Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Many observers of the venture capital industry have questioned whether its best days are behind it. Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. This article originally ran on PEHub.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)?

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? Capital is a lot less patient at scale. Of course we can’t. dot-com bonanza.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Lots of people are trying to help, with new twists on the age-old model of free-market capitalism that has driven businesses for the last 500 years. That’s a win-win business for the customer and the entrepreneur.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Over 600,000 new businesses were created in the last year, or over one per minute of every day.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Even with advantages that independent startups can never hope to match, including brand recognition, customers, financial capital, and distribution, I don’t often see the entrepreneurial passion for innovation, agility, and team perseverance exhibited by new startups. Get prepared for the accelerate and scaling phase.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Customer 143

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2012

You can’t succeed in your new startup if you can’t win customers, and the new Internet-empowered customers are tough. Bloom’s “ The New Experts ,” that today’s customers are armed with three lethal weapons – instant access to information about every potential purchase, immense choice, and real-time comparison of competitive prices.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Startup Competition 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Balance of passion with reality and customer feedback. A strong vision and deep insight may get your business off the ground, but long-term success requires constant data analysis, metrics, and attention to your customer feedback. The competition will improve, the market will change, and your customers will demand more.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2011

You can’t succeed in your new startup if you can’t win customers, and the new Internet-empowered customers are tough. Bloom’s “ The New Experts ,” that today’s customers are armed with three lethal weapons – instant access to information about every potential purchase, immense choice, and real-time comparison of competitive prices.

Customer 88

Customer Custom Competition Metrics 88

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2020

He comes from a background in venture capital from inside and outside the Valley, as well as entrepreneurship work with startup efforts around the world. 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.

Ideas 124

Ideas Venture Capital Software Review Technical Review 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Raising capital isn’t the be-all and end-all of startup success.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

In an effort to learn a bit more about this phenomenon, and how to capitalize on it rather than fight it, I just completed a new book, “ Retail’s Seismic Shift ,” by Michael Dart, with Robin Lewis. Measure your agility by putting metrics on change. Old views of change rates are no longer competitive. Look outside for benchmarks.

Customer 52

Customer Custom Technical Review Summary 52

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. If this is the case, offer to make a meaningful introduction to a potential customer or partner of one of their portfolio companies. Major League baseball pitchers spend far more time preparing to pitch than they actually do pitching.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

New unmet consumer or customer needs. Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. If one metric changes, it may not be significant, but someone needs to monitor whole categories for fluctuations that may be a weak signal. Such inklings and realizations can be valuable warnings of significant impending change.

eBook 111

eBook Metrics Examples Startup 111

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

seed and they are writing $1.25m of it you can expect them to require a board seat) The competitive landscape (If you have several sources of capital you can likely politely decline the board request or can grant them a seat but ask for it to be “common appointed” and those revokable if you need in the future). But it’s quite rare.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. I see many companies these days just race to raise capital. They see capital raising at the success validator. My take on his argument is this: 1.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2019

How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Lots of people are trying to help, with new twists on the age-old model of free-market capitalism that has driven businesses for the last 500 years. That’s a win-win business for the customer and the entrepreneur.

Startup 93

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

He outlines six dimensions of a winning business strategy, with some practical, research-based steps that I like, to focus on in achieving extraordinary results: Above all, deliver an exceptional total customer experience. Highlight your competitive value, not your technology. Seek out and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Customer Custom Competition 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2019

A platform is a business model and capability that can be accessed and customized by external users. The platform must capitalize on user-generated content and other people’s work. Create and practice an obsession over customers. Make sure everyone knows it’s their job to maintain empathy and exceed customer expectations.

Commerce 89

Commerce Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Platform 89

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Board meeting gets scheduled Nobody thinks too much about it until a week or two before Management team has a last-minute scramble to pull materials together Management is super focused on its daily work of … winning customers, signing biz dev, shipping product … so this prep is a last minute “fire drill” and is seen as a slight distraction.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

New unmet consumer or customer needs. Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. If one metric changes, it may not be significant, but someone needs to monitor whole categories for fluctuations that may be a weak signal. Such inklings and realizations can be valuable warnings of significant impending change.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Examples 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Exposure to customers, incumbents, and competitors all drive success. Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution. Raising capital isn’t the be-all and end-all of startup success.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entrée on customers. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it.

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. It was a viable option for us.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Startups should begin by selecting just a few of the vast array of social media offerings out there, and customize based on results. Ask yourself where are the influencers in your market, the majority of your target customers, and what type of interaction will be most productive to your business? Don’t forget the metrics and analytics.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entrée on customers. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? This means find some hungry people who would love a good dinner, and be willing to pay for it.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Yet I find that most employees I know limit their scope of thinking to the specific role they are assigned, and rarely tune their thinking and results to the following key principles that every business owner can relate to: Connect every action to a business focus on customers. Accept and capitalize on change.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Lots of people are trying to help, with new twists on the age-old model of free-market capitalism that has driven businesses for the last 500 years. Conscious Capitalism, for example, claims 3.2

Startup 104

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Satisfaction 104

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. Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. Have easy access to capital by investors who are committed to building businesses at Interent scale. Internet scale. Investors value growth.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2012

Microsoft found this out when their market capitalization, once at $560B, had fallen in 2010 to $219B, allowing them to be passed by Apple, who grew from $15.6B Your value chain consists of customers, partners, vendors, internal systems, and your own team. Communicate effectively with the team and customers. during that period.

Ideas 94

Ideas Startup Summary Competition 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

Your competitive advantage. Identify your sustainable competitive advantage, like unique benefits, cost savings, or industry ties. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition. Who is your customer, what is the price, and how much does it cost you to build one? Business model. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97