Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2010

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Portfolio pricing. Tiered or volume pricing. Competitive positioning.

Pricing 98

Pricing Product Startup Competition 98

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

Now these principles are complicated by the worldwide instant access to many competitive alternatives, indirect social and environment impacts, and the velocity of change enabled by the pervasive market move to digital. These principles include the following: Free and ultra-low cost may no longer be competitive.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 103

socalTECH

MAY 23, 2016

TrueCar said that Edmonds will help dealers across its network gain maximum value from the service. TrueCar has been in a big push this year to become more friendly to automotive dealers, many of whom have had a highly adversarial relationship with the company, due to its focus on price transparency and pricing competition.

Truecar 124

Truecar Marketing Santa Monica Pricing 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2017

Today’s world is full of metrics leading to business growth, including customer logins, revenue per customer, retention, and average solution price. Revenue and competitive position followed. Facebook’s winning strategy was a laser focus on increasing active user counts and time spent online.

Competition 65

Competition Social Media Metrics Customer 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

You have figured out how to undercut your competitor’s price, and still hold your margin. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. Working on that unique design, or completing the breakthrough for an innovative patent, are moments of inspiration that you will never forget, especially if they become your competitive edge.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

The firm’s portfolio includes Detroit’s direct-to-consumer plant startup Bloomscape , Chicago-based Paro , which provides a network of on-demand finance professionals, DC’s custom framing business Framebridge , Milwaukee-based monthly wine club Bright Cellars and New York insurtech company Policygenius. Revolution co-founder Tige Savage.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the cloud price wars have flared up once again. After taking a brief hiatus amidst nervous tensions, competition between cloud computing vendors has reached a fever pitch in the past month. The cloud price wars (sometimes known as the “Race to Zero”) aren’t exactly a new phenomenon.

Pricing 40

Pricing Cloud Computing Google Platform 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

Now these principles are complicated by the worldwide instant access to many competitive alternatives, indirect social and environment impacts, and the velocity of change enabled by the pervasive market move to digital. These principles include the following: Free and ultra-low cost may no longer be competitive.

Marketing 124

Marketing Customer Custom Competition 124

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. Here is my list of key drivers that I find critical to thriving in big businesses, as well as startups: Networking to build and maintain key relationships.

Startup 113

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2012

A satisfied customer is necessary, but not sufficient, to be a loyal customer who will come back repeatedly, refer their friends and family to you, and be faithful even when your price is not the lowest. Price was everything, and customers would switch suppliers for pennies. Provide stability in terms and prices.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Startup Competition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2023

Nearly all new businesses aspiring to reach meaningful scale require some sort of outside funding to finance a competitive growth trajectory. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA. True business titans deliver both invention and innovation.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

It makes logical sense to scour the job boards, engage an executive recruiter, or scan the networking sites like LinkedIn for a good array of candidates, and then interview the ones with the best resumes. But in fact, that’s just the beginning. This includes the tactical as well as the strategic. Communicate company values and culture.

Startup 163

Startup eHarmony Networking Guide 163

TechCrunch LA

MAY 20, 2021

Eano, she said, offers competitive and transparent pricing so that homeowners aren’t surprised as a remodeling project goes on. Image Credits: Eano CEO and founder Stella Wu / Eano.

Technical Review 185

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Software Review 185

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Networking to build and maintain positive relationships with the right people outside your company is something you can’t forget in the rush to get your new business going. For example, consider Whole Foods , whose focus on healthy foods and a sustainable environment is legendary, even though their prices are often a bit higher.

Marketing 116

Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2016

TrueCar said Menard will head up efforts to strengthen dealer relationships across its network. READ MORE>>.

Truecar 100

Truecar Sales Santa Monica Competition 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

Nearly all new businesses aspiring to reach meaningful scale require some sort of outside funding to finance a competitive growth trajectory. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA. True business titans deliver both invention and innovation.

Startup 171

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 171

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2012

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Portfolio pricing. Tiered or volume pricing. Competitive positioning.

Pricing 112

Pricing Competition Customer Custom 112

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

It takes a long immersion in the marketplace for someone to be a true insider, understand the subtleties of the competitive landscape, recognize the people who are true assets (independent of titles), and look through the propaganda of technical collateral and PR campaigns. The industry veteran. The financial suit. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 123

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

What is the idea behind the Tech CEO Network? The Tech CEO Network is there to fill the gap. It's trying to determine if there is a viable way to go to market, and also deal with competitive issues. That's why we're hoping that bringing domain expertise and an industry network will help facilitate that process.

Networking 215

Networking Research Startup USC 215

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2013

Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Every existing business, as well as every startup, needs to reassess their product or service in the context of these five forces: Intensity of competitive rivalry. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

Startup 80

Startup Framework Competition Pricing 80

Tech.Co

MAY 26, 2020

Suddenly, every other affiliate program and network out there is looking more attractive. And even better still, it offers a great deal for the publications who participate in the program, offering a competitive 8% conversion rate and an impressive 10% commission on each sale (more than double Amazon’s 4.5% eBay Partner Network.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 129

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

My advice is to build the relationship first through networking, and find some common values and passion, before assuming that money and experience will solve all potential partner differences. Today, customer loyalty is based on the “ total customer experience ,” as opposed to price or service alone. Pay attention to all.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

Now these principles are complicated by the worldwide instant access to many competitive alternatives, indirect social and environment impacts, and the velocity of change enabled by the pervasive market move to digital. These principles include the following: Free and ultra-low cost may no longer be competitive.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

One of the prices that you pay for being a CEO is giving up a lot of the social relationships within the company. Use social networking to improve your work relationships. Compounding these strategies in today’s startup environment are two divergent concepts: a heightened degree of competitiveness, and a greater emphasis on teamwork.

Startup 127

Startup Social Network Mentor Networking 127

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2014

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free, to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). In this more traditional product pricing model, the price is set at two to five times the product cost.

Startup 114

Startup Pricing Customer Custom 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2022

Today’s world is full of metrics leading to business growth, including customer logins, revenue per customer, retention, and average solution price. Revenue and competitive position followed. Facebook’s winning strategy was a laser focus on increasing active user counts and time spent online.

Startup 144

Startup Social Media Metrics Customer 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2021

Good examples of startup focus before success include Google with their search engine, Facebook with friends networking, and Apple with personal computers. Maintain an intimate knowledge of the competition. Avoid egotistical price wars and emotional outbursts, but make competitors think you are prepared to win at all costs.

Startup 154

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Metrics 154

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2013

Stephen Sesar: It's no major secret that telcos have been increasing their prices, and basically selling high volume wireless Internet packages to users, with 5GB or 10GB of data, when in reality, users are only using roughly 1.5 What's critical, is we don't run a network, install antennas, or build up a network.

Startup 245

Startup IP Networking Encino 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2023

The most elegant products have the highest price tags, thus limiting market size. Every customer has a sense of what a solution should cost, based on competition, and the cost of doing nothing. Entrepreneurs need to focus on selling each of the constituents in the chain, recognizing that more time and money are required for growth.

Case Study 89

Case Study Customer Custom Study 89

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. How do people drive SEO growth?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

Yesterday MiTú Networks announced that Upfront Ventures led a $10 million financing in what is now the largest producer of Latino online videos – primarily driven through YouTube. In food you have the amazing food network Tastemade – the Food Network of online video. I wasn’t. Why Double Down on YouTube.

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Build your own personal brand image through blogging, industry forums, and networking. Yes, there are a lot of bridges to cross.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

One of the key sections of any business plan is the analysis of the competition. Investors take that to mean either 1) there is no market for your product, or 2) you don’t understand the concept of business and competition. It will certainly also decrease profitability over time, as well as test your sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 86

Startup Competition Pricing Framework 86

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Raising a large round at whatever price will almost certainly take many potential buyers off the table.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

The most elegant products have the highest price tags, thus limiting market size. Every customer has a sense of what a solution should cost, based on competition, and the cost of doing nothing. Entrepreneurs need to focus on selling each of the constituents in the chain, recognizing that more time and money are required for growth.

Case Study 174

Case Study Startup Customer Custom 174

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2011

With the proliferation of social networks, communications clients and VoIP phone services, users often find they need to use multiple ways--Twitter, Facebook, phone, FAX, and more--to communicate with their contacts. Essentially what VoxOx is, is a service which logs into all of your networks. It is a competitive environment.

Social Network 259

Social Network Platform Networking Google 259

socalTECH

JULY 11, 2012

What does social networking have to do with the stock market? The two things that are mostly lacking from people's investment experience are the lack of a wide network of people to refine investment ideas with, and the best available content about companies they are considering investing in. What is Stockr all about?

Social Network 239

Social Network Startup Networking Content 239