Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If customers don’t know you exist, you can’t solve their problem, they won’t buy. Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. Talk to real live customers in addition to marketers. Networking is all about marketing yourself and your company.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

For example, one of the first home grocery delivery companies, Webvan, was so enamored with early traction in Silicon Valley, it raised and spent nearly a billion dollars and went public, before filing for bankruptcy three years later. Other customers routinely pay late, or only after they receive one or more prompts from you.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2011

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her new book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Customer 96

Customer Custom Search Engine Optimization Summary 96

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. Document and communicate a solid business plan. Some people love starting companies, while others enjoy scaling them. Select your destination to land after the start.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

When you raise money from investors you produce information that you are told they want and care about: A fund-raising deck that articulates your company strategy, plans, team, market, competitors and so forth. These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.”

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

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

AUGUST 1, 2021

You continually get frustrated with your team members, customers, vendors, and partners. You can’t build a great company without help. Data – Define a handful of key metrics to free you from managing personalities, egos, subjective issues, emotions, and intangibles. Each must be documented clearly and refined regularly.

Entrepreneur 174

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

For example, Elon Musk is recognized as a visionary entrepreneur, but his fortune and his impact has come from the great companies he has built, including SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and PayPal. Sets goals and milestones, with metrics to track progress. They define metrics for each goal, and diligently track themselves against these metrics.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

If you do build the MVP and show it to them, they will ask you about your metrics. They really want metrics, not a product. The real question you should be asking is "When I've built this product and show you the following metrics, would you invest?" What The Heck Does “Traction” Really Mean To A VC?

Metrics 264

Metrics Venture Capital News Product 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 1, 2021

Most business professionals I know will go to great lengths to take a neutral position on internal business conflicts, on the assumption that all conflict is bad for the company as well as their political future. Don’t let it be just a conflict over graphic design. Evaluate conflict win-lose versus win-win potential.

Activity 145

Activity Organization Examples Satisfaction 145

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

What was the biggest news for you/your company this year? While it was a good year for our merger and acquisition practice in the SaaS and fintech space, our most exciting news is in our merchant banking sector where we invest in and advise growth companies often for several years. What is the biggest lesson you learned this year?

Capital 100

Capital SoCal Southern California SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and business owners, I rarely find someone who doesn’t proclaim that the business world is changing rapidly, with new technology, new customer expectations, and new cultures. Others still routinely have phone hold queues for customer contact that can last up to an hour, with no alternative options.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2013

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Startup 105

Startup Search Engine Optimization Summary Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2017

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her classic book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Search Engine Optimization 58

Search Engine Optimization Startup SEO Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is.

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews.

Tips 93

Tips Search Engine Optimization Summary Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2018

As a business advisor, one of the things I see most often as a drag to productivity and growth is employees who, despite their best efforts, can’t change things that they know are hurting the company. Yet every CEO I know believes that his team is motivated and empowered to make the business better for both customers and the company.

Startup 62

Startup Organization Customer Custom 62

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Eric is also author of the book The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth , where he documented that experience. Jackson: The story behind the company, is we're trying to solve a real world problem. Jackson: The story behind the company, is we're trying to solve a real world problem.

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Customer service and support. The right question is “What is the minimum that I need?”

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. How do the sample Series Seed financing documents differ from typical Series A financing documents? In response he sent me a competitive analysis.

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Do you need a board when you first start you company? Time based as in “a guaranteed right for 12 months, which can be renewed by mutual board consent” and event based “a guaranteed right until the company has raised $x million from new investors.” Should I be worried that I could be fired from my own company? Not really.

Startup 236

Startup Venture Capital Tips Capital 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Founders soon learn that customers only spend real money for solutions rather than ideas. A good execution requires a plan and the right people, combined to create operational excellence and exceptional customer value. Companies that do this best become market leaders. billion in 2015. billion in 2015. But Google is not unique.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Customer service and support. The right question is “What is the minimum that I need?”

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2015

You continually get frustrated with your team members, customers, vendors, and partners. You can’t build a great company without help. Data – Define a handful of key metrics to free you from managing personalities, egos, subjective issues, emotions, and intangibles. Each must be documented clearly and refined regularly.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Social Media 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Yet these same entrepreneurs often quickly get set in their ways, and find themselves resisting changes to their own business, and begin to fear further customer change in their domain. The constituents of every business success go far beyond customers – they include employees, partners, investors, vendors, and may even include competitors.

Press 56

Press Tool Metrics Startup 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative. You need an investor, and want a document to mass-mail to everyone. With bootstrapping, no business plan is expected by anyone.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, angel investors, and institutional investors. Funding process.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

In business, one important measure is the value of the company. That’s because a company’s value is a composite of all of the quantitative and qualitative factors that comprise a company: revenues, expenses, risks, growth prospects, quality of the management team, competitive advantages, strength of the intellectual property, and so forth.

.Net 89

.Net Metrics Competition Template 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Unless you are bootstrapping everything, you need to have a clear plan on what networking and documents are required to get to friends and family, angel investors, and institutional investors. Funding process.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2016

You continually get frustrated with your team members, customers, vendors, and partners. You can’t build a great company without help. Data – Define a handful of key metrics to free you from managing personalities, egos, subjective issues, emotions, and intangibles. Each must be documented clearly and refined regularly.

Search Engine Optimization 55

Search Engine Optimization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Social Media 55

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2012

introNetworks is still going strong and has some of the biggest customers in the world, like NASA and McCann World Group. We're working on how quickly we can provision servers, and what those metrics are, and it's been fantastic. Our roots are in Flash, and in fact the company came about as a project for Macromedia.

Social Media 203

Social Media Startup Tool LAMP 203