Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Whenever you write your deck and send it out I think you should actually think to yourself, “my competitors are probably going to read this one day and this will be forwarded widely” and if your response isn’t “so what!” Competition isn’t won or lost by your marketing decks?—?it’s What should not be in your deck? A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Competition 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

The Internet and the current information wave have changed everything. The challenge is to find the time and initiative to keep up with the information wave, and be able to curate the data into knowledge that must be learned, unlearned, or relearned. The act of communicating and writing enhances learning.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. .

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. The discipline of writing down your plan is the best way to make sure you understand how to transform your idea into a business, and how to communicate it. In today’s information age, it takes time and money to make your solution visible.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

In addition, the discipline of producing it, like writing a business plan, will help you immensely in understanding the key elements that drive you and your business. I often hear the excuse that writing a book takes precious time away from building and running your business, which you cannot afford.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Dropping that name will often immediately draw a response if the decision maker is curious or particularly competitive. Just remember, selling can be a strip–tease in which you reveal very little in the name of confidentiality, making it appear to be valuable comparative information.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Hiring in any new venture needs to be a structured and high priority task, not the ad hoc informal process I see in many startups that are struggling to grow: Crisis mode hiring rather than planned team growth. You need the very best to maintain a competitive edge, and get the satisfaction you want for you and your team members.

Organization 104

Organization Entrepreneur Satisfaction Screening 104

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

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. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down. Conversation inviting. Great content is conversation.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? That chart has information on it. Others were removed.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. You need somebody who is helping push out information on what is up-and-coming in the company. In a startup this is a mistake.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Blogging Press 349

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2020

The Internet and the current information wave have changed everything. The challenge is to find the time and initiative to keep up with the information wave, and be able to curate the data into knowledge that must be learned, unlearned, or relearned. The act of communicating and writing enhances learning.

Social Media 127

Social Media Startup Education Entrepreneur 127

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

It’s why in this article I advise that people “market today not futures” because you don’t want your playbook in the hands of the competition. The reality is that a journalist who’s writing a story about you – a relatively unknown entity – wants to hear directly from the founders and/or the CEO.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 4, 2016

In modern society we’re all over-worked and over-loaded with information and tasks and to-dos and obligations. It’s hard enough building a valuable product or service in competitive global markets without spending time on unproductive tasks. That’s why focus is critical.

Innocal 255

Innocal Conference Help Study 255

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2020

For example, if I were to have a room full of bouncing balls, we couldn't share that today because of the amount of information involved. The win is we don't have to exchange all that information. If you have a bunch of bouncing balls, they all bounce identically, and you don't have to exchange information.

Platform 168

Platform Startup Web Examples 168

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

Bill Gates, for example, maintained an information sharing relationship with Warren Buffett for many years, and both will attest to the learning they achieved from the other. Write a business plan for your first startup. In many cases, you can learn more from someone in an industry not exactly like yours.

Satisfaction 135

Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Hiring in any new venture needs to be a structured and high priority task, not the ad hoc informal process I see in many startups that are struggling to grow: Crisis mode hiring rather than planned team growth. You need the very best to maintain a competitive edge, and get the satisfaction you want for you and your team members.

Organization 135

Organization Entrepreneur Satisfaction Screening 135

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

It may be time for you to start your own blog, write a book, or volunteer as a speaker at public events in your domain. How you communicate informally and spend your time is as important as the decisions you make as a leader. In many cases, the challenge may just be your ability to market yourself, and what you know.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Course Satisfaction Guide 132

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. The funding rounds will also build customer confidence and they’ll help journalists feel air cover in writing your more important pieces when you brag about customers, traction, revenue or whatever. But first you need to know about Reg D filings.

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2020

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. In the competitive realm of business, you only get one chance to make a great first impression. Contact information should always be included.

Writing 125

Writing Entrepreneur Summary Email 125

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

They might not actively “collude&# and say “let’s collectively keep the price down&# but in the resulting discussion pricing information will flow – whether intentional or not. To be crystal clear – I think AngelList is awesome and I have NEVER heard Nivi or Naval ever reveal or discuss pricing information.

Pricing 292

Pricing Entrepreneur Technical Review Venture Capital 292

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. Current and past titles don’t convey this information. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

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. How do people drive SEO growth?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

The volume of Tweets is enormous and growing at a rapid pace so tools are emerging to help brands manage this information. Twitter, by contrast, started as an open platform where people let anybody see what they were writing. People write their thoughts knowing that anybody else can see them.

Social Network 235

Social Network Writing Tool Startup 235

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

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. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down. They are a shortcut that can put you far ahead of your competition.

Content 67

Content Marketing Newsletter Writing 67

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Dipping: As a decision maker you rely on information being passed to you by the people who report to you. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. But as a CEO you can’t rely solely on this information.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Albert Wenger from Union Square Ventures wrote a great post the other day that reminded me I’ve been meaning to write about this topic. “My desire for this “Opposing Views Reader” is related to my concern about information cascades. In general, we seem to be building too many positive re-enforcement systems on the web.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Soleil is paranoid about leaking design & product information because she’s been burned.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. Therefore of course they need to be more selection when writing checks and can’t spread their bets across 75 deals. million round I might write $1.8 – 2.2 This is the same way VC firms, by the way.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2014

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down. They are a shortcut that can put you far ahead of your competition.

Startup 103

Startup Content Newsletter Writing 103

socalTECH

JUNE 30, 2009

FreedomSpeaks is a startup developing a business around connecting people with information about their political representatives, and also enabling organizations and others to do the same. I am someone who likes to interact with my Representatives and Senators, by way of writing letters, emailing, and what not.

Startup 100

Startup Writing Southern California Email 100

socalTECH

MARCH 21, 2011

There was a real opportunity for me to arbitrage the last decade and a half of my experience in the Internet, and apply that to a products company, and to get some real competitive advantage. Having a strong presence online and strong, positive word of mouth in a relevant audience is a real competitive advantage.

Web 225

Web Social Media SEO Media 225

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2012

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down. They are a shortcut that can put you far ahead of your competition.

Content 99

Content Startup Newsletter Writing 99

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73