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. If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. And that leads me to today’s post.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2013

One of the questions I’m most often asked by CEOs is how to hire sales people. I’ve written a lot about recruiting and hiring at startups including my controversial post on whom not to hire and my rapid response to the flame war. Call high, and get passed down or; B. Clearly in an enterprise customer this is unlikely.

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Sales Technical Review Organization Case Study 375

Berkonomics

JULY 23, 2020

How about outside investors? Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. There are some questions a distressed sale brings to mind.

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Company Companies Sales Venture Capital 156

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

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. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

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Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 12, 2022

Deerman had watched other meal delivery companies, like Munchery and Sprig , close years earlier and had gotten creative with the company’s business model as a result. In January 2020, the company was in discussions with Whole Foods about launching a pilot of its meals in a few stores. Then the COVID pandemic hit.

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Invest Los Angeles Startup Funding 175

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2013

Like most startup entrepreneurs, when I began my first company in 1999 I had no formal sales experience. This is a very important to do when you first start a company. But before you achieve product / market fit you’re often in “consultative sales” mode where your objective is to tease out customer needs.

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Sales Startup Resource Customer 393

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.

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Sales Training Startup Customer 139

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2012

Some are alumni from companies that would be a competitor to the enterprise being created or joined. What is the rule about those pesky non-compete agreements signed upon discharge or sale of the previous company? Entrepreneurs tend to remain in the business arena they came from.

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Company Companies News Design 136

socalTECH

MAY 16, 2019

For our interview this morning, we caught up with Isaac Garcia , a serial entrepreneur who previously founded and sold his last company, Central Desktop, and now is working on a new startup, Sales Insider. What is Sales Insider? Isaac Garcia: Sales Insider is a talent marketplace for hiring software sales reps.

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Sales Startup Software Marketing 133

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. This post is about the “P” or pain. 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.

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Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

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.

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Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

Postmates is now rolling out what could be the biggest update to the company’s service in a long time — adding a retail option for users to shop local stores and for local merchants to set up a virtual on-demand storefront in the app. That could have an impact on retail sales that were already projected to be dismal.

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Sales Los Angeles Beverly Hills Demand 249

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. I don’t think this is the job.

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Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

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.

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Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Hodes talks about how you might position your company for a sale, and some of the things you need to do as part of that process. In times of recession there is pent-up demand by entrepreneurs to sell their companies. What needs to be prepared to position a company for sale? Continued.). READ MORE>>.

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Sales Company Companies Demand 124

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. I agree with YouTube (that they provide more (hosting, ad sales, etc.)

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Networking Media Content Customer 366

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.

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Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

recently wrote a post talking about how some VCs meddle in operating company decisions or some executive teams are too reliant on VCs to jump in and make hard calls for them. At times I wanted the engineering team to produce features to support our sales efforts to I occasionally leaned on them a bit. I did this. ” PR.

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Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2023

From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground. The newest investor has the power.

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Venture Capital Sales Invest Class 292

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. You learn much more about how other people think when you’re asking. But how to apply “listening&# in a sales meeting? Nobody likes that.

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Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

And yet, as I recall the greatest thrills, the memorable events, the best of memories, almost none are about the money. But your most satisfying life journey will never be about the money. The rewards of angel investing. Have you ever spent enough time with your family? Can you ever spend enough? Isn’t it time to try?

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Coach Startup Organization Invest 120

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.

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Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2013

This is part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. This post is about finding your “champion.” ” We developed this at our first company and called it PUCCKA – the overall methodology is described here.

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Sales Help Organization Product 322

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.

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Sales Startup Software Customer 229

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2013

This is part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. We developed this at our first company and called it PUCCKA – the overall methodology is described here. This post talks about the “K” or Key Players involved in a buying decision.

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Sales Organization Startup Resource 321

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey). It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Much more data in the full post. Google knows it.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

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. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

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Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Technology Council

JANUARY 1, 2014

I have the opportunity to work with a large number of sales teams and to see what makes for highly successful ones and ones that struggle. In my experience the #1 determining factor in sales team success is whether the company has the right sales people on board or not. to create opportunities.

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Sales Training Software Email 113

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.

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Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. But trust me when I say that my observations across many startups (and other companies, frankly) is that not enough time goes into thinking. I’ve talked in the past about how I manage my own creative process.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

If one entered between 2009-2015 he or she is no doubt in the “hazard” phase where one need to be careful about thinking he know more about the industry than perhaps he do. Too much money too early often f s companies up. No – I’m not talking about YOU – everybody is doing it. ” Well.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Danielle goes through some commentary from Bill Gurley, Fred Wilson and Marc Andreessen about burn rate and then goes on to discuss her own burn rate and others publicly weigh in. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? I often see companies burning $100,000 per month (net) looking to raise $6-8 million.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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.

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Company Companies Los Angeles San Diego 188

Technology Council

JANUARY 1, 2014

I have the opportunity to work with a large number of sales teams and to see what makes for highly successful ones and ones that struggle. In my experience the #1 determining factor in sales team success is whether the company has the right sales people on board or not. to create opportunities.

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Sales Training Software Email 100

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. When investors do interject, demos typically become even more pedantic, as Founders feel compelled to speak expansively about specific features in an attempt address the investor’s concerns. Sales Mode – Demos intrinsically cause Founders to launch into sales mode.

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Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

I was recently approached by Fast Company to comment on “crisis management&# at startups in the wake of the Airbnb “ranksackgate&# story. I agreed to do the interview because the story was about what other companies can learn rather than about airbnb in particular. Make the story be about your market.

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Startup Press Training Media 329

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Let’s talk about the reality of taking money from professional investors. But the intent of these “forced” placements of a representative on the board is obviously to watch over the company’s use of invested funds and to help grow the company in value. It is not the first time we’ve covered this general subject nor the last.

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Sales Resource Email Pricing 156