Wayra Startup Story: Night Zookeeper’s ‘pub pitch’

By , 10 October 2012 at 01:22
Wayra Startup Story: Night Zookeeper’s ‘pub pitch’
Business

Wayra Startup Story: Night Zookeeper’s ‘pub pitch’

By , 10 October 2012 at 01:22

By Joshua Davidson, CEO of Wayra UK startup Night Zookeeper

For me, one of the best things about joining Wayra has been the chance to build close relationships with other entrepreneurs in the Academy and to learn from the experts Wayra has on hand.

I would highly recommend that new businesses try to replicate these learning experiences, either through attending meet-ups, applying for a similar accelerator programme, looking for shared office space or becoming a member of a start-up hub!

In our first week in the Academy, we heard from O2’s head of Brand Innovation, Gav Thompson. Gav explained that branding is about great ideas and he urged teams to imagine what they would say to someone about their businesses if they were a door-to-door salesman. His advice was to have a clear strategy, rather than a complicated brand architecture, messaging pyramid or communications mash potato (I may have made that last one up!).

His advice reinforced one of the first activities we had to do when we joined the Academy – develop our ‘pub pitch’. How would we describe our business to someone we met in the pub who knew nothing about it?

Especially after a few pints, this can often be a tough challenge for many technology businesses. This is my effort for Night Zookeeper:

“Night Zookeeper is a children’s education and entertainment website where children create their own magical animals, write stories about them and play creative games. We turn children from online consumers into creators.”

After spending time at the Wellington Festival of Education, speaking to over 1,000 teachers, I can tell you that this exercise proved very helpful! It also came in handy when we got the opportunity to present our business to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, at the official opening of the Wayra Academy.

So if there’s a lesson we’ve learnt in the months since joining Wayra, it’s that being able to present your product or service in a clear and compelling way is truly an essential business skill.

Intrigued to explore our product? Find Night Zookeeper here.

 

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