Berkonomics

JULY 31, 2014

Marketing is a science devised to help drive customers to your door. There are lots of ways to define how to market well, including the four P’s of marketing (1): product, price, promotion and place. Use all the techniques you learn in marketing classes to drive demand. And finally: C=Customers, and more customers.

Marketing 201

Marketing Demand Pricing Customer 201

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2019

Many notable recent successes, including Airbnb and Uber, have done it by finding disruptive customers, with essentially no new technology. They seek customers willing to decouple from accepted buying models, or are actively looking for a better total experience. Instead seek out customers they can’t or won’t serve.

Customer 73

Customer Custom Social Media Startup 73

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2020

Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth. Prices begin to decline quickly.

Pricing 123

Pricing Cloud Computing Customer Custom 123

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

There could be more demand for electric vehicles post COVID-19 crisis, believes Energica founder Livia Cevolini. From lockdown in her Northern Italy home, Cevolini shared perspective on the future of motorcycling, acquisition offers and plans to recharge her company when the COVID-19 crisis subsides. ” Image Credits: Energica.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Competition Demand Sales 277

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2021

The bad news is we have to think like a business, with all the implications of branding, finding customers, and competitors. One question I often hear from solo entrepreneurs, and she addresses directly, is “How do I set the right price for my services?” Quantify value to the client as price boundaries.

Pricing 149

Pricing Mentor Entrepreneur News 149

Tech.Co

MAY 6, 2022

Now, it's dramatically expanding capacity in another area, fulfillment, with the acquisition of Deliverr. It's the biggest acquisition in Shopify's history. Plus, Shopify says, “inventory placement algorithms” can predict demand in order to better route inventory. Shopify is paying $2.1 Is Shopify right for you?

Networking 125

Networking Press Newsletter Startup 125

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

GrubMarket , which provides software and services that help link up and manage relationships between food suppliers and their customers — which can include wholesalers and other distributors, markets and supermarkets, delivery startups, restaurants, and consumers — has picked up $120 million in a Series E round of funding.

Startup 249

Startup Platform Software Los Angeles 249

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2018

Sendgrid offers up API-based email services, used by many Internet, e-commerce, on-demand and other service providers to send emails to their customers. per share based on today's closing prices. Twilio said it would pay 0.485 shares of Twilio Class A common stock for each share of SendGrid common stock, or approximately $36.92

Orange County 113

Orange County Email Commerce Class 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

I recommend a trial run with an experiment or MVP (minimum viable product), at full price and cost, before the big bang launch, risking your investment money and a major time commitment. Look for validation from your mainstream customers. Mergers and acquisitions also require new skills. Needed help can be your biggest burden.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth. Prices begin to decline quickly.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Customer 116

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Pasadena-based Foodme (www.foodme.com) is one of the first, external startups funded out of Idealab's New Venture Group, and is looking to help connect restaurants with customers using a CPA model. We don't cannibalize their existing customers base. So, we can help them fill that table by allowing them to adjust their pricing.

Idealab 217

Idealab Pasadena Pasadena Angels Demand 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see that first surge of customers, but that’s just the beginning of your work. With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. Ariel understood her customer?—?the This is an age-old marketplace tension where leverage often determines the value captured.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

In a world awash with on-demand startups, Los Angeles-based Serviz (www.serviz.com) stands out--not because of the market segment it is tackling, but because it was founded by two, very experienced serial entrepreneurs-- Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline. Our vision is really to become the premier provider of on-demand home services.

Services 100

Services ReachLocal Demand Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth. Prices begin to decline quickly.

Pricing 105

Pricing Cloud Computing Customer Custom 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 98

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2014

To get some insight into how those names are changing--we caught up with Steve Banfield , SVP and GM of Registrar Services over at Rightside (www.rightside.co) -- which is in the midst of spinning out from Santa Monica-based Demand Media. Steve Banfield: What will become Rightside has been part of Demand Media. READ MORE>>.

Demand 231

Demand HTML Web Media 231

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2018

Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth. Prices begin to decline quickly.

Pricing 52

Pricing Cloud Computing Customer Custom 52

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. 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.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2019

They don’t realize that they are missing out on a great opportunity for “free” promotion, as well as taking a great risk by not listening to what customers are saying, and not monitoring or responding to undeserved challenges to their reputation. Demand professional business skills and customer advocacy.

Social Media 99

Social Media Media Tool Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

RedBeacon went on to sell to HomeDepot in what was considered a very successful acquisition on all sides. But Ethan had left by the time of the acquisition. The goal is not only to help local service-based merchants find new business but also to help them be more efficient in booking existing customers which should help with loyalty.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

I want to understand how many units the company is selling, whether this is increasing over time and how well they’re doing at retaining the customers that they do acquire. Do 20% of the customers make 80% of the revenue or do the top 3 customers represent 80% of the revenue. My first priority is to understand “growth drivers.”

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

When they look at buying your company they often think in terms of “how long will it take until I earn back the profits to pay for my acquisition price?” If you had huge customer growth but just didn’t focus on revenue that’s a different story. ” Harsh, but reality. What makes up revenue?

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2017

The bad news is we have to think like a business, with all the implications of branding, finding customers, and competitors. One question I often hear from solo entrepreneurs, and she addresses directly, is “How do I set the right price for my services?” Quantify value to the client as price boundaries.

Pricing 68

Pricing Entrepreneur Mentor News 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Startup 64

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 64

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. Smart investors think a lot about what we call “unit economics” or what is the economics of service one customers.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Startup 118

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 118

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Custom Insurance Programs for Technology Companies. and international patent and trademark procurement - IP Litigation - IP Licenses and Agreements: distribution, development, joint venture - Intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Think Glendale.

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

I like his set of action items, and have added a few of my own for measuring early traction leading to growth: Turn initial customer goals into measurable traction metrics. These need to go beyond the traditional revenue, cost, and volume metrics which may not yet have data, and can mislead you about real customer acceptance.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

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

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The company was approached by a Big Dumb Company (BDC) who made a nominal acquisition offer within months of the company’s founding. Such offers often come from a larger company once the startup begins to gain traction with customers and prove its value proposition. The Answer Is? The “Do you want to be a millionaire?”

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

The company was approached by a Big Dumb Company (BDC) who made a nominal acquisition offer within months of the company’s founding. Such offers often come from a larger company once the startup begins to gain traction with customers and prove its value proposition. The Answer Is? The “Do you want to be a millionaire?”

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124