Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Most schools have a rich pipeline of real-world executive volunteers available for mentoring.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. According to many observers , we can thank or blame technology for these higher expectations, providing information at the speed of light, leading everyone to expect more. Every job on your team drives your customer experience.

Custom 55

Custom Customer Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In fact, I think the evidence is clear that many entrepreneurs started their journey while still in college, and capitalized on all the resources there, before moving on: Extend your technology focus with business basics. He learned quickly that several pivots were required for business, legal, and customer acceptance reasons.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

While these investors, and early customers, will always argue that they found you, I’m convinced that there is no substitute for aggressive networking on your part. Ability to relate aspirations to customer needs. You need to show insights to real customers and their needs, that get beyond your passions and projections.

Startup 113

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Great marketing is required to generate revenue and grow every business, especially new businesses which have no brand recognition nor loyal customer base. Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Most entrepreneur that fail are quick to offer a litany of constraints that caused their demise – not enough money, time, customers, or support from the right players. Subtraction leads to simplicity, better usability, and easier education of your customers. Find new ways to augment. Create new kinds of solutions. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Workship - Mentor. Unlike the mentor, who is a coach and teacher, the advocate inspires you to be the best that you can be. The trailblazer is not overly competitive, but always is a few steps ahead and enjoys setting an example that you are inspired by, or motivated to follow. Workship - Advocate. Workship - Trailblazer.

Mentor 91

Mentor Competition Summary Coach 91

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. Just as Yves mentored me when I became his co-managing partner in 2011, he didn’t seek to ride off into the sunset either. So What Does All This Mean?

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.

Resource 121

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Custom 121

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

In this world of constant change, new technologies, and a thousand cultures, it’s evident and somehow comforting to me that the basic rules for business prosperity really haven’t changed in the last hundred years. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. Master-mind alliance. Applied faith.

Technical Review 119

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Custom 119

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. Today’s pace of change in the market and in technology is unprecedented. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility. Priority is placed on employee mentoring and coaching.

Coach 128

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2023

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Competition Press Commerce 82

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2022

In my years of mentoring and working with startups, I’ve seen and read about some amazing disruptions, as well as recoveries, and I’m sure each of you could add your own. Your biggest or only customer dumps you. Another disruptive technology trumps yours. Another disruptive technology trumps yours. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 98

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Mentor 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

These often lead to angel investors and venture capital investments later, or connections to local company venture funds for selected focus and technology areas. Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Most schools have a rich pipeline of real-world executive volunteers available for mentoring.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2020

Based on my experience and a business advisor and mentor, this is the ideal time to get back to the basics of business leadership and innovation. Elon Musk , as an example, is impressive in his broad knowledge and interest in electric vehicles, getting humans into space, and new energy technologies.

Mentor 122

Mentor Ideas Competition Examples 122

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2010

At VT KnowledgeWorks we screen prospective clients for their Market opportunity, for the Magic that they offer to their prospective customers, and for the Moxie displayed by the start-up team. There is a growing fellowship of special-case start-up programs operated by closely-knit, permanent groups of angel-mentors.

Incubator 80

Incubator Mentor Capital Startup 80

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2022

In my role as a business mentor and advisor, I now always look for a culture and recommend team roles that nurture collaboration rather than contention, communities rather than silos , and transparent communication at all levels. Discourage internal team competition and silos. Simplify the feedback sharing process for you and them.

Organization 105

Organization Mentor Startup Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2020

Workship - Mentor. Unlike the mentor, who is a coach and teacher, the advocate inspires you to be the best that you can be. The trailblazer is not overly competitive, but always is a few steps ahead and enjoys setting an example that you are inspired by, or motivated to follow. Workship - Advocate. Workship - Trailblazer.

Mentor 135

Mentor Competition Summary Coach 135

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

Organization 92

Organization Incubator Startup Resource 92

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Startup 134

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2020

In my years of mentoring and working with startups, I’ve seen and read about some amazing disruptions, as well as recoveries, and I’m sure each of you could add your own. Your biggest or only customer dumps you. Another disruptive technology trumps yours. Another disruptive technology trumps yours. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 133

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Mentor 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

The real value of a written business plan is that it forces you to think through all the elements of a new business in specific terms, to balance your focus on aspects you love, perhaps technology, and not overlook the ones you dislike, such as financials and hiring. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2022

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. Your character, as a business leader, will determine your perceived reputation by peers in business, team members, and customers. You can’t lead a business to success, if you can’t lead yourself.

Capital 114

Capital Coach Satisfaction Ideas 114

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Custom 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2019

Yet in today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, top notch sales and marketing skills are critical to the success of every business. Everyone inside your company, as well as potential customers, needs to be inspired by your message before they believe it. Stand tall - keep your fears and doubts to yourself.

Mentor 90

Mentor Startup Sales Examples 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

In this world of constant change, new technologies, and a thousand cultures, it’s evident and somehow comforting to me that the basic rules for business prosperity really haven’t changed in the last hundred years. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. Master-mind alliance. Applied faith.

Technical Review 126

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Custom 126

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built. It was a way to make it hard for your competition to compete. Ask Xi or Putin how that’s going for them.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2022

Yet, based on my own years of experience “in the business”, mentoring many entrepreneurs, and following stalwarts like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, even these potentially controversial mindsets ring true to me: All risk isn’t risky. Fire your worst customers. You are odd, and it’s OK. In fact, being odd is quite the norm.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Startup Custom Customer 117

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

Most of these are non-profits, set up by a university to commercialize new technologies, or a municipality to foster business development for the local economy. A few are still trying to make a profitable business out of nurturing startups, but it’s a challenge to make money when your customer startups don’t have many resources to give.

Resource 159

Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2022

Every entrepreneur needs this kind of focus to build a minimum viable product, target the right customer segment, differentiate from competitors, and drive business growth. Offense, for entrepreneurs, means leading with a new business model, new marketing, and new technology. Leverage the resources of mentors, investors, and peers.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Mentor Training 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

In my role as a mentor to business professionals and entrepreneurs over the years, I have found that it’s important to take a hard look at the relationships around you on a regular basis. But, like most other skills, you can learn from these priorities: Everyone benefits from active mentoring.

Tips 95

Tips Mentor Coach Activity 95

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Tech may be the tool, but hospitality – making life a little easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable for your customer, is the winning focus. Unfortunately, too many of the technical entrepreneurs I mentor and advise are focused on their technology, and assume that the value will be self-evident to customers.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Custom Customer 82

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2020

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I often feel the frustration of someone trying to build a startup in the wrong place and time, and wrongly attributing their struggle to personal limitations. You need partners, mentors, and investors who can complement your own resources to make it a win-win for all involved.

Resource 131

Resource Startup Capital Mentor 131