Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Customers go there to check on the details of your offerings and verify that you are not a scam, investors look there to check out your management and sales approach, and suppliers expect to find contact information. Finalizing the web site validates your product plan and sales strategy. Websites do take time to get done right.

Web 139

Web Startup Sites Design 139

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 139

Sales Training Startup Customer 139

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

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

JUNE 23, 2013

Every sales organization with more than a handful of reps or that is across multiple offices or time zones would benefit from having a sales methodology. I’ve been writing a series on a simple methodology that we used at my first enterprise software company. There are many out there and many books have been written on the topic.

Sales 328

Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

I was recently interviewed for an article that appeared in Fast Company titled, “ Why you should start a business in LA.&# If you’re interested in the topic it’s worth a read, but I thought I’d elaborate on the topic since it comes up all the time. But we have a great city for building technology companies.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2021

Playa Vista-based iLife, a startup which is developing tools to help life insurance agents set up their own, branded "digital insurance agency", has raised $4M in a seed funding round, according to the company. The company says it has reduced the thousands of dollars typically required to start an insurance agency, to only $99.

Sales 113

Sales Seed Funding Startup Tool 113

socalTECH

MAY 21, 2013

Santa Monica-based Enervee , the online energy-efficiency and product shopping service, which makes it easy for consumers to compare the energy usage of consumer electronics products and household appliances while shopping, has started integrating Amazon product offers. READ MORE>>.

Santa Monica 178

Santa Monica Sales Sites Product 178

socalTECH

JULY 24, 2014

Southern California has a growing number of companies in the customer relationship management area, including a fairly new company in the area, Pipeliner CRM (www.pipelinersales.com). We spoke with Nikolaus Kimla , the CEO of Pipeliner CRM, to learn more about the company, its move here, and its software. Who are your customers?

Sales 229

Sales Startup Software Customer 229

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. How about young or pre-revenue companies?

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Product Marketing Resource 296

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. Having a methodology instead of just going on random sales visits helped force a bit of rigor and honesty amongst team members about how well or not we thought we were doing. ” It’s a reason a company would buy.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

I’d like to talk about Crocodile Salesmen in 3 scenarios: 1) when YOU are selling (or someone on your team), 2) when you are trying to recruit a sales person. But how to apply “listening&# in a sales meeting? Let’s assume you run a Customer Support software company. I still do this sometimes, too.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. You learn by asking.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Minor decisions, such as replacing employees who have left the company or replacing equipment needing updating, are usually considered operational in nature, and unless the business is changing direction, not relevant to this test. Let’s analyze the effect of a potential acquisition upon the value of your company.

Company 120

Company Companies Acquisition Resource 120

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

SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

In fact, only 100 of the 10,000 multimillion-dollar consumer companies around the world can claim to be an “apostle brand” – one that inspires enduring trust, loyalty, and endorsement. Shame on you if you offer any product or service that is dull or unattractive. The result is higher repeat purchases and sales without promotion.

Company 152

Company Companies Startup Customer 152

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company. Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales experience. The real test of sales and the topic of my post is “why buy now.” I know I didn’t.

Sales 319

Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? Certainly that has been the strategy of many companies, and has worked in the past, but today’s customers and workers are looking for more.

Competition 110

Competition Sales Customer Custom 110

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

JUNE 10, 2021

First, you are fresher at the start of a day, and your best efforts should come when you are best prepared to address these issues. Take for example, solving key technology problems that prevent a product from shipment, or from scaling to large production. How about early-stage companies with unique problems?

Examples 156

Examples Sales Demand Equity 156

socalTECH

MARCH 19, 2014

Sales tax compliance is not a typical sexy startup area. So, it was a surprise when a number of smart, insider angels -- including Roy Rubin (founder of Magento, which he sold to eBay), and Dan Rose (VP of Partnerships at Facebook)--put their money behind TaxJar (www.taxjar.com), a San Diego startup developing sales tax compliance software.

Sales 149

Sales Software Startup Commerce 149

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

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 3, 2019

It’s the fifth new car design to come from Tesla’s shop since the company was founded in 2003. Musk has been teasing the car’s release since 2015, and in a January letter to shareholders said that high volume production would begin by the end of 2020. Musk later said they would be hiring more service technicians.

Design 272

Design Layoffs Pricing Los Angeles 272

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series called “ Start-up Lessons.&#. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. And I feel that this skill is invaluable in both building a start-up company and in being a VC.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Berkonomics

MARCH 24, 2016

She is also the CEO of Immunogum, a start–up in Newport Beach, California. Here are Kirsten’s Magnificent Seven attributes and roles for an entrepreneurial CEO: Chief sales person. Selling is required whether it is for sales of the company’s products or selling the business idea to investors. Culture Maven.

Startup 120

Startup Ideas Incubator Mentor 120

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

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2017

He was just trying to collect more data for his startup on what was happening on real estate deals that the company had been referring to brokers. However, he quickly discovered the deal data the company was collecting was not just data--but a guide to the best practices on helping brokers close more deals, quickly.

Sales 145

Sales Startup Email Tool 145

Berkonomics

JUNE 4, 2020

Let’s say that your company is exactly at breakeven. Here’s the importance of that event and how it affects every productive move you make after that moment. There is amazing leverage in high gross profit margins once a company is past breakeven. That’s impressive sales leverage. Which brings us back to our start.

.Net 156

.Net Sales Tool Email 156

Berkonomics

MAY 26, 2022

Some surprising answers from persons in sales. “Is Didn’t I see you looking for [an adjacent product or booth]?” “One minute of your time and I have a gift for you,” said another. Great advice from a corporate sales manager. Is your mom OK?” was offered by one who said it always worked for him. A bit of a trap for some perhaps.

Tips 156

Tips Sales Help Email 156

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). Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

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

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 3, 2013

That’s a comprehensive piece on a company for use by a buyer in determining fit. Current documents relating to any lawsuits by or against the company are maintained there as well. Maybe you have not heard the term, “deal book.” The liquidity event and beyond'

Software Review 191

Software Review Patents Startup Email 191

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

The Los Angeles-based operations and security management software service, Replicated has raised $25 million to ramp up its staffing and scale its sales and marketing efforts. The funding, which was led by Two Sigma Ventures and included existing investors like Plexo Capital, Amplify, and BoldStart values the company at over $100 million.

Software 224

Software Tool SaaS Los Angeles 224

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 28, 2015

One of the reasons I know way more about online sales taxes than I ever thought I would is due to Rincon Venture Partners’ investment in TaxJar , one of the leaders in this emerging space. Taxes may not be fun, but I am proud to be affiliated with a company that takes much of the pain out of the process.

Sales 100

Sales Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

Building companies is hard work. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. We also had facilities in Dublin, Ireland where our company was initially founded. Our company was completely euphoric. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us.

Startup 331

Startup Press Customer Custom 331