Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Admittedly I also fall into this trap.

Product 280

Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Starting an entrepreneurial business, or maintaining the competitiveness of a mature business, requires innovation. Many product innovations come from quality improvement focuses, like the Japanese Kaizen initiative. Creativity is more about ideas, while innovation is all about implementation.

Organization 94

Organization Ideas Technical Review Research 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2021

Starting an entrepreneurial business, or maintaining the competitiveness of a mature business, requires innovation. Many product innovations come from quality improvement focuses, like the Japanese Kaizen initiative. Creativity is more about ideas, while innovation is all about implementation.

Organization 172

Organization Ideas Technical Review Research 172

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value for customers. Working the circuit of big groups of strangers is minimally productive. Don’t waste your time following up.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2022

As an entrepreneur, you should treat gossip among the members of your team as a reduction in productivity at best, and at worst, an indication of unhappy, un-empowered, or non-collaborative employees. Good gossip, as opposed to the malicious kind, some argue, might promote camaraderie and accountability on the team.

Product 93

Product Entrepreneur Competition Research 93

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 5, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! A recurring entrepreneurial challenge is to determine the optimal price of a new product, especially absent a directly competitive alternative. How Much For A Rib?

Pricing 100

Pricing Product Startup Customer 100

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). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ growth hacking ” and why I thought it was wrong that people were hating on the term unnecessarily. If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2016

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 55

Product Startup Summary Entrepreneur 55

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

The original post of this article on appeared on GigaOm in a more concise version here. Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. But they want to establish a baseline in the customer’s mind of the value they will get by using your product.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2015

As an entrepreneur, you should treat gossip among the members of your team as a reduction in productivity at best, and at worst, an indication of unhappy, un-empowered, or non-collaborative employees. Good gossip, as opposed to the malicious kind, some argue, might promote camaraderie and accountability on the team.

Product 61

Product Entrepreneur Competition Examples 61

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2014

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! In several cases, we eventually productized summer intern projects, including a mobile version of GoToMyPC which we called PocketView. Image: Dean Calma / IAEA via Flickr.

Startup 257

Startup Santa Barbara Competition Class 257

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

His article is well worth reading anyways. Often you ask somebody, “Did you see that article on Google buying so and so?” I can my feed on my iPhone constantly, looking for interesting stories or just to hear what friends are talking about. I’ve talked to Fred about this over the years. I should know.

Writing 326

Writing Buzzfeed Social Media Blogging 326

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. But mostly they’re thinking, “Will my audience even care about this topic?”

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

The rest of the country may be in a recession, but hiring within the tech community remains highly competitive. As such, a reputation as a cool company is a competitive advantage to be cultivated and coveted. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Like It Or Not, Cool Matters.

Yahoo 205

Yahoo Company Companies RSS 205

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2020

As an entrepreneur, you should treat gossip among the members of your team as a reduction in productivity at best, and at worst, an indication of unhappy, un-empowered, or non-collaborative employees. Good gossip, as opposed to the malicious kind, some argue, might promote camaraderie and accountability on the team.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Competition Examples Organization 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. Increase change agility.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. You’d imagine that companies selling tons of shelfware would quickly meet their deserved fate in the market, yet the spin around a category of software can fool buyers into thinking they “must have this product to compete.”

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 20, 2014

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. What is most surprising about UCSB''s national entrepreneurial ranking is that it doesn''t even have a business school. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Want to be an entrepreneur? Organic Academia.

Santa Barbara 258

Santa Barbara Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 258

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. companies should… focus on building amazing products. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

Understanding “The Funding Angle” I sit at enough board meetings to hear conflicting advice given to entrepreneurs about how to handle PR and announcements at startups. But first you need to know about Reg D filings. I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2018

San Diego-based Wildfire Systems , led by startup veteran Jordan Glazier , has developed software which product referrals and automatically transform them into trackable links across email, text messaging, chat, and social messaging. We automatically add tracking and point those product references to e-commerce merchants.

San Diego 159

San Diego Social Media Commerce Snapchat 159

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I acknowledged this in the article. I said both in the article but felt compelled to provide a statement up front for the skimmers. I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 22, 2011

For me it is a useful shorthand for a very clever set of product features that in my mind would be hard to remain a stand-alone business or themselves to generate enough revenue to justify the company’s existence. It’s about 10 minutes long. We spoke about my interest in cloud computing, digital media and mobile.

Company 295

Company Companies Gogii Google 295

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value for customers. Working the circuit of big groups of strangers is minimally productive. Don’t waste your time following up.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 19, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared in Inc. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Confused, I asked him about his shirt. Stealth mode impacts a company''s maturation in the following four ways: 1) Slows down determination of the proper product / market fit.

Cloud Computing 176

Cloud Computing Web Entrepreneur Marketing 176

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 10, 2013

TechCrunch interviewed me and asked me to talk about failure. So I spoke for 12 minutes about my own failures. Stop reading their press releases or hearing their founder talk about he is crushing it. We all know that people who truly are crushing it rarely talk about it. Inside your own corridors you’re naked.

Startup 412

Startup Press Course Entrepreneur 412

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Exposure is another key ingredient.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

This article previously appeared in Forbes. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! The team subsequently earned a coveted position in Launchpad LA's current accelerator class after winning the Crowdstart LA competition.

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

InfoChachkie

JULY 29, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! A variety of dynamics, such the market''s rate of growth, competitiveness and maturation will impact your startup. Easy To Start, Hard To Control. Share and Enjoy.

Startup 229

Startup Course Entrepreneur Marketing 229

socalTECH

JULY 11, 2012

Vinny talked with us about his start, which allows users to discuss and collaborate on their stocks and finances in a social way. What is Stockr all about? There is no social network online which provides authentic ideas about the stock market. Raising money is never easy, and when you have a product like ours it's interesting.

Social Network 239

Social Network Startup Networking Content 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. Like any sale you first need to plan your “prospects” and qualify whether or not they’d be a good fit for your product?—?an

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. I wrote about how to build relationships with journalists in this post. There is one carve out.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Tech.Co

MAY 26, 2020

Since April 21, Amazon has slashed its rates across a wide range of product categories, in some cases dropping as much as 70%. In fact, multiple affiliate sites I spoke to for this article have seen their partners or revenues nearly double within just a few months. But, Amazon is cutting back on such perks. The impact? commission).

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 129

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This article was originally posted in a much more concise version over GigaOm if you prefer the shorter version. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. Be realistic about your skills.

Sales 286

Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286