the hundred dollar business

Great weekend!

We’ve doubled our Ask An Expert team from 7 to 14 online, and 35 to 45 registered, as well as added another coworking space partner, and will start our first Coffee Clinics this Thursday.

Last week I was in Portland, and had a number of informal coffee meetings with startup companies. I appreciate each opportunity I have to meet with entrepreneurs, and always try to:

a. ask questions that will help me understand the current status of the business

b. assess the startup’s current developmental needs, both the ones they know of and tell me about, and others I pick up on based on the metrics mentioned and the overall flavor of the conversation

c. be very honest about any red flags/gaps/problems I perceive, at the same time, giving action steps/resources that can help them take it to a new level

I found the Twitter message I’d written earlier this summer which is an amusing precursor to Coffee With An Expert. It’s from about 2 weeks before I got the idea for this project:

“That’s my job description: “Ask people out for coffee; as often as possible”. 05:54 PM July 15, 2008″

Anyway, if you’re like me and enjoy going to coffee with entrepreneurs, consider signing up for our Expert team.

Experts get their feet wet volunteering for Ask An Expert online, then after 5 positive reviews from clients, can be trained on the Coffee Clinic format and be endorsed/paid to hold their own coffeeshop meetings either at a local Starbucks/etc. or at one of our coworking space partners.