Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

These must be countered by a focus on changes and training that benefit your people, as well as your business. Set up training courses that highlight agility, and adopt agile working practices. They grew sales by 28% in 2009, while most companies were hunkered down and losing share.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There was no money train. And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. Between 2006–2008 I sold both companies that I had started and became a VC. It was 1991. We still loved every moment.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Train them fully, give them authority, make them accountable, and tie their pay to customer satisfaction. It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Train and coach continuously. Know your customers intimately.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Berkonomics

JULY 15, 2021

The culture of the company is built day by day by those actions, often centering on the founder’s vision and management style with little room for deviation. It is an unhappy but common occurrence: the recently hired and trained professional manager is let go, and a new search started. Why is this so often a problem? Then it happens.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe, in a classic HBR article on change readiness for large companies, define it as “the ability to continuously initiate and respond to change in ways that create advantage, minimize risk, and sustain performance.” Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2023

Most business metrics I see compare current performance to your own previous experience, rather than your performance compared to industry standards and competitors. After initial success, most companies reward only process repeatability and stabilization. Focus your hiring and training on preparing for the future.

Metrics 71

Metrics Training Netflix Resource 71

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Training and coaching. Innovation is not a random walk into the unknown.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

He lived the philosophy that companies must be paranoid in order to survive, and continually disrupt their own markets to prevent overrun by competition. That means making sure you are utilizing coaching and mentoring, as well as training to keep up with changes in technology and the marketplace.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

According to one study a decade ago, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Networking to build and maintain positive relationships with the right people outside your company is something you can’t forget in the rush to get your new business going. Put operational systems and metrics in place early. Proactively provide training and team member rotation.

Marketing 116

Marketing Resource Training Startup 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entree for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns. And it’s when mediocre companies get pulverized.” I remember, for example, when business intelligence swept through companies globally. When markets start to turn shelfware companies are the quickest to die. It’s when the game slows.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 11, 2014

These are not the strategic visionary skills, like leading companies through risky product launches, or steering the course through economic storms where leaders become oversized personalities for their superhuman efforts. These are the skills of daily operation, the ones that make or break a company – from the top.

Organization 220

Organization Metrics Training Course 220

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Moreover, LLMs come equipped with an extensive knowledge base derived from the vast amounts of data they've been trained on. Given their training on diverse datasets, LLMs excel in parsing and understanding unstructured data, providing contextually relevant results. Strive for a balanced outcome.

Generative AI 346

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 346

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

In fact, I believe the majority of true entrepreneurs are not interested in this new role, and jump ship quickly by hiring an experienced CEO or merging with another company, to start their next entrepreneurial effort. That means making sure the right people are hired, trained, and in the right place at the right time.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

Hire the best, and provide necessary training and tools. Too many busy business leaders I know take shortcuts in hiring, looking for a quick fill, assuming new employees can learn on the job, with minimal training and old tools. Use metrics on key deliverables to assure quality results. Don’t sell what you don’t have.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

First, you as the leader must be a role model for the actions you desire – including positive communication, active coaching, rewards for results, as well as providing required tools and training. Use metrics to assess needs and growth economics. Regularly invent new ways to delight customers.

Customer 114

Customer Custom Satisfaction Metrics 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

For example, one of the first home grocery delivery companies, Webvan, was so enamored with early traction in Silicon Valley, it raised and spent nearly a billion dollars and went public, before filing for bankruptcy three years later. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2023

Typically, these companies are relishing prior successes, as did Blockbuster and Kodak in their heyday, or are totally risk-averse, as is the case with many mature businesses and government entities. In these companies, you will see more sustained innovative activity, but little organization-wide recognition of innovation as a discipline.

Organization 111

Organization Activity Resource Examples 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Fortunately, basic leadership and entrepreneurial skills can be acquired from experience and training. Proactively sets metrics and track goals. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way. Aggressively takes smart risks.

Startup 141

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Framework 141

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. All the investment money in the world won’t make your company succeed, if you have the wrong team.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

We caught up with Michele and Dan to better understand why they founded the company, and why this market was such an interest to them. Michele Ruiz: BiasSync provides a solution for companies, state and federal agencies, school districts, and organizations to assess and manage unconscious bias in the workplace. What is BiasSync?

Content 150

Content Training Education Outsource Development 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company. Explosive growth to an enterprise normally requires a scalable sales model, a well-documented process with incentives, training, and metrics for tracking and management. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Company leaders, as well as front-line team members usually realize when they have a problem, but most have no idea what is possible or how to change the culture. Forestall loss of momentum by creating a long-term roadmap of activities and objectives, with metrics, to track implementation and measure results.

Organization 116

Organization Activity Metrics Training 116

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Everyone in the company must adopt the principles of customer-first focus, agility in responding to change, and constant innovation to improve your processes as well as the solution. Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction.

Customer 91

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

Implement the key business metrices you will live by. Identify the three most important metrics your business must hit every week to achieve growth goals. There are also many more stories of companies that pivoted too late. Increase you focus on coaching, training, and mentoring. Stay in your personal sweet spot.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Through analytics on current employees, you will be able to predict re-training requirements and minimize employee turnover. Most companies I know will claim to be busy collecting and analyzing data, but very few actually use it to drive people management.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

But to effectively scale a sales team you need to codify it, train your sales teams, monitor results, refine your messages and then refine the training / rollout to your teams. Some examples of common objections across many companies: 1. It is tacit knowledge. Don’t think that you have all the answers in the ivory tower.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

For example, Elon Musk is recognized as a visionary entrepreneur, but his fortune and his impact has come from the great companies he has built, including SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and PayPal. The challenge is to recognize the people with the right traits to get results, and to train yourself to work on the right things.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2022

Richard Branson , who manages many companies, even provides feedback by walking around the cabin and talking directly to his key staff during his Virgin flights. Make sure they are seen as based on metrics, and belong to the performer. Provide coaching and training on ownership discipline.

Coach 145

Coach Slides Social Network Metrics 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2019

Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe, in a classic HBR article on change readiness for large companies, define it as “the ability to continuously initiate and respond to change in ways that create advantage, minimize risk, and sustain performance.” Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training.

Startup 94

Startup Training Statistics Summary 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2023

It’s easy for part-timers to make excuses that other priorities caused you to miss milestones, but predictable results and metrics in this mode are even more critical than for full-time members. Don’t wait for anyone to pay your way to class, or give you time off for training. Set realistic milestones and take them seriously.

Startup 110

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Metrics 110

Berkonomics

JANUARY 8, 2015

The culture of the company is built day by day by those actions, often centering on the founder’s vision and management style with little room for deviation. At some point, as the company grows, either the founder’s span of control is stretched to the limit, or investors enter the picture, often with a clear idea of how they would like to.

Coach 120

Coach Metrics Training Entrepreneur 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

According to one study a while back, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In a larger public company, it’s all about making your quarterly numbers, versus investing in strategic growth alternatives that may not pay off until several quarters later. It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Berkonomics

MARCH 10, 2016

At our virtual company, the employees set the bar high on their own. It takes trusting management, good metrics, and entrepreneurial employees. At our virtual company, we retain almost 100% of the people we want, and we do it almost 100% virtually. Now that’s special. Here’s Kim… By Kim Shepherd.

Tool 120

Tool Resource Coach Metrics 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

In my experience, finding real innovation in existing company environments is even tougher. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Training and coaching. Innovation is not a random walk into the unknown.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Competition 64