Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. What should not be in your deck? I would likely open up your deck, read it again and begin contemplating your company again.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

Your historical trading information including financials and a “customer file” which shows the history of your transactions so that investors can run “cohort” analyses Customer reference, personal references, key team members, compensation, cap table, stock option plan, etc. It doesn’t. The data room is where your process goes to die.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Have "customers", not "clients."

Startup 150

Startup Slides Email Customer 150

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Customer retention. Investor negotiations. Time management.

Activity 133

Activity Startup Ideas Technical Review 133

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 3, 2013

Deal rooms contain access to or copies of all significant contracts with suppliers, customers, consultants, and others. All corporate governance documents, from incorporation articles to minutes of all meetings of the board are maintained in the deal room. Email readers, continue here.]

Software Review 191

Software Review Patents Startup Email 191

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If customers don’t know you exist, you can’t solve their problem, they won’t buy. Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. Talk to real live customers in addition to marketers. Cold calls to strangers and email blasts are not so productive.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Several times in my investing life, as the final board member making the arrangements to dispose of remaining assets, I have literally been the one to turn out the lights, carry out the documents, books and records to my car, and become the only remaining contact between the failed business and the investors, bankruptcy court, or creditors.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Training Invest Email 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

This week, David Steakley returns for another bite at the corporate apple, with just the right amount of tart comments that will keep this document legal for now. How do you judge a company’s prospects, if a corporate business-to-business sale has to be your game? Email readers, continue here.] Read on! - DB.

Startup 214

Startup Sales Product Customer 214

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. You need to see quickly both positive and negative trends , and understand whether the fluctuations are caused by customer or internal needs. It’s good communication and good business.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Berkonomics

JANUARY 30, 2020

It is not common for the CEO of a rapidly growing company to think of slowing down the furious pace enough to have each manager (including the CEO) document the job process managed, as well as see to the documentation for each process managed below. Examples of documentation by key employees. We leaders are not invincible.

Organization 156

Organization Examples Startup Email 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and business owners, I rarely find someone who doesn’t proclaim that the business world is changing rapidly, with new technology, new customer expectations, and new cultures. Others still routinely have phone hold queues for customer contact that can last up to an hour, with no alternative options.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see that first surge of customers, but that’s just the beginning of your work. With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics. Ramp up your communication efforts and vehicles.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I’ll publish the final post in this series this week and then move on to my next series – sales & marketing. I’ll be covering my PUCCKA sales methodology. My first company launched in 1999 and we were offering a SaaS document management in the cloud (we were called ASPs back then). Another example.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

socalTECH

DECEMBER 7, 2012

If you're a business, what's the best way to send out phone calls and text, and communicate with your customers via phone? One way is to automate the process, which is what Los Angeles-based CallFire has been helping its business customers with. What is CallFire? How did you end up in this market? What's your next growth area?

West Los Angeles 176

West Los Angeles Customer Custom Tool 176

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2014

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Have "customers", not "clients."

Startup 102

Startup Slides Email Customer 102

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are the darling of many Big Dumb Company (BDC) product marketing and customer support executives. Created by consultants to generate additional fees, such scores attempt to rate a company’s overall customer satisfaction. The higher your company’s NPS, allegedly the higher your customer satisfaction.

.Net 182

.Net Satisfaction Entrepreneur Customer 182

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2013

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Customer retention. Investor negotiations. Time management.

Ideas 110

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 110

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 7, 2013

CapLinked also netted in new customers such as Thomson Reuters, Sun Capital, and Equity Partners, NextView Ventures and crowd-funding service AI Verified which will take advantage of its iPad compatibility, bulk uploading, and reporting tools.

Mobile 91

Mobile Report Pricing Tool 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2011

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Have "customers", not "clients."

Startup 93

Startup Customer Custom Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. Finally, hone the result into a professional document. I’ll even send you a free sample of my own business plan via email, if you drop me a note.

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are the darling of many Big Dumb Company (BDC) product marketing and customer support executives. Created by consultants to generate additional fees, such scores attempt to rate a company’s overall customer satisfaction. The higher your company’s NPS, allegedly the higher your customer satisfaction.

.Net 168

.Net Satisfaction Customer Custom 168

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2012

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Have "customers", not "clients."

Startup 85

Startup Slides Email Customer 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. Finally, hone the result into a professional document. I’ll even send you a free sample of my own business plan via email, if you drop me a note.

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

An email subscription is coming! The new information, gleaned from recently unsealed court documents , provides new insight into the company’s past activities and what that might mean for its upcoming IPO. Email me or send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec. As I’ve written before, consider this a soft launch.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2010

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Customer retention. Investor negotiations. Time management.

Ideas 95

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2010

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Have "customers", not "clients."

Startup 90

Startup Slides Email Customer 90

Berkonomics

MARCH 28, 2013

It is not common for the CEO of a rapidly growing company to think of slowing down the furious pace enough to have each manager (including the CEO) document the job process managed, as well as see to the documentation for each process managed below.

Organization 136

Organization Startup Email Examples 136

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. Finally, hone the result into a professional document. I’ll even send you a free sample of my own business plan via email, if you drop me a note.

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

InfoChachkie

JUNE 24, 2013

One way to do so is to ensure that when your customers share their experiences with your products and solutions, they do so with the passion and intensity of a soulful kiss. Over the years, I have documented a number of clever mouth-to-mouth stunts, from DoubleClick to TestFlight. Twitter hashtag activity resulted in 4 demos.

Marketing 239

Marketing Conference Startup RSS 239

Jason Nazar

MAY 2, 2016

Pick an internal email system ( Gmail , Outlook ). Choose an email system to connect with customers ( Constant Contact , MailChimp , Sendgrid ). Set up a collaboration method for business documents, spreadsheets and presentations ( GoogleApps ). Create a sales forecasts and financial projections regularly.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Startup Google Mentor 40

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

HowSimple just launched into beta a next generation browser and desktop manager named andi (Advanced Numerous Document Interface). Their all new all electric car is set to be released for sale in limited quantities at the end of 2011. As of May 2010, CallFire has over 20,000 customers! wonder what that might be?

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2009

It's unusual to have a CEO from the technology side, they're usually from sales. It's a very interesting process, and although we can't use lots of names, our customers will talk to other companies and tell them they have to have this, which is pretty neat. What's the story behind Blackline, and how did it start? READ MORE>>.

Startup 124

Startup Software Review CTO Hire Oracle 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2023

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. That context needs to be set before your sales pitch or background story makes any sense. Before you start, make sure you understand your own objective.

Tips 123

Tips Writing Startup Summary 123

socalTECH

MARCH 24, 2016

Offers now will come in via FAX machine, and if people are interested, you might have 50 people emailing you, which you might stuff into a CRM system somewhere. If you want to share rental, lease, or other property information, your only option is Dropbox, or some people are still mailing documents to people.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Mobile Marketing 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2015

I write about sales often both because it’s the lifeblood of any organization and because in my experience it is the area in which more startups are least experienced or inclined. I also write and talk about it frequently because raising capital is a part of sales and this is important for entrepreneurs to understand.

Sales 150

Sales Startup Venture Capital Funding 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them. You have this perception that they’re billing you for the lunch meeting they invited you to and the friendly banter emails flying back and forth. Most lawyers that work with startups are willing to work on a deferred payment schedule. And Brad Feld.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318