Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Operating productivity.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

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 started my first company in 1999 and was admittedly swept up in all of this: Magazine covers, fancy conferences, artificial valuations and easy money.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. And many of these actions are repetitive to a fault, contributing to boredom and ultimately to restlessness and desire for something new, in or out of the company. Create and publish metrics as goals and comparisons to past accomplishments.

Metrics 120

Metrics Competition Coach Email 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Operating productivity.

Metrics 106

Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2019

Is your marketing focus product-centric or customer-centric ? If you only sell products, it’s time to realize that times have changed. With a wealth of products now available, customers look for the most memorable experience , not just the best product. Assuming that customers fit a bell curve distribution.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Metrics 85

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Company 90

Company Companies Competition Netflix 90

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. New product process. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Failure is the best teacher. Set milestones and meet them.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

This topic was well addressed in the classic book, “ The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation ,” by Soren Kaplan, who lays out the key steps to assess, disrupt, and reshape the existing culture of a company to get more innovation. Decide what to measure and create metrics. You only get what you measure.

Develop 135

Develop Development Startup Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

Facebook has created an environment where millions of people can hold billions of conversations with people and companies, transforming how people expect to interact with each other and the world. More and more company and personal services are being virtualized to the Cloud. Data enable: use metrics and measurements.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Competition 135

Competition Netflix Ideas Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees. Incentives should be a combination of metrics and recognition to highlight results. Incent and reward employees who delight customers.

Customer 147

Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Exploit your product and service differences. You must be able to highlight these differences between your products and services, and those of your competitors.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. And many of these actions are repetitive to a fault, contributing to boredom and ultimately to restlessness and desire for something new, in or out of the company. Create and publish metrics as goals and comparisons to past accomplishments.

Metrics 176

Metrics Competition Coach Email 176

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Networking to build and maintain positive relationships with the right people outside your company is something you can’t forget in the rush to get your new business going. Highlight the competitive edge you bring to the market. Put operational systems and metrics in place early. This is not a place for friends and family.

Marketing 116

Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2022

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. Create an action plan with metrics. Good action plans include a listening plan, channel plan, SEO plan, and a content creation plan, with activities and metrics. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 135

Social Media Framework Media Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

As an investor in startups, I most often see entrepreneurs who are technologists, or at least have a real passion for a specific product. They rarely highlight their marketing and relationship skills , even though, in my experience, these are more often the key to success in business than product skills.

Startup 113

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 113

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 5, 2013

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. I then created a gross domestic and gross international annual market size estimate for my industry’s products.

Metrics 239

Metrics Startup Marketing Demand 239

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns. And it’s when mediocre companies get pulverized.” ” Case studies get done with ebullient CEO’s espousing the benefits of said software even though their organization was barely using the product. .” ROI studies were published.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2022

The long-standing rule of thumb that companies have ten years between significant disruptions was reset a few years ago to five years, according to experts Larry Downes and Paul Nunes. Stroh, which details the principles and metrics to follow for fostering innovation in any organization. by Patrick J.

Metrics 102

Metrics Startup Organization Demand 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. New entrepreneurs, especially technical ones, are excited by early adopters, and tend to focus on their feedback, which will always suggest more product features and options.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

socalTECH

DECEMBER 20, 2017

At productboard we aim to bake best practices of product management straight into the interface, so you can improve the way you manage your products right out of the box. In the meantime, we’ll continue publishing thoughts and ideas we’ve learned from great product managers here. Why has product management be so slow to adapt?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Metrics Ideas Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

For example, if it’s getting harder to charge a price premium for the product you’re marketing, or others are offering your subscription service for free, it may be time to start thinking in a new box. Another example is seeing substitute versions of a product, like eBooks, for a low price displacing hardcover books.

eBook 111

eBook Metrics Examples Startup 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2021

Yet even I have been known to recommend that approach, in cases where you have a highly innovative product, speed is of the essence, and no clear existing market is available. There is no substitute for talking to customers, analyzing your competition, and honing your solution to meet a target market segment.

Marketing 138

Marketing Demand IBM IBM 138

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Remember, investors are buying into the business, not the product. Investors are business experts, while the entrepreneur is more likely the product expert. Competitor positioning and sustainable competitive advantage. In my experience, the team's credentials are more important than the product.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2013

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Product 92

Product Competition Netflix Ideas 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2021

Intuitively, many entrepreneurs and businesses believe that the key to faster growth and success is more products, features, and markets. For larger and mature companies, the hard part seems to be giving up the familiar space that isn’t working so well anymore, so that you can focus on a new segment or opportunity. Just ask J.C.

Startup 154

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Metrics 154

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2013

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. Create an action plan with metrics. Good action plans include a listening plan, channel plan, SEO plan, and a content creation plan, with activities and metrics. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Product Metrics 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

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.”

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Most board meetings are administrative updates that accomplish very little other than inform board members about the performance of the company since the last board meeting. Nobody knows how many outstanding shares are in the company so nobody knows what percentage Mary’s 22,475 shares is equal to. The meeting starts.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entree for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Companies and cooks who rest on their laurels don’t last.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value. Marty Zwilling.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

For example , when Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, his real goal was building safe products to help the environment. Some people love starting companies, while others enjoy scaling them. Document and communicate a solid business plan.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

Besides Sense, MuteSix’s former and current clients include companies such as Adidas, Petco, Ring and Theragun, to whom it provides a full range of marketing services, including top-notch direct response videos. In today’s highly competitive ad environment, both content and data are kings. The key takeaway?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. I often answer the same way … * “First, yes, nearly every corner of our market is over-valued. By definition?—?I’m dot-com bonanza.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2019

This topic was well addressed in the classic book, “ The Invisible Advantage: How to Create a Culture of Innovation ,” by Soren Kaplan, who lays out the key steps to assess, disrupt, and reshape the existing culture of a company to get more innovation. Decide what to measure and create metrics. You only get what you measure.

Startup 97

Startup Metrics Competition Organization 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. The following initiatives that Chris and Tammie define for large companies apply just as directly to startups: Improve change awareness.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. As a founder, when you’ve been dealing with these kinds of objections for a couple of years it becomes natural and you easily handle objections on price, product & competition without much thought.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289