Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2023

As the business economy is rebounding from the pandemic, many entrepreneurs are thinking that life will soon get easier, and their opportunity can only grow. Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Bargaining power of customers.

Competition 88

Competition Startup Framework Pricing 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2023

Finding your sweet spot as an entrepreneur needs to start with a meaningful personal purpose that is also a business opportunity. Many entrepreneurs are finding their “secret sauce” these days by combining a strong purpose with a good business opportunity. Delight and deliver value to your customers.

Framework 95

Framework Customer Custom Tips 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2022

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers.

Coach 114

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2015

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers.

Product 103

Product Coach Framework Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

Finding your sweet spot as an entrepreneur needs to start with a meaningful personal purpose that is also a business opportunity. Many entrepreneurs are finding their “secret sauce” these days by combining a strong purpose with a good business opportunity. Delight and deliver value to your customers.

Tips 174

Tips Framework Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2020

As an entrepreneur advisor, I am surprised at how often I hear the same or very similar proposals of an incremental innovation to an existing process, versus a really new or breakthrough solution. But we all know that these are not solutions by themselves, but require integration into an innovative framework to solve real customer problems.

Startup 134

Startup Artificial Inteligence Ideas Entrepreneur 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2020

As the business economy is expected to rebound from the pandemic, many entrepreneurs are thinking that life will soon get easier, and their opportunity can only grow. Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Bargaining power of customers.

Competition 151

Competition Startup Framework Pricing 151

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2013

Like most startup entrepreneurs, when I began my first company in 1999 I had no formal sales experience. I did have the wherewithal to visit potential customers and try to understand the pain points that I thought could be solved with our solution. Invariably your first efforts at product won’t quite hit the mark – and this is OK.

Sales 393

Sales Startup Resource Customer 393

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2013

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Coach Framework Tool 101

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

It’s a jungle fight for survival out there for aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics. The best entrepreneurs work on making better time management a top objective. Treasure – Most entrepreneurs assume that treasure means funding. The jungle framework is a great one to set the right perspective.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup News Framework 105

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

AUGUST 17, 2019

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers.

Coach 96

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 96

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2013

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. The first thing that entrepreneurs need to realize is that the process and framework for making social media marketing work are different from traditional marketing, and trial and error certainly doesn’t work.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Product Metrics 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2022

The bad news is that it’s still a jungle fight for survival for entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics, with over 80 percent not having access to bank loans or venture capital. The best entrepreneurs work on making better time management a top objective. Treasure – Most entrepreneurs assume that treasure means funding.

Startup 112

Startup News Framework Outsource 112

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2012

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Framework 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2016

Finding your sweet spot as an entrepreneur needs to start with a meaningful personal purpose that is also a business opportunity. Many entrepreneurs are finding their “secret sauce” these days by combining a strong purpose with a good business opportunity. Delight and deliver value to your customers.

Entrepreneur 54

Entrepreneur Framework Customer Custom 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 29, 2017

Leaders who are able to optimize these find multipliers of 20 percent up to nine times the average productivity. Organizational silos, limited spans of control, and too many layers of management can dramatically reduce the productivity of even your best people. As a role model, what you practice is more important than what you preach.

Product 58

Product Startup Guide Framework 58

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

As I discuss in Entrepreneurs Should Go For The Quick Buck – Then Stop , there are situations in which a startup can generate profitable, near-term revenue that does not support, and may even undermine, its long-term strategy. We know this is a feature that’s good for customers. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.’

Tips 223

Tips Framework Metrics Cloud Computing 223

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

For today's interview, we sat down and spoke with David Loo , the founder and CEO of Perspectium (www.perspectium.com), a startup which is developing service management applications designed to help connect different, enterprise service management software products together. Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2022

Success in any business these days requires a constant flow of new and innovative solutions, to keep up with changes in the market, competition, and to attract new customers. In fact, people lower in the organization are often closer to the customer and have more insight into what works and what doesn’t.

Ideas 111

Ideas Framework Summary Organization 111

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team. The reason why, is my experience is in early stage sales and more specifically, in early stage customer development. The answer is almost always NO.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2012

A diligent entrepreneur should certainly work the important details for his or her startup, especially when it comes to assessing any negative fluctuations in the business. I’ve taken the liberty of extending these for entrepreneurs, based on my own experience: Showcase your creativity on the front lines.

Entrepreneur 94

Entrepreneur Startup Template Mentor 94

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.

Marketing 100

Marketing Social Media Framework Media 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2013

As the business economy rebounds, many entrepreneurs are thinking that life will soon get easier, and their opportunity can only grow. Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Bargaining power of customers. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

Startup 80

Startup Framework Competition Pricing 80

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

As discussed in Hiring Entrepreneurs, the impact of each new hire during your startup’s early days is tremendous. As noted in Optimistically Pessimistic , successful entrepreneurs are indifferent as to the specific tactics they must employ to accomplish their fervently held strategic objectives.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2017

In building successful businesses, I find that creating a new and innovative product or service is usually the easy part. The hard part is providing the leadership required to align and motivate all the constituents and players – from engineers, to investors, vendors, and ultimately customers.

Coach 64

Coach Framework Entrepreneur Tool 64

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.

Media 101

Media Marketing Startup Framework 101

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. The startup entrepreneur knows that they’re going to be wrong often. They over think the decision framework. This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. But here’s the thing.

Startup 335

Startup Technical Review Framework Entrepreneur 335

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Most technology startups seem to be founded by three types of people: product managers, engineers or biz dev types (MBAs and the like). They work through ROI calculations with customers. They’re great at orchestrating your company to deliver product demos. Here’s mine: Let me start with a few biases.

Startup 350

Startup Sales Framework Organization 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2019

The bad news is that it’s still a jungle fight for survival for entrepreneurs of all ages and demographics, with over 80 percent not having access to bank loans or venture capital. The best entrepreneurs work on making better time management a top objective. Treasure – Most entrepreneurs assume that treasure means funding.

Startup 94

Startup News Framework Outsource 94

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

I thought I’d try to offer a framework for thinking about the topic. This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. So here’s my framework. Are you in the “lean&# phase? So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5

Help 303

Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2019

Image via Pixabay Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. This can be customer acquisition cost, revenue growth, profit, or whatever other parameters are key to your success. Ric Dragon, an expert in online marketing, in his classic book.

Social Media 96

Social Media Media Marketing Metrics 96

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Success in any business these days requires a constant flow of new and innovative solutions, to keep up with changes in the market, competition, and to attract new customers. In fact, people lower in the organization are often closer to the customer, and have more insight into what works and what doesn’t.

Ideas 94

Ideas Framework Summary Organization 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2013

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment.

Startup 94

Startup Social Media Entrepreneur Framework 94

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Let’s set up a framework. We’re going to start aggressively spend money on marketing our product. In a world where the economy only heads in one direction (read: 2009-2014) most investors & entrepreneurs forget to pay attention to gross burn. But what IS the right amount of burn for a company?

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383