Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Marketing should start before product development.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate change.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

I give a sneak peek at a blog post I’m writing on the topic next week. No problem to have some developers in remote locations. If you’re an entrepreneur, all else equal you prefer convertible debt because the deal is priced at a later stage when you’re worth more.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. . Will the public respond in numbers to buy, license or rent your offering?

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We talked with Noah about how the company grew out of a business plan competition at the University of Southern California, his recent funding from the Maverick Angels, as well as how the firm hopes to stand out among a crowded list of comparison shopping sites. We then went out to raise money, and got started on development.

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Sales people will often blame your pricing.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. Will the public respond in numbers to buy, license or rent your offering?

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In essence, as a contractor, you are a consultant who is competing regularly for new work, and you constantly have to differentiate your offering from other candidates, including price. Here are some key strategies that I recommend to every worker today: Develop and highlight your competitive differentiation.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

One of the pitfalls of optimism is the expectation for early customer growth, and understating the real costs of design, development, and inventory. Keep control by writing every check personally, and manage receivable and payables tightly. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves. The world today never stands still.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The VC market has right-sized (returned back to mid 90′s levels & less competition). Just 3 years ago there was talk of institutional investors “not being able to write small enough checks.” We’re all socially connected (so great businesses spread faster). Why is this? and hasn’t abated.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder. That''s essentially how the Tricoder competition was formed--it''s time for this to happen. It was announced in the 90''s.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. Could we produce this at cost? Would they build a world class team.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. Your competitive advantage. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2012

The product plan tells your developers what to build, and the marketing team what to market. Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model. Competition analysis. Development and rollout. Market research and competition.

Product 92

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 92

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2017

What we're trying to positions ourselves as, and it might sound touchy-feely, is a friend to app developers and app owners who have mobile applications. It seem that now, versus a few years ago, it's a lot more competitive to try to get out and acquire a user profitably for an app. That's really appealing for a lot of those developers.

Media 153

Media Mobile Startup Acquisition 153

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. I believe that. That’s fine.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Marketing should start before product development.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 105

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2012

My first job was as a page at NBC, and after that I went and did a year and a half of writing and production at MSNBC with Keith Olbermann and Chuck Scarborough. We somehow got on a conversation about shaving, and he mentioned the price of brand name razors. What's your background, and how did the company start?

Dollar Shave Club 210

Dollar Shave Club Startup Pricing Sample 210

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. Your competitive advantage. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition.

Summary 90

Summary Writing Competition Sample 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2011

The product plan tells your developers what to build, and the marketing team what to market. Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model. Competition analysis. Development and rollout. Market research and competition.

Product 93

Product Entrepreneur Outsource Development Competition 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

I must admit I discuss this very frequently with portfolio companies but hadn’t thought to write about it. Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners. So often exclusivity on mega deals is of huge importance to your potential customers or business development partners.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Metrics Marketing 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Many people start companies arse backwards.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. I don’t want to lose next time.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. I don’t want to lose next time.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. Market Size.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Marketing should start before product development.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 57

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

The sponsoring partner will be given feedback on what some partners don’t like about the team, the market, the product, the competition or the deal terms and that partner may have to answer back on those topics at the next partner meeting or maybe even just later that day (depending on time sensitivity of the deal).

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Startup Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

I remember just a decade ago in 2003 when we all laughed at how dumb people in the 90′s were talking about the race to “capture as many eyeballs as possible” before your competition. Should I write off my $2.5 You would figure out how to monetize later. I say ring the freaking cash register. I have said so for years.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Metrics 91

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. ” I know it sounds obvious.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. Your competitive advantage. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition.

Summary 55

Summary Writing Competition Metrics 55

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. People want to invest in people they trust – once you’ve made money for someone you can always go back, and even get better pricing. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. We helped the write out their requirements for a system.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 6, 2012

“Competition for the future is about what you are doing today,” Vijay Govindarajan preaches passionately from the stage at the front of the Metro Toronto Convention center on June 5th, 2012 at the Art of Leadership Conference. In the boxes he writes: 1. Manage the present. Selectively forget the past. Create the future.

Pricing 80

Pricing Statistics Examples Design 80