I speak to many bootstrapping start-ups and get the same response over and over "I consult on the side to help build my company". Company founders that are sacrificing their own income to pay others in order to deliver products and grow their company are pretty special I think and good people to have on your side.

I've been consulting ever since I left Ciena over three years ago and it has worked out very well for everyone involved. My main focus and strength is to connect companies to their potential customers to answer critical questions and ultimately achieve early market success.

In some cases, my client is exploring a new product or market and needs some early customer validation. Are we building something people will buy? If not, what do we need to change? Should we sell direct, partner or OEM/white label? Important questions I help companies answer and something I'm super passionate about.

In many cases my clients are early stage companies and launching or developing the company and first product. This is an incredibly crucial time and I help them get over the hump. I even do it pro-bono for friends and ex-colleagues in many cases ... people call, ask for help and I provide it. Don't get any ideas though ... you have to be pretty special for that to happen :)

In nearly every case, my involvement led the company to realize that what they were building wasn't the right thing. Fortunately, in many cases, the customer involvement led them to realize what they should be building instead and what the business model should be.

So what do I do to achieve success for my clients?

1. Marketing collateral
Let's face it, most collateral and especially Powerpoint presentations suck ... very badly. I'm very good at this and help companies boil down their messaging to the key value proposition .... especially from the perspective of their potential customer.

2. Customer engagement
At the early stages, meeting directly with potential customers is key. I tap my extensive network of contacts that range from media companies to Telecom carriers as necessary to help initiate a first meeting.

I have often led the initial meetings, including presenting the company or product. I dig in deep and become part of your team. After the initial three or four meetings with a particular customer, I tend to move to the background to promote a deeper relationship between your company and the customer.

3. Pre-sales
I don't do pure sales for companies but have been directly involved in the pre-sales aspect many times. This includes research (who are the potential customers, names and numbers, hot buttons and customer motivation), strategy, collateral creation and initial customer interaction.

I have deep experience in the Telecom world and dealing directly with carriers but my last four years have been focused on the web including on-line strategy, video, social networks and media, and e-commerce. I blog and tweet heavily and am deeply entrenched in on-line worlds. FaveQuest is a social media platform which helps brands, especially those in the media and entertainment space, tap social networks and utilities.

Feel free to check me out on linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/in/allanisfan or better yet google me :)

Cheers,
Allan
allan.isfan[at]gmail.com

Been a crazy summer with Bluesfest in July then an incredible vacation in Europe with the family. Financially not great timing but mentally could not have been better.

In the midst of all that, I was asked to join a proposed panel at SXSW on Social Media ROI. Check out my blog post on the Favequest corporate site to get some perspective on this interesting topic. I touches on only two ways to generate and measure social media ROI. Many more to come.

http://bit.ly/mGprD

Cheers,
Allan

I once asked myself: "what is the one thing that you would like to do more of but just don't get a chance to?". If you haven't asked yourself this question, you really ought to.

My answer: experience live music.

I used to have a band practice in my basement, have held outdoor parties with live music and pretty well live at the Ottawa Bluesfest every year in July. I also like to head up to the Black Sheep in Wakefiled as often as I can. That is actually where I discovered Lindsay Ferguson (http://www.lindsayferguson.com/), an amazing musician that I invited to play at this years Isfan Palooza (June 27th).

Entrepreneur's often advise you to follow your passions when it comes to business and I must admit I didn't heed their advice soon enough. However, FaveQuest is now deeply into the live music business with the launch of the Bluesfest Viewtube and we have many more surprises on this front coming imminently. It feels good. I highly recommend it!

It makes so much difference to be involved in a business and domain you are passionate about. It feels right, you have much more energy, have better ideas and push yourself that much harder. I think the passion also shines through and your customers see it. They see it when you pitch them and they see it when you over deliver.

Do you have something you're really passionate about that could be a business? I bet you there is! Please share and I bet you there's something I can do to help you (motivation, ideas, connections ...). So drop me a comment and let's chat.

Cheers,
Allan
PS. I'm also passionate about new communication tools and am fortunate to have been selected as a "character" at the 140conf conference in NYC June 16 & 17th.

Hey Everyone,

I have a new blog and some new blog posts I think you will find interesting specifically about FaveQuest. I will continue to blog here on startup issues, which reminds me, I've organized another Founders and Funders event on May 20. More information here http://www.startupottawa.com/?p=1118 (I'm a contributing blogger on Startup Ottawa

Ok, so here's the FaveQuest blog

http://favequest.com/blog/

Cheers,
Allan

I just attended the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona and the clear main theme was: TOUCH me, I'm sexy.

Take a look at this picture very quickly.

What do you think it is? Yes, you are correct, it is the new LG Arena with the 3D S-Class UI. You didn't think it was an iPhone did you?

Then there is Samsung's new "TOUCH", at first look, very similar to the iPhone.


There's also Microsoft Mobile 6.5 (out second half of the year) which is sporting an apple style icon based touch screen (demo of 6.5 appeared really buggy ... shocking, I know). I can go on and on. This year's Mobile World Congress was definitely about sexy touch screen apple killers.

I was unimpressed by nearly all of them (didn't play with the Palm Pre) but I did find one exception: the Nokia N97 coming out in June. At 520 Euro, not for the faint of heart but it certainly looks to be very capable with many smart usability features, slim formafactor, touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

You've heard of the iPhone App store right? Google had already recently announced an app store for mobile devices using their Android operating systems. Well, Nokia and Microsoft both announced their own equivalent stores at the show (Nokia's OVI Store, Microsoft's Windows Mobile Marketplace) and there are several others ones as well. These app stores are a real boon to entrepreneurs allowing many of to finally easily play in the mobile space. Though app stores are not new, they are a big deal.

This is the first time at Mobile World congress that I don't detect any true innovation or NEW theme. In years past it was the hope of WiMax, or femtocells, LTE and so on. This year, all of these themes remain but the clear one theme is "I want to be an iPhone" and very few phones come close, even if their features on paper beat apple by a long shot (better camera, FM radio, Flash, copy and paste ...). It shocks me that people forget that usability is king in this space, not features.

Having said this, there is something VERY interesting brewing under the covers. Check out my next post on that story.

Cheers,

Allan