Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2022

Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. A related “red flag” in a business plan is a missing competitive analysis section, or a short paragraph that essentially says, “this product has no competition.” Yet most products can be made dramatically cheaper as technologies improve.

Ideas 145

Ideas Startup Tips Competition 145

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2010

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” That implies competitive now, and the potential to stay in the lead.

Competition 89

Competition Patents IBM IBM 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

For the rest of us, we need a business plan, as well as a product plan. Some of you may be convinced that your product specification communicates the product message even better than a business plan, so why be redundant? Quantify the market opportunity in business terms. You need both to survive. and trademarks.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a long time ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Develop viral content.

Marketing 67

Marketing SEM Startup Blogging 67

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Develop viral content.

Marketing 99

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup SEM 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Even with product businesses, it’s the ultimate way to build your brand credibility, bring in customer leads, and get feedback from your target market. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility. Add content regularly.

Blogging 135

Blogging Services Search Engine Optimization Web 135

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

You need to first create a compelling product. Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. You need product / market fit. Product / market fit is everything.

Startup 401

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 401

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2015

In the last few years, Southern California has been a key market in launching mobile applications and services, due to a huge, mobile-savvy consumer population. San Diego is a great market for us, because it has strong smartphone usage, and a great, mixed demographic. We operate our site differently, here and in other markets.

San Diego 100

San Diego Mobile Marketing Sites 100

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. Who do you view as your biggest competition? You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. A hard look will be taken at the technology maturity, the current development progress, and customer satisfaction with early product shipments. Status of the solution. In addition, manufacturing and inventory levels will be reviewed.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Develop viral content.

Marketing 95

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 95

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Search engine marketing is simply buying advertising for your business from Google or another search engine company. Cost per click (CPC).

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

The CEO is the check and balance on the constant parallel pushes for more development, more marketing, and more growth. Most founders are product guys. They need an operational CEO who knows the market and the marketing game. Craft an operational plan and make it work. This includes the tactical as well as the strategic.

Startup 163

Startup eHarmony Networking Guide 163

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2011

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a couple of years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Develop viral content.

Marketing 90

Marketing Startup SEM Blogging 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2019

Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. A related “red flag” in a business plan is a missing competitive analysis section, or a short paragraph that essentially says, “this product has no competition.” Yet most products can be made dramatically cheaper as technologies improve.

Startup 80

Startup Ideas Competition Demand 80

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

Marketing your startup can be one of the most daunting tasks an entrepreneur faces on their journey to world domination. Marketing, however, is not always about what we as consumers need, but what we deeply desire. Just make it go away…. You need to be unique and compelling to be noticed. You need to be a unicorn.

Guide 105

Guide Startup Marketing Template 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

Few investors these days have the time or patience to read a full business plan, so a better way to catch their eye is with a tightly written and well formatted two-page executive summary. Skip the fuzzy marketing terms, such as "easier to use," "lower cost" and "disruptive technology."

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

In most cases, I provide some combination of the following advice: Brevity - Maximum length: two pages. Hopefully this straightforward format will help you avoid overly obtuse verbiage, while keeping your executive summary to two pages. Competition. Entrepreneurs routinely seek my advice regarding their executive summaries.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Traditionally, business software products have been specialized and focused toward a given task, but I see a trend these days to highly functional “all-in-one” business tools. You will also need business management tools, such as Quickbooks, Zoom, and Hubspot. Consolidated tools tend to be easier to use and cheaper than the old standbys.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

It’s no secret that the rate of failure of new business startups may be a high as ninety percent , so we all need all the help we can get, validating the opportunity, clearly positioning against competitors, projecting financials, and planning all the necessary marketing and operating activities. Prepare a business plan 20-page document.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

In that critical first minute, no one needs to hear that you have a passionate dream of changing the world, introducing new disruptive technology, or a product with more features than competitors. Lead with your best marketing pitch and conviction. Describe technology and features, not competitiveness.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. A hard look will be taken at the technology maturity, the current development progress, and customer satisfaction with early product shipments. Status of the solution. In addition, manufacturing and inventory levels will be reviewed.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. There are too many pages. This is part of a broader series on Board Meetings. It passes the weight test.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. You have a marketing department with three people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. So if you add people like me the target market is tens of millions. Far from it. Lots of it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2019

Even with product businesses, it’s the ultimate way to build your brand credibility, bring in customer leads, and get feedback from your target market. You should start blogging about your business before you have a product, to test interest and establish your credibility. Add content regularly.

Blogging 88

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Web Writing 88

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. I have seen really great product people espouse the death of the business plan. Do so at your peril.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

If they did they would be in constant violation because VCs often see 3-4+ companies in every market that they operation. Give everybody pages of the deck they’re to cover or parts of the demo for which they are to talk. Problem definition (with the market … it’s why you exist). Competition.

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

We raised this capital in what has increasingly become a difficult market for fund raising so I’d like to share with you some details on how we get it done. Fragmented markets can be a great target for disruption. And it’s easy to run circles around them as our product differentiation shows. Why is it so valuable?

Startup 150

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2010

Every time I see a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends.

Marketing 56

Marketing SEM Blogging Design 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

The elevator pitch should be the first few paragraphs of your business plan, your executive summary, your investor presentation, and the first page of your web site. I need your help in getting it to market.” Unlike [competition], we [differentiation].” Quantify the market. Present a sustainable competitive advantage.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

In marketing materials founders often refer to their customer base as a “community”, but there’s a huge gap between having customers and creating a community. The best businesses understand the difference and that communities are the single best advocates for others to buy your products. This had a dual purpose?—?the And it would be?—?but

Software 234

Software Startup Tool Platform 234

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I recommend a pitch deck with about 10 slides backed up with a written business plan of approximately 20 pages, both containing quantified answers to the following key questions. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The lessons learned by Divshot confirm that obtaining, and more importantly maintaining, visibility on the front page of a major social news site results from the congruence of three factors: audience, timing and engagement. If we hadn’t done well on Hacker News we would have needed to have some serious product/market fit discussions.".

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2012

Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. A related “red flag” in a business plan is a missing competitive analysis section, or a short paragraph that essentially says, “this product has no competition.” Yet most products can be made dramatically cheaper as technologies improve.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Ideas Competition Startup 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” Our product is truly disruptive technology.” Our patent will protect us.”

Patents 90

Patents Competition IBM IBM 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2017

Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. A related “red flag” in a business plan is a missing competitive analysis section, or a short paragraph that essentially says, “this product has no competition.” Yet most products can be made dramatically cheaper as technologies improve.

Ideas 55

Ideas Startup Competition Demand 55