Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. It was a way to make it hard for your competition to compete. We wanted new things to exist and to solve new problems and to see our creations come to life.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup LAMP Marketing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

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. You should pick an idea that you can hand off quickly to investors, or one you can grow as a legacy for your family.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example , Bill Gates shared a mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett that increased the credibility of both, although their business domains were quite different. Proactively use metrics and customer feedback before a crisis hits, to recognize when a pivot or product adjustment is required.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

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. Use metrics to measure results of marketing initiatives. There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Custom 129

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. Show humility while acting as a mentor and coach. Granting trust is a strong signal that motivates returning the favor.

Mentor 98

Mentor News Summary Metrics 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

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. His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

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. Attract, train, and reward only the best leaders.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Organization 124

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 Customer Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. These metrics need the same top management attention as customer retention and sales metrics. Recruit, mentor, and promote talent to highlight opportunity. Healthy cultures have high morale, as well as low turnover, high rates of retention, and attract top talent.

Metrics 57

Metrics Startup Netflix Custom 57

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2014

He’s an incredibly smart investor and somebody that I actually consider to be a mentor to myself. Competition is fierce. He called me 15 months later excited to show me his metrics and wanted to talk about his A round. I reviewed a deal for a friend of mine tonight. He wanted to know what I thought of his technology deal.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Email 333

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

It must be written down, with measurable team objectives, validated by metrics and compared against competition. Provide coaching and mentoring as well as training. Maybe you still remember the days when competitive advantage was all about economies of scale, advertising power and service versus price.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

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. Manage the business with metrics and goals. Business objectives need to be quantified and measured to assess progress and positioning against competition.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

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. Use metrics to measure results of marketing initiatives. There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Metrics Customer 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

It takes a well-rounded and motivated team to run a competitive business today. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. Here is my prioritized list of best practices that I recommend to get you back on track: Focus on building an engaged and empowered team.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

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. In the startup world, this is often seen as a lack of focus.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

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. Use metrics to measure results of marketing initiatives. There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk.

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. Use metrics to measure results of marketing initiatives. There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk.

Resource 64

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Technical Review 64

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. In the startup world, this is often seen as a lack of focus.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

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 Custom 75

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. In the startup world, this is often seen as a lack of focus.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

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? Given likely market changes, how will we design and build so that the systems can respond to marketplace changes?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2017

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.

Tool 53

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 53

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

Every $10 million financing only puts more pressure on the founders to figure out how to hit the metrics to get to the next milestone and every company that raises $25 million puts a ton of pressure on their 10 competitors who haven’t. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors. Every founder knows this. Startups are All Naked in the Mirror.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

CEO Flow

JUNE 8, 2009

The internet has changed business – in helpful and challenging ways: * We have more information and metrics – and more confusion from all the clutter. * I’ve worked with, mentored and observed dozens of companies over the past couple of years. The company culture is pressured, competitive, political. *

Metrics 66

Metrics Slides Competition Activity 66

CEO Flow

JUNE 8, 2009

The internet has changed business – in helpful and challenging ways: * We have more information and metrics – and more confusion from all the clutter. * I’ve worked with, mentored and observed dozens of companies over the past couple of years. The company culture is pressured, competitive, political. *

Metrics 66

Metrics Slides Competition Activity 66

CEO Flow

JUNE 8, 2009

The internet has changed business – in helpful and challenging ways: * We have more information and metrics – and more confusion from all the clutter. * I’ve worked with, mentored and observed dozens of companies over the past couple of years. Are we working harder, under more pressure, but running in place?

Metrics 66

Metrics Startup Slides Activity 66

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Through ongoing analysis and refinement of existing processes, establishment of standards and metrics, team building and mentoring, Sergey has established a foundation and culture in which developers can flourish. Any competition in LA? We haven’t identified any competition in LA, specifically. Athletes can join for free.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

CEO Flow

JUNE 8, 2009

The internet has changed business – in helpful and challenging ways: * We have more information and metrics – and more confusion from all the clutter. * I’ve worked with, mentored and observed dozens of companies over the past couple of years. The company culture is pressured, competitive, political. *

Metrics 40

Metrics Slides Competition Activity 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

It’s important to define your growth strategy, document it, communicate it to your team, and align metrics and employee rewards to target goals. Utilize outside expertise and mentoring. No matter how much energy, experience, and passion you have, there is always more you can learn from an Advisory Board of external experts or a mentor.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Custom 160

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

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? Learning, Networking, Mentors From the question, this person is clearly looking at the issue of how to grow into this role.

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2015

These people are the ultimate chess players in the game of startups, always looking to be two or three moves ahead of the competition. That’s why I also put major emphasis on startup traction, milestones achieved and metrics rather than listening again to how great it’s going to be. Many might say Donald Trump epitomizes this category.

Startup 106

Startup Incubator Entrepreneur Metrics 106

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Though this was 2000 , and all startup & VC blogs we've grown to love didn't exist yet, I did have mentors available. No, that IS NOT a competitive advantage - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 12, 2010 This is part 1 of the series: 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches. Metrics availability. Make it unique.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217