Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Believe in similar values and goals.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

The result is fewer and fewer new ideas are volunteered by prospective leaders and key team members, and the business suffers from poor customer satisfaction or loss of market share. Your challenge is to show examples of forward-thinking companies that are ahead by doing things differently.

Ideas 116

Ideas Netflix Resource Customer 116

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

So what can you do to expedite this event, or even improve the odds that it will happen at all? Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 97

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to getting ahold of an appointment for your hair or another treatment…that’s a different story: The bespoke nature of a lot of the work has meant that a large swathe of the professionals providing these services have stayed offline when it comes to interfacing with customers.

Help 195

Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I do believe that we are in structural change where technology will increasingly play a bigger role in all facets of life so the long run up for tech is promising through all of these cycles. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. ROI studies were published.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And they need it because nobody senior at Stripe, Discord, Coinbase or for that matter Facebook, Google or Snap is leaving without a ton of incentives to do so. And they need it because nobody senior at Stripe, Discord, Coinbase or for that matter Facebook, Google or Snap is leaving without a ton of incentives to do so.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. 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.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. o Their strong skill was online media buying and optimization – they rarely would do CPA deals – mostly buying CPM. o Their strong skill was online media buying and optimization – they rarely would do CPA deals – mostly buying CPM.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2021

Too many executives believe that things must be either A or B, and can’t be both. It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world. Customers today trust those they know and those they see others trusting.

Social Media 142

Social Media Media Platform Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2022

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” Of course, you do need to consider how often that strategy has worked for you, and how often it backfired.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Sample 121

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. Key strategic factors for every business should include profits, growth, and competition. The issues are people oriented, and require trust and teamwork.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves. I believe that proactive preparation for due diligence is a bigger job than the work for investor meetings, because your whole team is involved, not just you as the CEO. Size of the market.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Summary 152

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue press releases citing differences and attack the competition’s weaknesses in sales presentations. You know, frenemies. When Enemies are Good.

Cloud Computing 320

Cloud Computing Competition Press Startup 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2021

It’s like starting a personal relationship, if you wait for exactly the right time, you’ll never do it. You believe the economy has tilted the odds in your favor. You have always felt that you can do more than expected by current bosses, if allowed to do it on your own schedule with your own milestones.

Startup 168

Startup Ideas Satisfaction Entrepreneur 168

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. There are many free generalized tools, including Google Trends , which can be used to track customer behavior in looking for things that don’t exist yet.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2019

Image via Flickr by Alan Most of you who start new ventures don’t think of yourselves as sales experts. Yet in today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, top notch sales and marketing skills are critical to the success of every business. Stand tall - keep your fears and doubts to yourself.

Mentor 90

Mentor Startup Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). There is a lot you can do without spending money. I do it myself.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

Once you put your offer in, you enter your credit card, and you commit to the sale. Once that offer is accepted, that make the sale, and the retailer handles the transaction just as if it happened on their own website. We take a commission on the sale, and everybody is happy. Retailers only pay us if the sale happens.

Pricing 273

Pricing Product Help Sales 273

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” Of course, you do need to consider how often that strategy has worked for you, and how often it backfired.

Startup 127

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Sample 127

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

He has forgotten that new technologies are perceived by most customers as causing more pain than the problems they hope to eliminate. Yet we all know that many customers delay their adoption of the latest software platform, and fancy new hardware, for a year or two until all the “kinks” are worked out of them.

Customer 95

Customer Custom Technology Marketing 95

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

I have to tell each of you that starting and growing a new business is a long hard road , but can be very exciting and satisfying if you find the right match, and do your homework before you start. He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2010

So what can you do to expedite this event, or even improve the odds that it will happen at all? Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 91

Sales Startup Customer Custom 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2020

But I believe the necessary skills can be learned, and it isn’t rocket science. By dedicating at least one percent of sales to environmental groups, he locked in engagement from both employees and customers. In almost every business, your customers are diverse, and you need to understand the world from their perspective.

Company 148

Company Companies Ideas Mentor 148

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2017

There are so many more brands and competition. They love our service, because we actually give them direct access to who their exact target customer is, which is affluent Millennials, which Nelson refers to as Upscale Millennials, who have good jobs, and don't live in their parents' basement. Plus, we're very on trend.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Services Sales Customer 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

I’m not a big believer in too much hierarchy. But issues do arise as your company grows. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

The surest way to run a marathon is to tell everybody you’re going to do it (transparency). I’m a big believer in product stability & performance before adding too many features. 4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. On measurement.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. If you can’t out-Amazon Amazon, then move on and do something else. Here are some ideas of what I believe matters.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. I don’t believe that one exists. But I do have more insight into understanding your startup team. Still, I believe I’m offering an accurate representation of the ideal configuration of the main technology leaders. I don’t believe it.

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Every entrepreneur and business leader believes that he or she has the full trust of their team and their customers, and in fact most do in the beginning. In my experience, most business professionals still believe in the old proverb, “ trust but verify.” Empower others to do their best.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Coach 98

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 19, 2015

Computers and the Internet have now brought in a new era that relies on data to make profitable business decisions in the competitive environment. However, many business owners neglect to take advantage of these new technologies because they believe that they are only available to large corporations. Cloud Services. CRM Platforms.

Competition 40

Competition Technology Social Media Tips 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Believe in similar values and goals.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

40% of all of YouTube is viewed on mobile devices and of high-quality content I believe it is between 60-70% based on my insider data. If all you ever do is create YouTube content then I agree – that’s not a viable startup business. ” I’ve given some specific advice on how to do this before.

SEM 150

SEM Content Platform Acquisition 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. At a minimum I encourage you to spend some time preparing for that question, which phrased another way is, “What do you plan to do with $6-8 million when you raise it.” Growth vs.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

socalTECH

APRIL 21, 2017

What's the secret to creating a profitable, successful, physical subscription based business--and to do that at the scale of large, consumer product goods (CPGs) companies? For people who send things out, it's a chance to be in front of your customer. You need to understand what it means when a customer receives a product.

Startup 145

Startup Product Customer Custom 145

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

Those who know how to lead are those who have an easier time doing all the things that feel like such a struggle. So spending time thinking about what your leadership style is, whether it’s effective and what you could do to improve it can yield dividends. We can be blunt but we believe that builds healthier relationships.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2019

Too many executives believe that things must be either A or B, and can’t be both. It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world. Customers today trust those they know and those they see others trusting.

Social Media 98

Social Media Platform Media Customer 98