TimeBridge and Launchsquad.com = No Homework

Lots of companies out there hire PR firms or 'buzz agents' to help launch products.  A company called TimeBridge hired a firm called launchsquad.com to help with the August 14th public unveiling of the scheduling product they have.  

launchsquad.com will do all the things you'd expect, these days including contacting bloggers about the product.

All good stuff, right?

Well, read on.

Please meet a nice person named Anna Sullivan from launchsquad.  I know Anna is nice because she wrote me a nice note wanting to let me know about TimeBridge and the August 14th launch.

"Hi Rick,
I thought this might be of interest to you. I work with a company called TimeBridge, creator of the first Personal Scheduling Manager. I wanted to let you know that TimeBridge has officially launched today,  

....

I'm also happy to set up a meeting for you with Yori Nelken, CEO of TimeBridge to talk more about the scheduling problem busy professionals face on a daily basis, or perhaps to show you a full demo of the product."

See? Friendly and helpful.  There's just one pesky problem:  My firm has an investment in a competitor, Tungle.

The point is not to dump in Timebridge (congrats to Yori and the team on the launch) or anybody.  The point is: Homework.  Do your homework.  I'm a venture capitalist first, rank amateur blogger last.  When Anna decided to send mail to me, I think a slight bit of homework, i.e. what we invest in, would have yielded Tungle on our investment list.   I don't believe having the CEO go into details about the company, products, plans, etc, to me would be a good idea.

Homework is a good thing.

[Bonus] I realize that some folks will think, 'well done, Anna' as she got a blog entry about the product and it is all part of the big PR plan.  And I further understand that I am pointing some people to TimeBridge who might not have even heard of it.  My blog is -hopefully- helpful to start ups so I present this stuff with my eyes open.  The other point giving TimeBridge some potential customers?  I know you'll be shocked but I like Tungle's approach/product and think that when you try it, you will agree with me. 

Competition is a good thing as it helps validate the problem being solved.

Comments

[Philip Hodgetts]

Professional PR is an exception. I signed to the "Video on the Net" conference back in March as Media. From that moment on I got 3-5 pitches a day for the parallel "Voice on the Net" conference, despite the simple step of looking at our site would have shown zero interest in VoIP. It eventually became enough of an issue to me to contact some of the PR companies and ask why I was being pitched, given that a simple check would have shown no interest?

No explanations, just apologies after the fact. Most PR companies are this bad. Choose very carefully.

Philip

[Roger Chabra]

Rick - wholeheartedly agree - a pet peeve of mine is an entrepreneur (or service provider) who hasn't done their homework. Simple things like reading the bio of the VC you are meeting with (or want a meeting with) or scanning the investments page of the VC's web site. Anyone who comes in for a meeting and asks me about my background or other investments we have in the space, always gets a polite and complete answer (of course) - but in my head I'm thinking "this stuff is out there for anyone to read, is this how this person approaches customer meetings as well - no homework done?" Strike one. Ahead of a meeting or phone call, you can be sure that I will have done my homework on you (at the least a Google search) - is it too much to expect the same in return?
Roger.

[Anna Sullivan]

Thanks for your post and apologies for the confusion with my email, as you suggest, I could have done more homework and fully acknowledge that my email was misguided. As you know, most people involved in the world of technology wear many hats these days: investor, blogger, consultant, etc. and sometimes a small amount of research is all that's needed to connect the dots. In my haste to reach out to you in your capacity as an influential blogger, I overlooked a very important and easily discovered detail. Chalk this one up to a valuable learning experience in my early career in the fast changing world of PR. We respect and appreciate your bringing this mistake to bear and hope we can connect again on a more appropriate topic.

[chrisco]

Hi Anna,

Nice reply to an obnoxious article. While some more research would have saved important Rick the two seconds to open your email and realize it was not appropriate for him to take you up on your pitch, pretty much everybody who knows anything about conducting any kind of research, save life-or-death things maybe, knows that there is a trade off on the spectrum between doing so much research that you have perfect information and doing enough research so you are pretty sure or at least sure enough to make an educated guess. We live in a world of imperfect information and limited time and resources. We have to be able to make decisions and operate in such a world... especially startups! I don't think you're the one who should be apologizing. I hope you get some new business from this too. I think you will :)

Cheers,
chrisco

PS: It will be an interesting test to see if Rick leaves this comment or censors it out. I don't know what to expect sinc ethis is my first comment on his blog.

[chrisco]

PPS: Simple pre-interview due diligence would have uncovered the relationship (in case Rick or anyone else was trying to be slick and conduct some industrial espionage). For example, one of the due diligence questions might be something like this: "Do you, your firm or any of your associates have any relationships, such as investments, partnerships, JVs, employment, advisement, consulting or management, that could be perceived as being competitive with TimeBridge? If so, please elaborate." [Edit text as you and lawyers see fit.] Also some more extensive background checking would be done before the interview. This is how people and companies do it all the time. It is a time-tested and proven process: Do some list building and pre-screening... then send some sort of message to the list and see who responds... follow up with them, qualify them, pitch them, etc. Proceed to more detailed due diligence. If everything checks out close the sale or interview or whatever. This is the same basic process salespeople make, investors make, B2B and B2C marketers make, etc.