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

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. Unique Selling Proposition. Compelling Event. The enemy is against you.

Sales 321

Sales Organization Startup Resource 321

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

Modern investors love to first read a two-page summary of your business plan, formatted like a glossy marketing collateral sheet, with text well laid out in columns and sidebars, and a couple of relevant graphics. You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary.

Summary 55

Summary Writing Competition Metrics 55

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. It allows all members of your team, including marketing, support, and sales, to size and build the business plan processes they need to find customers, deliver, and maintain grow the business.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

It also starts with a good summary of the intangibles, summarized as the five rules of relevancy, by Mark Zawacki: A startup needs to be relevant and stay relevant. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. A startup must gain balanced traction.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

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

JUNE 26, 2020

What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. To be clear, I define a product specification as the technical definition of your product, to be used for development and testing purposes, with a quick business summary for context.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As such, the primary goal of your executive summary is to open the door to an in-person meeting. Entrepreneurs routinely seek my advice regarding their executive summaries.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2023

There is no magic formula for a formal business plan format or sequence, but I would recommend the following ten sections, in this sequence, with relevant content: Executive summary Problem and solution Company description Market opportunity Business model Competition analysis Marketing and sales strategy Management team Financial projections Exit (..)

Startup 102

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2023

Here is a summary of their key observations, with our joint specifics on what to expect, and how to overcome these obstacles: Customers don’t buy what they don’t know and understand. Multiple decision makers required to close a sale. Initial hype can generate a sales spurt, but long-term growth requires a clear fit.

Case Study 89

Case Study Customer Custom Study 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2023

People tell me there may be over 8,000 dating sites with scientific matchmaking algorithms worldwide, but I couldn’t find one that focused on scientifically matching companies and people for business-to-business (B2B) relationships. Bad ones will suck the energy out of your company, and leave you wanting more.

eHarmony 100

eHarmony Writing Sites Summary 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your deck should be so good that a VC asks you for permission to show it to his or her portfolio companies. What should not be in your deck? Just send it.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. It allows all members of your team, including marketing, support, and sales, to size and build the business plan processes they need to find customers, deliver, and maintain grow the business.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Here is a summary of their key observations, with our joint specifics on what to expect, and how to overcome these obstacles: Customers don’t buy what they don’t know and understand. Multiple decision makers required to close a sale. Initial hype can generate a sales spurt, but long-term growth requires a clear fit.

Case Study 174

Case Study Startup Customer Custom 174

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

It is the bane of every startups existence because it takes up so much time, it is so competitive to sign people and it feels like unproductive time because it’s not moving the ball forward on product, engineering, sales, marketing, biz dev, fund raising. It consumes time and energy and the payoff doesn’t come for a long time.

Press 341

Press Startup Email Sales 341

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. How you build out your team in the first few years can have a huge impact on the trajectory of your company. So I naturally spend much time with the companies in which I invest helping them: recruit. figure out roles.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory. As I naturally get asked all the time why we invested in Company A or Company B, I thought I’d just put forth my thesis in writing. What does it do?

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2023

Foreign markets typically have less information available and more variability in sales estimates, which is a setup for failure. The local culture affects not only the decisions an entrepreneur must make, but also how a market views the company. Do more local homework and validate cautiously. Assume large and frequent economic swings.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Social Media Entrepreneur Summary 110

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. If you raise millions of dollars from professional investors it is no longer “your” company but a shared company that you control. In the Early Days. In the Growth Years.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. He offers a number of worthwhile tips and tricks that I was not able to capture in the textual summary, so the 14-minute audio file is well worth your time. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Paige’s responses. Click here to listen to the Audio File.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

A reverse merger is the acquisition of an already public company (usually a dormant shell) to avoid the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and cost, to quickly get your startup on a public exchange for fund raising through visibility and selling stock. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy.

Funding 104

Funding Summary Entrepreneur Acquisition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

I define these products and services as “solutions” (customers buy solutions to a problem), but Guy Kawasaki more generically calls them causes, meaning any new idea, company, or service. After-sales support, comfort, accessories, and brand image are as much a part of owning a Lexus as the car itself. Empowering ability.

Ideas 155

Ideas Startup Summary Examples 155

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. an investment in your company. remember: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

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.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2020

People tell me there may be over 8,000 dating sites with scientific matchmaking algorithms worldwide, but I couldn’t find one that focused on scientifically matching companies and people for business-to-business (B2B) relationships. Bad ones will suck the energy out of your company, and leave you wanting more.

Sites 155

Sites eHarmony Writing Summary 155

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Almost instantly, via the Internet or on their smartphone in the store, they can find the lowest price alternative or their favorite features, without waiting for push marketing or listening to your best sales person. What most companies don’t realize is that businesses don’t drive customer trends anymore, customers drive business trends.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Startup Course 146

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

And great management can morph a company to adopt without destroying the culture of the company in the process. What if you were the investor and someone walked into your office handing you a business plan executive summary that floored you with its brilliance? What if you see a great idea but no team to execute?

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

And great management can morph a company to adopt without destroying the culture of the company in the process. What if you were the investor and someone walked into your office handing you a business plan executive summary that floored you with its brilliance? What if you see a great idea but no team to execute?

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Ideas Summary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

Use your favorite search engine and keywords describing your solution to find online sales reports, trade association statistics, and online newsletters with the latest statistics. Peruse company reports from your business domain.

Statistics 120

Statistics Research Report Newsletter 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If there are financial anomalies, or someone on the team doesn’t know the current strategy, or is unhappy with you or the company, the investment will be jeopardized. Call a company meeting to communicate what is happening, and why. Sales and marketing strategy. Don’t surprise the team. This is the highest priority item.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

To be clear, I said that most companies I see pitching have COOs & I don’t have a rule against it. I’ve had several COOs at companies in which I’ve invested. We tend to want to work with people who are focused on just one company. I expected it to be controversial and it was. I find them strange.

Startup 292

Startup CTO Hire Sales Email 292

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

When I meet other VCs I’m constantly asking how they decide which investments to make, when to pass, when to do follow-on rounds, when to sell a company vs. when to go long, etc. On sales I often talk about “ Why Buy Anything, Why Buy Now, Why Buy Me ” as a tool to think about a sales process. Take more advice.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Use this opportunity to validate their satisfaction and support for your company and your solution. For reference, here is a quick summary of key elements which most investors include in their due diligence process: Key personnel review. Visit reference customers, partners, and vendors. Traction in the marketplace.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

There is no magic formula for a formal business plan format or sequence, but I would recommend the following ten sections, in this sequence, with relevant content: Executive summary Problem and solution Company description Market opportunity Business model Competition analysis Marketing and sales strategy Management team Financial projections Exit (..)

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

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. VCs (and LPs) have a vested interest in having more data, whether they want to invest in your company / firm or not.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336