means establishing a boundary by which you want the pitchee to take your pitch. If you don’t pre-frame you’re probably going to get the devils advocate (or as Cris and I worked it out to be, the 1,000 demons that eat away enthusiasm and creativity).

You pre-frame by telling them what you want and what you don’t want.

For example;

“OK, so I’m going to tell you this idea that kept me up last night. There is 100 challenges and 1,000 questions, but for now, I really want to just explore how big it is and how great it could be. So try not to look for ways that it couldn’t work, let’s see if we can find out how it could work.”

Ask them to leave their demons at the door.

For the Pitchee, if you can, try not to start thinking about what is wrong. Stay on what is right first. Help them out. You know how hard it is on the otherside of the table. You know that it’s not easy coming up with something new that is solid.

Sentences to avoid as a pitchee;

“Hmmm, have you had a look at __________ ?” – unless there is an exact competitor, but even then, it would be better to say “______ is doing something similar – so there must be a market there!”

“Yeah, but don’t you think that ______________?” – try and build on it for now, not knock it down.

“That’s going to be hard.” – derrr! Of course it’s going to be hard. If it were soft it would be tofu. If it’s big, exciting and a worthy challenge then who cares how hard it is, you’ll get through it.

* Notice how I pre-framed this blog post. Did it work?

So he graciously sent through this outline of how to connect with him.

Go for it!

P.S. If someone can wufoo or google spreadsheet this it would be sweet and a show of force/faith.

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Step 1: Send answers (as detailed as you want) to the following questions by e-mail to renai.lemay zdnet com au

• What is the name of your startup?
• Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds (eg, involvement in previous startups, any relevant work history etc)?
• What is the story behind how your startup was created (ie when, where, where did the idea come from)?
• How is the company funded?
• Where is it based?
• What product or service does it aim to produce?
• What are the founders’ goals for the company (eg exit strategy through acquisition, or IPO etc)
• What will be the next immediate steps for the company?
• What is the URL of the company’s site?

Step 2: Also attach hi-res pictures (JPGs) of the founders to the e-mail.

Step 3: Attach relevant contact details for someone you want to act as a company spokesperson.

Step 4: Attach a test login or mail a product (if relevant and possible) that we can use to test out the company’s services. Our mailing address is Renai LeMay, c/o CBS Interactive, Level 12, 50 Goulburn St, Sydney 2000.

That’s all! I will email you back and let you know how we’re going. Our aim to profile two startups a week. So it may be a few weeks or months before we get you on the site. But we WILL get everyone.

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Cheers Renai – great stuff!