Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Industry & market sizing. Start with the evolution of the overall industry, market segmentation, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Data from accredited market research groups like Forrester or Gartner is required for credibility. Avoid any statements like “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Industry & market sizing. Start with the evolution of the overall industry, market segmentation, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Data from accredited market research groups like Forrester or Gartner is required for credibility. Avoid any statements like “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2010

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Economies of scale also apply to marketing, distribution, and sales. Economies of scale.

Acquisition 85

Acquisition Startup Organization Competition 85

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Way back in the early eighties, I was privileged to be part of the original IBM PC development team, led by Don Estridge. For example, even though we were leading an entrepreneurial effort within IBM, we found it a challenge to deal with the inbred mainframe culture, reverence for process, and accounting practices of a large company.

IBM 85

IBM IBM Entrepreneur Technical Review 85

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Industry & market sizing. Start with the evolution of the overall industry, market segmentation, market dynamics, and customer landscape. Data from accredited market research groups like Forrester or Gartner is required for credibility. Avoid any statements like “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. Are you going to do all of this?

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Competing To Win Deals - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 7, 2010 The venture capital business is highly competitive. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2013

The hot term these days is “viral marketing”, meaning we won’t do any marketing, but our product is so great that everyone will know about us anyway by word of mouth and through Internet social networks. Investors like laser focus on a market-need causing real pain. It’s the market, stupid.” We have no competitors.”

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network IBM 111

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2012

It’s the market, stupid.” There is no substitute for understanding the market, and sizing the opportunity, before you climb out on a limb. “If In most cases, viral marketing only begins to work after you prime the pump with several million in real marketing over a couple of years. If we build it, they will come.”

Startup 95

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2011

The hot term these days is “viral marketing”, meaning we won’t do any marketing, but our product is so great that everyone will know about us anyway by word of mouth and through Internet social networks. Investors like laser focus on a market-need causing real pain. It’s the market, stupid.” We have no competitors.”

Startup 98

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2010

It’s the market, stupid.” There is no substitute for understanding the market, and sizing the opportunity, before you climb out on a limb. “If In most cases, viral marketing only begins to work after you prime the pump with several million in real marketing over a couple of years. If we build it, they will come.”

Startup 52

Startup Social Network IBM IBM 52