Want to pitch a VC while he cleans your house? | Hacker News Reader

Want to pitch a VC while he cleans your house?

techcrunch.com

51 pointsjustin9 comments

I have a hard time getting excited about this, like some others in this thread.

We blame the financial world (the suits) for not creating value - and rightfully so. But the San Francisco startup scene has just replaced finance with buzz. Who can come up with an even bigger Gimmick and attract some blogspam today...

Call me old fashioned, but what's wrong with focusing on customer value and quality.

Spot on

Nothing's wrong with focusing on customer value and quality, but you also have to focus on customer acquisition. You don't have to either make a good product your customers like or do a publicity stunt to attract more customers. You can do both.

McDonald's Monopoly promotion may be a gimmick as well, but it increases same-store sales by 5.5% while it's running.

This will likely increase sales for Exec in the short term too.

This does a great job of helping the person getting cleaned (and pitching), Exec, AND raises Shervin's profile as an awesome, non-traditional-thinking investor. I wish I lived in San Francisco!

(although I'd definitely pre-clean...I think it would be kind of embarrassing to pitch to someone who is cleaning your dirty toilet or wharever.)

The really smart thing would be to have him clean your live/work office, since then he'd meet the team, see where you work, and be in a good place for a demo.

Here "clean your house" is meant literally, but VCs coming into your house and "cleaning up" is a euphemism for those that have been through a VC-lead management team purge.

I like the idea from the Exec crew but I'm also impressed by the way that the TC reporters seem intent on actually trying out the products now. We did this with Anthnoy Ha for using Perfect Audience for retargeting too.

Admittedly in both these cases, the product was given to the folks for the review. But even with that, I would rather hear someone talk about the service than just describe it to me.

I like the inclusion of the VC in the marketing efforts. Helps him two ways: better understanding his current investment and hearing new pitches. It also helps the people pitching and definately helps the cleaning company get the word out.

Genius!

No.

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