Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

We’re expected to be at conferences, events, sales meetings and be publicly visible. People expect blog posts, Tweets, panels, speeches. Recruiting, business development, shipping product, writing blog posts, networking … it’s all the same. And then there are investors who want updates, calls, reports, check-ins.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

Sometimes I make a blog entry. A day might include a discussion with a finance partner, an investor, a customer or a fusion partner. Our new customer acquisition has grown and our costs have plummeted. We are actually getting paid now to obtain customers, so our customer acquisition costs are now negative.

Acquisition 170

Acquisition Customer Custom Ideas 170

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2021

Even before the recent pandemic, when more people began working remotely , I noticed the dynamics changing in many workplaces, both between employee interaction with peers, and interactions with customers. Use marketing, blogging, and industry conferences to get the message out. Measure results in terms of customer satisfaction.

Satisfaction 108

Satisfaction Outsource Study Platform 108

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have. Second, how to get leads.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

Mark is a Partner at GRP Partners and authors one of the most widely read startup blogs, BothSidesOfTheTable. ’ It’s pretty terrible to have to go to conferences… with people who are talking about… stuff that not only do I know nothing about, but I could give two $hits about.” Winning customers is sales.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Startup Conference Santa Barbara 272

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

Today, with the Internet and social media, if you aren’t visible in a positive way to everyone, including customers, your leadership efforts will be lost. Allocate time for active participation in relevant outside industry conferences, and public panels or TED talks that look ahead. Set goals and celebrate progress and results.

Mentor 145

Mentor IBM IBM Social Media 145

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

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. They’re tasked with doing … marketing. You get a lot of traffic — not always results.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She focused on her customer. Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers. So Tracy began keeping a blog about … (what else?)

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

One of the advantages of blogging, using social media, public speaking, etc as a VC is that you get a more nuanced view of these shifts by watching your own successes and failures. So while you get the benefits of recruiting, being on VC radars and customer legitimacy there are also downsides. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs I advise or invest with spend considerable time on the Internet, keeping up with technology, customers, and competitors, but very few feel the need for an early personal presence. In fact, some totally avoid it, assuming their product or solution will speak for itself later.

Product 127

Product Entrepreneur Technical Advisors Technical Review 127

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

The major battle for press is a battle for “mindshare” and it’s exactly the reason I blog. Plus they run conferences with the top people (which is another form of POV marketing by the way). Consider this blog post titled, “ Christmas 2012 Shatters More Smart Device and App Download Records.”

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2021

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. What these people need is more relationships, not more experts, more blogs, or more books. You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone.

Entrepreneur 140

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Mentor 140

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers. Aspiring entrepreneurs are often impatient in rolling out the business, assuming the hard work was finalizing the idea, and that if you build it, customers will come.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Xconomy

JANUARY 11, 2019

Sears, the nation’s first “everything store,” is teetering toward bankruptcy after years of stagnation as industry leaders prepare to gather in New York at the National Retail Federation’s annual conference.

Artificial Inteligence 105

Artificial Inteligence Commerce Startup Conference 105

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 14, 2010

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. They’re tasked with doing … marketing. You get a lot of traffic – not always results.

Startup 323

Startup Press Development Team Review SEM 323

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It I see founders who think they can be at every conference, advise multiple companies, do side investments in angel deals, leave the office at 6pm and have a balance life.

Competition 394

Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

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’s OK to push out extra ones on your website or blog.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2018

My team is responsible for building tools to help improve the online customer experience, whether that's through native apps, devices, or the web. We've run internship programs, and been part of tech conferences. We are doing a tech conference in Orange County on automation. He reports to another department.

San Diego 100

San Diego Southern California Technology Artificial Inteligence 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2018

My team is responsible for building tools to help improve the online customer experience, whether that's through native apps, devices, or the web. We've run internship programs, and been part of tech conferences. We are doing a tech conference in Orange County on automation. He reports to another department.

San Diego 100

San Diego Southern California Technology Artificial Inteligence 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2023

Some people learn best from conferences, while other learn best from blogs and other information online. Today you need to talk with, not at, your customers and constituents to get ideas. People don’t follow followers or repeaters. Continue to learn and grow. Forget the old “spray and pray.” Build a team.

Social Media 94

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 94

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Today, customers and future managers put a higher value on relationships, and expect to know you from industry conferences, social media, or recommendations from peers. Use blogging, outside publication, and speaking or mentoring opportunities to establish credibility and stand out above peers.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

You need somebody who is thinking laterally about how to creatively get extra attention at conferences or trade-shows. You need somebody who REALLY understands your company, its customers and its competitors. And you need somebody who is committed to keeping up your presence in blogs, social media and other online forums.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out. Customers can touch and see a great product, but services are a bit ethereal.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Eric Greenspan

OCTOBER 30, 2009

As promised, today’s blog entry will be about our culture at Make It Work… Make It Work is a very unique company. Employees first, customers next is one of concepts and I recently learned that Virgin and Sir Richard Branson share this philosophy. Make It Work is all about DELIGHTING our customers. Nice to know.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Blogging Conference 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). In a way it feels intuitive to us – the readers of this blog – because we’re the tech crowd. People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. Much more data in the full post. Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. When I go to conference I never sit in the meeting section – I always cruise the halls meeting people.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

Service as a bridge to a product business - One of the best ways for young startups to finance their business without any dilution is what I call “customer financing,&# which is mostly only possible in businesses that target businesses rather than consumers. You own the IP you create. It’s pure irony.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Xconomy

MARCH 14, 2018

At the National Retail Federation’s annual conference in January, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon called the Arkansas-based, big-box retailer a technology company. Read more » Reprints | Share:

Conference 64

Conference Customer Custom Technology 64

Eric Greenspan

OCTOBER 30, 2009

As promised, today’s blog entry will be about our culture at Make It Work… Make It Work is a very unique company. Employees first, customers next is one of concepts and I recently learned that Virgin and Sir Richard Branson share this philosophy. Make It Work is all about DELIGHTING our customers. Nice to know.

Blogging 113

Blogging Conference Customer Custom 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

Tonight I was reading a good blog post ( here ) from Sean Powers with Alistair Croll on preparing yourself for the TC50 “bump” – the rise in traffic that a company gets from presenting at TechCrunch 50. They got us invited to the Fortune CEO conference in Paris held at Versailles. Not so much.). Goldman Sachs was an investor.

Startup 310

Startup Venture Capital Press Journal 310

InfoChachkie

JULY 20, 2012

The following guest post comes from the blog of GraphEffect. At the Ad:Tech conference in April, our very own CEO James Borow gave a pretty awesome speech about why social gets to win, emphasizing the new tracking phenomenon of viral attribution. I an investor in GraphEffect via Rincon Venture Partners. So what does this mean?

Advertising 145

Advertising RSS Blogging Networking 145

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Partly out of the fact that in 1 week I depart for England to speak at LeWeb, attend our DataSift board meeting and generally make myself available to the DataSift team to meet their customers, partners and employees. So what are Rob’s secret hacks that he didn’t spill in his blog post? . Ask for short conference calls.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Eric Greenspan

OCTOBER 29, 2009

It’s a fun company, but customer acquisition is the biggest challenge we face. We have 34,000 customers already, but we need more more more. Throughout the day, I typically refresh our new customer tracking to see how many new customers have been booked for the day. but our Director of Clever Ashley went.

Blogging 100

Blogging Email Yammer Doc 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2019

Elon Musk via Flickr by TED Conference To be successful as an entrepreneur, you don’t have to be a fabulous person, but it helps. But the entrepreneurs that have it, including Elon Musk and Richard Branson, seem to be able to effortlessly get team members, investors, and customers to follow them anywhere. Able to just “get it.”

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Social Media .Net Blogging 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out. Customers can touch and see a great product, but services are a bit ethereal.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2020

Some people learn best from conferences, while other learn best from blogs and other information online. Today you need to talk with, not at, your customers and constituents to get ideas. People don’t follow followers or repeaters. Continue to learn and grow. Forget the old “spray and pray.” Build a team.

Social Media 126

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 126