Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2014

It may not be as sexy, but starting a new business that builds on an existing technology or business model is usually less risky than introducing that ultimate new disruptive technology. There is always time later for your next startup, using that disruptive technology of your dreams.

Technology 103

Technology Entrepreneur Study Research 103

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

They are looking for startups that have a sustainable advantage over direct and indirect competitor offerings, as well as obvious value to customers living without your product today. Non-specific terms, like better usability and low cost don’t incite customers to action these days. This approach is not convincing.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Your concept has to be understood by customers and investors in 30 seconds or less, and everyone needs to immediately see how awesome it would be, or that they would be nuts not to have it. I’m looking for the “hook” right up front, or I lose interest quickly, just like every customer and investor these days.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

For example, a while back a passionate entrepreneur approached me with an innovative solution for reducing world hunger, but hadn’t focused on the fact that hungry people often don’t have any money, and governments are not easy customers. Find market evidence of customers with means who are willing to pay for a solution.

Tips 80

Tips Startup Satisfaction Ideas 80

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

You may dream of developing a new silicon chip technology, but a bit of research should tell you that most disruptive solutions take billions in investment, and more time than you can afford for acceptance. You need intellectual property , such as a patent, trade secret, or process expertise that will be a barrier that you can defend.

Social Media 105

Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2020

The simple solution I recommend to inventors is to find a partner who can focus on business and marketing, while you focus on technology. Here are some of the key entrepreneur characteristics most often overlooked by inventors: Driven by customer-centric view of needs, rather than technology.

Startup 124

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

What I want to hear is an innovative marketing and growth strategy that will set you apart in the minds of investors, as well as customers. Today’s customer is especially attracted to companies like TOMS , who donates a pair of shoes for every pair they sell, or Patagonia, with its support for grassroots environmental groups.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Customer 170

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2020

I’m not suggesting that a startup should ever disclose patent details to others before filing, but I can’t imagine why a startup would not seek visibility and feedback for their idea and solution while they could still make changes with minimal cost. Most people agree that even negative media attention is better than none.

Search Engine Optimization 174

Search Engine Optimization Ideas Startup Customer 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

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. Registered patents and other intellectual property.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. Social media relationships fuel the scaling fire. Maintain the agility to quickly pivot or quit.

IBM 131

IBM IBM Startup Examples 131

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

I’ve worked with 30+ early-stage companies in all sorts of capacities (and spoken to many, many more), so I thought it might be worthwhile trying to classify the various ways that I’ve engaged in different technology roles in startups. It depends on the business, people, technologies, etc. Each situation is just a bit different.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2016

It may not be as sexy, but starting a new business which builds on an existing technology or business model is usually less risky than introducing that ultimate new disruptive technology. There is always time later for your next startup, using that disruptive technology of your dreams.

Technology 57

Technology Startup Study Research 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

With today’s worldwide Internet and social media, your brand impact is not set by what you say, but by numbers of followers, influencers, and satisfied customers. Just be aware that building your customer base first requires deep pockets, or many investors. Proprietary technology with a high barrier to entry.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Social Media Entrepreneur Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

I usually envision a 50-50 ownership split for their efforts, but every engineer believes the technology side deserves the majority share. If you consider yourself a technologist, you probably believe and may be propagating one of the following myths: The first priority for funding should be to develop the technology.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Patents Entrepreneur Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value. Provide specifics on the customer business model. and trademarks.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. If you haven’t yet finalized the business model, cost projections, and customer segments, you aren’t ready for investors. The best demos to investors are 30 seconds or less.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

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. Registered patents and other intellectual property.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018

It may not be as sexy, but starting a new business which builds on an existing technology or business model is usually less risky than introducing that ultimate new disruptive technology. And we all know Facebook didn’t invent social media. Many of the major business successes started this way.

Startup 65

Startup Social Media Study Research 65

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2018

New technology markets and paradigm shifts have traditionally been bad bets when seeking investors, since these were known to take decades to develop, and cost lots of money. Many customers now actively seek out new technologies, rather than wait for many others to try it first. The leading edge was too often the bleeding edge.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. Social media relationships fuel the scaling fire. Maintain the agility to quickly pivot or quit.

Startup 124

Startup IBM IBM Examples 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

For example, you may feel you are saving money by doing all your own administrative work and monitoring social media feedback. Yet if that leaves you with no documented business plan or unclear strategy, most investors and even customers will walk away. Use technology and tools, but don’t let them sink you.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2017

Of course, there are no guarantees, but if can find an independent sizing of the market opportunity, your job of convincing customers, and investors, will be much easier. Not all ideas have cost-effective solutions, or customers able and willing to pay real money. Draft a short pitch for customers, and one for investors.

Ideas 74

Ideas Social Media Startup Customer 74

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. If you haven’t yet finalized the business model, cost projections, and customer segments, you aren’t ready for investors. The best demos to investors are 30 seconds or less.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights. Use the cloud and subscriptions for computing technology.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

As a technology buff, I’m all too sensitive to the common investor complaint that technical people often end up selling yet another “solution looking for a problem,” because they are so impressed with their technology. Attracting business investors is as tough as attracting customers, but it’s a different challenge.

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs look for that one magic bullet -- an exciting new technology, perhaps, or their own determination to make the world a better place -- to override any shortcomings in their startup model. A near-term customer value proposition. In all cases, you need customer support, formal processes and training in place.

Pricing 100

Pricing Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2017

In my role as an angel investor in startups, almost every pitch I see highlights some real innovation in technology, business model, or market opportunity. Innovation is necessary to get you into the game, but even a disruptive technology won’t assure you business success. Lock in customers with loyalty and high cost of change.

Netflix 54

Netflix Social Media Competition Customer 54

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

They are looking for startups that have a sustainable advantage over direct and indirect competitor offerings, as well as obvious value to customers living without your product today. Non-specific terms, like better usability and low cost don’t incite customers to action these days. This approach is not convincing.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

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. Registered patents and other intellectual property.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Angel Social Media Patents 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” They only want a quick overview of the product, not detailed features and patent secrets. If you haven’t yet finalized the business model, cost projections, and customer segments, you aren’t ready for investors. The best demos to investors are 30 seconds or less.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2014

I’m not suggesting that a startup should ever disclose patent details to others before filing, but I can’t imagine why a startup would not seek visibility and feedback for their idea and solution while they could still make changes with minimal cost. Most people agree that even negative media attention is better than none.

Startup 101

Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

If your strength is technology, find a co-founder who has a comparable strength in business, finance or marketing. Entrepreneurs who have no patents, trade secrets or trademarks are usually deemed non-fundable and non-competitive. Demonstrate a concentrated focus on customers early on.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 59