Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

But I would posit that in order to sustainably build great products in an intensely competitive industry with skills shortages – people management is one of the most critical soft skills organizations need. I think as a tech industry we have bred a culture that places more emphasis on product excellence than managing human behavior.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

Nobody commits, nobody wants to set a price, nobody wants to stick their neck out then BOOM! I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

New investors sometimes want early investors to put in money to “prove” they have confidence in the new price. some may get caught out paying too high of prices for what perhaps will be great deals but not at the prices being paid. So the answer is: sometimes they take it, sometimes they don’t.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2011

What has set us aside from the competition, is we built our own back end telco platform. It is a competitive environment. Those networks also tend to come and go--just look at MySpace, which was huge, and now it's just been purchased for a tenth of the price it was sold for last. Bryan Hertz: That's a good question.

Social Network 259

Social Network Platform Networking Google 259

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Ask for help reviewing your press release. Ask them for a meeting to review your pricing strategy with you. Ask them to mention you to the press, speak about you on stage when they do public events, whatever. In Rob’s spare time he always seems to be going to a boxing class or some other competitive, physical activity.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. In the case of MakeSpace we had huge initial successes in New York City as Rahul led the scaling of our drivers, our trucks and our warehouses and we figured out the right price points to beat the local competition.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

o Huge on PR, “Be Everywhere” is his motto – fly to NY, proactively everywhere he could get press. People want to invest in people they trust – once you’ve made money for someone you can always go back, and even get better pricing. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

An investment doesn’t guarantee your product will suddenly be on the investor’s price sheet. Customers Include: Reuters, Associated Press, , Dow Jones, Ask.com , healthcare companies, and major investment banks and hedge funds. FTC is considering an investigation into Apple’s anti-competitive practices.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Startup 134

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash It’s also true that there will be tough moments in your company’s journey where you will want to be able to carry people behind the tough decisions you want. But what are the KEY ISSUES management is grappling with. You can write this as a narrative in 3–5 key bullet points.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Contrary to some press reporting, the boom in startups, the creation of accelerators and seed funds as well as the deserved popularity of AngelList do not signal doom for our industry. Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

If a consumer will pay a fixed price for a product or service then the battle over who gets the margin in any sale is between the person who merchandises a product and the person who manufactures it. The press around the Parachute Home Hotel itself was worth the effort of having created it. I don’t use the word ‘spectacular’ lightly.

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

InfoChachkie

JULY 28, 2015

Even the eccentric King of Pop communicated the price he was willing to pay for Neverland. Our response was that there was no “price” as our company was not for sale. We then turned Citrix’s question around, saying, “You knocked on our door with an intent to buy so you obviously have some idea of the price you are willing to pay.

Company 100

Company Companies Santa Barbara Pricing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2019

Much has been written recently about the requirement to focus today on the total customer experience, as a competitive edge or even for survival. Expedia and Travelocity do this by checking all the ways you can get from one city to another, with current prices, including connections to rental cars and hotels when you get there.

Customer 96

Customer Custom Coach Pricing 96

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

The price for one of these machines starts off at GBP 649 or about $1,000. The 3D scanner is very simple to use, just place the object on the tray and press a button and voila! All this funding will give the 3D scanner an affordable price point and its high quality scans an appeal that no one can look away from.

Design 77

Design Startup Press Pricing 77

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

How could Bird really be worth the reported $2 billion valuation that I read about in this press? You can expect some strong competition, but it’s unlikely that there will be 5 great scooter companies. One huge advantage the early-movers have is “density.”

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2023

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Competition Press Commerce 82

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

As a VC I of course want you to come see only me because that means I have no competition and have time to properly get to know you. If you fold simply because they haven’t responded to your last two emails you won’t have success in business development, sales, press, recruiting … anything.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

Tech.Co

JULY 5, 2016

Built to be speedy, maneuverable, and conduct stunts at the press of a button, the Nano has a lot of competition on the market. Priced slightly above the most basic offerings, Sky Viper focuses on intuitive controls and ease of use. Price: $28 – $40. Where to buy: Toys-R-Us , Amazon.

Pricing 71

Pricing Press Design Entertainment 71

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 7, 2013

Data centers are a strategic layer of the value chain: data center efficiencies and deployments are some of Google’s key competitive advantages and trade secrets. At the time of acquisition, the press primarily asserted that Google bought Motorola to help protect Android’s legal intellectual property in court.

Google 92

Google Web .Net Yahoo 92

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

LPs have followed the recent press about the over-valuation and over-funding of the startup industry, and they experience these phenomena first hand. But here’s the chart that should hearten all new firms … 40% of LPs tell us that they’re looking to add new names to their rosters.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital Marketing Seed Funding 150

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 21, 2014

The conversation moves into Zeroblock’s upcoming plans to implement trading API’s, a robust front-end interface for trading, as well as goals to create a standardized protocol in connecting different exchanges (thereby leveling out bitcoin prices across the board). Despite bad press (Silk Road, Mt Gox, etc.)

Startup 104

Startup Venture Capital Draper Invest 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2017

We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Thus, here is my own reframing of the authors generalized rules into some specifics for an entrepreneur or business leader: Reframe competitive threats to opportunities.

Entrepreneur 56

Entrepreneur Competition Press Mentor 56

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

She can anticipate reactions to price increases or product changes by customers and she can sustain competitive challenges because she knows the customer will stick by her. A regular dialog with peers can be more valuable than reading any amount of tech press and in many cases more valuable than even board input.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue press releases citing differences and attack the competition’s weaknesses in sales presentations. You know, frenemies. When Enemies are Good.

Cloud Computing 320

Cloud Computing Competition Press Startup 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

It has even gone so far that we now have evocative headlines in the tech press such as “ Buy or Die ,” which is what got me thinking about this post. But the press (and I suspect many of the senior execs of these companies) don’t really explore the corrosive downside of these acquisition. Woo the press.

Press 357

Press Startup Yahoo Venture Capital 357

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. Agree to Bundling Without a Minimum Price. If you do not assign a price tag to your engineers’ time, an aggressive BDC could quickly consume all of your technical resources, precluding you from executing other technical initiatives. Do Not Agree to Bundling Without a Minimum Price.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

Step 6: Full Court Press – If you identify an appropriate cadre of investors, gain their attention online, obtain a referral from a trusted source and then exceed the expectations you set, obtaining adequate capital will be relatively easy. His secret was to invite multiple buyers to view the car at approximately the same time.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

I’ve tried over the years to write many times about the realism of the downsides of being an entrepreneur because there is a complete cognitive dissidence between what you read about yourself in the press and what you feel internally about where you’re at in the journey. Why We Need Sympathy for Those with Depression.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Think about this: The investment banks and trading houses across the globe have invested billions of dollars in computing equipment and staff in order to process news that affects stock prices milliseconds before the rest of the market can process & transact on this same information. Twitter is a valuable and unique service.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2012

So the most obvious pivot for them is to repurpose the technology platform, to make it solve a more pressing, more marketable, or just a more solvable problem as you learn from customers. One pivot is to change your focus from a premium price, customized solution, to a low price commoditized solution. Product feature pivot.

Customer 94

Customer Custom Sales Product 94

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2010

So the most obvious pivot for them is to repurpose the technology platform, to make it solve a more pressing, more marketable, or just a more solvable problem as you learn from customers. One pivot is to change your focus from a premium price, customized solution, to a low price commoditized solution. Product feature pivot.

Startup 88

Startup Customer Custom Sales 88

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 13, 2013

The competition was fierce and the winner was…… Airping! You get a list or map of hotels that you can filter by price and rating. Press this and the app will determine the next flight to your destination and will get you on it. printing press problems for the Washington Post or a water pump down for the Monterey Acquarium).

Java 94

Java Google Press PHP 94