Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

People proclaimed that there was a “new economy” and “the old rules didn’t apply” and if you questioned it you “just didn’t get it.” I started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2023

Most entrepreneurs relish being their own boss, but find the transition to “ownership thinking” to be more difficult than anticipated. Incidentally, if you never thought of yourself as being an A-Player employee, you probably will struggle even more in the competitive entrepreneur world.

Entrepreneur 85

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 85

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

I hear too often from business owners and entrepreneurs that they are bombarded by so many requests and problems, that they have trouble sorting out the daily crises from opportunities with a major payback for the business. In fact, you need to carve out time every day for improving customer relationships.

Coach 120

Coach Satisfaction Customer Custom 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2021

If you are a new business owner or entrepreneur, you are likely to be creative and willing to take a risk , and you probably assume that most potential team members have the same mindset. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that you should not provide critical feedback to team members.

Coach 174

Coach Activity Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2023

As an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, I see a lot of dreams, but not so many business results. I’ve always wished I had a magic metaphor to motivate the best dreamers to become the best entrepreneurs. There is no cookie-cutter route to success as an entrepreneur. Venture where no business has gone before.

Ideas 105

Ideas Startup Entrepreneur Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. There is no free lunch.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Most entrepreneurs relish being their own boss, but find the transition to “ownership thinking” to be more difficult than anticipated. Incidentally, if you never thought of yourself as being an A-Player employee, you probably will struggle even more in the competitive entrepreneur world.

Entrepreneur 159

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. The key is to make decisions from data and feedback, once your business has real customers and real products.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Based on my experience as a business advisor, I recommend that every business owner and entrepreneur focus on the following tips to provide a better work culture: Invest in integrating new technology, not just forcing it. Spend more time mentoring and coaching your team. Giving orders and assignments is not coaching.

Tips 159

Tips Satisfaction Coach Mentor 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

With the current pandemic appearing to scale down, many of you running businesses are looking forward to things getting back to the way they used to be. I’m sorry to predict it will never happen, so the agility you may have learned over the past couple of years will continue to be critical to your survival.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2023

If you feel trapped in an unsatisfying and limiting role as a business professional, I urge you to assess your own interest and level of ownership thinking as a means of enhancing your career or growing your own business. Others, including Jeff Bezos, spent time in a big company or two before breaking away to form their own.

Startup 111

Startup Satisfaction Metrics Customer 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

Today more than ever, the evidence is clear that business people need to find and communicate a purpose that goes beyond making a profit, in order to ensure customer engagement, as well as your own, and drive results in the marketplace. I urge you to share your purpose early and highlight it in every strategy.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Coach Mentor Customer 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. Thus I believe that business leaders and entrepreneurs need to focus first on people leadership, rather than process leadership. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility.

Coach 128

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2022

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. The classic book, “ Hunting in a Farmer's World: Celebrating the Mind of an Entrepreneur ,” by serial entrepreneur and business coach John F. All this made more sense to me as Dini defined the types of entrepreneurs into four categories.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Marketing News Slides 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2023

Every business organization, large or small, has a variety of individual and team member types that factor into your ability to innovate and change the business to meet evolving customer needs and competition. He brings over 25 years of experience with Silicon Valley leadership companies in highlighting winners and losers.

Coach 96

Coach Ideas Mentor Organization 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

Today, with the Internet and social media, if you aren’t visible in a positive way to everyone, including customers, your leadership efforts will be lost. To be a leader, you have to be willing to be a public figure , and display the right attributes. Online it may be time to take a formal position via blogs and interviews.

Mentor 145

Mentor IBM IBM Social Media 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. Training and coaching. No risk, no innovation.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2023

I’ve heard it many times from technical entrepreneurs who should know better than to believe the old “ Field of Dreams ” sports fantasy movie theme in today’s Internet information overload environment. In fact, having one marketing guru on the team alone won’t get you very far. Reward success.

Startup 95

Startup Coach Mentor Social Media 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

Every one of you business leaders I know struggles with the competing demands of finding and keeping employees motivated and satisfied, versus building and enforcing a set of repeatable processes that work. Obviously, both are required for a company to stay healthy and growing. Only people can look ahead and prepare for the future.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs, and members of any small team, naively assume that the key to their success is hard work, dedication, and long hours in the business. It behooves all entrepreneurs and team members to recognize the positives and negatives of each type of relationship. Workship - Advocate. Workship - Trailblazer. Friendship.

Mentor 91

Mentor Competition Summary Coach 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2022

As I talk to business owners and entrepreneurs, I’m surprised at how many complain about team members who feel taken for granted , or have contributions not appreciated. Here are some of the key practices that the authors and I both recommend you emphasize: Focus on delivering and over-delivering, consistently.

Coach 119

Coach Organization Technical Review Satisfaction 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2022

The challenge for each of you is to get it handled quickly and effectively, without losing the trust of constituents , as well as customers. I saw these summarized clearly in a new book, “ BUILD ,” by a well-known entrepreneur and technologist from Silicon Valley, Tony Fadell. Provide tools and resources as required.

Develop 138

Develop Development Coach Satisfaction 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

For all of you whose business has survived for a few years, have you noticed how your thinking has changed ? Instead of sizing up new opportunities and actively courting every new customer, you start worrying about cutting costs, repeatable processes , and overtaking known competitors. How about in your industry?

Startup 154

Startup Artificial Inteligence Metrics Netflix 154

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Why you should never have a data room?—?the the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. If you stick through to the end I’m guessing I can persuade most of you.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

As an advisor to many startups today, I still see that most of you entrepreneurs see yourselves as the sole driver of your new solution, and the key driver of your new business. You need them to make a personal commitment to customer service, improved quality, and change to improve the future.

Startup 147

Startup Customer Custom Ideas 147

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2022

A design mindset is not product-focused - it’s solution focused and action oriented towards creating better customer experiences and value. Probably the most recognized design thinking business leader was Steve Jobs at Apple, as he drove the company from personal computers to new markets, including the iPhone and iPad.

Design 106

Design Coach Ideas Organization 106

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 24, 2011

There has recently been a common theme among the entrepreneurs I have interviewed and the conferences I have attended: despite the relatively weak state of the world economy, now is a great time to create a high-tech startup. As Guy Kawasaki pointed out in our recent conversation , “…it is cheaper than ever to start a company.

Company 257

Company Companies Startup Study 257

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2013

How do you take a process--recruiting of athletes--and make it more efficient, without getting in the way? That''s what Los Angeles-based FieldLevel (www.fieldlevel.com) has been working on, making it easier for coaches to network and exchange information on athletes. What makes it really different, is our platform empowers coaches.

Coach 252

Coach USC Statistics Startup 252

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2023

Every entrepreneur and most professionals wish there were more hours in a day to get their work done. According to the classic book, “ One Second Ahead ,” by noted authority on training the mind, Rasmus Hougaard, there are some basic rules that can really help you manage your focus and awareness in all work activities.

Email 96

Email Activity Product Social Media 96

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

For you who fit that description, nice work. It might be useful to list some of the ways in which you can raise money for growth with and without outside investors. You will realize much more from the ultimate sale of your business even if at a considerably lower price than if splitting the proceeds with investors.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2012

I have often written about how lonely it can be to be a CEO and and have very few people with whom you can talk about difficult situations. It’s not exactly like you can disclose complex and confidential situations to outsiders. And you can only bug your wife so many times without feeling badly. And I agree entirely.

Startup 363

Startup Venture Capital Coach Press 363

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2020

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Nothing is more discouraging to aspiring entrepreneurs than the high failure rate. Try bartering services you have for something you need.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Startup Statistics Course 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs like you that I have met in my role as a business advisor are really product creators versus business creators, convinced that a great product will generate a great business. Even though profit may not be your driving motivation, you can’t sustain any business without generating cash.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

The traditional model for hiring permanent employees who can grow their career with your company just doesn’t work, and can jeopardize your business before it even gets traction. You need a faster and more flexible on-demand hiring strategy, based on the current gig-economy of remote freelancers, contract personnel, and specialists.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2019

Most entrepreneurs assume that success is dependent on their product expertise, coupled with some knowledge of how to run a business. Successful entrepreneurs today must practice human-centered leadership to compete and win. Effective entrepreneur leaders focus on getting people needs satisfied early.

Training 123

Training Coach Startup Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2022

In the entrepreneur world, I feel we are in such a situation now for new startups, with the confluence of business transformations, the explosion of new digital technologies, and the political turmoil around the world. It’s easier and cheaper to start a company than ever before, yet it’s tougher than ever to survive.

Startup 128

Startup Coach Training Education 128

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. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Strategic proficiency. Execution leadership.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Coach 129