Remove Customer Remove Entrepreneur Remove Equity Remove Study
article thumbnail

10 Steps To Second Stage Success For Your New Venture

Startup Professionals Musings

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Optimize the total customer experience.

Sales 147
article thumbnail

8 Keys To Building And Nurturing Trusted Connections

Startup Professionals Musings

Aspiring entrepreneurs who struggle in a corporate environment often can’t wait to start their own company, only to find that relationships are even more critical and volatile there. The message here is not to use the public personas of leaders and entrepreneurs as the model for building and maintaining your business relationships.

Oracle 113
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

10 Entrepreneur Alternatives To Investor Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Commit to a major customer.

article thumbnail

6 Funding Resources For Ideas Needing More Validation

Startup Professionals Musings

Applied research is still primarily scientific study, seeking to solve practical problems, but doesn’t yet focus on a commercial product. The technology is now embodied in a solution that can be replicated to reliably solve a real customer problem. Thus the best entrepreneur strategy for funding is to build solutions, not technology.

Resource 102
article thumbnail

8 Success Drivers Define A Lifestyle Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

More recently, the desire for extra income has become the key driver in new startups, according to a 2015 study. Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” According to William R.

article thumbnail

10 Ways For Entrepreneurs To Meet Cash Flow Peaks

Startup Professionals Musings

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Commit to a major customer.

article thumbnail

Smart Entrepreneurs Don’t Need Disruptive Technology

Startup Professionals Musings

According to a recent Harvard Research study, first-time inventors spend at least a third more on their initial technology than later innovators. Market research can thus be based on real customers and a previously tested market. Studying and learning from the mistakes of others is the best way to reduce your own risks.