In nature, flowers are like a weed's advertising department that signals to honey bees that you can find nectar here. But not all flowers have nectar in them, some flowers like Pansy & Begonias just simply fake it to lure honey bees in, to help them with pollination. Swapnil Devre talks about how to fake authority until you become a big brand the right way.
What can startup entrepreneurs do to overcome the initial zero trust and zero information barrier?
First of all, this mindset that I will first wait until I get a few clients then I will invest money into my business or product is a childish way of starting a business. You are not starting a lemonade stand. Especially while starting online businesses, we tend to think that it should almost cost nothing to get a business up and running. Capital is the major reason why most startups fail even for online businesses.
Now since this self-imposed limit is out of the way. Where to invest should be the next concern. Like I said capital is the major reason why most startups fail, either you don't invest or invest in the wrong thing that dries up your funds. Not all businesses are bringing a revolutionary product to the market. In fact, most don't and can't. Most people just want to sell a product that already has a market and wants to try to gain some market share. This is the easiest way to start a business since the product-market fit is already there. The only hurdle is you are new and hence not trustworthy yet but over several years of struggle, you will eventually become worthy. But this is a long term method. You can achieve similar results by leveraging trust built by someone else just like Pansy & Begonias flowers do. There should be a term for this, you can purchase trust from someone that already has it. Big brands do this with celebrity brand endorsement. And small online entrepreneurs do this with something similar called influencer shoutouts. And some really nerdy marketers use news advertorials and featured articles to buy trust.
What is Swapnil Devre's mindset about trust?
I view trust as a commodity, you can either buy it or build it. If you look at trust as an in-demand product then this changes your perception and helps you to think straight. Trust is like product packaging, you have to offer it with your actual product or service. And just like packaging, you don't have to build it inhouse. You can outsource your packaging to someone else. Trust is nothing but an invisible product package that you must wrap your product or service with. But most beginners sell their products and services with this wrapper as if it's not important.
Just like there are packaging businesses that help you package your products, there are trust packaging businesses out there. These can be either individuals or businesses or groups or NGOs or anything or anyone who people listen to. It could be a meme page on Instagram with followers that match your target audience. It could be some retired professional with a YouTube following. You don't necessarily have to pay them for shoutouts. A tie-up or a co-creation is just as good. For service businesses, you could buy trust from other entrepreneurs who are in a stable position. Since you are paying them for endorsement, they can turn their intangible trust asset into money through you. So it's a mutually beneficial relationship.
What advice does Swapnil Devre have regarding mutually beneficial relationships with other entrepreneurs to leverage their trust asset?
If someone can pull you out and it need not be someone big, they just have to be bigger than you, then that is one of the easiest ways to get a leg up. You can reach a new height in your business with the help of others. Most other businesses leverage trust and fame built by others to get started. Fortunately for this generation, we have a lot of influencers both people and companies that can help you get started.
