SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

You likely are writing your first one of these. This should be an iterative process with advisors and customers providing feedback on the product. In fact, let me provide an important warning: If you create these documents, don't have input from a technical resource, take it to a development shop and they provide you a price.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

At first this was limited to news sites that concentrated on a segment of a community, like West Seattle, but the concept is now being applied to advertising and promotion sites, blogging sites, and even legal services sites. Local business price points have to be low. Building content is costly and time-consuming.

Startup 144

Startup Sites Content Sales 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

And even the best teams combined to create big innovations sometimes don’t time markets well, are surprised by unexpected technology breakthroughs by competitors or just don’t find the magic the leads to mass customer adoption. I was thinking about all of this as I looked at the logs from my WordPress blog this evening.

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. Customers buy solutions to solve their problems.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2019

You too can become an influencer through social media, videos and blogs, and people will follow you on what to buy, what causes to support, and who to vote for. I still see too many aspiring business leaders highlighting their technology, product features, and price, more than customer value and usability.

Customer 93

Customer Custom IBM IBM 93

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. Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. The customer experience is more than the service.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I have experienced many first-time entrepreneurs with too much hubris if fund-raising came easily and press was fawning and employees joined in droves and customer adoption has been rapid. I find it distracting that when you click on a link you’re taken away from the main blog and need to hit the back button to remember to finish the article.

Startup 261

Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In essence, as a contractor, you are a consultant who is competing regularly for new work, and you constantly have to differentiate your offering from other candidates, including price. 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

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.”

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

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. Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. The customer experience is more than the service.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Xconomy

JUNE 11, 2018

The companies said Monday they expect their “strategic partnership” to boost both businesses by strengthening their pitch to customers around the world who are interested in enhancing their physical operations with digital technologies. The news sent PTC’s stock (NASDAQ: PTC ) to a record high for the company, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Yahoo 45

Yahoo Writing News Pricing 45

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What price? I eventually stumbled on to the best source of high-quality deal flow imaginable – blogging. The only way for a company to be overvalued is if there’s someone willing to pay that price. ” Therefore one goal of Y Combinator appears to be “get the highest price and best terms.”

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

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? . Email updates frequently.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price. So don’t raise money at a cheap price, but don’t get too far ahead of yourself either. Pricing high also takes exit options off the table. But if you do this early (pre VC) then the price points are pretty low. This is wrong.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 282

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Even artisan-based services, like graphic design and writing good ad copy, have innovative processes and principles. The customer experience is more than the service.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

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). Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. I don’t want to speak to customer service reps!!

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2018

It’s hard to be successful in any business when your customers can’t find you, or they find you and still can’t figure out whether your solution works for them. By far the most effective technique for improving your writing is simply carrying out user readability tests on every piece of content, and really listening to feedback.

SEO 53

SEO Tips Newsletter Statistics 53

Tech.Co

MAY 26, 2020

Jeff Bezos didn't get to be the world's richest man by writing a lot of checks, and one recent way to keep Amazon's profits healthy has been to cut its affiliate commissions scheme. If you operate a small blog or review site that has been using Amazon’s affiliate links, you may not have the option to switch to Narrativ. “We

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 129

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Now the price is closer to $100 if you are willing to do the work yourself. Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. The menu should include a link to your blog, separately set up on Blogger, Wordpress, or TypePad – all free. Life is more fun that way.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2017

In today’s customer context, you can foster rapport by dressing like them, making every effort to look attractive, offering compliments, and listening intensely. Customers need to believe that you are one of them. Going out of your way to help a customer or help a good cause pays big dividends these days.

Social Media 58

Social Media Customer Custom Entrepreneur 58

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2015

Sales people (and website customer acquisition folks) all think in terms of funnels and yet non-sales professionals seldom do. It doesn’t matter if it’s recruiting, business development, shipping product, writing blog posts, networking … it’s all the same. Lots of people start, very few finish.

Startup 150

Startup Framework Sales Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself. This costs nothing, and allows you to safely collect money from customers all around the world. Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. Open an account with PayPal.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). ” I highly recommend reading it. Growth vs. Profitability.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself. This costs nothing, and allows you to safely collect money from customers all around the world. Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. Open an account with PayPal.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. Write things down. It’s one of my favorite blog posts. I had planned to blog about it at the time but I waited 2 days and the whole world blogged about it so I didn’t pile on. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Specifically: 1. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. Write things down. It’s one of my favorite blog posts. I had planned to blog about it at the time but I waited 2 days and the whole world blogged about it so I didn’t pile on. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Specifically: 1. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I recently wrote a post on angel financing covering the topic of convertible notes but I realized I was thinking about the issue more from investor perspective and a very narrow topic of how to price the round. The key to getting money is that the people writing the check trust you. But if you CAN find a way to even get your 0.1

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually have a plan. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

We short-handed this marketing mix as “ the four P’s ” – product, price, promotion and place (distribution) – this was devised in 1960 and while a little bit dated is still a useful framework. When I first started blogging Digg was still at its peak. Simply write a great book?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Now the price is closer to $100, if you are willing to do the work yourself. This costs nothing, and allows you to safely collect money from customers all around the world. Customize your website using one of the tools above, selecting one of the standard templates for design and layout. Open an account with PayPal.

Commerce 88

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Shame about not getting it in legal writing that you owned the original IP.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Innovation and Geography I ran across a post in Read/Write Web - Does Location Matter in Web Innovation? Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. in Computer Science.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150