How to Leverage Cyberdust for your Startup

So last night I got retweeted by Mark Cuban. As a business student who is trying to start a business naturally I was stoked! I quickly started tell all my friends and family about what had just happened…and then I realized something… Mark retweeted me for a reason. Obviously what I had said/done had some significant value to a crowd Cyberdust was trying to reach out to. This was reaffirmed when several entrepreneurs started tweeting me, dusting me, and emailing me asking me how I got feedback on my startup, so I decided to help and gave them these tips:

1. Go to “discover”
2. Find categories that have to do with the nature of your startup or the “business” section
3. Add all the experts, investors, and possible users as you can.
4. Add a profile picture and tag line (they get a lot of questions this helps you stand out)
5. Personalize your message, research these people before reaching out to them and add it into your message. (Shows respect and that you care)
6. Be concise with your message..big time resources on Cyberdust… they are busy and don’t want to read a novel about your startup
7. Ask a question or two. DONT TRY TO GET THEM TO INVEST.
8. If they respond- thank them, and if they seem interested continue asking questions.
9. Not everyone answers… these people have lives! Don’t get offended, it doesn’t mean you have a bad idea…always. (conversely just because they responded doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing either)
10. No matter if it is Mark Cuban himself or Joe Shmoe give them respect. Everyone matters, everyone is a valuable resource.

After giving them these tips and a list of names to get started with on Cyberdust I had my second “aha!” moment. I had just developed a following from helping people. As someone who is a part of a team developing an app to help people in the startup community, I had just created our initial user base.

So in the grand scheme of things…

I reached out to knowledgeable people for help, they helped me and I expressed how thankful I was publicly. In return, that lead to other people in the startup community asking me for help on how to reach these same people. I was able to receive help and give help simultaneously, and this has now strengthened my network vertically. I was helped out by people who knew more than I did, and I helped them by driving followers and business their way. I helped people who knew less than I did, and they’ve began to help me plan how to approach our product development.

I’m not saying you’re going to be retweeted by Mark Cuban, Ryan Ozo, and Cyberdust every time you give Cyberdust a shout-out, but you can leverage this app by buying into the Cyberdust community going to them for help, and then helping them in return. If you have a startup idea ask the experts, recommend them to others and grow your personal networking influence and business.

Need additional tips? Add me on Cyberdust: +ScottMaronic