Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2021

Email readers, continue here…] Recently, I received a hand-written letter from two co-CEOs of a company I had helped with a few hours of time. The post Switching costs: A competitive advantage? Recognizing a longstanding customer with an appropriate gesture from the top is best of all. A personal story to illustrate the point.

Competition 156

Competition Customer Custom Email 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

He lived the philosophy that companies must be paranoid in order to survive, and continually disrupt their own markets to prevent overrun by competition. Make sure your teams are enabled to make timely decisions, as well as accountability for staying competitive in their domain.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 3, 2020

NASA and a clutch of startup and established companies are moving forward with plans to transform mobility in urban environments through the Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge. The Grand Challenge series brings together companies developing new transportation or airspace management technologies, the Agency said. AirMap, Inc.,

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Company Companies Mobile 250

Berkonomics

MAY 18, 2023

Variations on the theme… [Email readers, continue here…] You can expect to have the same attitude if a past employee resurfaces after a layoff, resignation or after being fired, with a plan for a competitive business – or as an employee of a competitor. What could you do if your company secrets are compromised?

Company 156

Company Companies Layoffs Competition 156

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Two years after the Los Angeles-based fintech startup Dave launched with a suite of money management tools to save consumers from overdraft fees , the company is now worth $1 billion thanks to a nascent banking practice that had investors lining up. “We think the company is quite a bit more valuable than [$1 billion]. .

Company 262

Company Companies Startup Tips 262

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2020

A business startup is not an academic environment, or a big company research organization. On the other hand, there are many technology companies successfully started and run by non-technologists. They are attracted to people who agree, but may not be able to help. Test them with problems outside their comfort zone. Are you there?

Competition 174

Competition High Tech Startup Social Media 174

TechCrunch LA

JULY 28, 2019

The Fortnite phenomenon — the wildly popular battle royale game from Epic Games — has manifested itself in concerned articles , cultural shoutouts and now has sealed its place in the cultural firmament by wrapping up its first “World Cup” which saw the company give away $30 million in prizes.

Competition 272

Competition Social Network Los Angeles Study 272

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

Berkonomics

APRIL 6, 2023

And good board members can add real value to you and the company. But sometimes there is a barrier, an impossibly high cost not considered, a social backlash never thought of, or competition already covering the idea that is unknown to the originator. A better company is the goal. or “How about the public relations impact?”

Company 156

Company Companies Ideas Competition 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

How do you value pre-revenue companies? Last time we examined ten different ways to value companies already in revenue, usually beyond the early stage. For those of us who’ve invested in early-stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem.

Invest 306

Invest Startup Email Competition 306

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. In 1994, (I know a long time ago), I invested over a million dollars into a company whose entrepreneurs had a vision that I bought into for many reasons, not the least of which was that I had industry experience and understood the need.

Competition 266

Competition Research Summary Pricing 266

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

According to an old but still relevant survey by Bain & Company , 80% of businesses believe they have differentiated offerings, but only 8% of customers agree. Even back then, experts projected that businesses with truly differentiated offerings had only an 80% chance of long-term success, compared to ‘me-too’ companies with a 20% chance.

Competition 123

Competition Customer Custom Examples 123

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

The traditional model for hiring permanent employees who can grow their career with your company just doesn’t work, and can jeopardize your business before it even gets traction. Many successful new companies have moved more to self-management, or decentralizing the decision-making with few managers.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2023

In this context, even “satisfied” is only a “meets-minimum,” and does not put you ahead of your competition. In reality, many companies now offer a “ clicks and bricks ” business model, with shopping online, and then completing the purchase and support at a physical location. Treat every customer exceptionally before they complain.

Competition 109

Competition Services Customer Custom 109

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2020

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. But many decisions were made within my company walls, and surely by competitors, based upon those numbers. Or cost estimation.

Company 156

Company Companies Metrics Resource 156

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 28, 2020

There’s a new company that’s sitting on top of some of the fastest growing consumer-facing businesses in the world — liquor and marijuana delivery — and its name is Pacific Consolidated Holdings Group. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. .”

Company 188

Company Companies Los Angeles San Diego 188

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

They were a little too fierce in their competitive practices against Lyft to sign up drivers. As somebody who has to rub shoulders with big tech companies often I can tell you that there is much blood spilled in the competitive trenches of Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Google and so on. But let’s put this into perspective.

Press 418

Press Journal Startup Training 418

Berkonomics

JULY 19, 2018

However, if Dell quality were poor and returns high, the company surely would not have survived on speed of response alone. Dell’s response would be something like “Quality custom computers more quickly than the competition.” And in this company example, both quality and speed are the critical factors in competitive advantage.

Competition 226

Competition Examples Customer Custom 226

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Companies with great service routinely spend 3% to 5% of salaries training team members – experienced as well as new. Make your service deliver process “happy.”

Competition 99

Competition Services Startup Training 99

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. Most companies that are scaling have CFOs, heads of HR or talent. Extremely talented people are ultra competitive. How hard could it be? Startup life.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Berkonomics

MARCH 20, 2025

If fixed expenses, especially payroll, are paid out before cash is received from services or shipments, the company is financing its growth with ever-increasing working capital needs. It seems that the first subject that comes up in such assignments is the health of the competition. Such bargains; so little time.

Acquisition 285

Acquisition Email Competition Activity 285

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. Look at Viddy & SocialCast.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

More than ever before, people want to buy from, work for, and invest in companies that matter. Your company and team members have to be seen as going above and beyond to solve the problems of internal and external customers. Companies that matter focus beyond the buy/sell transaction view of the world.

Company 116

Company Companies Customer Custom 116

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Since Arrested Development is back I thought I’d resurrect Gob Bluth’s answer when he was told he needed a “business model” – he quickly figured out that he was missing one so he asked Starla, the Bluth company secretary, if she would be his business model. It’s something I worry about with companies.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. For these companies, it looks like a rosy picture. no surprise?—?that’s that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders,

Product 424

Product Platform Advertising Acquisition 424

Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2017

Let’s examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. On a larger scale, there are epoch stories of giant companies eating massive losses in a recall of product, often based upon limited testing before release. We have heard the “haste makes waste” ditty since childhood.

Software Review 243

Software Review Examples Competition News 243

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. Instead he championed our investment themes into sustainability and food technologies having invested in companies like Apeel Sciences and Ynsect.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

The costs to start are much lower than ever (90% reduction in infrastructure costs to start a company through open source & web services) and large companies being created in many geographies. Companies are now raising much more capital in the private markets now before they go public. Thus is a key point.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

TechCrunch LA

MAY 29, 2019

The company raised $46 million last year—its first year operating—with the vision that owning the infrastructure for competitions and expanding it to encompass other social elements of gaming can make it the largest gaming company in the world. And I was on the founding team of a car rental company called Executive Rental Car.

Startup 204

Startup Coach Competition Los Angeles 204

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

She was leaving IAC to start a company. Competitive sportswoman. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. Note: if you’re a parent please check out their website. Kara called me on a Tuesday. Stanford MBA.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

We first met the Chicago-based company and its founder and CEO Vitaly Alexandrov last year when we reported that Food Rocket launched in the Bay Area , going up against the likes of Amazon Fresh, DoorDash, Instacart and Gopuff, which is no easy feat given each of the company’s footprint.

Funding 246

Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. So what are some of the key points that you should highlight in your investor slides to convince investors that you indeed do have a long-term competitive advantage over other alternatives in the marketplace?

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

It seems, however, that the company has found plenty of opportunity for growth while remaining focused on the San Francisco Bay Area. Hall also noted that the company opened a new, larger warehouse in Oakland just a few days before shelter-in-place orders took effect last March. Image Credits: Good Eggs. Glade Brook’s J.P.

Southern California 318

Southern California Orange County San Diego Commerce 318

Berkonomics

AUGUST 31, 2023

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. But wait for the mic drop… [Email readers, continue here…] Here’s where some intelligent market research might have saved the company and my investment. Hotels were installing the system; guests were satisfied, and the company was growing.

Competition 156

Competition Research Summary Pricing 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

You’ll have less competition. Where else are consumers going to find your product, if no one else is offering it or if other companies offer it, but haven’t found the right niche audience? [Email readers, continue here…]. So now I hope I’ve convinced you. But you have no idea what to do next.

Marketing 266

Marketing Advertising Resource Social Media 266

Berkonomics

JULY 20, 2023

Otherwise, it is the expectation of the board of directors of a company that each year’s budget be approved in advance and adhered to as long as revenue goals are met. Note that I used the term “forecast” for revenues for the next year. The term is also used when projecting revenues for succeeding years. first appeared on BERKONOMICS.

Resource 291

Resource Email Competition Entrepreneur 291

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies. A deck is a deck. Just send it.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239