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.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices. That’s stupid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

socalTECH

JULY 18, 2019

Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand , which provides cloud-based learning and talent management tools, has linked up with a sales training company, Sandler Training, on a new sales training subscription, the two said today. Pricing on the new subscription was not announced. READ MORE>>.

Cornerstone OnDemand 113

Cornerstone OnDemand Training Sales Santa Monica 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

When convertible debt first started being introduced as a “faster, cheaper way to get startups funded” they didn’t have pricing built into them. ” And some seed stage investors told me, “I prefer not to fight over price now. They’ll get priced soon enough by a VC.” Enter “the cap.”

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Of course triangulation is a mathematics term that is used in sailing and other activities to help you better navigate when you don’t have your bearings. On sales I often talk about “ Why Buy Anything, Why Buy Now, Why Buy Me ” as a tool to think about a sales process. Triangulate.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. The Nature of Revenue Matters Of course revenue alone won’t tell you enough.

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2012

The vision part is fine, but successful entrepreneurs have found that the extreme uncertainty of a new product or service usually requires many course corrections, or “pivots” to find a successful formula. Channel pivots usually require unique pricing, feature, and competitive positioning adjustments. Channel pivot. Technology pivot.

Course 109

Course Startup Platform Entrepreneur 109

Berkonomics

JULY 9, 2011

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 222

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 222

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 Customer Custom Pricing 226

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2013

It is of course why immigrants power so many successful businesses in the US and why we need to embrace them. While still owning the business he now does $60 million in annual sales built from nothing. He wanted to keep his prices low (apparently he has never raised his wholesale price in 30 years). What touched me?

Entrepreneur 415

Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Product 415

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2013

And a natural sales person. You can’t just name your own price.” “Of course I can. ” Jacob, “Of course I can have a piece. I’ve sat through so many meetings where sales reps didn’t ask for the order. ” Great sales people are trained to “ask for the order.”

Sales 416

Sales Class Training Technical Review 416

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

And then they said one thing that most marketers go their whole career never hearing, 'Listen Steve, price is irrelevant, it is speed that matters.' We had been pricing our graphics cards to be a low-cost provider. The first thing I did was raise our prices.". the VP of Sales the richest person in the company.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Customer 271

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Good entrepreneurs can admit when their course of action was wrong and learn from it. Most of them are completely mundane such as choosing which: bank, office space, 1-year lease vs. 2-year lease, logo, URL, pricing structure or which VC. Your head of sales thinks she should fire somebody. They move the ball forward every day.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2012

I was selected because I did not have an emotional stake in the outcome as did the entrepreneur, or the continuing relationship with a buyer as would others in management who might remain after the sale. And as the entrepreneur still tells the story, we two board members walk on water for having delivered such great results.

Pricing 214

Pricing Sales Tool Entrepreneur 214

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

Of course it makes no sense to have great people management and a crappy product. ” Of course we all go into businesses expecting to be aligned with our co-founders but over time life changes. – while the other might want a quick sale and pocket some bucks while the tech market is hot.

Startup 340

Startup Technical Review Course Press 340

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

” The post talked about how to find the lowest acceptable price & terms in a deal through testing. You’ve got to have some wiggle room on price and on terms. She got you to drop price and include more licenses for free. All of your sales training techniques are useless to their procurement Teflon.

Development Team Review 293

Development Team Review Software Review Pricing Startup 293

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure the rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 99

Sales Customer Custom Entrepreneur 99

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

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 20, 2022

Far too often, I come across companies with commission structures that take into account “all” the possible permutations of profit on a sale, causing everyone to wait for an accounting person to complete a cost analysis in order to find the magic number, or for a manager to rule on percentage splits for territories or products.

Sales 177

Sales SaaS Pricing Course 177

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2012

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 96

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 96

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I took an advanced computer course in high school where I learned to build databases in Ashton Tate’s dBase III+ and to compile my designs using a product called Clipper. Do you really think Porter’s Five Forces is going to help you figure out what feature set to launch or how to price your product? What you lose: 4.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2013

Most struggle with the idea and practice of marketing and sales, and see these as a necessary evil, if even required. Of course, for a price, there are many marketing organizations and gurus willing to come to your aid. entrepreneur startup metrics marketing sales business' Attract and get found by the right prospects.

Sales 105

Sales Startup Metrics Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 97

Sales Customer Custom Pricing 97

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

But if you raise the money at the big price (or any price) please go in with the expectation that you are going to build a large, long-term business. Raising a large round at whatever price will almost certainly take many potential buyers off the table. to justify a “strategic” price. Think about it. .”

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2010

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing.

Sales 91

Sales Startup Customer Custom 91

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

As the school year kicks off for college students, one of the big tasks of the year is buying books for their courses. Every price comparison out there, whether that's Google Products, Bizrate, or other sites, can find books, but you can only do it one at a time. You've got to find each one, and research them online.

UCSD 185

UCSD Course Startup Sites 185

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

We had the final terms of our agreement fairly well boxed in within a range of about 5-7% on price and within 30 days on move-in date. I obviously preferred the lowest price and I wanted the latest move-in date. She told me, “start with the price you want but the move in date he wants.&#. I told my agent. She way annoyed.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Outsource 319

Eric Greenspan

JULY 3, 2012

Make It Work sold its services in pre-paid hours, at a discount from our pay-as-you-go pricing. Since 2008, the company has been forced to lower it’s prices, from $120/hour to $80/hour. In May of 2012, sales dropped drastically. Sales remained sluggish during this period, but we were not giving up. Of course).

Capital 234

Capital Pricing Press Customer 234

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

” Of course I agree with this. At times I wanted the engineering team to produce features to support our sales efforts to I occasionally leaned on them a bit. Of course by the next quarter if I felt ripped off I could advocate for 7% or maybe ops requirements needed to be upped to 20% for one quarter. I did this.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

You don’t have to hire as many sales people because much can be sold online. And of course Foundry Group, Union Square and a whole host of other firms including my own. But one problem it is causing is that early-stage deal prices are creeping up again higher than historic norms. Price MUST be in a certain range.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2014

My point was that Amazon continues to dominate the web services business because AWS continues to cut prices & margin in the same way a hypermarket does to control market share. And of course they are also focused on the US Hispanic market. And we’re growing our sales organization. I wasn’t.

Invest 291

Invest Content Media Networking 291

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

I was selected because I did not have an emotional stake in the outcome as did the entrepreneur, or the continuing relationship with a buyer as would others in management who might remain after the sale. And as the entrepreneur still tells the story, we two board members walk on water for having delivered such great results.

Pricing 156

Pricing Sales Tool Entrepreneur 156

Berkonomics

JANUARY 4, 2018

And of course, most are willing to trade information to get information. It is natural to want to associate with these people for many reasons, certainly socially. Most CEOs want to obtain information about their competitors in the most subtle and non-obvious ways.

Guide 243

Guide Conference Course Email 243

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

OPEC (the organization of petroleum exporting countries) is a cartel that was set up in the 1960′s and represents the interests of the 12 biggest oil producing countries in the world with the goal of increasing prices of oil, a good supplied in limited quantities to a world that had insatiable demand for the product.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Of course, that has be a repeatable event, with enough revenue to sustain the business. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

For those patient enough to source great companies at reasonable prices and prepared to weather the next inevitable downturn, I believe firmly there will be economic rewards for discipline and patience. They compete on features, price and execution. So of course returns from 2000-2010 were subpar on average for the industry.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347