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May 16, 2018 | Tom Ballard

ROTR Partner’s relationship with Chattanooga is special as is his advice

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA

David Hall, a Partner in the “Rise of the Rest” (ROTR) Seed Fund, felt right at home last Thursday when he and his colleagues stopped in Chattanooga on their five-city ROTR tour through the South.

After all, Hall has visited the city on numerous occasions since Sheldon Grizzle, Founder of the city’s well-respected CO.LAB, first invited him to speak during a “GIGTANK” program. It is a relationship that has been mutually beneficial to the ROTR Partner and Chattanooga.

Hall told a story of being ready to board an airplane to fly somewhere after being in the “Gig City” when he realized he had misplaced his cellphone. He said he tweeted Grizzle – no explanation of how that happened without his phone – and the response was, “Go outside and wait.” Within 10 minutes, someone drove-up to the main entrance to the airport and handed Hall the phone.

What’s the point? Relationships are clearly important, and one has to wonder if that incident helped earn Thursday’s stop on the ROTR tour when Chattanooga was one of the smallest cities among the 38 to be visited.

That’s not the only wisdom that Hall offered the attendees. He also provided some good advice to entrepreneurs about their business plans. Those thoughts were captured with four “S” words:

  • Short – no more than 10 to 12 pages.
  • Simple – don’t overwhelm the reader.
  • Sexy or sophisticated – use different fonts and numerous pictures, not just pages of words. “The presentation really matters,” Hall said.
  • Stands alone – The reader should fully understand your plan without you having to be there to explain it.

“It needs to convey the message to convince me to call the entrepreneur,” Hall explained.


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