Jon Monsarrat offers business advice, based on his experience of founding a company that eventually sold for 160 million dollars, at the Hult International Business School in Boston.
When you start a company
Boston, MA-NH (1888PressRelease) May 02, 2013 - Jon Monsarrat spoke from his experience founding a company that was sold for $160 million by advising students and guests to find their Cookie Monster customer at the Hult Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship Summit. The talk kicked off an entire day of panels and speeches at the Hult International Business School in Boston. "When you start a company," Jon Monsarrat said, "you want to change the world, so of course you make a product that everyone can use, like cookies. But nobody wants to pay real money for cookies. You are stuck."
Entrepreneurs must look for customers that are so eager for their product that they'll pay anything. Like Cookie Monster, they are addicts. Finding these customers, Jon Monsarrat referred to his recent article on Boston.com, the website run by the Boston Globe, titled "The biggest mistake you're making is putting your customer first". "You're focused too much on end users," he said. "Find a distribution partner and make them happy first. Without them, you'll never reach end users, because viral marketing doesn't work, and sacrifices like you have to starting a company for incremental growth."
Jon Monsarrat has given monthly lectures to Boston's entrepreneur community to promote his mobile app, the world's largest calendar of high-tech and business networking events. The app was picked up in March by Foley Hoag, which now owns the Boston calendar. The high-tech law firm has a long history of sponsoring and promoting entrepreneur events. Monsarrat's calendar already covers most of the Northeast and he is now looking for sponsors in other technology metros.
Jon Monsarrat concluded by giving the audience the keys to connecting to those VIP Cookie Monster distribution partners, once they've been identified. "To get attention, you need to think strategically," he said. "Although, large companies seem imposing and remote, the bigger the firm, the bigger their strategic problems. If you can solve that, they will run, run, run to your side."
About Jon Monsarrat
Jon Monsarrat runs Hard Data Factory, which is building the world's largest calendar of arts events. Based in the Boston Globe headquarters, and supplying the Boston Globe with events, his business uses a doubly-patented technology to gather events from public websites. To learn about Jon Monsarrat and his lectures, see http://www.harddatafactory.com.
For additional information, contact:
Rickland Powell
Hard Data Factory
7 Oak Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
617-510-4477
rickland ( @ ) harddatafactory dot com
http://harddatafactory.com