Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

For many businesses you should keep your costs low & your capital raises low until you discover whether you are really on to a big idea where there is market demand. I think many entrepreneurs under-estimate the benefit that capital early helps in being able to produce product and differentiate yourself in a nascent marketplace.

Help

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders, no surprise?—?that’s founders, marketers, investors?—?and

Product

socalTECH

MAY 28, 2015

Los Angeles-based HelloTech (www.hellotech.com) wants to be the service that you refer all of your friends and family to, instead--by offering up low cost, on-demand, in-home technical support. First and foremost, it's an on-demand, in -home technical support service. I think the big challenge is going to be customer acquisition.

Demand

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

When you start your company the very first question you need to ask yourself is which kind of customers do you want to serve. Many start-ups (and even growth firms) lack this discipline and they therefore serve customers off all sizes. These are really massive customers. We knew how to land huge corporate customers.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2013

I did have the wherewithal to visit potential customers and try to understand the pain points that I thought could be solved with our solution. Steve Blank calls this “ customer development ” in which you built an initial product that is in search of “product / market fit.” This is a very important to do when you first start a company.

Sales

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to getting ahold of an appointment for your hair or another treatment…that’s a different story: The bespoke nature of a lot of the work has meant that a large swathe of the professionals providing these services have stayed offline when it comes to interfacing with customers.

Help

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

But where traditional insurance companies have struggled to acquire the acumen needed to accommodate the growing demand for cybersecurity insurance, startups like At-Bay have filled the space. At-Bay was founded in 2016 by Rotem Iram and Roman Itskovich, and is headquartered in Mountain View.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

Customer

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.

Custom

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Most startups are happy to find any customer, and will hang on for dear life to every one. Only later do they realize that some of these cost more than they are worth, or lead into commitments they can’t sustain, but no business wants to violate the golden rule that every customer needs to be treated as if they were the only customer.

Custom

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2022

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. Leaders today must always project confidence and help others develop confidence, courage, and curiosity. Kindly confident: project and inspire confidence.

Custom

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 10, 2020

Over the next 20 years, Swell is targeting the development of over 3,000 gigawatt hours of clean solar energy production, with customers storing 1,000 gigawatt hours for later use, and dispatching 200 gigawatt hours of this stored energy back to the utility grid.

Development

Berkonomics

JULY 31, 2014

Marketing is a science devised to help drive customers to your door. Use all the techniques you learn in marketing classes to drive demand. Higher demand results in higher prices – if there is limited supply. And finally: C=Customers, and more customers. D=Decrease costs.

Marketing

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Santa Monica-based LIVESTRONG.COM , the online health and fitness site joint venture of Demand Media and Lance Armstrong, said this week that it has launched a new, iPhone application geared at helping users quick smoking. Livestrong said its new MyQuit Coach iPhone application--which costs $3.99

Santa Monica

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

Obviously, there’s a huge demand for it, and it shouldn’t be this difficult to access high-quality convenient hair solutions.”. Upgrade’s e-commerce marketplace has two sides: one that enables consumers to choose a vetted stylist and have their wig colored or customized based on their desired look. Remember Mary J.

Tool

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

This is important because the customers they serve (the red line) demand a product that meets their complex requirements. So the startups tend to focus on totally new customers. Often the startups are actually serving a slightly different kind of customer or a slightly different market need. Incumbents feel threatened.

Startup

socalTECH

MARCH 25, 2019

Los Angeles-based Scoobeez , a new startup offering up on-demand, door-to-door logistics and delivery services, says it is expanding its services across Los Angeles. The company said it is focused on helping in the transportation, logistics, food and beverage and retail industries. Scoobeez is ledby foudner and Ceo Shahan Ohanessian.

Demand

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2019

Is there room on your curb for (yet another) on-demand scooter company? SUN said its new custom shared scooter has 10 inch, solid tires, 30 percent better battery capacity than what it's using now, and "all new technology" compared to its existing scooters, and is far more durable.

Demand

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. MyTime aims to be the first industry-wide platform to help create consistency across the SKUs in services businesses. The company was called Red Beacon.

CTO Coach

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. Julie Schoenfeld: When we talked last, we were focusing primarily on helping publisher monetize their archived content. Congrats on funding.

Marketing

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

The second is that the retailers were constrained by their high costs of local real estate and service staff relative to the costs of centralized warehouses where goods could be stacked high, sorted by robots, managed by RFIDs and then shipped via overnight to eager, cost-conscious customers across the US. 10x the experience.

Technical Review

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2020

In the words of my friend and a CEO with whom I work, “Yeah, I know I need to make some cuts because our demand has changed, but I want to do this with a scalpel and not with an axe.” He produced a very detailed analysis of his customer base and which would be affected. It was the thoughtful response of an empathetic leader.

Demand

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Pasadena-based Foodme (www.foodme.com) is one of the first, external startups funded out of Idealab's New Venture Group, and is looking to help connect restaurants with customers using a CPA model. We don't cannibalize their existing customers base. So, we can help them fill that table by allowing them to adjust their pricing.

Idealab

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

The concept is similar to Toyota’s e-Palette vehicle, which can theoretically be customized to serve as a retail shop, restaurant or shuttle for people. It’s this Canoo architecture that Hyundai Motor Group is interested. ”

Startup

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

GrubMarket has built itself as a profitable but quiet giant that underpins the fuel that helps companies in all of these categories by becoming one of the critical companies building bridges between food producers and those that interact with customers. Its opportunity comes in the form of disruption and a gap in the market.

Technical Review

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

Good Eggs says that in the past year, revenue has grown to the nine figures (more than $100 million), hired more than 400 employees and nearly doubled its customer base. So the team was busy enough trying to operate a new warehouse, meet increased demand for grocery delivery and keep workers safe in the process.

Southern California

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 28, 2020

Even as oil companies are getting crushed by the collapse of demand for energy in the wake of international shutdowns responding to the global pandemic, investors representing one of the world’s savviest financiers are placing a small bet on electric charging as the future of transportation.

Funding

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Post-sale, AI analyzes customer data to improve service and loyalty, making it a cornerstone of modern sales methodologies.

Generative AI

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Leveraging LLMs to help users fill in text, whether it’s by providing starter content, samples, or highly personalized tips, makes their lives easier. An empty textbox, demanding to be filled with a concise, compelling summary to impress potential employers is daunting. Which means better conversions and happier customers.

Generative AI

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 15, 2020

With that deficit in mind, the firm has set out to raise a new climate-focused investment vehicle with at least a $200 million target, and has brought on a new partner to help invest that capital. And finally, the customers who rent and buy space among real estate developers had their own demands around decarbonization, Wallace said.

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

You can ask them to come and watch your videos at your owned & operated websites (O&O) where you can make higher margins as well as ask directly for more meaningful customer information such as Facebook connections, Twitter oAuths, email addresses and the like. This helps get CPM rates higher – even within YouTube.

Company

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

According to Foursquare, the new office will help it meet explosion in demand, in part due to local local automotive, entertainment, CPG and QSR customers. Location-based information service Foursquare said on Monday that it has opened up its first office in Los Angeles, in Playa Vista.

Journal

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Testing is what helps determine whether you’re really on to something. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review

TechCrunch LA

MAY 21, 2020

The company first pitched the market with an investment management service like those from Betterment and Wealthfront, but one where customers could choose their own fees. There’s a whole suite of new services designed to help customers go green too. Aspiration can now tell you the ‘social impact’ of your monthly spending.

Los Angeles

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

The company used its overdraft protection service and money management display to shift customers’ focus away from the total balance that their account would show by giving them a sense of how much was actually left in their accounts once debits were included in their statements.

Company

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

Its primary goal is to focus on identifying what is truly driving demand, analytically, so that our customers can optimize their activities. We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments.

Social Media

socalTECH

OCTOBER 21, 2016

San Diego-based GoShare , the developer of an on-demand, moving and delivery app, has raised $1M in a seed funding round, the company said on Friday. GoShare has been targeting its service to local businesses, helping those local businesses connect their customers to third party truck and van drivers.

Demand