Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Yet I find that few of today’s workers realize that succeeding as a freelancer requires a whole new focus on “marketing” yourself. In addition, like an entrepreneur with a new business, you have to factor in all the indirect costs previously covered by employers, including training, health care, and time off for vacations.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2017

In the heat of scaling the business, it’s tempting to skip the cost and time of finding qualified job candidates, and enlist those close at hand, without paying them a competitive wage for the hard work and commitment you need. Very few people are experts in all facets of a new business, including finance, sales, marketing, and operations.

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Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 72

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

The best entrepreneurs in our industry focus on it year-round as opposed to just once every 18 months. But it’s critical for your business, for you as a leader and people who excel at fund raising have an extreme advantage over those who do not. But if there is nothing wrong with you then please don’t let early rejections alter your course.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Kevin sold his last company, Santa Barbara-based Graphiq, in July of 2017 to Amazon, but has a long history of successful companies, including founding DoubleClick.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Capital 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Unless you are a serial entrepreneur with a string of successes behind you, you need a business plan to convince investors that you can build a business out of the dream that has been driving your passion to change the world. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. Marketing, sales, and customer experience.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 3, 2022

“We want to inspire, but we also want to be realistic and show beauty in real life,” Glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss said in a 2017 interview with Inc, just as the brand had reached what Weiss herself described as “cult status.” billion company in the brutally competitive beauty industry, especially one with such broad appeal.

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Startup Netflix Los Angeles Innocal 280

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Most budding entrepreneurs don’t realize that nine out of ten startups fail within 24 months. I’m sure you understand that every new business starts with passion, and maybe even some deep domain experience, to fully appreciate a painful market need, with a large and growing set of customers with money for your solution.

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Startup Competition Resource Snapchat 65

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

exabytes per month at the end of 2017, of which more than half was video. As an entrepreneur, what steps can you take to help your business not only survive the data hurricane, but to thrive under these new and challenging conditions? Look beyond today’s requirements for entire new market opportunities.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

As an angel investor and business advisor on new ventures, I expect to see five-year financial projections from every entrepreneur. Does this entrepreneur understand the basics of business costs in the selected business domain, growth dynamics, and the competitive environment? Set a target growth and market penetration rate.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs are just now starting to look at this option again, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. Violent market swings usually hit public companies first.

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Startup Technical Review Report Entrepreneur 87

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

in a funding led by Orange County's Okapi Venture Capitalis looking to help direct to consumer brands use better data to direct their marketing and other efforts. founded in summer of 2017. In 2014, there were a few hundred stores running on Shopify, as the e-commerce market was quite fragmented. What does your startup do?

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Startup Platform Commerce San Diego 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Entrepreneurs are people who dream up new ideas, and then commercialize them into new businesses. Yet, in my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, the majority of failures I see are related to starting and growing the business, not developing the solution. In today’s world, the market evolves even faster than the technology.

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Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2017

In my role as an advisor to entrepreneurs and new businesses, I often get asked to critique an idea, but rarely get asked to comment on an implementation plan, or execution actions to date. While you are still thinking, your competition will be stealing your market or the opportunity itself may go away or evolve.

Ideas 72

Ideas Entrepreneur Examples Satisfaction 72

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2017

Many startups and entrepreneurs I advise still default to growing their business via the traditional top-down, order-taking culture. I’m convinced that you can’t stay competitive that way with today’s customers, and today’s employees. Anything you or your team knows about the market today may change tomorrow.

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Competition Organization Customer Custom 50

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2017

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. For example, I often hear from aspiring entrepreneurs that “I had that idea first, and he stole it, and is now making money on my idea.” Build positive psychological capital to sustain your business.

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Coach Satisfaction Ideas Entrepreneur 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2018

In my experience with technical entrepreneurs, they work hard on creating an innovative and elegant solution, and assume that customers will flock to them (“if we build it, they will come”). Products too expensive for the market won’t succeed, and prices too low will leave you exposed. Finalize your channel and marketing strategy.

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Product Pricing Startup Customer 55

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2017

Every opportunity is global, but so is the competition. You must capitalize on the uncertainties in your market, rather than letting the unknowns slow you down. Seek direct customer feedback, via social media and personal interactions, rather than old market research. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 09/29/2017.

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Competition Customer Custom Social Media 60

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

So, if you're a marketer, how do you track and encourage those word-of-mouth recommendations? We have our own suite of applications for Android, iOS, Mac, and Pac, and so forth, but our primary go to market is working with the existing channels, carriers, device OEMs, as well as social media and chat applications.

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San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2017

Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. Reports suggest that 90% of today’s shoppers skip marketing pitches, to research online before they buy, and over 50% check user reviews before making a decision.

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Search Engine Optimization Startup SEO Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2019

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. Select it well – marketers will tell you that you will be selling your name, more than your products.

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IP Invest Patents Social Media 93

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2017

What's wonderful about this new fund, is we literally started in April of 2017. The fund has been about two years of development with Peter Warnoe, who is a serial entrepreneur who is very famous in the Nordics. Lars Tvede has written fifteen books on entrepreneurship, is a serial entrepreneur himself, and has been uber-succcessful.

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Southern California Startup Venture Capital Invest 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2017

Even though I love technology, I always cringe when an entrepreneur starts an angel investor pitch to me by touting his new technology. Let me be clear – technology and market-driven need not be mutually exclusive! Is your product tempered with actual market and customer feedback?

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Technology Customer Custom Marketing 53

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2017

Thus every entrepreneur and business owner needs to see their market in that context, understanding the global forces that will impact them sooner or later. Technological innovations disrupt stable markets. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 03/21/2017. Cultural movements and a societal focus emerges.

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Social Media Demand Customer Custom 74

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

I believe this use of cryptocurrency will develop and flourish long after the dust settles from the hype and crash of cryptocurrencies that we’re experiencing in 2017. This market structure in which the few, large players use their market position to eliminate competition is inevitable. It’s Hobbesian economics 101.

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Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The “product” value is difficult to quantify, the costs are nebulous, and entrepreneurs have to clone themselves to scale the business.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2017

Success in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive business environment requires a total alignment between the needs of each business function and the priorities of all team members. Failed strategies erode your competitive position. Update skill requirements as technology and the market changes.

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Company Companies Technical Review Coach 54

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2017

As an advisor to many new businesses, I see a host of advantages for every new business by being socially responsible today: Expands the potential customer target market size. Increases customer advocacy and loyalty in all markets. Is seen by customers as a competitive edge. Improves your team motivation and productivity.

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Customer Custom Statistics Pricing 64

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

Ironically, the most common desire I hear from entrepreneurs selling wholly online, is the need for their entry into retail, as the next step in their growth strategy. Test new things and keep testing in your market for things that work. Old views of change rates are no longer competitive.

Customer 52

Customer Custom Technical Review Summary 52

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

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. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2017

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. A smaller market sizing may make a good family business, if you have the funding. Do include some quantification.

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Startup Education Ideas Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2017

More than ever, businesses need to take full advantage of automation, data, and analytics to run their business more productively and competitively. Certainly it’s important to optimize current operations, but in this age of rapidly changing demands and competitors, it’s more important change quickly as the market changes.

CTO Coach 59

CTO Coach CIO Startup Competition 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing).

Pricing 66

Pricing Customer Custom Advertising 66

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2017

A large portion of your competitive advantage and your potential value to investors is the size of your intellectual property portfolio. When someone says Intellectual Property (IP), most entrepreneurs think only of patents. Select it well – marketers will tell you that you will be selling your name, more than your products.

Startup 69

Startup Patents IP Social Media 69

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

Success in any business these days requires a constant flow of new and innovative solutions, to keep up with changes in the market, competition, and to attract new customers. Markets and needs change so quickly these days that the view we had last week can be out of date today. Your long-term business survival depends on it.

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Ideas Framework Summary Organization 56

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

For example, in a new book, “ If You’re in a Dogfight, Become a Cat! ,” Leonard Sherman, executive in residence at the Columbia Business School, suggests that you should stay out of the competitive dogfight and continually redefine the game on your own terms. Expand the market to new domains.

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Examples Customer Custom Product 67

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

I hear it all the time as an angel investor, but I also see that same naïve or cavalier attitude come back to haunt entrepreneurs once they really get out in the marketplace. It’s important to separate optimism and dreams from market possibilities. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 07/17/2017.

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Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2017

Design thinking” is a methodology used to solve complex challenges, such as the ones faced by every business in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive environment. I support their list of key requirements for you as an aspiring design thinking leader or entrepreneur.

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Design Coach Organization Ideas 62