Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. I don’t want to speak to customer service reps!! Higher education. Much more data in the full post. But phone calls are dead? Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2020

Therefore, it takes time, sometimes whole generations, of education, communication, and incremental proof to get momentum going and overcome old fears. That’s the great thing about being an entrepreneur. People are slow to accept change. Change is hard for most people. You get to choose your pain. Marty Zwilling.

Customer 167

Customer Custom Startup Outsource Development 167

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. It’s all about content that will bring the masses to your business: Highly relevant. Educational. Your content must continue to deliver new ideas.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

As part of the lead in to the conference, and as a part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. We respond very quickly to all of our customers.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Services Conference 113

Berkonomics

JUNE 30, 2022

And that includes potential customers as well as executives and employees. A leadership goal vs. a mantra: I once sat in on a roundtable meeting in which the executive of a company stated his goal as “educate the world.” Note that “Educate the world” elicited little response until the group saw the financial goal.

Education 156

Education Metrics Course Resource 156

socalTECH

OCTOBER 23, 2012

We sat down with TX Zhuo , who is heading up the firm's venture investments, about the fund and his path here after a recent stint at Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors fund in Palo Alto. Specifically, we look at digital media, healthcare IT, e-commerce, education technology and financial services. What is Karlin Ventures?

Funding 253

Funding Startup Invest Commerce 253

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Interview potential customers, hold focus groups, meet with existing customers. Attend trade show education sessions. Ask you field representatives to debrief you about what they are hearing. The first rule of marketing and positioning is to listen to the marketplace. Hire consultants. But listen! Adapt (again)!

Marketing 156

Marketing Metrics Education Resource 156

Tech.Co

JANUARY 10, 2018

In the Harvard Business Review Female Economy 2009 report, women purchasing power was predicted to control about $28 trillion in annual global consumer spending, if not more. “Focusing on emotion is key when communicating with female customers. Most importantly, humor can get customers talking about your product or service.

Tips 71

Tips Customer Custom Dollar Shave Club 71

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2019

What entrepreneurs forget or don’t realize is that most customers are wary of all technology, educating the market on new technology is expensive, takes a long time, and people buy problem solutions rather than technology. We heard a lot of this sort of thing about Pinterest in the early days. This Twitter thing. Acceptance.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Technology Startup Social Media 87

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. It’s all about content that will bring the masses to your business: Highly relevant. To get to the core of what’s relevant to customers, you need to know them well. Educational.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

Most then add customer service at the rollout, but very few really understand what it means to be truly customer centric, and even fewer really achieve it. Customer centricity is far more than providing excellent customer service, although that’s a step in the right direction. Focus on individual customer value.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Services Pricing 90

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 10, 2013

Excellent customer service isn’t just something that happens from company to consumer. Customer service starts within a company. We all know about Zappos customer culture and their willingness to stay on a call with a customer for up to 10 hours. It’s the same effect you want on your customers.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Training Services 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2023

The Internet is the problem, by facilitating constant change, and it’s the solution, by providing an absolutely current view of customers, trends, and best practices. It requires an attitude of self-education, versus an assumption that someone else will provide the education. Building a new business is not rocket science.

Social Media 120

Social Media Startup Entrepreneur Education 120

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Marketing is a science devised to help drive customers to your door. Then there’s the compass or cardinal definitions model for marketers : N=needs, W=wants, S=security, and E=education. C=Customers, and more customers. Existing customers have low acquisition costs, addressing the “D” in the equation.

Marketing 156

Marketing Demand Class Pricing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2023

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Case Study 89

Case Study Customer Custom Study 89

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2015

I often speak about co-founder fighting and how this ends in lawsuits but this has become much more prevalent. He regretted the decision and sued the company and the board – it’s still not totally clear to me what he was suing about. He signed a release and remained on the board. He sued anyways. It was a pure shake down.

Startup 150

Startup IP Writing Ideas 150

TechCrunch LA

JULY 23, 2019

On Tuesday, Haptik announced it has acqui-hired Convrg, a Los Angeles-based startup that develops chatbots, to serve customers in North America. Many players including Coca Cola, Oyo, Samsung, Tata Group, and KFC use Haptik’s chatbots in their customer support services. 60% of all software is bought in the U.S.,

Los Angeles 209

Los Angeles Angel Startup Google 209

Xconomy

JULY 14, 2016

The shootings that targeted police officers at a peaceful protest in Dallas, which followed the officer-involved shooting deaths of Philando Castile near Minneapolis and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA, also have raised distressing questions about racism in America and our criminal-justice system. Need more convincing?

Entrepreneur 40

Entrepreneur Education Training Invest 40

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

When entrepreneurs introduce new products to the market, their passion and conviction often leads them to assume that every potential customer will see the immediate need and value, and will quickly adopt the solution. The more revolutionary the solution, the more important it is to educate customers on a solution’s existence and value.

Case Study 174

Case Study Startup Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2021

After working many years in business, both in large companies as well as startups, I’ve realized that you can learn more from peers and mentors than from any formal education program. Mentoring supplements but doesn’t replace the need to continue education through industry conferences and networking.

Mentor 159

Mentor Satisfaction Education Organization 159

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2023

In the entrepreneur world, your perception is equally critical, except the “managers” in this world are your investors, customers, vendors, business partners, and team members. Use the idea to kick-start your relationships with co-founders, investors, customers and business partners. Your personal life is now public.

Startup 117

Startup Ideas Social Network Technical Review 117

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 16, 2020

Ksenia Yudina initially founded the company to provide financial planning and services to lower- and middle-class families looking for ways to start saving for their children’s education, she said. As a father of two young boys, I care about their financial future and I know that other parents are feeling the same way.

Services 235

Services Capital Draper Education 235

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2012

Most then add customer service at the rollout, but very few really understand what it means to be truly customer centric, and even fewer really achieve it. Customer centricity is far more than providing excellent customer service, although that’s a step in the right direction. Focus on individual customer value.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Startup Pricing 90

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

emerge and are there any lessons to be gained about the future? Listening to young people talk about social networking as a new phenomenon is a bit like hearing people talk about a remake of a famous song from my youth as though it was the original version. At it’s peak AOL had about 27 million US subscribers.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Web 2.0 Startup 318

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2014

The days are gone when a techie or a genius could build things in his garage and customers would find and buy the product, based purely on the “wow factor” of the technology. Thus customers and partners rely more and more on personal engagement with people. New technologies are everywhere today. Make it an enjoyable experience.

Customer 99

Customer Custom Startup Content 99

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2021

It seems to be more a function of mindset and principles, more than education or natural ability. Some people are all about new ideas, but hesitant to commit and implement a specific plan. Deliver value to your customer, to accrue value in you. Value to a customer means you are solving their problem, not highlighting yours.

Education 148

Education Mentor Customer Custom 148

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2012

A while back, I wrote about the value of Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment, and using every opportunity to highlight and emphasize your relative advantages, whether they be price, features, or bargaining power. Exceed customer expectations. Continuous customer service innovation.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Startup Organization 104

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Most entrepreneur that fail are quick to offer a litany of constraints that caused their demise – not enough money, time, customers, or support from the right players. Every startup needs to think hard daily about what problem or challenge is holding back progress, what really matters today, and what entirely new possibilities exist.

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Gerber wrote a best-selling business book called The E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. The E-Myth (“Entrepreneurial Myth”) is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Startup Social Media Satisfaction 136

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

Here is a summary of some key insights I have gathered over the years from talking to and reading about serious entrepreneurs, including some of the “movers and shakers” today who have built multi-billion dollar enterprises, and really changed our world: The magic is in only pursuing smart risks. There will be time for friends later.

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Demand Customer 171

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

As a business consultant with experience in large companies as well as startups, I often hear about dysfunctional management hierarchies, as well as the value provided by exceptional ones. We have all heard about the successes of flattened management organizations in the last decade at Facebook, Valve, Zappos, and others.

Outsource 133

Outsource Training Organization Social Media 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2013

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Customers are not all like you, and they have choices, so a “one size fits all” customer service is no longer a viable option.

Social Media 99

Social Media Customer Custom Media 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Selling services has always been about relationships, but the challenges of building relationships with services clients have exploded. In addition, as every business becomes instantly global via the Internet, it’s virtually impossible for you to touch every customer personally. Relationships are a function of customer culture.

Social Media 98

Social Media Technical Review Media Services 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2022

Too many customers have long felt distanced from many successful brands, seeing them as closed and mysterious environments, focused only on profits and killing competitors. In the idea stage, get customers involved with an engaging contest. Make decisions openly and be honest about the criteria on which they are based.

Organization 126

Organization Social Media Examples Customer 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2012

You hear a lot of talk these days about the importance of customer satisfaction, but customer loyalty is the real win. A satisfied customer is necessary, but not sufficient, to be a loyal customer who will come back repeatedly, refer their friends and family to you, and be faithful even when your price is not the lowest.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Startup Competition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

Even customers, while they all want the next big thing, want it to happen with minimal new learning. Startup leadership and survival is all about execution. Focus on customer needs rather than profits. When innovations are implemented that have clear value and acceptance by customers, business success will follow.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Google Startup Organization 114

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2016

Los Angeles-based online electronics retailer Newegg announced today that it has opened up a new, combined pickup and education center near Toronto, Canada. Newegg said its new 3,800 square foot "Hybrid Centre" will let customers both pick up will-call orders, as well as learn about technology products and attend educational seminars.

NewEgg 100

NewEgg Education Los Angeles Customer 100