Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons. Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. Give yourself the “So-what?” Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Are you cynical about their chances in the market just because they seem to be hot in the press and that bugs you? I’m a news junkie and love to watch the Sunday morning talk shows like Meet the Press, This Week with Christiane Amanpour or Shields & Brooks on The News Hour on Fridays. I hear views like this all the time.

Startup 313

Startup Press Writing News 313

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. Have an in-house professional services team that implements your software. I wrote about The Importance of Professional Services here. It’s where the truly innovative separate themselves from the pack.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

Writers can submit their scripts into these programs, and the dashboards make it convenient to track, and it also allows them to track placement and their scores in these competitions. I had a screenwriter friend in Los Angeles, who asked me to work on a service for him. We saw that was a fairly disorganized and ad-hoc process.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2015

Then we launched our service in NYC and in just one year captured 2% of all new storage customers in our target demo in just one year with almost no marketing budget. We offered a service that has a net promoter score of 87 placing us higher than such great brands as USAA, Costco, Apple and Amazon.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Press .Net Customer 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. But many people benefitted.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. This revenue share comes after the YouTube split.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

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. What is it, really? even a DTC company?—?if

Product 296

Product Course Customer Custom 296

socalTECH

JULY 7, 2011

With the proliferation of social networks, communications clients and VoIP phone services, users often find they need to use multiple ways--Twitter, Facebook, phone, FAX, and more--to communicate with their contacts. To try to understand the service's strategy, we spoke with Bryan Hertz,CEO of Telcentris, the parent firm of VoxOx.

Social Network 259

Social Network Platform Networking Google 259

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 3, 2016

While firms define platforms differently, let’s just say they are the services that a VC offers outside of investment capital and partner time on boards or providing intros. Examples of VC platform services include: recruiting, marketing, design support, inside sales reps, consulting, accounting services and so forth.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Platform Startup Resource 150

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most newspapers are written at a third-grade reading level, White House press releases average a fourth-grade reading level and the New York Times is easily digestible by the average fifth grader. Competition. As best-selling author Stephen King once said, "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.”

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons. Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. Give yourself the “So-what?” Marty Zwilling.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

It’s an interesting tactic that seems unusual in a competitive business environment, but makes sense when considering the constantly expanding sea of cyber threats—and solutions—through which organizations must wade. The alliance plans to add more members, according to the press release. Membership is by invitation only.

Press 40

Press Symantec Organization IBM 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Ask for help reviewing your press release. Ask them to mention you to the press, speak about you on stage when they do public events, whatever.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

InfoChachkie

APRIL 13, 2015

In many cases, you can stand firm on price by demonstrating that your overall cost is lower than the competition. Instead of guessing what the competitor''s discounted price might be, I looked at our client''s total cost of ownership for each service. Typical cost for call center reps was around 40 cents per minute at that time.

Pricing 100

Pricing Startup Sales SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons. Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. Give yourself the “So-what?” Marty Zwilling.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

3. We then addressed competition in the context of SiteAdvisor and how it is important for journalists, customers, and the companies themselves. 4. This mention of journalists and how they frame stories led to a quick discussion of how it is important to build meaningful, real relationships with the press (i.e. “be

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2014

Put out regular press releases for search purposes and general visibility. Gather leads online from your social media initiatives, mine your contacts, attend trade shows, and use lead-generation services. Find partners and channels which are complementary, and not directly competitive. Generate leads for your product.

Marketing 102

Marketing Funding Social Media SEM 102

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 7, 2014

Small Business, Big Impact,” will also offer training to help owners take their companies to the next competitive level. · Building A New Business Model For High Impact Businesses. As of 2014, GBF has provided $20 million in support, one-third of the way to its $60 million goal. · Making a Service Year Part of American Life.

Training 71

Training Networking Funding Services 71

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. How profitable is my product or service? What sized team can I afford in order to sell, market & provide service to these customers? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw recently, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons. Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. Give yourself the “So-what?” Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

Reportedly, Softbank and Zynga have discussed jointly distributing games through Softbank’s mobile-phone service in Japan and other countries. Online service offering privacy certification for web sites. Similar service to Verisign for SSL certificates and e-commerce transactions and McAfee SECURE (HackerSafe) for online retailers.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 7, 2013

To understand that assertion, let’s observe how and when Google encroached on each layer of the technology value chain required to access any web service. Web browser – even a functional computer with an OS isn’t enough to access most Google services. Google’s vision is the most ambitious of its peers.

Google 92

Google Web .Net Yahoo 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2013

Put out regular press releases for search purposes and general visibility. Gather leads online from your social media initiatives, mine your contacts, attend trade shows, and use lead-generation services. Find partners and channels which are complementary, and not directly competitive. Generate leads for your product.

Marketing 106

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 106

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Booyah – Develops a location based service platform that pairs the virtual world with mobile gaming. million users making it considerably larger than some of its peers that have historically received more tech press inches. The SimpleGeo API will provide you access to these services. Competition: McAfee , Symantec.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

If you give away your product or service to the first 10 customers, that’s a good learning experience, but it’s not real traction. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Jason Nazar

JULY 1, 2016

I’m all for having a healthy respect for competition, but large company employees are often childishly obsessed about what their counterparts are doing. Entrepreneurs blindly forge ahead, often not knowing enough about the competition. It’s the values, work habits & personalities of the people servicing the product and customers.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Company Companies Outsource Development 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I just saw today, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons. Parroting a generic message that you have great service, great value, and a great selection says you have nothing unique. Give yourself the “So-what?” Marty Zwilling.

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 1, 2010

Escort Services – Make a personal connection with someone willing to escort you through the front door and allow you to pass the corporate sentries unmolested. A startup is far more likely to respond to an inquiry, especially if they are in your industry yet are not competitive.

Company 124

Company Companies Email Press 124

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features. some came from our customer service, some were to improve performance / scalability from tech ops, some were bug fixes, etc.)

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

They were a little too fierce in their competitive practices against Lyft to sign up drivers. As somebody who has to rub shoulders with big tech companies often I can tell you that there is much blood spilled in the competitive trenches of Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Google and so on. Hardly “evil.” Changes to algorithms.

Press 418

Press Journal Startup Competition 418

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

If you give away your product or service to the first 10 customers, that’s a good learning experience, but it’s not real traction. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 6, 2016

Further, as the competition amongst web stores continues to increase, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to grab one’s parts of their desired market. One of the easiest means of stepping into a new market is by offering discounts for their products or services. Offer Discounts.

Commerce 58

Commerce Search Engine Optimization Sites Marketing 58

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. customers who paid for services often get burned.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Put out regular press releases for search purposes and general visibility. Gather leads online from your social media initiatives, mine your contacts, attend trade shows, and use lead-generation services. Find partners and channels which are complementary, and not directly competitive. Generate leads for your product.

Marketing 94

Marketing Startup Social Media SEM 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

If you give away your product or service to the first 10 customers, that’s a good learning experience, but it’s not real traction. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Now investors will pay attention, since scale-up funding is less risky and has a time frame.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101