Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2020

Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Your passion isn’t enough to create a market. Neither is positive.

Technology 127

Technology Marketing Social Media Customer 127

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 2, 2019

The New Venture Fair (NVF) is a valuable part of Cal Lutheran's entrepreneur education experience, in which student teams share their innovative startup projects in a competitive environment. The NVF is a dynamic and exciting evening where the community gets its first look at Cal Lutheran's exceptional student entrepreneurs.

Education 100

Education Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. Educational. People won’t flock to marketing materials.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

InfoChachkie

JULY 23, 2012

Serial entrepreneur, venture investor and startup accelerator pioneer Brad Feld has notoriously mocked traditional marketing throughout his career. If you have amazing products, the marketing of those products is trivial. If you have $hitty products, the marketing is impossible. Trada – Guerilla Marketing In Action.

Marketing 233

Marketing Blogging Startup Venture Capital 233

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

MBA’s are an easy target for entrepreneurs’ scorn. I too have taken shots at MBA’s, describing why they are not typically well suited for startup life in Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs. Ventures In Which An MBA Education Is A Plus. Ventures In Which An MBA Education Is A Plus. “When M.B.A.’s

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Allegis Startup Competition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

Aspiring entrepreneurs who rely only on traditional learning vehicles (teachers, classrooms, and risk-free practice) are doomed to failure in anticipating change today. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Most entrepreneur that fail are quick to offer a litany of constraints that caused their demise – not enough money, time, customers, or support from the right players. The result, called resourcefulness, allows entrepreneurs to create opportunities in the face of scarcity. Every entrepreneur needs to avoid locked-in ways of thinking.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2023

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. Is there an educated marketplace waiting? That may sound easy, but I rarely see it happening.

Startup 96

Startup Education Ideas Customer 96

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

I believe these principles, paraphrased here, should be adopted by every entrepreneur struggling to accomplish innovation in a startup in any market: Innovation can come from anywhere in the organization. No technical analysis has the power of real-time user and market feedback. Spend twenty percent of work time on innovation.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Google Startup Organization 114

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. For example, consider how many years it took for the market to move from radio to television, or fully accept personal computers on every desktop.

Marketing 92

Marketing Demand Examples Social Media 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2023

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. In today’s information overload, marketing is everything. Use every marketing channel available.

Case Study 89

Case Study Customer Custom Study 89

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2023

Technical entrepreneurs love their technology, and often are driven to launch a startup on the assumption that everyone will buy any solution which highlights this technology. Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Your passion isn’t enough to create a market. Neither is positive.

Customer 110

Customer Custom Social Media Technology 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Every entrepreneur needs to learn how to do this by starting with the six principles of User-Centered Design (UCD) , as outlined by Solis in his book, and already adopted by key International standards organizations: Apply multidisciplinary skills and perspectives. In today’s fast paced market, trends and user needs evolve.

Design 105

Design Customer Custom Product 105

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis. In order to reasonably assess the size of your addressable market, you must perform a bottoms-up analysis which is based on a number of elemental assumptions.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. In today’s information overload, marketing is everything. Use every marketing channel available.

Case Study 174

Case Study Startup Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2014

Unfocused entrepreneurs boast that their new technology will generate multiple disruptive products for consumers as well as enterprises around the world. Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Competition Technical Review Oracle 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

I often wonder whether you as the entrepreneur have worked as hard on your pricing strategy as you have on your innovative solution. If your innovation is real, it brings added value to the table, so most customers, especially early ones, are willing to pay a premium over competitive products.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Most entrepreneur that fail are quick to offer a litany of constraints that caused their demise – not enough money, time, customers, or support from the right players. The result, called resourcefulness, allows entrepreneurs to create opportunities in the face of scarcity. Every entrepreneur needs to avoid locked-in ways of thinking.

Resource 98

Resource Entrepreneur Competition Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2017

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. Even great products need great marketing “content” to fuel the ascent of their online message.

Content 67

Content Marketing Newsletter Writing 67

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve heard and seen hundreds of pitches from entrepreneurs, and the majority of founders are convinced that if you will just give them an hour or more time, you will love their business. Is there an educated marketplace waiting? That may sound easy, but I rarely see it happening.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2015

Aspiring entrepreneurs who rely only on traditional learning vehicles (teachers, classrooms, and risk-free practice) are doomed to failure in founding a startup today. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education. Relationships are a test of your learning readiness.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Education 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2022

Deciding to be an entrepreneur is a lifestyle move, and should be part of a long-term strategic plan. From my experience, and the experience of other entrepreneurs, here are the key elements you should think about as part of the process: Personal interests and aspirations. Education and training roadblocks.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Training Ideas 115

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Phoenix communities are celebrating because JPMorgan Chase has made several local charitable investments to support underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses with the goal of creating jobs and spark a growing economy. Supporting underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses helps revitalize communities and creates jobs,” Tripp said.

Invest 70

Invest Entrepreneur News Tips 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2013

Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. We can all point to examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college, but still went on to make a big impact.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Course Education 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2017

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. In the classic book “ The Entrepreneur Mind ,” from serial entrepreneur Kevin D. Johnson, he outlines 100 essential beliefs, insights, and habits of serious entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 71

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 71

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. In his book from a while back “ The Entrepreneur Mind ,” by serial entrepreneur Kevin D. Johnson, he outlines 100 essential beliefs, insights, and habits of serious entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2020

I believe these principles, paraphrased here, should be adopted by every entrepreneur struggling to accomplish innovation in a startup in any market: Innovation can come from anywhere in the organization. No technical analysis has the power of real-time user and market feedback. Spend twenty percent of work time on innovation.

Artificial Inteligence 165

Artificial Inteligence Google Startup Organization 165

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe their initial idea and inspiration requires the most important creative thinking. 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.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. 10) Rob, why does the world need RingRevenue? . “In

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

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

JUNE 6, 2020

Aspiring entrepreneurs who rely only on traditional learning vehicles (teachers, classrooms, and risk-free practice) are doomed to failure in anticipating change today. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education.

Social Media 127

Social Media Startup Education Entrepreneur 127

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2022

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Capital Examples 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Every entrepreneur needs to learn how to do this by starting with the six principles of User-Centered Design (UCD) , as outlined by Solis in his book, and already adopted by key International standards organizations: Apply multidisciplinary skills and perspectives. In today’s fast paced market, trends and user needs evolve.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2013

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. In his new book “ The Entrepreneur Mind ,” by serial entrepreneur Kevin D. Johnson, he outlines 100 essential beliefs, insights, and habits of serious entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs I know are just waiting for that unique idea to strike them that will kickstart their new venture, put them in control of their lifestyle, achieve financial independence, and maybe even change the world. You need complementary skills for marketing, financials, and operations.

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

Tech.Co

MAY 25, 2018

If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, technology has served you well. BlackTech Week was created in 2014, and in four short years, they’ve gained over 2700 participants, 150 speakers, and 3 pitch competitions. While winning pitch competitions is great, it’s not the most important thing about Startup of the Year.

Startup 141

Startup Technical Review Competition Software Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Many believe that entrepreneurs are born, not made. While I agree that successful company builders usually have a natural inclination to be entrepreneurs, a good education helps polish that apple. We can all point to examples of successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college, but still went on to make a big impact.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Course Education 105