I had the privilege of interviewing Boris Mann of Bootup Labs on why students don't know about Bootup, why some might be scared of him, and his number one advice for student entrepreneurs.
To his credit, this was spur of the moment and he didn't have time to prepare. For zero preparation time, his answers were pretty darn good.
My lovely wife, Vicki, typed up a transcript of the entire interview which I'm including for those of us who don't have time to watch the three 4 minute interview. So kudos to her!
Jon's Summary FAQ of the Boris Mann Interview
For those who are like me and don't even want to read a transcript to find those points, here they are:
Who's Boris?
He's the Mann. Entrepreneur. Venture Capitalist. Co-founder of Bootup Labs with Danny Robinson.
What's Bootup Labs?
It's Canada's first seed accelerator.
What does that mean?
They take co-founders from "zero to fundable." I.e. Applicants apply and if they chose your company, they'll bring you in to their offices for 8 months and bring you the mentors and resources you need to create a successful, "fundable" company. To start you off, they'll provide "seed" funding starting @ $50 000 for 5% of your company's equity.
Why is Boris doing this?
He's solving his own problem for others in what he likes to call "things that build things", ie. a platform.
Boris: "[When I started my first company,] I didn't have a lot of the infrastructure around me that we're trying to put together with Boot Up. So I learned a lot of things the hard way. It was painful and it was hard and I wish I had had more money more mentorship more funding and a bunch of things like that."
What is Boris' #1 advice to students entrepreneurs?"
Just do it.
Excuse me?
Boris: "get off your ass and just do it."
Sure, but what does this mean practically?
Boris: "Do you have a blog? Do you have a twitter account? Do you have a business card? Do you go out and network with people? Are you trying to find founders? Are you trying to build your business."
Well, no.
And I say, "Well, why not?"
So go and do these things. And start talking about what you're passionate about and what you want to do. It's maybe cheesy, but literally, "get off your ass and just do it."
What does Boris say when told the few students who have heard of him are scared of him?
Boris: In some ways, that's an initial filter. People are like, "Oh no, we can't.. our precious little idea, they'll kick the snot out of it. I can't go and talk about my idea cause they'll laugh at me our bad stuff will happen."
Well, does Boris kick the snot out of it?
Boris: [If you don't tell us your ideas], we can't tell you good things either or we can't connect you with someone that might be able to help you. Or we can't talk about a mentor or perhaps about an idea close to yours. So the only way is to share it. I'm happy to talk to people about ideas. I don't have unlimited time. I'm happy to give you half and hour and talk about your idea. And i try to have everyone come out of a meeting with a next connection or some suggestions on what they may be able to do next
What other ways are there to get Boris' attention?
Boris: "Other than that, a best way to impress me is to show that you've already done stuff. And the biggest thing is to try it with customer development. Try and get people to pay for your product or try and go do research. It'll cost you zero money for you to go after a small business market and go talk to them.
What impresses Boris the most?
Boris: What impresses me more [than a 50 page business plan] is a single, well-written blog post that talks about what you want to do and what you're passionate about. If you can't even talk about what you're passionate about and share it on the internet , how do you think you're going to deal with the internet business?
Should I connect with Boris if I don't have a blog?
Boris: If you haven't done a blog post and you don't have it at a url somewhere then I can't share it with anyone else. So give me an idea in a form that makes it easy for other people to connect with it.
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Hollywood Shuffle - Winky Dinky Dog & HO CAKE!by dwbjd214,476 views
Boris is the man. No doubt!! The pickled prince!!
jakedelorey 1 year ago