Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

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Customer Custom Social Media Satisfaction 158

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." Customer Validation 101. " OR… "You’re wrong.

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Customer Custom CTO Coach Startup 227

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Unfortunately, for most solution markets, early adopters represent only 10 to 15 percent of the total opportunity, so it’s easy to get mislead on the real requirements of mainstream customers. The good news is that early adopters are never reluctant to sign up as beta customers and will provide you early feedback on product quality.

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Customer Custom Technical Review Product 117

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

2023 hasn't been an easy year to be a startup. In fact, according to Crunchbase more than 212 startups closed their shutters in the third fiscal quarter alone – the highest number recorded in the firm's history. Yet, while many early-stage startups crumbled under the pressure, diamonds also emerged.

Startup 210

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2020

In my opinion, real pain points for most people do not include a new user interface for Facebook, a new programming platform for app development, or a new size smart phone. Maybe we haven’t seen the results yet, but there are thousands of startup opportunities to offer new alternatives and services, to replace those destroyed by the crisis.

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Customer Custom Startup Outsource Development 167

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2020

As a long-time business executive and adviser to entrepreneurs, I see a definitive shift away from customer trust in traditional business messages, and the executives who deliver them. I summarize the key elements of the transformation as follows: Customers are seeking control in a run-away world.

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Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 173

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

I recently sat down with Matt Coffin , the founder of LowerMyBills, which sold for $400 million but was very nearly a bankruptcy only a few years early, and talked “startups.&#. Matt is one of the most transparent, focused & honest startup guys you’ll meet. Or read the quick, informative summary below the image!

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Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2023

Customers buy from people, not companies. That means relationships with team members, investors, customers, and vendors. Entrepreneurs who like to be argumentative, complaining, or disagreeable, will have a hard time closing a contract, investment, or a customer contract. Everyone has positives, and it’s up to you to find them.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Outsource Development Entrepreneur 90

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

With real-time online reviews and feedback via the Internet, and instant relationships via social media, a voice from the top that is inconsistent with what is heard from the firing line defines a dysfunctional and noncompetitive company for today’s customer. Thus team makeup is the critical success factor. Marty Zwilling.

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Class Develop Development Startup 155

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many strategies leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time.

Startup 124

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 124

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Deka , a new startup developing custom Bluetooth headsets, said today that it has launched a crowdfunding effort to help launch the company. The startup--led by Erik Adams--said it is raising $100,000 on an Indiegogo campaign for its products, which let users create their own, custom 3D printed Bluetooth headsets.

Customer 183

Customer Custom Help Startup 183

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. Join a startup incubator. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

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Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. This starts with multiple messages from the top that growth is now the highest job priority, and key to survival.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

We developed this at our first company and called it PUCCKA – the overall methodology is described here. You know exactly when you want to sell to this customer and presumably it’s this quarter! Which customers to target: Elephants, Deer or Rabbits ? Unique Selling Proposition. Compelling Event. Beware of crocodile salesmen.

Customer 324

Customer Custom Marketing Newsletter 324

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2018

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Social Media Training 100

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 9, 2020

The Los Angeles-based app development shop, V/One , is giving away 50,000 free mobile app builds through the rest of April as the company officially launches its platform for would-be, LA-based mobile app moguls. Since its soft launch, December 20th of last year, the app development company has built over 100 new applications.

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Mobile Develop Development Artificial Inteligence 250

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Vonjour (www.vonjour.com), a Los Angeles startup, has developed a cloud-based customer support and phone system which, in addition to handling all of a company''s usual enterprise phone needs--also lets employers harness employee smartphones to deal with customer support issues, make calls, and interact with customers directly from a mobile app.

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Customer Custom Startup Mobile 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2023

Almost every entrepreneur starts their journey by developing a solution, based on their idea of a new technology or required service. These idea and developer skills are necessary, but not sufficient, to build a business. But we can all learn and step up if we get the right guidance. Manage the stepping up process.

Develop 110

Develop Development Startup Entrepreneur 110

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

Last week, Divshot turned a simple April Fool''s Day joke into a marketing coup, generating nearly 6,000 Tweets and over a thousand Beta customers. As noted in Hacking Hacker News , the company previously dominated the mindshare of the web development community by facilitating the spread of a random posting on Hacker News.

Customer 195

Customer Custom Template Startup 195

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2013

The startup says it added more than 200 new publishers and 100 new buyer channels for the six months ended March 31, 2013, and that its customers now include more than 500 of the world''s premium publishers, including eBay UK, Time, ABC News, the Wall Street Journal, Tribune Company, Virgin Media, People, Universal and many others.

Customer 220

Customer Custom Clearstone Journal 220

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. We hadn’t even thought about having a customer support line or who would staff it. Our customers were generally happy but they were pushing us hard for promised features.

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Startup Press Customer Custom 331

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

This is part of my ongoing posts on Startup Advice. The world has changed much since I started my first company in 1999. As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. Tim started to change our processes. Back then it seemed foreign.

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Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2022

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. According to Tim Cook at Apple, there are over 34 million registered developers in 2022. The ideal business model is to establish a direct-to-consumer service that enables you to bill the customer directly.

Develop 138

Develop Development Platform Mobile 138

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 9, 2009

I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. Who are the customers?

Software Development 292

Software Development Develop Development Startup 292

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

As part of the lead in to the conference, and as a part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. We respond very quickly to all of our customers. Kevin Anderson.

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Customer Custom Services Conference 113

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2010

Costa Mesa-based SYSPRO , a developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, reported this week that it has signed up medical device startup NeoTract as a customer. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. READ MORE>>.

Customer 133

Customer Custom Startup Resource 133

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 24, 2020

Divergent, the Los Angeles-based startup aiming to revolutionize vehicle manufacturing, has cut about one-third of its staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended startups and major corporations alike. It was enough to get the attention of investors and at least two global OEMs as customers. The company’s No.

Startup 251

Startup Technical Review Outsource Development Platform 251

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

Irvine-based disk drive maker is hoping to attract "Big Data" customers, announcing today that it has launched a line of disk drives specifically for scale-out datacenter deployment. The new drives have a capacity of up to 4TB, and start at $159.99 for the 2TB model. READ MORE>>.

Customer 138

Customer Custom Startup Networking 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Trade equity or services for startup help.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

socalTECH

OCTOBER 18, 2018

Los Angeles-based AppOnboard , the developer of mobile app demo technology led by Jonathan Zweig, says that it now has such app developers as FoxNext Games, Game Insight, Superheart Studios, Jam City, Huuuge Games, and Simple Habit using its tools. READ MORE>>.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Mobile Technology Customer 133

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? Administrators?

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Develop Development Startup SEO 396

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2015

With the advent of social media and the pervasive move to smartphones, even customers who still prefer to purchase in brick-and-mortar stores have dramatically changed their shopping habits. If you refuse to play by their rules, they have the power to easily find alternatives, and actively pull other potential customers away.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 103

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. Many of these founders have talked with several developers or development firms about their plans. Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? Administrators?

Develop 384

Develop Development Startup SEO 384

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 28, 2022

With over 305 million start-ups being created every year globally, standing out from the crowd is a huge challenge. We've scoured the startup scene to find out which budding businesses have made big waves in 2022 — and whose growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Sign up to Tech.co's weekly newsletter today.

Startup 118

Startup Artificial Inteligence Platform Newsletter 118

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2019

I’m more convinced that technology merely enables disruption, and changing customer interests and needs really causes it. Other companies keep the focus on their customers, and seem to thrive on disruption, much less survive. They make it their top business priority to understand, anticipate, and gratify customers’ needs.

Customer 54

Customer Custom Technical Review Design 54

InfoChachkie

MAY 27, 2013

Last week, Divshot turned a simple April Fool''s Day joke into a marketing coup, generating nearly 6,000 Tweets and over a thousand Beta customers. As noted in Hacking Hacker News , the company previously dominated the mindshare of the web development community by facilitating the spread of a random posting on Hacker News.

Customer 153

Customer Custom Template Startup 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Most investors and startup professionals expand this concept of focus to apply to key issues of every aspect of strategic and tactical planning in a startup.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 150