Be Careful of the Braindump Demo!

I am sure many of you startup founders have experienced the BIG company braindump demo session. Perhaps you have been invited to an impressive corporate headquarters or been approached at a tech trade show or been visited by a team at your office from one of the behemoths...the BIGS. Sound familiar? It's flattering and exciting. Just think of the possibilities....partnership, funding, revenue...ACQUISITION?!

Many of my contacts who have cool startups know this scenario all too well. You show up at the meeting at BIG's corporate HQs. Intimidating, fancy. In the conference room is the friendly face you recognize who greets you to disarm your defenses to set the tone for complete and total braindumping to commence. The other person in the conference room is usually a Product person...who is just "sitting in." The demo begins and the questions start flying. You are now being braindumped. What is really happening in that room? BIG is looking for something new from a startup entrepreneur to steal (oops, to inspire them) and then build it themselves. BIG asks...Why did you do that? How does that work? What has the data shown? Go back to your algorithm slide again?

Watch link below of "Silicon Valley, The Brain Rape Episode"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlwwVuSUUfc

The 1 hour Dump (sorry, Demo) is complete. BIG has been smiling and laughing and you think, Holy Shit! My dream is going to come true! BIG walks you out to the lobby and says with a smile, "That went well. We are interested in you coming back for a deeper dive with another team. What you are doing is important. Thanks for coming in today." WOW! A follow-up meeting! Too cool.

You have been BRAINDUMPED by BIG!

That same day or the next, you email your friendly faced contact to schedule that next meeting with that other team. A few days go by....no response. You send a follow-up email and/or text since texts these days get more responses...nothing. Then, DING, you have a new email from BIG. The excitement and anticipation are high. The email reads, "We are on hold until the end of the first quarter. We have so much going on now. Let's revisit in 6 months...perhaps." Huh? You are too busy, but you make $100 trillion a day in revenue and you do BIG stuff all day. Too busy to discuss my idea that you really liked now? I'll be dead in 6 months.

BIG already stole what they needed from you...oops again, Big was inspired. There will be no follow up. This laid out scenario is a story that I have heard all too frequently and experienced personally. If this story sounds familiar, you are not alone. There are a lot of like-minded victims out there. Keep fighting the good fight. Don't give up. Be cautious of the braindump meeting with the BIGs out there.

Happy holidays all and a safe new year!