Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. I agree with YouTube (that they provide more (hosting, ad sales, etc.)

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. Summary notes and then I’ll extend: Should you blog? What should you blog about?

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2022

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Solis outlines the heuristics of social psychology that are key to building positive customer experiences today.

Customer 122

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 122

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. It takes on many of the lessons MBA programs and Corporate America have been teaching about business for the past 50+ years and questions whether lessons from Apple might be more applicable in thinking about the future.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2020

Entrepreneurs have always believed that their product or service must show real value to customers, but today the smart ones are even able to make their marketing valuable. Now customers seek out people who are willing and able to add value, with expertise and insight, even before they have a product. The key is consistency.

Customer 127

Customer Custom Marketing Content 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. Thus I recommend that every entrepreneur start blogging in parallel with solution development for the following benefits: Get customer idea feedback before you commit resources. Start building your customer community early.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. As I’ve written about before, You’d Have to be a Big Baby to Complain about Being a VC. The Truth About Building Starutps from msuster. The Truth About Building Starutps from msuster. You have secret doubts about your co-founder.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. My blog was wiped out.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

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

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Some customer segments value the DVD business and these may be more price sensitive. Some customer segments value the convenience of instantly available films. Netflix needs to segment their customers and charge each what is appropriate. Netflix announced the changes to its company via a blog post. A blog post!

Netflix 287

Netflix Customer Custom Pricing 287

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2013

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. For blogging to work, you need to do it consistently and frequently, at least once a week, or the value evaporates. Cultivate early customers.

Blogging 104

Blogging Product Startup Writing 104

socalTECH

JUNE 14, 2013

It''s almost always difficult to get people to share information about your startup to the world. He explained the sharing of cute dog photos came out of the company''s desire to create engaging content in Facebook, about something that people find interesting. Does it work?

Customer 216

Customer Custom Santa Monica Social Media 216

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

It’s important enough that I dedicate a tab on my blog to startup sales & marketing. But the ground we covered was awesome for anybody wanting to know more about sales. How do you get access to customers? LinkedIn (we talked about some tricks we use in LinkedIn). 36:00 Sales people only care about money.

Software Review 300

Software Review Sales Tips Help 300

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

blog here ). If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. No – I’m not talking about YOU – everybody is doing it. I know we spoke about it this week.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

Any reader of this blog for a period of time will know that I’ve been long YouTube for years. We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year. We have made 5 online video investments in total – some we will talk about later this year. But think of this.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I’m not saying that lawyers were my screening process – simply that they knew about deals early on and they had voted with their time and pocketbooks so I knew I had a degree of filtering. I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. I spent time on college campuses.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. It’s all about content that will bring the masses to your business: Highly relevant. The eye is just as important as the mind when it comes to customers.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

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

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

In this article you’ll discover how to start a blog that makes money. There are four types of blogs; written blogs, video blogs, photo blogs and a combination of these. We’ll primarily be discussing written blogs. There are two different components to make money blogging. Let’s discuss. Not really.

Blogging 83

Blogging Email Writing Sites 83

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

However, savvy startups can leverage LinkedIn to create a customer acquisition and a churn reduction tool. Not knowing about a paper they have published, a talk they have given, or a job change they’ve made is just laziness. However, in some cases, especially with its larger customers, the company displaces a competitor.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Software Review Technical Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2019

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Solis outlines the heuristics of social psychology that are key to building positive customer experiences today.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 85

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

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. The team''s ability to drive significant customer interest without spending a dime on marketing was one of the reasons Jim Andelman and I invested in the company. Don’t Over Sell It.

Customer 195

Customer Custom Template Startup 195

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I can attest from experience that publishing a regular blog to properly showcase your offering, even before you have it, is a most cost effective approach in time and money. Feedback from your blog will tell you quickly whether anyone agrees with your assessment, and whether you have a customer base waiting.

Blogging 93

Blogging Invest Startup Writing 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2021

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Samir Kaji on the Venture Unlocked podcast about a wide range of topics that we as venture capitalists think about everyday, including: How to build a generational firm?—?retaining In fact, I wrote a previous blog post on “ Why Successful People Focus on the Bottom End of the Funnel.”

Sales 375

Sales Startup Invest Funding 375

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality. We could talk with customers, meet the entire management team, review financial plans, review customer purchasing cohorts, evaluate the competition, etc.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Eric Greenspan

MAY 29, 2010

Using social media to increase your company’s touch and reach with each of your customers may be the most important reason to jump in to this game changing strategy. Social media can help bridge a long standing gap between customers and the companies they trust with their hard earned cash. 40,000) to join me on Facebook.

Social Media 214

Social Media Customer Custom Media 214

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

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. The team''s ability to drive significant customer interest without spending a dime on marketing was one of the reasons Jim Andelman and I invested in the company. Don’t Over Sell It.

Customer 153

Customer Custom Template Startup 153

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

What’s So Cool About Coull? When asked about Coull, Ophir Tanz, GumGum’s CEO candidly noted that, “ GumGum believes that the future of advertising will and should be integrated. I promise I will never Tweet about rainbows, unicorns or that killer burrito I just ate. You can also check out my blog for emerging entrepreneurs HERE.

Custom 226

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Advertising 226

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2023

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback.

Ideas 126

Ideas Startup Social Media Blogging 126

Xconomy

MARCH 15, 2019

A global pharmaceutical company based in France has licensed software developed by San Diego digital health startup CureMatch that aims to help cancer doctors customize the combination of drugs they prescribe to patients based on mutations in cancer DNA. The company, which CEO Bob Manning says has raised about $2.5

Customer 76

Customer Custom San Diego Guide 76

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2022

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Real customers. Owned media. Long-term sales.

Marketing 127

Marketing Framework Social Media Media 127

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. As an angel investor, I routinely toss business plans that focus too much on today, and don’t talk about tomorrow.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. People often ask me why I started blogging. I never really expected a big audience or ever thought about it.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 17, 2009

I roughly know about MakeItWork, but tell me a bit about where you spend your time day-to-day. Sometimes I make a blog entry. I have a few meetings with the team, perhaps about the website design, radio show structure, an event we are working on, a sponsorship (perhaps the uniforms for our youth basketball team).

Acquisition 170

Acquisition Customer Custom Ideas 170

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. Entrepreneurs talk to customers and competitors talk to each other about the new trends and technologies they see.

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2022

For example, it used to be that marketing via social media meant banner ads on Facebook, buying search engine results, and sponsoring blog entries, but these don’t suffice anymore. 1% click through rate and Facebook manages to be about half as good as that. In a classic book on social media by Jim Tobin, “ Earn It.

Social Media 140

Social Media Media Snapchat Platform 140