Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2022

I’m convinced that you can’t stay competitive that way with today’s customers, and today’s employees. It’s time to push decision making down into the organization –insisting that the people closest to the customer and the markets learn and make the decisions. Don’t demand or assume immediate and certain answers.

Competition 116

Competition Organization Customer Custom 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2019

Is your marketing focus product-centric or customer-centric ? With a wealth of products now available, customers look for the most memorable experience , not just the best product. Amazon is very customer-centric, but it can make all the difference in retail as well as online. Status factors are more important than demographics.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Metrics 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. I was impressed with the analysis and recommendation offered in a recent book, “ Trust the Plan: Demand Management For Business Leaders, ” by Greg Spira.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

As inflation rates spiral and consumer demand takes a hit, business owners are forced to be more mindful of their bottom lines than ever. It's competitive though – last year 18,000 applicants competed for only 12 slots. There's no denying that 2024 is a challenging year to run a business.

Technical Review 193

Technical Review Software Review Startup Competition 193

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2022

By default, innovation in every business decreases over time, and continuous innovation requires ongoing initiatives and measures of customer perceived value. Stroh, which details the principles and metrics to follow for fostering innovation in any organization. Recognize that customers care about the whole experience.

Metrics 102

Metrics Startup Organization Demand 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. Ask the right questions to identify the innate personality traits in potential new hires, regardless of level and function, to bring on board those most likely to succeed in and shape your organization.

Organization 128

Organization Startup Pricing Customer 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. That’s why I was pleased to see the balance on people versus process in a classic book on how to fix your organization, “ The Diamond Process ,” by Mike Diamond and Christopher Harding.

Coach 128

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2020

By default, innovation in every business decreases over time, and continuous innovation requires ongoing initiatives and measures of customer perceived value. Stroh, which details the principles and metrics to follow for fostering innovation in any organization. Recognize that customers care about the whole experience.

Startup 138

Startup Organization Demand Customer 138

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback?

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. Check for positive or negative news articles, press releases, relationships, and support of community organizations.

Technical Review 138

Technical Review Startup Innocal Offshore 138

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2023

They know these exceptional leaders seem to have a way of finding and enticing the best people into the organization, getting exceptional performance out of them, and fast-tracking their careers both inside and outside the organization. Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness.

Oracle 94

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding. Being reward-driven , you are driven to win money, customers, applause, and the admiration of others. This determined nature can help you accomplish great things in new organizations. Team members see you as the lifeblood of innovation in the organization.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. You can grow organically, or stretch out with big capital investments for volume and reach. Proactive marketing is a marketing strategy that focuses on one objective – to generate customers now.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2020

The result is that you often take a big financial hit, and lose key customers, before you realize that the change didn’t work. For example, several years ago Apple was so convinced that their new Apple III model would be a winner that they rolled it out broadly, rather than do a controlled release first with some key customers.

Sample 124

Sample Customer Custom Tool 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2019

I’m convinced that you can’t stay competitive that way with today’s customers, and today’s employees. It’s time to push decision making down into the organization –insisting that the people closest to the customer and the markets learn and make the decisions. Don’t demand or assume immediate and certain answers.

Competition 73

Competition Organization Customer Custom 73

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2022

Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Look critically at yourself and your existing organization for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Assess customer demand. Take inventory of what you have.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Training Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Balance of passion with reality and customer feedback. A strong vision and deep insight may get your business off the ground, but long-term success requires constant data analysis, metrics, and attention to your customer feedback. Ability to organize and motivate individuals into teams. Pay attention to all.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Bobbie One startup that's proved to have the formula for success this year is Bobbie – the first infant formula to be certified as organic by the USDA, and the fastest-growing product of its kind to enter the US market since the 1980s. Organic milk formula product Bobbie. Calendly calendar screenshot.

Startup 210

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

Yet all too many succumb to the pressures of survival, driven by demanding investors or a cutthroat competitive environment. When customers don’t appear as fast as the Founder projected, and cash runs short, everyone on the team starts to worry about losing their job. Have you checked the signs in your organizations lately?

Startup 128

Startup Social Media Organization Entrepreneur 128

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2020

They know these exceptional leaders seem to have a way of finding and enticing the best people into the organization, getting exceptional performance out of them, and fast-tracking their careers both inside and outside the organization. Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness.

Oracle 124

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding. Being reward-driven , you are driven to win money, customers, applause, and the admiration of others. This determined nature can help you accomplish great things in new organizations. Team members see you as the lifeblood of innovation in the organization.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 126

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. ” Case studies get done with ebullient CEO’s espousing the benefits of said software even though their organization was barely using the product. And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2015

Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. Ask the right questions to identify the innate personality traits in potential new hires, regardless of level and function, to bring on board those most likely to succeed in and shape your organization.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Pricing 117

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2022

Success in any business these days requires a constant flow of new and innovative solutions, to keep up with changes in the market, competition, and to attract new customers. In fact, people lower in the organization are often closer to the customer and have more insight into what works and what doesn’t.

Ideas 111

Ideas Framework Summary Organization 111

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

Apparently with a physical storefront where it can convince customers of the wonders of on-demand mobility. “You have to partner with local organizations both public and private, and real estate organizations because real estate developers are typically the most politically influential.”].

Santa Monica 221

Santa Monica Startup Technical Review Education 221

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. Although his focus is naturally on bigger companies, I contend that his recommended strategies apply equally well to entrepreneurs and startups: Demand a mindset of deep thinking for the long term.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2020

Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. Check for positive or negative news articles, press releases, relationships, and support of community organizations.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Funding Innocal Offshore 124

Southern California Edison Blog

APRIL 21, 2020

Network speeds are closely tied to an organization’s ability to stay productive and remain competitive and profitable at all times. Also, the increased frequency of video conferencing places high bandwidth demands on networks for extended periods of time. Struggling with slow or suboptimal network speeds for your organization?

Networking 75

Networking Organization Demand Activity 75

Southern California Edison Blog

JUNE 15, 2020

Telecom carriers require reliable networks to provide telecommunications services to their customers. Without the proper capacity or availability to carry the necessary traffic, telecoms will have trouble attracting new business and remaining competitive. What is a Carrier-Grade Network? Key benefits include: High availability.

Networking 54

Networking Company Companies Design 54

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2013

Even without B-Corp status, entrepreneurs are speaking out more on the positives to support business models that benefit not just shareholders, but customers, workforce, the environment, and the greater community. Startups can use social responsibility as a competitive advantage. Doing business is a human process.

Startup 101

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2019

The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback?

Startup 94

Startup Training Statistics Summary 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2019

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. That’s why I was pleased to see the balance on people versus process in a classic book on how to fix your organization, “ The Diamond Process ,” by Mike J Diamond and Christopher R Harding.

Coach 94

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

A theme I often hear from the entrepreneurs and startups I advise is that once they see that first surge of traction from customers, they can relax and enjoy life for a change. In today’s world of growing competition and customer evolution , holding your own, and growing to the next level is a constant challenge that can never be ignored.

Ideas 77

Ideas Customer Custom Competition 77

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2017

Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. Ask the right questions to identify the innate personality traits in potential new hires, regardless of level and function, to bring on board those most likely to succeed in and shape your organization.

Startup 59

Startup Organization Pricing Customer 59

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue press releases citing differences and attack the competition’s weaknesses in sales presentations. A healthy respect for your competition will serve you well.

Cloud Computing 320

Cloud Computing Competition Press Startup 320