Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Request a small business grant.

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Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

I often wonder whether you as the entrepreneur have worked as hard on your pricing strategy as you have on your innovative solution. If your innovation is real, it brings added value to the table, so most customers, especially early ones, are willing to pay a premium over competitive products.

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Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

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.

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Social Media Customer Custom Media 99

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.

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Customer Custom Startup Competition 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2012

But once you start selling products, all of these pale in comparison to the level of customer experience you provide. Here are the top ten suggestions from John and others for how to create a culture of extreme customer focus in your organization: Create a customer service vision. Exceed customer expectations.

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Customer Custom Startup Organization 104

InfoChachkie

JUNE 27, 2011

I recently answered the question “ What are good ways to raise your children to be entrepreneurs? ” I believe that you cannot teach someone to be an entrepreneur, but that you can teach entrepreneurs. Every entrepreneur is faced with making something out of nothing. Note: This is part I of a five part series.

Entrepreneur 270

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Resource 270

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2019

To fix that problem, Los Angeles-based Coozie (coozieoudoors.com) offers up a different optiona way to rent gear at a fraction of purchase price. We had a customer at REI, and they were calling us from the store. We told him, you don't need to buy that, we have a great option for you. Customers take very good care of our gear.

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Startup Los Angeles Pricing Demand 113

InfoChachkie

JUNE 18, 2012

He was primarily motivated by the educational potential of his invention, not the wealth it might generate. Some first-time entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that they are not entrepreneurs because they have never invented anything nor have they come up with a novel idea upon which a company could be built. A Small Fortune.

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Ideas RSS Technical Review .Net 221

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” On the other hand, there are many additional creative options available for starting a business that you might not find for buying a car, home, or other major consumer item. Request a small business grant.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Equity Examples 107

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2010

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.

Satisfaction 49

Satisfaction Customer Custom Startup 49

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

socalTECH

APRIL 5, 2017

We focus on digital transformation and customer experience. When you start doing that, you create an offering that can be purchased by more customers, and that becomes easier to maintain for us. Given the attraction of stock options at startups to employees and quick exits and IPOs, how do you recruit and keep employees?

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Diamond Bar Customer Custom Organization 169

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2017

In the entrepreneur world, most of the energy I see is focused on the current opportunity bubbles, now including anything mobile, the new sharing economy (Uber, Airbnb), or yet another social media app (Snapchat, WhatsApp). Subtle differences don’t usually attract investors or customers. Put the reins on overconfidence and large egos.

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Ideas Snapchat Social Media Entrepreneur 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2014

Customers buy from people, not from a company, at least at early startup stages. Every product or service has specific attributes that are important to key customers, like integrity and trust, or customer focus. Enchant your customers. Too much innovation will confuse your customers, and drain your resources.

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Startup Tips Customer Custom 98

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2020

As we move forward, we are hoping to personalize that relationship as much as possible, based on life events, and provide a customized experience. We also will be providing options for more guidance, and a subscription model, as well, which will provide more educational information if you have a subscription.

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Content Social Media Startup Artificial Inteligence 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2015

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Real customers. Owned media. Long-term sales.

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Marketing Social Media Framework Media 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2013

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Real customers. Owned media. Long-term sales.

Media 101

Media Marketing Startup Framework 101

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. Fallacy: AdVentures tend to evolve once you begin speaking with pesky customers and demanding partners. “Learn from the mistakes of others.

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Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Entrepreneurs can learn much from successful, yet cash-strapped organizations, such as the Peace Corps and the Marines, especially when it comes to attracting, retaining and motivating employees. Neither institutions offers their employees stock options, free snacks or on-site dry cleaning. Educational Opportunities.

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Startup Organization Education Equity 233

InfoChachkie

MARCH 17, 2014

Stop complaining about how difficult it is to encourage well-mannered, highly educated, civilized professionals to work together. The steps Major Reisman takes to create this unlikely team are enlightening to entrepreneurs seeking to unite far more willing teammates. Failure Is Not An Option. Just Fiction You Say? Think Again.

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Tips Training Organization Education 200

socalTECH

OCTOBER 3, 2019

So, we knew we had some work there, so we've spent the entire year focused on marketing communications and educating consumers on what's in the bottle, and why it's good for them and the planet. I know your first customers used to be the techies and coders, what does your user base look like now?

Marketing 100

Marketing Startup Social Media Product 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2010

By Adam Hoeksema According to a report distributed by the Angel Capital Education Foundation , total startup funding from venture capital funds, state funds, and angel investors totals approximately $20.8 One strategy may be to utilize search engine traffic to bring in customers. billion annually. His blog is [link].

Funding 90

Funding Startup Blogging Invest 90

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2009

As part of your launch, we can integrate Google or Paypal payment options into the login page. Our model does not involve commissions or revenue share with our customers, unlike the traditional publishing model, where you give out your knowledge for a small fraction of what a publisher gets. The plans range up to approximately $190.

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Geni Web Guide Platform 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2016

You can’t make any money unless you bill your customers on a timely basis, and follow-up regularly on missed payment commitments. Include here articles of incorporation, bylaws, shareholder minutes, board minutes, state filings, stock ledger, copies of stock certificates, options and warrants, and copies of all securities law filings.

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Startup Patents Tool Organization 65

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 18, 2013

Rannala said being an entrepreneur is all about figuring things out, getting hands dirty and executing cheaply. The Black Tux online tuxedo rental, which is reinventing the customer experience in the antiquated $10B+ tuxedo rental and sales industry. There is no right answer many times, just gut instincts and educated guesses.

Class 100

Class Startup Tech Coast Angels CTO Coach 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

TechZulu is helping the startup community out by listing all the great startup/entrepreneur oriented panels. Bootstrapping advice, entrepreneur, startups. . The step by step story of an entrepreneur’s journey from idea to bootstrap web startup from her vi. Bootstrapping entrepeneurship, entrepreneur, startups. .

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

As an advisor to business professionals and entrepreneurs, I often hear about an innovative new solution that could lead to business growth or a new business. Here are some key ones that I find often overlooked in the passion of the moment or the rush to get started: Aim your innovations at real customer problems.

Tips 80

Tips Startup Satisfaction Ideas 80

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2018

not bad options but just not your first or second choice. If you’re building an education startup and you don’t see any logos of education companies on the firm’s website you are likely targeting the wrong firm. The investor is a customer and they have money to spend but only for a limited number of companies.

Funding 215

Funding Startup Venture Capital News 215

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2020

We have been advising a lot of entrepreneurs so I thought I’d “open source” some of the advice I have been sharing. They have regulations that dictate things like KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti money-laundering) and other regulations designed to avoid abuse of our financial institutions.

Venture Capital 279

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Doc 279

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us. Before I get into the details for founders, let me talk about options-hungry employees. They are: Fred Wilson: Lead Investors, Dipshit Companies, and Funding Every Entrepreneur. Do it because you love small teams.

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Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

Research this market by doing market sizing, looking at existing products, talking to customers and deciding how you will make money. If you believe there is a market then build a prototype product that you can show customers, investors and potential employees. Paying customers. Validate that you can make money before starting.

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Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 308