Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Marketing, sales, support, and service operations. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Ideas Competition 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

The recent pandemic was a strong signal for change, and I see most of you entrepreneurs and business owners responding to the business changes required and new opportunities presented. When sales fall off, you need to dig deep for the “why,” rather than just assuming the price needs to go down.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Custom 162

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Cost of customer acquisition.

Metrics 106

Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Metrics Coach Competition 64

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I’d like to do a few posts on what life looks like on the way up and perhaps how to keep your head on straight and avoid drinking your own Kool Aid because as I often advise entrepreneurs on irrational exuberance, “ In a strong wind even turkeys can fly.” Create company measures for success that go beyond financial metrics.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. For example, quarterly sales on one of your most important products suddenly decreases, or your inventory across a whole category has surged. All weak signals need to be treated with a continuous innovation mindset and urgency, to stay competitive and current.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Examples 93

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Idea people often don’t get funded as entrepreneurs, because a new business is all about results, not just ideas. In my experience, competition is the biggest challenge here. This work requires market feedback, managing trials, and working with the sales team as well as developers. Enablement: provide support and human capital.

Activity 108

Activity Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 108

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. As an entrepreneur, what steps can you take to help your business not only survive the data hurricane, but to thrive under these new and challenging conditions? Data enable: use metrics and measurements. Accelerate: speed is life in this new world.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment. The basic alignment framework of strategy, customers, people, and processes hasn’t changed, but the pace of technological, competitive, and social change has increased at an amazing rate.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Yet in my experience on both sides of this equation, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs focus only on the best idea , assuming that it will attract the right investors. Investors love entrepreneurs who come across as constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and able to grasp the larger implications for market change.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that absorbs resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

As a business advisor, I meet many business professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs who are anxious to be their own boss , or have an innovative idea to start or acquire a new business. He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world. Document and communicate a solid business plan.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. A passionate entrepreneur I met a while back had found that a certain algae could be grown cheaply, and could end world hunger.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2015

Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. For example, quarterly sales on one of your most important products suddenly decreases, or your inventory across a whole category has surged. All weak signals need to be treated with a continuous innovation mindset and urgency, to stay competitive and current.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. For example, quarterly sales on one of your most important products suddenly decreases, or your inventory across a whole category has surged. All weak signals need to be treated with a continuous innovation mindset and urgency, to stay competitive and current.

eBook 111

eBook Metrics Examples Startup 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2012

These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment. The basic alignment framework of strategy, customers, people, and processes hasn’t changed, but the pace of technological, competitive, and social change has increased at an amazing rate.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Framework 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration. Don’t stand still.

Startup 112

Startup Metrics Coach Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration. Don’t stand still.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And there is so much money around being thrown at so many entrepreneurs that many firms don’t even care about board seats, governance rights or heaven forbid doing work with the company because that would eat into the VCs time needed to chase 5 more deals. And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Metrics 64

Metrics Coach Competition Ideas 64

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. As an entrepreneur, what steps can you take to help your business not only survive the data hurricane, but to thrive under these new and challenging conditions? Data enable: use metrics and measurements. Accelerate: speed is life in this new world.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

In today’s highly competitive ad environment, both content and data are kings. DTC entrepreneurs are more focused on immediate impact, because if they’re not selling product, there’s no large brand propping them up. If the entrepreneur has trouble answering this, it’s not going to work. The key takeaway?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

InfoChachkie

MARCH 9, 2019

As a Professor at UC Santa Barbara , I constantly battle Hollywood’s stereotype of the rapacious, maniacal businessperson, by teaching my students that Honesty is a competitive advantage. Michael Bloomberg, American Entrepreneur and Politician. Measure What Matters – The McDonald brothers were dogmatic about tracking metrics.

Startup 100

Startup Netflix Entrepreneur Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Solo entrepreneurs, with a team of helpers, will be assumed to be a hobby rather than a business.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Training 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Metrics 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. Investors are business experts, while the entrepreneur is more likely the product expert. Competitor positioning and sustainable competitive advantage.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2015

There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. As an entrepreneur, what steps can you take to help your business not only survive the data hurricane, but to thrive under these new and challenging conditions? Data enable: use metrics and measurements. Accelerate: speed is life in this new world.

Startup 106

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

Thus creating the right company culture must be a top priority of every entrepreneur and business leader. It’s easy to see how cultures go astray, for example, when you pay only for sales volume, but expect a high focus on customer satisfaction. Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. Place shapes culture.

Metrics 57

Metrics Startup Netflix Custom 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2016

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Solo entrepreneurs, with a team of helpers, will be assumed to be a hobby rather than a business.

Ideas 62

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Competition 62

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Every entrepreneur and business leader believes that he or she has the full trust of their team and their customers, and in fact most do in the beginning. Define metrics to measure what you want to achieve. For example, measuring marketing team members on sales leads may not get you the revenue growth or trust you expected.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Metrics 98

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Exposure instills the fear and urgency you need to deliver the right competitive solution.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Competition and sustainable advantage.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113