Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” If you are living your passion, you want to interact with customers, and “touch and feel” the product every day. According to William R.

Entrepreneur 148

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Customer acquisition, retention, and support.

Ideas 122

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2014

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s recent book, “ The New Experts: Win Today''s Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 98

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 124

Customer Custom Startup Course 124

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

In my experience with entrepreneurs, there seems to a wealth of self-proclaimed “idea people” who aspire to start businesses, but only a few who are willing and able to dig in and get the job done. Only rare great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have proven to be both. Customer acquisition, retention, and support.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

The road to becoming an entrepreneur is a journey , and it’s not a short trip. Every entrepreneur starts by accepting the reality that you have a rare mindset of joy of discovery, with an intense curiosity about how certain things or people work, or why a new technology hasn’t yet been accepted.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Help Incubator Startup 139

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. They are irritated because they generated a ton of leads at their trade shows, their webinars and through online acquisition and they’re tired of getting blamed for the Patel leads. Entrepreneurs should care more about respect.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. The best sale or acquisition is a gradual one, where the acquirer gets to know you through formal and informal relationships.

Startup 99

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Every entrepreneur I know finds it a challenge to balance the joys of entrepreneurship against a set of frustrations they never anticipated. Of course, most of you expect that raising money will be difficult, as well as staving off competitors, and handling that occasional toxic customer.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Course Examples 122

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2016

Mike Mothner: The business today, is we are a digital agency focused on customer acquisition and growth for businesses of all types. If it's a digital channel, and there are customers to connect with, we are looking to help those companies grow. We also have an office now in Houston as well as a result of the acquisition.

Acquisition 100

Acquisition Paid Search El Segundo SEO 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Many startups and mature businesses have not yet accepted the fact that customer satisfaction and loyalty in this “always connected” age are about more than product and service quality. They are all about how customers broadcast their pleasure or unhappiness to others. Customer upsell: Sell more to existing customers.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Satisfaction Social Media 100

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 business model.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

On the other hand, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. His focus is on entrepreneurs in America, but what he says applies to every other country as well. This next frontier lies in building enterprises as an entrepreneur, rather than waiting for innovation and opportunity from large corporations.

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Offshore Technical Review Outsource 87

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

According to Triller, it will use the acquisition to grow its live event programming. According to Triller, those events are run as a "way to inspire their customers and sales teams.". Financial terms of the buy were not announced.

Entertainment 113

Entertainment Acquisition Los Angeles Sales 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is talking about the fact that there are over 2,000 billionaires in the world today, and how their innovative idea could make them one of the next ones. Becoming an entrepreneur is actually a commitment to a new lifestyle, certainly very exciting, but also facing many unknowns and risks.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Many startups and mature businesses have not yet adapted to the fact that customer satisfaction in this “always connected” age is more than product and service quality. It’s more about which customers broadcast their pleasure or unhappiness to others. Here are four basics that always apply: Customer retention is priority number one.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Satisfaction Social Media 97

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

How should you become the best marketer you can be, even if you are a first-time entrepreneur or a seasoned CEO? Interview potential customers, hold focus groups, meet with existing customers. There’s an answer for that. The title of this insight helps us find a formula: LALA. Memorize your use of “LALA”. Hire consultants.

Marketing 156

Marketing Metrics Education Resource 156

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

OCTOBER 26, 2020

Most retail and commercial banks offer investment services to their customers, but these services have nothing to do with investing in your business. It may be the same physical bank that you deal with for your personal account, except in the personal context it is called a retail bank.

Invest 144

Invest Entrepreneur Venture Capital Funding 144

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

Many experts are certain that successful entrepreneurs are the ones with the most inspiration (passion and dream), while others will assert that it’s about more perspiration (working harder). Here are five key ones to celebrate: Enjoy the feedback from every satisfied customer. In my experience, both are always required in heavy doses.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Customer Custom 118

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. The canvas is a visual chart with elements describing your value proposition, structure, finances, and customers, to help companies identify and align business activities.

Funding 133

Funding Activity Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2021

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. The best sale or acquisition is a gradual one, where the acquirer gets to know you through formal and informal relationships.

Startup 173

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 173

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Initially, all companies sell to customers who are the easiest to reach and most excited about the new product. Customer acquisition gets harder and more expensive.

Startup 106

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2015

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Startup Course 101

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 business model.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2023

Entrepreneurs seem to have blinders on when looking at competitors. If your customers would benefit by having products from both companies, you might negotiate the opportunity to include the other’s product as an add-on. Let market response dictate a later split, merger, or acquisition. Willing to learn from each other.

Startup 105

Startup Outsource Competition Entrepreneur 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

In many instances, investors simply do not have the patience to wait for an entrepreneur to sufficiently clean up their deal once a significant issue is identified during the due diligence process. Savvy entrepreneurs resolve potentially problematic issues on their own terms, before they begin raising capital. Frictionless Fundraising.

Technical Review 264

Technical Review Entrepreneur IP RSS 264

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Greathouse: Your collective experiences have clearly made bootstrapping a viable option for you, more so than might be the case for a typical, younger entrepreneur who needs more direction, doesn’t have cash discipline, etc. We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2015

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. Yet the process is eerily realistic, and every entrepreneur can glean some important lessons. Investors invest in people, more than ideas.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sample Ideas Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Due diligence always involves on-site visits, informal discussions with any or all members of the team, vendors, and good customers as well as bad.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

Most entrepreneurs assume that success is dependent on their product expertise, coupled with some knowledge of how to run a business. Successful entrepreneurs today must practice human-centered leadership to compete and win. Investments and acquisitions fail. Customer relationships culture is slipping.

Training 142

Training Coach Startup Entrepreneur 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2020

Many experts are certain that successful entrepreneurs are the ones with the most inspiration (passion and dream), while others will assert that it’s about more perspiration (working harder). Here are five key ones to celebrate: Enjoy the feedback from every satisfied customer. In my experience, both are always required in heavy doses.

Satisfaction 174

Satisfaction Customer Custom Outsource 174

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

We thought it might be interesting to talk with one of the fund's managing directors, Jeb Spencer about the fund's success in technology investments, plus how it managed to raise another fund in this kind of environment, plus its unique goal of getting companies to an acquisition--and not an IPO. That's what allows you to win in the end.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168