Berkonomics

APRIL 9, 2020

If it takes eighteen months to get a new product out the door and into the market, and if a product’s gross margin is ten dollars but the corporate overhead is a million a month, it will take the sale of 67,000 more units to break even than if it were to take only six months to market. The effect of being slow to market even in tough times.

Competition 156

Competition Sales Marketing Product 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

In one industry I know well, the dominant player with 22% market share was acquired by one of the largest companies in the technology world. Everyone, including those connected with the newly acquired dominant player, wondered what changes would affect their company and their personal lives and fortunes.

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

When do you sell your company? Companies sometime run out of cash in the midst of their increasing success, and often find that sources of loans or investment are not freely flowing at the moment of need. Not so long ago, Basil Peters wrote his book, “Early Exits,” after analyzing 150 young companies and their exits.

Pricing 156

Pricing Invest Equity Entrepreneur 156

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know that you can use an email system with this to track my open rate, whether I forwarded the email, the IP address where I read it, whether I was on a mobile device or a wired computer and you can tell who else read the document. I would likely open up your deck, read it again and begin contemplating your company again.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2016

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.

.Net 226

.Net Sales Customer Custom 226

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). For those of you who fit that description, nice work. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. And many of these actions are repetitive to a fault, contributing to boredom and ultimately to restlessness and desire for something new, in or out of the company. Sales people know the rules and play to win, celebrating each small success along the way.

Metrics 120

Metrics Competition Coach Email 120

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 21, 2021

Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. This one seems non-negotiable for many non-production-line workers and offers savings for both the company and employee if properly implemented and supervised.

Design 156

Design Examples Competition Pricing 156

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 226

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 226

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. I got an email recently from my friend & fellow VC, Jeff Bussgang from Flybridge Capital Partners in Boston. My guess is that we are likely in total agreement.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

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. In fact, it’s worse than that. In fact, it’s worse than that.

Press 341

Press Startup Email Sales 341

Berkonomics

JULY 18, 2019

Every business has an intellectual foundation where the CEO’s knowledge and vision create a barrier to entry that deflects some or much of the potential competition. Or we do so with brilliant research and development, highly trained sales forces, large advertising campaigns, or secret processes. Patents, branding, marketing and more.

Patents 120

Patents Resource Training Advertising 120

Berkonomics

MAY 23, 2013

If it takes eighteen months to get a new product out the door and into the market, and if a product’s gross margin is ten dollars but the corporate overhead is a million a month, it will take the sale of 67,000 more units to break even than if it were to take only six months to market. So the truth of the statement is self-evident.

Competition 166

Competition Sales Email Marketing 166

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

Facebook has created an environment where millions of people can hold billions of conversations with people and companies, transforming how people expect to interact with each other and the world. There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. Virtual living: the rise and growing dominance of social media.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Every sales person with a bit of street history will resonate with this question. Email readers, continue here…] Using your attorney or accountant to find who is close to the decision maker sometimes works.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

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.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Berkonomics

JUNE 27, 2019

Especially in your growing company, you are drawn into daily process issues by all of your direct reports, often responding to questions and problems, leaving little time for strategic thought. We often ask our sales people to “find the pain” and show how our product solves that pain problem. That’s bad behavior! Find the pain.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Course Email 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 136

IP Product Equity Tool 136

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. And many of these actions are repetitive to a fault, contributing to boredom and ultimately to restlessness and desire for something new, in or out of the company. Sales people know the rules and play to win, celebrating each small success along the way.

Metrics 176

Metrics Competition Coach Email 176

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

Email readers, continue here…] Whatever the problem, the person or board to whom you report does not want to hear about it after it has become a threat to the enterprise. Three weeks later, the Board received a communication from the CEO that the company had only weeks of cash left and immediately needed another round.

News 120

News Statistics Resource Sales 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 4, 2019

Every investor wants regular information from companies taking their money. And most of us investors are frustrated by the lack of regular communication – unless of course – the company needs more money. First, let’s cover the absolute minimum legal requirement a company must provide to its investors.

Class 120

Class Course Report Competition 120

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 1, 2010

Although the plot was obviously devised for comic effect, it serves to illustrate that non-conventional methods of infiltrating Big Dumb Companies (BDCs) are often effective. Entrepreneurs constantly have to capture the attention of larger companies. Eventually, you will reach someone at the target company.

Company 124

Company Companies Email Press 124

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

Berkonomics

JANUARY 26, 2017

The most striking example was the one hundred–million–dollar purchase of one of my companies by a New York private equity investor using only five million of its cash. Email readers, continue here…] There are so many ways to satisfy a seller, sometimes a seller’s ego, by making a price seem higher than the reality of the purchase.

Pricing 120

Pricing Sales Tool Equity 120

Berkonomics

APRIL 25, 2011

Without constantly improving or increasing products to offer, a company today is quickly overtaken by its competition. Stagnant companies usually can trace their inability to gain market share upon the “A” area first, and management should pay particular attention to putting resources into this important focus of the company.

Resource 136

Resource Competition Sales Marketing 136

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2011

I have long wanted to write about FNAC (feature, not a company) because it’s part of my normal lexicon to push teams that present to me to think harder about where the economics in their industry is coming from. It somehow implied that they “weren’t a real company&# in some people’s eyes. It lingered.

Email 270

Email Writing Blogging Competition 270

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 13, 2016

In one industry I know well, the dominant player with 22% market share was acquired by one of the largest companies in the technology world. Everyone, including those connected with the newly acquired dominant player, wondered what changes would affect their company and their personal lives and fortunes.

Resource 120

Resource Competition Examples Customer 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

When do you sell your company? Companies sometime run out of cash in the midst of success, and often find that sources of loans or investment are not freely flowing at the moment of need. Not so long ago, Basil Peters wrote his book, “Early Exits,” after analyzing 150 young companies and their exits. And there is the problem.

Pricing 120

Pricing Invest Email Competition 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Growth like this, this early in a company’s lifecycle rarely happens. In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Email updates frequently. Make your emails actionable.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Berkonomics

APRIL 18, 2019

In this new reality in our business world, there is certainly little room for mistakes and no room for bloat within our companies. Email readers, continue here…] Then there is the third “P” – performance. So, here’s one to help you with squeezing the most out of your own available resources. The fourth “P” is for process.

Help 120

Help Resource Product Email 120

Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2012

For those of us who’ve invested in early stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem. There are many ways to project the value of a company for purposes of pricing an investment, but all rely upon the revenue and profit projections of the entrepreneur as a starting point.

Invest 321

Invest Startup Email Competition 321

Frank Addante

JULY 20, 2012

If you want to manage a hyper-growth company, start with a great product. That is, a company that focuses all functions on the product. Sales and marketing become the channels to take that product to market and everything else in the organization-finance, human resources, IT-are there to support the product and those who work on it.

Product 59

Product Company Companies Organization 59

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Email marketing. Scott, published a classic book that I still recommend, ” The New Rules of Lead Generation ,” highlighting the changes wrought by the internet and social media.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Berkonomics

AUGUST 23, 2012

Every business has an intellectual foundation where the CEO’s knowledge and vision create a barrier to entry that deflects some or much of the potential competition. Email readers, continue here.] Sometimes we protect our core with effective branding and marketing.

Patents 159

Patents Training Resource Advertising 159

Berkonomics

JULY 9, 2011

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 222

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 222

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Relationships also build loyalty, get referrals, and drive more sales. Pleasant surprises don’t have to be big – like how fast you return a phone call or email. That customer experience is the best competitive advantage you can have, and the best predictor of long-term success. Sponsor experiments to create memorable elements.

Customer 147

Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

Berkonomics

JUNE 15, 2012

One important element of positioning a company is pricing strategy. And although many positioning efforts cross the lines between these, great companies play to the strength of just one. Certainly Wal-Mart, Target and others have gotten the attention of their potential customers using price as the primary leader to drive sales.

Pricing 149

Pricing Competition Coach Sales 149