Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

One of the key sections of any business plan is the analysis of the competition. Investors take that to mean either 1) there is no market for your product, or 2) you don’t understand the concept of business and competition. It will certainly also decrease profitability over time, as well as test your sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 86

Startup Competition Pricing Framework 86

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

The framework of his book has profoundly altered how I think about the technology market and affects how I thought about building my businesses and how I think about investing in venture capital. In fact, the incumbent is usually very dismissive of this new competition as our the large buyers of the incumbent’s products.

Startup 376

Startup Framework Marketing Customer 376

Berkonomics

JULY 9, 2011

Turning these into statements instead of questions provides a framework for the sales presentation from the highest levels of collateral materials and marketing support, to the salesperson on the front line. Product differentiation is absolutely necessary to make a sale when there is visible competition, as there usually is in any sale.

Sales 222

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 222

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2012

A while back, I wrote about the value of Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment, and using every opportunity to highlight and emphasize your relative advantages, whether they be price, features, or bargaining power.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Startup Organization 104

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Let’s set up a framework. A Framework to Guide You: So putting it all together, you should always be mindful of your personal circumstances and market conditions. On the other hand, exits at lower prices are easier with these providers of capital. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2013

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. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Startup 94

Startup Social Media Entrepreneur Framework 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2012

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. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Framework 93

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

It's quite a different framework from an Airbnb or HomeAway. By that time, I had figured out the cadence of pricing for hotel rooms, and had been traveling back and forth between LA and San Francisco for three or four days each week. Plus, prices were starting at $180. It gives our hosts an opportunity to not live by a calendar.

Startup 100

Startup Los Angeles Mobile Pricing 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

So I thought I’d try to lay out a framework for how you should think about it as many you will inevitably be faced with this experience. You may find that when you want to sell your company it is harder to get a fair price. If you thought it was hard to sell your product to the competition try selling your company.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur Framework 279

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 26, 2013

Competition abounds, mostly in the form of Lyft , another Bay Area-based purveyor of ride-shares. Allen tells me that he and his team realized that car ownership is down, gas prices are up and far too many drivers are cruising the streets alone, which causes more traffic and increases carbon emissions.

Google 92

Google Technical Review Santa Monica Framework 92

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 13, 2013

The competition was fierce and the winner was…… Airping! You get a list or map of hotels that you can filter by price and rating. Java Web App built on the Spring Framework. Not only did they get all types of swag and great food, these hackers got to be some of the first to build on APIs from AT&T and American Airlines.

Java 94

Java Google Press PHP 94

Tech.Co

MARCH 1, 2018

That’s why Canecto developed a cutting-edge, AI framework designed to be a web analytics assistant and help provide owners relevant insights around their customer base and learn how visitors interact with their content. Price: $1.99 Tapping into a niche community is part of Quirktastic Media’s competitive advantage.

Startup 80

Startup Mentor Platform Help 80

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

While there is no right or wrong answer, having seen the extremes I’d like to offer you a framework for considering the right answer for yourselves. So let’s consider a bad (but likely) scenario where either you don’t hit your targets, the market sours or competition is kicking your butt making it hard to fund raise.

Venture Capital 314

Venture Capital Startup Invest Pricing 314

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

My goal is to lay out a basic framework for anybody unsure whom to listen to as a way of helping you think about a way to orient your own views. This market structure in which the few, large players use their market position to eliminate competition is inevitable. It’s Hobbesian economics 101. Enter the decentralized Internet.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280