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

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. We focused together on improving our sales methodology, our training and our comp plans.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

A new group of investors have clustered around writing earlier-stage, smaller checks. I used an analogy I heard from Michael Dougherty (founder of Jelli) recounting what First Round Capital told him, “sometimes you’re on the local train and sometimes you’re on the express train. That’s awesome.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. They had a team trained up in Documentum and we certainly had enemies from the inside. I don’t want to lose next time. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. They had a team trained up in Documentum and we certainly had enemies from the inside. I don’t want to lose next time. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2009

Fonality, which is a venture-backed developer of PBX software used for replacing corporate phony systems, is in the midst of its own version of an employee morale-booster: training for the "Fonality Fight Club" and a competition refereed by martial arts expert Chris Reilly, who regularly trains fighters for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Culver City 140

Culver City Startup Training Class 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Packaging, pricing & discounts – In the early days of my first company we always had “list prices&# we quoted to customers and of course we were always willing to negotiate based on who the client was, how important the business was to us, who the competition was and how well the deal was negotiated. We called it PUCCKA.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 15, 2013

I love competition. Or just write this off as incremental improvement. He trained for marathons and ran many. But I sure felt like it. I know some people think we’ve gone too far by creating a generation of “trophy children” and I think there’s some truth to that. ” It matters.

Course 407

Course Help Writing Blogging 407

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

And we hired folks who had previous leadership positions and proof points of being competitive. In real-world training scenarios (over two weeks), on the phone selling, we cut 75% of them. What must a startup do to motivate you to write them a check? We hired people who did not have outside sales experience.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2020

I agree with Dr. Ardi’s writing, that most successful workplaces of the future need to adopt the following beta characteristics, and align themselves more with the beta leadership model: Do away with archaic command-and-control models. Become their sponsor – onboarding with training and tools is essential. These would never happen.

Organization 149

Organization Competition Entrepreneur Startup 149

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2014

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Services 105

Services Startup Training Writing 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitive tech world. Our first big institutional round was $16.5

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition. It might tell you that you need better sales training or to hone your key selling messages. As a content management system we had lots of write activities and went with Postgres.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture. Good listener, take in information, • Have pulse on what the market wants (hard to train that) cannot take this from customers only. Here’s a summary of our interview. He told them it was now or never.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2022

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Training Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

The best of you train yourselves to show emotions sparingly and strategically, while the rest are convinced that emotions cannot be controlled , and are a function of culture and genetics. Write down your top 5 core values and review them often. Pressure and emotion in business is often an indication of core value conflicts.

Coach 137

Coach Training Satisfaction Mentor 137

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2015

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Startup 109

Startup Resource Training Ideas 109

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

The fitness professional network develops business tools that make it easier for fitness professionals to run their businesses and keep their clients engaged between training sessions. We knew there’s a better personal training experience to be had, so we set out to create one. Any competition in LA? Who is on your team?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Crisis mode hires too often get done without due consideration for strategic fit, training requirements, and cultural considerations. I recommend a thirty to ninety-day trial period, defined in writing, where either party can terminate the relationship without recourse. Hiring before organizational structure is defined.

Organization 135

Organization Satisfaction Entrepreneur Screening 135

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Startup Resource Training 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

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

APRIL 15, 2023

I agree with Dr. Ardi’s writing, that most successful workplaces of the future need to adopt the following beta characteristics, and align themselves more with the beta leadership model: Do away with archaic command-and-control models. Become their sponsor – onboarding with training and tools is essential. These would never happen.

Organization 113

Organization Competition Entrepreneur Writing 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. From an investor perspective, understanding and acting early to establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and barrier to entry, is the best assurance of a financial return. Effective communication requires real listening, as well as talking.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. But having no process does not make you more competitive.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

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

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Startup Resource Training 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. At this stage, you should start recruiting, hiring, paying, and training others to help you run your business. Here you will likely need to train others to help you, so more detail may be required in this process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. They had a team trained up in Documentum and we certainly had enemies from the inside. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Be gracious.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Training Ideas 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Throughout all of this we saw a tinkerer, a problem solver and a completely obsessed leader who was competitive and wanted to win.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2011

Usually that means writing something down, since it’s hard to maintain something, or track yourself against it, if it’s not written down. Do you believe that you have an idea for a company that you can implement better than anyone, and maintain a competitive advantage? Education and training roadblocks.

Startup 94

Startup Resource Training Ideas 94

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. You have no shelf life, so you can’t make money while you sleep.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

This started as a post in which I was going to write out tips to personal branding and became in stead an essay of my own branding journey. But what chapped my hide was that every early assignment at Accenture they divided teams, training and assignments into “technical” and “non technical.” That was the market.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. then you can start writing a recipe. Follow the “how to” instructions above for combining the ingredients, combined with you own “special sauce” (competitive edge), and I’m sure you will deliver a tasty dish, on time and with a profit. For now, get cooking! Marty Zwilling.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Metrics Marketing 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

I agree with Dr. Ardi’s writing, that most successful workplaces of the future need to adopt the following beta characteristics, and align themselves more with the beta leadership model: Do away with archaic command-and-control models. Become their sponsor – onboarding with training and tools is essential. These would never happen.

Organization 99

Organization Competition Entrepreneur Startup 99