SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. The problem is you don't yet have product/market fit, and until you do, you don't really know what to build. When product vision is truly clear, then it makes sense to execute it, and hiring follows.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach Develop 205

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Post-sale, AI analyzes customer data to improve service and loyalty, making it a cornerstone of modern sales methodologies.

Generative AI 295

Generative AI TechEmpower CTO Hire Outsource Development 295

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

Design 105

Design Customer Custom Product 105

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Unfortunately, for most solution markets, early adopters represent only 10 to 15 percent of the total opportunity, so it’s easy to get mislead on the real requirements of mainstream customers. The good news is that early adopters are never reluctant to sign up as beta customers and will provide you early feedback on product quality.

Customer 117

Customer Custom Technical Review Product 117

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

With real-time online reviews and feedback via the Internet, and instant relationships via social media, a voice from the top that is inconsistent with what is heard from the firing line defines a dysfunctional and noncompetitive company for today’s customer. Thus team makeup is the critical success factor.

Class 155

Class Develop Development Startup 155

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2015

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. Commercial product prototypes.

Develop 102

Develop Development Product Funding 102

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 11, 2020

These days, most of the games developed need to be social, multi-platform and extensible, but there are only a few developers with the expertise to bring those toolsets to the profusion of new games that crop up every year. In the game industry, a game can stay in beta for years as developers work out the kinks.

Riot Games 135

Riot Games Develop Development Company 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2020

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. According to Tim Cook at Apple, there were over 20 million registered developers in 2018. The ideal business model is to establish a direct-to-consumer service that enables you to bill the customer directly.

Mobile 126

Mobile Develop Development Platform 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Every one of you business owners I know periodically introduces new products and services to sustain growth, fight off competitors, or take advantage of new technologies. Customers won’t buy what they can’t find or don’t understand. Solution may require new category development time.

Product 141

Product Services Technical Review Artificial Inteligence 141

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 9, 2009

I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. Who are the customers?

Software Development 292

Software Development Develop Development Startup 292

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2020

These leaders are those exceptional team members who have proven themselves or developed the strength of character, behavior, and learning to be the drivers of the next phase of your business growth. The result is higher productivity for everyone in the business. Driven first by the needs of your customers.

Develop 125

Develop Development Startup Entrepreneur 125

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

Berkonomics

JULY 27, 2017

Your customers know what they want more than you do. This week’s insight came from personal experience and from a good friend who advanced the notion of the “teacher-customer” years ago. The customer would be the first to receive the new functionality in a new release. Find one to teach you.

Customer 243

Customer Custom Design Conference 243

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2022

The challenge for each of you is to get it handled quickly and effectively, without losing the trust of constituents , as well as customers. I have found that micro-management can be especially productive if you are working with a first-time or unique situation, or working with a new team with little experience.

Develop 138

Develop Development Coach Satisfaction 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 9, 2011

The Santa Barbara-based online division of Citrix said this morning that it is targeting developers this morning, with a new set of resources aimed at helping customers, partners, and developers to integrate their products with its various GoTo products, including GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, and GoToTraining.

Develop 124

Develop Development Santa Barbara Resource 124

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. Still, if you've not heard these questions from a developer, they are not helping you as much as they should. Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? It needs to be a conversation. Wireframes?

Develop 396

Develop Development Startup SEO 396

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

Frame the way you want to change the world, and make it about the customer. Make sure your measurements are customer-oriented, as well as focused on internal processes. Remember that every specific competitive advantage is temporary – every product or service becomes a commodity over time. You only get what you measure.

Develop 135

Develop Development Startup Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

It should convince you that no matter how much you know about technology, leading a team, as well as vendors and customers, is a whole new challenge. True leaders are never satisfied with what they know about their leadership, as well as their products, and are always in pursuit of new learning.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 2, 2019

Wednesday, May 8, 2019 -- Customer Discovery and Product Market Fit with Eric P. This talk will cover the preliminary market research work of Customer Discovery, that is to discover who would most value your proposed new product. Rose, NPDP, MBA. Precellerator. See [link] (more)

Customer 100

Customer Custom Product Marketing 100

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. Still, if you've not heard these questions from a developer, they are not helping you as much as they should. Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? It needs to be a conversation. Wireframes?

Develop 384

Develop Development Startup SEO 384

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

Santa Monica-based Nimble , which develops contact management software-as-a-service, has linked up its tools with call center software developer Talkdesk. According to Nimble, the move will automatically pair information from a customer''s contact history to Nimble''s contact records and customer data. READ MORE>>.

Software Development 140

Software Development Software Develop Development 140

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

You need to make sure that everyone on the team, from the clerical assistant to the chief financial officer, knows your vision and product, and doesn’t hesitate to actively engage and be an effective proponent with anyone who might be of value to the business. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far.

Marketing 130

Marketing Develop Development Startup 130

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Can you create a product in a vacuum? Creating a new product in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that you know what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. The first step : Involve potential customers early. Involve your customers early.

Product 156

Product Customer Custom Ideas 156

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2019

Los Angeles-based financial software developer BlackLine said on Thursday that it has expanded its customer base, adding such notable customers as Volvo, Waymo, AstraZeneca, the operator of Applebee's, and many others to its list of 2,700 companies who are using its products. READ MORE>>.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Software Development Los Angeles 113

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2019

Irvine-based Digital Map Products , a developer of mapping and location tools used by enterprise and government customers, has been acquired by LightBox , a provider of real estate information products. Digital Map Products was owned by private equity investor Silversmith Capital Partners, and had over 160 employees.

Product 124

Product Equity Tool Google 124

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2017

The world of mobile apps has added serious challenges for software developers, who don't just have to deal with crashes�they have to deal with slow performance, strange hangs, multiple carrier networks, and more. We saw the pains of supporting apps in a live, production environments. How are developers doing this today?

Mobile 178

Mobile Develop Development Tool 178

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

More people are focused on the beginning of the product lifecycle; very few are focused at the end.”. The end of the product lifecycle is where Murthy and Kaplan feel Ghost has “an enormous opportunity to help people be more efficient in that process,” Murthy added. Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

So instead, we fill it with a completely custom blurb, written just for him: Hello! Thanks to his custom blurb, instead of closing his browser and feeling inadequate for the rest of the day, Mark completes his bio and becomes a happy customer. Which means better conversions and happier customers.

Generative AI 295

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence TechEmpower Tips 295

socalTECH

OCTOBER 8, 2013

SlimSurveys , the new startup headed by former TweetPhoto founder Sean Callahan, has launched a new product, aimed at collecting data from website visitors. According to the company, its new Customer Insights product lets website owners add a widget to their website, to help collect real-time, customer insights.

Product 210

Product San Diego Customer Custom 210

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

Upgrade’s e-commerce marketplace has two sides: one that enables consumers to choose a vetted stylist and have their wig colored or customized based on their desired look. However, although they are providing such significant value, a lot of them operate with limited funding and resources, which ultimately affects the customer experience.

Tool 179

Tool Customer Custom Marketing 179

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2020

Los Angeles-based Repicated , a new startup that provides monitoring and managing of Kubernetes-based cloud applications, has name former GitLab executive Mark Pundsack as the company's new Chief Product Officer, according to the company. Pundsack was previously Head of Product for GitLab.

Product 113

Product Framework Google Los Angeles 113

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 8, 2009

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 -- Technology Strategy for RandD and Product Development. Build technology roadmaps that guide innovation and growth with customer focused technology investments. Uncover current and future customer needs. Identify innovative customer focused projects. See [link] (more).

Develop 100

Develop Development Product Technology 100

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." " One was an enterprise software product.

Customer 227

Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

socalTECH

AUGUST 11, 2010

Los Angeles-based ISBX , a new startup software developer, said this week that it has launched a new, cross-platform mobile development product. The firm said its software, Avenue Mobile, allows developers to create applications for iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android and Symbian. READ MORE>>.

Platform 145

Platform Mobile Develop Development 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2018

As an advisor to new business owners, and an occasional angel investor, I see new business proposals daily, many seeking investors to fund early research and development (R&D) of a new product idea. Funding new product research and development is just too risky, with a large time delay before any return is likely.

Research 57

Research Develop Development Funding 57