Five things I learned about getting the most from Seedcamp

On the 11th of August, I had the opportunity to participate in Mini Seedcamp in Johannesburg. It was one of most stimulating days of my career and I would recommend doing whatever you can to take part. You’ll break the back of your pitching fitness. And you’ll get free advice from some of the smartest people in tech. Why on earth wouldn’t you want that?

Thanks so much to Reshma, Philipp and all the mentors and entrepreneurs for making it such an incredible day!

So what did I learn about how to get the most out of Mini Seedcamp?

1. Be prepared to get grilled

On the morning of Seedcamp, while we were still waiting for everyone to arrive, the first person I met was user experience legend, Andy Budd. I introduced myself and Andy asked what Cognician was about, so I cleared my throat and gave my first pitch of the day. In his cheery English voice, Andy said something along the lines of, “I don’t really get that.” So I smiled and took a breath and tried again. And again, almost singing this time, “No, that’s not really interesting to me.” So I tried another tack and once again, “No, I don’t think that’s gonna fly.” This lasted for about five minutes and it all happened amidst the scent of fresh coffee in the chilly Joburg air before the day had even begun. Is this really what the rest of the day was going to be like?

No, it wasn’t. Although it wasn’t the last tough pitch I’d make, most of the scheduled sessions were a lot smoother. Regrettably, I never got the chance to actually show Cognician to Andy, because he went on to give what I thought was the best presentation at the Tech4Africa conference the following day. To have his acumen focussed on my user interface for 30 minutes would have been invaluable. Even if I had to sit on my hands while he ripped it apart.

2. Know your mentors

Knowing your pitch is a given. Knowing your mentors is just as important. A few days before the event, Philipp Moehring sent out a list of mentors and suggested that we get in touch with them and learn what we could from their LinkedIn profiles and such. I managed to reach a few, but I didn’t spend enough time on the task. Although even the blind sessions went well, I feel like I missed a big opportunity by not doing my homework better on the few people I didn’t know.

3. Ask specific questions

You can’t get the best out of a mentor in 30 minutes unless you ask them to respond to something specific. Two of the best sessions for me were with Alex Hunter and Gareth Knight. Not because they’re super smart and experienced. But because they were able to focus their experience on very specific challenges. I asked Alex about early stage marketing options for Cognician and Gareth helped with structuring our site for SEO. While they couldn’t possibly download everything they know on these subjects, they gave me pretty good guidance on where to start.

4. Take notes

There is absolutely no way you’ll remember everything from the day if you don’t take notes. Either do voice recordings of each session – with your mentors’ permission, of course – or type or scribble in a Moleskine. You’ll find that all mentors will have contacts for you to reach or specific recommended actions or both and more. And if you don’t follow up on them, you’re just being silly. So remember to get their cards and get in touch.

Also, some of my best take-aways of the day didn’t come from specific people. They came from recognising patterns in my notes. I found that certain issues kept coming up. Some of which I didn’t think were so important until now.

5. Steer your own ship

I recently watched the original first series of Star Trek. It features storytelling that is sometimes sublime and sometimes ridiculous. But nearly always satisfying is the superbly crafted character of Captain James T Kirk. In Dagger of the Mind, Kirk deals with an overzealous crew member who feels his protests are not being heard by saying, “One of the advantages of being a Captain is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it.” Kirk is a rock under pressure. He takes nothing personally. He knows that he alone is responsible for the fate of the Enterprise and he will take advice from anyone if it benefits his ship, his crew and his mission. And he will ignore advice if he thinks it is poor. And that’s how you should treat your sessions with mentors. Be sincere, considerate, confident, grateful and humble. Being either arrogant or dismissive will get you nowhere. If you get a grilling, just be thick-skinned and remember that you are the one who is responsible for steering your ship.

Did I really have to mention Captain Kirk? No. Am I a geek? You bet your last Federation credit I am.

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