TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to getting ahold of an appointment for your hair or another treatment…that’s a different story: The bespoke nature of a lot of the work has meant that a large swathe of the professionals providing these services have stayed offline when it comes to interfacing with customers.

Help 195

Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Over time you start to figure out who you customers are and how to sell to them or how to get them to adopt your products if you’re a consumer-oriented startup.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2016

For too many small businesses, customer service is still seen as a “burden.” Entrepreneurs don’t realize that this burden is actually costing them over $200 billion in repeat sales, according to a recent study by the W. These days, relationships and online reviews are key drivers for over 80 percent of new customers.

Customer 56

Customer Custom Startup Satisfaction 56

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. In today’s information overload, marketing is everything. Use every marketing channel available.

Product 95

Product Case Study Customer Custom 95

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). In the US alone there are 30 billion inbound sales calls every year.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2016

There are a few entrepreneurs who seem to always be ahead of the rest, and are able to sense where the market is going tomorrow. Maintaining that balance between doing good and doing business is a key to success that investors and customers watch carefully. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 05/11/2016.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Marketing Design Satisfaction 56

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. What are your specific marketing and sales plans?

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

socalTECH

DECEMBER 18, 2020

Our interview this morning is with Vahid Manian , the Chief Operating Officer of Morse Micro (www.morsemicro.com), a semiconductor startup which is developing chips for the Wi-Fi HaLow market. We are focused on developing Wi-Fi HaLow 802.11ah, which was solidified back in 2016. It's a new Wi-Fi starndard.

Startup 113

Startup Resource Southern California Marketing 113

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2017

Robert Blatt: We say to people that we do customer experience for multi-location brands. Our platform enables them to manage the digital representation of their locations, and engage with consumers in paid, social, and search, to improve that customer experience. So what does your customer look like nowadays? ,p>

Google 127

Google Paid Search Mobile Activity 127

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2015

As we went from a small band of missionaries hell bent on making our idea a reality, raising capital, getting press, and selling to customers – we were all having fun. We built a business with $36 million in bookings and real customers who relied upon our service. In other words, Why now?

Demand 150

Demand SaaS Startup Sales 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? Certainly that has been the strategy of many companies, and has worked in the past, but today’s customers and workers are looking for more.

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Customer Custom Social Media Competition 104

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). For growing revenue and market share, it’s a key element of your overall strategy, and one that can make or break you. In many product areas, especially retail, the channel is the market.

Pricing 54

Pricing Customer Custom Sales 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2016

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners.

Search Engine Optimization 57

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 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. We raised this capital in what has increasingly become a difficult market for fund raising so I’d like to share with you some details on how we get it done.

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Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2016

To win, you need to think outside the box to deliver a better customer experience, business model, and new positioning. It takes extra effort and focus on some special techniques, including the following, to get the edge you need over your competitors in customer attraction and retention: Set order-of-magnitude goals.

Ideas 103

Ideas Competition Customer Custom 103

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2015

A few weeks ago, Los Angeles-based enterprise expense reporting software maker Chrome River (www.chromeriver.com) took a significant venture funding round--worth $100M--to help expand the company's growth in the enterprise software market. However, our customers, even with Concur, find those solutions didn't meet all of their needs.

Software 100

Software Report Startup IBM 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

Some business successes can be attributed to luck, timing, or available funding, but in this case most agree that Gary was simply a marketing genius and he created his own market through creative advertising, emotional appeal and exclusivity. Similarly, mentioning viral marketing without specifics won’t assure fundability.

Ideas 53

Ideas Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 53

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. Market Size. MakeSpace provides physical storage.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

His focus is primarily on improving the results for traditional sales professionals, but I’m convinced that the same principles are equally critical for entrepreneurs selling their startup to investors, strategic partners, and customers. Marty Zwilling First published on Huffington Post on 09/24/2016.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 100

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

In 2016, that represented a couple of unique concepts. As time has gone on, the company then shifted into the ridesharing market, essentially operating as a car availability platform for Uber and Lyft drivers. One, was it allowed you to get a used car subscription with your phone. READ MORE>>.

Startup 124

Startup Pricing Platform Study 124

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

We got really serious after the success of that customer, who wanted to make this technology available for all of its employees across the globe. How is it your first customer was in Australia? Anne Fulton: I'm actually a Kiwi, a New Zealander, and all of our product and marketing is done out of New Zealand. versus New Zealand?

Help 100

Help Southern California Startup Technical Review 100

socalTECH

APRIL 21, 2017

For people who send things out, it's a chance to be in front of your customer. We're working with some very large, extremely well known CPGs to help them establish that direct selling channel, and help them create a relationship with their customer. So, we build that and started offering it to the market.

Startup 145

Startup Product Customer Custom 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

By profit, I simply mean offering a product or service to customers for a price that exceeds the total costs associated with the solution, thus providing some basis for recovering sunk costs and generating a return for stakeholders. Solve a painful problem for customers who have money to spend.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

I like his set of action items, and have added a few of my own for measuring early traction leading to growth: Turn initial customer goals into measurable traction metrics. These need to go beyond the traditional revenue, cost, and volume metrics which may not yet have data, and can mislead you about real customer acceptance.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2016

They don’t realize that strong team engagement leads to even stronger customer engagement, which can more than double your startup revenue and growth, according to experts. For example, TOMS Shoes matches every pair of shoes purchased with a new pair of shoes for a child in need, driving engagement for employees and customers.

Software Review 57

Software Review Satisfaction Startup Training 57

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth. Side Note : Upfront has hired Kerry Bennett as a member of our executive management team to run marketing – please follow her on Twitter here ].

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2016

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. On the other end of the transaction, customer support, returns, and transportation can add up. Failure to follow-up on customer receivables delays. That’s a win-win combination for everyone.

Startup 57

Startup Training Entrepreneur Customer 57

Xconomy

JULY 21, 2016

Ford Blakely, who was previously a business and financial consultant with LECG, founded Zingle in 2009 with a stand-alone device for restaurants, coffee shops, and other service businesses that enabled customers to use mobile text messaging for their take-out orders. Zingle (@ZingleMe) July 14, 2016.

Technology 40

Technology Santa Barbara Venture Capital Venice 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2016

Seek evidence of market opportunity to balance your passion. These days, there are over 150 credible market-research companies online sizing opportunities, including Nielsen and Gartner. Interact with real customers to validate passion in their feedback. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 01/01/2016.

Startup 62

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Statistics 62

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2017

exabytes per month at the end of 2016, of which half was video. There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers.

Startup 55

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 55

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

Harris writes: “The figures, dating back to 2016, paint a picture of a company desperate to meet over-ambitious autonomy targets and one that is willing to spend freely, even recklessly, to get there. Freight railroad owner Genesee & Wyoming is considering a sale of all or part of itself, Bloomberg reported. Take bike share.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

They know that showing market traction will attract big companies, like Apple or Google, who can easily overrun the best startup. Market is new or unproven, or your solution is 'disruptive.' When Facebook first started looking for investors, there was so social-media market. Go-to-market strategy is missing or not clear.

Funding 57

Funding Social Media Startup Patents 57

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

If you don’t yet have a hundred investors knocking on your door, it’s time to put more focus on viral marketing, closing customers, and exponential growth. The target market better be a big one, certainly over a billion dollars, with a double-digit growth rate, and large enough to absorb multiple entrants.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2014

zettabytes by the year 2016. There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers.

Startup 99

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Most begin by doing the product development, marketing and sales alone, but struggle making the transition to hiring and coaching others, defining repeatable processes and focusing on future strategy. Now you have real customers who can quickly turn off hundreds of potential customers if you ignore their feedback.

Social Network 59

Social Network Startup Demand Entrepreneur 59

socalTECH

MARCH 9, 2017

If you were a big company like Proctor & Gamble, for instance, you'd have a whole side of your business with IT, for your sales, marketing, and financial folks. It will cost you money, or people will steal your money, or it will cost you a customer. In the industrial area, they don't care about any of that.

Networking 124

Networking Startup Incubator Orange County 124