I just finished writing this email (below) to Taivanbat, a young pitcher on Shark Tank Mongolia. I met him a few times when I was doing a part-time job at the school he now goes to. When I was talking about his class to the principal, the principal told me that there is one student who has great interest in entrepreneurship, but she wouldn’t tell me the name. She said: “You would have to guess, but it’s not hard, you can see it in his eyes.” I did see the gleam in his eyes when I briefly mentioned entrepreneurship in my talk.
My points:
- Not all schools in Mongolia are that bad in terms of “boxing” their students. For one, this school he goes to, different from the one he quit I guess, recognized him for what he is and his passion. It’s a good step in the right direction or so it seems.
- He doesn’t deserve the mean comments. He just doesn’t. Not the nonconstructive, pointless, highly offensive on personal level and f****** jealous ones.
- What he needs is more encouragement, guidance to the right direction, and fundamental skills needed for an entrepreneur. Of course, they are all earned. He can find mentors and persuade them to take him as a mentee, he has to work hard to build skills and he has to have strong emotional stability through this craze if people’s online reception is going to be this ugly.
- What he also doesn’t need is “education” ya’ll! If you don’t agree that public education in Mongolia is one big, sad joke, then I recommend you to go to this link http://list.eec.mn/23/8.html? and see for yourself. Only 1/13 of the math test takers were graded 50+ out of 100 last year. Isn’t it sad? Isn’t it funny how they prepare for this standardized exam for so many years with such results?
- Do all these exams even matter?http://www.mecss.gov.mn/data/1702/HigherSta1617ab shows that there are 95 higher education institutions in Mongolia as of 2017. And these charts below? Are we even trying?
- Final: I feel that whenever a viral/social/controversial situation like this happens, the good side, the supportive side, the encouraging side are always needed! The social media has given everyone a voice, but the ones with the worst say get the most say, they just can’t help it I guess. If you have a strong voice and especially if you have a solution to a problem, constructive criticism with valid points or just moral/emotional support like the one I had, it’s your place to talk, write and spread your ideas. It’s almost like a responsibility. Through this reasoning, I am sharing my email to the public without the recipient’s knowledge.
OK, so my email begins and pardon my language. I just can’t be bothered to translate the texts as they are in English and Mongolian which Taivanaa understands. Besides, it’s 5am and I am supposed to be sick and asleep.
P.S.: I am a total newbie in the business scene, but I’ve heard more than 300 pitches in the last year or so. Some were of the biggest accelerator events and tech demo days and also, I’ve delivered about 20 practice pitches in the same time frame so I’d like to think these gave me the slightest sense of comparison between good and bad pitches.
Сайн уу, Тайванаа?
Чиний орсон Шарктанкийн дугаарыг үзээд Юүтүбээс чинь имэйлийг чинь олж бичиж байна.
Юуны өмнө цаг, энерги зарцуулж нэвтрүүлэгт санаагаа танилцуулсанд чинь баяр хүргэе! Том том шүүгчдийн өмнө сандралгүй ярьсан болон зэмлэл, сургаал өөр ч юу ч юм бэ дээ тэд нарын ярьсныг сайн хүлээж авсанд чинь бахархаж байна.
Харин питчийг чинь сонсоод хэдэн бодогдсон юм гэвэл:
(https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/ нэр томъёонууд энэ хуудас дээрхээр байгаа, доор дурдагдаагүй хэсгүүд нь сайн болсон санагдсан)
-Underlying magic буюу бусдаас ялгарах давуу тал дээрээ зах зээл дээр байгаа эдгээр аппуудын ажилладаг нь батлагдсан эдгээр функцүүдийг нэг дор агуулж байгаа гэж дөвийлгөж болох байсан. Учир нь Yelp болон Tinder-т чиний бодсон үйлчилгээ байгаа ч гэсэн Yelp хэзээ ч Tinder болохгүй, Tinder хэзээ ч Yelp болж яг чиний хийх гээд байгаа зүйлийг хийхгүй.
-Business Model чинь сонин байсан, бодоод үзвэл, ресторан гэх мэт үйлчилгээнүүд маш бага төсвийг технологи дэмжихдээ ашигладаг ба технологи ашиглалаа гэхэд https://www.posist.com/restaurant-times/posist-product иймэрхүү өөрсдийн ажлыг хөнгөвчилсөнд нь л төсөвлөсөн харагдана. Маркетингийн төсөв нь харин ямархуу байдгийг мэдэхгүй юм.
-There was no go-to-market plan and competitive analysis; this is a big no-no. Every serious entrepreneur could have googled what one must present in hope of funding.
-Financial projections were way too high and early for your idea. Instead of that, you could have said “I am still early in this game and if I have this amount of money, I can learn coding myself or hire a team to code the MVP in this amount of time” and possibly you would have walked out with the deal. I know for a fact that not every pitcher needs to have the exact and calculated financial metrics still in the early days.
-Management team болон Current status хэсгүүдийн хувьд, чи багтай бол багаа, ганцаараа бол өөрийгөө энэ хэсэгт зарах ёстой байсан. Гэхдээ чи үүнийг их муу хийсэн. Хөрөнгө оруулагчид багийг буюу чамайг хамгийн эхэнд, дараа нь санааг чинь хэр явцтайг, тэгээд энэ санааг та нар хийх хүмүүс мөн үү гэдгийг хардаг юм шиг санагддаг. Дэлгэцэн дээр харуулсан демог хийсэн хүнээ чи багаа гэсэн бол илүү хүний итгэл хүлээх байснаас гадна ээжийнхээ талаар хэлсэн чинь чамайг наснаас чинь жоохон юм шиг харагдуулсан. Лав надад тэгж санагдсан. Only say what is necessary and true, but exclude unnecessary facts from now on.
Заа боллоо.
Хувийн зүгээс хэдэн юм хэлье, хэдий би бизнесийн хувьд шинэков ч гэсэн. Ямартай ч энэ хүртэл уншсан бол сайн байна, энэ хүртэл уншаагүй бол одоо юу гэхэв дээ дахиж таарахгүй гэж найдъя
YOU KINDA FAILED THAT PITCH. You will fail and fail and fail again if you do not grow. You will fail and fail and fail even if you grow. You have to distinguish between growing and just staying at the square one for yourself, by yourself.
Case 1/ If you feel like you’re growing, that’s fine, fail and do until you make it one day, one month or one year. Remember it’s not an easy process to make real things.
Case 2/ It’s possible that even if you feel like you’re growing while doing and failing but in fact, you’re just posing to grow. You can earn yourself a mentor and ask them to observe you while you fail. It is a backup plan if you find evaluating yourself hard to do.
Case 3/ If you’re stuck and you feel like you’re getting rusty, consult with your mentor(s) and they agree with you too, you gotta change it. By working smarter or with strategy. By whatever means that suit you.
Hey, see some pattern? I put it there. Failure is always with doing. Not doing is not on the list, its not even an option for an entrepreneur. You must be doer of something, anything to be an entrepreneur. And growth. It’s the key. It’s the wisdom they are not telling you about. You are a “mangar batsaan” like mean people said in their mean comments behind social accounts. Accept it. But also accept that you don’t have to stay that way. You can grow to the right direction and you will if you do enough and fail smart. What do you say? I don’t know what you’re gonna say and I really don’t care about what you say. But how you’re gonna react to this kinda situation must be important to you, right? So, think deep and think slow. Judge yourself and decide what to do.
Also, hope you are not that bothered by the response to your pitch. I suspect that those are from people who do not do, fail, thus grow. The reason why I am writing to you is to offer emotional support as a fellow Gary Vaynerchuk listener. DO-FAIL-GROW this cycle repeats itself. So, do.
Best regards,
Gerelee
P.S.: Please take a note that I am not publicly commenting on his person but merely delivering points using my own email to him.
