Have you ever tried to explain your company, product or service to an expert? Someone who has deep domain expertise; who knows your market, the key players, the competing products and customer needs? Maybe he was even a potential funder.
It was hard or even impossible, right?
Here is why:
As Leo Tolstoy so eloquently wrote in 1897:
“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
For this very reason it is typically much easier to convince people who are not domain experts about your company. With that being said — you don’t want “slow-witted” men either…
In all my years I found the most fruitful, rewarding and interesting discussions were those with folks who are insanely smart and brought a different perspective to the table as their area of expertise was outside of what I was doing.
I also found that I could solicit better interest from investors who had some, but not a deep, domain expertise. As the latter know all the reasons why your startup will fail while the former can see the genius in your unique approach.