Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. That’s a deadly waste you can’t afford. Underutilizing people skills.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Customer 129

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

Innovative technologies require iterative development, while other ideas are primarily marketing and financial. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring. You may be comfortable driving your future based on vision and emotion, or have long been a stickler for details and metrics.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics. I have tried to convince him the general idea alone does not make a business.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Unfortunately, many aspiring leaders I mentor are not aware of the signals people are looking for, or are not attuned to the subtleties of their own actions. 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 Coach 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

Strategic threats, including new competitors, market changes, and environmental issues need deeper analysis and full resolution, before they jeopardize your business survival. It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Metrics Entrepreneur 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

It takes a well-rounded and motivated team to run a competitive business today. They have to be energized and able to adapt as the market and competitors demand. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. Traditional mission statements are not enough.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2017

Yet, in my experience as a mentor to entrepreneurs, the majority of failures I see are related to starting and growing the business, not developing the solution. Don’t assume anything until you have done market research and listened to real customers. In today’s world, the market evolves even faster than the technology.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

Startup 113

Startup Resource Metrics Entrepreneur 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

Resource 64

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Customer 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. That’s a deadly waste you can’t afford. Underutilizing people skills.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that absorbs resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. That’s a deadly waste you can’t afford. Underutilizing people skills.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2018

The last thing they can afford is to waste any of these, but in my mentoring and coaching activities, I see it happening all too often. Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. That’s a deadly waste you can’t afford. Underutilizing people skills.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

Most often at the earliest point in the life of a startup, the dominant need is certainly to produce product to get something in the market, get funding, etc. Given likely market changes, how will we design and build so that the systems can respond to marketplace changes? What options do we have? How do we balance those options?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Owners realize that customers and the market change rapidly these days, and innovative change is necessary to keep ahead of competition and survive. Help your owner get beyond the misleading metrics of employee overtime and salary increases. Accept and capitalize on change. Recommend ways to improve team engagement and culture.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Fight the urge do more things, to attract more customers in a broader market. In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

Given likely market changes, how will we design and build so that the systems can respond to marketplace changes? How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition? What metrics are going to be the key startup metrics and how do we get those metrics without too much cost?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. The collapse of the IPO market and dysfunctional math in the venture capital community has stacked the odds against you. Here’s why. Take a look at the chart below.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217