Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

The reason for this is that the executives who founded the company have so much tacit knowledge of how to position their product relative to the competition that they can easily win campaigns when they’re involved. So I often work with teams to get them to codify the key things they do well that the competition does not.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

She entered you reservation by writing in a time slot in a paper calendar and you were in. and there was certainly less competition from everybody pitching local merchant solutions. Today they announced the mobile version of their product – I’d be grateful if you would download it and give it a spin.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. Successful businesses require the best people to deliver your vision and services one step better than the competition.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Every industry organization has regular local meetings and annual conferences for education purposes and bringing the right people together. Traditionally, business software products have been specialized and focused toward a given task, but I see a trend these days to highly functional “all-in-one” business tools.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. You may have gotten some articles that covered your product launch or may have gotten into industry rags but this might be your first time on TechCrunch, AllThingsD, PandoDaily, GigaOm, Business Insider or the equivalent. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

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. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

You must recognize that change is the new norm in business, so problems represent opportunities to learn something new, improve your productivity and competitiveness of the business. Write down your top 5 core values and review them often. Pressure and emotion in business is often an indication of core value conflicts.

Coach 137

Coach Training Satisfaction Mentor 137

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

Creating awareness for your brand and products is one of the lifebloods of technology startups yet in a world where so many companies are being created it becomes difficult to rise above the noise. Ever notice how some companies tend to be in the press all the time and your big new product launch struggled for inches? Final example.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

One of the most frequent questions entrepreneurs ask about when they raise a little bit of money or are getting close to launching their first product is whether they should hire a PR firm. You need somebody who is thinking laterally about how to creatively get extra attention at conferences or trade-shows. Some final thoughts on PR.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

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. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2016

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. Low cost and low margin products can be winners, if the volume is high enough.

Services 61

Services Startup Training Writing 61

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2010

In fact, I said as much in September 09 at a Twitter conference in LA on a panel that Guy Kawasaki was moderating. First, I believe that Seesmic has an excellent product – especially the web version of their product and that having another senior and experienced exec like Loic Le Meur would be great for Twitter.

Acquisition 287

Acquisition Develop Development Conference 287

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. I get to do a deep dive on their business model, product roadmap and competitive positioning. When I go to conference I never sit in the meeting section – I always cruise the halls meeting people.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. I decided to write about my experience and to be blunt. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. That changed very quickly. And covered we did.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - Don’t put in the time to getting coverage until your product rocks. Total waste.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Every 1:1 meeting you’ve had to date has been collegiate and productive. tip: write it down when asked / parked). Congratulations. A lot, actually.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

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. He did it yesterday, “Mark, I’m going to write a blog post following on from your VC’s aren’t dumb. Ask for short conference calls.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

If you truly believe that you, your company and your products are exceptional and your company will be valuable then you’re actually doing them a FAVOR by helping them invest in your startup. Like any sale you first need to plan your “prospects” and qualify whether or not they’d be a good fit for your product?—?an

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. When you account for competition for talent, the difficulty of retention, the cost of living and the difficulty of rising above the noise – there are many advantages of staying put.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2013

Aspiring creators learn by connecting with top web filmmakers and YouTubers on a topics specific to the web: developing a web series, producing web series, writing for genres like comedy & sci-fi, directing, editing, camera, Kickstarter funding, show hosting, distribution, and marketing. Who are its founders?

Web 93

Web USC Course Guide 93

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

But putting no time into anchoring your beliefs because you’re too busy executing sales, marketing, support, product & engineering is an easy recipe for leadership drift. They get involved in hard product decisions. They attend conferences and do marketing. We could all do better – I’m sure. Conviction.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

So by offering convertible debt you can avoid a price discussion in the same way that angel investors sometimes do in order to win competitive early-stage deals. They might put the kibosh on company travel and not attend some key meetings or conferences. But piers are often counter productive.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 21, 2012

I mean they just had their formal product launch in April 2012 and was a runner-up in NBC’s Education Nation Innovation Challenge in October 2012, which hails in comparison to the recent contractual partnerships they are forming with education pillars. Apply to conference Startup Alley’s and competitions.

Education 63

Education Web 2.0 Course Platform 63

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

And better yet, the company has a product that will turn the stream into a lake. DataSift has a product that builds a permanent database for you of just the information you want to capture. One story is, “Hey, maybe there’s something to this Google+ product?”. It is a must have if you’re building a technology product these days.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

And if they can monetize their follower base then they have an incentive to grow their base, Tweet more, engage more and write better quality Tweets. But then I went to the Parnassus Group’s Twitter 140 conference run by Steve Broback and Brett Schulte. If we continue our success we will have strong competition.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

But considering the huge number of collaborative efforts, contacts, and great run-ins we experienced at this year’s little black sheep of a tech conference, in Austin, TX; we couldn’t possibly leave all the laundry out to dry. Sonny Vu – Misfit Wearables , developers of the world’s most wearable sensor products.

Entertainment 99

Entertainment Google Entrepreneur Course 99

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Product Friday: Monetizing Content is a Product Problem - This is going to be BIG. m the f%*kin’ boss.”. Same goes for television.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191