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. Just because you want to start a business doesn’t mean you are entitled to outside equity, loans, or crowdfunding. Keep the initial scope within bootstrapping limits.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

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. and then asking to take a brochure home with you.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. Somehow many first-time founders equate “sales” with something that is beneath them. In sales there are also three rules: Qualify, qualify, qualify.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Providing your product or service free to customers may sound attractive in marketing materials, but you need revenue sources to survive. Skip the acronyms and jargon.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

InfoChachkie

JUNE 4, 2012

As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. Fallacy: Startup ventures tend to evolve, especially after you begin speaking with pesky customers and demanding partners. Public relations at a startup is a sales process. Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Outsource Ideas Technical Review 272

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Yesterdays’ equity round of $1.6 CapLinked says the round of funding and new appointment are an advancement in their move to displace the legacy left by Virtual Data Room (VDR) with their intuitive new product for coordinating on complex business deals such as asset sales, financings, and mergers and acquisitions.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Should entrepreneurs have convertible debt or priced equity?

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2011

Jeff Zwelling is the co-founder of Convertro (www.convertro.com), a Los Angeles company focused on helping companies track how their marketing efforts are leading to sales conversions. That's important, because it allows marketers to re-invest and give credit to that marketing event, so they can buy more of it and get more customers.

Startup 210

Startup Marketing Customer Custom 210

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is. Greathouse: Having run these groups, I know all about the inherent friction between sales and marketing with regard to lead quality, volume, etc., That causes friction internally.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2016

Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help. Seasonal sales fluctuations eat cash. Fluctuating sales means more inventory is required to cover the ups and downs. Even good customers don’t always pay on time.

Startup 64

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 64

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Even when you do sign-up initial customers it’s still not clear that your company will be a success and you’re still likely paying yourself under market rates. ” The punch line from this post was “angel yourself.” He still has the dream. He has the hunger. I’m not saying it’s even desirable.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I have no quarterly sales targets for the first time in a decade – For anybody who’s ever been in a company with sales targets you can attest to what a fire drill the ends of March, June, September and December can be. You get on a plane at a moment’s notice because a senior customer agreed to meet you.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. He did it yesterday, “Mark, I’m going to write a blog post following on from your VC’s aren’t dumb. ” I know it sounds obvious.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). You have a large number of startup customers (because when markets crash they have a funny way of going bankrupt quickly or cutting burn precipitously).

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors. Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Marketing, sales, and partners.

Slides 94

Slides Competition Sample Sales 94

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

agreeing whether or not to top up a founder’s equity. As a result I’ve really resisted writing about negotiations. If I forget to write, “Don’t Negotiation Piecemeal” after that then remind me. where if another customer is offered a lower price, they’re legally obliged to offer it to me).

Pricing 305

Pricing Startup Examples Writing 305

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

But putting no time into anchoring your beliefs because you’re too busy executing sales, marketing, support, product & engineering is an easy recipe for leadership drift. You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out. A great leader knows customers and has direct relationships with them. Conviction.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. You are either bought for stock or for equity. At least for a couple of years until you’ve grown into your new valuation / made enough revenue / captured enough customers / etc.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. Consider it a sales & marketing expense for them.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

We have built SocialStay for scale so I think the ‘chasm’ is both a function of time and sales. Without their buy in, we don’t get the opportunity to interact with end customers. You don’t need much… But what you do need is sales. In the beginning, when there is nothing, it’s easy to make promises or throw around equity.

Startup 233

Startup Design Mobile Social Network 233

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

Three reasons: There is a relative valuation between the price a VC pays and their expectations of what it will exit for in an IPO or trade sale. Also, it’s harder to pay a $30 million pre-money value on an unproved company when you see public companies with $100 million in sales trading for less than $20 million.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 6, 2014

My next pivot after writing down all the good stuff (which of course is actually usual to know) is to say, “Those are some great strengths and some of the reasons we liked Stacy so much, which is great to have confirmed by you. CFOs often know the other CFOs and same for heads of sales, marketing, tech, etc. You expected no less.

Startup 302

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Report 302

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

An inflated sense of financial well-being can result in sloppy budgeting and accounting as you write checks here and there without pause. If you spend $50K on a website selling party supplies but you soon realize it's the sales of catering supplies you offer that have taken off, you will want to have a site that promotes your newfound focus.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me).

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me).

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me).

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

CEO Flow

MARCH 2, 2009

It will consist of a fixed group of up to 12 CEOs which will meet in person and support each other in navigating through the economic turmoil, generating revenue and working with investors and customers in the new climate. We intend the group to be mostly CEOs of B2B companies and companies with some direct sales. Just write me).

Santa Monica 40

Santa Monica Los Angeles Finaventures Angel 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

This time by the efforts of Adeo Ressi to introduce a new kind of structure called “ convertible equity.” My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

When an entrepreneur takes on investors who take equity (i.e. The board is where large equity investors get their representation. They therefore often play the role of the “voice of the customer” and bring important relationships. I really like it when independent directors write a check into the company.

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But this mania to not miss out on the next big thing is driving some investors to pay growth-equity prices for traditional market risk (as in, they’re paying up before it is clear there is product / market fit). customers who paid for services often get burned.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Example: salary, equity, joint venture, etc… Can the business afford it? Create roles and guidelines in the potential partnership: What role and responsibility will each of the partners have including operation, financial, sales, marketing, etc.? Research and talk to existing and past customers. Is it by committee?

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2014

These are people who should believe in you, without waiting to see if your idea works, or waiting until you have real customers, revenue, and hard assets. These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Capital Startup Funding 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2013

These are people who should believe in you, without waiting to see if your idea works, or waiting until you have real customers, revenue, and hard assets. These commitments should always be positioned in writing as promissory notes, or so-called bridge-loans, which convert to equity at a rate determined by later investors.

Startup 97

Startup Entrepreneur Equity Examples 97

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

We had to write a CRM to keep track of them all. equity debate. Converts versus equity deals - Chris Dixon , August 31, 2010 There has been a debate going on the past few days over whether seed deals should be funded using equity or convertible notes (converts). What’s going to happen in the future?' m king of a cow.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

That, plus I love the space of high-customer-service, focused eCommerce for moms worried about what their kids eat & wear.&#. Starting with exclusive rights to sell celebrity chef, Tyler Florence’s, line of baby food online, SproutBaby began seeing initial traction from customer interest as physical distribution spread.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

One of the first tough decisions that startup founders have to make is how to allocate or split the equity among co-founders. Another common “failure to start” situation I see is one where the “idea person” insists that the idea is 90% of the value (and 90% of the equity). Expertise can be marketing, technical, financial, or sales.

Equity 91

Equity Startup CTO Hire CTO Coach 91