Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

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socalTECH

AUGUST 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based fintech startup Dave , which offers up an online banking service which helps users build their credit, announced on Thursday that it has named Mia Alexander as its new VP of Customer Experience. Alexander was most recently VP of Customer Experience at Green Dot, where she had been for over 16 years.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2017

First customers are critical. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important group of allies that your marketing and sales people rely upon when attempting to create buzz and make a mass market for a new product. Make your customer a partner in the process.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Most startups are happy to find any customer, and will hang on for dear life to every one. Only later do they realize that some of these cost more than they are worth, or lead into commitments they can’t sustain, but no business wants to violate the golden rule that every customer needs to be treated as if they were the only customer.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2023

Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Don’t create solutions looking for a problem , since investors ignore these, and customers other than early adopters will be hard to find. I say again, customers buy solutions, not technology. Look for customer willingness and ability to pay.

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TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 9, 2022

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to getting ahold of an appointment for your hair or another treatment…that’s a different story: The bespoke nature of a lot of the work has meant that a large swathe of the professionals providing these services have stayed offline when it comes to interfacing with customers.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2022

The challenge in to know when and how to ask for help, and not let bravado and ego mask anxieties. The best people know when they don’t know, and know how to find the right help. Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs I know are terrible at finding and accepting help. Seek help or get out. You start playing the blame game.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Yet, as a business consultant, I often find minimal focus on improving employee engagement and assessing their customer-facing performance. For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. This applies to your own team, as well as customers. Make every customer experience memorable.

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L.A. Business Journal

APRIL 5, 2021

has built its business around finding ways for customers to “both do well and do good,” and its latest product is aimed at consumers worried about the environmental impact of their spending. Banking services company Aspiration Partners Inc.

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TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 19, 2021

Locale, based in San Francisco, enables customers to order from dozens of businesses, including bakeries and restaurants, and get them delivered in one box for just a $5 delivery fee. When you move around a city, you often end up farther away from some of your favorite restaurants and bakeries.

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TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

Upgrade’s e-commerce marketplace has two sides: one that enables consumers to choose a vetted stylist and have their wig colored or customized based on their desired look. A hairstylist can help a woman feel better about themselves. Upgrade is empowering the stylist, on one hand, to help them grow their business,” she said.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references.

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socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2020

Los Angeles-based Slingshot Aerospace , a startup which normally develops situational intelligence software, is helping to address some of the major issues to emerge out of the global COVID-19 pandemic, by helping to create an online mapping tool for finding food help.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. You’d be very wrong. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

Los Angeles-based Centerfield , a company which provides marketing and customer acquisition to the residential services, business services, and telecommunications markets, says it has launched a new product, called Insights by Scout. Pricing on the new product was not announced. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2020

As a long-time business executive and adviser to entrepreneurs, I see a definitive shift away from customer trust in traditional business messages, and the executives who deliver them. I summarize the key elements of the transformation as follows: Customers are seeking control in a run-away world.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 15, 2021

The company’s customers are typically SMB e-commerce merchants “generating anywhere from $50,000 to $10 million a year in revenue,” according to Scriven. He also believes Saltbox is “extremely well-positioned to help power and enable the next generation of great direct to consumer brands.”

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Santa Monica-based Invoca , which provides call tracking and analytics software, says a new study it ran shows that website experience and customer experience has become much more important in the era of COVID-19, particularly in big ticket purchases. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Businesses see this as the Holy Grail for finally being able to predict who, where, and when customers will buy their existing solutions, and what their future solutions must look like to be attractive. I found some help in this regard from a classic book, “ Humanizing Big Data ,” by leading consumer researcher Colin Strong.

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TechCrunch LA

APRIL 14, 2021

A security lapse at online grocery delivery startup Mercato exposed tens of thousands of customer orders, TechCrunch has learned. The company fixed the data spill, but has not yet alerted its customers. Mercato raises $26M Series A to help smaller grocers compete online.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 3, 2016

Los Angeles-based BlackLine said this morning that it has named Karen Flathers as the company's new Chief Customer Officer. BlackLine said Flathers will oversee oversee the day-to-day functions of its Implementations, Support, Customer Success and Product Training departments.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

Traditional marketing says you have to “push” your message out to customers, over and over again, to get you remembered. A more effective approach in today’s Internet and interactive culture is to use “pull” technology to bring customers and clients to your story. Help visitors navigate. Refresh it often. Skip the Flash videos.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

While starting a new business always involves tackling many new challenges, I’ve personally found myself reluctant to ask for help. Thus, in my consulting with entrepreneurs, I always encourage them to get more comfortable asking for help. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to ask for help.

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Berkonomics

JANUARY 9, 2020

One of your employees is approached by an employee of a customer or of a supplier, stating that “It sure would be great to work in your company.” And without a policy or sometimes without thinking, your employee responds with a “Let me help,” or worse yet, “I have a position open.”. State your policy clearly.

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socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

As part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about retaining and keeping your customers using the subscription model?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

They forget that adapting their company and themselves as their customers evolve is the key to long-term survival. Think of Blockbuster and Toys ‘R’ Us , both of whom missed customer changes and the move to online. Create an overt strategy to react to emerging customer trends. Remember when you were a startup?

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TechCrunch LA

JULY 9, 2019

Currently working out of Quake Capital’s Austin incubator, the company helps patients search for and compare the cost of procedures, connect with doctors and book everything from in vitro fertilization to stem cell therapy, cosmetic and reparative plastic. surgery, weight loss surgery, dental work and Lasik. .

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AllTopStartups

APRIL 17, 2020

It provides businesses with the visibility they need to attract customers. SEO consists of multiple strategies,… The post AlchemyLeads Helps Businesses Increase Both Traffic And Web Conversions appeared first on AllTopStartups. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases both the quantity and quality of traffic to a website.

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TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

Even when they have talked to multiple developers or development firms, we’re often the first to ask basic questions like “Who are your customers?” Who are the customers? Can you provide specific examples of different types of customers, what they need, and what the system will do for them? will you leverage?

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socalTECH

MAY 22, 2013

Qualaroo , a developer of website conversion and analytics software which helps web businesses improve the experience and conversion of their visitors, has launched a new product. qualaroo website visitor conversion analytics survey convert customers analysis' The company--which is backed by $5.5M The company--which is backed by $5.5M

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

I continue to believe that most of the data gathering in the real world, and on the Internet, is done by businesses to help you find what you want, protect you, and improve your experience, rather than invade your privacy or scam you. Market your solution and user benefits, not the mysterious technology behind it.

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socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2020

Recently, A new, nonprofit organization, Gift A Plate (www.giftaplate,org), launched effrts in Los Angeles, to allow people to donate to help both restaurants and families in need. The organization said it is looking to help aid restaurants and families who have been greatly impacted by COVID-19 in LA.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2018

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Catalog (www.catalog.cc), a startup developing artificial intelligence software to help independent visual artists scale their content production efforts, announced it raised $1.5M To bundle all of these components requires you to have customers with similar needs. in a seed funding round.

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TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Leveraging LLMs to help users fill in text, whether it’s by providing starter content, samples, or highly personalized tips, makes their lives easier. So instead, we fill it with a completely custom blurb, written just for him: Hello! Now that AI is here to help, every textbox is an opportunity to help a customer through the challenge.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Deka , a new startup developing custom Bluetooth headsets, said today that it has launched a crowdfunding effort to help launch the company. The startup--led by Erik Adams--said it is raising $100,000 on an Indiegogo campaign for its products, which let users create their own, custom 3D printed Bluetooth headsets. READ MORE>>.

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