“It comes back to communication,“ says Brendan on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech, where he unpacks the five key takeaways from his recent interview with Iggy Bassi, founder and CEO of Cervest. Iggy founded this data platform, which recently raised 37 million in total funding, first and foremost by articulating his vision specifically, and Brendan expands on the importance of this. He also talks about the balance between quality and efficiency, knowing when it’s time to launch, and the importance of finding a clear focused market.
One should aim to position oneself on the back of a key trend. Brendan talks about finding a concept that intersects with what you know and care about versus what other people need and will care about in the world today. He lists resources available to even those outside of the industry where you can find companies with existing initiatives in place, whom founders can then piggyback on.
Brendan draws examples from successful businesses such as Oracle, Carta and Smarsh. He shares what he sees as the biggest stumbling block to success, and the most underappreciated skill in a founder.
Quotes:
“If you want to get people to invest money in your product, you want to get people to invest their lives and help you build a company, you have to be able to articulate the new world you’re creating.” ([5:11]-[5:20] | Brendan)
“You look at Elon Musk, and the ability to market your ability to communicate, the vision is everything.” ([5:44]-[5:50] | Brendan)
“It’s tempting when you’re early on, and everybody comes from different places, but you should just take whatever money is available to you and offered to you. And this may sound like a luxury problem. But for anyone who has seen what it’s like to work with unaligned investors, tyrannical investors, are people who just do not understand what it is you’re building, the vision you’re building, the time it may take to get there, what the hurdles are all of these things, it can create a horrible working relationship.” ([10:24]-[10:55] | Brendan)
Connect with Brendan Dell:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandell/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendanDell
Instagram: @thebrendandell
TikTok: @brendandell39
Buy a copy of Brendan’s Book, The 12 Immutable Laws of High-Impact Messaging: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578210926
Connect with Iggy Bassi:
Twitter:@IggyBassi
https://cervest.earth/
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About the Author
Brendan Dell
Brendan Dell is an author and the founder of The Daily Creative. As a freelancer he's worked with clients like Expedia, Cvent, Panasonic, Brother, Windstream and 100+ more to build unignorable tech brands. At The Daily Creative, he shares advice and lessons to help freelancers level up.
