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. A host of bloggers and publishers are seeing their revenues massively dented, from tiny BBQ grill review sites to the hugest media organizations around.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

After some review of available resources, I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright. 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.

Startup 135

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review 135

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. They’re in beta).

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.” What kind of deals should I be doing?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.” What kind of deals should I be doing?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Image via Flickr by Phil Gyford Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

I recall being impressed with Jeff, but I was concerned that he was creating a platform, which often requires a significant amount of capital, takes an extended amount of time to establish and can be subject to margin pressure as the enabling technologies become commoditized. Tech Diligence - Consider The Source.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Should entrepreneurs have convertible debt or priced equity?

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. I believe that. That’s fine.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2019

After some review of available resources, I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright. 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.

Mentor 85

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Summary 85

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. We short-handed this marketing mix as “ the four P’s ” – product, price, promotion and place (distribution) – this was devised in 1960 and while a little bit dated is still a useful framework. Simply write a great book?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. Existing tech or industry executives - Do you have strong relationships in your industry? That’s OK.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Ask your customer why you lost. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review. VCs have a seat at the table in deciding future investors.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. So don’t raise money at a cheap price, but don’t get too far ahead of yourself either. Pricing high also takes exit options off the table. But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Many startup businesses – tech or otherwise – fail. Trying outrageous new things or even trying mundane things but in new ways but with extreme quality & innovation is what fuels the tech startup industry. The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

China is indelibly an important part of the future of the global technology system. Ask your customer why you lost. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review. VCs have a seat at the table in deciding future investors.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission. On the SAT/ACT side, in classroom tutoring, we have used our technology to automate the back office.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. Value is created through diligent hard work. 3) Attempt To License An Idea.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). You have a large number of startup customers (because when markets crash they have a funny way of going bankrupt quickly or cutting burn precipitously).

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2015

After some review of available resources, I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright. 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.

Mentor 105

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Satisfaction 105

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

From devising a tweet length pitch to having an easy to remember name, each branding opportunity is a touch point for a new customer to be attracted to what you have to offer. In order to prepare for TechCrunch Disrupt 2012 I reviewed company bios via the official site and read taglines that said “cool” rather than what the company does.

Press 97

Press Startup Technical Review Email 97

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

I would start by asking the candidate, “How did you decide on these five people” as part of your review process. Most people delay reference calls until that point both due to expediency of time (why make phone calls unless you think you might hire the person?) You expected no less. Having an accomplice. They hold out.

Startup 302

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They hired a consultant to help them with the review. And surprise, surprise the decision came back 3 weeks later than none of the preferred 3 vendors had won but rather this tiny little competitor owned by the consulting company charged with doing the review.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2014

After some review of available resources, I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright. 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.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Mentor Technical Review Satisfaction 102

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

The industry had seen unprecedented growth in the past decade due to a combination of factors, one of which was the United States’ economic recession. Due to the combination of these factors, marketers began to more heavily fund digital platforms. A study conducted by Rice University’s Jesse H. Getting Mobile-Ready.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The value proposition is a short statement that clearly communicates the target customer, the customer’s problem and the pain that it causes, the unique solution that addresses this problem, and the net benefit of this solution (value derived versus relative cost) from the customer's perspective.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

Messenger : Ian Siegel , Co-Founder |CEO ZipRecruiter , Former Executive Product and Technology roles at: MyLife, CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com and Pictage. I think the biggest problem Monster, HotJobs, and CareerBuilder face right now is that they are charging premium prices for what is an increasingly commoditized product.

MyLife 160

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 160

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

After some review of available resources, I’m convinced that problem solving is a learnable trait, rather than just a birthright. 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.

Satisfaction 53

Satisfaction Marketing Mentor Entrepreneur 53

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 31, 2011

Messenger : Ian Siegel , Co-Founder |CEO ZipRecruiter , Former Executive Product and Technology roles at: MyLife, CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com and Pictage. I think the biggest problem Monster, HotJobs, and CareerBuilder face right now is that they are charging premium prices for what is an increasingly commoditized product.

MyLife 157

MyLife CitySearch Web Technical Review 157

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2011

Agree to Bundling Without a Minimum Price. If you allow your prospective partner or customer to milk the cow for free , they will resist paying for it. It may be necessary to apply a portion of the Pilot Fee toward the ultimate license / purchase price, in order to obtain an up-front fee. Grant World-wide Distribution.

Outsource Development 244

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Resource Press 244

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Three reasons: There is a relative valuation between the price a VC pays and their expectations of what it will exit for in an IPO or trade sale. High burn-rates fueled by over investment – One of the most damning things that happened to the start-up markets in 97-00 and 05-08 was the overfunding of technology companies.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

I am in the middle of writing up some of my thoughts on this and will post about it and let you know. We have been using LinkedIn for both sourcing recruits and reviewing backgrounds for recruits. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

InfoChachkie

MAY 23, 2011

Hipster-wannabes routinely wait in line for hours for the opportunity to buy exorbitantly priced drinks in an exclusive nightclub. Exclusivity excludes your startup from taking full advantage of future customer, partner and market opportunities. Write this number down. As such, deals are not exclusive, they are excludesive.

Technical Review 183

Technical Review Marketing Sales Competition 183