Week 2 – MBA6101 – Ascend Your Start-up

In Ascend Your Start-Up, Helen Yu gets very real about the climb and when she talks about looking around her at the other climbers, and how everyone is reacting to the altitude, "Because I am the first one to react badly, I think I am the weakest, but I realize this is not true. When you have the heart and mind to overcome a challenge, you endure." (Yu, 2021, p. 60).

Because she had a reaction to the altitude before anyone else did, she was acclimating faster, her body making the adjustments necessary to withstand the climb. This applies to life, which is why Yu uses the climb of Mount Everest as a metaphor for what it takes to launch their own business. There could be distractions, road blocks, frustrations, angst along the path. However, one needs to stay focused on the goal--maintain excitement alongside the anxiety, a push-pull dynamic that propels one forward.

I am a marketer so I love when she asks (and answers), "How do you nail marketability? Explain the problem you are solving as well as your product," (Yu, 2021, p.62). She is spot-on. Every brief an ad agency receives for the client ALWAYS states in question/answer form (I've listed a few below), but the single most important one is "What is the Reason to Believe (RTB)?"

• "What is the business problem?"
• "What is the audience you want to reach?"
• "Anything from the past/present consumer behaviors that must be taken into account?"
• "Any insights (data) from a past or similar marketing campaign that provide some context for what media channels have worked before?"
• "How will success be measured?
• "What is the RTB?"

The RTB means, if I am a customer, what would be the thing that compels me to buy (product or service) what you are selling?" And from a marketing standpoint, the best marketing campaigns amplify the RTB in a way that is provocative, compelling, and persuasive. Communicate the problem the consumer has and serve up the product/service as the "obvious" solution. Brilliant in its simplicity, harder to manifest than one would think.