“How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business” with Terence Finn CEO of Velotooler

As part of my series of interviews about “How to Use LinkedIn To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Terence Finn. Terence is the CEO of Velotooler and advises multiple startups on product and technology strategy. Velotooler is a software company that aspires to make bicycle ownership easy and more abundant by bringing bicycle mechanics to your home or office.

Terence is a two-time CTO, who has co-led product and run P&Ls. He has created new products that have generated more than 18 million dollars a year in revenue. He has built products for Cigna, Merck, Bosch and Anthem. And has worked for Sony, GE as wall as multiple smaller organizations.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My decision to join Velotooler was a multi-phase process. A little over a year ago, I met Yahor Buben and declined his offer to become an advisor for the company due to my lack of industry experience. But agreed to be a mentor for him. Several months later, I realized that I could add value as an advisor and so I did so. That is when I researched the company, industry and the opportunity in much greater detail. I got really excited!

Velotooler is a great product but that isn’t enough, there needs to be catalysts in the industry that support your growth. There are multiple catalysts that support what Velotooler is doing and we are well positioned to lead the industry change.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Well the story that comes to mind is related to my job search when I left GE. After 13 years in financial services, I felt a pull towards the mission of the healthcare industry. I was at a networking event and got into a conversation with the speaker. She asked me what I liked about financial services and I told her. Then she asked me what I liked about healthcare and I told her that as well.

She then turned to the room and said, ‘Does anyone else have goosebumps?!’ She then turned to me and said, ‘You need to go into healthcare. It is obvious that is where your passion is.’

Although I walked out thinking, well that’s easy for you to say, the healthcare industry is very difficult to get into. But I was able to do so and worked for two strong healthcare organizations over the next 5+ years.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

Although Instagram is our preferred solution for staying connecting with the industry, LinkedIn is the solution that has the most effective impact on revenues. Simply by allowing you to connect with decision makers in a way that would be nearly impossible otherwise.

I have used LinkedIn to successfully reach out to the CEO or executives at Google, Amazon, NYTimes, LinkedIn, and many others.

Let’s talk about LinkedIn specifically, now. Can you share 5 ways to leverage LinkedIn to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

1. InMail short, personalized notes — Please don’t send me (or anyone for that matter) a form letter. If you don’t have time to write it, I definitely don’t have time to read it. Tell me why you are reaching out to me specifically, and what your objective is.
2. Don’t sell, tell — I once wrote an InMail to someone and started the message with ‘This is not a sales message.’ Do your homework and then prove it with a message that tells me what problem you solve. If I don’t have that problem, there is no benefit of us talking further. BTW, that person responded to my note and the first thing they did was thank me for that message.
3. Connect slowly and intentionally — If you can’t reach out to someone on your network and ask them to help you, the connection provides no value to either of you. I need to be able to refer someone in order to connect with them. When I tell people this, they don’t think I’m a snob, they say ‘great, I want to be part of your network!’
4. Invest in your network — your network is the relationships you have and every relationship requires an investment of energy. Look for opportunities to help others, and to connect with members of your network that you haven’t talked to for a while. Yes, this takes time but is the relationship important to you?
5. Ask (and offer) help — I’m amazed by the number of people that are reluctant to ask for help. Most people are willing to help if a reasonable requested is made. At the same time, you should always inquire about what introductions or other help they would value.

I often save the last 5 minutes of a phone call that I’ve asked for in order to ask the person who is helping me, how I can help them. This is usually met with surprise and I usually need to clarify that I’m not asking them for a job but asking what I could do to return their kindness.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Well, I doubt this is the answer you are looking for but there is only one answer for me. That is the movement I’d love to see brought about is one in which people realize that their life has a purpose and that they are loved and sought after by a benevolent God.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

It would be a close call between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Both Amazon (retail/services) and Tesla (mobility) are innovating industries that Velotooler is a part of. There are some fantastic ways we could work together for mutual benefit. Jeff, Elon, if you are listening, I’d love to talk!

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!