article thumbnail

6 Due Diligence Concerns Before Outside Contracting

Startup Professionals Musings

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your “secret sauce,” you need to keep the work in-house. Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced.

article thumbnail

6 Key Rules To Stay Competitive In The Digital World

Startup Professionals Musings

In case you hadn’t noticed, the key elements of a competitive advantage for your business have changed as businesses move online, and your domain is instantly global. As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

8 New Venture Smarts That You Can’t Afford To Ignore

Startup Professionals Musings

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Failure to prepare for due diligence. Not doing due diligence on the funding source.

article thumbnail

20 Best Free and Paid Tools for Startups in 2023

Tech.Co

But while competition remains fierce, the advancement and accessibility of smart solutions are making it easy than ever for startups to find their feet. Business tools — from customer relationship management ( CRM ) platforms to accounting software — help to save startups time and money by automating key processes and maximizing efficiency.

Tool 128
article thumbnail

11 Small Business Grants and Loans to Apply For in 2024

Tech.Co

Unlike a lot of grants on this list, the competition is open to all US small businesses, as long as they have fewer than 99 employees, have been operating for at least six months, and have a FedEx business account that's been open before September 1, 2023. It's competitive though – last year 18,000 applicants competed for only 12 slots.

article thumbnail

10 Attributes Of The Perfect Partner For Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Thus you should do the same or more due diligence on educational background, previous work, and references.

article thumbnail

6 Realities To Evaluate Your Outsourcing Alternatives

Startup Professionals Musings

If you have a software development background like mine, I’m sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. If your software or your manufacturing process is your “secret sauce,” you need to keep the work in-house. Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced.