Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

In case you hadn’t noticed, the key elements of a competitive advantage for your business have changed as businesses move online, and your domain is instantly global. As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

socalTECH

JUNE 28, 2017

Irvine-based Western Digital has just been sued by Toshiba Corporation , which is seeking $1 billion in damages for what it says is violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. company, and its subsidiary Western Digital Technologies, Inc. READ MORE>>.

Competition 145

Competition Sales Technology Company 145

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. Whether you have not been able to find companies doing “something like” the plan, or you has not considered the most obvious killer of new ideas – doing nothing, it is a faux pas that should never be allowed to happen.

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 22, 2011

Feature, not a company. Whether something is a feature or a company is clearly subjective. And sometimes features (say, Twitter) turn into companies. At minute eight I spoke about group messaging companies as “features, not companies.&# It’s a market commentary, not a company commentary.

Company 295

Company Companies Gogii Google 295

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

We believe that it is incrementally harder to differentiate on simple Internet products or mobile apps and while great companies are built doing this, our goal as a fund is to try and fund things that can be 100x returns if they work. We’re not Pollyannaish about this. In short, we’re after venture returns.

Company 207

Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2023

Some types of businesses generate more and more recurring revenues over time, often growing to a size where recurring revenues pay all of the overhead of the company – an enviable position. There is a phenomenon I have observed time after time with mature companies receiving over 75% of their revenues from recurring sources.

Sales 296

Sales Customer Custom SaaS 296

InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2015

My House Is Not For Sale. However, in many cases, acquiring companies behave less rationally than Mr. Jackson. Citrix politely approached us, told us they had an interest in acquiring our company and then asked us, “How much?”. Our response was that there was no “price” as our company was not for sale.

Company 100

Company Companies Santa Barbara Pricing 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 9, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -- Innovating a Traditional B2B Company. Innovate or die is a common motto of business  especially when the market has matured to a point where the services are seen as a commodity and annual competitive bids are standard practice. San Diego MIT Forum. See [link] (more)

Company 124

Company Companies San Diego Competition 124

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

The CEO of the high-performance Italian motorcycle manufacturer offered that point of optimism, as her Modena based EV company remains closed by government decree. The company — that has has a California office and U.S. The venture is also one of the few e-motorcycle companies drawing engineering tips from competition.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Competition Demand Sales 277

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

This is part of a series on sales & marketing. I previously covered how early phase sales teams should be “evangelical&# and consultative in nature. The first post on scaling sales dealt with “aiming&# your sales teams – making sure they were focused on the right opportunities.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This is part of my ongoing Sales & Marketing Series. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. We had 4 or 5 sales reps that had been around since the early days.

Sales 286

Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” Whether the entrepreneur has not been able to find companies doing “something like” the plan, or s/he has not considered the most obvious killer of new ideas – doing nothing, it is a faux pas that should never be allowed to happen.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. If you stumble on to a really good idea believe me it will get competitive really quickly. I know that people who aren’t competitive always find competitive people slightly distasteful. I had to say it.

Competition 296

Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

Berkonomics

JUNE 2, 2022

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Few of your contacts will be willing to use their valuable social or political capital helping you with a sales effort, and you will definitely strain your relationship with the intermediary if not a close friend.

Ideas 156

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 156

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The most striking example was the one hundred million–dollar purchase of one of my companies by a New York private equity investor using only five million of its cash. If there are enough of these, the CEO or founder can announce a valuation as high as double the actual negotiated enterprise value of the company. What power!

Pricing 156

Pricing Sales Examples Tool 156

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Accountability. Idea management.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

InfoChachkie

MARCH 16, 2010

My House Is Not For Sale. However, in many cases, acquiring companies behave in a less rational manner than Mr. Citrix politely approached us, told us they had an interest in acquiring our company and then asked us, “How much?”. Our response was that there was no “price” as our company was not for sale.

Company 160

Company Companies Pricing Santa Barbara 160

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

From apps to hardware, to KickStarter successes and international startups, we’re inching closer to finding out who will take home the title of Startup of the Year competition at our annual Celebrate Conference in October. Among the dozens of participants that applied for the online competitions, only a few progressed into the semifinals.

Competition 122

Competition Mobile Startup Technical Review 122

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

In one industry I know well, the dominant player with 22% market share was acquired by one of the largest companies in the technology world. Everyone, including those connected with the newly acquired dominant player, wondered what changes would affect their company and their personal lives and fortunes.

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Some people feel that organic growth is “better” because it requires real innovation and sustained effort to create long-term competitive advantage through differentiation and efficiency. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business.

Organization 97

Organization Competition Startup Acquisition 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of several companies a few years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter. In fact, IPOs are down again this year, with just 31 companies going public in the U.S. These include the following: Taking a company public is an expensive process.

Company 55

Company Companies Acquisition Entrepreneur 55

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

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

When do you sell your company? Companies sometime run out of cash in the midst of their increasing success, and often find that sources of loans or investment are not freely flowing at the moment of need. Not so long ago, Basil Peters wrote his book, “Early Exits,” after analyzing 150 young companies and their exits.

Pricing 156

Pricing Invest Equity Entrepreneur 156

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2021

According to the company, its new education program, SparkED, is aimed at educators and students in a traditional education environment aspiring to achieve data science skills and bolster their resume, and career changers wanting to upskill for a competitive edge in today's job market.

Education 113

Education Training Competition Software Development 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2012

Companies today are paranoid, afraid that even their friends will steal their business. It’s a great survival strategy for small companies or entrepreneurs, and a good expansion strategy for even the largest companies. Up-sell related products after the initial sale. Cost sharing and economies of scale.

Company 96

Company Companies Startup Examples 96

Berkonomics

APRIL 9, 2020

If it takes eighteen months to get a new product out the door and into the market, and if a product’s gross margin is ten dollars but the corporate overhead is a million a month, it will take the sale of 67,000 more units to break even than if it were to take only six months to market. The effect of being slow to market even in tough times.

Competition 156

Competition Sales Marketing Product 156

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

“Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise: Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, Not uttered by base sale of chapmen’s tongues” . However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. Intellectual Property (IP) is an ugly thing at a startup.

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. Engineering?

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

socalTECH

JULY 17, 2019

For today's interview, we talked with Gina Callari , the COO of RelayCars (www.relaycars.com), a unit of a larger company called EVOX Images, which has developed virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) software which lets consumers view and experience automobiles using things like Magic Leap and even just smartphone.

Sales 124

Sales Research Content Edmunds 124

Frank Addante

JULY 20, 2012

If you want to manage a hyper-growth company, start with a great product. That is, a company that focuses all functions on the product. Sales and marketing become the channels to take that product to market and everything else in the organization-finance, human resources, IT-are there to support the product and those who work on it.

Product 59

Product Company Companies Organization 59

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Some types of businesses generate more and more recurring revenues over time, often growing to a size where recurring revenues pay all of the overhead of the company – an enviable position. There is a phenomenon I have observed time after time with mature companies receiving over 75% of their revenues from recurring sources.

.Net 226

.Net Sales Customer Custom 226

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Santa Monica-based Super League Gaming , which operates its own e-sports competition site and community, is headed for the public markets, hoping to raise as much as $31.36M for the company, according to a regulatory filing by the firm.

Santa Monica 113

Santa Monica .Net Competition Sales 113

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

There are dozens of sources to help you construct your business model, and a good example is a classic book by venture capital investor Elizabeth Edwards, simply named “ Startup ,” which is really designed as a handbook for launching a company for less. Sales/Marketing. Be specific on sales channels and marketing initiatives.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102