One-Liners For Startups—Presented 1/24/24

Written by: Romina Azarm

Everybody knows of the classic one-liners comedians use to get a quick chuckle from the audience. They can also be applied as practical advice to the entrepreneurial domain.? While comedians intend one-liners to be plain jokes, some can have serious, real-life applications in our everyday lives, especially in business.?

Tom Berger, an organizer with The Entrepreneurial Hour, collected more than one hundred one-liners applicable to the field of entrepreneurship, some of which were shared and discussed in a presentation at The Entrepreneurial Hour on February 21, 2024.? Below are the one-liners discussed at the session.?We encourage you to consider the applications of each one liner not only in the business field but also their impacts and applications in everyday life.

One Liner #1: "Conduct every internal meeting as if there was a business partner or customer in the room."

Internal meetings are where employees and stakeholders discuss and strategize different business operations and projects for the company. If you had conducted each internal meeting as if there was always a business partner or customer present, think about how the dialogue would change compared to meetings where there were no customers present. Ultimately, it is through this strategy where you are able to maintain honesty and integrity in terms of your company’s culture. As Melanie L. Flores , digital solution advisor with SAP, has stated during the Hour, “the way you speak to each other in a meeting is reflective to your culture as a company.” Maintaining the same values and principles your company preaches externally and practicing those values internally ultimately allows you to build the trust necessary between the company and the customer to create a successful business. In addition, this one liner is quite comparable to the sports adage, “play like you practice,” pushing athletes to practice the same way they would play in a game or competition. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, approaching each internal meeting as if your customer and business partners are there allows you to maintain a consistent level of honesty and integrity through the endeavors of the company, ultimately contributing to the success of your business.

One Liner #2: "If they didn't get it, you didn't give it."

Sometimes, a customer is unable to understand a specific feature of your product or application even when you have explained it to them. However, if they didn't understand it, then you didn't explain it clearly enough. Usually, this occurs when the one conducting the pitch focuses too extensively on the features of the application instead of the benefits the customer will gain from using the application. Always remember customers are interested in outcomes and how they will reap the reward from the utilization of a certain product. One way to ensure understanding of the product you are attempting to pitch to the customer is to take pauses every now and then as checkpoints of understanding. As you say one brief phrase, take a pause and begin your next sentence. With pauses, many people feel obliged to fill in the blank space, thus allowing you to get a dialogue going and to ameliorate understanding instead of having a broadcast of information played to the customer.

One Liner #3: "Manage like you drive by making constant adjustments to the current conditions and those you can see ahead."

Think about this: if you just stare at the steering wheel, or speedometer, or rear-view mirror while driving, imagine how quick you would be in an accident. How you drive a car is not looking at the car ahead of you but looking at the car ahead of the car ahead of you. As a result of doing so, you constantly adjust the steering wheel, the speed of the car, and even the lane position. Applying this analogy to the entrepreneurship field, some startups and companies do not adjust to current conditions in the market, and only do so when it becomes too late. They stick with a plan and vow to follow this one and only plan; however, this proves to be a huge mistake as with an evolving world, evolving strategies are necessary. In the entrepreneurship field, you will inevitably face challenges and difficulties as you scale your business. It is necessary to “not double down on your losses, but to acknowledge them,” according to Charles Kaucher, another organizer at The Entrepreneurial Hour. Your losses and your failures are your best teachers, so learn from them and make the necessary adjustments to your business when the time and situation are right.

One Liner #4: "If you are truly all in, can you afford to stop? Avoid the gambler's dilemma. Be able to walk away or pivot. Most successful entrepreneurs pivot multiple times before they discover their secret sauce.

Shark Tank, a reality television show, provides rising businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their company to sharks, or investors, in return for equity in their company. Frequently, in many of the episodes featured in Shark Tank seasons, we see company CEOs and founders begin crying as they reiterate their dedication and commitment to their company. Tom Berger explains how this common occurrence on the show is quite representative of thousands of entrepreneurs today. When entrepreneurs become so emotionally tied to their business, Berger explains, it no longer is possible to make objective decisions about their business. Many online “entrepreneurship gurus” claim that to have a successful company, you must be all in, that you must obtain an “I cannot afford to quit” mentality. However, how emotionally tied you are to the company does not determine your company’s success. What truly makes a successful company is the company’s ability to pivot. If you ask successful entrepreneurs what they are doing currently for their company and what they will be doing two to three years from now, the answer will always be different from the previous year. Take for example successful companies such as Apple: Apple began with producing and selling laptops, but soon began the production of phones, watches, and headphones. Another example includes Amazon which began with selling books, and now pivoted to selling practically everything online. Successful companies recognize faults and gaps within their company, and pivot to scale their business into something more captivating for consumers.

One Liner #5: "Someone needs to set the destination, and someone needs to manage the route. Rarely it is the same person."

Ultimately, this one liner concentrates on the fact that for a business to be successful, it requires both a visionary and a practical person, and it is rarely going to be the same person who fulfills both roles. In some cases, however, there are exceptions, one of which includes founder and former CEO and President of Amazon Jeff Bezos, founding the world’s largest e-commerce company. While Bezos is an incredible visionary, he also is recognized as a dogmatic, practical, and tactical leader. In majority of cases though, CEOs are likely to only fulfill one of the two roles, hiring their opposite to fulfill the role of which they can’t. In addition, it is important to note that to be a successful entrepreneur, it is necessary to have a strong foundation in each of these roles: creator, builder, and operator. If you have trouble fulfilling one of these three roles, you must immediately find someone who can complement you in your area of weakness to ensure the best chance of success for your business.

Come present at The Entrepreneurial Hour. We give you an hour for what you want at The Entrepreneurial Hour.

We provide practical advice to entrepreneurs every Wednesday at 8 AM EST in person at Tech Alpharetta or via Zoom (https://zoom.theentrepreneurialhour.com/).