Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Usually it pays to move a startup slower rather than risk relationships. Many times friends and family have been broken by failed investments.

Funding 57

Funding Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2016

In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground. Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first.

Startup 58

Startup Examples Mentor Activity 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2016

Take an honest look at your motivation, resources and relationships before initiating a startup. No amount of passion and startup planning will make everything work exactly right the first time. Interact with real customers to validate passion in their feedback. Interact with real customers to validate passion in their feedback.

Startup 62

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Statistics 62

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2016

In reality, that’s the definition of a successful startup these days, so every aspiring entrepreneur should take note, as well as every existing corporate executive. These could include customer penetration, revenue growth, budget guidelines, and industry visibility. Entrepreneurs who prefer to work alone have a hard road ahead.

Startup 56

Startup Metrics Entrepreneur Resource 56

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2016

Maybe it’s for this reason that as professionals advance in their career, they tend to start asking fewer questions and providing more answers. This question-based leadership approach starts with humility and a firm belief in the old adage, “There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.” Leaders grow through relationships.

Coach 64

Coach Satisfaction Organization Activity 64

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2016

In my years of business experience as an employee, a startup investor, and an executive, I have seen a host of reasons for these results, including: People work more productively on things they love to do. Constant stress, tension, and unhappiness causes people to withdraw and reject new customer ideas or solutions.

Satisfaction 59

Satisfaction Study Product Class 59

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Many entrepreneurs are so passionate about their new startup idea that they can’t believe any intelligent being, investor or customer wouldn’t react just as excitedly after a quick introduction. You have to persuade the right partners to join and build the solution, the right investors to fund it and the right customers to buy it.

Ideas 56

Ideas Study Entrepreneur Customer 56

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Whether you are starting a paper route, or commercializing a complex technology, the same basic principles of success apply. Although just seventeen years old, Patel has some great insights that I can extrapolate for every aspiring entrepreneur to answer the most common question I get as an advisor and mentor – “Where do I start?”

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Social Media Satisfaction Customer 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2016

It’s no wonder that half of startups fail in the first five years , and an even smaller percentage ever see a return for their years of effort. Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. Quick to hire and slow to fire.

Organization 57

Organization Entrepreneur Satisfaction Screening 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2016

It comes with the territory, and includes cash-flow challenges, fickle customers, belligerent investors and unpredictable economic downturns. The best entrepreneurs tackle these one at a time without losing their stride or their passion and many secretly get their highest satisfaction from overcoming an impossible problem.

Satisfaction 59

Satisfaction Activity Entrepreneur Competition 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2016

Until a new brand has national recognition or high promotion, it won’t be found or used by local customers or out of town visitors. You need metrics to show dominant penetration of the relevant customer demographic, added value over existing media, and real customer testimonials of value. Anyone can do it.

Advertising 63

Advertising Content Social Media Satisfaction 63

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2016

Maintaining that balance between doing good and doing business is a key to success that investors and customers watch carefully. They have to ability and patience, as well, to communicate and awaken customers to a need never felt before. They get their satisfaction from the journey, as well as the destination.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Marketing Design Satisfaction 56

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2016

Whether it be in a startup or a large enterprise, everyone can name those few individuals who stand out as unstoppable, and always seem to be in the forefront of results. One of the best antidotes to procrastination is setting up a personal reward system for results, not tasks. Marty Zwilling First published on Forbes on 08/27/2016.

Resource 62

Resource Entrepreneur Examples Satisfaction 62

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

These are the endless stream of email, phone calls, and daily crises which prevent really important accomplishments, like closing customers. Start each day with the highest priority task you need done that day, and leave the emails and phone calls till the end of the day, if you have time. Rest makes you more productive.

Tips 100

Tips Activity Startup Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

No consideration can be given to experience running a startup, breadth of skills, or even thinking like an entrepreneur. Like startup investors several layers deep, parent company executives often demand approval rights and exert their power, without understanding the issues of starting a new business.

IBM 85

IBM IBM Entrepreneur Technical Review 85