Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built. Ask Xi or Putin how that’s going for them.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Train and coach continuously.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. 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. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

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. Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Startup 112

Startup Metrics Coach Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

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. Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Metrics 64

Metrics Coach Competition Ideas 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2019

These things are clearly good for morale, but its not so clear that they translate into a competitive advantage. These authors present 20+ years of research, including case studies and metrics, showing how culture really makes or breaks your business. Ongoing culture steps require tuning of measurements.

Competition 76

Competition Coach Case Study Statistics 76

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. 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. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

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. Define metrics to measure what you want to achieve. Show humility while acting as a mentor and coach. Granting trust is a strong signal that motivates returning the favor.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Metrics 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

The bar is being raised, so every entrepreneur needs new initiatives just to stay in the ballgame. Some entrepreneurs are so focused on their technology, they assume their customers think the same way. It must be written down, with measurable team objectives, validated by metrics and compared against competition.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2018

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. 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. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2016

Why is it that only the most successful entrepreneurs , including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson, admit to having a mentor and actually use them? Yet many entrepreneurs I know are too proud or too shy to even ask for advice. Most mentors don’t have the time to be your business coach to help you with generic skills.

Mentor 95

Mentor Coach Metrics Entrepreneur 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Train and coach continuously.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2012

Training and coaching. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit. Once a new product is launched, a key metric is the ratio of new product sales to overall sales. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Idea management. Net result and reward.

Coach 98

Coach Ideas IP Sales 98

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Entrepreneurs could learn about loneliness of success: nobody talks about. Every $10 million financing only puts more pressure on the founders to figure out how to hit the metrics to get to the next milestone and every company that raises $25 million puts a ton of pressure on their 10 competitors who haven’t.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2011

Training and coaching. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit. Once a new product is launched, a key metric is the ratio of new product sales to overall sales. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Idea management. Net result and reward.

Coach 93

Coach Ideas IP Sales 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The “product” value is difficult to quantify, the costs are nebulous, and entrepreneurs have to clone themselves to scale the business. Don’t forget seminars and events.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Statistics 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2010

Training and coaching. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit. Once a new product is launched, a key metric is the ratio of new product sales to overall sales. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Idea management. Net result and reward.

Coach 49

Coach Ideas IP Sales 49