Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2023

Even if you were an “A-Player” in your previous organization (top 10-percent performer, high integrity, exceeds on commitments), you had peers and executives around you to provide coaching and keep you centered. Every business purpose must be customer-centric and even altruistic. Increase ownership thinking on business efficiency.

Entrepreneur 85

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 85

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2020

Even if you were an “A-Player” in your previous organization (top 10-percent performer, high integrity, exceeds on commitments), you had peers and executives around you to provide coaching and keep you centered. Every business purpose must be customer-centric and even altruistic. Increase ownership thinking on business efficiency.

Entrepreneur 159

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience continues to decline. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

” So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. 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.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2012

One important element of positioning a company is pricing strategy. There are five niches you can chose when defining your positioning strategy: price, quality, service, innovation, and elegance. First, and easiest to understand, is creating differentiation by price. Quality can be, and is, an important differentiator.

Pricing 149

Pricing Competition Coach Sales 149

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. 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.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

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. Strategic investors validate a business, by their presence creating the very value they pay for with increased price per share purchased. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

I found some good guidance on this subject in a new book, “ The Leader You Want To Be ,” by Amy Jen Su, a managing partner in an executive coaching and leadership development firm. I get much more satisfaction, and can provide more realistic help, in steering you through specific pricing, organizational, or competitive challenges you face.

Help 123

Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. Ethan had pointed out to me that merchants were being barraged by “deal site” wanting to drive customers in the door but they didn’t have great tools to manage their customers.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Yet, according to statistics from the Small Business Association (SBA), over half of new businesses offer something else - personal professional services, including consulting, business coaching, and advisory services. Set pricing to assure both revenue and profit. They expect reviews and testimonials from other clients.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Any startup coach or business advisor will tell you that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start your journey by inventing the ultimate entre. 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. Make them “feel the love.”

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2017

Even if you were an “A-Player” in your previous organization (top 10-percent performer, high integrity, exceeds on commitments), you had peers and executives around you to provide coaching and keep you centered. Every business purpose must be customer-centric and even altruistic. Increase ownership thinking on business efficiency.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Customer Custom Competition 54

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

Great benefits and a workplace that is fun and dedicated to making customers happy all fit in with the Zappos approach to company culture — when you get the company culture right, great customer service and a great brand will happen on its own. Portions of the budget are dedicated to employee team building and culture promotion.

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 11, 2015

Great benefits and a workplace that is fun and dedicated to making customers happy all fit in with the Zappos approach to company culture — when you get the company culture right, great customer service and a great brand will happen on its own. Portions of the budget are dedicated to employee team building and culture promotion.

Examples 100

Examples Company Companies Google 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 9, 2014

A bigger version of its predecessor, the Scooba 450 boasts more cleaning power and a bigger price tag at $599.99. With a high price point, it may not reach as many households as iRobot would like. XYZprinting da Vinci 1.0 : Priced at $499, the da Vinci 1.0 The price makes da Vinci 1.0 for rooms around 150 sq.

Pricing 72

Pricing Coach Startup Design 72

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2013

Mission statements tend to be narrow, business oriented statements such as “Be the leader in customer satisfaction.” The best way to be clear about them is to regularly engage team members, customers, and suppliers. A good team will step up to the challenge, and your customers will notice and respond to the culture of excellence.

Startup 101

Startup Training Study Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2012

Mission statements tend to be narrow, business oriented statements such as “Be the leader in customer satisfaction.” The best way to be clear about them is to regularly engage team members, customers, and suppliers. A good team will step up to the challenge, and your customers will notice and respond to the culture of excellence.

Training 109

Training Startup Study Customer 109

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits. Ask your customer why you lost. Quite the opposite.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits. Ask your customer why you lost. Quite the opposite.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

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. Ask them for a meeting to review your pricing strategy with you. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2019

Much has been written recently about the requirement to focus today on the total customer experience, as a competitive edge or even for survival. The challenge I hear from savvy business owners and entrepreneurs operating on a shoestring is that providing a superior customer experience costs money.

Customer 96

Customer Custom Coach Pricing 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

I’ve spent hours this week reading about the firing of the head coach and personnel manager of the football team I support – The Philadelphia Eagles. His name was Chip Kelly and he came off of a very successful stint as the coach of the collegiate Oregon Ducks. This is something I try to coach against. Team Building.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. It is never as rewarding when you’re the coach (but coaching has many other benefits ;-). They decided to re-open the competition for 3-4 more weeks.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

John Morris: I think it's trying to make a decent connection with customers, and trying to assess the size and viability of the market. It's trying to determine if there is a viable way to go to market, and also deal with competitive issues. Where is this talent coming from?

Networking 215

Networking Research Startup USC 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2022

As with most investors and advisors, I always look first at some key personal characteristics and leadership strategies that I find often make you a more likely survivor and winner in the highly competitive world of businesses, both new and mature. Able to maintain customer trust and team confidence.

Startup 143

Startup Competition Coach Satisfaction 143

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

Linktree leads the space, securing a recent $45 million Series B raise to build out e-commerce features, but Beacons boasts competitive creator monetization tools with just a $6 million seed round in May. Now, Snipfeed enters the ring with its own $5.5 Image Credits: Snipfeed. With its $5.5

Platform 286

Platform Commerce Startup Tool 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2012

All the experts these days are talking about the increasing need for customer focus and maximizing sales. Typically entrepreneurs and even professional sales people think this means more emphasis on the customer selling process, when in fact it really means spending more time understanding the customer buying process (view from the customer).

Sales 96

Sales Customer Custom Competition 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2011

All the experts these days are talking about the increasing need for customer focus and maximizing sales. Typically entrepreneurs and even professional sales people think this means more emphasis on the customer selling process, when in fact it means spending more time understanding the customer buying process (view from the customer).

Sales 93

Sales Customer Custom Competition 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

These include building products, recruiting, managing your finances, marketing, selling, getting feedback from customers and … fund raising. So winning means they’re paying the highest price. If it were a sales campaign to a CMO you would naturally think about having customer references. Make fund raising a habit.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366