Coping With Curveballs
Presenting a pioneering project is challenging when stakeholders expect certainty from the get-go, and all I can do is show up and answer all their questions the best way I can. But the truth is, I don’t always have the answers to certain questions – at least not this early.
If you’ve ever played baseball, you’d know how exciting it feels to see the round ball coming at you as you grip the bat and wait for just the perfect moment to swing and hit it with all you’ve got.
But what do you do in a game where the opposite team pitches you balls of various shapes and sizes, coming from all sides at diverse speeds?
That’s exactly how I feel each time I walk into a meeting to try and close a stakeholder for our project. Here’s a more recent example of when we pitched to a key potential real estate partner on a recent visit to Metro Manila, Philippines.
The tension started way before I actually got into the room. I had a previous meeting in Quezon City and was on my way to Taguig, two cities away, for the next meeting scheduled at 10:00 a.m. The distance between the two locations is around 20 km – a distance you could travel in 15 to 20 minutes, ideally.
However, my driver didn’t show up and I was running late. On top of waiting for the ride that I hailed on the spot, traffic flow was bad – Grab’s estimate was one hour and 15 minutes of travel time even through a highway.
Half an hour past the scheduled start of the meeting, I was trying to calm my nerves in the backseat of a car still stuck in a traffic jam. James*, the CEO of the real estate company, on the other hand, was getting impatient in the conference room.
“This is not a good sign. You’re supposed to be ‘courting’ us and yet you’re late. I have another meeting at 11 a.m.,” James told our operations manager, who was already at the venue.
As soon as the car stopped in front of the building lobby, I got out and made a beeline to the elevator. When I got to the conference room, I apologized for being late.
“Thirty minutes is too late for an apology,” James remarked. “Let’s start with the business model.”
James wanted to cut to the chase. I immediately grabbed a chair and put it close to the large screen on which the rest of the team had been waiting via video conferencing.
A Rainstorm of Curveballs
As a startup CEO, there are times when I must step up and bring my A-game, no matter how edgy the situation feels. This was one of those moments. My supposed one-hour window to get James and his peers on board was sliced off to less than 30 minutes, so I had to make the most out of every second.
Aside from James, the company’s construction and planning executive, Robert*was with us in the room. Other key officers involved in the company’s finances, project development, power engineering, data analytics, and commercial operations joined us via video call.
It wasn’t long before the slew of questions came rushing at me. They started with the real estate side, as it is, of course, their main expertise.
What will the value proposition be?
Who is the target market?
What will the capital expenditures be like?
What would you need from a real estate developer?
I discussed the three value proposition options for homeowners, the demographics of our target market, how we deal with CapEx, and what we expect from a real estate developer as a partner. As James dug deeper into what BillionBricks has to offer, he brought in his peers from the energy team to quiz me on the power side of the business.
How will the energy be regulated?
Who will be the energy offtaker?
Will there be one or multiple offtakers?
I answered each question honestly, and I didn’t sugarcoat that we’ll need to acquire a total of 124 permits for the project. James expressed his concern over the overwhelming work involved in permits alone, plus the implementation of energy regulation.
Are there existing case studies?
James liked our idea of having a cashback option; he said it’s valuable. But the more questions I answered, the more questions they fired back.
Where is the location for the proof of concept?
I mentioned the locations of provinces we’re eyeing near Metro Manila, which we chose for technical reasons––
Who will be your contractor?
I explained that we’re still looking for contractors with whom we can have a long-term partnership––
What's the test case?
At this point, I felt like a baseball batter hitting balls from multiple pitchers scattered across the field. About ten people – physically and virtually present in the meeting – flung questions one after the other.
How will we test the business model for only 20 houses?
Some people in the meeting were genuinely interested in the project and wanted to understand it more. Others, however, were merely trying to ask “tough” questions for the sake of doing so – probably to impress their bosses.
What does the house design look like?
The meeting came at a time when the company faced an existential crisis – we lost all our other projects and tried our best to find new ones. But I can’t let that show. No one will take the plunge partnering with a startup if they see a nerve wreck at the helm.
Is there a demand in that location for your type of home?
What’s your net income after taxes margin?
What will be the right-of-way for aggregation?
With all the confidence I could muster, I answered all of them, one by one.
Finally, the rainstorm of questions shushed down, yielding to James.
“Is their business model good-to-go?” James asked his company’s energy executive through the large screen.
Silence.
I’ve been here before – two potential partners backed out because their energy teams misunderstood the power side of our business and, therefore, did not approve. As I waited for the guy’s answer, seconds felt like hours. If this meeting was a baseball game, this last question was the make-or-break pitch. I watched the guy on the screen. He took his time to respond.
“Yes,” he finally answered in a voice much softer than the way he asked questions earlier.
I could hear crowds cheering in my head. Score!
“There’s a gap in the existing eco-friendly real estate model and BillionBricks can address that,” James announced to the room.
“Let’s set another meeting to discuss financials,” the CEO ended the meeting to jump on to his next.
It was 11:30 a.m. He stayed 30 minutes more than initially intended.
The Calm After the Storm
As the meeting concluded, I could finally breathe. It wasn’t a done deal yet, but it’s most certainly a win in my book – just an hour before, we were on the verge of losing this potential partner’s trust.
During meetings like this, I often have to bat questions from 10 to 15 people. Each of them has deep expertise in their area of work, ranging from marketing and sales to legal, construction, finance, and more. And as a startup CEO, I must speak all their languages well.
How do I do it? First of all, I answer honestly. If I don’t know something, I’m not afraid to say so. Second, I sometimes tell stories that illustrate my point and smoothly sway the subject to something I’m more familiar with. Third, I try to challenge the audience’s conventional way of thinking in the context of doing what’s right for people and the environment. Often, this makes them realize that their concerns are too small compared to the larger vision behind the project.
Last but not least, I try to be confident. I make it a point to maintain a straight posture and use hand gestures when necessary. I also bring in visual aids to wow them and make them feel that I prepared for the meeting. I use numbers they’re familiar with and show them that I know what I’m talking about.
Presenting a pioneering project is challenging when stakeholders expect certainty from the get-go. All I can do is show up and answer all questions the best way I can. But the truth is, I don’t always have the answers – having exact answers to certain questions about an unproven concept this early would simply mean that I’m bluffing, and I would never do that.
For instance, I don’t understand why someone from the real estate company had to ask about the sales velocity or how many houses we can sell in a month when, clearly, it was established that what we’re proposing is a pioneering project. Someone also had to ask about existing case studies; when, again, how can we provide that info if this is something new in the industry?
Though I have learned to be a batter who can tackle a team of 15, not all meetings end up in partnerships. Why? Because sometimes, those 15 people just don’t know how to make it happen. Sadly, they could be too constrained in their corporate environments or too focused on their key performance indicators and bonuses. Sometimes, they’re simply not open to innovative ideas and would rather stay in their comfort zones.
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On our way out of the building after the meeting with the real estate company, my team and I caught up with Robert in the elevator. He told us that BillionBricks is a good idea and advised us to pitch it to the Philippine government’s housing department, which aimed to build millions of homes in the following years.
It’s always been like that with potential partners – if they don’t have a myriad of questions to ask, they give us their professional advice. Both of which are, of course, great and insightful.
But once in a while, it wouldn’t hurt to see potential partners stop pitching curveballs or resist pointing us to another playing field. It would be so refreshing to watch them walk over, join the team and say, “Let’s do it. Let’s build the first net-zero community together, no more questions asked.”
*Names have been changed to protect people's identities
