Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. In reality, I like most ideas, but I have to tell them that the real challenge is taking the inspiration from a dream to a business reality. Attend trade shows and network to find the right players and pitch your product.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. Whether you have not been able to find companies doing “something like” the plan, or you has not considered the most obvious killer of new ideas – doing nothing, it is a faux pas that should never be allowed to happen. Do your homework!

Competition 120

Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2022

Most people think innovation is all about ideas, when in fact it is more about delivery, people, and process. They take you step-by-step through the innovation execution process, in the context the ten most common myths about innovation, which I think makes their approach particularly instructive: Innovation is all about ideas.

Ideas 135

Ideas Startup Resource Research 135

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

He wants to compete to be the lead drummer in the competitive ensemble and study under Terence, an obsessive instructor who is hell bent on winning competitions for the school. But the film has my brain buzzing all week about obsessive and competitive people. I absolutely loved the film. I loved the music. We revere musicians.

Competition 394

Competition Startup Writing Marketing 394

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2019

Is your marketing focus product-centric or customer-centric ? If you only sell products, it’s time to realize that times have changed. With a wealth of products now available, customers look for the most memorable experience , not just the best product. Status factors are more important than demographics.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Metrics 85

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Every business I know needs to be on a constant lookout for new ideas, both in what they offer to customers, and in their internal operations, to stay competitive. Fortunately, there are ways to nurture the creation and capture of new ideas. Openly ask for new ideas from your team and others.

Ideas 132

Ideas PPC Customer Custom 132

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2021

The real solution is better productivity and less procrastination, to put you back in control of your business. Jan Yager, a recognized expert on the subject of time management, addressed this issue in the classic edition of her book, “ Work Less, Do More: The 14-Day Productivity Makeover.” Rest makes you more productive.

Product 153

Product Email Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2022

Be sure to encompass all your constituents, especially including customers. Whole Foods , for example, has built their business with a commitment to natural and organic foods, and have a culture of loyal employees and customers, resulting in 500 stores worldwide. Foster collaboration rather than competition.

Product 109

Product Training Customer Custom 109

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. A competitive advantage to a non-problem or tiny niche is not interesting to investors.

Competition 86

Competition Patents Startup Customer 86

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 16, 2013

Tracy DiNunzio, Founder and CEO of Tradesy , recently shared her insights regarding the best approach for entrepreneurs to address competition. Tracy addressed the issue of competition head on, telling the largely student audience, "As I started to think about launching Tradesy, I looked around and there was a lot of competition but.

Competition 254

Competition SaaS Santa Barbara Entrepreneur 254

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? Find the pain.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Course Email 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

New product process. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Idea management. Ownership.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Berkonomics

APRIL 8, 2021

How do you make your product go viral? What are the elements needed to focus upon in making the attempt to take a product viral? Some apps, like Discord, attach a brand link to the bottom of each message so that every recipient can click upon the link and become a user of the product without further marketing by the company.

Sites 156

Sites Product Social Network Press 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2020

Another example is Facebook , maintaining motivation with food, stock options, collaborative office space, an on-site laundry, and a competitive atmosphere that fosters personal growth and learning with great benefits. Investors have long agreed that you invest in the team, more than the product. Building morale is not a one-time task.

Product 129

Product Examples Mentor Activity 129

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. Create an overt strategy to react to emerging customer trends. Remember when you were a startup?

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

Berkonomics

APRIL 19, 2012

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” Whether the entrepreneur has not been able to find companies doing “something like” the plan, or s/he has not considered the most obvious killer of new ideas – doing nothing, it is a faux pas that should never be allowed to happen.

Competition 189

Competition Slides Sales Ideas 189

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Leveraging the global network will improve your odds of a highly skilled match, and bring diversity, as well as more innovative ideas and thinking to your team. Today you need that budget for market fluxuations, pandemics, and product updates. Thus they feel more fulfilled, more productive, and more in control of their lives.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2022

Authors Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Oglivie have created a framework for creation of a new product or service – one worth spending at least a cycle of time for review. What if we could do it better, do it in a new way, do it to attract new customers, do it to distance ourselves form the competition? What wows? What works?

Design 156

Design Framework Ideas Customer 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2020

I find that many entrepreneurs are so passionate about their own idea that they can’t stop selling it to potential partners. Let candidates educate you on attributes you need and they bring. The key here is to do more listening than talking in both formal and informal interviews.

Competition 174

Competition High Tech Startup Social Media 174

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 3, 2020

Most innovations come from responding to a customer’s needs, or finding a niche where products need improvement or extension. Imagine the room in which several graduate business school student groups have gathered, tasked with coming up with an idea for a business plan competition. A thought exercise. Then remove it.

Startup 156

Startup Ideas Customer Custom 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

A theme I often hear from the entrepreneurs and startups I advise is that once they see that first surge of traction from customers, they can relax and enjoy life for a change. In today’s world of growing competition and customer evolution , holding your own, and growing to the next level is a constant challenge that can never be ignored.

Ideas 77

Ideas Customer Custom Competition 77

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

To bring that ability to name your own price on products, Los Angeles-based Greentoe (www.greentoe.com) recently launched, allowing consumers to name their own price to retailers of everything from electronics to baby products. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. What is Greentoe?

Pricing 273

Pricing Product Help Sales 273

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Here are five key ones to celebrate: Enjoy the feedback from every satisfied customer.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Customer Custom 118

Berkonomics

JUNE 2, 2022

Are you working with or selling to a particularly important competitor to your target customer? Dropping that name will often immediately draw a response if the decision maker is curious or particularly competitive. Let me reinforce this: never reveal competitive information to gain access or advantage.

Ideas 156

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 156

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

At the time, the company raised $2 million, and Alexandrov said about the perceived competition, “The level of competition in this market in the U.S. is still manageable, which is why we have the opportunity to become leaders in the sphere of fast delivery of basic products and household goods. locations.

Funding 246

Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Everyone assumes their product or service is so great that “word-of-mouth” will carry the day for them. Your content must continue to deliver new ideas.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2023

It all starts with a customer perspective to uncover problems and frustrations, and then design solutions from the customer backward. But customers also tend to think linearly, so they don’t always know what they want. Extrapolate the insight into a new idea or solution. Paying attention to unmet needs and frustrations.

Startup 128

Startup Entrepreneur Tool Ideas 128

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

New product process. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Idea management. Ownership.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

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. A great innovation starts with at least three ideas.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Case Study Writing 145

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Every entrepreneur assumes their product or service is so great that “word-of-mouth” will carry the day for them. Your content must continue to deliver new ideas. Educational.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

First: Product risk. . Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to. One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2022

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. Why is it that his idea which seemed so fundable only months ago fails to attract investors today? The idea here is that following a process can actually force you to think. The team is the same.

Ideas 155

Ideas Entrepreneur Research Demand 155

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

These days, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, pitching their latest and greatest new idea, and looking for someone to give them money. Talk is cheap, but entrepreneurs who show you a working model of their idea know how to execute. Many ideas I hear sound great, but I have no idea if they can be implemented.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2020

That’s why all those so-called million dollar ideas I hear about as an investor don’t get me excited, and entrepreneurs find that working twenty hours a day often generates nothing more than sweat, instead of the desired sweat equity. Here are five key ones to celebrate: Enjoy the feedback from every satisfied customer.

Satisfaction 174

Satisfaction Customer Custom Outsource 174