Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. Customers sometimes buy things spontaneously without thinking through what their actual need is. The goal is to get the customer speaking about their organization. These references make for great discussions with customers.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 107

Software Review Entrepreneur CTO Hire Outsource Development 107

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

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 103

Software Review Equity CTO Hire Outsource Development 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Fan Appz, a Santa Monica headquartered firm founded in 2010, and a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) today Tuesday launched its Personalized Marketing Platform, a next-generation social media marketing solution set to help firms convert fans into customers and increase repeat purchases by turning good customers into great ones.

Platform 82

Platform Help Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2015

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. The result is a bloated first product which finally collapses under its own weight, or is too late and too expensive for the intended customer. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 104

Technical Review Product Software Review High Tech 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 96

Software Review CTO Hire Startup Outsource Development 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2013

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. The result is a bloated first product which finally collapses under its own weight, or is too late and too expensive for the intended customer. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 110

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Reviewing financial & operational performance. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions. Mentorship. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

The firm recently raised a $15M series C funding, and we caught up with Kevin to learn more about why its customers, and investors, are interested in its technology. We also operate the network software than runs and manages the entire network layer, from access point to end point. What does OnRamp Wireless do?

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

Software Review 92

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 92

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

Tech Diligence - Consider The Source. Rather, we value entrepreneurs' time and thus our diligence generally includes introducing them to potential customers and partners. The difference is that VoiceXML does not leverage customers' knowledge of web development. Subject: Reference for Twilio. Forwarded message -.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2011

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. The result is a bloated first product which finally collapses under its own weight, or is too late and too expensive for the intended customer. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. The result is a bloated first product which finally collapses under its own weight, or is too late and too expensive for the intended customer. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 75

Technical Review Startup Software Review High Tech 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Tech.Co

JULY 24, 2017

I suggest to customize your pitch for them. Companies such as Microsoft, Facebook and Google have all established employee referral programs that give employees monetary rewards for referring friends who get hired. But oftentimes, due to their large network, superconnectors are overwhelmed with opportunities.

Networking 83

Networking Startup Software Review Conference 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. We had every reference client we worked with call their senior team members (we had already won a major project at Scottish Water, Anglian Water and another at a large water company in Paris, France). They hired a consultant to help them with the review. Specifically: 1. we would support 6.0

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. We had every reference client we worked with call their senior team members (we had already won a major project at Scottish Water, Anglian Water and another at a large water company in Paris, France). They hired a consultant to help them with the review. Specifically: 1. we would support 6.0

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2010

Feature creep” (or scope creep) refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product before first delivery. The result is a bloated first product which finally collapses under its own weight, or is too late and too expensive for the intended customer. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Software Review High Tech Writing 51

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

As we know, developers always give their product a code name. We may keep the platform with the name ZunguZ and look for a client facing name for the application. We restrict money transfer to South Africa while we conclude our due diligence on international money transfer partners. Why the name? The name just stuck!

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Platform Technical Review 92

InfoChachkie

APRIL 28, 2011

Perhaps in part due to its dominant market share, WebEx adopted telecom-style pricing, which effectively penalized their users. The more a customer utilized WebEx’s services, the more they had to pay. However, in the long run, entrepreneurs always benefit from delivering Maximum Utility for a fair price. Exploring The Campus.

Entrepreneur 225

Entrepreneur SaaS Pricing Cloud Computing 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2012

Your goal is “ coopetition ” - to find a way to partner with your competitor in such a way that both parties can substantially benefit from the other's resources - without stealing customers or damaging anyone's credibility. As an example, a few years ago I worked for small software company selling an expensive enterprise workflow product.

Company 96

Company Companies Startup Examples 96

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

We had every reference client we worked with call their senior team members (we had already won a major project at Scottish Water, Anglian Water and another at a large water company in Paris, France). Two weeks after winning the deal and well into implementation planning we released a new version of our software. we would support 6.0

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2011

Your goal is “ coopetition ” - to find a way to partner with your competitor in such a way that both parties can substantially benefit from the other's resources - without stealing customers or damaging anyone's credibility. As an example, a few years ago I worked for small software company selling an expensive enterprise workflow product.

Startup 90

Startup Examples Customer Custom 90

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Today, that oh-my-god moment refers to a mobile app. The premise is simple: if you want to engage with your customers, go where they are and where you can matter. Through mobile e-commerce apps, businesses give information, engage with customers, and ultimately build a stronger brand. Encourage users to rate and review the app.

Mobile 40

Mobile Social Media Google Software Review 40

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. We have also been very busy with our next release, which is due out by December 11th (but I’ll save that for a different post).

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Pricing Software Review Customer 88