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

Berkonomics

AUGUST 23, 2012

By carefully recognizing and focusing upon the very core of the business, these CEOs are allocating their scarce cash resources to hire the best talent they can find to support that core business, and then reaching out to partners, independent contractors, and other small businesses to provide all other functions.

Patents 159

Patents Training Advertising Resource 159

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2012

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential startup investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. No one said it would be easy!

Competition 97

Competition Patents Startup Social Network 97

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

As an investor, I always listen carefully to what an entrepreneur says, and does not say, about competition. Every business area has competition and every customer has alternatives, so a smart entrepreneur needs to acknowledge these as a positive in defining a big market, and position the features of a new solution in this context.

Competition 107

Competition Entrepreneur Patents Customer 107

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

They simply don’t have the resources to keep ahead of large competitors who see initial traction and go after it. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

Startups simply don’t have the resources to keep ahead of large competitors who see initial traction and go after it. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

Fourth: Financial risk. Any new enterprise is at risk if there are not enough resources to get the company to breakeven, which is a proxy for stability. And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Berkonomics

JULY 18, 2019

By carefully recognizing and focusing upon the very core of the business, these CEO’s are allocating their scarce cash resources to hire the best talent they can find to support that core business, and then reaching out to partners, independent contractors, and other small businesses to provide all other functions.

Patents 120

Patents Resource Training Advertising 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. They can also connect you to area businesses.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. Some argue to simply eliminate software patents, while others put their hopes in U.S. There is no such thing as a world-wide patent.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

No new venture can muster the resources and expertise to attack all these opportunities concurrently, so I recommend a clear and quantified focus on one to maintain credibility. Unfortunately, startups with an innovative product but no protection are quickly overrun by larger competitors with more resources.

Funding 132

Funding Template Resource Competition 132

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

Any new enterprise is at risk if there are not enough resources to get the company to breakeven, which is a proxy for stability. And fifth: Competitive risk. . This is sometimes labeled “execution risk” addressing whether management can create and run the company producing the product acceptable to the marketplace.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. People are your best innovation resource. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Accountability.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep. Are you ready to make it happen?

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In fact, I think the evidence is clear that many entrepreneurs started their journey while still in college, and capitalized on all the resources there, before moving on: Extend your technology focus with business basics. Every school recognizes the power of “hands-on” work to help you develop your own ideas into a business.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

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 patent will protect us.” We all recognize that there are no guarantees.

Patents 90

Patents Competition IBM IBM 90

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. People are your best innovation resource. Sustainable innovation is really the only sustainable competitive advantage. Accountability.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. Some resources on this: Intellectual Property is More Than Patents Does My Startup Have Intellectual Property? He tells us you'll get the following benefits from talking to lots of people: There are lots of benefits to talking to people. False Confidence.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2022

I call this linear thinking , and it’s a sure way to be ultimately overrun by your competition. For example, Elon Musk, who owns many battery patents , normally kept for a competitive edge, decided to open them all to any competitors in an effort to expand the market for his electric vehicles.

Competition 139

Competition Examples Customer Custom 139

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. They can also connect you to area businesses.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2010

One of the toughest and yet most important questions you will be asked by savvy potential investors is “What is your sustainable competitive advantage?” Yet many entrepreneurs, maybe in their passion for their new product, gloss over this one, or even announce that they have no competition. Proven team with inside relationships.

Competition 49

Competition Tips Patents Startup 49

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Will the solution give you an “unfair competitive advantage,” meaning no competitor already has it, or can replicate your solution without your skills or intellectual property. Don’t try to explain your technical implementation, your patent algorithm, or your unfair competitive advantage here. Do include some quantification.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. Some resources on this: Intellectual Property is More Than Patents Does My Startup Have Intellectual Property? He tells us you'll get the following benefits from talking to lots of people: There are lots of benefits to talking to people. False Confidence.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

First-to-market’ is not a sustainable competitive advantage for startups, since sleeping giants do wake up when they see traction, and they can smash newcomers quickly. Patents and trademarks are very valuable in attracting investors for scaling, as well as future premium buyouts. Willing to start today and find resources later.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2014

We did get a patent on our first, snap-on camera mount, but maybe if we had put a little more resources and time into solidifying those patents, so they were not easily worked around would have been good. It''s prevented outside competition from coming in, and prevented anyone from taking up any decent market share from us.

Startup 196

Startup Van Nuys Patents Santa Barbara 196

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Any new enterprise is at risk if there are not enough resources to get the company to breakeven, which is a proxy for stability. And fifth: Competitive risk. . This is sometimes labeled “execution risk” addressing whether management can create and run the company producing the product acceptable to the marketplace.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. As an example of a good resource, I enjoyed the classic book, “ Idea To Invention ,” by Patricia Nolan-Brown, that does a great job on the key steps. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2012

The first purpose of a strategy is to organize and reallocate your resources to increase return on the amount of money invested in your startup to-date. All strategic and business thinking must lead to immediate action to increase sales and profitability potential, relative to your competition. Form a basis for making better decisions.

Startup 99

Startup Competition IP Patents 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

So before you decide to move your manufacturing, software development, or call center out of town, make sure you understand the following considerations: Don’t give someone else control of your competitive advantage. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive.

Software Review 114

Software Review Technical Review Outsource Development Outsource 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Of course, existing patents don’t stop you from innovating, but charging ahead into a wall is no fun.

Ideas 106

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

The bad news is that many are already doing it, with competition growing, so the longer you wait, the less chance you have of getting there first. In a new startup, there is tremendous competitive value in registering intellectual property early, but you don’t need to contract these tasks to expensive experts any longer.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Outsource Development 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

So before you decide to move your manufacturing, software development, or call center out of town, make sure you understand the following considerations: Don’t give someone else control of your competitive advantage. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. Finally, implementation requires a commitment of real money and other resources that can’t be written off so easily as an idea ahead of it’s time. Yes, there are a lot of bridges to cross.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

The first purpose of a strategy is to organize and reallocate your resources to increase return on the amount of money invested in your startup to-date. All strategic and business thinking must lead to immediate action to increase sales and profitability potential, relative to your competition. Intellectual property (IP).

Startup 92

Startup Competition IP Patents 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Each of these activities should have associated costs and resource requirements. Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. Development schedule and checkpoints.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124