Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2017

Customer service has traditionally been a support function to respond to customer initiated requests, meaning someone waits for the phone to ring or for a website support request form. Think “pull” marketing rather than “push” for all services. Staff all customer interactions with experienced people.

Customer 95

Customer Custom Services Technical Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. You can now skip the mandatory office space rental, with secretary and bookkeeping staff, or outsourcing.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. Investors don’t invest in services startups.

Startup 154

Startup Outsource Ideas Research 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on. Let me explain why: 1.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events. Specialized services, such as accounting, require skilled people, training, and tools, and do not scale well. Minimize one-time sales in your business model. Focus on a solution that is scalable world-wide.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Ineffective and expensive marketing campaigns. The most cost-effective marketing approaches have changed; from catalogs to web sites, and from television commercials to social media.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Some of the most recent listings: Director of Marketing , Ramprate. RampRate Sourcing Advisors is a leading IT sourcing advisor with a proprietary index and close network of partners designed to perform fast, efficient IT services transactions. Vice President, Sales and Marketing , Stanton Chase International.

SoCalTech 138

SoCalTech Outsource SaaS Report 138

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2014

If you''re a brand or retailer, needing to get online, there are a lot of things to deal with to run your e-commerce business smoothly--everything from your e-commerce site itself, to taking photos of your products, packing and shipping, to digital marketing. John Tomich: OneStop Internet is an e-commerce services company.

Commerce 203

Commerce Venture Capital Internet Brands Startup 203

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 13, 2009

Customer Service – As newspaper boys were the face of their employers, savvy carriers learned to establish healthy customer relationships to facilitate timely collections and generous tips. Other entry-level experiences for budding entrepreneurs included selling items marketed in comic book ads. Make Money – Get Prizes. Boys To Men.

Web 2.0 222

Web 2.0 Web Sales Outsource Development 222

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The CEO weighs in with his perspectives, the head of product management disputes his conclusions and the marketing VP has a different take. The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. If they’re not I won’t fund.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis. In order to reasonably assess the size of your addressable market, you must perform a bottoms-up analysis which is based on a number of elemental assumptions.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2018

For this morning's interview, we caught up with Elizabeth Cholawsky , the new CEO of Santa Barbara-based HG Data (www.hgdata.com), which develops software which helps marketers and salespeople understand the "technology stack" of their potential customers and prospects. I've been in product, product development, marketing, and management.

Santa Barbara 113

Santa Barbara High Tech Outsource Development Startup 113

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2014

We caught up with founder and CEO Grant Kirkwood --a serial entrepreneur and veteran of providing infrastructure to the enterprise markets--on the vision behind the company. Companies were saying--we want to outsource these kinds of things, because they''re not our core competency. There are lots of folks thinking about this market.

Cloud Computing 217

Cloud Computing Outsource Development Outsource Startup 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2020

In my experience as an advisor to startups, the difference is almost always related to the founder and their execution strategy , more so than to the solution quality or the market. Initially, you may be able to do everything in your startup, including product development, marketing, and shipping orders.

Startup 123

Startup Outsource Development Entrepreneur Outsource 123

socalTECH

JULY 5, 2016

Irvine-based American Industrial Systems , a provider of engineering services and products for the Interet-of-Things, oil and gas, industrial automation, and other markets, has sold a 60 percent stake of the company to Ennoconn. Financial terms of the sale were not announced.

Sales 133

Sales Product Services Marketing 133

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. 4) Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2015

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. Investors don’t invest in services startups.

Startup 103

Startup Outsource Invest Ideas 103

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2013

Create a Marketing Plan. Marketing is key in helping you to develop long-term, strategic plans that can stop your cash drain. Your sales forecast is an essential variable for cash and profit planning. Strategic marketing means finding ways to promote and sell your product so that you achieve specific goals.

Outsource Development 91

Outsource Development Outsource Startup Marketing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2012

The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Target market. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Sales/Marketing. Production.

Sales 97

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 97

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

He taught me, amongst other things, the benefit of “ top down thinking &# that changed the way I analyzed markets, companies and people. We worked together at Andersen Consulting between 1996-99 when the markets were booming. See, Mark, in a booming market you can never tell the winners from the losers.

Technical Review 302

Technical Review Marketing IP Outsource Development 302

Tech Coast Venture Network

APRIL 21, 2010

They began small; a small business owner understanding a need, filling that need, and slowly adding products, services and people. Don’t even think about getting money from others before you manage sale number one. If you are confident in your product or service, you need to take a chance on yourself with your own money.

Outsource 100

Outsource Tips Venture Capital Resource 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. Investors don’t invest in services startups.

Tips 111

Tips Startup Outsource Ideas 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. You can now skip the mandatory office space rental, with secretary and bookkeeping staff, or outsourcing.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. Investors don’t invest in services startups.

Funding 67

Funding Startup Outsource Ideas 67

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2011

The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Target market. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Sales/Marketing. Production.

Sales 98

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2012

I define a product plan as a detailed description of your product or service, with a bit of business thrown in at the end. The product plan tells your developers what to build, and the marketing team what to market. Enough detail is required so that someone else can build it without you (outsourcing). Market research.

Product 92

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. I know this will fall like a lead balloon to the many people who believe it is possible to have a [insert: startup incubator or technology accelerator or technology consultant or outsource firm] build your technology. I don’t believe that one exists.

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2012

Fine Art America handles all of the details of fulfilling sales for images. You hit submit, and your images are instantly available for sale as prints on our website. had their first sales, which made us profitable. My only expense at the time was $8 a month for a server, so the first sale made us profitable. the payroll.

Santa Monica 258

Santa Monica Pricing Sites Sales 258