Ryan Levesque

When reaching out to founders, two of the most effective approaches are: #1 - “Can I ask for your advice?” And… #2 - “Can I interview you?” Both open the door to a conversation and can be appealing for different reasons. ASKing for advice is a sign of respect and appreciation for perspective and wisdom. The query must be genuine - and not just a “tactic” - but it’s an incredibly effective way to start a working relationship. Asking for the interview immediately answers the WIIFM question within the ASK itself. You’re making an offer (presumably giving the founder exposure to some audience as a product of the interview) from within the ASK itself. (There is a third approach that you can use but I’ve hit the character limit!)

When reaching out to founders, two of the most effective approaches are: #1 - “Can I ask for your advice?” And… #2 - “Can I interview you?” Both open the door to a conversation and can be appealing for different reasons. ASKing for advice is a sign of respect and appreciation for perspective and wisdom. The query must be genuine - and not just a “tactic” - but it’s an incredibly effective way to start a working relationship. Asking for the interview immediately answers the WIIFM question within the ASK itself. You’re making an offer (presumably giving the founder exposure to some audience as a product of the interview) from within the ASK itself. (There is a third approach that you can use but I’ve hit the character limit!)

When reaching out to founders, two of the most effective approaches are: #1 - “Can I ask for your advice?” And… #2 - “Can I interview you?” Both open the door to a conversation and can be appealing for different reasons. ASKing for advice is a sign of respect and appreciation for perspective and wisdom. The query must be genuine - and not just a “tactic” - but it’s an incredibly effective way to start a working relationship. Asking for the interview immediately answers the WIIFM question within the ASK itself. You’re making an offer (presumably giving the founder exposure to some audience as a product of the interview) from within the ASK itself. (There is a third approach that you can use but I’ve hit the character limit!)

One of the most effective sources of market research data is mining raw, unfiltered natural consumer language in your market. It's far more effective to reflect back the actual real language your market uses to express the challenges, desires, and objections than to come up with catchy buzz-words. This is what "The ASK Method" is all about. Historically, the biggest challenge has been gathering and mining enough language for this to be effective. Large Language Model technology and Specialized AI Software has changed all of that. One of the tools we're partial to is Bucket.io's AI, designed to analyze the natural language of any data set that you provide, or analyze the language being currently used in your market online.

One of the most effective ways to improve your lead generation and simultaneously improve your user experience is to leverage the power of an interactive quiz funnel. A quiz funnel is where you ask a series of questions in exchange so that you can deliver a customized lead magnet, offer, or user experience based on the answers to that quiz. Our favorite AI-powered quiz funnel technology is called Bucket.io 3.0 AI - 3x Inc. 5000 fastest growing company with over 82 million end users. (Tech I was so impressed with, I became an investor.) The research team at Bucket.io has developed a new way to build an entire quiz funnel using AI, enabling users to create an entire funnel - and start generating leads - in just a matter of minutes.

In order to reduce bias in your SWOT analysis, it’s important to involve multiple perspectives from different stakeholders, such as employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. This can provide a more comprehensive and balanced view of your business situation and help you avoid the pitfalls of groupthink or confirmation bias. For instance, if you only ask your sales team about opportunities, you may miss potential threats or weaknesses that other teams may notice. To achieve this, you should seek feedback from different levels and functions of your organization, encourage constructive criticism and open communication, consider the needs and expectations of external stakeholders, and use tools like surveys, interviews, and focus groups.