SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 17, 2012

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 -- Competitive Intelligence: 007 Market Intel. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to estimate market size, competitive market share, how many potential customers are there, and price points. Several case studies will be presented, although the names will be changed to protect the innocent.

Competition 100

Competition Innocal Case Study SoCal 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2023

A common initiative I hear from business owners today is their effort to improve the customer experience. To achieve real growth, business leaders need to improve both employee as well as customer experiences. Flexible – listen to allow flex hours and customization. Proactive – timely communication to build trust.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Training Tool 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2023

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Case Study 89

Case Study Customer Custom Study 89

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Case Study 174

Case Study Startup Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Even without B-Corp status, entrepreneurs are speaking out more on the positives to support business models that benefit not just shareholders, but customers, workforce, the environment, and the greater community. Startups can use social responsibility as a competitive advantage. Doing business is a human process.

Startup 149

Startup Organization Customer Custom 149

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2016

That’s the right place to start, but real growth and scale requires attracting customers who are not like you. For example, Starbucks found initial success with professionals aged 25 to 40 in urban areas and with moderately high income but later looked to a new market of millennials who wanted a place to sit and chat, study or work.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 55

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2021

I’m often surprised when you as an aspiring entrepreneur, looking for investors, tell me your solution is so innovative that you don’t have to worry about differentiating it from competitors, and customers will flock to it without a real marketing campaign. Focus your marketing on real customer value. Perception is better than reality.

Social Media 134

Social Media Case Study Customer Custom 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

As a mentor to many business professionals and owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs, I find a wealth of innovative ideas, but often less insight on what it really takes to transform ideas into an income stream that can excite new customers into long-term business success. Test your innovation with at least a hundred customers.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

Either they are never really ready to commit, study an opportunity until it has passed, or fail with tools and techniques from a bygone business era. The Internet is the problem, by facilitating constant change, and it’s the solution, by providing an absolutely current view of customers, trends, and best practices.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

Per a recent study by networking giant Cisco , the world’s yearly mobile data traffic has grown 17-fold over the past 5 years, reaching 11.5 This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

According to many studies, entrepreneurs tend to be happier , and over 80 percent of self-made millionaires are entrepreneurs. He lays out seven thinking strategies for both entrepreneurs and employees that will make them business winners: Focus on the customers at all times. Think like your ideal customer seeking value.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Sales Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness. How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback?

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2022

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. Your display of pride in the company and respect for the customer will translate directly into motivation. Start today. Marty Zwilling.

Examples 145

Examples Mentor Activity Product 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2023

They bristle quickly when investors or even potential customers raise issues with real value, competition, risk, and sustainability. Narrow your focus through specific case studies and quantify value and results. The best strategy here is to not to over-react or be defensive, and highlight specific value to customers.

Ideas 136

Ideas Case Study Mobile Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2023

According to an MIT study a while back, only about 10% of patents granted in the United States have any meaningful commercial importance and less than one percent are of seminal importance. Nearly all new businesses aspiring to reach meaningful scale require some sort of outside funding to finance a competitive growth trajectory.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2023

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Competition Press Commerce 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

As an entrepreneur, I understand your passion when pitching your solution to investors and customers, but passion alone won’t make one more technology pitch stand out above all the rest. Good relationships are the primary basis for trust in business, leading to supportive investors, loyal customers, and effective partnerships.

Startup 145

Startup Competition Customer Custom 145

Xconomy

JULY 6, 2016

The Obama administration’s push to sign up one million Americans for a long-term health study will start in New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Tucson, AZ, top health officials said today. The VA is running its own long-term study with nearly half a million participants so far.).

Study 59

Study PMI San Diego Sample 59

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

According to an MIT study a while back, only about 10% of patents granted in the United States have any meaningful commercial importance and less than one percent are of seminal importance. Nearly all new businesses aspiring to reach meaningful scale require some sort of outside funding to finance a competitive growth trajectory.

Startup 171

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Competition 171

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2022

The new era of highly connected and interactive technology is changing not only how business employees interact with customers, but also how they interact with each other, and with their company. I am happy to see reports that young companies are leading the way in these trends, on both the customer and the employee side.

Case Study 125

Case Study Platform Yahoo Social Media 125

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

Based on a classic study by the Wharton School of Business , in a survey of 11,000 MBA graduates over many years, those running their own businesses ranked themselves happier than all other professions, regardless of how much money they made. People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 110

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required. Direct customer-facing non-technical roles should be the last ones outsourced.

Outsource 123

Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2022

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, discipline is a must, and accept your new bosses as investors, partners, and customers. Fire your worst customers. We have all had customers who take advantage of us, to the detriment of other good customers. In fact, being odd is quite the norm. A check in hand means nothing.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2020

Either they are never really ready to commit, study an opportunity until it has passed, or fail with tools and techniques from a bygone business era. The Internet is the problem, by facilitating constant change, and it’s the solution, by providing an absolutely current view of customers, trends, and best practices.

Social Media 127

Social Media Startup Education Entrepreneur 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Many businesses have found that raising the price of a product to give it status can win more customers than a price war. Think the unthinkable.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Startup 134

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

Xconomy

OCTOBER 5, 2016

However, there is still room for competition. Companies must learn to become ecosystem drivers – even if only for a subset of their customers – in order to survive. A distinguishing feature of this model is that they are the destination in their space for a subset of their customers. – Ensure great customer experience.

Organization 91

Organization Customer Custom Study 91

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. ” Case studies get done with ebullient CEO’s espousing the benefits of said software even though their organization was barely using the product. ROI studies were published. It’s when the game slows.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 21, 2021

Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. There are many studies that tell us how various industries reward employees for achievement above a base pay, or beyond expectation. Some obvious qualifiers.

Design 156

Design Examples Competition Pricing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2016

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Product 95

Product Case Study Customer Custom 95

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

We could talk with customers, meet the entire management team, review financial plans, review customer purchasing cohorts, evaluate the competition, etc. Anybody who has studied the VC industry knows that it works by “power law” returns in which a few key deals return the majority of a fund. By 2021 we had to write a $3.5m

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

For an in-depth study of the pros and cons of a bossless environment, I found a new book, “ Why Managers Matter ,” by management scholars Nicolai Foss and Peter Klein. They are more sensitive to customer needs and see peer collaboration as the most effective decision process. Office jobs and communication technology have evolved.

Outsource 133

Outsource Training Organization Social Media 133

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

Per the latest study by networking giant Cisco , the world’s yearly mobile data traffic has grown 17-fold over the past 5 years, reaching 11.5 This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want. Analytics will soon drive nearly all business decisions for any company that wants to remain relevant to its customers.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

Based on a classic study by the Wharton School of Business , in a survey of 11,000 MBA graduates over many years, those running their own businesses ranked themselves happier than all other professions, regardless of how much money they made. People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

I was shocked to read an old Gallup study that indicates only 13 percent of employees worldwide are actively engaged at work, and more recent data shows only a small change in the right direction. Your display of pride in the company and respect for the customer will translate directly into motivation. Start today. Marty Zwilling.

Product 129

Product Examples Mentor Activity 129

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2023

These leaders not only recognize team members who have high potential, but they willingly and selflessly customize their coaching to what these special protégés really need. Measure by relationships as well as competitiveness. Always searching for new talent sources. Willing and able to hire on the spot.

Oracle 94

Oracle Organization Examples Coach 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

He outlines six dimensions of a winning business strategy, with some practical, research-based steps that I like, to focus on in achieving extraordinary results: Above all, deliver an exceptional total customer experience. Highlight your competitive value, not your technology. Turn value creation (revenue) into value capture (profit).

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Customer Custom Competition 87