Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He wanted to build direct customer relationships to get product feedback but only 2% of customers would ever return their registration cards. So when he saw the browser it instantly dawned on him that this would be the greatest customer development tool ever. But also when you’re developing so is your competitor.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 21, 2011

I dropped in to check out the contest a few times during the competition and the environment was uplifting and exciting. Development languages varied from team to team. Some experience developers, project managers, and even some designers. Sparqlight – parts prebuilt before competition. Development.

Santa Monica 90

Santa Monica Startup PHP HTML 90

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

That died with waterfall software development. Do you really want to spent $100k building a product to discover through Customer Development that the market is too small? What about your competition – how much do they charge? They are not just for fund raising. Do so at your peril. Going to charge less?

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features. Being transparent about our workload, our struggles, our fund raising, whatever. Back then it seemed foreign.

Organization 280

Organization Custom Customer Tips 280

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Guide to Evaluating Startup Ideas - Tony Wright dot com , May 27, 2010 A great developer I once worked with was kvetching at lunch one day. He’d been working at a well-funded startup for about a year and had come to terms with the fact that the startup was really a pretty dumb idea. They’re deep into Customer Development ,” he said.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. I've funded some myself. The expanding pool of angel, seed, and super seed funds is another. There is no competition. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

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. What went wrong?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175