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First feelings are always the most natural - Louis XIV
I've been thinking on how we build trust since the very first interactions in all kind of relationships. And of course, in #OpenInnovation. Because if Open Innovation is Innovation in Collaboration, and collaboration needs trust to work, then Open Innovation is built in trust too. And let me explain this better.
I told in another post one of my first entrepreneur experiences. How when I was around 10 years old, growing in Mexico, I asked my mother to borrow 5 pesos under the promise to pay her back 10 pesos one month from then. After a few weeks of doing good business selling candies to my schoolmates, I paid my mother back the 10 pesos and I continued with my entrepreneurship for a long time until the summer break came. She funded me a few other times if I needed to restock and I couldn’t afford it by myself. My mother’s initial trust in me, her support and the pride I felt for paying her back were very important to me and moulded in part what I am today.
So far I’ve heard hundreds if not thousands of presentations for new projects, or “pitches,” as we call them nowadays. At the pitch moment, an entrepreneur has as little as between 3 to 10 minutes to tell what they do for a living, what the problem they’re trying to solve is, why they’re better than their competition, and - in case they don’t have any competition - why their product is necessary if no one else had previously thought about it, who their team members are and why they are the right team for this work. And finally and most importantly, what it is that they’re asking for and what they’re offering in exchange.
There’s a convention that any new project is judged based on what they pitch in this short period. Aside from appraising the information they’re given in that timeframe, investors will take note of the pitcher, how they tell their story, if they’re knowledgeable in the subject, how they answer to the investors’ questions, if they’re trustworthy and if they feel there’s a connection between them.
I sometimes imagine the caleidoscope of emotions at work during the pitching, and connecting pitcher with their audience. Either in an auditorium or an investor meeting, what you say or don’t say matters. In the end, every investor or potential customer / partner ask themselves the same question: Can I trust this person? Can I trust this venture? And what is trust but the belief that someone will want to act according to what we perceive from interacting with them?
It is said that the best investors don’t invest in solutions but in teams. A good team can pivot their business and they will still succeed. Investors taking the time to personally meet teammates is a common practice. They use this time not to discuss work, but to discuss likes and dislikes, hobbies, background, and everything that makes us human. Most importantly, it is a time in which the entrepreneurs can get to know their investors in the same way. I’ve seen cases where they actually go on a trip for a few days to get to know each other better. In this case, we’re back to the point of assessing what is not being said. It’s the apparently small details that lay the solid foundation of these relationships.
Just as my mother knows me and she knows what to expect from me (whether good or bad) when establishing relationships between entrepreneurs and corporations, we’re looking forward to getting to know each other, building trust and knowing what to expect from each other, and these are human dynamics established through emotions. One of the best things about the ecosystem I workin is the amount of entrepreneur friends I’ve made. There are some I’ve made stronger connections with, and we keep in touch, we run into each other in common places, we get together to eat and we build friendships beyond our professional relationship.
And as always, I know I’m very fortunate because I'm part of a network of trust, and with that trust we're writing the future
#connectedinnovation #openinnovation #emotions #startups