Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

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. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Marty Zwilling.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You alone will never find enough hours in a day to keep with all the challenges of sales, support, and scaling the business, in addition to developing and delivering your solution. Your leadership skills do not develop without effort. Intellectual property is required for a competitive edge. Neither is good.

Entrepreneur 173

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

New product process. Business risks are not just development risks. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Make sure all team members have some connection with the product – has either used it, or sold it, or assembled it.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2014

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 101

Product Entrepreneur Summary Activity 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2022

In my experience with business leaders, real innovation thinking is rare, compared to the urge to add just one more feature to an existing product, or make a small tweak to an existing business model. I call this linear thinking , and it’s a sure way to be ultimately overrun by your competition.

Competition 139

Competition Examples Customer Custom 139

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Many businesses have found that raising the price of a product to give it status can win more customers than a price war. Think the unthinkable.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

First: Product risk. . Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to. One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2018

The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. A partnership was announced with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem. Marty Zwilling.

Competition 60

Competition IBM IBM Startup 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. A partnership was announced a while back with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem.

IBM 131

IBM IBM Startup Examples 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2016

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Product 55

Product Startup Summary Entrepreneur 55

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. Investors are looking to buy a chunk of the business, not the product. Solution development undefined or incomplete.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 108

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

First-to-market’ is not a sustainable competitive advantage for startups, since sleeping giants do wake up when they see traction, and they can smash newcomers quickly. Patents and trademarks are very valuable in attracting investors for scaling, as well as future premium buyouts. Finish the product before marketing begins.

Startup 124

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

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. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe. Marty Zwilling.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

First: Product risk. . Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to compete in the marketplace? Email readers, continue here…] Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? And fifth: Competitive risk. . Second: Market risk. . Third: Management risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Registered patents and other intellectual property. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Being the first mover or lowest cost is not a good long-term strategy. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

It’s really a multi-step process, with the first step getting you from an idea to a viable product, and the remaining steps creating a sustainable business. Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 10, 2010

Patents held by startups generally have a limited ability to reduce competition. The average time required to obtain a patent is 36-to-40 months, during which there is no guarantee your adVenture will ultimately receive patent protection. Thus, if a startup team asks, “What is this patent worth to us?”,

IP 256

IP Patents Company Companies 256

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

As an angel investor, I see plenty of startups focusing on building an innovative product, but I’m looking for the few who are also leading with an exponential growth strategy, to put them in the category of the next Amazon or Google. Sponsor some friendly competitive events with prizes.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Customer 170

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. A partnership was announced with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 124

Startup IBM IBM Examples 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

First-to-market’ is not a sustainable competitive advantage for startups, since sleeping giants do wake up when they see traction, and they can smash newcomers quickly. Patents and trademarks are very valuable in attracting investors for scaling, as well as future premium buyouts. Finish the product before marketing begins.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. Investors are looking to buy a chunk of the business, not the product. Solution development undefined or incomplete.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

New product process. Business risks are not just development risks. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Make sure all team members have some connection with the product – has either used it, or sold it, or assembled it.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Competition 64

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

First: Product risk. Is the product or service possible to produce at all, let alone economically enough to compete in the marketplace? Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? And fifth: Competitive risk. Second: Market risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Registered patents and other intellectual property. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Being the first mover or lowest cost is not a good long-term strategy. Expert in your chosen domain.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2016

As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.

Competition 62

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 62

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

New product process. Business risks are not just development risks. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Make sure all team members have some connection with the product – has either used it, or sold it, or assembled it.

Coach 64

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 64

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2013

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. It can also be very inspiring, as you watch your dream morph into reality, or as you feel each little element of success: Watch your team develop new skills.

Startup 100

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2012

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. It can also be very inspiring, as you watch your dream morph into reality, or as you feel each little element of success: Watch your team develop new skills.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Ideas 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

New product process. Business risks are not just development risks. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the key to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. They benchmark their ideas against competition, use metrics to track acceptance, sales growth, and return on investment.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2018

New technology markets and paradigm shifts have traditionally been bad bets when seeking investors, since these were known to take decades to develop, and cost lots of money. Here are the specifics that I recommend to improve your odds of success: Sell the market concept before building a product. Concept marketing is critical.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder. That''s essentially how the Tricoder competition was formed--it''s time for this to happen. Mann implantable device area.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

As part of that, a healthy market for accessories for the camera has developed, including for the photo filters from Newport Beach-based PolarPro (www.polarprofilters.com), which makes special photographic filters specifically to fit the GoPro. How did you go from those prototypes to a real product and manufacturing?

Startup 196

Startup Van Nuys Patents Santa Barbara 196

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2012

Develop the solution with your technology, and develop a strategy to maximize your impact in the marketplace. Business strategy allows you to change customer perceptions and responses to your product or service offerings. I’ve talked about the solution part several times, so this article will focus on the value of a strategy.

Startup 99

Startup Competition IP Patents 99

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

What we bring to the table is competitive analytics, where we consider your security adversary, and figure how they are trying to break your system, under different scenarios, and recommend a plan which optimizes your security strategy. We''re now scaling it up, and we''ve also filed seven patents in that process.

Research 100

Research Patents USC Software 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Mark noted that even if an entrepreneur does not become a master developer, by simply understanding the software development process, they will be a more effective startup leader. Bill’s advice reflects Microsoft’s hardnosed culture, which encourages internal competition and a ruthless pursuit of the truth. Treasure it.

Tips 275

Tips Startup IP Santa Barbara 275

socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2016

Barry Lieberman: My backgruond is about 35 years in technology, business development, and sales and marketing. I built my own company around marketing services, and have been around business development, marketing, custom service, and sales, and also on the consumer side of technology, a little bit a mix of the two. All are separate.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels CTO Coach Startup Pasadena Angels 100