SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." Customer Validation 101. Either: "That’s interesting.

Custom 227

Custom Customer CTO Coach Startup 227

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2013

Like most startup entrepreneurs, when I began my first company in 1999 I had no formal sales experience. I did have the wherewithal to visit potential customers and try to understand the pain points that I thought could be solved with our solution. question in sales. This is a very important to do when you first start a company.

Sales 393

Sales Startup Resource Custom 393

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

Hyundai Motor Group said it will jointly develop an electric vehicle platform with Los Angeles-based startup Canoo, the latest startup tapped by the automaker as part of an $87 billion push to invest in electrification and other future technologies. Canoo said it will provide engineering services to develop the electric platform.

Startup 310

Startup Develop Development Platform 310

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

As part of the lead in to the conference, and as a part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. We respond very quickly to all of our customers. Kevin Anderson.

Custom 113

Custom Customer Services Conference 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Los Angeles-based RingDNA , which develops analytics software used for understanding the sales process and sales conversations, said last week that it raised $30M in a growth capital funding. The funding was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity (GS Growth), and also included Palisades Growth Capital and Bryant Stibel.

Sales 140

Sales Artificial Inteligence Equity Web 140

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2016

San Diego-based MindTouch , a developer of software-as-a-service tools to help companies create self-service, customer support sites, has raised $12M in a Series A funding. MindTouch's software provides customer support search tools, product information, and more to end users.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Software Services 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Vonjour (www.vonjour.com), a Los Angeles startup, has developed a cloud-based customer support and phone system which, in addition to handling all of a company''s usual enterprise phone needs--also lets employers harness employee smartphones to deal with customer support issues, make calls, and interact with customers directly from a mobile app.

Custom 133

Custom Customer Startup Mobile 133

socalTECH

MAY 16, 2016

Los Angeles-based ChowNow , which develops tablet-based, online ordering and marketing software for restaurants, has inked a partnership with Google , to help its restaurants accept Android Pay. ChowNow said the support will be a standard feature, and will not cost additional for its current restaurant customers. READ MORE>>.

Custom 124

Custom Customer Google Los Angeles 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2013

Every sales organization with more than a handful of reps or that is across multiple offices or time zones would benefit from having a sales methodology. Simply, this is identifying a customer need that has economic value to them if they can solve it. This solves the customer question, “Why Buy Anything?”.

Sales 328

Sales Custom Customer Examples 328

Berkonomics

AUGUST 2, 2012

And that behavior results in leaving little time for outreach to the most critical possible component in your chain – your key customers. Email readers, continue here.] Do customers know what they want from their suppliers for future products? Do customers know what they like when they see it? Of course they do.

Custom 159

Custom Customer Course Email 159

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet , a provider of internet brand protection and analytics software, said today that it has named Ryan Erickson as Vice President of Sales. Erickson was most recently Vice President of Sales for Teva North America, a division of Deckers Brands, and also has served at Timberland, Rockport and Reebok.

Sales 124

Sales Santa Barbara Software Review Technical Review 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. Having a methodology instead of just going on random sales visits helped force a bit of rigor and honesty amongst team members about how well or not we thought we were doing. The best sales meetings are discussions.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Custom 367

socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand , which develops human capital management and employee learning software, has cut its sales head count, and shuffled its sales and services organizations, the company said late Wednesday.

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand Sales Santa Monica IBM 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Newport Beach-based JustEnough Software reports it has signed a new customer in New Zealand. According to the company, it has signed Icebreaker, a developer of outdoor merino wool apparel, as a customer of its sales and demand planning software. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. READ MORE>>.

Custom 140

Custom Customer Demand Software 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

Organization 280

Organization Custom Customer Tips 280

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2019

I’m more convinced that technology merely enables disruption, and changing customer interests and needs really causes it. Other companies keep the focus on their customers, and seem to thrive on disruption, much less survive. They make it their top business priority to understand, anticipate, and gratify customers’ needs.

Custom 54

Custom Customer Technical Review Design 54

socalTECH

JUNE 16, 2016

Los Angeles-based Appetize , which develops tablet-based, enterprise Point-of-Sale hardware and software for venues, said on Thursday that it has scored a win in Minneapolis. The company said that the new, U.S. Bank Statdium in downtown Minneapolis will use the company's products as its exclusive, POS solution.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Sales Los Angeles 100

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. You just had to be lucky, write reasonably good code and land in an industry with some legs, and of course, treat the customer well. I was a beneficiary of this development. And I would learn customer service.

Custom 120

Custom Customer Writing Southern California 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Social proof is defined as “looking for others to guide our decisions&# and is also one of the most important techniques in acquiring customers in your company. You need to give them advance notice of your product development or better yet let them help influence your direction. Sure, they need a little social proof.

Marketing 294

Marketing Custom Customer Technical Review 294

Tech.Co

JANUARY 10, 2018

“Focusing on emotion is key when communicating with female customers. Maxeme Tuchman, CEO and cofounder of Caribu.co , an app that allows you to video call and have story time with your children together from anywhere in the world, targeted her company’s efforts on gaining referrals from women customers.

Tips 71

Tips Custom Customer Dollar Shave Club 71

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2015

With the advent of social media and the pervasive move to smartphones, even customers who still prefer to purchase in brick-and-mortar stores have dramatically changed their shopping habits. If you refuse to play by their rules, they have the power to easily find alternatives, and actively pull other potential customers away.

Custom 103

Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Custom 316

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Custom 346

socalTECH

MAY 15, 2014

Irvine-based document processing software developer Kofax reported a $1.1M Kofax develops applications used for document capture and handling. Kofax said the sale included $580,000 in software license revenue, $100,000 in maintenance services, and $430,000 in professional services. kofax document processing software customer'

Sales 147

Sales Software Development Software Report 147

socalTECH

JULY 24, 2014

Southern California has a growing number of companies in the customer relationship management area, including a fairly new company in the area, Pipeliner CRM (www.pipelinersales.com). The people we spoke with told us that CRM sucks, and sales people have to use this software, but don''t like to use it. Who are your customers?

Sales 229

Sales Startup Software Custom 229

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2021

Playa Vista-based iLife, a startup which is developing tools to help life insurance agents set up their own, branded "digital insurance agency", has raised $4M in a seed funding round, according to the company. iLife said the funding was led by Foundation Capital, and also include AME Cloud Ventures and Cherubic Ventures.

Sales 113

Sales Seed Funding Startup Tool 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software , which develops software for the wireless industry, said late Tuesday evening that it is suspending its 2011 annual revenue guidance, and will withdraw from a investment conference this week, after it says orders from a "key customer" will fall below expected levels.

Custom 124

Custom Customer Conference Mobile 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing. Good listener, take in information, • Have pulse on what the market wants (hard to train that) cannot take this from customers only. we both love Jason).

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Custom Customer 304

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This is part of my ongoing Sales & Marketing Series. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. We had 4 or 5 sales reps that had been around since the early days.

Sales 286

Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

This is part of a series on sales & marketing. I previously covered how early phase sales teams should be “evangelical&# and consultative in nature. As a tech startup grows it needs to develop more process & management if it is to scale. More experienced sales leaders seldom compete on price.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Calabasas-based network testing hardware and software developer Ixia said yesterday that it has shifted to a 100 percent, channel sales model for its enterprise customers. Ixia said the adoption of the model was made to show its "unwavering commitment" to its network of reseller partners.

Sales 113

Sales Calabasas Software Development Networking 113

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2015

Westlake Village-based ,a href="[link] , which develops facial recognition technology, said Thursday that it has named Tom Melzl as its new Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Melzl joins the company from StackIQ, where he was Vice President of Sales, and also has also served at Inquira. READ MORE>>.

Westlake Village 100

Westlake Village Sales Custom Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2017

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Product development chasm. Marketing and sales chasm.

Custom 76

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Technical Review 76

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Santa Barbara-based Invoca, which develops artificial intelligence powered, sales conversation tools and call tracking products, says it is launching a certification program for its agency customers.

Artificial Inteligence 113

Artificial Inteligence Santa Barbara Training Sales 113

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

As noted in YouTubers Come Of Age – Google Scores A Solid Return On Its Video Development Fund , many YouTube personalities are sensitive to the nature of the ads associated with their content. We develop products that contextually engage the user at the moment at which they are most actively engaged with a given concept.

Custom 226

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Advertising 226

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

The Los Angeles-based operations and security management software service, Replicated has raised $25 million to ramp up its staffing and scale its sales and marketing efforts. As developers embrace Kubernetes, Replicated launches tools to manage its deployments. “Once we started building on that success.

Software 224

Software Tool SaaS Los Angeles 224