Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Image via Pixabay As a mentor to many small business owners, I always caution them that you can never relax completely, just because your initial solution or product set appears to be getting traction, and the market buzz is positive. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

You must never stop looking for ways to get more traction with fewer personal hours, and more productivity, efficiency, and momentum from the team. In my view, it’s really unfortunate that most employees in business are still paid by the hour, regardless of their productivity. Evaluate where technology and training can help.

Metrics 124

Metrics Entrepreneur Satisfaction Study 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

You’d imagine that companies selling tons of shelfware would quickly meet their deserved fate in the market, yet the spin around a category of software can fool buyers into thinking they “must have this product to compete.” Did they do a major training program? How frequently they’re using the product?

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2019

A recent high-profile one, Theranos , the blood-testing company, had no trouble getting customers, but promised more than their technology could deliver, Another, Shyp , an early on-demand delivery platform, blamed their demise on premature scaling. Demand continuous innovation to keep up with change.

Startup 88

Startup Demand Training Customer 88

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Growth is more than simply repackaging existing products, and adding bells and whistles or slick incentives. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

Although his focus is naturally on bigger companies, I contend that his recommended strategies apply equally well to entrepreneurs and startups: Demand a mindset of deep thinking for the long term. Attract, train, and reward only the best leaders. Cote, former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell. Build and model a high-performance culture.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2019

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Training Statistics Summary 94

LATechDigest

MAY 12, 2016

Santa Monica-based talent management software firm Cornerstone OnDemand announced the launch of its suite of people analytics products at its annual Convergence Conference. Cornerstone Planning.

Cornerstone OnDemand 40

Cornerstone OnDemand Product Artificial Inteligence Organization 40

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2014

I see entrepreneurs every day who are trying to change the world with a new idea, and startups that are trying to survive their hyper-growth phase by changing processes to meet demand. The last thing you need in a startup is a false start, where you can’t deliver on a product change deadline, or a new marketing channel.

Startup 108

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

Successful entrepreneurs must never stop looking for ways to improve their own productivity, as well as the efficiency and momentum of the team. This simply means that everyone should be trained and motivated to prioritize and focus on the important items, and proactively attack those first. Incentives don’t need to be all cash.

Training 105

Training Entrepreneur Tool Metrics 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Growth is more than simply repackaging existing products, and adding bells and whistles or slick incentives. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Most begin by doing the product development, marketing and sales alone, but struggle making the transition to hiring and coaching others, defining repeatable processes and focusing on future strategy. You can’t demand total loyalty from all, so you have to learn to accept criticism without being defensive. It’s a big change.

Social Network 59

Social Network Startup Demand Entrepreneur 59

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2013

I see entrepreneurs every day who are trying to change the world with a new idea, and startups that are trying to survive their hyper-growth phase by changing processes to meet demand. The last thing you need in a startup is a false start, where you can’t deliver on a product change deadline, or a new marketing channel.

Startup 101

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 101

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

They have to be energized and able to adapt as the market and competitors demand. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. These are your eyes and ears, in daily contact with customers, who are as committed to delighting customers as you are.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2017

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 56

Startup Training Statistics Summary 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2014

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Training Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Growth is more than simply repackaging existing products, and adding bells and whistles or slick incentives. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2019

Real business leadership requires continuous improvement, just like your products and processes. Many new venture owners have trouble disengaging from the escalating demands of their business to celebrate the small successes of the people and customers who depend on them. Work on being a facilitator rather than a driver.

Tips 97

Tips Mentor Coach Metrics 97

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Growth is more than simply repackaging existing products, and adding bells and whistles or slick incentives. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. How profitable is my product or service? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Train them fully, give them authority, make them accountable, and tie their pay to customer satisfaction. It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Train and coach continuously. Know your customers intimately.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 93

Startup Training Statistics Summary 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Marketing Training Statistics 94

socalTECH

JULY 10, 2019

What we learned, is there is so much more demand from existing retailers and platforms that sell directly to consumers, and discovery platforms like Foursquare, who wanted to user our IP as a layer, versus a standalone product. That allows us, at the end of day, to look across an extremely large set of data.

Pricing 113

Pricing Startup North Hollywood Platform 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2010

This contextual focus is critical to innovation and survival – the right product at the right time. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Failure rates this high demand a new mindset and startups are the logical place for this to happen. Increase change agility.

Startup 78

Startup Training Statistics Summary 78

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

You’re unlikely to want to make this sort of investment with the product or the market not yet validated. As ever, prices still determined by: quality of team, quality of product / market and competitiveness of the deal. I should also point out that while they had built their products they had limited market traction.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336