Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Everyone knows that startups are risky, but they also expect that the job will be exciting and potentially very lucrative (think early employees at Facebook and Google). The truly indispensable person in a startup is a problem solver, because every startup has plenty of problems. You can’t outsource that one.

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Startup Journal Outsource Tips 125

InfoChachkie

APRIL 20, 2015

This is the approach many startups take when they communicate their story to the market. Rather than directly explaining their value proposition with all the passion and heartfelt stridency that only an entrepreneur can deliver, they outsource this communication to a Public Relations (PR) firm. The company started ‘getting ink.’

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Outsource Development Outsource Allegis Startup 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2022

In this context, it’s time for every business, not only startups, to take a fresh look at the basics of business success. Once you have a proven business model, you need to scale the business up quickly to stay ahead of competitors. Every startup needs a sustainable competitive advantage. If you want to be feared.

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Startup News Framework Outsource 112

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

Most business professionals I know have been conditioned to think of inflation as highly negative, driving up their costs, and reducing customer buying. I see it as an opportunity to find new ways to attract customers , make long-needed changes to improve productivity, and lower your own costs of doing business.

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Outsource Customer Custom Sample 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2021

A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have.

Startup 126

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2023

No matter how well your business seems to have worked for you up to this point, you can be certain that it will need to be heavily transformed for tomorrow’s new world-wide economy and no industry sector boundaries. Outsourcing the entirety of building a new system. None of us can afford to be a silo anymore.

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Outsource Development Outsource Startup Metrics 140

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. The customer experience is more than the service.

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Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

My friends who “grew up” with lifetime careers in General Motors, Exxon Mobil, or even IBM, are now often too embarrassed to even mention it. We can all aspire to grow companies like TikTok, Facebook, and Apple, which have the aura of fun, while still improving your lifestyle and offering the dream of untold riches.

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Startup Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Offshore 126

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Look impartially from all angles and do the follow-up on all relevant previous roles.

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Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2019

Less than a month after rebranding as Canoo , the startup electric vehicle company formerly known as Evelozcity is on the hunt for $200 million in new capital. The company, which will make its vehicles available through a subscription-based model, already has 400 employees and just announced new key hires along with its rebranding.

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Outsource Development Startup Outsource San Diego 191

Berkonomics

JULY 10, 2014

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up premoney valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable sales price for the company down the road. Starting up Raising money'

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2021

In my experience as a business advisor and occasional investor, many of you won’t make it that far, succumbing to the high costs of getting those first customers, funding an initial inventory, and building an operational support process. Assess your resource potential before you start. Start networking for funding before the crisis.

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Startup Resource Customer Custom 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2012

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. Don’t outsource your core competency. It’s like giving up control of your company.

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Outsource Development Outsource Software Development Software 89

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2019

Los Angeles-based eTailPet , a new startup which helps pet store owners create online e-commerce sites, has received a round of seed funding, the company said this week. The startup is led by Founder and CEO Bere Giannini. According to eTailPet, the funding will go to accelerate its business. READ MORE>>.

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Seed Funding Funding Template Southern California 222

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

As part of the lead in to the conference, and as a part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. We respond very quickly to all of our customers. Kevin Anderson.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Start with a service you know and love. The customer experience is more than the service.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Los Angeles-based The/Studio , a startup offering up custom manufacturing of products through a worldwide network of apparel manufacturers, accessory makers, textile manufacturers, and many others, has raised $11M in a funding round. The company's founder and CEO is Joseph Heller.

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Customer Custom Networking Los Angeles 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

Los Angeles-based Credit Key , a startup which helps e-commerce merchants offer up instant point-of-sale financing to customers, has raised $33.85M in its Series A funding. The startup--led by startup veteran John Tomich--integrates with e-commerce payment systems, appearing as a payment option at checkout.

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Commerce Outsource Los Angeles Sales 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need.

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Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2023

Strategic partnerships in this context can take the form of joint ventures, intellectual property licensing, outsourcing agreements, or even cooperative research. Always start with a formal proposal, limited in scope to a specific common objective or technology, for a limited amount of time, bounded by a two-way non-disclosure statement.

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Startup Outsource Competition Entrepreneur 105

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2019

Los Angeles-based eTailPet , a new startup which helps pet store owners create online e-commerce sites, has received a round of seed funding, the company said this week. The startup is led by Founder and CEO Bere Giannini. Size of the funding was not announced. The funding was led by Moonshots Capital. READ MORE>>.

Seed Funding 154

Seed Funding Funding Template Southern California 154

socalTECH

JANUARY 20, 2016

Santa Monica-based TaskUs , the outsourcing firm founded by Jaspar Weir and Bryce Maddock, said today that it has just passed up 5,000 employees. The company--which had just over 1,000 employees in 2014, and started with a mere 5 employees in 2011--says it now has five outsourcing centers in the Philippines.

Outsource 100

Outsource Santa Monica Startup Equity 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2011

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. Don’t outsource your core competency. It’s like giving up control of your company.

Outsource Development 90

Outsource Development Outsource Software Development Software 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2014

The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. In fact, we are all media companies now, with our cell phones, computers, and professional-looking publishing tools. New technologies are everywhere today.

Customer 99

Customer Custom Startup Content 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Innovation is the key to long-term business success, both in startups as well as established organizations. Then, when you are unable to remove more layers, you can build up to the fastest and most efficient way of getting that base thing done. Outsource services back to the customer. Elon Musk recommends this approach.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Design 158

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

In the era of Skype, web conferencing tools and collaboration software conventional wisdom says that distributed startup teams can be just as effective as those that are in person. Or more precisely the people espousing the benefits of distributed startups teams are often distributed and therefore self rationalizing it. Been there.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2023

A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have.

Startup 99

Startup High Tech Entrepreneur Writing 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2018

In addition to obvious economic challenges, the emerging generation of customers is determined to radically change the rules for customer engagement. He makes a convincing argument that it’s time for every company to get prepared for the next customer generation, or your company is heading toward life support.

Demand 71

Demand Customer Custom Tips 71

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

As a business consultant with experience in large companies as well as startups, I often hear about dysfunctional management hierarchies, as well as the value provided by exceptional ones. They are more sensitive to customer needs and see peer collaboration as the most effective decision process.

Outsource 133

Outsource Training Organization Social Media 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2023

Startups succeed most often when the founding partners know how to build and run a business, rather than how to build and run technology. A great technical LinkedIn profile is a good start, but not enough to assure success in your environment. A business startup is not an academic environment, or a big company research organization.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Technology High Tech Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Based on my years of experience as a business executive and consultant, I am convinced that most companies gradually lose their ability to be creative as they mature, and over time are overcome by new competitors and market changes. Your people on the customer front lines have the input you need on institutional changes required.

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Case Study Outsource Development Outsource Customer 117

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2023

In reality, based on my experience as a startup advisor and investor, these constraints lead the best entrepreneurs to the most innovative solutions and new markets otherwise overlooked by their peers and competitors. I believe it all starts with you as a leadership role model, and the mindset and expectations you broadcast to your team.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2010

Since my background includes software development, I often get the question about when to build a solution in-house, versus outsourcing it to a local company, near-shore service, or off-shore organization in China, India, or Eastern Europe. Don’t outsource your core competency. It’s like giving up control of your company.

Outsource Development 51

Outsource Development Outsource Software Offshore 51

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2011

The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. In fact, we are all media companies now, with our cell phones, computers, and professional-looking publishing tools. New technologies are everywhere today.

Media 91

Media Startup Company Companies 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. A few people have asked me to try and define the perfect startup organization chart. But I do have more insight into understanding your startup team. Often I’m asked by startup CEO’s about how to best build an engineering team.

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400