Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

Leading edge technology software and manufacturing require constant course corrections and iterative restarts. Look at internal services versus external services. Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced. Don’t count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

” by Donna Cutting, who is a globally-recognized guru on employee culture and optimizing customer service. I will summarize these here, with my insights, for your review and implementation: Physical health. Of course, you as the business leader have a key role in making all this happen. Emotional stability.

Technical Review 141

Technical Review Mentor Social Media Customer 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Of course there are people who are great at getting things done, but haven’t had an original idea in their life. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Customer retention. More customers are lost to apathy after the sale than poor service or quality.

Activity 133

Activity Startup Ideas Technical Review 133

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Many times they also pick up product and tech, too. Often times you find the CEO who really just likes to do product or tech. Similarly I talk to CEOs who can’t do a sales pipeline review with me. I once did due diligence on a potential investment where the CEO was projecting $9 million in sales for his next 12 months.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

And of course the most successful technology companies: Google, Facebook, Salesforce.com [duh], Oracle, Microsoft all have loads of sales people. Many young startups are being advised not to have a professional services business and in my opinion this is a big mistake. How do you get referenceable customers?

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Of course you could start your own company. Even when you do sign-up initial customers it’s still not clear that your company will be a success and you’re still likely paying yourself under market rates. Of course I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t start a company.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

ReachLocal (www.reachlocal.com) was born in the age of Internet search marketing, and helped define Internet marketing from local service providers--letting people know about your local business via the Internet. We're taking all of those leads, and creating the tools to convert them to customers. In a sense, it completes the funnel.

ReachLocal 217

ReachLocal Technical Review Woodland Hills Services 217

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2021

Smart potential customers only visit and buy from credible and memorable websites. No name, picture, address, or business history only convinces customers that you are hiding, located in an un-trustable country, or don’t have a clue. Highlight interviews and reviews from recognized industry sources, and news sources.

Web 117

Web Search Engine Optimization eBook Advertising 117

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2022

For example, Bill Gates founded and grew Microsoft, and Michael Dell built a great technology company, both with no outside funding until they went successful enough to go public years later and sell shares to common stockholders. Of course, this can be positive if you really need the help and experience in making key decisions.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. They present a convincing story that every entrepreneur has the same potential, but most get sidetracked and bogged down by their technology, competitors, and internal organization. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Customer Custom 123

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Who's the customer? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any?

CTO Hire 264

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 264

SoCal CTO

MARCH 3, 2011

Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Of course, I provide part-time CTO services. Who's the customer? What's you believe is your biggest technology risk, if any?

CTO Hire 259

CTO Hire Startup Technical Review Development Team Review 259

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. I believe there needs to be more focus on reinventing eduction, healthcare, energy and even less noble industries such as television, telephony and financial services. Of course not.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2022

This most often happens due to impatience, which is not typically an entrepreneurial virtue. It also happens due to overreaction to some market surprise, a last-minute input, or a squeeze on cash. Many good ideas never get off the ground, simply because the product or service is never “finished.”

Marketing 120

Marketing Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 120

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Building a strong tech industry to rival that of Silicon Valley is definitely no easy feat, but the overall feeling within Cal Tech’s Baxter Hall at last week’s event certainly bodes well for the year. With a scale-able platform ready to expand to different industries (utilities and maintenance services, etc.)

Technical Review 94

Technical Review Idealab Startup Mobile 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Of course, every risk level can be mitigated by a good plan that addresses the issue, offers a credible action plan, and will convince you, as well as investors and customers, that what looks like a risk to many is actually a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup. You need a big differentiator in these arenas.

Invest 98

Invest Sites Technical Review Social Media 98

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. Product is simply about defining a physical good or service that would be valued by consumers of the product more than existing alternatives based on functionality, quality and/or price. Of course reciprocity matters so they would all leap into action.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

Perhaps the most misused terms I see these days from entrepreneurs involve CAC (customer acquisition costs) and LTV (life time value) and a lack of understanding these critical components is driving many companies to premature failure. And even when calculated correctly often CAC’s are assumed to be constant but of course they’re not.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

Leading edge technology software and manufacturing require constant course corrections and iterative restarts. Look at internal services versus external services. Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced. Dont count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you.

Outsource Development 95

Outsource Development Outsource Offshore Software Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

For example, Bill Gates founded and grew Microsoft, and Michael Dell built a great technology company, both with no outside funding until they went successful enough to go public years later and sell shares to common stockholders. Of course, this can be positive if you really need the help and experience in making key decisions.

Startup 124

Startup Satisfaction Venture Capital Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2011

Finally, we want it cheap (of course). Here’s the latest technology. Of course, you both need to have compatible smart phones with the software already downloaded. In business, contact information management is a key part of customer relationship management (CRM). This is great and it’s free! CardScan Personal.

Technical Review 83

Technical Review Technology Software Review Social Network 83

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2015

Due to impressive growth in the past few years, accompanied by headlines reveling in its successes and controversies, Uber has established itself as an innovative transportation service poised for further expansion in the future. Uber isn’t some niche startup anymore. Right now, Uber stand upon vast sums of big data.

Services 40

Services Company Companies Technical Review 40

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2018

The industry, after 40 years of being fee-for-service, is moving into a value-based payments model. There are now a number of products, technology, and services which are being brought to market, which a few years ago had no way for an entrepreneur to generate money. We even are looking at service companies.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Review Software Review Artificial Inteligence 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Of course, every risk level can be mitigated by a good plan that addresses the issue, offers a credible action plan, and will convince you, as well as investors and customers, that what looks like a risk to many is actually a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup. You need a big differentiator in these arenas.

Startup 126

Startup Sites Technical Review Social Media 126

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

The law of large numbers, platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets can be deceiving. Or app companies that went viral due to spammy friend requests to download in an app store only to have a community backlash and subsequent crash. Success for many is ephemeral.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

Leading edge technology software and manufacturing require constant course corrections and iterative restarts. Look at internal services versus external services. Customer-facing services, like call centers, should rarely be outsourced. Don’t count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you.

Outsource Development 53

Outsource Development Outsource Software Review Technical Review 53

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

No name, picture, address, or business history only convinces customers that you are hiding, located in an un-trustable country, or don’t have a clue. Publish a regular blog, contribute to relevant social networks, and highlight several videos, podcasts, or eBooks of you and your technology. Follow-up for customer satisfaction.

Search Engine Optimization 88

Search Engine Optimization eBook Advertising SEO 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Barter your services for their services. Commit to a major customer.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70