Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. The key is to make decisions from data and feedback, once your business has real customers and real products.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2020

Entrepreneurs who search for real pain points, and build solutions around them, have the best chance of changing the world. As an alternative, if you are an entrepreneur looking for the next big thing, where should you look? Of course, there are caveats to every opportunity. That’s the great thing about being an entrepreneur.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2021

The best part of being an entrepreneur is having the independence to make your own decisions, the flexibility for a better work/life balance, and personal satisfaction from driving change. The road to business success is filled with challenges and frustrations that most aspiring entrepreneurs never even imagined. It’s very frustrating.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

In my experience working with entrepreneurs, once they feel they have a winning formula for their business, they are often hesitant to change or update it. They forget that adapting their company and themselves as their customers evolve is the key to long-term survival. Remember when you were a startup?

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

You will be pivoting your business in your lifetime, whether you are a new startup, or a mature company like Motorola or IBM. It happens on the front end for startups to get traction, and then again later for every company as the economy, competition, and culture changes around them. Reinvent the vision for change.

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Course IBM IBM Social Media 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2021

New entrepreneurs routinely jump into a startup with a full charge of passion and energy, but often find themselves drained of both after a few months by the workload and challenges. Of course, this same challenge extends well beyond the entrepreneur, into all walks of life and work.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2014

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s recent book, “ The New Experts: Win Today''s Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

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Customer Custom Entrepreneur Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again. Eat your own dog food.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. You course correct. How hard could it be? Engineering?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I find that I often have to remind them that the world of customers has changed since they started their last business. Of course, part of the change is that Gen Z (born after 1996) now outnumbers the Millennials (born after 1981). Use analytics to see why customers are buying, as well as what.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2020

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Nothing is more discouraging to aspiring entrepreneurs than the high failure rate. Otherwise, look for advances from distributors, vendors or even future customers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have new ideas on a regular basis, and find it hard deciding which to pursue, or try to tackle several at the same time. Good examples of initial focus by an entrepreneur would include Jeff Bezos when he started Amazon as an online marketplace for books only, and Elon Musk starting PayPal as an online bank.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2012

The popular view of a real entrepreneur is someone with a big vision, and a stubborn determination to charge straight ahead through any obstacle and make it happen. His popular book on this subject, “ The Lean Startup ,” lays out how today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2023

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Nothing is more discouraging to aspiring entrepreneurs than the high failure rate. Otherwise, look for advances from distributors, vendors or even future customers.

Startup 135

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Course 135

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2013

It is of course why immigrants power so many successful businesses in the US and why we need to embrace them. The company name sounded Chinese – Huy Fong Foods. So grateful was David Tran for the people who provided safe passage from Vietnam for him that he named his company after the Taiwanese ship that carried him away.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. Technology solutions are now used by authoritarians to monitor and control populations, to stymie an individual company’s economic prospects or to foment chaos through demagoguery. Of course we can’t. Hot, Flat & Crowded.” By definition?—?I’m

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InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 9, 2013

of privately held companies had a female founder, 6.5% At Rincon Venture Partners , we have invested in several female entrepreneurs(so far), including Tracy DiNunzio, Founder and CEO of Tradesy. As more female CEOs build successful companies with great outcomes, this should change. During the period studied, only "1.3%

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

The realm of an entrepreneur is all about change, but in my experience as a mentor to business founders, I hear too much about incremental change, and not enough about revolutionary change. Great entrepreneurs cross industry boundaries to find synergies, and are constantly in learn mode on several fronts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. Running a mature company is totally different from running a startup. Mature your business processes and customer base.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Of course, working on perception can backfire if the differentiation reality isn’t there.

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Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time.

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Customer Custom Writing Southern California 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

The era of stable lifetime jobs for business professionals within a single company are gone. Companies are rightsized quickly now as markets change rapidly, and business professionals are quick to jump to new opportunities for growth and survival, with no ties to special benefits or pension plans. Software Development Professional.

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Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Optimize the total customer experience.

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Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 26, 2013

This approach allows your venture to "fail in the small" and make course corrections before spending significant marketing resources. When the venture was unable to initially meet its grandiose expectations, the market crucified the company. As such, entrepreneurs should not attempt to validate their assumptions.

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Marketing Entrepreneur Journal Media 247

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. Of course, that means a mindset willing to give up much more equity, and taking on a whole new level of risk.

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Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Of course, even though that is your contract with the investors, way over half of those implied contracts never work out that way. It is perfectly OK for you to want to grow your company and plan to keep control for you and your offspring, with no intention to sell. The advantage of creating an evergreen company.

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Equity Course Sales Invest 156

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I had a picture in the office of my first company with the logo above and the capital letters JFDI. (In In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Good entrepreneurs are wrong often.

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Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2017

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. As a startup, you as the entrepreneur are the brand, the brand builder, and the major lead generator.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2018

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Of course, working on perception can backfire if the differentiation reality isn’t there.

Customer 63

Customer Custom Examples Product 63

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Even though I love technology, I always cringe when an entrepreneur starts his investor pitch to me by touting his new technology. They have forgotten that new technologies are perceived by most customers as causing more pain than the problems they eliminate. Is your product tempered with actual market and customer feedback?

Technology 109

Technology Entrepreneur Customer Custom 109

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2020

The era of stable lifetime jobs for business professionals within a single company are gone. Companies are rightsized quickly now as markets change rapidly, and business professionals are quick to jump to new opportunities for growth and survival, with no ties to special benefits or pension plans. Software Development Professional.

Startup 164

Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 164

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.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. Get out and meet your customers to learn what turns them on these days.

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Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

More entrepreneurs want to be socially responsible these days, but fear a negative impact on profits, growth, and the ability to find an investor. I believe this option will continue to spread to other companies, states and countries. Of course, investors still require a profitable business model, and the potential for high returns.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2015

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Startup Course 101