Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. A three-dimensional prototype is always better than just a documented specification when negotiating contracts for manufacturing, support, and marketing.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. A more complicated negotiating point involves IP that is created in the course of the parties’ collaboration. Get The Cheese With Your Neck Intact. Do Not Execute an Ambiguous Statement of Work.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Competitive (Athlete: skier & rowed at Princeton, hates losing at everything she does). As a firm we start by wanting to attract future partners who have worked at startups before and have developed a competence which might be marketing (Greg) or product and CEO experience (Kara) plus amazing Biz Dev experience (Hamet).

Venture Capital 408

Venture Capital Startup Outsource Development CitySearch 408

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. Of course, you can’t possibly brand yourself if you don’t know who you really are.

Marketing 133

Marketing Customer Custom Outsource Development 133

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

A large, wireless carrier (AT&T) was willing to break it’s traditional rules in order to get access to innovation that it believed (correctly) would help it to sell more contracts and win more market share against its primary competitor (Verizon). Why Exclusivity Matters to Your Customers or Business Development Partners.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 150

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Of course, we are speaking of increased valuation of your company when we speak of “wealth.” And fifth: Competitive risk. . Especially if you are in the early stage of growing a business, these five risks can and often do derail entrepreneurs before realizing the riches of a great exit. So, let’s examine them and mitigate them.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

Tech companies have spent the past decade or more developing innovations that can be applied to old-world industries like agriculture, construction, energy, education, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. A Biden presidency doesn’t need a Green New Deal to make progress on climate change. ” Climate resiliency .

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. A three-dimensional prototype is always better than just a documented specification when negotiating contracts for manufacturing, support, and marketing.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2014

Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. A three-dimensional prototype is always better than just a documented specification when negotiating contracts for manufacturing, support, and marketing.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Startup Ideas Tool 105

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I know this will fall like a lead balloon to the many people who believe it is possible to have a [insert: startup incubator or technology accelerator or technology consultant or outsource firm] build your technology. Some CTO’s swear that it is a huge improvement in development timeframes and doesn’t cause performance issues.

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2018

Time is money, and may be your primary competitive advantage. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. A three-dimensional prototype is always better than just a documented specification when negotiating contracts for manufacturing, support, and marketing.

Ideas 53

Ideas Outsource Development Tool Outsource 53

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2016

For example, at any given moment in your business, you may be limited by development, marketing, or sales. Evaluate outsourcing as a quick solution to break the constraint. Of course, they all prefer cash, but some may work for future revenue or startup equity. Investigate strategic alliance alternatives.

Startup 56

Startup Outsource Development Organization Outsource 56

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

The bad news is that many are already doing it, with competition growing, so the longer you wait, the less chance you have of getting there first. In a new startup, there is tremendous competitive value in registering intellectual property early, but you don’t need to contract these tasks to expensive experts any longer.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

I've previously addressed the role of a CTO in early-stages in my post Startup CTO or Developer. for a Lead Developer: How much will it cost to build what we need to build? for a Lead Developer: How much will it cost to build what we need to build? How can I control costs but effectively get stuff developed?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2014

Of course, this path involves some risk, but you never get anywhere unless you take a chance. It provided an industry-leading graphic development interface, but was not so strong on modeling and simulation. As a result, we shared in capturing a new high-end market, without major new marketing or development.

Startup 103

Startup Outsource Development Examples Customer 103

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Markets develop for a complex set of factors that are often beyond all of our control.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Brad proudly described how the company successfully used thought leadership marketing to seed a marketplace in which companies can outsource their SEO campaigns to a legion of independent, third-party “optimizers.” Successful guerilla marketing is predicated on executing unexpected and unusual tactics. Just be you.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Sure, you need to be competitive on price. Of course that’s not true. We have 12 developers and they have 3. Sales people will often sell future development work. If your sales teams think that they can throw in some extra features that you’ll build to win the big contract they will.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2011

Venture capital is in the process of its own creative destruction with new market entrants and new models of innovation at the precise moment that our industry itself is contracting. Of course there were variants – we preferred PostGres to MySQL and many people used other programming languages than PHP. I find this strange.

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital Software Capital Startup 334

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

of course there are MUCH more sophisticated financial tools than either of these, but PEG is a short-hand many people use]. Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition. million contract over two years. Investors value growth.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Early customers and contracts in progress add value. Every customer contract and relationship needs to be monetized, even ones still in negotiation. Competitive market forces also can have a large impact on what valuation this company will garner from investors. NewCo doesn’t have any of these yet. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 108

Startup Invest Patents Outsource Development 108

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 1, 2009

A number of international versions were developed soon after its initial release, but America has consistently remained the bastion of Monopoly’s popularity. In contrast, the USSR and other communist nations foolishly banned Monopoly, thereby denying their citizens an inexpensive yet effective hands-on course in entrepreneurship.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Training Startup 154

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2011

When you play Monopoly with your children, you can subtly underscore an entrepreneurial mindset in their gameplay which will ultimately help them develop valuable startup skills, as described below. Monopoly is a great training ground to develop rudimentary cash management skills. Hands On Learning.

Entrepreneur 216

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Paramount 216

socalTECH

APRIL 21, 2017

It was a logical system to start offering up cloud-based systems like those we had developed. Of course, it has to be the right value, and convenient, and all these other things. The other thing I see, is trying to outsource all of this stuff your self. Strangely enough, there's no competition there.

Startup 145

Startup Product Customer Custom 145

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Sure, you need to be competitive on price. Of course that’s not true. We have 12 developers and they have 3. Sales people will often sell future development work. If your sales teams think that they can throw in some extra features that you’ll build to win the big contract they will.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Make no mistake, the other big streamers are hard at work developing their own award-winning, original content (and we’ll talk about some it), but Netflix remains miles ahead with an excellent collection of original movies and shows, many into their second or third seasons. A big draw for Netflix is the original shows.

Netflix 40

Netflix Hulu Content Outsource Development 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2010

When I get funded,” the entrepreneur thinks, “I can build a prototype, hire a development team, go to market, scale more quickly, and beat my competition.” Strange course corrections. To someone laboring in a cash-strapped startup, money often seems to be the endgame. All problems will go away.

Outsource Development 93

Outsource Development High Tech Outsource Startup 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Early customers and contracts in progress add value. Every customer contract and relationship needs to be monetized, even ones still in negotiation. Competitive market forces also can have a large impact on what valuation this company will garner from investors. NewCo doesn’t have any of these yet. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Patents Outsource Development 98

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 8, 2014

.” It’s a compelling thought – especially when you consider the alternative: 2 year contracts, overage charges, hours of dealing with customer service reps. Sell it as needed and remove the need for long term contracts. They do this by getting a customer locked in on a long term contract and not worrying beyond that.”

Mobile 86

Mobile Startup Customer Custom 86

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Early customers and contracts in progress add value. Every customer contract and relationship needs to be monetized, even ones still in negotiation. Competitive market forces also can have a large impact on what valuation this company will garner from investors. NewCo doesn’t have any of these yet. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 93

Startup Patents Outsource Development Web 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Today’s higher education is responding by making more courses online and available to people outside of physical boundaries. But while universities are developing online content they are not fundamentally disrupting leaning because the method of delivery is not a new business model.

Venture Capital 403

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 403

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 22, 2013

He’s the most talented developer we have ever seen. CE: Our experiences with gathering outside contracting work have been negative so far sadly. The competition is not as big as Silicon Valley of course, but LA is going in the right direction. One of our teachers was teaching new media and it was really inspiring.

Social Media 94

Social Media Startup UCLA Media 94

Frank Addante

JULY 30, 2007

► February (1) Building and Developing an A++ Team ► 2008 (14) ► December (1) Develop a Culture Roadmap ► November (2) Green Week - Save the Environment and Your Cash Creating a Culture of Innovation: Cultural Values. Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? Startup 3.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Outsource Development Advertising 40

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

It’s like the entire industry wants to outsource its brain to the smartest person they know and then follow that person. But if there is nothing wrong with you then please don’t let early rejections alter your course.” I have successfully used this in business development, sales, fund raising and even the press.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2015

Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. But of course customers will have to do some technical work to migrate products and will lose DataSift functionality that Twitter / Gnip does not possess directly. Some evidence?

Platform 150

Platform Course Customer Custom 150

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? We had several emails back and forth where he provided basic details on the concept. This doesn’t make sense. What went wrong?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

► February (1) Building and Developing an A++ Team ► 2008 (14) ► December (1) Develop a Culture Roadmap ► November (2) Green Week - Save the Environment and Your Cash Creating a Culture of Innovation: Cultural Values. Outsourcing ► April (1) GoogleClick - Who owns your cash register? Startup 3.0:

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40