Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground. Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first.

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Product Examples Mentor Activity 129

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Take advantage of free startup programs and mentors. They provide peer group organizations, usually called incubators, with free resources, practice environments, and outside mentoring that can help you learn and pivot with minimal cost. Write a business plan and pitch deck for learning.

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Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2021

For example, a couple of years ago, Starbucks' CEO Kevin R. The most effective leaders marshal existing resources and incent people to create innovative yet competitive solutions. True leaders don’t let their ego or competitive nature create a façade. That means accepting coaching and seeking mentoring, as well as giving it.

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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. For example, I’ve always been impressed with how improvisational comedy never loses its positive impact, no matter how controversial the subject matter.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. It takes a wealth of hungry buyers to sustain a great business idea.

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Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2023

In my opinion, great examples in today’s entrepreneur world include Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Richard Branson (Virgin Group). Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness. They mentor protégés on talent spotting, creativity, and motivation as well as strategy. Take chances on unconventional talent.

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Oracle Organization Examples Coach 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2021

For example, a couple of years ago, Starbucks' chief executive officer, Kevin R. I often think of the scope of this example in my role as mentor to a struggling entrepreneur who is quick to blame his problems on employee mistakes, or even changing customer expectations. Don’t wait for a crisis to test accountability.

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Training Examples Startup Social Media 173

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

For example, I’m an introverted product guy who doesn’t care so much about building the personnel relationships needed to keep a motivated team. The competition will improve, the market will change, and your customers will demand more. If you do it right, you have a huge opportunity for long-term success.

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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.

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Mentor Competition Summary Coach 135

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Access to entrepreneurs-in-residence, business mentors. Most schools have a rich pipeline of real-world executive volunteers available for mentoring. These also get used for guest lectures in business classes, judges for business plan competition, and introductions to accredited investors.

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Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2023

For example, if you are an entrepreneur seeking investment or a cofounder, there is no substitute for networking at industry and startup conferences in your area. Effective networking can also lead you to great coaches and mentors, as well as business and customer connections.

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Networking Mentor Conference Summary 104

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2021

In these days of rapid change, the pandemic, and worldwide competition, you need to make sure your entire team is customer-focused, innovative, and always looking around the corner for the next big thing. Find folks who are customer-centric and sensitive to competition.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

For example, even though Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook as an innovative product, most experts believe it was successful due to his relationship with Peter Thiel and other top VCs that he convinced to invest early. They mentor each other, and seek out experts in domains outside their current expertise and experience.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. The smart ones were already working on new features, and able to counter competition quickly.

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Marketing Customer Custom Outsource Development 133

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.

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Entrepreneur Competition Press Commerce 82

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. For example, I often cite the case of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer , who grew Microsoft together. I have tried to convince him the general idea alone does not make a business.

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Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). Wonderful human being who is civically engaged, mother of 3, mentorer of younger founders, hard worker and arguer extraordinaire (so says her current Twitter bio). She is a coach and mentor to team members.

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Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

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. For example, I often hear from aspiring entrepreneurs that “I had that idea first, and he stole it, and is now making money on my idea.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Enlist a mentor and advisor who is not a ‘yes’ person. Do in-depth research on relevant startups and leaders.

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Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Thus, in my role as mentor to young entrepreneurs, I always recommend that you first take a hard look at your own values and priorities, before jumping into any new startup, as the founder, or even as a side hustle. For example, TOMS shoes agreed to donate a pair of shoes to the needy for every pair sold.

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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. For example, if they show a passion for fitness and life balance, highlight how your solution shortens the time and pain of solving their business problems.

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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.

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Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Many entrepreneurs I have mentored make big mistakes in this area, by hiring low-cost friends and family, with minimal skills or training, and expecting them to have the same work ethic , passion, and business knowledge as the founder. In addition, you can reduce to soft costs of mentoring, relationship building, and socializing.

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Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2020

In my opinion, great examples in today’s entrepreneur world include Elon Musk (Tesla), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Richard Branson (Virgin Group). Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness. They mentor protégés on talent spotting, creativity, and motivation as well as strategy. Take chances on unconventional talent.

Oracle 124

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

For example, we all know people who really believe that everyone in the world is their supporter, when in fact many are actively working against them. 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.

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Tips Mentor Coach Activity 95

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2022

Whole Foods , for example, has built their business with a commitment to natural and organic foods, and have a culture of loyal employees and customers, resulting in 500 stores worldwide. Your role is to provide this enablement, through listening to their needs, and providing personal coaching and mentoring as required.

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Product Training Customer Custom 109

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.

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Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

For example , when Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, his real goal was building safe products to help the environment. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring. He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world.

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Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2021

As a long-time business advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs, I’ve always been impressed with the few who seem to always come out ahead, no matter what the challenge. Your strengths are your real competitive advantages, so focus on them. It seems to be more a function of mindset and principles, more than education or natural ability.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2023

But there are notable examples of for-profit incubators that are thriving, including YCombinator , led by Paul Graham in Silicon Valley, and TechStars , led by David Cohen and located in several key cities around the country, that have an excellent reputation and track record. Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts.

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Organization Incubator Startup Resource 92

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Based on my recent experience as an angel investor, and advisor to new business owners, I now recommend that all entrepreneurs, especially introverts, learn and practice the discipline they need to build and nurture relationships with key constituents through the following activities: Formalize a mentoring relationship with someone you trust.

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Entrepreneur Mentor Activity Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Thomas Edison is a classic example. Don’t be hesitant to use coaches, mentors, and other resources to test and improve your image by others, and your perceptions of business realities and biases. The business world today is very competitive, and customers are more and more demanding.

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Startup Satisfaction Summary Coach 122

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Unfortunately, many aspiring leaders I mentor are not aware of the signals people are looking for, or are not attuned to the subtleties of their own actions. For example, measuring marketing team members on sales leads may not get you the revenue growth or trust you expected. Show humility while acting as a mentor and coach.

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Mentor News Summary Coach 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2022

But the more you get involved with mentoring and training, the less time you have to enjoy the creative process. Even a successful bigger business will bring additional responsibilities, new competition, and more demands on your time. For example, a whole new level of communication skills is required.

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Satisfaction Training Customer Custom 92

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

In my experience as an advisor and mentor, I have assimilated the following most frequent negative reactions from others to your ideas, with my own suggestions and feedback from other experts on how to counter them, build your credibility, and be more productive: The implementation does not fit the way we do things.

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Ideas Netflix Resource Customer 116

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

But there are notable examples of for-profit incubators that are thriving, including YCombinator , led by Paul Graham in Silicon Valley, and TechStars , led by David Cohen and located in several key cities around the country, that have an excellent reputation and track record. Mentoring and technical assistance from volunteer or paid experts.

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Resource Startup Incubator Seed Funding 159

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves.

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