November 15, 2023 • 34 mins
Have you ever wondered how a master brand strategist secures investments by harnessing the power of compelling brand story? Enter Michael Doyle, CEO of Brand Iron and Brand Champion, who offers invaluable insights into this art form. He underlines the importance of a well-defined niche along with a competitive offering. And to all you businesses out there, don't miss his advice on refining your message and adding that extra polish to your pitch decks.
Switching gears to real estate investing, we delve into the crucial element of risk mitigation. We uncover how crafting various scenarios from conservative to aggressive is essential to ensure investors can anticipate returns regardless of economic conditions. You'll hear about intriguing tools like buy downs that can reduce risk and make home purchases more affordable.
Finally, let's venture into the unique blend of a for-profit and non-profit venture. We highlight the significance of innovative thinking and the value of guidance from seasoned advisors. It’s time for businesses to get unstuck, take a step back and gain a fresh perspective on their projects. We talk about the brilliance of having an arm's length transaction between entities and the need for a mentor or advisor who can take the project to the next level. Wrapping up the episode, Michael shares his experience about leveraging third-party help when starting a business and generously offers his contact information for those of you eager to collaborate with him. Tune in for an enlightening conversation that promises to be a game changer for your business or investment strategies!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Trying to mint from Chase Freedom Podcast.
I hope you guys are having agreat day.
Today On the podcast we haveMichael Doyle.
He's the CEO of Brand Iron andBrand Champion, A brand
consultant and marketing firmthat forges brands and drives
revenue.
He's raised over $5 billion forclients, helped 40 companies
get acquired and 20 takingpublic.
(00:20):
Michael, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You're more than welcome.
I know it's a little bit of await and you switched, so thank
you for that.
Before we get it, thank you.
Before we get into the of whatwe're going to talk about, can
you give the listeners a littlebit about yourself and who you
are?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Sure I've been creating and marketing my entire
career.
I've been doing brand iron nowfor about 20 years.
I built up and sold a marketingagency primarily focused on the
technology space and when Isold it I was a part of an IPO
rollup and reported to WallStreet for a couple of years and
(01:01):
that's when I learned a lotabout Capri's Dex and kind of
learning piece and so with BrandIron now we work a lot of
startup firms, but also privateequity, venture capital, real
estate technology companies, howthey brand a position down, how
we do that, how do we createsome Dex, but also how do we
(01:21):
position them to go to marketand bribe revenue and get to
their goals and objectives.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So with the I guess I just open up, just go deep with
the market where we're at today.
I mean it's crazy.
You know they're crazy.
What is your opinion or whatare you seeing from your clients
of out there looking to raisecapital?
What are they doing and kind ofjust taught?
What do you see in the healthof the economy?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, markets have been tough this year Me,
soulcone Valley Bank and SaniturBanks, your closure, rising
interest rates between those twothings that pretty much killed
the venture capital markets andit made a lot of real estate
deals really tough to do becauseof the huge increase in rates,
(02:13):
and so it's been really tight.
What we see?
There's no lack for firms forlooking for capital, but it's
just taking them way longer thanever before, and it's more
important now to have a reallytight message, have a really
tight team that can deliver thatmessage and have a really good
(02:33):
game plan of what you're goingto be able to do with that
capital and how and when you'regoing to be able to repay that
and what are the type of returnsyou're going to deliver on that
.
It's more important now thannever.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
It's very competitive In base.
I understand it all too well.
It seems to let's dive intoanother hole and we'll go down
it.
I know you've reviewed one ofour decks in the past.
You gave feedback.
I was very thankful for it andwe did since then, and then
three weeks ago we were able tofinally get our nonprofit
approved, which will haveanother layer of, as I say, for
(03:08):
us to raise capital.
What are some typical clientfiles that you guys typically
work with in your companies?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I see that we work with three different types of
clients we work with, the firstone being some startups.
But they've got to have alittle capital so they can
invest, and not only the brand,but you've got to have a good
solid deck, you've got to have agood solid website too.
These are for sake of people,do is jump on while I do some
research about you.
So on some startups.
(03:37):
The second was what we callthose SMBs, our small,
medium-sized businesses that aretrying to raise capital, to get
that new capital, to get thatnext plateau, whether $5 million
want to get to $25, $25 want toget to $50, $50 million want to
get to $100, $100 to $200.
Another one we serve is kind oflike enterprise, but those
(04:02):
businesses that are over $200million, whether it be in assets
or revenue or re-evaluable, soit could be a private equity
firm, a real estate developmentfirm, a separate firm.
So we play within those threespecific spaces.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So if you have a company and maybe a service that
potentially is unique or has aniche, would you say this
environment is use-ive to comeout to really get a deck put
together and go out and raisecapital.
Or would you say, hone yourskills, sharping your niche, and
back to the market.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I see, most of the time I'd say 90, 95% of the time
I don't think that mostbusinesses have a really good
what I call brand story as wellas a rock solid financial story,
and so they definitely shouldbe using this time to get their
story together, really kind ofplot out what that brand story
and financial stories want to be, so that if you get in front of
(05:06):
a potential investor, you'renot wasting that opportunity
right.
But I also think that there'speople doing some deals.
I mean all of the hands-holdterms have gotten funding.
There's some real estate dealsI've known have gotten funding.
So it's not like it's not abamblin.
What we're really seeing is theones that are really getting
funding are really have theiract together.
(05:27):
They have a site, a rock solidstory.
They really have a solidfinancial story.
They have a very well-definedniche, like you were mentioning.
They know what that is, theyknow how and why.
They're better than thecompetition.
They have a really goodinvestment opportunity and
they're producing some veryattractive results.
You're not offering something inthe mid-teens or above.
(05:50):
You're really not competitive,and so most a lot of firms, a
lot of groups, a lot of dealsjust don't pencil out at that.
So that eliminates quite a fewopportunities as well.
So I think it's there and Ithink it's a great time.
There's money there, there'smonies out there.
I think it's a great time tohone your message and get your
(06:10):
deck together and reallypractice your presentation, to
have a downed rock solid.
But I think it's there.
You just need to make sureyou're ready to go when you get
in front of that investor, thatyou're telling a great story.
And I also think that you knowcalculation just being.
You know, or this last week,that jobs come down and then
(06:30):
interest rates might be stopped.
You know dicing and interestrates just coming in may be
going back down again and ifthat's the case, you better have
your story together.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So, because you know those are going to come fast and
furious, the unfortunate thingwith interest rates, since I'm
so sensitive to them, is, aslong as we're sitting on
trillions of dollars of debt andwe can't raise enough money for
that 10-year sorry the Treasurywe're struggling.
(07:00):
And then today I'm looking atthe 10-year as I'm on my
computer and we're doing this.
I mean, it's dips already.
And we're going back up again.
So I mean, there's so manythings that go and play, and I
love what you said aboutrefining and honing your message
and I really think that is inany market we struggle with.
So from your perspective, youknow, talking to a bunch of
(07:24):
small business owners,entrepreneurs, we have people
that are working to find thatthey jump over that cubicle and
become a, you know, full-timebusiness owner, but they don't
know how to hone that craft.
You know that, did you, believeme?
You saw my deck it's.
I think I put out another eightor 10 versions of it.
I think it could be better.
(07:45):
We still struggle in someplaces.
But how do we?
I guess the best way and I'mjust trying to talk from my
personal experience and tryingto get it out to everybody is,
if you don't put it out thereand get feedback, how are you
supposed to improve?
But then when you team up withsomebody like you and you're in
your business, you guys take itto a whole other level and do
(08:07):
those individuals really getstarted and then start moving
towards that, Because somewhereyou've got to get your message
out there.
You can't just go on wishingand wishing.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, I was talking to a company that's got a SaaS
product this last week and theyare trying to, you know, put
together Deccan Race Capital andthat's just a deck.
And I saw exactly why becausethey have no story, nothing's
compelling, nothing's polished.
I mean that doesn't look good.
(08:41):
There's zero financial storyabout knowing the company and
what they're going to be able todo and as well as what the
investment looks like and howthey're going to be able to
perform and deliver on thedollars that they raise.
And so I tell people is tostart to put together a deck.
Understand the differentiators,understand your value points,
(09:03):
understand your valueproposition.
Make sure you're understandinghow and why you're better than
anybody else in your particularspace.
How do you package that?
How do you develop that?
How do you effectivelycommunicate it?
How do you put it into a story?
How do you put it into amessage that is engaging, it's
compelling, it's you know, it'sexalted about knowing the
(09:25):
company is concerned who you are, what you do, how and why
you're better.
You know why makes sense, whythere's nothing else like it in
the marketplace and if you arejust like everybody else, how is
either your returns on theinvestment better or it's an
income producing model or it'sgot great tax advantages.
(09:46):
You've got to figure out whatare these value points that
really do separate you and yourcompany and the investment
opportunity apart for everythingelse out there.
And I would say most companieswe see don't understand those
value points and the valueproposition and how and why this
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So can we go back one step and let's say we're a
smart up or maybe it's pastconcept.
We have operations, we'veraised a few dollars, but we
don't really have any financialsto share.
So how do we stand out from thecrowd when we're in that space?
And if you want to, I mean, Iknow, I mean this is probably
(10:28):
something that's off the radaris I think of.
When I first started in thereal estate space, people
thought I was crazy.
I was going into cities andstreets and building houses in
neighborhoods that were prettymuch depressed and they didn't
believe that it could happen.
So I mean, and to say the least, you can get really beat down
(10:52):
and having somebody like you intheir corner to help them with
that would be huge.
But how does and really get outthere to tell their story if
they're at that phase?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, first, you asked a couple of questions
there, right?
So let me go back and answerthe first one.
So the first one we always seeis the financial projections.
So I always tell people you'vegot to have a performer.
Even though you may be astartup or me, it'd be a concept
.
You've got to be able todevelop a performer.
And I'll take a step back.
What that means is it's afinancial projection over the
(11:23):
next 12, 24, 36 months, maybe upto five years, and it's much
like a research paper whereyou're putting together a
baseline and saying you knowwhat?
We think.
We're going to be able to getso many customers at so many
dollars per month or so manytraction transactions per year.
We're going to be able toproduce X dollars with the
(11:45):
EBITDA, or a profit of Xpercentage, and we're going to
be able to spin off a return forinvestors, let's say, of 15%
IRR, with ongoing cash flow ordistributions and maybe a capex
at the event, after so manymonths or so many years, and
(12:06):
this is the total return oncethe look like.
And you've got to be able tojustify that because investors,
especially today, want to knowis this believable, can you
really do this, or are you guys,like 95% of the business out
there, you know, just giant, hot, pick, growth and curve, with
no justification for how it getthere and what that, how you're
(12:27):
going to be able to really pullthat off, and so most of them
are highly skeptical.
So how do you build?
Build worry, but do theresearch to support your
financial projections and tellthem why and how this is going
to become reality.
So, as we do, we put togetherand I like to put together
several different scenarios aconservative, a moderate and an
(12:49):
aggressive scenario.
Instead of every single one ofthem having an aggressive
scenario, back it off and do amoderate and a conservative
scenario.
So, even out of conservativescenario, the investors getting
their money back, they'regetting a decent return on their
investment, but it makes soundfinancial sense from an
investment standpoint and itmakes sound financial sense from
(13:13):
a business perspective, andthese things are all aligned and
you can sell this content andsay this actually makes sense
because you've donejustification on how and why
you're going to be able to dothis.
And so don't just come out ofthe water and say, yeah, we're
going to do this giant, we'regoing to become a unicorn in 12
months when every investor knowsthat's one.
(13:33):
Half of 1% is able to do that.
I mean, that's reality.
So paint a realistic pictureand supplement it with research
and, because it's a hypothesisthat you've got to be able to
put solid, rock solid guesseswith you know behind it that you
can really sell and support andjustify and this makes total
(13:54):
sense to an investor.
That's number one.
Go ahead, ryan.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
No, I.
Those are all great points andit's things that I know I've
struggled with.
I've talked to otherentrepreneurs that have
struggled with that.
The let's just real estatesense that's my background and
that's what I know is the realestate fluctuates on daily.
I mean, cause that's truly whatit is and with rates where
they're at before we had thisnice little stair step of rates
(14:24):
going up.
I was offering a single toreturns to investors.
Now I'm 12, 14% to investorsand I think at times they expect
more than that.
And, like you said earlier, ithas to pencil out.
Where's one, as a businessowner, an entrepreneur, startup,
really get down to the nittygritty and say, okay, this is
(14:46):
going to pencil out yes or no,but then how do you know what
that's going to look like if wechange on a daily basis?
I mean, cause that's really thewild, wild right now in real
estate.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah Well, uncertainty is what's causing
you know the most to be so tight, right?
No one knows which way interestrates are going to go.
Are they going to go up or arethey going to go down?
Same thing with monetary policyand the tightening of the money
availability right.
And so you've got to pay, andthat's why it's more important
now than ever.
(15:17):
You don't know.
No one I didn't take knows, andif they do say they know,
they're lying.
But no one knows what thecertain circumstances are.
So you've got to be able to puttogether a that makes sense,
whether the interest rates go upor they go down and why.
You've got risk adjustments andrisk mitigation, regardless of
(15:38):
what happens within the markets.
And they want to see thatyou've done your homework and
this can work.
If it goes up, another coupleof points from real estate.
You know it goes down a coupleof points and you know you've
got to be able to pay in ascenario that you can survive,
you can thrive, no matterwhether that rates go up or
(15:58):
rates go down.
And I think I don't think veryfew I know very few companies
actually paint a scenario of whyand how this makes sense,
regardless of what the economicconditions look like.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's tough to say, at least as you're saying all that
.
I'm running the scenariosthrough my mind of everything
that we're working on right now,because we're building another
14 properties and we've got twoup, third ones going up and I
would tell you the challengethat we see from people is a
little bit the from the homebuyers end user is interest rate
(16:35):
.
But once you have some toolsthat you can utilize, don't
select new home.
You know new holders across thenation.
Lenard KB homes told brothersthey're all doing buy downs,
they're all doing a, either athree to one buy down or a 30
year fixed buy down, whateverthe case is, to where it's
making the home purchaseaffordable.
(16:58):
Something to that extent andI'm diving back in is how do we
take that information, put ittowards our decks and then be
able to share that with ourpotential investors as a one
risk mitigation?
But to it's a cell.
It's a tool that most are notusing.
(17:19):
If you go look at the resalemarket, no one's using it, no
one's talking about it, eventhough they have the option to
do it.
Realtors, unfortunately, arejust not highly Withusing it and
the ones that I talked to himlike I give him that that
scenario and they're like.
Well, that made a sense.
Instead of lowering that priceon that house 10, 15, 20
thousand why don't you offerthem a buy down for six or seven
(17:42):
thousand bucks?
You save yourself 12 to 13thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Sure.
Well, and that's what's soimportant these days is how do
you innovate us right, how doyou put together what like a buy
down program, like you'retalking about, or how about a
some sort of model that watchweights are various depending on
what's going on with themarketplace at the interest
rates?
And how do you think outside ofthe box to protect the investors
(18:07):
or protect your investment anddeliver returns that are
acceptable in these challengingmarkets and interest rates, and
people don't are very.
I'll turn it to you as well,and that's incredibly important
today, incredibly important,because you know how it is.
You get a deck, you flipthrough it, you know, say that
(18:29):
most investors pass in 90 to 95percent of the opportunities.
I'd say it's probably 95 to 99percent right now and there's
one percent of them thatactually get looked at or get
considered today.
And in order to be one of those, you've got to provide
innovative programs orinnovative buy down options or
innovative, you know, incentives, that really kind of menu on
(18:53):
your opportunity stand out andmay need some help on.
What does that innovative lookor innovative product or
innovative promotion want tolook like?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That is probably the understatement of the year.
I mean it truly is.
I mean believe, like I saidearlier, you've looked at our
deck.
It's gone through iterations,it still needs more love and and
we're not quite at that point.
But at some point I'd love tocome back to you and say here it
is and then figure out how wecan work together and make it
even better.
I'm still trying to figure outhow to integrate nonprofit with
(19:28):
profit and Take the as possible.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It's like they, it's like the.
You know the call the.
I'm going to Mental what'swhat's the terminology I'm
looking for when the governmentand private world collide
together and they work onprojects together.
And so that's kind of whereyou're coming from is how do we
combine a profit and a nonprofittogether to be able to produce
(19:58):
results?
You know all the time, but howdo you package that, how to
communicate that, and how do thetwo worlds don't collide but
they work in tandem so they canproduce outcomes that are
desirable from a nonprofit, butoutcomes that are desirable for
the for profit as well too.
And so how do you put all thattogether is the billion dollar
(20:19):
question, and that takes someinnovation and brainstorming on
how would this look like andwhat makes sense and how do we
get this so plays out of allscenarios.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And that's what we're trying to do.
Before I can come to somebodylike yourself, I need to have
some ideas that could work thearound.
Legality, because there needsto be an arm length transaction
between the two entities.
We've gone through all thosehurdles and now we're actually
looking at Acquisitions throughthe nonprofit and then having
(20:50):
true vests, which is our forprofit to be a developer and
then get a fee, and there's someideas behind that.
But we're trying to work thatthrough.
So I hate making it about me.
So I want to come back around,because I it's, this is about
you.
So I mean, have an entity orsomebody coming to you in that
type of situation.
What would be like threenuggets that they could take
(21:12):
away from our conversation andbe able to start doing before
they come to you, to wherethey're better prepared.
But also, I truly think thisand I this way about myself to
understand your business betterbut in more depth.
I don't think a lot of peopledo that today.
It's just drive by the 30,000foot level and it's like, no,
(21:34):
you've got to get in the weedson some of this.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yep.
Well, the first I'd say to you,ryan, is that I wouldn't wait
to try to have it polishedbefore you call and get some
help.
And I tell people all the timeand the reason reason being is
I've worked on hundreds of decksfor profits, nonprofits,
private equity, venture capital,real estate, technology, you
(22:00):
name it consumer, you know, I'veseen it so many different
things over the years, and so Itell people it does not have to
be perfect before you call andget some help.
That's why you call and getsome help is because they
probably have seen all differenttypes of scenarios, seen all
different type of packaging, andso get some help.
Worlds.
You may never get unstuck if youwill.
(22:22):
And so that's number one iscalling get some help.
Number two is I tell people allthe time is people are so close
to what they do they can't seethe forest through the trees,
and so a lot of times you needto get some help to be able to
have a totally differentperspective or see it from a
(22:42):
different light that allows toeither tell a better story or
package it in a different way orput together an innovative new
idea that you may never thoughtof.
And I tell people all the time.
Entrepreneurs are the worst,overthink things so much and
sometimes I can come in and Ican take what you've done or
(23:04):
accompany like yourself, brianand say you know what, what if
we tweeted this or did this orpackaged this way or offered
this incentive or did this typeof thing here?
And there's a lot of reallysmart advisors out there that
have gotten years and years ofexperience and done a ton of
deals, that don't hesitate toreach out and get a whether it
(23:25):
be a mentor and an advisor tohelp you and get you unstuck or
tell a better story or make itmore compelling, or help you on
understand and identify what arethe differentiators and the
value points that really make acompelling value proposition to
help take this thing to the nextlevel.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I like that, but I think we're not.
I'm not trying to get itperfect, by all means.
I'm trying to understand theoverlay, how they can integrate
and come together.
I'm not sure how that's goingto play out and I think by it
being on the shelf for almost 24months, as in the nonprofit,
(24:08):
and finally getting approved.
It's shame on me that I wasn'tworking on it in the background.
It just wasn't, it wasn't aburner.
Yeah, I mean that's where we'reat.
I've got some ideas and we'reflushing them out, but I think,
with that being said, let's saywe get past that and we're
coming to you.
I mean, what would be some steps?
We don't have to use mine.
I just want to.
(24:28):
I want to talk generalities.
I don't want to talk.
I don't want to talk about mystuff.
Yeah, I know otherentrepreneurs that are in the
same boat, that they'restruggling, that they need to be
able to find somebody that canhelp them with this piece.
I mean kind of kind of out knowif came someone comes to you.
What would that process looklike and how?
It would be like the chess game.
(24:50):
It's really chess.
It's like finding the rightpieces, putting them together
and playing that long-term game.
What are expectations from you?
Know, I to you, and then whatdo we do?
As we're going back and forth,we're finding this deck.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah.
So the first thing I'm going totry to do is understand
multiple layers, right?
So the first one is what's theend desired outcome?
So, two, three, four, fiveyears from now, what are you
trying to get to and what doesthat want to look like?
The next thing I want tounderstand is do you have that
performance?
Do you understand what thefinancial goals, objectives are?
(25:24):
What are the milestones alongthe way to be able to help you
get there?
And I would say probably threequarters of the companies that
come to us don't understandnecessarily all of those either
have a performer or understandall the milestones along the way
to get there, and so we kind ofhelp craft that together,
because most people haven'teither done it themselves or
don't really have a good ideahow to think through that kind
(25:48):
of map it all out and align itso it works.
The other thing I would say isyou know what I look at normally
the thought process or thebeginning framework of the
business plan or the deck thatyou've got, and I actually,
before we ever sit down, I havethe clients filled a
questionnaire and I spend three,four, five days and I probably
(26:11):
spend anywhere from eight to 10to 12 to 15 hours of thinking
and prep work to try to reallynot to use the time that we're
working together to understandthe business, make sure I really
understand it, understand thebigger picture, goals,
objectives, kind of get a mind.
What are the milestones alongthe way.
But then I really want to sayis what's missing here?
(26:33):
What are the missing pieces?
Whether it be the story,whether the financial story,
whether it be thedifferentiators, the value
proposition, whether it be thepackaging of the plant, that
specific programs or theproducts, what's missing here?
You know, you know we had all,but you just kind of read it all
and packaged it and come upwith this and that I go.
(26:56):
Well, a lot of you've got themajority of it.
You just need a differentperspective to be able to help
you identify what's the missingpieces?
How do we put it in a what Icall a story framework that
makes sense?
How do we effectivelycommunicate that in nice, tight
and compelling fashion that'sclear and concise.
But then also, how do we puttogether that last 15, 20%?
(27:20):
That's going to make 100% ofthe difference.
So a lot of clients, it's notjust like a wave of magic wand
and well, a lot, it's a milliontimes better.
I would say 90% of the time.
They have the majority of thepieces, but they need the last
10, 15, 20% put together, framed, put it into a package,
(27:43):
effectively communicated.
That's going to make 100% ofthe difference and that's really
what we see all the time, andthere are some that they're only
halfway there and they need myhelp to be able to say here's
all the things you need to do.
This may take you 30, 60, 90days to be able to put all these
things together and then we canreconvene and the first session
(28:05):
, part one, the second sessionwould be.
Part two could be 60 days fromnow.
While they're building outtheir performance, while they're
building out what theincentives are, while they're
finishing up their product ortheir product development, or
buying or buying someopportunities, and so all these
different scenarios, and our jobis how do we help find those
(28:27):
missing pieces, help peopleunderstand, you know on what
those are, and then how do wetake that, get them over the
finish line and say, voila,we've got something that's a
million times better.
And now it really tells acompelling story.
It's going to make your job amillion times easier raising
money.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And you, you've done something there that I think is
near and dear and I understandit is.
You're not emotionally attachedto it like the entrepreneur is,
so you're going to see thingsand unpack things that are going
to be from a different you knowor a viewpoint, and it's
invaluable.
I mean, that's just the amountof information that you shared
(29:10):
with me.
The time that you reviewed mydeck was huge, to where it's
evolved and I'm sure there'sthere's air.
But to have that feedback andthen have somebody like yourself
give it to an index myself oranother entrepreneur you grow
from it and you only have thebest interest for our entity,
for the deck, whatever we'reworking on and I think as a
(29:33):
small business owner orentrepreneur, I've struggled
with that because it becomes sopersonal, because I'm entrenched
with it and we struggle with it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, and I'd be the bearer of reality.
And so a lot of times I have totell people that their baby's
ugly, you know, okay.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It is, I mean good feedback, and one of that things
was you know, there's somestuff in here.
I get it.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I mean it's life, yeah, this life.
But I'd rather be real and tellthem what are the missing pieces
or what doesn't make sense, orwhat do we got to tweak and
modify so that we can take thisthing and put it in a totally
different light.
So, instead of being ugly, oneof the things I always ask is
(30:21):
what does anticipate thequestions?
If we could anticipate the four, five, six, 10 questions and
one investor's going to want tolook for and know what those
things are, and so we can changethis thing that may have what
they call in the deal world orprivate equity world, venture
capital world, has hair on it.
(30:41):
So how do we understand whatare the ugly points of this baby
?
And so how can we shed somelight on them or put them in a
positive light or address theirconcerns right out of hate, so
they're not concerned and say Iknow you would think that this
would be a concern, but let metell you why it's really not or
why it's really an opportunity,and so you can address these
(31:04):
things, change the view of thisthing, and this makes sense all
of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And it's surrounding yourself with the right people
to help you, that have the skillsets, that you don't have to
get stuff done, and that's that.
That's magic in all this.
I mean, that is that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It really is, and having that different
perspective that you get andtake a step back, see it from
how it really is, or whatinvestors are going to want to
be thinking when they look atthis, really sheds a whole
different light on it and allowsus to be able to be able to say
is how do we address thesethings, how do we feel these
missing holes?
Or how do we better package itand tell better story.
(31:45):
That's going to be morecompelling and get people to
respond and engage.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
And that's all we're looking for.
We're going to make sure thatall happens, put it together in
a deck and in booth, all themoney comes in.
That's your conversation,because it's not magic, it's a
work.
But as we get this up, whatwould be one thing if we end
we're ending the conversationright now.
(32:12):
What's one thing you'd want toshare with the audience for us
to be better at putting deckstogether or working with an
entity like yours?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, don't be afraid to get up.
I think number one is practicemakes perfect.
Like you said earlier, ryan, itdoesn't have to be perfect, but
you used to get put together infront of what quote unquote
like a prince in the familyround to get their feedback.
Hopefully they're going to behonest with you and tell you
that your baby's lovely and getyou some good, valuable feedback
(32:43):
where you could tweak it andmake changes.
Second one is don't be afraid toreach out and get some third
party help as well too.
We offer like a free 20-minuteconsole.
That's kind of like what youand I did.
So don't be afraid to get that,reach out and get some help,
like we do that all the time.
I can't tell you how many timeswe give advice and then 30, 60,
(33:03):
90, 120 days later they comeback and say we did all these
things, we thought we could doit ourselves, and now we're at
the point that we need some moreadvanced help and we're ready
to get going.
And whether that happens or notdoesn't matter.
What matters is take advantageof it, get some help, get some
advice, clean it up, polish it,get some practice in it and see
(33:25):
what you can't do.
That's what we need to do?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, that's that.
So I'm about there too, sodon't worry.
I'll be coming Best place forpeople to reach out and speak to
you and potentially work withyou.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah, you go to brandirenet the website or you
can look me up online onLinkedIn at mygoldstoyle.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Okay, I will make sure we put those links in the
show notes so people can getahold of you.
Sir, thank you for coming onWonderful conversation.
What you're doing is invaluable, but too, there's so much to
learn what you guys provide.
But also you guys put out somepretty slick decks.
I've seen a lot of your decksand those are eye catchers.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, thank you so much.
I really appreciate theopportunity to be with you today
and thank you for thecompliment.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
You're more than welcome.
Have a good day.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Hey, thank you so much.
Trying to mint from Chase Freedom Podcast.
I hope you guys are having agreat day.
Today On the podcast we haveMichael Doyle.
He's the CEO of Brand Iron andBrand Champion, A brand
consultant and marketing firmthat forges brands and drives
revenue.
He's raised over $5 billion forclients, helped 40 companies
get acquired and 20 takingpublic.
(00:20):
Michael, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, thank you so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You're more than welcome.
I know it's a little bit of await and you switched, so thank
you for that.
Before we get it, thank you.
Before we get into the of whatwe're going to talk about, can
you give the listeners a littlebit about yourself and who you
are?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Sure I've been creating and marketing my entire
career.
I've been doing brand iron nowfor about 20 years.
I built up and sold a marketingagency primarily focused on the
technology space and when Isold it I was a part of an IPO
rollup and reported to WallStreet for a couple of years and
(01:01):
that's when I learned a lotabout Capri's Dex and kind of
learning piece and so with BrandIron now we work a lot of
startup firms, but also privateequity, venture capital, real
estate technology companies, howthey brand a position down, how
we do that, how do we createsome Dex, but also how do we
(01:21):
position them to go to marketand bribe revenue and get to
their goals and objectives.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So with the I guess I just open up, just go deep with
the market where we're at today.
I mean it's crazy.
You know they're crazy.
What is your opinion or whatare you seeing from your clients
of out there looking to raisecapital?
What are they doing and kind ofjust taught?
What do you see in the healthof the economy?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, markets have been tough this year Me,
soulcone Valley Bank and SaniturBanks, your closure, rising
interest rates between those twothings that pretty much killed
the venture capital markets andit made a lot of real estate
deals really tough to do becauseof the huge increase in rates,
(02:13):
and so it's been really tight.
What we see?
There's no lack for firms forlooking for capital, but it's
just taking them way longer thanever before, and it's more
important now to have a reallytight message, have a really
tight team that can deliver thatmessage and have a really good
(02:33):
game plan of what you're goingto be able to do with that
capital and how and when you'regoing to be able to repay that
and what are the type of returnsyou're going to deliver on that
.
It's more important now thannever.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
It's very competitive In base.
I understand it all too well.
It seems to let's dive intoanother hole and we'll go down
it.
I know you've reviewed one ofour decks in the past.
You gave feedback.
I was very thankful for it andwe did since then, and then
three weeks ago we were able tofinally get our nonprofit
approved, which will haveanother layer of, as I say, for
(03:08):
us to raise capital.
What are some typical clientfiles that you guys typically
work with in your companies?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I see that we work with three different types of
clients we work with, the firstone being some startups.
But they've got to have alittle capital so they can
invest, and not only the brand,but you've got to have a good
solid deck, you've got to have agood solid website too.
These are for sake of people,do is jump on while I do some
research about you.
So on some startups.
(03:37):
The second was what we callthose SMBs, our small,
medium-sized businesses that aretrying to raise capital, to get
that new capital, to get thatnext plateau, whether $5 million
want to get to $25, $25 want toget to $50, $50 million want to
get to $100, $100 to $200.
Another one we serve is kind oflike enterprise, but those
(04:02):
businesses that are over $200million, whether it be in assets
or revenue or re-evaluable, soit could be a private equity
firm, a real estate developmentfirm, a separate firm.
So we play within those threespecific spaces.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So if you have a company and maybe a service that
potentially is unique or has aniche, would you say this
environment is use-ive to comeout to really get a deck put
together and go out and raisecapital.
Or would you say, hone yourskills, sharping your niche, and
back to the market.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I see, most of the time I'd say 90, 95% of the time
I don't think that mostbusinesses have a really good
what I call brand story as wellas a rock solid financial story,
and so they definitely shouldbe using this time to get their
story together, really kind ofplot out what that brand story
and financial stories want to be, so that if you get in front of
(05:06):
a potential investor, you'renot wasting that opportunity
right.
But I also think that there'speople doing some deals.
I mean all of the hands-holdterms have gotten funding.
There's some real estate dealsI've known have gotten funding.
So it's not like it's not abamblin.
What we're really seeing is theones that are really getting
funding are really have theiract together.
(05:27):
They have a site, a rock solidstory.
They really have a solidfinancial story.
They have a very well-definedniche, like you were mentioning.
They know what that is, theyknow how and why.
They're better than thecompetition.
They have a really goodinvestment opportunity and
they're producing some veryattractive results.
You're not offering something inthe mid-teens or above.
(05:50):
You're really not competitive,and so most a lot of firms, a
lot of groups, a lot of dealsjust don't pencil out at that.
So that eliminates quite a fewopportunities as well.
So I think it's there and Ithink it's a great time.
There's money there, there'smonies out there.
I think it's a great time tohone your message and get your
(06:10):
deck together and reallypractice your presentation, to
have a downed rock solid.
But I think it's there.
You just need to make sureyou're ready to go when you get
in front of that investor, thatyou're telling a great story.
And I also think that you knowcalculation just being.
You know, or this last week,that jobs come down and then
(06:30):
interest rates might be stopped.
You know dicing and interestrates just coming in may be
going back down again and ifthat's the case, you better have
your story together.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So, because you know those are going to come fast and
furious, the unfortunate thingwith interest rates, since I'm
so sensitive to them, is, aslong as we're sitting on
trillions of dollars of debt andwe can't raise enough money for
that 10-year sorry the Treasurywe're struggling.
(07:00):
And then today I'm looking atthe 10-year as I'm on my
computer and we're doing this.
I mean, it's dips already.
And we're going back up again.
So I mean, there's so manythings that go and play, and I
love what you said aboutrefining and honing your message
and I really think that is inany market we struggle with.
So from your perspective, youknow, talking to a bunch of
(07:24):
small business owners,entrepreneurs, we have people
that are working to find thatthey jump over that cubicle and
become a, you know, full-timebusiness owner, but they don't
know how to hone that craft.
You know that, did you, believeme?
You saw my deck it's.
I think I put out another eightor 10 versions of it.
I think it could be better.
(07:45):
We still struggle in someplaces.
But how do we?
I guess the best way and I'mjust trying to talk from my
personal experience and tryingto get it out to everybody is,
if you don't put it out thereand get feedback, how are you
supposed to improve?
But then when you team up withsomebody like you and you're in
your business, you guys take itto a whole other level and do
(08:07):
those individuals really getstarted and then start moving
towards that, Because somewhereyou've got to get your message
out there.
You can't just go on wishingand wishing.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, I was talking to a company that's got a SaaS
product this last week and theyare trying to, you know, put
together Deccan Race Capital andthat's just a deck.
And I saw exactly why becausethey have no story, nothing's
compelling, nothing's polished.
I mean that doesn't look good.
(08:41):
There's zero financial storyabout knowing the company and
what they're going to be able todo and as well as what the
investment looks like and howthey're going to be able to
perform and deliver on thedollars that they raise.
And so I tell people is tostart to put together a deck.
Understand the differentiators,understand your value points,
(09:03):
understand your valueproposition.
Make sure you're understandinghow and why you're better than
anybody else in your particularspace.
How do you package that?
How do you develop that?
How do you effectivelycommunicate it?
How do you put it into a story?
How do you put it into amessage that is engaging, it's
compelling, it's you know, it'sexalted about knowing the
(09:25):
company is concerned who you are, what you do, how and why
you're better.
You know why makes sense, whythere's nothing else like it in
the marketplace and if you arejust like everybody else, how is
either your returns on theinvestment better or it's an
income producing model or it'sgot great tax advantages.
(09:46):
You've got to figure out whatare these value points that
really do separate you and yourcompany and the investment
opportunity apart for everythingelse out there.
And I would say most companieswe see don't understand those
value points and the valueproposition and how and why this
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So can we go back one step and let's say we're a
smart up or maybe it's pastconcept.
We have operations, we'veraised a few dollars, but we
don't really have any financialsto share.
So how do we stand out from thecrowd when we're in that space?
And if you want to, I mean, Iknow, I mean this is probably
(10:28):
something that's off the radaris I think of.
When I first started in thereal estate space, people
thought I was crazy.
I was going into cities andstreets and building houses in
neighborhoods that were prettymuch depressed and they didn't
believe that it could happen.
So I mean, and to say the least, you can get really beat down
(10:52):
and having somebody like you intheir corner to help them with
that would be huge.
But how does and really get outthere to tell their story if
they're at that phase?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, first, you asked a couple of questions
there, right?
So let me go back and answerthe first one.
So the first one we always seeis the financial projections.
So I always tell people you'vegot to have a performer.
Even though you may be astartup or me, it'd be a concept
.
You've got to be able todevelop a performer.
And I'll take a step back.
What that means is it's afinancial projection over the
(11:23):
next 12, 24, 36 months, maybe upto five years, and it's much
like a research paper whereyou're putting together a
baseline and saying you knowwhat?
We think.
We're going to be able to getso many customers at so many
dollars per month or so manytraction transactions per year.
We're going to be able toproduce X dollars with the
(11:45):
EBITDA, or a profit of Xpercentage, and we're going to
be able to spin off a return forinvestors, let's say, of 15%
IRR, with ongoing cash flow ordistributions and maybe a capex
at the event, after so manymonths or so many years, and
(12:06):
this is the total return oncethe look like.
And you've got to be able tojustify that because investors,
especially today, want to knowis this believable, can you
really do this, or are you guys,like 95% of the business out
there, you know, just giant, hot, pick, growth and curve, with
no justification for how it getthere and what that, how you're
(12:27):
going to be able to really pullthat off, and so most of them
are highly skeptical.
So how do you build?
Build worry, but do theresearch to support your
financial projections and tellthem why and how this is going
to become reality.
So, as we do, we put togetherand I like to put together
several different scenarios aconservative, a moderate and an
(12:49):
aggressive scenario.
Instead of every single one ofthem having an aggressive
scenario, back it off and do amoderate and a conservative
scenario.
So, even out of conservativescenario, the investors getting
their money back, they'regetting a decent return on their
investment, but it makes soundfinancial sense from an
investment standpoint and itmakes sound financial sense from
(13:13):
a business perspective, andthese things are all aligned and
you can sell this content andsay this actually makes sense
because you've donejustification on how and why
you're going to be able to dothis.
And so don't just come out ofthe water and say, yeah, we're
going to do this giant, we'regoing to become a unicorn in 12
months when every investor knowsthat's one.
(13:33):
Half of 1% is able to do that.
I mean, that's reality.
So paint a realistic pictureand supplement it with research
and, because it's a hypothesisthat you've got to be able to
put solid, rock solid guesseswith you know behind it that you
can really sell and support andjustify and this makes total
(13:54):
sense to an investor.
That's number one.
Go ahead, ryan.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
No, I.
Those are all great points andit's things that I know I've
struggled with.
I've talked to otherentrepreneurs that have
struggled with that.
The let's just real estatesense that's my background and
that's what I know is the realestate fluctuates on daily.
I mean, cause that's truly whatit is and with rates where
they're at before we had thisnice little stair step of rates
(14:24):
going up.
I was offering a single toreturns to investors.
Now I'm 12, 14% to investorsand I think at times they expect
more than that.
And, like you said earlier, ithas to pencil out.
Where's one, as a businessowner, an entrepreneur, startup,
really get down to the nittygritty and say, okay, this is
(14:46):
going to pencil out yes or no,but then how do you know what
that's going to look like if wechange on a daily basis?
I mean, cause that's really thewild, wild right now in real
estate.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah Well, uncertainty is what's causing
you know the most to be so tight, right?
No one knows which way interestrates are going to go.
Are they going to go up or arethey going to go down?
Same thing with monetary policyand the tightening of the money
availability right.
And so you've got to pay, andthat's why it's more important
now than ever.
(15:17):
You don't know.
No one I didn't take knows, andif they do say they know,
they're lying.
But no one knows what thecertain circumstances are.
So you've got to be able to puttogether a that makes sense,
whether the interest rates go upor they go down and why.
You've got risk adjustments andrisk mitigation, regardless of
(15:38):
what happens within the markets.
And they want to see thatyou've done your homework and
this can work.
If it goes up, another coupleof points from real estate.
You know it goes down a coupleof points and you know you've
got to be able to pay in ascenario that you can survive,
you can thrive, no matterwhether that rates go up or
(15:58):
rates go down.
And I think I don't think veryfew I know very few companies
actually paint a scenario of whyand how this makes sense,
regardless of what the economicconditions look like.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
It's tough to say, at least as you're saying all that
.
I'm running the scenariosthrough my mind of everything
that we're working on right now,because we're building another
14 properties and we've got twoup, third ones going up and I
would tell you the challengethat we see from people is a
little bit the from the homebuyers end user is interest rate
(16:35):
.
But once you have some toolsthat you can utilize, don't
select new home.
You know new holders across thenation.
Lenard KB homes told brothersthey're all doing buy downs,
they're all doing a, either athree to one buy down or a 30
year fixed buy down, whateverthe case is, to where it's
making the home purchaseaffordable.
(16:58):
Something to that extent andI'm diving back in is how do we
take that information, put ittowards our decks and then be
able to share that with ourpotential investors as a one
risk mitigation?
But to it's a cell.
It's a tool that most are notusing.
(17:19):
If you go look at the resalemarket, no one's using it, no
one's talking about it, eventhough they have the option to
do it.
Realtors, unfortunately, arejust not highly Withusing it and
the ones that I talked to himlike I give him that that
scenario and they're like.
Well, that made a sense.
Instead of lowering that priceon that house 10, 15, 20
thousand why don't you offerthem a buy down for six or seven
(17:42):
thousand bucks?
You save yourself 12 to 13thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Sure.
Well, and that's what's soimportant these days is how do
you innovate us right, how doyou put together what like a buy
down program, like you'retalking about, or how about a
some sort of model that watchweights are various depending on
what's going on with themarketplace at the interest
rates?
And how do you think outside ofthe box to protect the investors
(18:07):
or protect your investment anddeliver returns that are
acceptable in these challengingmarkets and interest rates, and
people don't are very.
I'll turn it to you as well,and that's incredibly important
today, incredibly important,because you know how it is.
You get a deck, you flipthrough it, you know, say that
(18:29):
most investors pass in 90 to 95percent of the opportunities.
I'd say it's probably 95 to 99percent right now and there's
one percent of them thatactually get looked at or get
considered today.
And in order to be one of those, you've got to provide
innovative programs orinnovative buy down options or
innovative, you know, incentives, that really kind of menu on
(18:53):
your opportunity stand out andmay need some help on.
What does that innovative lookor innovative product or
innovative promotion want tolook like?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
That is probably the understatement of the year.
I mean it truly is.
I mean believe, like I saidearlier, you've looked at our
deck.
It's gone through iterations,it still needs more love and and
we're not quite at that point.
But at some point I'd love tocome back to you and say here it
is and then figure out how wecan work together and make it
even better.
I'm still trying to figure outhow to integrate nonprofit with
(19:28):
profit and Take the as possible.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
It's like they, it's like the.
You know the call the.
I'm going to Mental what'swhat's the terminology I'm
looking for when the governmentand private world collide
together and they work onprojects together.
And so that's kind of whereyou're coming from is how do we
combine a profit and a nonprofittogether to be able to produce
(19:58):
results?
You know all the time, but howdo you package that, how to
communicate that, and how do thetwo worlds don't collide but
they work in tandem so they canproduce outcomes that are
desirable from a nonprofit, butoutcomes that are desirable for
the for profit as well too.
And so how do you put all thattogether is the billion dollar
(20:19):
question, and that takes someinnovation and brainstorming on
how would this look like andwhat makes sense and how do we
get this so plays out of allscenarios.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And that's what we're trying to do.
Before I can come to somebodylike yourself, I need to have
some ideas that could work thearound.
Legality, because there needsto be an arm length transaction
between the two entities.
We've gone through all thosehurdles and now we're actually
looking at Acquisitions throughthe nonprofit and then having
(20:50):
true vests, which is our forprofit to be a developer and
then get a fee, and there's someideas behind that.
But we're trying to work thatthrough.
So I hate making it about me.
So I want to come back around,because I it's, this is about
you.
So I mean, have an entity orsomebody coming to you in that
type of situation.
What would be like threenuggets that they could take
(21:12):
away from our conversation andbe able to start doing before
they come to you, to wherethey're better prepared.
But also, I truly think thisand I this way about myself to
understand your business betterbut in more depth.
I don't think a lot of peopledo that today.
It's just drive by the 30,000foot level and it's like, no,
(21:34):
you've got to get in the weedson some of this.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yep.
Well, the first I'd say to you,ryan, is that I wouldn't wait
to try to have it polishedbefore you call and get some
help.
And I tell people all the timeand the reason reason being is
I've worked on hundreds of decksfor profits, nonprofits,
private equity, venture capital,real estate, technology, you
(22:00):
name it consumer, you know, I'veseen it so many different
things over the years, and so Itell people it does not have to
be perfect before you call andget some help.
That's why you call and getsome help is because they
probably have seen all differenttypes of scenarios, seen all
different type of packaging, andso get some help.
Worlds.
You may never get unstuck if youwill.
(22:22):
And so that's number one iscalling get some help.
Number two is I tell people allthe time is people are so close
to what they do they can't seethe forest through the trees,
and so a lot of times you needto get some help to be able to
have a totally differentperspective or see it from a
(22:42):
different light that allows toeither tell a better story or
package it in a different way orput together an innovative new
idea that you may never thoughtof.
And I tell people all the time.
Entrepreneurs are the worst,overthink things so much and
sometimes I can come in and Ican take what you've done or
(23:04):
accompany like yourself, brianand say you know what, what if
we tweeted this or did this orpackaged this way or offered
this incentive or did this typeof thing here?
And there's a lot of reallysmart advisors out there that
have gotten years and years ofexperience and done a ton of
deals, that don't hesitate toreach out and get a whether it
(23:25):
be a mentor and an advisor tohelp you and get you unstuck or
tell a better story or make itmore compelling, or help you on
understand and identify what arethe differentiators and the
value points that really make acompelling value proposition to
help take this thing to the nextlevel.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I like that, but I think we're not.
I'm not trying to get itperfect, by all means.
I'm trying to understand theoverlay, how they can integrate
and come together.
I'm not sure how that's goingto play out and I think by it
being on the shelf for almost 24months, as in the nonprofit,
(24:08):
and finally getting approved.
It's shame on me that I wasn'tworking on it in the background.
It just wasn't, it wasn't aburner.
Yeah, I mean that's where we'reat.
I've got some ideas and we'reflushing them out, but I think,
with that being said, let's saywe get past that and we're
coming to you.
I mean, what would be some steps?
We don't have to use mine.
I just want to.
(24:28):
I want to talk generalities.
I don't want to talk.
I don't want to talk about mystuff.
Yeah, I know otherentrepreneurs that are in the
same boat, that they'restruggling, that they need to be
able to find somebody that canhelp them with this piece.
I mean kind of kind of out knowif came someone comes to you.
What would that process looklike and how?
It would be like the chess game.
(24:50):
It's really chess.
It's like finding the rightpieces, putting them together
and playing that long-term game.
What are expectations from you?
Know, I to you, and then whatdo we do?
As we're going back and forth,we're finding this deck.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah.
So the first thing I'm going totry to do is understand
multiple layers, right?
So the first one is what's theend desired outcome?
So, two, three, four, fiveyears from now, what are you
trying to get to and what doesthat want to look like?
The next thing I want tounderstand is do you have that
performance?
Do you understand what thefinancial goals, objectives are?
(25:24):
What are the milestones alongthe way to be able to help you
get there?
And I would say probably threequarters of the companies that
come to us don't understandnecessarily all of those either
have a performer or understandall the milestones along the way
to get there, and so we kind ofhelp craft that together,
because most people haven'teither done it themselves or
don't really have a good ideahow to think through that kind
(25:48):
of map it all out and align itso it works.
The other thing I would say isyou know what I look at normally
the thought process or thebeginning framework of the
business plan or the deck thatyou've got, and I actually,
before we ever sit down, I havethe clients filled a
questionnaire and I spend three,four, five days and I probably
(26:11):
spend anywhere from eight to 10to 12 to 15 hours of thinking
and prep work to try to reallynot to use the time that we're
working together to understandthe business, make sure I really
understand it, understand thebigger picture, goals,
objectives, kind of get a mind.
What are the milestones alongthe way.
But then I really want to sayis what's missing here?
(26:33):
What are the missing pieces?
Whether it be the story,whether the financial story,
whether it be thedifferentiators, the value
proposition, whether it be thepackaging of the plant, that
specific programs or theproducts, what's missing here?
You know, you know we had all,but you just kind of read it all
and packaged it and come upwith this and that I go.
(26:56):
Well, a lot of you've got themajority of it.
You just need a differentperspective to be able to help
you identify what's the missingpieces?
How do we put it in a what Icall a story framework that
makes sense?
How do we effectivelycommunicate that in nice, tight
and compelling fashion that'sclear and concise.
But then also, how do we puttogether that last 15, 20%?
(27:20):
That's going to make 100% ofthe difference.
So a lot of clients, it's notjust like a wave of magic wand
and well, a lot, it's a milliontimes better.
I would say 90% of the time.
They have the majority of thepieces, but they need the last
10, 15, 20% put together, framed, put it into a package,
(27:43):
effectively communicated.
That's going to make 100% ofthe difference and that's really
what we see all the time, andthere are some that they're only
halfway there and they need myhelp to be able to say here's
all the things you need to do.
This may take you 30, 60, 90days to be able to put all these
things together and then we canreconvene and the first session
(28:05):
, part one, the second sessionwould be.
Part two could be 60 days fromnow.
While they're building outtheir performance, while they're
building out what theincentives are, while they're
finishing up their product ortheir product development, or
buying or buying someopportunities, and so all these
different scenarios, and our jobis how do we help find those
(28:27):
missing pieces, help peopleunderstand, you know on what
those are, and then how do wetake that, get them over the
finish line and say, voila,we've got something that's a
million times better.
And now it really tells acompelling story.
It's going to make your job amillion times easier raising
money.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And you, you've done something there that I think is
near and dear and I understandit is.
You're not emotionally attachedto it like the entrepreneur is,
so you're going to see thingsand unpack things that are going
to be from a different you knowor a viewpoint, and it's
invaluable.
I mean, that's just the amountof information that you shared
(29:10):
with me.
The time that you reviewed mydeck was huge, to where it's
evolved and I'm sure there'sthere's air.
But to have that feedback andthen have somebody like yourself
give it to an index myself oranother entrepreneur you grow
from it and you only have thebest interest for our entity,
for the deck, whatever we'reworking on and I think as a
(29:33):
small business owner orentrepreneur, I've struggled
with that because it becomes sopersonal, because I'm entrenched
with it and we struggle with it.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, and I'd be the bearer of reality.
And so a lot of times I have totell people that their baby's
ugly, you know, okay.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
It is, I mean good feedback, and one of that things
was you know, there's somestuff in here.
I get it.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I mean it's life, yeah, this life.
But I'd rather be real and tellthem what are the missing pieces
or what doesn't make sense, orwhat do we got to tweak and
modify so that we can take thisthing and put it in a totally
different light.
So, instead of being ugly, oneof the things I always ask is
(30:21):
what does anticipate thequestions?
If we could anticipate the four, five, six, 10 questions and
one investor's going to want tolook for and know what those
things are, and so we can changethis thing that may have what
they call in the deal world orprivate equity world, venture
capital world, has hair on it.
(30:41):
So how do we understand whatare the ugly points of this baby
?
And so how can we shed somelight on them or put them in a
positive light or address theirconcerns right out of hate, so
they're not concerned and say Iknow you would think that this
would be a concern, but let metell you why it's really not or
why it's really an opportunity,and so you can address these
(31:04):
things, change the view of thisthing, and this makes sense all
of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And it's surrounding yourself with the right people
to help you, that have the skillsets, that you don't have to
get stuff done, and that's that.
That's magic in all this.
I mean, that is that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
It really is, and having that different
perspective that you get andtake a step back, see it from
how it really is, or whatinvestors are going to want to
be thinking when they look atthis, really sheds a whole
different light on it and allowsus to be able to be able to say
is how do we address thesethings, how do we feel these
missing holes?
Or how do we better package itand tell better story.
(31:45):
That's going to be morecompelling and get people to
respond and engage.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
And that's all we're looking for.
We're going to make sure thatall happens, put it together in
a deck and in booth, all themoney comes in.
That's your conversation,because it's not magic, it's a
work.
But as we get this up, whatwould be one thing if we end
we're ending the conversationright now.
(32:12):
What's one thing you'd want toshare with the audience for us
to be better at putting deckstogether or working with an
entity like yours?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, don't be afraid to get up.
I think number one is practicemakes perfect.
Like you said earlier, ryan, itdoesn't have to be perfect, but
you used to get put together infront of what quote unquote
like a prince in the familyround to get their feedback.
Hopefully they're going to behonest with you and tell you
that your baby's lovely and getyou some good, valuable feedback
(32:43):
where you could tweak it andmake changes.
Second one is don't be afraid toreach out and get some third
party help as well too.
We offer like a free 20-minuteconsole.
That's kind of like what youand I did.
So don't be afraid to get that,reach out and get some help,
like we do that all the time.
I can't tell you how many timeswe give advice and then 30, 60,
(33:03):
90, 120 days later they comeback and say we did all these
things, we thought we could doit ourselves, and now we're at
the point that we need some moreadvanced help and we're ready
to get going.
And whether that happens or notdoesn't matter.
What matters is take advantageof it, get some help, get some
advice, clean it up, polish it,get some practice in it and see
(33:25):
what you can't do.
That's what we need to do?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, that's that.
So I'm about there too, sodon't worry.
I'll be coming Best place forpeople to reach out and speak to
you and potentially work withyou.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah, you go to brandirenet the website or you
can look me up online onLinkedIn at mygoldstoyle.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Okay, I will make sure we put those links in the
show notes so people can getahold of you.
Sir, thank you for coming onWonderful conversation.
What you're doing is invaluable, but too, there's so much to
learn what you guys provide.
But also you guys put out somepretty slick decks.
I've seen a lot of your decksand those are eye catchers.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Well, thank you so much.
I really appreciate theopportunity to be with you today
and thank you for thecompliment.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
You're more than welcome.
Have a good day.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Hey, thank you so much.
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