Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2022

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.

Organization 143

Organization Startup Pricing Customer 143

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company''s market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Ideas Research Demand 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2015

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. My conclusion either way is that they have no market, or haven’t looked.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Startup Marketing Customer 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2020

For new entrepreneurs and startups, I recommend an initial focus on these six steps from the very beginning to set the right culture and save the tremendous cost of a transformation and risky competitive catch-up later: Start with an overriding top-down focus on customer experience. Set the expectation for continuous improvement.

Customer 168

Customer Custom Services Startup 168

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. Many smart people I know fall into the category of “idea” people.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2020

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly. If you want to drive up the demand for your core product, one smart tactic is to drive down the price of all complementary products.

Mobile 126

Mobile Develop Development Platform 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2013

If you are in this category, first know that you are not alone, but then you need to take a look at the advice given by Patricia Sigmon in her book “ Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-Sized Service-Based Businesses.” It’s important to stand up to competition and wear your reputation on your sleeve. Mix things up.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Sales 93

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company's market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Ideas Research Demand 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that their idea and passion are so great that failure is not a possibility. They relate quickly to one of the big successes out there today, including Facebook, Airbnb, or Snap, and can give you a dozen reasons that they are in the same category.

Startup 99

Startup Competition Examples Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.

Organization 128

Organization Startup Pricing Customer 128

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

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. Accelerating worldwide competition and financial upheavals are undermining established market positions.

Customer 83

Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2010

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company's market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Ideas Research Demand 87

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. So if you add people like me the target market is tens of millions. Far from it. Lots of it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2017

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. My conclusion either way is that they have no market, or haven’t looked.

Entrepreneur 68

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2014

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive dream of a get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk or no competition. There is no real business opportunity without risk. Operational.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Marketing Customer Custom 93

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

And we wanted a head of global marketing. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. And I had been telling my partners for a couple of years that I thought Ethan was one of the more talented entrepreneurs I had come across in San Francisco. Nice sweep! We like to be able to see the concept.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company. What is ConsumerTrack all about?

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2015

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly. If you want to drive up the demand for your core product, one smart tactic is to drive down the price of all complementary products.

Startup 98

Startup Platform Pricing Netflix 98

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company's market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Tips 55

Tips Ideas Entrepreneur Research 55

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company''s market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Startup 90

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Research 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The “product” value is difficult to quantify, the costs are nebulous, and entrepreneurs have to clone themselves to scale the business.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

In our industry we applaud the efforts for entrepreneurs to have tried and we know that today’s failure can bring the experience for tomorrow’s success. Market Size. It’s ok to target a small market and you can probably build a niche business that is extremely valuable to you as an individual.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2012

If you are in this category, first know that you are not alone, but then you need to take a look at the advice given by Patricia Sigmon in her book “ Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-Sized Service-Based Businesses.” It’s important to stand up to competition and wear your reputation on your sleeve. Mix things up.

Startup 94

Startup Outsource Development Sales Social Media 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2011

Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. The company's market is the same. These points may sound obvious, but the process is certainly contrary to the popular “shoot from the hip” approach that is practiced by some entrepreneurs.

Startup 92

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Research 92

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2017

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.

Startup 59

Startup Organization Pricing Customer 59

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2010

Lolita was founder of ModernMom.com, which she sold to Richard Rosenblatt's Demand Media last year, and we caught up with Lolita to learn more about her newest venture. Those are our three biggest categories as far as sponsorship and readership. Is this competitive with Modern Mom? Lolita Carrico: I don't think it's competitive.

Networking 230

Networking Social Media Startup Search Engine Optimization 230

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2016

For new entrepreneurs and startups, I recommend an initial focus on these six steps from the very beginning to set the right culture and save the tremendous cost of a transformation and risky competitive catch-up later: Start with an overriding top-down focus on customer experience. Set the expectation for continuous improvement.

Customer 56

Customer Custom Startup Competition 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2011

If you are in this category, first know that you are not alone, but then you need to take a look at the advice given by Patricia Sigmon in her new book “ Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-Sized Service-Based Businesses.” It’s important to stand up to competition and wear your reputation on your sleeve.

Tips 92

Tips Startup Services Outsource Development 92

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

When our Youtube views are driven up, that drives more licensing demand for the video, with other shows interested. We''re developing programming around our brands, such as Failarmy, and we also have a deal with Dick Clark Products to take Failarmy to the international market. Lee Essner: That''s one of the competitive edges we have.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

Can be a competitive advantage. Competition over salary, promotions, and position. This can cause feelings of unfairness, and initiate emotionally competitive efforts. A fourth category is more intimately romantic relationships. entrepreneur friends Jan Yager startup workplace workship' Marty Zwilling.

Startup 92

Startup Course Competition Social Media 92

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He invented the category of sponsored search. At the time when you did a search on Lycos, Alta Vista or similar for a category such as Cars you ended up getting 9 spam results and 1 proper website to meet your needs. they can build teams that really focus on building & marketing great products. Overture (Goto.com).

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2016

Wearables are clearly an important market but to me a much broader use case is bringing real-world objects into the computing world and there is no better mechanism than Computer Vision. A mobile marketing company could track campaigns and then measure increases in retail traffic driven into local stores.

Marketing 150

Marketing Course Startup Organization 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. I’m in Seattle this week.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292