SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Me : Product definition, use cases, feature list, wireframes, comps, really whatever you have. You likely are writing your first one of these. This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product. Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? Founder : Umm. I'm never trying to embarrass someone.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

But like the company Kyriba, where we recently sold our position at above $1 billion, it took time until the revenue exceeded $100 million recurring and then the industry really competed to back this amazing company since it had scale, defensible technology and long-term, committed customers. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Kaden joins Rick Zullo from Equal Ventures on the board and told TechCrunch via email that excess inventory “filled the news and it definitely spikes in more volatile markets, but it is in fact part of any market.” She went on to write, “Dee and Josh are the exact right team to tackle it.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2013

They look at the following high level definition of Lean: and they interpret that as write up an executive summary with your ideas and hand it to developers to build. Have you conducted Problem, Solution and Feature Interviews with customers? This post will provide links to participants as well as to readers.

CTO Coach 219

CTO Coach Metrics Framework Software Development 219

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Five broad sources of independent, third-party validation are: Customers, Partners, Distributors, Industry Experts and other Stakeholders. For instance, validation that directly supports your company's underlying value proposition is more valuable than corroboration that indirectly suggests customers might ultimately adopt your solution.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital RSS Customer Custom 265

SoCal CTO

MARCH 10, 2010

Or worse, that every potential customer should want it. In the real world not every customer is going to get overly excited about your minimum feature set. Only a special subset of customers will and what gets them breathing heavy is the long-term vision for your product. Go to a blank page.

Product 150

Product Startup Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2019

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 79

Social Media Media Invest Platform 79

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Listen to your customers to arrive at acceptable and marketable solutions. Verbalize the problem to fully understand it and why it’s occurring.

Startup 135

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

A crisis is an event, precipitated by a specific incident, that attracts critical media attention and lasts for a definite period of time. It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter. Even the most experienced executives write down what they need to say, and practice for every event.

Media 118

Media Tips Social Media Startup 118

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have. Second, how to get leads.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising. Let’s say you have built a SaaS company where a large part of the early revenue comes from a few big customers or a large part of the revenue is services based vs. software based. Fund raising. Let me give you an example. What to do about that chip on your shoulder ?

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Assess customer demand. Do customers really need what you want to do, or might they see it as “nice to have?” Formally, that’s called developing and maintaining a strategic plan.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Training Ideas 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. Check your brand definition against the clarity of this one from Xerox for office software. Use strong communication and writing skills.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

By definition, an entrepreneur is the first to undertake a given business, and firsts never happen without problems and people frustrations. You can definitely train yourself to be a problem solver, if you haven’t already. It’s a key skill for success in every business role, from accountant to customer support. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 101

Startup Satisfaction Training Entrepreneur 101

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Few of your contacts will be willing to use their valuable social or political capital helping you with a sales effort, and you will definitely strain your relationship with the intermediary if not a close friend. Are you working with or selling to a particularly important competitor to your target customer?

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2014

I know that finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. Feedback from your blog will tell you quickly whether anyone agrees with your assessment, and whether you have a customer base waiting. Cultivate early customers. Find potential partners. Build your brand and get leads today.

Startup 101

Startup Blogging Writing Google 101

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Providing your product or service free to customers may sound attractive in marketing materials, but you need revenue sources to survive. Skip the acronyms and jargon.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Today, customers and future managers put a higher value on relationships, and expect to know you from industry conferences, social media, or recommendations from peers. As a business, you should always be looking for your next customer, as well as satisfying your current one. Walk away from a bad role or customer.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2017

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 66

Social Media Media Tips Platform 66

InfoChachkie

APRIL 16, 2012

The Lean Startup approach dictates that successful customer development is an iterative process. Eric (Ries) was a student in one of the very earliest customer development classes at Berkley. Large companies write business plans, why of course, that’s the organizing document for a startup. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Startup 229

Startup Class Press Custom Development 229

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2013

By definition, an entrepreneur is the first to undertake a given business, and firsts never happen without problems and people frustrations. You can definitely train yourself to be a problem solver, if you haven’t already. It’s a key skill for success in every business role, from accountant to customer support. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Training Customer 107

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

I know that finding time is hard, and good writing is simply not what most people do. Feedback from your blog will tell you quickly whether anyone agrees with your assessment, and whether you have a customer base waiting. Cultivate early customers. Find potential partners. Build your brand and get leads today.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2013

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 101

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2012

By definition, an entrepreneur is the first to undertake a given business, and firsts never happen without problems and people frustrations. You can definitely train yourself to be a problem solver, if you haven’t already. It’s a key skill for success in every business role, from accountant to customer support.

Tips 116

Tips Satisfaction Training Entrepreneur 116

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Before you start down the long hard road of an entrepreneur, it pays to look inside yourself to see what you love to do, and what would fit your definition of success. Write it down and validate it though friends and social media. Define your target customer set and value proposition.

Startup 94

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Ideas 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. What is the definition of a good business plan? Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself.

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Tech.Co

MAY 26, 2020

Jeff Bezos didn't get to be the world's richest man by writing a lot of checks, and one recent way to keep Amazon's profits healthy has been to cut its affiliate commissions scheme. The eBay affiliate program brings the same basic appeal that Amazon’s originally did – truly massive customer base. Best for: Bloggers, news publishers.

Technical Review 130

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 130

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2012

I’m definitely not lobbying here for promising things you can’t deliver, or hiring a publicist before your first programmer. How about talking to some real customers to see if they are as excited about your idea as you are? Comment on other people’s blogs, as well as writing your own. You need to do it yourself. Give it to them.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Newsletter Blogging 96

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. Show some energy! Startup Advice'

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2019

We write checks from $500K to a million dollars, and we like to fund engineers turned entrepreneurs. We aren't just technology, exclusively, but we're definitely on that side of it. I think the vision and the selling, for investors, for employees, and for customers, is really a core skill. I wanted to be part of that.

Southern California 133

Southern California Startup Layoffs Venture Capital 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2014

Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. Have "customers", not "clients." All aspects of customer service apply.

Startup 102

Startup Slides Email Customer 102

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. Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. Customers buy solutions to solve their problems.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2012

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 95

Social Media Media Startup Platform 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2015

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Assess customer demand. Do customers really need what you want to do, or might they see it as “nice to have?” Formally, that’s called developing and maintaining a strategic plan.

Startup 109

Startup Resource Training Ideas 109