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. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. The smart ones were already working on new features, and able to counter competition quickly.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

For example , when Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, his real goal was building safe products to help the environment. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring. He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

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. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. Even a great initial product, with no follow-on, won’t keep you ahead of competitors very long.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Custom 129

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. Each of these can go astray as follows: Your product or service hits unexpected snags.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 131

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

By being proactive, and empowering and rewarding your frontline employees for improving processes, you will enhance your business productivity and growth in both the short term as well as the long term. Don’t wait for a short-term crisis, or a long-term one, to force process improvements. Build and model a high-performance culture.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Organization 124

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. Bottlenecks to team productivity. Lack of communication.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

Once this product-first, customer-second, and employee-last culture is set, it is extremely hard to change. Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. These metrics need the same top management attention as customer retention and sales metrics. Yet, in the long run, your people are your business.

Metrics 57

Metrics Startup Netflix Custom 57

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. Bottlenecks to team productivity. Lack of communication.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105

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. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. Even a great initial product, with no follow-on, won’t keep you ahead of competitors very long.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Metrics Customer 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. Bottlenecks to team productivity. Lack of communication.

Resource 52

Resource Training Entrepreneur Activity 52

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. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. Even a great initial product, with no follow-on, won’t keep you ahead of competitors very long.

Startup 113

Startup Resource Metrics Entrepreneur 113

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. Most experts agree that a great team is more important than a great product. Manage the business with metrics and goals.

Ideas 72

Ideas Startup Metrics Entrepreneur 72

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. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. Even a great initial product, with no follow-on, won’t keep you ahead of competitors very long.

Resource 64

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Technical Review 64

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

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. I understand the desire for hiring someone who is going to product product. How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition?

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. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value.

Tool 53

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 53

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. Highlight your productivity and efficiency rather than workload. Help your owner get beyond the misleading metrics of employee overtime and salary increases.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Custom 75

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

As an industry we need to pay attention to those who are struggling as they build their startups and make sure we pay as much attention to the mental stresses of the job as we do to the business challenges like shipping product, hiring staff and raising money. Advisors / Coaches / Mentors. Every founder knows this.

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. * We can develop and deploy products faster – far beyond our clients’ ability to absorb them. * 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. * We can develop and deploy products faster – far beyond our clients’ ability to absorb them. * The company culture is pressured, competitive, political. *

Metrics 66

Metrics Slides Competition Activity 66

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Founded in the summer of 2011 and their first product out a few weeks ago amSTATS wants to help users to follow fitness events and programs near them and find a great fitness trainer to help them stay fit. Any competition in LA? We haven’t identified any competition in LA, specifically. Braintree Payment integration is another.

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. * We can develop and deploy products faster – far beyond our clients’ ability to absorb them. * Are we working harder, under more pressure, but running in place?

Metrics 66

Metrics Startup Slides 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. * We can develop and deploy products faster – far beyond our clients’ ability to absorb them. * The company culture is pressured, competitive, political. *

Metrics 40

Metrics Slides Competition Activity 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

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. New entrepreneurs, especially technical ones, are excited by early adopters, and tend to focus on their feedback, which will always suggest more product features and options.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Custom 160

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition? How are we going to manage the product roadmap?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2015

As an angel investor, I get requests almost every day to review a new product or website, and provide feedback on its potential success. Yet I can’t remember the last time any entrepreneur asked me to assess personal potential, despite the fact that most investors will admit they invest in the person more than the product.

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