Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. People love Apple’s whole customer experience, and willingly pay a premium for the product. Much has been written about product design, but designing the total experience from the front rarely happens yet.

Custom 150

Custom Customer Design Product 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

less than 18 months from when the company was created so I thought it was probably a good time to weigh in on the questions I get asked most frequently and why we’re so excited about Bird. How could Bird really be worth the reported $2 billion valuation that I read about in this press? The company has done zero paid marketing.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

From apps to hardware, to KickStarter successes and international startups, we’re inching closer to finding out who will take home the title of Startup of the Year competition at our annual Celebrate Conference in October. Among the dozens of participants that applied for the online competitions, only a few progressed into the semifinals.

Competition 122

Competition Mobile Startup Technical Review 122

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Online job and career sites still seem to be in another decade, when it comes to both design--and user friendliness. Can a startup gain a foothold in the competitive market by designing the right UX and user experience to make a job and career site for everyone? He went into products and technology, and I went to development.

Design 174

Design Sites Cornerstone OnDemand Startup 174

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 19, 2019

.” So the goal at Huron is to create products that can stack up against “brands on the shelves at Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom,” but without the costs and price markup associated with a big department store. Consumers can buy Huron products individually, as part of a larger kit or via subscription.

Startup 217

Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles Competition 217

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 21, 2021

Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. This one seems non-negotiable for many non-production-line workers and offers savings for both the company and employee if properly implemented and supervised.

Design 156

Design Examples Competition Pricing 156

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

WTF is she going on about? Remember, it’s about Lines, Not Dots. Competitive sportswoman. She learns how to ship product, how to deal with merchants, how to hire product managers. Always meeting her product ship dates. She was always able to get into the weeds on product or biz dev discussions.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Tech.Co

APRIL 24, 2015

The SME’s Sillicon Valley chapter is pleased to announce the 10th Annual SME SV Conference held in conjuction with the Design 2 Part Show. Explore how the Bay Area continues to innovate and respond to global competition in the following areas: Discover the latest robotic trends in medical devices.

Los Angeles 70

Los Angeles Develop Development Product 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

Many experts are certain that successful entrepreneurs are the ones with the most inspiration (passion and dream), while others will assert that it’s about more perspiration (working harder). This is the confirmation that your product or service fills a real need in the marketplace. Note the growth of your team and your own leadership.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Custom Customer 118

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2021

With every business being global in scope and always-on, a phone-in service available in a local time zone during work hours only, is not competitive. No customer enjoys being blasted by irrelevant banner ads, and they don’t have time to sort through all the noise of products out there searching for an audience.

Custom 171

Custom Customer Social Media Design 171

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2021

The founder explains that the product or service is so “buzz-worthy” that the merits will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. Viral marketing is a deliberate marketing action, designed to grow attention at a compound rate, without further stimulus, by word-of-mouth.

Marketing 139

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 139

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Production. Competition.

Sales 102

Sales Custom Customer Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2020

Many experts are certain that successful entrepreneurs are the ones with the most inspiration (passion and dream), while others will assert that it’s about more perspiration (working harder). This is the confirmation that your product or service fills a real need in the marketplace. Note the growth of your team and your own leadership.

Satisfaction 174

Satisfaction Custom Customer Outsource 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. A well-designed service delivery process will make you easy to do business with. It’s a core process that must be up and effective when you deliver your first product or service.

Startup 154

Startup Training Custom Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Aspiring entrepreneurs ask me why their great idea hasn’t sold; they talk about it endlessly, and they expect others to do the development, finance, and marketing work for them. Watching the orders come in, or the product moving off the shelf, is the feedback you have been looking for. Love that sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

There has always been tension between CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies and the retailers who sell their products to consumers. 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.

Product 296

Product Course Custom Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

It is no longer enough to just have a great product or service. How to do this right is illustrated well in a classic book, “ Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice ,” by Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson, PhD. Assemble the best team to assimilate and design what is needed.

Company 116

Company Companies Custom Customer 116

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2020

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. I then created a gross domestic and gross international annual market size estimate for my industry’s products. Or cost estimation.

Company 156

Company Companies Metrics Resource 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value for customers. Working the circuit of big groups of strangers is minimally productive. Don’t waste your time following up.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 15, 2016

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. From their book, “Designing for Growth,” they iterate a four question matrix, each with steps for creation through launch. Then let’s design it so it will wow.

Design 120

Design Framework Ideas Custom 120

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

The funding, a Series C, will be used to continue expanding Boulevard’s product and engineering teams and to build out more tools targeting an ever-wider set of users in the bigger wellness and beauty sector (those product additions are typically big — it most recently added a whole new payments feature).

Help 195

Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. For example, one CEO I know gave away his software product to the first ten customers. So how do you go about proving the business model? Prove the technical concept. Limited rollout.

Product 94

Product Pricing Custom Customer 94

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2016

I’ve spoken before about our desire at Upfront Ventures to fund really big ideas that solve hard problems, are science led and if successful will both have a positive effect on people’s lives as well as make great financial returns. We’re not Pollyannaish about this.

Company 207

Company Companies CTO Coach Funding 207

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

Software products and apps can be quickly wire-framed with free tools such as MockFlow , or even Microsoft Powerpoint to lay out the key screens. When you wave your arms and describe your future product, everyone sees what they want to see, and it looks great. Reduce the time to production and rollout.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

BlackTech Week was created in 2014, and in four short years, they’ve gained over 2700 participants, 150 speakers, and 3 pitch competitions. Having the pitches and showcase as part of the conference is a nice feature for the startups, so the whole thing isn’t just about the pitch. BlackTech Week (Miami, FL).

Startup 140

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 140

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). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 5, 2013

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. I then created a gross domestic and gross international annual market size estimate for my industry’s products.

Metrics 239

Metrics Startup Marketing Demand 239

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

and there was certainly less competition from everybody pitching local merchant solutions. Today they announced the mobile version of their product – I’d be grateful if you would download it and give it a spin. and then took the lid off of the product by announcing the company – I wrote about that here.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2022

Recognize that customers care about the whole experience. People pay for a great user experience, in finding the right product, buying it, using it, and getting support. Target a portfolio of solutions, not just one product. It’s all about results, benchmarked against strategic plans and a vision of what is possible.

Metrics 102

Metrics Startup Organization Demand 102

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

I say that because I’ve heard too many abstract pitches about the next paradigm-shifting technology, which I can’t relate to, and only a couple with stories that really grabbed me. This should be obvious, but much of what passes for “a story” these days are things like elevator pitches or product descriptions that have no characters at all.

Startup 125

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Custom 125

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. How profitable is my product or service? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Berkonomics

APRIL 25, 2019

It is the one skill, process or advantage you have over your competition. Then think of all the things you do to surround that core with people and assets that complete your company and allow you to release your product or perform your service. How about non-core resources? Consider your core. So – what is your core offering?

Resource 120

Resource IP Organization Services 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. Viral marketing is a deliberate marketing action, designed to grow attention at a compound rate, without further stimulus, by word-of-mouth.

Marketing 107

Marketing Invest SEM Startup 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2020

It is no longer enough to just have a great product or service. How to do this right is illustrated well in a classic book, “ Matter: Move Beyond the Competition, Create More Value, and Become the Obvious Choice ,” by Peter Sheahan and Julie Williamson, PhD. Assemble the best team to assimilate and design what is needed.

Custom 167

Custom Customer Satisfaction Marketing 167

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2020

Recognize that customers care about the whole experience. People pay for a great user experience, in finding the right product, buying it, using it, and getting support. Target a portfolio of solutions, not just one product. It’s all about results, benchmarked against strategic plans and a vision of what is possible.

Startup 138

Startup Organization Demand Custom 138

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 4, 2013

They do not know what they do not know which makes a meaningful conversation with a design agency very challenging. If you are not flexing your digital muscle, your competition certainly is. There is nothing to be ashamed about being ignorant as we all must start somewhere. Their two biggest fears are cost and labor.

Web Design 58

Web Design Web Design Sites 58