Invest Like the Best

Key Takeaways

“The founder has to be accountable for the story. The founder holds this secret knowledge and vision that other people do not.” – Lulu Meservey
Go Direct: If the founder’s secret has to go through seven layers of filtering before it is shared with the world, then it will become something that is already familiar to people and that already exists
The Core Ingredients of Founder Communications:
- 1. Have a willingness and eagerness to take on the company’s comms
- 2. Have a clear vision of the company’s goals
- 3. Know your audience
- 4. Reach people where they intellectually hang out
“Communication is a vector, not a scalar. It only matters if there is a direction attached to it.” – Lulu Meservey
Know your audience; if you are talking to the wrong people, then you would be better off talking to nobody because you may be making new enemies or unwanted friends
Do not worry about converting your haters into believers; doing so successfully is so rare that it is probably not worth your scare time
Know where your target audience intellectually hangs out so that your message can reach them in that medium
Do not worry about converting your haters into believers; doing so successfully is so rare that it is probably not worth your scare time
Craft your hook and know the erogenous zone of your target audience, then present them with a “gateway drug” that bridges them into the new world that you are creating

My guest today is Lulu Meservey. Lulu is the Founder and CEO of Rostra, a company that partners with founders to level up their communications around all strategic initiatives, from hiring to fundraising. She is also on the board at Shopify. I have been recently fascinated by the challenge of founders telling their story and Lulu is an expert in comms and a believer in creative problem-solving through effective communication and compelling storytelling. We discuss the evolution of media and its pitfalls, innovative methods for managing crises, and the power of going direct with your communication. Please enjoy my conversation with Lulu Meservey.

I’m excited to announce that we are hiring an Editor in Chief at Colossus. This will be a critical and central role in our growing media platform and in our quest to find and showcase the best people, businesses, and ideas in the world. This person will work on existing shows like Invest Like the Best and Founders, our soon-to-be-announced print publication, and more. We aim to be the dominant media company exploring business and investing frontiers, so this person needs to be obsessed with these topics and bring serious operational chops. I firmly believe this role can help define someone’s career. Go to joincolossus.com/eic to apply.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Show Notes:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best
(00:06:48) The Evolution of Media and Communication
(00:11:25) The Importance of Direct Communication for Founders
(00:20:20) Choosing the Right Partners and Clients
(00:25:20) The Art of Launching a Product
(00:34:01) Fundraising Tips for Entrepreneurs and Investors
(00:35:32) The Pitfalls of Inauthentic Fundraising
(00:36:05) Crafting a Compelling Macro Narrative
(00:37:54) Crisis Management Strategies for Founders
(00:42:41) Lessons from Counterinsurgency
(00:44:24) The Rugby Analogy for Founders
(00:49:34) The Power of K-Pop Marketing
(00:56:30) Vision and Future of Rostra
(01:01:17) The Importance of Direct Communication
(01:10:36) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Lulu