Joe Loong: So, how’s it going?

Rob Neelbauer: Going good so far, everybody seems to be having a good time.

How long have you been doing Matchbox?

It started January 2008.

Can you talk about the evolution between Job Matchbox and Social Matchbox, or is it all the same thing under different brands?

That’s a good question. We started off as a startup job fair. We had a jobs list, and a Job Matchbox that corresponded with that. Companies came, they wanted to talk about what they were hiring for, but then they also wanted to show off what they were doing.

So we gave them a mike; the presentations got better; companies got funded; their presentations got even better; and it’s just evolved. Now it’s a lot more presentations, with some good networking because of the peer community.

How have things changed in the current economic climate — in terms of what you’re seeing from the companies that are presenting.

The bigger companies aren’t here — and by bigger companies, I mean if you’ve got $30 million in your bank from investors, you’ve been laying off people to save that $30 million, because you’ve been hiring so many new people. Now those companies are laying low and trying to survive.

You have a lot more early-stage companies; people, a lot of them have been laid off, and a lot of them have severance packages and more free time on their hands to pursue their ideas. Or maybe now it’s just their time. So you have a lot of those sorts of companies presenting.

In terms of the evolution of the matchbox, where do you see it going? Are you trying to branch out a little bit, or are you going to keep it focused in the DC area?

When we first did it, the farthest away we had a company from was Silver Spring, and we were holding it in Fairfax. We’ve moved to DC, and now we’ve got companies from Baltimore and Annapolis. Maybe we’ll have a company or two that comes in from Philadelphia next. We’ll see. We’re not trying to make this the next TechCrunch 50 or something (laughing)

Well, Arrington probably needs someone to keep him honest… So where does Social Matchbox fit in with other tech networking events, and what are some of the differences that set it apart?

You go to Frank’s event [Tech Cocktail] and it’s a crowded room of people in a bar — you’re elbow to elbow, you can’t hear each other very well…

Sure, so here this is an explicit presentation / whatever opportunity, instead of just rubbing elbows in a bar somewhere…

It’s part that, but I think the bigger thing is that it’s not just a sit and conversation-friendly zone. The “speed dating for geeks” concept that we use and talk about all the time; it’s about that — making peer-to-peer conversations. The people who come to this are all makers. Whether they’re building things, they’re engineers, or they’re designers designing things, or the entrepreneurs building a business plan, they’re the people that are building and making things. So it’s kind of a makers’ meetup — a makers’ user group.

And that’s one of the other things that’s different about this and other events — you don’t have to worry about being hustled by a troupe of salespeople, or a troupe of staffing agency recruiters, people who are there to take you and make you a client.

So you’ve got startups and developers here who are looking for help like that, for marketing help…

Well, for that they can go to any networking event. This is more: You meet other peers, people who are developers, who are entrepreneurs that are building things. These people are going to talk to each other, of course, and when they talk to each other ask, “Who should I call for marketing?” “Who should I call for recruiting?” “Who should I call for sales?” — that’s the natural thing that’s going to come out of that conversation.

But it’s not here that they need the sales rep or the marketing consultant.

Last question: So, are you going to formally adopt “speed dating for geeks?” Everyone uses it…

Maybe (laughing)

Many thanks to Robert Neelbauer and everyone who attended and participated in Social Matchbox DC.

The event is put on by Robert Neelbauer who runs JobMatchbox.com which is a job recruiting site and is based in the DC area. It is essentially “speed dating” for startups to present their idea, say what kind of talent they are looking for and network with those looking for jobs at a startup.

It is a nice change from the tech council networking events where startups are almost non-existent and government contracting is the topic of almost everything. It is part of the cutting edge startup/web 2.0 scene that makes up what the Washington Post calls a “Twin Tech Town” with the other half consisting of the big government contracting companies. Many familiar faces in the DC tech scene where there including our own Social Media Swami, Shashi Bellamkonda, who took some great pictures which are in a slide show below.

The list of who presented had some familiar faces but many were new and their demos/presentations were all over the place in terms of style and content. Here is the list of those who presented:

- Clearspring
- AddyMate
- 100 Dimensions
- emPivot
- Contribune
- folioFN
- Freewebs
- Hireworx
- Hotpads
- iBelong
- Innovative Query
- MixedInk
- OurCoupleSpace
- Positive Energy
- Razoo
- ScriptAct
- ShareMeme
- Ubernote
- Viscape

It reminded me of the time when I was raising money for a previous startup and my work on the venture pitch. It had to be honed and scripted and tight (usually with a time limit). This event had companies whose presentations where all over the place in terms of style, content and quality. So many people have great ideas but they sometimes have a hard time communicating to the public their concept to get people excited about joining or funding their company. This is on the heels of Jason Calacanis’ e-mail to his followers about getting ready for their TechCrunch50 conference which is a direct competitor to the DEMO conference.

Now I am not here to praise or bash particular companies that presented nor do I want to be the Simon Cowell of judging presentations, but I thought it would be good to give those small business readers out there a top 10 list of things you should know if you have to present your business to people. Let’s get started:

1.) Know your audience - Are you raising money? Attracting talent? Selling to potential customers? Tune the presentation accordingly

2.) Show your product in the first 60 seconds – This is from Jason’s list and it is critical you show people you actually have something. The best presentations of that event were where the team dove into the product to wow and amaze people.

3.) Take less that five minutes to demo – Again, from Jason and it is important because you don’t want to show them every single feature and have their eyes glaze over

4.) Leave them wanting more – This follows up Jason’s previous recommendation because if they like it, they will reach out to you and it will be up to you to reel them in.

5.) Use the 10-20-30 rule – This Guy Kawasaki’s rule from his book “Art of the Start” which should be required reading for any entrepreneur. It is essentially 10 slides, 20 minutes and 30 point font. Easy to remember, hard to actually do.

6.) Don’t use just bullets! Mix it up! – Bullet presentations are weak and most people read the slide. Incorporate pictures, graphics and keyword text to get your point across.

7.) Know your market inside out – Don’t do the “It’s a $1 Billion market and we will get 1% of it”. People will throw you out. Investors will want to know that you understand how the market is comprised, what really you are a part of and how much you can reasonably acheive.

8.) Know your competition inside out – Investors and customers want to know it from different perspectives but in the end they want to know that you have done your homework and have a product that is better than anything out there on the market today and the foreseeable future.

9.) When you don’t know something, be honest – I have seen people make stuff up on the fly or say “we can do that” when there no way they can. If you don’t know something say “let me think about that for a minute” or “I don’t know at the moment but I can find out and get back to you”.

10.) Practice, practice, practice – You would think this last one would be obvious but many people spend so much time working on the presentation they never practice it and go in cold turkey. Their speech sounds studdered and their transitions are clumsy. People may think that if you can’t do this well, how good is your product and can you really do what you say you can do?

This list could probably grow to +100 tips but I recommend everyone to read sites like PresentationZen.com for tips on general presentation style. So get started. The only way you are going to get better is if you get out there and start doing it.