Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Failure to learn.

Metrics 157

Metrics Demand Statistics Sales 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

You may think it’s great that demand exceeds your supply chain, but customers only remember it as a loss of your credibility, and will tell others. Proactive customer communication should be your first recourse, followed by cost and service concessions. Use metrics on key deliverables to assure quality results.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. People attending marquee conferences with rock bands, prominent speakers, Gartner Group prognosticators and lots of other happy customers. Have an in-house professional services team that implements your software.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. You now need more than loyalty from your customers -- they need to be your best advocates. The days of pushing new and marginal performers into customer service are gone. Lost customers provide the best input.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Balance of passion with reality and customer feedback. A strong vision and deep insight may get your business off the ground, but long-term success requires constant data analysis, metrics, and attention to your customer feedback. The competition will improve, the market will change, and your customers will demand more.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers. In my view, every startup in today’s world would do well to adopt a management system with the same key objectives: Start with a customer-obsessed business model.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Customer Custom 123

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Look for validation from your mainstream customers. No matter how passionately you believe that everyone needs one, and positive feedback from friends and early adopters (false positives), before you invest in scaling the business, make sure you set and meet good metrics in cost of customer acquisition, recurring sales, and margin.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2019

For those of you who don’t have time to read the whole book, here is a sampling of a few key points that should get you thinking in the right direction, and maybe just keep you a step or two ahead of your big competitors: Add a platform that provides self-service growth. Create and practice an obsession over customers.

Commerce 89

Commerce Artificial Inteligence Cloud Computing Platform 89

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. Even a million users on your social media site won’t pay the bills until you sell some advertising or a premium service. Cote, former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Metrics 124

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Content Recommendations in Streaming Services While many streaming platforms suggest content based on viewing history, LLMs have the power to significantly elevate this experience. This advanced approach greatly enhances the user experience, making product discovery more intuitive. Strive for a balanced outcome.

Generative AI 346

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 346

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2019

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Training Statistics Summary 94

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2014

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Failure to learn.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Metrics Demand Statistics 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

InfoChachkie

JUNE 2, 2014

The result of her efforts is an online service that allows brides to select their bridesmaids'' gowns, within a broad range of colors, styles and price points. The gowns are then dry cleaned and readied for the next customer, in the spirit of the emerging sharing economy in which goods are communally used multiple times.

Design 208

Design Customer Custom Satisfaction 208

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). The challenges for making money and survival in these professional services worlds are different, maybe even tougher. Shape your business by design, not by default.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2013

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Failure to learn.

Metrics 110

Metrics Entrepreneur Demand Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2016

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Failure to learn.

Metrics 60

Metrics Demand Statistics Sales 60

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 56

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2017

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 56

Startup Training Statistics Summary 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2014

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Training Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 96

Sales Metrics Startup Entrepreneur 96

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

So when Sam Rosen came to me with the idea of disrupting storage with a product that is priced cheaper than existing incumbents and he could build a product that is a better service I was intrigued. The metrics were good but we wondered how much better they would be when we expanded our product. That is how great businesses are built.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 29, 2014

Freshplum , founded by Sam Odio, Michael Yuan and Nick Alexander, uses data science to help businesses that sell goods and services electronically increase their overall revenue while reducing their online promotion spend. Know your customer’s preferences.

Sales 77

Sales Statistics IBM IBM 77

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

By profit, I simply mean offering a product or service to customers for a price that exceeds the total costs associated with the solution, thus providing some basis for recovering sunk costs and generating a return for stakeholders. Solve a painful problem for customers who have money to spend.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 93

Startup Training Statistics Summary 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2013

Currently, social media is the least used of all customer interaction methods. They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only. Define relevant metrics and measure.

Social Media 106

Social Media Media Startup Social Network 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 94

Startup Marketing Training Statistics 94

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only. You need these to add the human element to your business or service. Define relevant metrics and measure.

Social Media 115

Social Media Media Startup Social Network 115

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2009

Los Angeles-based Ace Metrix (www.acemetrix.com) launched its software-as-a-service, TV advertising rating service last month, and we spoke with the firm's CEO and co-founder, Steve Goldman, recently to learn more about the firm. We harvest their ad off the air automatically, and they are put in front of customers via online panels.

Advertising 100

Advertising Palomar Startup Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2010

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 78

Startup Training Statistics Summary 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2011

They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only. You need these to add the human element to your business or service. Define relevant metrics and measure.

Social Media 104

Social Media Media Marketing Social Network 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2010

They don’t know if they should move to social networks for lead generation, branding, customer loyalty, or for direct marketing and e-commerce. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only. You need these to add the human element to your business or service. Define relevant metrics and measure.

Social Media 88

Social Media Media Marketing Startup 88

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160