Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

But very quickly, it is becoming obvious to startups that the value and satisfaction exceeds the costs. I believe this option will continue to spread to other companies, states and countries. Startups can use social responsibility as a competitive advantage.

Startup 149

Startup Organization Customer Custom 149

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive, and focusing on the wrong ones won’t bring you that business success and satisfaction you crave. Timing is critical for every startup. Of course, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never start. Should I start out alone, or assemble a team first?

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2020

For all entrepreneurs, starting a business is the route to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” no matter how risky. Personal satisfaction also ranked close behind, with 70 percent of respondents claiming it was a key advantage to running their own business. With a startup there are no rules, until you make them.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction Competition 122

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Having the best solution is a good start these days, but a solution alone is no longer enough to keep customer attention and loyalty. Michelli, with inspiring stories on how one well-known company, Mercedes-Benz, made the transition and is profiting as a result. I remember the classic book, “ Driven to Delight ,” by Joseph A.

Customer 106

Customer Custom Startup Competition 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required.

Outsource 123

Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

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. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

Everyone on the startup team knows there is no buffer, and no personal isolation from impact based on your job description that can save you. Unfortunately, in mature companies, a larger and larger percentage of employees forget company survival and customers as the objectives, and focus only on their own personal gain.

Satisfaction 147

Satisfaction Organization Customer Custom 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. People may jump into the lifestyle to be their own boss, achieve great wealth, start a new trend, or all the above.

Startup 130

Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 130

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2021

By definition, all of you entrepreneurs are leaders, by taking the initiative to start a new company. Yet I have learned over the years as a startup advisor that all business leaders are not the same. Johnson accepted full company accountability on Twitter for a racial profiling incident at a Starbucks in Philadelphia.

Coach 162

Coach Startup Resource Competition 162

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

In my experience with startups, that is still necessary, but not sufficient. This book is focused on strategic customer support jobs in every company, but I believe the hiring rules apply equally well to every job in a startup, since customer focus has to be pervasive from the beginning in modern new companies.

Startup 135

Startup Customer Custom Tool 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2021

They keep asking people like me whether the time is right, and the truth is that there’s never an ideal time to start your own business. It’s like starting a personal relationship, if you wait for exactly the right time, you’ll never do it. This is a necessary, but not sufficient reason to start a business now.

Startup 168

Startup Ideas Satisfaction Entrepreneur 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

After many years working in business and investing in startups, I’m convinced that the primary reason for new business and career failures is NOT a lack of skill or money, but people giving up too quickly on their dreams and goals. He went on to start many successful companies, including General Electric.

Startup 122

Startup Satisfaction Summary Coach 122

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2020

Having the best solution is a good start these days, but a solution alone is no longer enough to keep customer attention and loyalty. Michelli, with inspiring stories on how one well-known company, Mercedes-Benz, made the transition and is profiting as a result. I remember the classic book, “ Driven to Delight ,” by Joseph A.

Customer 168

Customer Custom Services Startup 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader. In most companies, maintaining momentum requires the right strategic partners and acquisitions, in lieu of short-term price adjustments and special sales. Track competition to stay ahead of copycats. Your long-term success and satisfaction depends on it.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2022

As a team member, low self-esteem leads to low confidence, poor productivity, and no job satisfaction. Once you have clarified your personal definition of startup success, examine where you currently are relative to where you want to be. Identify and redirect unhealthy competition and comparisons. Fortunately, both can be fixed.

Startup 101

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Competition 101

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. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2022

Outbehave Your Competition to Create Customers for Life ,” offers eight key principles for defining and managing the experience to keep it consistent and profitable: Keep every employee on stage, delivering an experience. They have to out-behave and outperform your competition. Walking the talk is the place to start.

Customer 123

Customer Custom Services Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2012

You hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of customer satisfaction, but customer loyalty is the real win. Herein lies an opportunity for startups to beat the big guys. Whatever the reasons for the change, and there are many, it represents a big opportunity to the small businesses and startups who recognize it.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Startup Competition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Creating the right company culture must be a top priority of every entrepreneur and business leader. Most entrepreneurs start from a base of one or two co-founders, and their vision and focus is on developing an innovative solution, rather than developing people. Don’t confuse engagement or satisfaction surveys with culture surveys.

Organization 108

Organization Startup Satisfaction Customer 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2012

Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Every existing business, as well as every startup, needs to reassess their product or service in the context of these five forces: Intensity of competitive rivalry. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

Competition 94

Competition Startup Pricing Framework 94

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2022

Even entrepreneurs who have built many startups, or sold their last one for millions of dollars, know they make occasional people leadership mistakes. These can trip up even the best, often at the cost of more than a good night’s sleep. A good fight in business is called healthy competition. Check all your emotions at the gate.

Startup 118

Startup Case Study Competition Entrepreneur 118

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

In my own experience as a startup advisor and mentor, I find that entrepreneurs who can’t attract and maintain a highly motivated team rarely even get off the ground. Thus if you want to change the world with your new business, you need to follow the example of startups like Zappos , which hires according to cultural fit first.

Examples 145

Examples Mentor Activity Product 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2022

I see that model changing today to one of team collaboration and decision making, per companies such as Amazon, Google, and Zoom. Modern companies like Amazon credit much of their growth and success to rewarding of change innovations, including failures. Discourage internal team competition and silos.

Organization 105

Organization Mentor Startup Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

It’s always been tough to start a new business, even when the bottom line was just making a profit to stay alive. The real challenge with the triple bottom line is that these three separate accounts cannot be easily added up. Starting and running any business is hard work, so the last thing you need is “success” with no satisfaction.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. That might start with the CEO giving the investor pitch to the whole organization, and distributing the current business plan document to everyone.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2010

Quite possibly your perception is the young adult working dutifully in the company mailroom. Due in large part to the current economy and an ultra-competitive job market, a Gen-Y entrepreneurial tsunami is already upon us. More and more, they choose to intern at a dynamic small company or startup. Experience vs. Escape.

Competition 96

Competition Startup Technical Review IBM 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Today, customers are looking for real relationships, a memorable shopping experience, and satisfaction of a higher purpose. Other companies, including Ritz-Carlton , now incent their employees to build real relationships with guests, by authorizing them to spend up to $2,000 per guest to solve an individual concern.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Satisfaction Examples 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2020

Creating the right company culture must be a top priority of every entrepreneur and business leader. Most entrepreneurs start from a base of one or two co-founders, and their vision and focus is on developing an innovative solution, rather than developing people. Don’t confuse engagement or satisfaction surveys with culture surveys.

Organization 160

Organization Startup Entrepreneur Satisfaction 160

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

No matter what people may proclaim, everyone in business is looking to achieve the highest possible level of satisfaction and financial success in their career. Entrepreneurial thinking in a corporate environment brings many positive career opportunities to the table, and many advantages to your company.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Sales Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Even entrepreneurs who have built many startups, or sold their last one for millions of dollars, know they make occasional people leadership mistakes. These can trip up even the best, often at the cost of more than a good night’s sleep. A good fight in business is called healthy competition. Check all your emotions at the gate.

Startup 106

Startup Case Study Entrepreneur Competition 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2013

Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Every existing business, as well as every startup, needs to reassess their product or service in the context of these five forces: Intensity of competitive rivalry. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

Startup 80

Startup Framework Competition Pricing 80

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Many soon find that what you do in a personal context doesn’t necessarily translate to your business, and measuring business value is quite different from measuring personal satisfaction.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

As a team member, low self-esteem leads to low confidence, poor productivity, and no job satisfaction. Once you have clarified your personal definition of startup success, examine where you currently are relative to where you want to be. Identify and redirect unhealthy competition and comparisons. Fortunately, both can be fixed.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction Competition 98