Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2012

All the experts these days are talking about the increasing need for customer focus and maximizing sales. According to Kevin Davis, as outlined in a recent book “ Slow Down, Sell Faster! ” and a related article, the single biggest mistake people make is that they try to close the sale too fast.

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

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For those of you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

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. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s classic book “ Do It!

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

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. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility. People-centric leaders drive ownership and engagement down to their customer-facing team members.

Coach 128

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

Here are the key reasons that I recommend that aspiring leaders focus on people before process: Customers judge the business by the people quality. Whether it be in person, on the phone, or implied in your marketing, your people and their engagement level is the key driver of customer loyalty, advocacy, and sales growth.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Competition 64

Berkonomics

MAY 16, 2019

Certainly Walmart, Target and others have gotten the attention of their potential customers using price as the primary leader to drive sales. Ford recently returned from the land of the nearly-dead to become not only profitable but a desirable alternative to the dominant Japanese cars by emphasizing quality at competitive prices.

Company 120

Company Companies Pricing Competition 120

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

AUGUST 12, 2015

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

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. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s classic book “ Do It!

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Coach 64

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 64

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2019

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility. People-centric leaders drive ownership and engagement down to their customer-facing team members.

Coach 94

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 94

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). For you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control. It’s an option, even though an expensive one.

Venture Capital 266

Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2012

Certainly Wal-Mart, Target and others have gotten the attention of their potential customers using price as the primary leader to drive sales. Ford returned from the land of the nearly-dead to become not only profitable but a desirable alternative to the dominant Japanese cars by emphasizing quality at competitive prices.

Pricing 149

Pricing Competition Coach Sales 149

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. I think of VCs as coaches. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2012

Successful innovation turns ideas into money, to enhance customer value, and thus shareholder value. Training and coaching. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Value creation. Accountability.

Coach 98

Coach Ideas IP Sales 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2017

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility. People-centric leaders drive ownership and engagement down to their customer-facing team members.

Entrepreneur 78

Entrepreneur Coach Organization Mentor 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

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. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s classic book “ Do It!

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Every entrepreneur and business leader believes that he or she has the full trust of their team and their customers, and in fact most do in the beginning. For example, measuring marketing team members on sales leads may not get you the revenue growth or trust you expected. Show humility while acting as a mentor and coach.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Coach 98

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

With a tiny organization, small businesses can make decisions quickly, allowing them to respond quickly to customer input and changes. As a small business owner and entrepreneur, you may relish the flexibility and the challenge of getting that first traction and customer recognition. Sharing the same space also facilitates creativity.

Sales 69

Sales Organization Entrepreneur Examples 69

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

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. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s recent book “ Do It!

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that absorbs resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2011

Successful innovation turns ideas into money, to enhance customer value, and thus shareholder value. Training and coaching. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Value creation. Accountability.

Coach 93

Coach Ideas IP Sales 93

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

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

You can find a mentor, a coach, a project, or experience, to help you prepare for the role you are looking for. We were originally operating as a coaching company, and we built out this assessment technology for our own clients. How is it your first customer was in Australia? It's very much matching pieces into a puzzle.

Help 100

Help Southern California Startup Technical Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

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. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I found some help from marketing coach David Newman’s new book “ Do It! Give yourself the “So-what?”

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2018

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Then always measure customer results, not work.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

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

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

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. Traditional” marketing, sales, and product management organizations often lead to mediocrity. Train all the time.

Startup 101

Startup Training Study Customer 101

Jason Nazar

APRIL 2, 2016

Balance “Coaching and Cheerleading” vs. “Doing and Directing” (via Bob Walters ). Product / Customer Evangelist. Regularly talk with customers to see what can be improved. Make their product different and better than the competition. Sales / BD. Fierce competitiveness, hate to lose. Can sell the dream.

Entrepreneur 46

Entrepreneur Tips Organization Sales 46