Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

If you aren’t yet adapting to the market and your customers, you are falling behind. I define business agility for my consulting clients as the ability to change your business rapidly to meet customer and environmental changes, with minimal organizational disruption and cost. Every good entrepreneur I know has a “ proactive mindset.”

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

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.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

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 has not improved. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

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. In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

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.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Competition 64

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

Instead of sizing up new opportunities and actively courting every new customer, you start worrying about cutting costs, repeatable processes , and overtaking known competitors. As a consultant, I hate to see you lose that startup focus on innovation, change, and customers. Eliminate penalties for risk-taking and learning experiences.

Startup 154

Startup Artificial Inteligence Metrics Netflix 154

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

In my view as a long-time business advisor, this problem is driving a new entrepreneur age, with the lure of doing what you love, and loving what you do. Coach for productivity, performance, and creativity. The costs of these elements will be more than repaid by employee engagement and customer loyalty.

Coach 132

Coach Satisfaction Startup Organization 132

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

These days, with the many Internet articles and new courses available, most new entrepreneurs readily cross the gap from lack of business knowledge to knowing, but many never make it over the knowing versus doing gap. by Erica Peitler, a well-known leadership performance coach. Use metrics to support judgment in decisions.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 104

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. Entrepreneurs are typically focused on the big picture – creating a vision, purpose, and a long-term strategy.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

In his classic book, “ The Leadership Capital Index ,” Dave Ulrich, a best-selling author, business consultant, and business school professor, provides some real insights and metrics on what makes up the elements of goodwill in the minds of top valuation experts. I have paraphrased his key points here as follows: Leader personal impact.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Funding Organization Coach 129

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. You now need more than loyalty from your customers -- they need to be your best advocates. The bar is being raised, so every entrepreneur needs new initiatives just to stay in the ballgame. Culture growth follows the leader.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

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 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. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it.

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2016

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually these people think they are doing a great job, and are totally oblivious to their unhappy customers or cash drain.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Class Coach 59

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2020

In my years of advising business leaders, from entrepreneurs to enterprise executives, I often hear a passion for strategic change planning, but seldom see the same commitment to strategic execution. This must include metrics and tracking, with the necessary systems and resources to act, recalibrate, and iterate as required.

Coach 159

Coach Resource Summary Metrics 159

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. In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

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. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

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

JANUARY 15, 2020

In his classic book, “ The Leadership Capital Index ,” Dave Ulrich, a best-selling author, business consultant, and business school professor, provides some real insights and metrics on what makes up the elements of goodwill in the minds of top valuation experts. I have paraphrased his key points here as follows: Leader personal impact.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Organization Coach Invest 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2020

More importantly, I look for entrepreneurs and owners like you who are not afraid to hold themselves accountable for the success of the business. Every investor can recite examples of passionate entrepreneurs who seek funding for a worthy cause, like feeding the hungry, without a real business case for who will pay.

Startup 113

Startup Examples Coach Metrics 113

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.

Coach 64

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 64

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

by Erica Peitler, a well-known leadership performance coach. Here are the key principles she espouses, extended to leadership teams, based on my own background and mentoring new entrepreneurs: Learn to trust yourself and your team. Use metrics to support judgment in decisions. What gets measured gets done.

Develop 103

Develop Development Coach Metrics 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2015

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually these people think they are doing a great job, and are totally oblivious to their unhappy customers or cash drain.

Startup 116

Startup Entrepreneur Class Coach 116

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2019

In my view as a long-time business advisor, this problem is driving a new entrepreneur age, with the lure of doing what you love, and loving what you do. Coach for productivity, performance, and creativity. The costs of these elements will be more than repaid by employee engagement and customer loyalty.

Company 78

Company Companies Coach Satisfaction 78

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

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. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

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. Communicate clearly and often on business issues.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Coach 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. Some people find this elitist?—?I It doesn’t.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

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. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2017

In my view as a long-time business advisor, this problem is driving a new entrepreneur age, with the lure of doing what you love, and loving what you do. Coach for productivity, performance, and creativity. The costs of these elements will be more than repaid by employee engagement and customer loyalty.

Satisfaction 67

Satisfaction Coach Startup Organization 67

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

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. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

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

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

Based on my experience advising entrepreneurs, I’m convinced that success is often more a mindset than a specific set of skills or intelligence. A fixed mindset is when entrepreneurs believe their abilities and market are fixed, and the challenge is to make the best of the hand already dealt. Most experts call this a growth mindset.

Startup 55

Startup Entrepreneur Technical Review Customer 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2019

In this era of rapid change, you can’t afford to stop learning, or you will find that your competitors, your customers, and your team, may soon be following someone else. Most people agree that leadership is primarily a set of behaviors that capitalize on relationships and a current market and customer understanding in a complex world.

Tips 97

Tips Mentor Coach Metrics 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2017

People who are good at solving problems for other people make great entrepreneurs. If you want to improve your strength in this area, or need to coach your team along these lines, I recommend the following steps: Approach every problem as a positive business opportunity. Entrepreneurs are often too passionate and impatient.

Metrics 58

Metrics Entrepreneur Examples Coach 58

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

In a new book, “ The Leadership Capital Index ,” Dave Ulrich, a best-selling author, business consultant, and business school professor, provides some real insights and metrics on what makes up the elements of goodwill in the minds of top valuation experts. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Organization Coach Invest 100