Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

less than 18 months from when the company was created so I thought it was probably a good time to weigh in on the questions I get asked most frequently and why we’re so excited about Bird. How could Bird really be worth the reported $2 billion valuation that I read about in this press? The company has done zero paid marketing.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). And then of course each venture firm must be careful not to add partners unless they know the chemistry will work with all other partners as our team unit and cohesiveness are so important. Thus began my marketing campaign.

Venture Capital 408

Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2019

Most entrepreneurs are quick to assert to potential investors that their product or solution will kill the competition, but unfortunately your opinion alone is not enough to convince most experienced investors. Of course, we all know there are no guarantees, and we like your passion and commitment to future results.

Competition 86

Competition Patents Startup Customer 86

Berkonomics

AUGUST 31, 2023

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. The phone could be used for receiving incoming calls when in the restaurant, on the golf course or anywhere. In this case, the competition was not from a company but from a new technology. There is no competition.” The post Ouch!

Competition 156

Competition Research Summary Pricing 156

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

The sweeping infrastructure package put forward today by President Joe Biden comes with a price tag of roughly $2 trillion (and hefty tax hikes) but gives startups and the broader tech industry about $1 trillion worth of reasons to support it. What excites me about this space is that there’s so much low-hanging fruit.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2019

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. In all cases, it’s more effective and less painful to do it as a planned process, rather than a crash course in survival.

Course 85

Course IBM IBM Social Media 85

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. I replay things in my mind about why I lost and I try to correct my mistakes. I had to say it.

Competition 296

Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Yesterday I saw two biopic films: “ Amy ” about the life of Jazz sensation Amy Winehouse who died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 27 and “ Montage of Heck ” about the life of Kurt Cobain , the grunge-rock generational voice who died of an overdose of heroin and valium at the age of … 27.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. In industry this is known as “yield management” and of course it needs to exist. What do we like about OpenTable? I was standing with him when he won the TechCrunch 50 award.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. I called an (ex) LP to tell him about her and my goals for her. Leadership is about recognizing your next generation of talent and helping lift them up.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2012

The vision part is fine, but successful entrepreneurs have found that the extreme uncertainty of a new product or service usually requires many course corrections, or “pivots” to find a successful formula. Channel pivots usually require unique pricing, feature, and competitive positioning adjustments. Technology pivot.

Course 109

Course Startup Platform Entrepreneur 109

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Among the participants that applied for the online competitions, only a progressed into the semi-finals. In order to get a better understanding about what they do and how they are preparing for Celebrate, we sat down with Picking Duck CEO Ken Manubay to pick his brain. Celebrate Conference in October.

Competition 103

Competition Startup Ideas Conference 103

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. Of course we can’t. There are of course many Seed VCs who take board seats, don’t over-commit to too many deals and try to help with “company building” activities to help at a company’s vulnerable foundations. Hot, Flat & Crowded.”

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

So, when do we know which course to take? And if that new strategy is proved to be true, the five-hundred-pound gorilla in that niche just moved out of the way of many of its smaller competitors, leaving a market that will surely see a scramble for new competition in the near future. At least that is the conventional wisdom.

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. The phone could be used for receiving incoming calls when in the restaurant, on the golf course or anywhere. In this case, the competition was not from a company but a new technology. There is no competition.”

Competition 266

Competition Research Summary Pricing 266

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2012

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition.

Competition 97

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 97

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

So he founded IdeaLab with his wife Marcia Goodstein (he talks in the video about working with a spouse and also working with siblings). And now, of course, UberSocial, Bill’s latest project. Make sure they’re as passionate about your space as you are (and have strong knowledge of your area). We talked about patents.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2011

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition.

Competition 102

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 102

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

No blog post about how Tiger is crushing everybody because it’s deploying all its capital in 1-year while “suckers” are investing over 3-years can change this reality. Of course our execution against the strategy has had to change but the strategy has remained constant. So it’s about 20%. It’s just math. What Happens Next?

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about how to talk to investors about your competitors. In short, acknowledge they exist, be transparent about strengths & weaknesses and use your differences to talk about how you want to position yourself in the market. But forget talking about them, how should you actually treat your competitors?

Cloud Computing 320

Cloud Computing Competition Press Startup 320

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about “ growth hacking ” and why I thought it was wrong that people were hating on the term unnecessarily. If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. Of course reciprocity matters so they would all leap into action. It’s worth a quick read.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Berkonomics

AUGUST 1, 2019

From experience and from information about the competition, a coach creates a playbook that contains detailed plans for actions or plays that the entire team must know without question and execute without pause in order to win games and advance toward the playoffs. But you know that of course. Your team playbook.

Coach 120

Coach Metrics Training Course 120

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

And yet, users rave about the service, and spend long durations of time on the site. But the competition among sites has overwhelmed available inventory of paying advertisers, greatly reducing the cost per thousand views, and making display ads no longer a preferred revenue source for marginal sites. Revenue experiments (and failures).

Metrics 296

Metrics Sites Advertising Web 296

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

You course correct. If you hire truly talented people you end up definitionally with a lot of competitive peers who will inevitably jockey for resources and control. Extremely talented people are ultra competitive. Marketing of course often feels the opposite. Adjudication is about resolving intractable disputes.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2012

In reality, some risks are good and should be embraced for growth and a competitive edge, while others are bad and should be avoided completely. But if you want growth and sustainability, you need to create smart risks, which means intentionally taking a risk to grow your business or gain competitive advantage.

Pricing 103

Pricing SaaS Competition Social Network 103

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2023

The information exchange from day-to-day interactions of engineers and marketers will drive you enhance your own processes to be more competitive. Of course, it’s important to start with a bounded agreement which clearly lays out expectations and areas that are off-limits. Think about the future.

Startup 105

Startup Outsource Competition Entrepreneur 105

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

I wrote about this in a blog post last year titled “ It’s Morning in VC ” but I never made the full deck available until now. This year an associate from Upfront Ventures – Glenn Poppe – helped me pull together more information about how our industry is changing.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2023

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Yet there are many things about business and work that haven’t changed for a long time, and don’t need to change anytime soon. This is not about clocking in to work. Anything less makes you non-competitive.

Startup 106

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 106

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2016

And as I think about what has defined my own character all these years is the foundation in family & occasions instilled in me by your Bubbie and Zeide when I was your age. On most weekend days we jogged around the park and jokingly talked about how one day instead of jogging around the park we would be pushing a stroller.

Course 231

Course Startup Competition Class 231

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

As obvious as it seems I assure you that many projects I’m involved with don’t sit down and have hard enough conversations about the need to hit time-based deadlines – so dates slip. I wrote about it in this post on The Urgency Addiction. CEOs are time-driven creatures. This happens on 100% of projects.

Software 344

Software Startup Design Course 344

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Of course, investors still require a profitable business model, and the potential for high returns. Startups can use social responsibility as a competitive advantage. That’s a real competitive edge that you can use in your marketing and positioning. Customer loyalty is highest for socially conscious startups.

Startup 149

Startup Organization Customer Custom 149

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. Success is the right balance of both for fun and profit. Bask in the success as it happens.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Of course, there are external risks that cannot be controlled or predicted but can be planned for as well – natural disasters, sudden political or economic events that rattle the entire economy, and more. Fourth is competitive risk. Making such predictions is a skill that can be developed, and here’s one method of doing so.

Competition 156

Competition Marketing Class Product 156