Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Yet true product differentiation in the eye of the customer is rarely achieved. Quantify the difference for your customers. Customize to differentiate, but do it efficiently.

Competition 123

Competition Customer Custom Examples 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2020

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 125

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 125

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

They forget that adapting their company and themselves as their customers evolve is the key to long-term survival. Think of Blockbuster and Toys ‘R’ Us , both of whom missed customer changes and the move to online. For example, Uber recently made the move into food delivery with UberEATS. Remember when you were a startup?

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2023

Most entrepreneurs spend far too much time thinking negatively about competitors, and can’t resist making derogatory statements to their own team, to investors, and even to customers. As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition.

Competition 111

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 111

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

The world keeps changing, and visible business strategies that worked well in the past, including being the premium brand or low price producer, simply don’t get the customer loyalty they once did. Today, customers are looking for real relationships, a memorable shopping experience, and satisfaction of a higher purpose.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Satisfaction Examples 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2023

Customer service has traditionally been focused on the resolution of complaints , primarily after a transaction. In this context, even “satisfied” is only a “meets-minimum,” and does not put you ahead of your competition. Treat every customer exceptionally before they complain. Even the best marketing doesn’t do it.

Competition 109

Competition Services Customer Custom 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2020

Even if your company doesn’t sell high-tech products, like Zappos sells shoes, having and using the right technology in the business, for distribution, marketing, and customer support, can easily make the difference between winning and losing in today’s high-tech world.

Competition 174

Competition High Tech Startup Social Media 174

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

If you had huge customer growth but just didn’t focus on revenue that’s a different story. And when you’re looking at even earlier-stage companies (as VCs do) you might be even more focused on customer growth than revenue growth. For example, look at the following graph. ” Harsh, but reality.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. For example, I highly recommend a set of board metrics that the CEO communicates to board members at every meeting. Customer Acquisition. Do you have a customer referral program? Is it 4/1,000?

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. These principles include the following: Free and ultra-low cost may no longer be competitive.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 103

Berkonomics

JUNE 27, 2019

And that behavior results in leaving little time for outreach to the most critical component in your chain – your key customers. Then, what is a benchmark for customer outreach? But, do your customer know that they want? Do customers know what they want from their suppliers for future products? That’s bad behavior!

Customer 120

Customer Custom Course Email 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. This applies to your own team, as well as customers. Make every customer experience memorable.

Customer 114

Customer Custom Satisfaction Metrics 114

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. Yes, we’ve seen gray areas.

Customer 189

Customer Custom Examples Email 189

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2020

leadership, mentorship, competitiveness, communications, relationship-building?—?and So mostly we just had to listen to customer feedback from founders, VCs and LPs. For example, we’re now already well into our third growth fund that we started in 2015 (the first returned 2x cash in 3.5 And all the platform stuff.

Venture Capital 361

Venture Capital Startup Invest CitySearch 361

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. ” Here are some examples: 1.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

and there was certainly less competition from everybody pitching local merchant solutions. I am stunned at the speed at which the team cranked out this application while at the same time building out an entire suite of merchant solutions to help them better manage customers. That is what we set out to solve at MyTime.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

They are looking for startups that have a sustainable advantage over direct and indirect competitor offerings, as well as obvious value to customers living without your product today. First to market, for example, is not normally a sustainable advantage for startups. Thought leadership position in your market and customer set.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. Or the sales decks will all be customized by your “feet on the street&# and won’t resemble the way you THINK your company is being positioned.

Sales 286

Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

One of our core tasks was “market analysis,&# which consistent of: market sizing, market forecasts, competitive analysis and then instructing customers on which direction to take. Here are some examples: - You ask a small sample set so that data isn’t statistically significant. You ask a group that is not unbiased.

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

They care about the quality of what is build more than they care about end customers. As you head into the phase where you’ve had real customers paying real money for a period of time you’ll have a whole new set of issues. Examples: - every time you release new features you need to update your technical documentation. -

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

If I’m covering a company can I get evidence of what the competition is doing so the story is balanced? Final example. You can imagine the press release, “New innovative model allows us to do audits differently than the competition!” Do I have data or facts to present so the story has legs? I am a VC.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

For example, I usually hear about an aggressive marketing budget, with a plan to penetrate a few big retail chains, and some videos to catch your attention on YouTube. What I want to hear is an innovative marketing and growth strategy that will set you apart in the minds of investors, as well as customers.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Customer 170

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

For example, I believe that Starbucks surprised most people by proving that they could take a commodity business, a coffee shop, and make it a worldwide profit winner, just by justifying premium pricing with a quality product, the right locations, personalized service, and appealing to the professional customer personas.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2019

Is your marketing focus product-centric or customer-centric ? With a wealth of products now available, customers look for the most memorable experience , not just the best product. Amazon is very customer-centric, but it can make all the difference in retail as well as online. Status factors are more important than demographics.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Metrics 85

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

So to give you a concrete example: let’s say you’re considering whether to raise $3 million vs. $5 million. Only … ONLY … if there’s a sense of competition on the deal. The other thing I ask entrepreneurs to consider is what will happen to competition in a market. 25% dilution).

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

An obvious example would be in sales. As a CEO you never stop needing to go on sales calls (or to work the phones in telesales or customer support) and ceasing to do this as your company grows because you’re focusing on investors, recruiting, PR or whatever is a mistake. A quick example. This led to a lot of human error.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Berkonomics

JUNE 3, 2021

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. Yes, we’ve seen gray areas.

Customer 156

Customer Custom Examples Email 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2021

For example, a few years ago Wells Fargo seriously damaged its brand trying to grow the business by creating accounts without proper customer consent. This resulted in lawsuits and fines, angered many new customers, and the Wells Fargo brand is still recovering. There are many comparable examples of big hits.

Examples 170

Examples Customer Custom Social Media 170

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. You may be getting killed today by customer expectations you never worried about just a few years ago.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Practice being a good communicator.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

Is your product or service one that responds to a customer need, real or perceived? In general, there are three types of products or services: those a customer needs, those a customer wants, an d those a customer believes he does not want or need. An example of how not to do it. Why buy it?”. Why buy MINE? .

Sales 226

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 226

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. For example, I recently picked up my phone to call a well-advertised local company for a TV repair.

Customer 83

Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. These principles include the following: Free and ultra-low cost may no longer be competitive.

Marketing 124

Marketing Customer Custom Competition 124

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2020

Corporate environments are looking for depth of technical skills and experience, while small businesses need everyone to be customer-centric , with a broad range of perspectives and experiences, in addition to the specific skill requested. Everyone has to take some risks, make a decision, or solve the customer problem.

Startup 164

Startup Customer Custom Competition 164

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

Yet, there are constant examples of new entrants into a niche that do grow, prosper and sometimes even become dominant. What if you had abandoned that market, reallocated your resources, and focused instead upon other non–competitive geographical or industry segments? Been skewered for slow customer service? Refuse to engage?

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

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. I had my sales teams telling me we needed certain features to be competitive. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374