Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

I found these challenges and opportunities outlined well in a classic book, “ Out-Innovate ,” by Alexandre Lazarow. I second his list of top innovation challenges and strategies to capitalize on untapped global startup opportunities: Create new markets rather than disrupt existing ones.

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

As a frequent advisor to new entrepreneurs and startups, I often hear your frustration with being treated differently from other startups by investors, on expectations for valuation , traction, and market size. On the other hand, if the market is super-hot, many will be willing to jump in to make your case.

Marketing 174

Marketing Startup Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 174

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

Marketing is everything these days. 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. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2022

I know entrepreneurs who have suffered from premature execution often associated with the ready-fire-aim quick-to-market approach. If your product is highly innovative, and speed to market is critical, you won’t get it right the first time anyway, no matter how cautiously you plan. The target market is moving in unpredictable ways.

Marketing 120

Marketing Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 120

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. How did what was a staid publisher of phone books become a hotbed of online talent? Our whole product and technology team is about 500 people. Louis and Atlanta.

Technical Review 223

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 223

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP (www.yp.com) -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. How did what was a staid publisher of phone books become a hotbed of online talent? Our whole product and technology team is about 500 people. Louis and Atlanta.

Technical Review 211

Technical Review Glendale Advertising Google 211

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2010

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. It influenced a generation of tech marketers. We all intuitively know this curve now but we don’t all market effectively to it.

Marketing 294

Marketing Customer Custom Technical Review 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2021

Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market. In his classic book “ Invent, Reinvent, Thrive ,” Lloyd E. Changing times call for a new skill set.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Customer 167

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

I pointed out that the storage market in the US alone is ~$30 billion / year and there is no dominant provider — the largest player has < 10% market share. So how did a company that provides storage grow so fast (we’ll exit 2017 with 10’s of millions in recurring revenue), why is it so defensible and is it really a tech startup?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

Marketing is everything these days. 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. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

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. There are other chasms out there just as deadly as the technology one, such as the ones below: Market requirements chasm. Marketing and sales chasm.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations. I started showing my partners more deals that I found interesting and doing loads of analysis on the future of markets I thought were ripe for disruption. The market had tanked.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

Traditional marketing says you have to “push” your message out to customers, over and over again, to get you remembered. A more effective approach in today’s Internet and interactive culture is to use “pull” technology to bring customers and clients to your story. Refresh it often. Make it fast. Sprinkle graphics and pictures.

Customer 160

Customer Custom FAQ Technical Review 160

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

This is final part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. And with scarce resources it’s your job to decide which door this lead must go through – sales or marketing. ” Hand this deal over to marketing to nurture for you.

Customer 324

Customer Custom Marketing Newsletter 324

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2021

I’m a very logical guy, so I still fondly remember when new solutions and technologies started trends on the basis of their logical strengths. I saw some real insights in the classic book by Jeremy D. Viral marketing” and “word-of-mouth” are tools of disciples in business today. Emotion, rather than logic, drives disciples.

Marketing 127

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Product 127

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Thus I was pleased to see my own insights covered in a new book, “ Why Startups Fail ,” by Tom Eisenmann, a Harvard Business School professor, who has mentored many more entrepreneurs, and authored more than a hundred HBS case studies from real-world startups. The market is unpredictable and changes fast.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Tech.Co

MAY 31, 2023

Yet, with so many tools vying for the attention of business owners, navigating the over-saturated market can be overwhelming. Best Communication Tools for Startups Communication tools refer to any type of technology that helps businesses stay connected. Here are a couple of our favorites. From its 4.3-inch

Tool 131

Tool Startup Software Review Technical Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Every new business dreams of growing from a startup to a global market leader in a few years, like Amazon.com, but that goal is elusive. My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers. They help hiring managers raise the bar for every interview.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Customer Custom 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2022

It started with an email survey on your last stay at their hotel, but now includes requests for online product reviews, to social media input on the design of future products. Welcome to the “Participation Age” of marketing. Some say it’s happening today because it’s new, and technology makes it possible.

Customer 107

Customer Custom Technical Review Social Media 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market. In his recent book “ Invent, Reinvent, Thrive ,” Lloyd E. Changing times call for a new skill set.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Marketing Mentor Entrepreneur 99

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 23, 2021

Indeed, two of the best funded companies in the lab-grown meat market hail from The Netherlands, where Mosa Meat is being challenged by a newer upstart, Meatable , which just announced $47 million in new financing. Meatable has a long road ahead of it, because, as Gates acknowledged in his interview with MIT Technology Review (ed.

Chief Technology Officer 261

Chief Technology Officer Technical Review Software Review Product 261

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. Every business and brand has unique requirements to fit into their market environment. Stable and friendly work environment.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Coach 129

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Today’s $24 billion storage market in the US has these same key disadvantages and that was the genesis of Sam Rosen’s initial idea for MakeSpace , which I initially funded 15 months ago. They did customer pickups, the drove vans to storage facilities, the deal with booking and customer support issues – everything.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire Startup 380

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2019

During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions from Southern California's technology industry. Are there any technology innovations, gadgets, devices, software, that you found most interesting in 2018? Reading books continues to be a big focus for me.

Capital 113

Capital Southern California Technical Review SaaS 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

He found that the return was far greater than the cost of donated shoes, and his team became intensely loyal, due to the opportunity to travel and deliver shoes in other countries. Challenge yourself to delivering a technical innovation. Sharing is a lot more effective with customers than selling and marketing.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Coach Mentor Customer 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2021

Every entrepreneur with a new technology tells me that his innovation will be industry-disrupting, meaning that it will render the existing technology obsolete, and create a new market. Entrepreneurs tend to look for big changes and big markets when seeking disruptive opportunities, when the opposite may be more effective.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Entrepreneur Marketing Customer 157

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. Equally bad is a full tutorial on your new disruptive technology. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes.

Slides 147

Slides Funding Technical Review Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

As a starting point, I like the Wikipedia simple definition of innovation as “the application of better solutions to meet new requirements or market needs.” I also enjoyed the classic book, “ 63 Innovation Nuggets for Aspiring Innovators ,” by George E. Solution innovations need to be perfected before going to market.

Organization 94

Organization Ideas Technical Review Research 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

Marketing is everything these days. 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. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

They don’t realize that these are still rare, require a large risk, and may not be the best way to keep up with change in the market. As an alternative, I usually recommend more incremental innovation , derived from recognized market changes, done on a regular basis, without the big-bang expectation.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Metrics Resource Software Review 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2022

I see a good discussion of the relevant strengths and issues in a new book, “ The Unfair Advantage ,” by Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba. These authors speak from their own wealth of experience in creating and growing technology startups, marketing, and fundraising. Intelligence and insight: book and street smarts.

Help 130

Help Mentor Paramount Technical Review 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Thus I was pleased to see this subject, and related strategy decisions, covered well in a recent book, “ Brand Vision ,” by Jim Everhart. Rarely is there alignment between sales and marketing.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Customer Custom Entrepreneur 143

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2015

Every entrepreneur with a new technology tells me that his innovation will be industry-disrupting, meaning that it will render the existing technology obsolete, and create a new market. Entrepreneurs tend to look for big changes and big markets when seeking disruptive opportunities, when the opposite may be more effective.

Marketing 102

Marketing Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Customers today extrapolate their relationships not only from personal contact, but from every aspect of their interface with your company, including web site and social media interactions, access to peer reviews, as well as the actual services experience. Bolton, a distinguished Marketing Educator Award winner at the W.P.

Social Media 98

Social Media Technical Review Media Services 98

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

He is not a technical person, but is somewhat web savvy. It's the same as when I've created financial models and then have it reviewed by a hard-core CFO, sophisticated investor or similar kind of expert. Conversations with a technical advisors or possible developers should be iterative. Go find a new technical resource.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354