Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Product 95

Product Case Study Customer Custom 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. Investors are looking for a concise description of your product or service without technical jargon or fuzzy marketing terms with value quantified in customer terms. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 02/03/2016.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

We're really focused on the consumer getting the right car at the right price. In 2016, that represented a couple of unique concepts. There's real competition in this area. When I studied the landscape, it's clear that for our consumers, they are very price conscious. Brad Stewart: The company had two previous lives.

Startup 124

Startup Pricing Platform Study 124

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

Diagnosing and understanding the customer problem. This means all business people, especially entrepreneurs, need to get beyond the presentations and the experts, to actively listen to real customers. They need to ask customers the difficult questions, and really understand costs versus benefits, as well as competitive alternatives.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sales Startup Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2016

This confuses customers, and dilutes your marketing impact. You need a new and innovative addition to get customer attention, and stand out above competitors. Hone your definition of target customer demographics. Change competitive positioning and pricing to improve traction. Are you still hesitating?

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur Pricing Course Competition 57

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

million in funding on TechCrunch led by Harmony Partners and Upfront Ventures to double its footprint of 3 cities (New York, Chicago & Washington DC) to 6 in 2016. They have high-priced property and zero innovation. It tested our beliefs about pricing, products and marketing overall of our service. It worked perfectly.

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2016

The right channel for marketing and distribution is one of the basic “four Ps” of business (product, promotion, price and placement). The most common channels in use today include e-commerce, direct to customer, wholesale to dealers, and value-added resellers. Always use analytics and listen directly to customer feedback.

Pricing 54

Pricing Customer Custom Sales 54

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. But that’s harder to build in 2016 than it was in say 2005. The US market is worth more than $25 billion and Europe is the same.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

I believe that the resourcefulness to turn constraints into competitive differentiators and new opportunities is a trait that separates the great entrepreneurs from the “wannabes.” If you have a great product and need customers, find a partner with many customers who needs a new product. There is still room for many more.

Startup 57

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Outsource 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Lead with your intent to offer the solution free to customers. Of course, customers love free, but investors hate it. In reality, fundamental changes in technology frighten away more customers than they attract, and take longer and more money to come to fruition than any investors wants to commit. Skip the hype.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2016

For example, early social media startup Friendster was so enamored with their early acceptance that they turned down a $30 million offer from Google, then quickly ran into money woes and tough competition. An initial revenue surge, or a major cash advance from investors often leads to a mentality of building a large customer base at any cost.

Startup 57

Startup Training Entrepreneur Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2016

You will be controlled by your customers, investors, lenders – and you are personally responsible for answering to all of them, all of the time. They will get you interest from investors and lenders, and you will receive better financing, prices, terms, and conditions from business suppliers and professional services.

Startup 71

Startup Statistics Guide Entrepreneur 71

Xconomy

JULY 19, 2016

For 2015, there were 133 information security M&A deals, according to 451 Research’s Tech M&A Outlook 2016. As is typically the case in any industry, but even more so in security, larger companies with established customers and products typically innovate more slowly than startups that are not encumbered by a legacy business.

Symantec 40

Symantec IBM IBM Acquisition 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

It’s like trying to sell a home still being built at next year’s dream market price. First priority is real revenue, customers and contracts. Patents filed, even provisional, as well as trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets count as barriers to entry and sustainable competitive advantages.

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

Linktree leads the space, securing a recent $45 million Series B raise to build out e-commerce features, but Beacons boasts competitive creator monetization tools with just a $6 million seed round in May. Linktree has been around since 2016 and has more funding than its up-and-coming competitors. Image Credits: Snipfeed.

Platform 286

Platform Commerce Startup Tool 286