Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Startup 134

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Entrepreneurs should never agree to the following provisions when negotiating with a BDC, no matter how lucrative the potential relationship. Relinquish Press Release Capabilities.

Outsource Development 170

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 170

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2014

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market-research data. Conduct your own customized market research. entrepreneur investor market research sizing startup'

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Statistics Research 97

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. In London when founders failed they were ostracized in the press and culturally I believe it became harder to raise capital.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Martin Zwilling.

Marketing 157

Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. What stage?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? Because entrepreneurs often went to lawyers at their earliest stages to get their company registration done. Entrepreneurial lawyers like Don Lee , Dave Young or Ted Wang are good at sussing out which entrepreneurs are high potential. I asked for intro’s from entrepreneur friends. What stage?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Entrepreneurs should never agree to the following provisions when negotiating with a BDC, no matter how lucrative the potential relationship. Relinquish Press Release Capabilities.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2011

For most new high-tech products, the first customers are always “early adopters.” I see two pitfalls with any concerted focus on early adopters; first, the size of this group may not be as large as you think, and secondly, their feedback may lead you directly away from your real target market of mainstream customers.

Customer 91

Customer Custom High Tech News 91

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2011

Just as Batman repeatedly avoids Poison Ivy’s kiss of death, so too must entrepreneurs avoid the Kiss of Death provisions which BDCs attempt to include in their agreements. Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. Agree to Bundling Without a Minimum Price. Press Release Rights. Give up Branding. Surrender Arbitration.

Outsource Development 244

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Resource Press 244

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. I believe that. Fair enough.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. Our customers benefitted from this and saved thousands over the years as a result. Since 2008, the company has been forced to lower it’s prices, from $120/hour to $80/hour. They bought these pre-paid hours over and again.

Capital 234

Capital Pricing Press Customer 234

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. Focus on your customers and don’t obsess about deals or keeping up with your competitors releases.&#. I’m doing due diligence on a company of another entrepreneur in LA whose company was apparently doing very well. They get premature merge elation.

Technical Review 276

Technical Review Startup Press Pricing 276

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

She was everything I was looking for in an entrepreneur to back. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. So, Mark, enough entrepreneur love. ladies, show me what you got.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

Entrepreneurs are inundated with success stories, but far less is written about ventures that do not succeed. Most entrepreneurs do not have the guts to publicly discuss a venture gone awry. Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. The company was always seeking capital.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? I want to understand how many units the company is selling, whether this is increasing over time and how well they’re doing at retaining the customers that they do acquire. Thus the trade off between profits & growth. You need to understand the “quality” of the revenue.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Martin Zwilling.

Research 87

Research Marketing Statistics Report 87

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

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. Spending time selling to customers is the best way to find out what their problems are and how good your solution currently is at mapping to their needs.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

After all, I am no stranger to the publicly expressing the frustrations of dealing with the downside of this industry as I wrote about in 2006 when I was an entrepreneur. The best VCs don’t try to help entrepreneurs. So I prefer to watch what works first and pay a higher price to get in when it’s proven.”

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2017

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Competition Press Mentor 56

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

For most new high-tech products, the first customers are always “early adopters.” I see two pitfalls with any concerted focus on early adopters; first, the size of this group may not be as large as you think, and secondly, their feedback may lead you directly away from your real target market of mainstream customers.

Marketing 96

Marketing News Pricing High Tech 96

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). Even though I got a “no” he helped me understand why I wasn’t a fit for him and that always set the bar for how I wanted to treat entrepreneurs?—?friendly, Most entrepreneurs don’t put enough effort into these phases. friendly, but direct in my thoughts.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

Let’s be honest – as professional investors we have ALL been to meetings with other groups of investors where we talk about whether there’s a bubble, price creep, etc. Here’s the thing: entrepreneurs who aren’t at all of our private meetings really didn’t know what do think about the situation.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The same should be true of an entrepreneur who is attempting to secure money from sophisticated investors. Step 1: The Person, Not The Firm – As Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson make clear in their book Venture Deals , entrepreneurs should identify specific venture partners, rather than target firms as a whole. It’s not.”

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2010

I see two pitfalls with any concerted focus on early adopters; first, the size of this group may not be as large as you think, and secondly, their feedback may lead you directly away from your real target market of mainstream customers. Higher product price. So don’t be lulled into complacency by early adopters as your first customers.

Marketing 94

Marketing News Pricing Press 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

What every entrepreneur is asking me these days, is “How do I get to be a unicorn?” Yet there are a common set of driving factors that every entrepreneur should know, including the following: Extraordinary marketplace traction. It helps to have a following of loyal advocates in the mainstream press.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

Yet a critical mistake I see many entrepreneurs make is that they hand over too much control to their third-parties. We had the final terms of our agreement fairly well boxed in within a range of about 5-7% on price and within 30 days on move-in date. I obviously preferred the lowest price and I wanted the latest move-in date.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

There have been a lot of entrepreneurs here in software and other industries, and interestingly enough there seem to be more self-funded, bootstrapped firms here, rather than those looking for venture capital to get off the group. Our marquis customers are companies like Citibank and Lowe's Corporation, along with many others.

Networking 214

Networking IBM IBM Pacific Palisades 214

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2016

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Peruse company reports from your business domain. Martin Zwilling.

Marketing 59

Marketing Startup Statistics Research 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 8, 2016

I thought it would be interesting to understand the challenges and concerns of entrepreneurs who began selling online for the first time in 2016, so I sat down with Heidi Muther, COO at Z S upply , LLC. I ended up really relating to the nuance and intricacies of product supply and customer demand. John Knits.

Sites 100

Sites Sales Santa Barbara Design 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing. It’s the nature of most entrepreneurs, honestly.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Many business executives and entrepreneurs I know are convinced that business success is all about having the right solution for the right price. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. They see customer support as positive lessons to improve quality and processes.

Software Review 57

Software Review Technical Review Startup Press 57

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. The whole reason for PBW’s is to drive incentives of a partner or customer to help you succeed. Common Mistakes.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298