Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Document and communicate a solid business plan. These relationships must be nurtured over time, balanced against your personal life, and grow to include major customers, competitors, and potential acquirers. You may be comfortable driving your future based on vision and emotion, or have long been a stickler for details and metrics.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2011

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her new book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Customer 96

Customer Custom Search Engine Optimization Summary 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 1, 2021

For example, in a conflict over the right branding logo , it may help to understand who and how the ultimate decision will be made, including key elements driving the decision, such as targeted customers and competition. Don’t let it be just a conflict over graphic design. Evaluate conflict win-lose versus win-win potential.

Activity 145

Activity Organization Examples Satisfaction 145

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and business owners, I rarely find someone who doesn’t proclaim that the business world is changing rapidly, with new technology, new customer expectations, and new cultures. Others still routinely have phone hold queues for customer contact that can last up to an hour, with no alternative options.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

What used to be an “A” round in 2011 is now routinely called a Seed round and this has been so engrained that founders would rather take less money than to have to put the words “A round” in their legal documents. We can’t wait for customers to use the product for 12–18 months and do customer interviews or look at purchase cohorts.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Ideas 62

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Competition 62

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

“Sleeping giants do wake up,” I always say, to remind new business owners that nobody cares what you do when you are not a threat, but when you get some real traction with customers, competitors will come out of the woodwork with a vengeance. You need quantified value for customers to see, feel, and pay for.

Metrics 58

Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2013

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Startup 105

Startup Search Engine Optimization Summary Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2017

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her classic book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Search Engine Optimization 58

Search Engine Optimization Startup SEO Customer 58

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. In response he sent me a competitive analysis. It looked like every competitive analysis I had done for 20 years, (ok maybe better.)

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entrée on customers. This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Tips 93

Tips Search Engine Optimization Summary Startup 93

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on. This is the norm and unless you have a hugely competitive round it’s not worth fighting. If your metric move immediate up-and-to-the-right?

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Customer service and support. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entrée on customers. This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it. Make them “feel the love.”

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

After reviewing her day-by-day recommendations to improve productivity in a single week, I have extrapolated her guidance to ten productivity tips specifically for entrepreneurs to regain that competitive edge: Focus on managing yourself rather than managing others. Define clear goals and metrics for your productivity.

Tips 100

Tips Activity Startup Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation.

Startup 61

Startup Social Media News Tool 61

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Customer service and support. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

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

OCTOBER 12, 2010

That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth.

.Net 89

.Net Metrics Competition Template 89

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, angel investors, and institutional investors. Funding process.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, angel investors, and institutional investors. Funding process.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

There’s plenty of capital out there, but there’s also a lot of competition for startup funding. This can be a great way to test your product and get customer feedback. Y-Combinator’s SAFE (Simple Agreement For Equity) is a quick way to generate deal documentation, with very little downside for founders from Shayne’s perspective.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40