Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

(In case it’s not obvious it’s a play on the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.&# ) I believe that being successful as an entrepreneur requires you to get lots of things done. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. This paralyzes most people.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Too many entrepreneurs try to talk their way through all of these.

Activity 133

Activity Startup Ideas Technical Review 133

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Entrepreneurs often must take counter-intuitive, contrarian positions in order to succeed. As noted in Entrepreneurship Is A Compulsion , entrepreneurs often view the world from a slightly different vantage point, rejecting the oxymoronic term Conventional Wisdom. . Old School Software Distribution Is Doomed. That’s logic.”.

Entrepreneur 230

Entrepreneur Software Review Allegis Metrics 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Manage customer service. Software and hardware development architects and designers.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review Report 106

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I originally conceived it as the Top 11 things that I believe “all entrepreneurs need to succeed.&# If it stuck to this theme then I would stand by my top 11. It isn’t a “must&# for me but it’s certainly a huge positive when entrepreneurs have it. So the whole customer development cycle is very streamlined.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2013

Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Too many entrepreneurs try to talk their way through all of these.

Ideas 110

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 110

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

While the market isn't short of spritely, innovative entrepreneurs, harsh economic headwinds combined with a pullback in investor spending have made it harder than ever for budding businesses to break through. 2023 hasn't been an easy year to be a startup. Organic milk formula product Bobbie.

Startup 210

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 210

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

socalTECH

MARCH 19, 2019

Stacy Stubblefield: We do two factor authentication, which basically means we send text messages with the codes you get when you log into a web site or even when you're just registering for a website. What enabled you to get that first customer on board? We were really focused on customer acquisition. How did the company start?

Marina Del Rey 113

Marina Del Rey Software Review Startup Incubator 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

Work on budgets, submit RFPs, answer customers support calls, work the bug-tracking software, and trying to meet the next sprint release schedule. I never lived beyond my means and it’s always a warning sign for me when evaluating companies and entrepreneurs. Sell stuff. I like more understated types. That makes no sense.

Conference 398

Conference Technical Review Truecar Software Review 398

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Manage customer service. Software and hardware development architects and designers.

Startup 124

Startup Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I once met with an entrepreneur who had developed a new algae strain to cure world hunger and make him rich.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2019

As an advisor to business owners, and an occasional angel investor, my job is to separate the actual challenges from the common misconceptions that distract many promising entrepreneurs while building the leadership team required for your solution, marketing, and finance success. Partner with experts who share the risk.

Software Review 98

Software Review Ideas Outsource Development Entrepreneur 98

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. We only want software revenue.” How do you get referenceable customers? I believe it’s flawed.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

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.

Custom 164

Custom Customer Advertising SEM 164

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

He also spearheaded a number of fundamental software breakthroughs, including creating the basic hardware / software architecture which resulted in the creation of the third-party personal computer (PC) software industry. Developed first floppy disk operating system. Established basis for PC local-area networks.

IBM 124

IBM IBM Software Review Custom 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Our target market is entrepreneurs, creatives, and developers. We''re very much a global footprint company, and we have customers from all over the world who fit that type of description. Right now, we have around 380,000 customers, with about a third of those outside the United States. So, for us, competition is good.

Software Review 238

Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2014

If you have a software development background like mine, Im sure you often get questions about when to outsource, versus building the solution in-house. Outsourcing is defined as contracting the work to another company, usually located in a developing country, like India, China, or Eastern Europe.

Outsource Development 95

Outsource Development Outsource Offshore Software Review 95

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” Possibly offend and entrepreneur leading to reputation risk amongst other entrepreneurs.

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

For today's interview, we sat down and talked with Mike Whitmire , the CEO and Co-founder of Los Angeles-based FloQast (www.floqast.com), a developer of financial close management software for enterprise accounting. Mike tells us about the company, who uses its software, as well as how he was initially turned away from the Amplify.LA

Startup 124

Startup Cornerstone OnDemand Software Review Woodland Hills 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2010

Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software. For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Too many entrepreneurs try to talk their way through all of these.

Ideas 95

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Most entrepreneurs work long hours and weekends to get the job done. If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Compatible work styles.

Software Review 103

Software Review Equity CTO Hire Outsource Development 103

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

It's the biggest portion of our revenues at our company, and our clients include the Buffalo News, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, JDate, Spark network, and many entrepreneurs. We actually built that about a year and a half ago, and are bringing that back due to overwhelming demand. We were crowd sourcing artists and design.

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2019

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Unethical behavior in business is just due to a few ‘bad apples.’

Software Review 77

Software Review Summary Examples Offshore 77

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment. We caught up with EcoMom CEO Jody Sherman , to learn more about the company.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

InfoChachkie

MARCH 16, 2016

Even less time is spent on developing the aspects of a car that become evident long after the purchase is completed. I learned the hard way that during a startup’s early days, entrepreneurs should give slightly greater emphasis on developing buyer features, in order to reduce the friction of the sales cycle.

SaaS 100

SaaS Startup Software Review Development Team Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. This benefits you, the entrepreneur. It takes options off of the table.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

Perhaps the most misused terms I see these days from entrepreneurs involve CAC (customer acquisition costs) and LTV (life time value) and a lack of understanding these critical components is driving many companies to premature failure. So I spend an inordinate amount of time with entrepreneurs focused on payback. End of story.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2016

Most new entrepreneurs have great ideas, and many are highly skilled in building their solutions. They don’t realize that strong team engagement leads to even stronger customer engagement, which can more than double your startup revenue and growth, according to experts. Facilitate and use customer, peer engagement feedback.

Software Review 57

Software Review Satisfaction Startup Training 57