Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. entrepreneur startup self-aware positive business'

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Startup Press Coach 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2012

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. Redirect the conversation. Transfer responsibility.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Press Coach 104

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them?

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Tech.Co

JULY 12, 2017

In a press release The Disney Accelerator highlights the success of Sphero and announced: “They have a multi-property lineup for this year including the App-enabled Ultimate Lightning McQueen, the voice interactive Spider-Man, and more.”. “And Meet the 11 startups for 2017: Ambidio.

Artificial Inteligence 108

Artificial Inteligence Startup Entertainment Press 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them?

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. And Coach Campbell. I read Andy’s post with a knowing smile on my face. But VC is like congress.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. 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. Mentorship.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. I spent time on college campuses.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. Spending time selling to customers is the best way to find out what their problems are and how good your solution currently is at mapping to their needs.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. I spent time on college campuses.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

The new war for platforms has mostly been waged by Andreessen Horowitz who have raised astounding amounts of capital and therefore had the fees to put into providing more services for entrepreneurs. From an entrepreneur’s perspective we’re asked to assist in a lot of situations. Partner Leverage. Internal Operations.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We try to hire people who we believe will be upfront and respectful of entrepreneurs and know that it’s far easier to judge ones decisions on the outside than it actually is to have to make the tough decisions inside of a startup every day. A great leader knows customers and has direct relationships with them. Team Building.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Many business executives and entrepreneurs I know are convinced that business success is all about having the right solution for the right price. His 30 years of business and coaching experience bring credibility to his perspective. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Software Review 57

Software Review Technical Review Startup Press 57

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. If you use a publisher, they may add more visibility with press releases and book-signing events.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2019

Much has been written recently about the requirement to focus today on the total customer experience, as a competitive edge or even for survival. The challenge I hear from savvy business owners and entrepreneurs operating on a shoestring is that providing a superior customer experience costs money.

Customer 96

Customer Custom Coach Pricing 96

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. I doubt they’d be willing to press harder in questioning and/or be more attuned to negative signals that the reference might be implying but not actually saying. As an entrepreneur I have one company to sell.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

You Need to Find Your Mojo A Chip On Your Shoulder A few years ago I wrote a blog post on entrepreneurs with a chip on their shoulders. A chip on one’s shoulder as in, “F**k the system, it’s broken and I want to fix it” is exactly the energy I look for in entrepreneurs. I think it’s an important read.

Startup 150

Startup Press Entrepreneur Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. You’ll never make a great entrepreneur. So your journey to fund raising begins by strengthening your relationships with other entrepreneurs.

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Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366