TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

Los Angeles-based Just says it uses telematics “to reward safe drivers and reduce insurer bias” by looking at factors such as how, when and where customers drive, rather than factors such as ZIP code or marital status as most traditional insurers do. Of course, Just is not the first company to offer personalized auto insurance.

Startup 203

Startup Custom Customer Los Angeles 203

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Every new business dreams of growing from a startup to a global market leader in a few years, like Amazon.com, but that goal is elusive. My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers. Practice continuous bar-raising for your talent pool.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Custom Customer 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. I was impressed with the analysis and recommendation offered in a recent book, “ Trust the Plan: Demand Management For Business Leaders, ” by Greg Spira.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2017

Have you ever noticed that some of your business owner friends get all the bad customers, and yours all seem fairly reasonable? I’m always amazed that, in my role as a business advisor, bad customers somehow seem to gang up on certain businesses. Being unreasonably demanding of others. Or is it the other way around?

Custom 89

Custom Customer Demand Pricing 89

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

Since 2009 we’ve been in an unequivocal bull market. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. Of course back then it literally was sold in a package and stored on a shelf! Growth markets have a way of fooling us all. It’s when the game slows.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. Accelerating worldwide competition and financial upheavals are undermining established market positions.

Custom 83

Custom Customer Demand Examples 83

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2022

You can even give it a more elegant name, like “market-focused reinvention,” but it won’t be graceful if you don’t take the lead. In all cases, it’s more effective and less painful to do it as a planned process, rather than a crash course in survival. Real change demands new goals based on new market realities.

Course 127

Course IBM IBM Social Media 127

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

However, many people are not aware that prior to entering academia, Steve was a wily and creative marketing entrepreneur. As the VP of Marketing, Steve inherited a department of 14people that was burning $4M annually. Despite these abundant resources, the team's ineffectiveness was reflected by the company's dismal 11% market share.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Custom 271

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2022

Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.

Organization 143

Organization Startup Pricing Custom 143

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Even without B-Corp status, entrepreneurs are speaking out more on the positives to support business models that benefit not just shareholders, but customers, workforce, the environment, and the greater community. Of course, investors still require a profitable business model, and the potential for high returns.

Startup 149

Startup Organization Custom Customer 149

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. And I would learn customer service.

Custom 120

Custom Customer Writing Southern California 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

But in the past two weeks I’ve heard many cavalier comments about: cuts, renegotiations, changing terms, “the market environment dictates this” or “never waste a good crisis” or “you just need to cut 25% of your staff” because it seems everybody is doing it. He asked for a few more weeks to gather market signals before enacting change.

Demand 215

Demand Guide Custom Customer 215

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Many of us learned about substitute products in undergrad economics courses. When a product is truly unique and demanded a retailer willingly promotes and sells it en masse in part because it does get margin on the good but also because it brings customers in the door who spend on other products. So Why Does This Matter?

Product 296

Product Course Custom Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2023

Self-demanding beats boss-demanding every time. Leapfrog products invent and reinvent markets. Incremental product ideas do not change markets. On the other hand, making the user experience easier, richer, and more pleasant, as Apple has done repeatedly, can reinvent existing markets. Eat your own dog food.

Startup 91

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Ideas 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Of course, that means a new level of risk, giving up some control, and a new business plan. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

Sales 226

Sales Custom Customer Pricing 226

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

Every one of you business leaders I know struggles with the competing demands of finding and keeping employees motivated and satisfied, versus building and enforcing a set of repeatable processes that work. You need their full support in today’s rapidly changing market. Only good people are capable of thinking outside the box.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

You need a faster and more flexible on-demand hiring strategy, based on the current gig-economy of remote freelancers, contract personnel, and specialists. Of course, as you work with contract players, explore the potential for a long-term relationship, and wait until your organization matures to pursue career positions.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

After many years in business, working in large companies as well as startups, I’m no longer surprised at why mature and successful companies struggle with introducing innovative new ventures as the market and environment changes. Your challenge is to balance the challenge of providing a stable return today, with meeting future customer value.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Custom 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain.

Education 151

Education Custom Customer Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

For example, a while back a passionate entrepreneur approached me with an innovative solution for reducing world hunger, but hadn’t focused on the fact that hungry people often don’t have any money, and governments are not easy customers. Find market evidence of customers with means who are willing to pay for a solution.

Tips 80

Tips Startup Satisfaction Ideas 80

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

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Of course, we are speaking of increased valuation of your company when we speak of “wealth.” One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Self-demanding beats boss-demanding every time. Leapfrog products invent and reinvent markets. Incremental product ideas do not change markets. On the other hand, making the user experience easier, richer, and more pleasant, as Apple has done repeatedly, can reinvent existing markets. Eat your own dog food.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Ideas 129

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2022

That means that starting soon, our doctors, hospitals, eldercare, hospice and even death care systems are going to face unprecedented demand. Autos for drivers: Waning market demand. There is a Baby Boomer and Silent Generation tsunami headed straight for our healthcare system, so opportunities there are endless.

Demand 103

Demand Startup Course Summary 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

As an advisor to many entrepreneurs, I still hear frequently the irrational exuberance that crowdfunding is the quick alternative for startups that are passed over by overly demanding angels or venture capital investors. Crowdfunding to gauge demand is not recommended, since failed campaigns don’t usually recover later.

Startup 100

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Demand 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Of course, most of you expect that raising money will be difficult, as well as staving off competitors, and handling that occasional toxic customer. What you don’t expect is to feel out of control , or to always be fighting the many demands for your time. Endless pivots are required to keep up with market changes.

Entrepreneur 122

Entrepreneur Startup Course Examples 122

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2023

In my small business consultancy, I see this daily, per you owners and professionals struggling with the challenges of new markets and new competitors. Leading change is even harder, trying to balance the demands of the customers against the needs and expectations of employees. But you have to change to survive and thrive.

Satisfaction 130

Satisfaction IBM IBM Summary 130

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. I can think of at least five ways that this benefits the business, as well as customers: Products in a purpose culture more readily sell at a premium price. Doing good opens the door to a broader customer base.

Organization 128

Organization Startup Pricing Custom 128

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

I want to understand how many units the company is selling, whether this is increasing over time and how well they’re doing at retaining the customers that they do acquire. The Nature of Revenue Matters Of course revenue alone won’t tell you enough. They hired a marketing team to promote their products more broadly.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

Of course, growth is implied in that equation, and is also required for maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. That means it solves a real problem for real customers who are ready and able to spend real money. The number of current potential customers is large and growing. Design a product or service that you can sell.

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

socalTECH

OCTOBER 26, 2015

Los Angeles is the capital of on-demand apps, for just about anything you want. One of those areas that combines LA's passion for on-demand apps, and its active lifestyle, is Fitspot (www.fitspotapp.com), which brings athletic trainers to you or your local fitness center. Ninety percent of our customers are on packages.

Training 100

Training Startup Orange County Malibu 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Of course, in a world which spawns over a half million startups every month, these accomplishments are very rare, but they are happening like never before. Brand scaling is driven by customers, not by business, large or small. Tools allow marketing in a much more targeted way.

Marketing 57

Marketing Startup Entrepreneur Social Media 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

In addition to personal focus, I find that the best entrepreneurs build and demand a culture of focus and excellence in their team, their investors, and even their advisors. Of course, these may need to be updated for cause, but it’s hard to get anywhere if you don’t have a specific destination.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Startup Patents Resource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2022

Every business owner I know wishes that all team members were leaders, to proactively tackle the challenges of growth , interact effectively with customers on their needs, and eventually step into your role. Notice people who always take a customer perspective. It’s no secret today that customers are more demanding than ever.

Custom 110

Custom Customer Coach Organization 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. Of course, some balance is required. Today’s pace of change in the market and in technology is unprecedented. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility.

Coach 128

Coach Organization Mentor Startup 128