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

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

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

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. 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. Here are mine.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

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 coronavirus pandemic has forced Energica to hit the brakes on production of its battery powered machines that can reach top speeds of 168 mph.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Competition Demand Sales 277

Berkonomics

MAY 16, 2019

There must be at least several companies out there right now positioning to compete with you. And although many positioning efforts cross the lines between these, great companies play to the strength of just one. The five strategies: Picking one to emphasize. So, how do you position yourself to be a stand out? Using price creatively.

Company 120

Company Companies Pricing Competition 120

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

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

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

To bring that ability to name your own price on products, Los Angeles-based Greentoe (www.greentoe.com) recently launched, allowing consumers to name their own price to retailers of everything from electronics to baby products. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. What is Greentoe?

Pricing 273

Pricing Product Help Sales 273

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. New product process. 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.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? So here goes: How would I find companies willing to license my intellectual property or to invest in a royalty stream from licenses? I asked him five important questions, which he answered, and I’ve summarized below.

IP 136

IP Product Equity Tool 136

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2020

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that many of you have your most creative ideas for your company’s first big bang , but often get bogged down with details as the company grows. When Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia with creative outdoor products, he pitched also a purpose of helping the environment.

Company 148

Company Companies Ideas Mentor 148

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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. A critical question for you.

Competition 156

Competition Sales Marketing Product 156

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? So here goes: How would I find companies willing to license my intellectual property or to invest in a royalty stream from licenses? I asked him five important questions, which he answered, and I’ve summarized below.

IP 120

IP Product Equity Tool 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

Mark Zuckerberg seems to be me to be one of the most talented young technology professionals of his generation and seems to have an amazing vision for technology and product. Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. Nobody can be super human all all fronts.

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

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

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. It’s intended in a discussion with an entrepreneur to get them to question whether there is really amazing underlying value in the product or service they’re offering.

Company 295

Company Companies Gogii Google 295

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

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. This segment should have specific demographics, and the means to buy your product.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

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

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Economies of scale also apply to marketing, distribution, and sales. Fresh customer base.

Organization 97

Organization Competition Startup Acquisition 97

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.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 226

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 226

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my experience in large businesses as well as years of advising startups, I see far too much focus on product skills, and too little on people and process skills. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. Building a company and selling are all about gaining commitments.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

As an advisor to new business owners, I’m accustomed to seeing primarily the simple traditional product pricing strategies , usually driven by competitor prices, or cost plus a reasonable margin. Convince customers that you are selling at a loss, or use a sale price much lower than the original price.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. New product process. 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.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. They call them “user stories.”

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

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

Frank Addante

JULY 20, 2012

If you want to manage a hyper-growth company, start with a great product. The best product wins. With a great product comes great customers, and with customers comes revenue and profit, which in turn can be used to build more great products. That’s why I believe so strongly in a product-driven organization.

Product 59

Product Company Companies Organization 59

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions. My guess is that we are likely in total agreement.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

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

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 20, 2013

Crowdfunder , the Los Angeles startup led by CHance Barnett, has launched another crowdfunding event aimed at the local industry, saying Wednesday that it has launched CROWDIMPACT LA , a pitching competition which will award $20,000 in a top prize to a winning social enterprise company.

Startup 215

Startup Competition Demand Los Angeles 215