Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

But it will be patiently deployed, waiting for a cohort of founders who aren’t artificially clinging to 2021 valuation metrics. million, our Seed Funds mostly between $200–300 million and have delivered median ownerships of ~20% from the first check we write into a startup. In 2009 we could take a long time to review a deal.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. What should not be in your deck? A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Build your business with minimum outside funding.

Resource 121

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Customer 121

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

To keep you out of this statistic, I recommend the following steps to all aspiring business owners as they step into this new and exciting world of managing your own business: Solidify your funding plan before you start spending. The remainder use outside funding, including crowdfunding, friends and family, banks, and investors.

Social Media 98

Social Media Metrics Media Tool 98

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” One customer is not traction, and beta tests with a thousand customers at no cost don’t count. Average transaction size and revenue per customer.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” It felt like heresy. It would be rude!?!

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Actively listen to customer feedback, and don’t be a one-trick pony.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

Instead of sizing up new opportunities and actively courting every new customer, you start worrying about cutting costs, repeatable processes , and overtaking known competitors. As a consultant, I hate to see you lose that startup focus on innovation, change, and customers. Use external sources for growth and change versus internal.

Startup 154

Startup Artificial Inteligence Metrics Netflix 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Idea people often don’t get funded as entrepreneurs, because a new business is all about results, not just ideas. It’s important to remember that your passion for a new idea needs to be supported by market research and customer feedback , before you will get the credibility and support you expect to work at this stage.

Activity 108

Activity Satisfaction Metrics Startup 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

Even with advantages that independent startups can never hope to match, including brand recognition, customers, financial capital, and distribution, I don’t often see the entrepreneurial passion for innovation, agility, and team perseverance exhibited by new startups. Commit a source of internal or external seed funding.

Incubator 143

Incubator Seed Funding Metrics Customer 143

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Los Angeles-based Signal Sciences (www.signalsciences.com), which develops web application firewall software, just inked a big, $35M series C funding round a few weeks ago, and now has plans to dramatically expand its hiring in Los Angeles. Thats so important to get success and expand our customers.

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

It’s important to note slippage indicators, including less internal feedback on requirements to fight competitors, and more focus inward than outward on customers needs and trends. Assess many change initiatives have come to fruition from your team, visit a couple of key customers and listen for future needs, and study your newest competitor.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Build your business with minimum outside funding.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Customer 129

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2009

Los Angeles-based Image Metrics (www.image-metrics.com) recently landed a $6.5M, Series B funding round for the firm's facial animation products. I was introduced to Image Metrics a year before I joined, and was helping them along. Editor's note: you can see Image Metrics "Emily" demo on their web site ).

Metrics 100

Metrics Startup Sales Newsletter 100

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

The total funds include backing from a Republic campaign, pre-seed investors and capital from the co-founders. Ultimately 1,000 customers signed up, and The Kelp Burger is now the “hero product,” Boyd Myers said. Boyd Myers explained that there are sales and repeat customers, but it was too early to discuss growth metrics.

Startup 191

Startup Los Angeles Sample Funding 191

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Great marketing is required to generate revenue and grow every business, especially new businesses which have no brand recognition nor loyal customer base. Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers.

Marketing 133

Marketing Customer Custom Outsource Development 133

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

And as a result of this there are now very robust secondary markets where founders and seed-funds alike are selling down their ownership long before an ultimate exit. If we wanted to we could have sold > 2x the fund easily in the secondary markets with significant upside remaining. of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

VC funding. We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. It forces innovation.

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

As a potential investor, I always think of the high rate of failure of disruptive technologies, due to the longer learning curve of customers, infrastructure change consistently required, and higher marketing costs. Before you act, shut up and listen to employees, customers, and futurists. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Metrics Resource Software Review 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Actively listen to customer feedback, and don’t be a one-trick pony.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

An impressive number of new VCs have been created – most of them with new seed funds. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. Work with customers on business cases (for internal use) and ask for case studies (for you to publish in marketing).

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If customers don’t know you exist, you can’t solve their problem, they won’t buy. Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. If you can’t state clearly why your startup is the only choice, then it’s time to regroup before spending your hard-fought funding.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital. Coming out of ServiceNow around 2013, I realized that a lot of problems that we had been discussing and dealing with with customers adopting applications like ServiceNow into the enterprise, was establishing connections of that data and processes with systems in the enterprise.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2021

Usually these people think they are doing a great job, and are totally oblivious to their unhappy customers or cash drain. An example of this would be finger pointing at unfair managers, blaming economic downturns, and irrational customer expectations for missed commitments. Use blame and complain in lieu of accepting accountability.

Startup 164

Startup Class Entrepreneur Coach 164

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

When you are starting a new business, every resource is precious, including time, funding, and people. It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Yet we can all look back, after the fact, and realize that we could have been more memorable.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Early customer feedback will position your solution, and help you make pivots before critical time and money are lost. You don’t have to be a heavily funded later stage startup to get access to “big data,” customer analytics, and metrics dashboards.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

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. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2016

That’s the right place to start, but real growth and scale requires attracting customers who are not like you. Update your technology to reach new customer segments. Today’s customers want to be mobile and location sensitive. Make your offering part of improving customer lifestyle rather than just solving a problem.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 55

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

Betting on funds you don’t yet have has crashed many businesses I know. You may think it’s great that demand exceeds your supply chain, but customers only remember it as a loss of your credibility, and will tell others. Proactive customer communication should be your first recourse, followed by cost and service concessions.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. These have the vision and the resources to fund long-term digital success.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? Please be able to provide me with a few specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, what the system will do for them. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? What are your key Startup Metrics ?

Develop 396

Develop Development Startup SEO 396

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Think of these as the big upfront questions: Who are the customers? Please be able to provide me with a few specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, what the system will do for them. How are you funding this? What level of funding do you currently have? What are your key Startup Metrics ?

Develop 384

Develop Development Startup SEO 384