Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

As a business advisor and advocate for entrepreneurs, I find myself almost always talking and writing about change. Peers and customers alike still expect responsiveness. Yet peers and customers notice phone calls and e-mails not returned in twenty-four hours or less. Networking effectiveness is a measure of your potential.

Startup 153

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Screening 153

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 14, 2009

Cliff Allen is someone I've known for quite a few years and he's a go to person for me when I'm thinking about issues around marketing, sales, technology, startups and networking. I moved into writing software to analyze audience data, and wrote a lot of computer graphics software. for face-to-face general networking events.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking Marketing Startup 150

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

The SPAC attack began in September when an electric vehicle charging network ChargePoint struck a deal to merge with special-purpose acquisition company Switchback Energy Acquisition Corporation, with a market valuation of $2.4 “The writing is on the wall and the investors have to take the time.

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Company Companies Acquisition Equity 363

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Mark Zuckerberg, while still in school, tested the viability of his “ FaceMash ” technology as a business by rolling it out to other students at Harvard as customers. He learned quickly that several pivots were required for business, legal, and customer acceptance reasons. Initiate networking to find peer partners and investors.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. It makes customers feel special, and gives you the opportunity to highlight your broad experience and credentials.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Most business advisors I know will say that writing a business plan is the first step to starting your own business, but I believe that a better first step is to do a self-analysis of your real drivers, strengths, and assumptions before committing to this lifestyle. Test a prototype solution before you build a business plan.

Social Media 105

Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2023

I was most impressed with the steps he outlined for turning ideas into goals into results, which I paraphrase here for aspiring entrepreneurs: Write down your goals or your dreams. Writing something down is the first step toward moving forward and making it real. List items to achieve the goal, and network now.

Writing 92

Writing Ideas Startup Entrepreneur 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2021

You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. So I thought I would drop back to some essentials in building and nurturing business relationships (most of these apply to personal relationships as well): Build your network. Don’t skip all business social settings.

Entrepreneur 140

Entrepreneur Startup Social Network Mentor 140

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

These are necessary to attract customers, investors, and give you a line of defense with competitors. Even if your plan seems simple and intuitively obvious to you, writing it down and having it reviewed by experienced friends will moderate your passion and assure you that all key elements are addressed.

Social Media 98

Social Media Metrics Media Tool 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

While I do agree that many attributes of a good entrepreneur, such as curiosity, confidence and determination, are largely determined by early-life experiences, a good education is critical in understanding the elements of creating a business and wooing customers. Don’t forget business writing and communication.

Entrepreneur 149

Entrepreneur Tips Writing Coach 149

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 111

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2009

Sean McDonald is founder of Jute Networks (www.jutenetworks.com), which is in a startup developing highly visual, graphical tools to help people use their professional networks and connections to further their business. What is Jute Networks? Our company, Jute Networks, is a startup that is about a year and a half old.

Networking 113

Networking Startup Social Network Software 113

Tech.Co

MAY 26, 2020

Jeff Bezos didn't get to be the world's richest man by writing a lot of checks, and one recent way to keep Amazon's profits healthy has been to cut its affiliate commissions scheme. Suddenly, every other affiliate program and network out there is looking more attractive. eBay Partner Network. Best for: Bloggers, news publishers.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Buzzfeed News Networking 129

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

In my last post I pointed out that many of the media commentators who have criticized the YouTube video network companies as not having strong businesses were mistaken. Much of network television can cost $100,000 / minute to produce. It’s why many talent agencies or ad networks struggle to get scale advantages.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

In addition, creating a business requires leading and interacting with other people, including partners, investors, and customers. Aspiring entrepreneurs are often impatient in rolling out the business, assuming the hard work was finalizing the idea, and that if you build it, customers will come.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

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

JANUARY 23, 2013

If you are a millenial entering the workforce, what would you be most comfortable with -- a tool designed to work and look like a social network, or a tool built around an old fashioned corporate enterprise software UI? PromoJam debuted its brand new, self-service version of its social promotions tool today, PromoJam 2.0,

Tool 190

Tool Services Social Network Template 190

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

Too many of you business owners think success only means being the next Amazon, or you stress yourself out trying to be everything to every customer. Understand and write down every expense, and budget for required costs, especially initial inventory and accounts receivable delays. Meticulously manage cash inflow and outflow.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

I will add to this as I write more in the coming weeks on the topic. The funding rounds will also build customer confidence and they’ll help journalists feel air cover in writing your more important pieces when you brag about customers, traction, revenue or whatever. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

Startup 355

Startup Funding News Press 355

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

We now serve many large clients like Dish Networks, Dignity Health, and U.S. We not only have our Series A funds that can write $500k?—?$15 If you invest early and then pull back in the next 3 rounds your multiples on cash invested are much higher than if you keep writing checks. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

I was most impressed with the steps he outlined for turning ideas into goals into results, which I paraphrase here for aspiring entrepreneurs: Write down your goals or your dreams. Writing something down is the first step toward moving forward and making it real. List items to achieve the goal, and network now.

Ideas 121

Ideas Writing Startup Entrepreneur 121

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

What that did, is it helped us to expand the service to help publishers do the following: identify what content to write, how to distribute that content to various mediums, and how to monetize that content. Journalists are notorious for not wanting to write based on revenues or commercial intersts, or having anyone tell them what to write.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? We serve up four to five percent of the global Internet on our network. For those who don't know about EdgeCast, CDN services, who/what kind of clients you serve?

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Even if it’s only a few PowerPoint slides or typed paragraphs, writing something down is the first step toward making it real. Always write in the future tense, what you will do, and name yourself as the key person responsible. Create a specific plan to network to get the help you need.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Understanding customer requirement ? 50 coffee meetings. For getting outside of your comfort zone. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. 50 coffee meetings.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Some entrepreneurs love to talk and produce videos, but hate to write anything down. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Social Media Patents Mentor 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2023

If you can’t write it down, you probably don’t understand it. Writing, audios, and videos are all great ways to do this, since these all facilitate the one-to-many multiplier. Today you need to talk with, not at, your customers and constituents to get ideas. Provide a unique point of view. Build a team.

Social Media 94

Social Media Media Ideas Writing 94

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have. Second, how to get leads.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 20, 2016

I don’t mean that they are on LinkedIn, attend networking groups, and talk a big game. I mean connected to the degree that when she tells a member of her network to jump, that member says “How high?” Writing lots of Channel partner checks is the right kind of problem to have—it is not a fixed cost and it means business is coming in.

Writing 120

Writing Sales Networking Conference 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2019

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. For some customers and many investors, a heavy focus on social networks and viral marketing may be a negative, rather than a positive.

Social Media 79

Social Media Media Invest Platform 79

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

Every new opportunity and every door opened is at the “top end of your funnel” meaning that may or may not come to fruition: A business development conversation, a first customer meeting, the first candidate in a recruiting process, the first time you talk with a journalist or the first meeting to consider your business strategy.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

More Visible Networking? Vince: On the consulting side we are working with a unique social network, a new television network and some original video content businesses. Tony: I personally am torn by choices around Networking Events in Los Angeles – you can go to something almost every night. this time with Vince Thompson.

Startup 225

Startup Los Angeles Social Network Twiistup 225

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

The fitness professional network develops business tools that make it easier for fitness professionals to run their businesses and keep their clients engaged between training sessions. We have 115 paying customers right now. What they’re doing is less important than what our customers tell us they need. How many users?

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective. Every one of those writers has a byline and a bio, and are paid twice a week at a pretty decent rate for that writing or assignment. They couldn't find enough people to write the content they needed, at the quality they need.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2019

Based on my own experience in business over the years, and current coaching efforts, I recommend a focus on the following strategies and attributes: Make your customer the center of everything you do. Customers need to believe that you have their interests at heart. Highlight your credibility by visibility and relationships.

Customer 93

Customer Custom IBM IBM 93

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 2, 2009

Twitter is the new CRM (customer relationship management) channel. On Facebook (and nearly all social networks that preceded it) the relationship was always reciprocal – if I accept your invitation to follow me then I have to follow you. People write their thoughts knowing that anybody else can see them.

Social Network 235

Social Network Writing Tool Startup 235

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 23, 2011

Obviously you should have somebody that helps you research journalists, gets you meetings, pitches stories, helps prep you for interviews & helps make sure your writing is cogent. You need somebody who REALLY understands your company, its customers and its competitors. I write on my blog how I think in my head.

Startup 349

Startup Writing Press Blogging 349