Apr
4
Patricia of StyleDiary
Normally I enjoy Valleywag for its irreverent attitude (and consequently, perceptive insight) to the Valley’s echo chamber, but, as I was going through the 100+ posts in Google Reader that accumulated from the ‘wag while I was in Tahoe this week, I came across a profile-esque post of an entrepreneur named Patricia Handschiegel who recently sold her company, StyleDiary.
It’s reassuring to read about other entrepreneurs whose professional style, and business outlook I can identify with, as well as find inspiring. I have excerpted some of the bullet points from the Valleywag article.
- Focus on numbers. StyleDiary “might have not had MySpace level traffic,” Handschiegel says, but because StyleDiary kept focus on its topic, a “60 percent return rate and average session time of something like 30 minutes” was plenty attractive for potential buyers. As is talking stats, not style.
- Promote yourself and the company carefully. Potential buyers wouldn’t know about StyleDiary if Handschiegel hadn’t made them aware. But self-promotion is tricky, especially for women. “Whoring yourself out and bouncing around the parties” isn’t the way to do it, Handschiegel says. Neither is “Twittering 100 times a day.” Actually, this advice applies equally to men.
- Accumulate real advisors, not Facebook “friends.” ”I was sort of mentored by two really successful serial entrepreneurs. I spent six or seven years working with them, watching what they did, how they conducted themselves.”
- In conversations, add information, not just your voice. The best way to counter people’s assumptions about female entrepreneurs — namely, that since you’re a girl, you won’t know anything — is by contributing to discussions online and off with actual knowledge. For a specific example, Handschiegel started talking about IP packets. I didn’t follow, but she sounded way smarter than most of thewantrepreneurs I hang out with in Manhattan.
- Don’t spend. StyleDiary was easier to sell, Handschiegel says, because it was “self-funded, debt free and cash flow positive.” Any tricks to keeping it so lean? Things to avoid spending on: “Office, office supplies: things that make you feel like you’re doing something.” Also: “A lot of girl entrepreneurs go bananas thinking they’ll make money. I would never spend the $3k it’d take me to be at SXSW just to party there.”