Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2019

Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and technology is, but never gets around to defining the problem (investors call this the “solution looking for a problem” syndrome).

Startup 80

Startup Ideas Competition Demand 80

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 23, 2019

How to Deal with Electronic Distractions Of course the biggest competition you have with the attention of your board members is their mobile phones. Be super polite and not aggressive and simply make the point that you really want the most productive time from your board members. Most likely you’d be wrong.

Slides 275

Slides Email News Startup 275

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. Include your sustainable competitive advantage. Professional investors look for the right people more than the right product.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

In most cases, I provide some combination of the following advice: Brevity - Maximum length: two pages. Hopefully this straightforward format will help you avoid overly obtuse verbiage, while keeping your executive summary to two pages. Competition. Entrepreneurs routinely seek my advice regarding their executive summaries.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2014

Sponsored by VISA Business Running a small business as an entrepreneur is a never-ending challenge of new products, customers, competitors, and an unpredictable economy. A good entrepreneur feels the incentive to offer a new service/product that no one else has offered before. Beat the competition. The cycle never stops.

Startup 92

Startup Tips Satisfaction Entrepreneur 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. A hard look will be taken at the technology maturity, the current development progress, and customer satisfaction with early product shipments. Status of the solution. In addition, manufacturing and inventory levels will be reviewed.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

In that critical first minute, no one needs to hear that you have a passionate dream of changing the world, introducing new disruptive technology, or a product with more features than competitors. Focus on quantifiable and relevant specifics, such as “reduces your cost by 40 percent,” or “increases productivity by 50 percent.”

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. It usually implies an opportunity to win big, like a lottery, or experience something sensational, like an incredible video or free product.

Marketing 107

Marketing Invest SEM Startup 107

Southern California Edison Blog

APRIL 21, 2020

Network speeds are closely tied to an organization’s ability to stay productive and remain competitive and profitable at all times. In a world shifting to a work-from-home reality, employees using VPNs to access secure data remotely require networks with enough bandwidth to prevent slow page speeds and general downtime.

Networking 75

Networking Organization Demand Activity 75

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2013

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on paid search results (appear on the first page of search results, right hand column, despite low SEO rank). This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Cost per click (CPC).

Paid Search 90

Paid Search PPC Organization SEO 90

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. Or take a look at their team page to get a sense of why we were so inspired by their vision for the future. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2012

Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and technology is, but never gets around to defining the problem (investors call this the “solution looking for a problem” syndrome).

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Ideas Competition Startup 102

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

The elevator pitch should be the first few paragraphs of your business plan, your executive summary, your investor presentation, and the first page of your web site. Unlike [competition], we [differentiation].” Here are some additional recommendations to increase the impact: Describe your product or service. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” Our product is truly disruptive technology.” Our patent will protect us.”

Patents 90

Patents Competition IBM IBM 90

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The lessons learned by Divshot confirm that obtaining, and more importantly maintaining, visibility on the front page of a major social news site results from the congruence of three factors: audience, timing and engagement. If we hadn’t done well on Hacker News we would have needed to have some serious product/market fit discussions.".

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. I have seen really great product people espouse the death of the business plan. Do so at your peril.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. We started building the product 18 months ago so we are in better shape than 99% of start-ups. Page 1: Market Size. $3 I hadn’t thought about the fact that he would become aware of my link. I was wrong.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2017

Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and technology is, but never gets around to defining the problem (investors call this the “solution looking for a problem” syndrome).

Ideas 55

Ideas Startup Competition Demand 55

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2013

Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and technology is, but never gets around to defining the problem (investors call this the “solution looking for a problem” syndrome).

Ideas 99

Ideas Startup Competition Demand 99

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2011

Gordon Gould , the co-founder of SmartPants, talks about the company and how it's applying what he learned founding ThisNext and from a long experience in the social media market to the consumer products goods area--what he describes as Brands 2.0. First, talk about what SmartPants Vitamins are? We give it to our own kids.

Web 225

Web Social Media SEO Media 225

Tech.Co

AUGUST 1, 2017

Once a novelty act reserved for indie band albums and curious art projects, crowdfunding is starting to play a major role in the world of startups and new products. Your campaign page should clearly highlight your track record, what you’ve already put in place to make your vision a reality, and why you are the one with the skills for the job.

Startup 93

Startup Social Media Tips Ideas 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches?

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. Sales data needs to be correlated to advertising campaigns, price changes, seasonal forces, competitive actions, and other costs of sales. Operating productivity. Size of gross margin.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

Tech.Co

JUNE 23, 2015

In a continual effort to stay ahead of the competition in this market – which by a large stretch is mostly uncharted territory for startups – Hang w/ recently turned to the power of YouTube. The team built a ‘Share to YouTube’ button that lets users post their video straight to their personal page with the touch of a button.

Social Media 88

Social Media .Net Platform Media 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 6, 2011

Pull Quote: “If you are smart, competitive, hard working and passionate about what you do you will have the best experience of your life. We all make important, complicated decisions in our life and having accurate, objective data about our choices allow us to find and compare products that meet our needs. How do you stand out?”.

Entrepreneur 232

Entrepreneur Competition Software Review Course 232

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Their computers then cleverly merge your ads with search results only when users search words imply an interest in your products. If you sell widgets, and a user is searching for widgets, your ad will appear on the same page as the search results for widgets. This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Marty Zwilling.

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I recommend a pitch deck with about 10 slides backed up with a written business plan of approximately 20 pages, both containing quantified answers to the following key questions. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Solution product & technology. Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs.

Slides 99

Slides Competition Sample Sales 99

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

The elevator pitch should be the first few paragraphs of your business plan, your executive summary, your investor presentation, and the first page of your web site. Here are a few thoughts to help you get started: What is your product or service? Briefly discuss who you are selling the product or service to. Who is your market?

Startup 93

Startup Competition Summary Patents 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

Last year at this time I spoke at VidCon and gave this presentation in which I said YouTube was “the Walmart of Online Video” but I also commented that I felt YouTube was vulnerable to competition because their rev share to MCNs wasn’t high enough to allow MCNs to build a profitable business inside of YouTube.

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2015

To make this work, you need heavy traffic on your site -- probably at least a million page views per month -- which most sites never achieve in their lifetimes. The goal is for your visitor to be redirected to the site or product being advertised. For the advertiser, this is the cost-per-click (CPC) model.

Advertising 99

Advertising PPC CPC Sites 99