Hi, I’m David G. Cohen.

Here’s a ProTip for anyone sending their pitch to an investor by email.

Use attachments instead of download links.

Why? Because many investors are busy and often only get to “catch up on email” on planes. And planes usually have no connectivity. Additionally, with attachments, we don’t have to wait for downloads.

It takes me way longer to answer a cold pitch email that has links than it does to answer one that has attachments because of this phenomenon.

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I’ve used a technique that I call the “easy out” for some time. It’s handy when you’re selling someone something and they’re are ignoring you. It could be an investor you’re trying to close, or a customer that you’re trying to sell something to.

Once you’ve tried several emails with no response, I always recommend a phone call or alternate medium. You’ll probably reach their voice mail if you call, but that’s fine. You can simply say “I’ve sent you several emails, and I just wanted to be sure you were getting them. I’ll send you another one right now, please reply to let me know you’ve received it.” If you have been emailing, try tweeting. Never assume that someone is intentionally ignoring you if you’re only using one channel. You might be getting caught in a spam or other filter. Of course, you should also let some time pass because not everyone uses out-of-office auto-responses when they go on vacation.

Once you’re pretty sure you’re being ignored (after following the above advice and trying other channels), you should realize that your chances of “getting the sale” are probably pretty slim. It’s in these cases where the “easy out” is probably your best bet.

You can send an email that says something like “It’s been some time and after several attempts, I haven’t received a response from you about my proposal. I realize this may not be a fit for you, but I was hoping you could just let me know for sure with a quick reply so that I can cross you off my list.”

This is a very easy out for the recipient. They can quickly reply “Yes, not a fit for now” and be done with the awkwardness. Some people just need this easy out – usually they’re conflict avoiders who have a hard time saying no.

Magically, you’ll find that providing the easy out sometimes triggers action. Psychologically, it feels like a last chance to the recipient. I’ve noticed that the easy out is generally effective at separating the “maybes” into “No” and “I really am interested – I’ve just been busy.” Most people won’t ignore the easy out (if they receive the message), and their reaction can be telling of their true intentions.

Have you used this technique? How does it work for you? I’ve had good luck with it, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on the “easy out” too.

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Google has put out a call that looks like this:

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. We plan to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

From now until March 26th, we’re asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their communities through a Request for Information (RFI), which we’ll use to determine where to build our network.

Boulder is making a concerted effort to convince Google to build out gigabit internet services here. We’d like to see a substantial portion of the city participate in this and show support for the selection of Boulder for this test. In order to show your support now, spend a few minutes over on BoulderFiber.com.

Imagine what this amazing tech community could do with gigabit web connections. You can’t imagine it, and that’s the point. Having such services will help us to attract innovators to our community, improve educational opportunities for our kids, and build amazing bridges between other communities and NOAA, NIST, and world-changing companies based here in Boulder.

Perhaps Noah said it best:

If Google wants gimicks, they can go elsewhere. If they want a city to show what fiber can do, Boulder’s here. #boulderfiber

Head over to BoulderFiber.com now and let Google know that this is exactly the place that they’re looking for.

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CU Denver’s Bard Center is hosting their 10th annual business plan competition on June 10th, and it’s open to all early stage Colorado based companies which have not yet received significant Angel or Venture Capital funding.
 
Orientation for the 10th Annual Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition is coming up on March 11, 2010 at 5:30PM at the Bard Center. More than $100,000 in cash and in-kind awards will be provided to help the top 6 companies launch or grow their businesses. Check it out!

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Bill Flagg is organizing and hosting Bootstrap Loving Angels on April 7th. This is a special angel funding event for bootstrap oriented companies looking for a small amount of growth capital. It’s very informal, so if you meet the criteria below, I’d encourage you to apply to attend.

I’m going to be writing more soon about Royalty Based Financing (RBF), but for now it’s the simple idea of taking on a small amount of capital and paying it back out of sales, typically in combination with some warrants or other form of upside in the company for the investor. RBF can be a great structure because it motivates the investor to help you sell, so they can get their money back. For companies with a bootstrap mentality, it can be a great way to take on some capital to get to the next stage without giving up much equity. I’ll be presenting on RBF at this event, and will probably do it around town at a few other events soon. RBF is how my first company was funded, and I’ve done other deals (notably, RouteSmith) using this technique.

Jump over to Bill’s post on the Bootstrap Loving Angels event if you might like to attend as an angel or as a company that meets the criteria below.

Criteria for Angels

• Colorado based
• Ability to invest up to $300k
• Successful at building their own bootstrapped companies
• Loves bootstrapping entrepreneurs and have invested/helped in the past

Criteria to apply to be one of the presenting companies

• $30k-$200k/month in revenues
• 40% growth over previous year
• Break-even or profitable
• Asking $300k or less in expansion capital
• Colorado based or wanting to move company to Colorado
• Internet-based business
• No outside investors (except a little F&F seed $)

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