Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

The new era of highly connected and interactive technology is changing not only how business employees interact with customers, but also how they interact with each other, and with their company. I am happy to see reports that young companies are leading the way in these trends, on both the customer and the employee side.

Competition 127

Competition Case Study Platform Yahoo 127

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 13, 2012

However, at most startups, competitive advantages are derived from a combination of invention and innovation, as described more fully in Inventor Or Innovator – Which Are You? This is in contrast to the approach taken by most big companies, which often focuses on outperforming the same activities conducted by their rivals.

Startup 198

Startup Competition Activity Class 198

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

And measuring activities or output can mislead you into thinking you’re doing a great job. So they create a task list of all the marketing activities an organization can do: press releases, web site updates, customer case studies, blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook fan page, attending conferences, etc.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. He’s helped me run the Upfront holding company activities for all of these years and will continue to do so. And all the platform stuff. I’m only 52!

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

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

MARCH 11, 2014

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” You have to hear your customer’s dreams, goals, passions, and aspirations.

Customer 98

Customer Custom .Net Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. This applies to your own team, as well as customers. Make every customer experience memorable.

Customer 114

Customer Custom Metrics Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2015

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” You have to hear your customer’s dreams, goals, passions, and aspirations.

Customer 100

Customer Custom .Net Social Media 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2021

In these days of rapid change, the pandemic, and worldwide competition, you need to make sure your entire team is customer-focused, innovative, and always looking around the corner for the next big thing. Find folks who are customer-centric and sensitive to competition. Find people who enjoy being problem solvers.

Coach 174

Coach Activity Social Media Customer 174

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

The company used its overdraft protection service and money management display to shift customers’ focus away from the total balance that their account would show by giving them a sense of how much was actually left in their accounts once debits were included in their statements.

Companies 262

Companies Company Startup Tips 262

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Is there any harm in this activity? Yes, we’ve seen gray areas.

Customer 189

Customer Custom Examples Email 189

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Detailed roadmap of features you plan to build Detailed customer information Salary information Any other information you wouldn’t want seen or know by your competitors or a larger audience In short, there is nothing in your deck that should give you pause or make you feel like you can’t just send the damn file to somebody. A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Lots of firms are now talking about this pretty actively.”. Since Revolution launched in 2005, venture capital activity in underrepresented markets has grown significantly. Competition for access to deals in the Bay Area, however, has priced many investors out of the most sought-after rounds. It’s not where the talent is.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Funding Seed Funding Activity 211

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

Its primary goal is to focus on identifying what is truly driving demand, analytically, so that our customers can optimize their activities. We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments.

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. And because I wanted Ethan to be able to attract a great team, build & iterate a product, test it with initial customers and refine his strategy before having to take the wrappers off of his company. I was standing with him when he won the TechCrunch 50 award.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Because times are slightly better now for fund raising I’d probably say two extra things: a) it may be worth a modest increase in your team size / activities / development IF you can raise more money to do this now & b) if you can raise more than you need right now (within reason) without too much extra dilution I would do so.

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

As a CEO you never stop needing to go on sales calls (or to work the phones in telesales or customer support) and ceasing to do this as your company grows because you’re focusing on investors, recruiting, PR or whatever is a mistake. As a content management system we had lots of write activities and went with Postgres.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” You have to hear your customer’s dreams, goals, passions, and aspirations.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2011

There is lots of competition in this area for serving retirement homes. We felt we'd have more impact over time, if we instead focused on people who are one generation younger, still working, and are active. Back to the website, describe who the demographics are of your customers? How did you end up starting the site?

Study 252

Study Startup Design Tips 252

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

But in addition I’ve always found it helpful to provide a simple checklist for new venture founders and new business owners to make sure they have covered all the key bases correctly, including the following: Define and focus on a single customer segment. Quantify your value proposition for customers.

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

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

Berkonomics

JUNE 3, 2021

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Is there any harm in this activity? . What are the risks when there is no authority?

Customer 156

Customer Custom Examples Email 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Often, despite your passion and expectation, customers don’t immediately see the value and need that you see, and you have no idea why the initiative is stuck , and what could be the real customer issue or fix. Customers won’t buy what they can’t find or don’t understand. Customers need supporting approvals to fully benefit.

Product 141

Product Services Technical Review Artificial Inteligence 141

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. Accelerating worldwide competition and financial upheavals are undermining established market positions.

Customer 83

Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. You may be getting killed today by customer expectations you never worried about just a few years ago.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2011

What has set us aside from the competition, is we built our own back end telco platform. That's allowed us to leverage that platform to sell services, such as telephony to hundreds of business customers, which is why you seeing us doing both things in the space. It is a competitive environment.

Social Network 259

Social Network Platform Networking Google 259

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). I have no money? There is a lot you can do without spending money.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2011

Wes Brodsky: One of the benefits of having competition, is that the Stubhubs, Tickets.com, and Razorgator's have all solved that problem. It is now very, very customer friendly. But, what we've noticed, from activity on our site and sales--is it is getting very hot again. It looks the same in ticketing. READ MORE>>.

Ticketmaster 253

Ticketmaster Pricing Sales Activity 253

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

We''re very much a global footprint company, and we have customers from all over the world who fit that type of description. Right now, we have around 380,000 customers, with about a third of those outside the United States. Simon Anderson: There''s a lot of competition in the market, undoubtedly. READ MORE>>.

Software Review 238

Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2021

Is it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the other 200 active platforms vying for attention these days? It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world. Increase customer leads and conversion.

Social Media 142

Social Media Media Platform Customer 142

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

Linktree leads the space, securing a recent $45 million Series B raise to build out e-commerce features, but Beacons boasts competitive creator monetization tools with just a $6 million seed round in May. Now, Snipfeed enters the ring with its own $5.5 Image Credits: Snipfeed.

Platform 286

Platform Commerce Tips Tool 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2017

As a startup, you need to use your limited resources to excel at a few core things for your best customers, in order to stand out and get the momentum going. Your customers’ biggest need is not for more things. Your best strategy is to find more customers that fit the things you do best, rather than building more things.

Competition 65

Competition Social Media Metrics Startup 65

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. What is ConsumerTrack all about? Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company.

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. Find ways to recharge your emotional batteries, through supportive relationships and community activities. Start today. Marty Zwilling.

Examples 145

Examples Mentor Activity Product 145

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

However, the recent surge in startup activity has attracted a lot more capital into the area, including a significant amount of capital from LA's latest fund: Karlin Ventures (www.karlinvc.com). We don't need for you to be breakeven company, but a business with paying customers is great validation in itself.

Funding 253

Funding Startup Invest Commerce 253

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2022

As a startup, you need to use your limited resources to excel at a few core things for your best customers, in order to stand out and get the momentum going. Your customers’ biggest need is not for more things. Your best strategy is to find more customers that fit the things you do best, rather than building more things.

Startup 144

Startup Social Media Metrics Customer 144