Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

A few years ago, I saw a classic primer on the key elements of great online content that I like, in “ Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition ,” by Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Last week, the University of Southern California 's Viterbi School of Engineering announced that it had established a new, business plan competition, the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition ([link] specifically aimed at students in the engineering school. Why a business plan competition, and why in engineering school?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help. No executive I know writes all his own contracts, but every smart one owns every one that is written for him, and understands every element.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. It the second rule of sales, “Why Buy Me?”

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Whenever you write your deck and send it out I think you should actually think to yourself, “my competitors are probably going to read this one day and this will be forwarded widely” and if your response isn’t “so what!” Competition isn’t won or lost by your marketing decks?—?it’s it’s won by how you innovate and by how you execute.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. If you’re going to play in the big leagues you need to be writing checks from a $700 million?—?$1 Are we in a bubble?” By definition?—?I’m of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Every sales person with a bit of street history will resonate with this question. Dropping that name will often immediately draw a response if the decision maker is curious or particularly competitive.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

A couple of years ago, I saw a classic primer on the key elements of great online content that I like, in “ Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition ,” by Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. I recommend a thirty to ninety-day trial period, defined in writing, where either party can terminate the relationship without recourse. It won’t happen by default. Marty Zwilling.

Organization 104

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. Call out your top competitors, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantage, including patents, trade secrets. and trademarks.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2021

With PPC, the goal is for the search user to not only see your ad, but to click on it to get to your website (click-through), and buy your widget (conversion to sale). Campaign setup and ad copy writing. Both have the same end goal of getting people to your website.

PPC 154

PPC SEO Paid Search Search Engine Optimization 154

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. It’s insanely competitive to get into our industry so most have degrees from institutions like Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and University of Chicago (blatant plug ;-). VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Most VCs are book smart.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up. Keep control by writing every check personally, and manage receivable and payables tightly. Your customers and competition make unexpected moves. Marketing and sales take more time and effort than anticipated. The world today never stands still.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 24, 2011

I have long wanted to write about FNAC (feature, not a company) because it’s part of my normal lexicon to push teams that present to me to think harder about where the economics in their industry is coming from. . There were two justified responses to their sale — either ‘Congrats’ or nothing at all.&#.

Email 270

Email Writing Blogging Competition 270

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. I recommend a thirty to ninety-day trial period, defined in writing, where either party can terminate the relationship without recourse. It won’t happen by default. Marty Zwilling.

Organization 135

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 135

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2011

Actually, I think the advice in this post applies to any sales meeting also. The short answer is that by knowing the key members of the management team the VC firm can quickly identify strengths on your time and know whether you have some competitive advantage in your chose field relative to other people with whom you will compete.

Slides 296

Slides GRP Partners Venture Capital Writing 296

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

It’s why in this article I advise that people “market today not futures” because you don’t want your playbook in the hands of the competition. The reality is that a journalist who’s writing a story about you – a relatively unknown entity – wants to hear directly from the founders and/or the CEO.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment. List key competitors and alternatives, highlighting your sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents and trademarks. Marketing, sales, and customer experience. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive. Project revenues, costs and investment needs.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2017

A couple of years ago, I saw a classic primer on the key elements of great online content that I like, in “ Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition ,” by Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down.

Content 67

Content Marketing Newsletter Writing 67

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The path I went down after a few years was to hire more process driven people and devolved more daily operational ownership to people running individual functions such as product management, sales management, finance, etc. One of the most obvious places where you see this is in sales & marketing. Ditto the CFO. I was the laggard.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

If you don’t have the time to write things down, or your writing skills leave something to be desired, don’t be afraid to get some help. No executive I know writes all his own contracts, but every smart one owns every one that is written for him, and understands every element.

Startup 109

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 109

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2014

A couple of years ago, I saw a modern-day primer on the key elements of great online content that I like in “ Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition ,” by Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Then write it down.

Startup 103

Startup Content Newsletter Writing 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. But then you can springboard from there to your next gig and you’ll be an experienced startup employee with functional experience at sales, marketing, product or whatever roles you played.”

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Berkonomics

MAY 29, 2014

Included in a business plan are financials, competitive landscape, marketing plans, and projected sales to name a few. Studies found that people who write plans are more likely to put their goals in action and increases your likelihood of success. assess past performances. Business Plans are not static.

Startup 166

Startup Guide Help Mentor 166

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. As an early stage investor you’re often planning around 10x your investment at the time your write your first check so in this case you’d be going into your investment expecting an exit of $800 – $1.2

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. Your competitive advantage. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

“I know that our repeat purchase rate is lower than the industry average now, but …” “I know that our margins are lower than VCs like to see, but …” “I know our revenue decelerated in the last 2 quarters of 2017, but …” Remember that fund raising is a sales process. What to do about that chip on your shoulder ? Remind me why I love you?

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. Forcing yourself to write down a plan is actually the only way to make sure you actually understand it yourself. What is the definition of a good business plan?

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96