Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

Let me be a bit more specific on how follow-up trumps ideas for success in the key challenges of a startup, or any small business: Networking with investors, partners, and customers. Meeting people and talking about your ideas won’t get you very far. Detailed product specifications and prototypes.

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TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

So instead, we fill it with a completely custom blurb, written just for him: Hello! Thanks to his custom blurb, instead of closing his browser and feeling inadequate for the rest of the day, Mark completes his bio and becomes a happy customer. Which means better conversions and happier customers.

Generative AI 295

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence TechEmpower Tips 295

Berkonomics

APRIL 16, 2020

There is lots of literature published by the SBA, attorneys and accounting firms about both. Email readers, continue here… ] DURING THIS CRISIS: Having no plan is like having a bad plan. Do you still need marketing costs when there is no-one out there buying new product? What is the plan for after it’s all over?

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Layoffs Sales News Marketing 218

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2021

The real solution is better productivity and less procrastination, to put you back in control of your business. Jan Yager, a recognized expert on the subject of time management, addressed this issue in the classic edition of her book, “ Work Less, Do More: The 14-Day Productivity Makeover.” Rest makes you more productive.

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Product Email Customer Custom 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Yet, as a business consultant, I often find minimal focus on improving employee engagement and assessing their customer-facing performance. For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees.

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Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

First customers are critical. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important group of allies that your marketing and salespeople rely upon when attempting to create buzz and make a mass market for a new product. And I am serious about the “…at all costs” admonition.

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Resource Customer Custom Product 156

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise. I believe growth hacking is about all of this. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. I’d strongly encourage you to read it.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). billion email accounts. THE FULL STORY.

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Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

More people are focused on the beginning of the product lifecycle; very few are focused at the end.”. The end of the product lifecycle is where Murthy and Kaplan feel Ghost has “an enormous opportunity to help people be more efficient in that process,” Murthy added. That’s our vision.”.

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Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

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

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

Here’s something to think about just from my home: I have three Amazon Echo devices in various rooms, two Ring doorbells, “Hey, Google” on five devices, “OK Cortana” on three, three smart TV’s, one smart 4K player, three desktops and two laptops, two smartphones, and WHO KNOWS how much more. How about youth under 18? What’s covered?

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Sites Email Google Course 149

Berkonomics

AUGUST 21, 2014

Sean Ellis, the marketing guru behind DropBox and other successes, advises clients that “The most important question on a survey is, ‘How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?’” If more than forty percent of the respondents say they would be “very disappointed,” the product should go viral and be a great success.

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Customer Custom Case Study Email 228

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. It takes on many of the lessons MBA programs and Corporate America have been teaching about business for the past 50+ years and questions whether lessons from Apple might be more applicable in thinking about the future.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

And yet, such relationships properly used and never overused, can quickly and precisely help you cut through delays in government agencies, speed the process of product planning and ultimate release, aid in positioning in the market and help you avoid a myriad of mistakes that could prove costly in time and money.

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Class Organization Technical Review Activity 194

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Email readers, continue here.] Most often it is the time of the chief architect of the product or service you provide, or of the best developers of that product. Sometimes it is the time of the CEO, which when overcommitted, prevents others from gaining access to solve critical problems or continue the flow of production.

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Resource Outsource Development Metrics Customer 176

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

With the ITRC 2021 End-of-Year Data Breach Report revealing a 68 percent increase in stolen sensitive personal information, there is a growing population out there worried about all the people intent on hurting them. Make your company visible, reachable and responsive through social networks. Don’t take shortcuts on these.

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Customer Custom Technical Review Symantec 137

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 26, 2023

You’re fighting to put out the fires from customer complaints, or incomplete work, or are suffering from an inability to focus upon new development or new customers before cleaning up the mess inside your organization. The customer pays for all or at least 90% of the bill, perhaps holding back a retainer awaiting completion.

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Resource Customer Custom Software 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2020

Entrepreneurs and business executives seem to be even more focused on their technology than the rest of us, and less inclined to listen to the voice of the customer, even if they remember to ask. Real two-way conversations with real customers, including the all-important body language, are unheard-of these days.

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Customer Custom Activity Social Network 128

Berkonomics

MAY 30, 2019

Email readers, continue here…] How do you reach an audience that pays less attention to advertising then at any time in the past one hundred years? Given the statistics quoted above, you must find ways to have your consumers endorse your product publicly, and in a form that is divorced from looking like an advertisement.

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Case Study Study Customer Custom 120

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Sometimes we get stuck in the muck with our marketing, product, management focus, and in keeping up with trends. Customers feel better about a company always showing its innovation with new products and ideas to help increase customer revenues, decrease costs or better serve their customers.

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Activity Email Customer Custom 156

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

A product at the concept stage contains feature-functionality that customers may not want or be willing to pay for, or which just might not work well enough for release to the public. Allow for the cost and extra time for tweaks to the product or service. Surprises when the market meets your product.

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Customer Custom Writing Product 156

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. For new product startups, search engine marketing (SEM) is still one of the most cost-effective and scalable lead-generation approaches. Email marketing. Display advertising. Trade shows.

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Customer Custom Marketing Startup 146

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.

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Customer Custom Services Conference 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. If you care about accessing customers, reaching an audience, communicating your vision, influencing people in your industry, marketing your services or just plain engaging in a dialog with others in your industry a blog is a great way to achieve this.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

You’ve figured out your channels of distribution, pricing model and how to support your growing list of customers. You can be the one to develop a product or service, promote it, and support it when you are a small operation. Email readers, continue here…] And the third predictable crisis is…. That’s relatively easy.

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Class Customer Custom Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2010

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. So I often try to stay off of email during the day.

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Product Startup Email Technical Review 280

InfoChachkie

APRIL 29, 2013

You operate your business from a small boat in the remote waters of northern Fiji and your customers are spread across the globe, residing in the US, Europe and Asia. How can you protect your company''s reputation when a rouge customer unjustly flames your startup? Bipolar Reviewers. This pattern holds true for Tui Tai Expeditions.

Social Media 213

Social Media Customer Custom Media 213

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 29, 2022

Authors Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Oglivie have created a framework for creation of a new product or service – one worth spending at least a cycle of time for review. What if we could do it better, do it in a new way, do it to attract new customers, do it to distance ourselves form the competition? What wows? What works?

Design 156

Design Framework Ideas Customer 156

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Interview potential customers, hold focus groups, meet with existing customers. Ask you field representatives to debrief you about what they are hearing. And the first thing in marketing is to adapt your product or service to the needs of the marketplace. Hire consultants. Attend trade show education sessions. But listen!

Marketing 156

Marketing Metrics Education Resource 156

Tech.Co

JULY 31, 2017

Being intentionally productive is something we all strive for, but often fail to achieve. After being disrupted with an email notification, an average person will need 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain their focus again. While the experiment is still in the early stage, Litt feels positive about the outcomes.

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Snapchat Product Email Social Media 65

Berkonomics

MARCH 25, 2021

We know that one of the ways we hold onto our customers is if there are high switching costs to move away to a competitor. But how about the other side of the coin? Do you have an estimate of the cost for a potential customer to switch to your side? The costs of replacing a lost customer. So, email was out.

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Competition Customer Custom Email 156

Berkonomics

JULY 7, 2022

Skip or stay with me; but think about your balance in your leadership methods either way. Many times, it is a customer, an employee, or an industry conference that sparks the idea that drives you to create and express your vision of the future for your company or product line. Email readers, continue here…].

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Metrics Ideas Conference Email 293

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Marketing is a science devised to help drive customers to your door. There are lots of ways to define how to market well, including the four P’s of marketing (1): product, price, promotion and place. Find a way to position the company and the product to be wanted so much that it moves into the needs column for the consumer.

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Marketing Demand Class Pricing 156

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 24, 2020

So, I went to visit several customer CEOs, told them my story, and asked them to advance some amount against their future billing from me. I sometimes counsel CEOs to consider consulting to their prospective customers or in their industry while they are simultaneously developing their product for market.

Equity 156

Equity Outsource Development Customer Custom 156

Eric Greenspan

MAY 29, 2010

Using social media to increase your company’s touch and reach with each of your customers may be the most important reason to jump in to this game changing strategy. Social media can help bridge a long standing gap between customers and the companies they trust with their hard earned cash. 40,000) to join me on Facebook.

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Social Media Customer Custom Media 214