Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2013

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. This morning I was reading my social media and came across an article that Christine Tsai had posted on Facebook. What did it mean? What nationality was it? So he made hand-made batches in a bucket and drove it to customers in his van. What touched me?

Entrepreneur 415

Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Product 415

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Inc. Last week, Divshot turned a simple April Fool''s Day joke into a marketing coup, generating nearly 6,000 Tweets and over a thousand Beta customers. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Don''t Force It.

Customer 195

Customer Custom Template Startup 195

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Even with product businesses, it’s the ultimate way to build your brand credibility, bring in customer leads, and get feedback from your target market. Studying other people’s blogs will help you identify what you like and don’t like, and how you want yours to look and feel. Anchor the blog in your domain name. Add outgoing links.

Blogging 135

Blogging Services Search Engine Optimization Web 135

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.” Yet we are all still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2021

Every startup fears that one angry and unfair customer who can jeopardize the business by a negative post on Ripoff Report , Yelp , or one of the hundreds of other consumer complaint and review sites on the Internet. Don’t repeat the “ United Breaks Guitars ” experience, which now has been published as a book on what not to do.

Search Engine Optimization 163

Search Engine Optimization Content Social Network Google 163

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. I outlined what investors expect to see in an old article “ Adding Slides Does Not Enhance Your Investor Pitch. State your value proposition, and what specifically you are offering to whom. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes.

Slides 147

Slides Funding Technical Review Startup 147

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. However, savvy startups can leverage LinkedIn to create a customer acquisition and a churn reduction tool. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Businesses typically use LinkedIn to recruit employees.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Software Review Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

Social proof is defined as “looking for others to guide our decisions&# and is also one of the most important techniques in acquiring customers in your company. This is what drove early adoption at Twitter, FourSquare, Quora and is now driving people obsessively at FlipBoard. This applies to business users as much as to consumers.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Practice being a good communicator.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Tech.Co

JANUARY 10, 2018

“Focusing on emotion is key when communicating with female customers. “Focusing on emotion is key when communicating with female customers. Most importantly, humor can get customers talking about your product or service. The Emotional Sell. This is especially true when providing a product/service to children.”

Tips 71

Tips Customer Custom Dollar Shave Club 71

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. 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

AUGUST 29, 2015

With the advent of social media and the pervasive move to smartphones, even customers who still prefer to purchase in brick-and-mortar stores have dramatically changed their shopping habits. Many people don’t post about their experiences, but still routinely check first to see what others are saying about the brand and the product online.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 103

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Call a company meeting to communicate what is happening, and why. All need to know who will be there and what you expect. Contact key vendors and existing customers. During this time or earlier, you should also be doing your own due diligence on the investor, as suggested in a classic article on avoiding problem investors.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

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.” Yet we are all still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.

Customer 100

Customer Custom .Net Competition 100

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Inc. Last week, Divshot turned a simple April Fool''s Day joke into a marketing coup, generating nearly 6,000 Tweets and over a thousand Beta customers. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Don''t Force It.

Customer 153

Customer Custom Template Startup 153

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

For today's interview, we sat down to catch up with Jon Waterman, the founder and CEO of Ad.net, to understand what the company's business is nowadays, how the company has evolved over the years, and how the company has adjusted to life during a pandemic. What is Ad.net? What does that mean? What does that mean specifically?

Advertising 203

Advertising Startup Google Commerce 203

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.” Yet we are all still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.

Customer 98

Customer Custom .Net Competition 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Practice being a good communicator.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

This enables internal users to swiftly find answers to queries such as "What is our internal IP address?" This data is typically arranged in rows and columns, akin to what you'd find in databases, spreadsheets, or CSV files. or "How can I modify my direct deposit account?"

Generative AI 346

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 346

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. Here’s why … What is Muhammad’s Argument? I’d strongly encourage you to read it. We were here first.”

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

As of today, I will have published an article here for entrepreneurs and startups every day for the last 1001 days, since I started Startup Professionals Musings near the close of 2008. I’m sure you know what I mean. It’s been a great ride, but it’s now time to dial it back a bit, and focus on some other priorities.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Blogging Social Media 96

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 10, 2013

Excellent customer service isn’t just something that happens from company to consumer. Customer service starts within a company. We all know about Zappos customer culture and their willingness to stay on a call with a customer for up to 10 hours. It’s the same effect you want on your customers.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Training Services 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2022

I’ve always thought that I might be overly sensitive, until I saw an article about bad bosses a few years ago by The Business Journals , which claims that many employees spend 10 hours a month complaining or listening to others complain, and 75 percent say their boss is the most stressful part of their job. If not, don’t say it.”

Startup 141

Startup Journal Customer Custom 141

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2022

Your business is not all about what is best for you, but what is best for your customers. In reality, your customers care more about your product and service, so feedback on product shortcomings or service glitches are meant to help your business, not hurt you. You know what is required, but you continue to procrastinate.

Help 131

Help Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

So how do good entrepreneurs do it, and what do they do that everyone can learn from? The entrepreneurial approach is to decide what you want, take a small step toward that goal, pause to see what you have learned, build off that learning, and iterate the process. Avoid overthinking yourself, leading to no action.

Entrepreneur 127

Entrepreneur Mentor Competition Study 127

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

This article initially appeared on Inc. The point of PUCCKA was to develop a common methodology to make sure our whole team approaches sales with the same mindset and to give us a language to talk with each other about our prospects, as in, “have you identified your customers pain point yet?”. Click here.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 10, 2011

It’s what I love about Twitter. When I’m in the mood to consume what my world is telling me right now I can “tune in&# to Twitter and digest the rapid stream. I auto filter these in Gmail so I essentially get a reading list of future articles. Check out what some enterprising entrepreneur from Finland did ).

Email 296

Email Social Network Networking Mobile 296

Eric Greenspan

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

“Employees First, Customers Next&# is my philosophy and how we roll at Make It Work. During public speaking engangements, when I attend meetings, or when I encounter Make It Work customers. Have you ever heard the term “The customer is ALWAYS right?” Tags: Eric Greenspan customer service. The hard part?

Customer 100

Customer Custom Services Framework 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2021

If someone left this article on your desk, read extra carefully. Since you always pay attention to what you most value, when you pay close attention to another person, you tell that person that they are of great value to you. It also enables you to hear not only what was said, but what was not said. Pause before replying.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Competition Customer Custom 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

According to an old Harvard Business Review article, many people in history, famous for their inventions, like Thomas Edison, were entrepreneurs who only later were remembered as inventors of the products they commercialized. In other words, inventions are necessary but not sufficient to create real value for investors and customers.

Technical Review 156

Technical Review Funding Patents Ideas 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2022

In general I try to focus on the positives and tell entrepreneurs what works, but sometimes it’s important to reiterate the common things that simply don’t work. In the rush of a startup, it’s tempting to start spending the money you expect any day from a rich uncle or a major new customer. You may be dead wrong.

Startup 100

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. 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 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

InfoChachkie

JUNE 30, 2016

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Many companies unknowingly Rickroll their would-be customers by improperly aligning their products’ capabilities with their marketing messages. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! Find out what they think.

Customer 162

Customer Custom Marketing Product 162

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). What do you do when you have finally raised seed funds?

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

This morning in our Insights and Opinions section, we're featuring another article from Dave Berkus , an early stage investor here who has been sharing his advice via both his blog, Berkonomics.com , as well as through a new book, BASIC BERKONOMICS. Read the rest of Dave's article, What's In It For Me? Be a (Continued.).

Blogging 138

Blogging Customer Custom Help 138

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2019

I also wrote an entire series on the topic of Startup Boards if you want to do any more reading that link has several articles you can dig into. Often these projects took 12–18 months so by the time companies shipped product they often found out that the product didn’t meet customer needs. What Should We Talk About at Board Meetings?

Startup 234

Startup Slides Venture Capital Course 234