Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. This applies to your own team, as well as customers. Make every customer experience memorable.

Customer 114

Customer Custom Satisfaction Metrics 114

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Businesses see this as the Holy Grail for finally being able to predict who, where, and when customers will buy their existing solutions, and what their future solutions must look like to be attractive. I found some help in this regard from a classic book, “ Humanizing Big Data ,” by leading consumer researcher Colin Strong.

Customer 115

Customer Custom Social Media Research 115

TechCrunch LA

JULY 9, 2019

Doctours , a Los Angeles-based online platform for booking trips and treatments for medical and dental care around the world, is expanding its services to 35 countries. Once the procedure is booked, Doctours puts together itineraries that provide different options for flights and hotels based on the needs of the patient, the company said.

Customer 225

Customer Custom Training Los Angeles 225

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2020

As a long-time business executive and adviser to entrepreneurs, I see a definitive shift away from customer trust in traditional business messages, and the executives who deliver them. I summarize the key elements of the transformation as follows: Customers are seeking control in a run-away world.

Customer 173

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 173

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. You’d be very wrong. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

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. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

While starting a new business always involves tackling many new challenges, I’ve personally found myself reluctant to ask for help. Thus, in my consulting with entrepreneurs, I always encourage them to get more comfortable asking for help. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to ask for help.

Help 123

Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2019

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

Customer 107

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 107

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. So we were connected to people that helped us get our money back. Saying, ''Hey, we want to pay you to write a book.’ And so the book came out.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2017

Have you ever noticed that some of your business owner friends get all the bad customers, and yours all seem fairly reasonable? I’m always amazed that, in my role as a business advisor, bad customers somehow seem to gang up on certain businesses. The reality is that we all make mistakes, so no customer is always right.

Customer 89

Customer Custom Demand Pricing 89

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

I was pleased to find a new book, “ The Entrepreneur’s Faces, ” by Johnathan Littman and Susanna Camp, which outlines the key stages and provides examples of real people making the transformation from one stage to the next. Here is where you learn to listen and communicate with people and customers.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Help Incubator Startup 139

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

You know exactly when you want to sell to this customer and presumably it’s this quarter! And when I say this I’m assuming that you’re already identified the customer pain and talked about how you’re uniquely qualified to solve their business problems. .” Which customers to target: Elephants, Deer or Rabbits ?

Customer 324

Customer Custom Marketing Newsletter 324

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

A new startup is seizing on an opportunity to help up-and-coming online entertainers take a leaf out of that book and grow their relationships with fans. Popbase is an app that operates almost like an interactive forum for new media.

Help 115

Help Startup Activision Media 115

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Founded four years ago by Matt Danna and Sean Stavropoulos, Boulevard was inspired by Stavropoulos’ inability to book a haircut and Danna’s hunch that the inability of salons and spas to cater to customers like the busy programmer could be indicative of a bigger problem.

Software 323

Software Beverly Hills Los Angeles Equity 323

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2019

In that context, I recommend the classic book, “ Driver in the Driverless Car ,” by Vivek Wadhwa with Alex Salkever, which categorizes many of the leading ones that everyone, both entrepreneurs and consumers, should be thinking about: Self-driving cars, trucks, drones, and planes. Merging of man and machine (robotics and biology).

Artificial Inteligence 89

Artificial Inteligence Help Technology Ideas 89

socalTECH

JANUARY 4, 2023

The company said it has booked a launch slot on a SpaceX Falcon 9 around Q4 of 2023. Impulse Space says it is working on technology to help with in-space transportation to custom orbits, in-space payload hosting and precision re-entry trajectory injection in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

El Segundo 100

El Segundo SpaceX Services Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2019

What is not so obvious is how to create and roll out solutions that can directly impact customer trust or financial well-being. To put this all in perspective, I was happy to see the guidance and recommendations on how to deal with artificial intelligence correctly in a new book, “ The Big Nine ,” by Amy Webb.

Artificial Inteligence 97

Artificial Inteligence Help Examples Customer 97

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. Many of you have read or at least know the primary thesis of “ Crossing the Chasm &# the seminal book on marketing your products to mainstream consumers by Geoffrey Moore.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. Get out and meet your customers to learn what turns them on these days.

Customer 83

Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2019

I saw this challenge outlined well in a new book, “ Learning to Lead ,” by Ron Williams, former CEO of Aetna and self-made business leader, who rose from the poor side of the tracks in south Chicago to lead several large businesses, and ultimately serve on the President’s Management Advisory Board for several years.

Help 91

Help Examples Summary Design 91

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

John Lusk, along with his Co-Author Kyle Harrison, leveraged their humble company''s newsletter into The MouseDriver Chronicles , a New York Times bestselling book. So we were connected to people that helped us get our money back. Saying, ''Hey, we want to pay you to write a book.’ And so the book came out.

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

In the last few years I have seen a popular business model emerging which embodies a greater focus on social and environmental responsibility, and a new requirement for trust and sharing, as well as customer and community collaboration. Customers and team members must be inspired, rather than pushed.

Commerce 109

Commerce Slides Customer Custom 109

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2017

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Customer support chasm. Product development chasm.

Customer 76

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Technical Review 76

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Customer support chasm. Product development chasm.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

How do you get access to customers? 58:00 Vince Thompson’s book, “Ignited”. how can you evaluate a good sales person? how do you know one when you see them? How much to compensate them? how to structure the comp plan. getting past the assistant. when to call. is it OK to call an exec on his mobile phone. how to handle intros.

Software Review 300

Software Review Sales Tips Help 300

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2023

Donna Fenn, in her classic book, “ Upstarts! But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages. It's far less expensive to nail down repeat business from your existing customers than it is to land new ones. Focus on your core competency.

Capital 93

Capital Geni Layoffs Entrepreneur 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2014

The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. Thus customers and partners rely more and more on personal engagement with people. New technologies are everywhere today. Offer utility to each audience member.

Customer 99

Customer Custom Startup Content 99

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. There are many free generalized tools, including Google Trends , which can be used to track customer behavior in looking for things that don’t exist yet.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

Unfortunately, in mature companies, a larger and larger percentage of employees forget company survival and customers as the objectives, and focus only on their own personal gain. Every startup team member is close to the customer front lines, so they see how every function does or does not add value to the service they give to the customer.

Satisfaction 147

Satisfaction Organization Customer Custom 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2018

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Quantify the difference for your customers. Customize to differentiate, but do it efficiently.

Customer 63

Customer Custom Examples Product 63

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2013

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Customers are not all like you, and they have choices, so a “one size fits all” customer service is no longer a viable option.

Social Media 99

Social Media Customer Custom Media 99

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team. I was a sales person at HotJobs, but after we went public I helped open up an office in Los Angeles, and lived in Los Angeles for eight years.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Social Gaming Network ( SGN ) and Fox Digital Entertainment teamed up for the recent release of a new game called The Book of Life: Sugar Smash. The game is based on Fox Digital Entertainment’s new computer animated film, The Book of Life , and launched for the iOS with an Android and Facebook version in the works.

Entertainment 87

Entertainment Mobile Platform Startup 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2017

With the advent of the Internet, social media, and instant communication via texting, customer expectations for service, as part of their entire customer experience, have changed. They expect you to be there, to know their history as a customer, and to treat them with priority and respect.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Services Social Media 57

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2012

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Customers are not all like you, and they have choices, so a “one size fits all” customer service is no longer a viable option.

Social Media 91

Social Media Customer Custom Media 91

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Quantify the difference for your customers. Customize to differentiate, but do it efficiently.

Competition 123

Competition Customer Custom Examples 123

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2022

As an entrepreneur, it’s never too early to set the culture you need for a thriving business, as well as thriving employees, customers, partners, and vendors. This requires spending the extra time needed to really get to know your employees, vendors, and customers, and letting them get to know you.

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Training Customer Custom Social Media 127