Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. They demand interactive relationships with you, and depend on the relationships you have with their friends.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. If you are focused exclusively on prospects who are actively seeking to solve the problem you are positioned to solve, you won’t need five or seven attempts to get their attention. Give yourself the “So-what?”

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 13, 2016

And if that new strategy is proved to be true, the five–hundred–pound gorilla in that niche just moved out of the way of many of its smaller competitors, leaving a market that will surely see a scramble of new competition in the near future. Been skewered for slow customer service?

Resource 120

Resource Competition Examples Customer 120

Southern California Edison Blog

JUNE 15, 2020

Telecom carriers require reliable networks to provide telecommunications services to their customers. Without the proper capacity or availability to carry the necessary traffic, telecoms will have trouble attracting new business and remaining competitive. What is a Carrier-Grade Network? Key benefits include: High availability.

Networking 54

Networking Company Companies Design 54

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Evidence is growing that consumers are willing to pay at least a small premium for sustainability, and have started to demand a discount for “un-sustainability.”

Organization 128

Organization Startup Pricing Customer 128

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 31, 2022

Shared electric scooters came onto the scene five years ago with a promising vision of getting people out of cars and onto greener modes of transportation. Most of the respondents (68%) said they are satisfied with the number of self-service scooters on the streets of Paris, while a quarter indicated they would actually like to see more.

Los Angeles 257

Los Angeles San Pedro Santa Monica Study 257

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding. In a critical extension to this thinking, the authors and I would outline another dimension to these personality types and motivators, by defining five motivation grade levels that also impact entrepreneurial motives, actions, and satisfaction: Level A.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 110

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan.

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Design a product or service that you can sell. MySpace, for example, boomed after launch for five years without a revenue model. The challenge is not to undermine growth by a blind focus on profits.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. They demand interactive relationships with you, and depend on the relationships you have with their friends.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Startup Sales Customer 134

Southern California Edison Blog

JANUARY 29, 2019

Once general tools used to manage daily operations, they’re now major sources of competitive advantage. The only demands on the connection come from your business. Dedicated internet connections support remote connectivity, IPsec VPNs between sites, cloud apps and similar services. Availability of service level agreements.

Networking 54

Networking Demand Competition Organization 54

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2022

I’m convinced that the reason for the high rate of startup failures , with well over half not lasting five years, is not that the solutions are not innovative, but that the entrepreneur focuses on the product, rather than the business of attracting and managing customers. No one else can do the solution delivery like you can.

Satisfaction 92

Satisfaction Training Customer Custom 92

socalTECH

JANUARY 28, 2019

The last fundraising we did was use to prove out our technology, and weve now had head-to-head competition with our competitors and others in the space to prove out our technology, our unique capabilities, and our unique approach to solving this problem. Were completely sold out, and theres more demand than we can keep up with.

Startup 187

Startup Technical Review Technology Competition 187

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

People see you as great for demanding customers and team bonding. In a critical extension to this thinking, the authors and I would outline another dimension to these personality types and motivators, by defining five motivation grade levels that also impact entrepreneurial motives, actions, and satisfaction: Level A.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2019

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service.

Startup 97

Startup Education Customer Custom 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. If you are focused exclusively on prospects who are actively seeking to solve the problem you are positioned to solve, you won’t need five or seven attempts to get their attention. Give yourself the “So-what?”

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2015

I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Evidence is growing that consumers are willing to pay at least a small premium for sustainability, and have started to demand a discount for “un-sustainability.”

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Organization Startup Pricing 117

socalTECH

JUNE 9, 2014

If you look at the numbers from Comscore, we are doing about half the number of uniques that Maker is doing, but we''re doing it with only five channels, versus their 50 thousands channels. When our Youtube views are driven up, that drives more licensing demand for the video, with other shows interested.

Media 235

Media Content Startup IP 235

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2018

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. They demand interactive relationships with you, and depend on the relationships you have with their friends.

Startup 98

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 98

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 go to Parachute Home’s Website you find 150 main products to choose from in five key categories: bedding, bath, table, decor & baby.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

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 challenges for making money and survival in these professional services worlds are different, maybe even tougher. Shape your business by design, not by default.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

socalTECH

OCTOBER 7, 2015

If you've ever flown into Los Angeles International Airport�or pretty much any other, major airport--on a busy, holiday weekend, you might be familiar with the sometime hours long lines at rental car counters, horrible customer service, and companies looking to nickel and dime you with all kinds of add on insurance and options.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Marketing Mobile 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Ice Energy (www.ice-energy.com) has quietly been working away at developing energy storage systems to help smooth out the demand for energy on the nation's power grid. The reason they do that, is we solve the peak demand problem they have on the grid. Explain what that peak demand problem is for the utilities?

Southern California 100

Southern California Technical Review Demand Outsource Development 100

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2011

For example, at an event, say at the Staples Center, of the 20,000 seats they might have four or five price groups. There is no real room for negotiation, or to let demand drive the pricing on the buyer side. Wes Brodsky: We have been bootstrapped so for, and our service has been live for about 16 months.

Ticketmaster 253

Ticketmaster Pricing Sales Activity 253

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 31, 2021

” Much of this will look and feel like a Green New Deal, but sold under a package of infrastructure modernization and service upgrades that the country desperately needs. . An estimated six to ten million homes still receive drinking water through lead pipes and service lines,” the White House wrote in a statement.

Startup 229

Startup Technical Review Invest Research 229

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2017

I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Evidence is growing that consumers are willing to pay at least a small premium for sustainability, and have started to demand a discount for “un-sustainability.”

Startup 59

Startup Organization Pricing Customer 59

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. They demand interactive relationships with you, and depend on the relationships you have with their friends.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sales Startup Customer 106

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2019

Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. Design a product or service that you can sell. MySpace, for example, launched in 2003 and boomed for five years without a revenue model. The challenge is not to undermine growth by a blind focus on profits.

Snapchat 74

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 74

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2014

I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Evidence is growing that consumers are willing to pay at least a small premium for sustainability, and have started to demand a discount for “un-sustainability.”

Startup 91

Startup Organization Pricing Customer 91

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2013

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service.

Startup 117

Startup Education Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. If you are focused exclusively on prospects who are actively seeking to solve the problem you are positioned to solve, you won’t need five or seven attempts to get their attention. Give yourself the “So-what?”

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2012

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of your management team, or your sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service.

Startup 99

Startup Education Customer Custom 99

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. If you are focused exclusively on prospects who are actively seeking to solve the problem you are positioned to solve, you won’t need five or seven attempts to get their attention. Give yourself the “So-what?”

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2016

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service.

Capital 58

Capital Startup Education Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Too many entrepreneurs develop a new product without regard to market demand, then build an entire strategy based on creating a need, rather than acting on an existing market need. Measure the major pain points in time or dollars, based on feedback from intended users of your product or service. Analyze how competition will react.

Technology 91

Technology Funding Competition Entrepreneur 91