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.

Help 195

Help Startup UCLA Tool 195

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. We were talking about raising money from LPs.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2021

With the advent of the Internet, social media, and instant communication via texting, customer expectations for service, as part of their entire customer experience, have changed. They expect you to be there, to know their history as a customer, and to treat them with priority and respect.

Customer 171

Customer Custom Social Media Design 171

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.

Help 131

Help Startup Entrepreneur Mentor 131

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.

Tool 179

Tool Customer Custom Marketing 179

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise. I believe growth hacking is about all of this. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. I’d strongly encourage you to read it.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review SEM SEO Marketing 384

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

But the ground we covered was awesome for anybody wanting to know more about sales. How do you get access to customers? LinkedIn (we talked about some tricks we use in LinkedIn). 36:00 Sales people only care about money. When & Whom should you hire? when is the right time to hire your first sales employee? Salesforce.

Software Review 300

Software Review Sales Tips Help 300

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.

Customer 147

Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

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.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. I agree with YouTube (that they provide more (hosting, ad sales, etc.)

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

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.

Customer 173

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 173

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.

Customer 156

Customer Custom Innocal Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca For the first 5 years or so after I became a VC I didn’t talk much about what I thought a VC should be excellent at since frankly I wasn’t sure. It’s easy to think the role of a VC is to have strong opinions about markets, trends, tech dynamics and so forth. I don’t think this is the job.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Capital CTO Coach Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

If you haven’t read Adam Lashinsky’s awesome new book about Apple , you should. It takes on many of the lessons MBA programs and Corporate America have been teaching about business for the past 50+ years and questions whether lessons from Apple might be more applicable in thinking about the future.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

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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Customer Custom Conference Social Media 166

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

The Truth About the Scooter Economy?—?An Pause to think about how remarkable that truly is. In my home town of Santa Monica they painted 19 miles of bike lanes green to help delineate bikes & scooters from cars and they built 3 miles of soft barriers to test how this works with traffic flow. they were highly visible.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 15, 2021

It recently opened its second facility, a 66,000-square-foot location, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that is currently about 40% occupied. 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. Now, Saltbox has completed a $10.6

Commerce 237

Commerce Help Startup Los Angeles 237

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.

Generative AI 295

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence TechEmpower Tips 295

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.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Berkonomics

AUGUST 29, 2019

For weeks, we’ve highlighted both good and bad things about boards of directors for your company (or non-profit.) The board selects, monitors, helps, and oversees compensation for the CEO. People you could not reach yourself are sometimes quite willing to listen and help because of those relationships.

Company 120

Company Companies Resource Help 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

With the ITRC 2021 End-of-Year Data Breach Report revealing a 68 percent increase in stolen sensitive personal information, there is a growing population out there worried about all the people intent on hurting them. That challenge is a major business opportunity, as well as a risk, for startups. Don’t take shortcuts on these.

Custom 137

Custom Customer Technical Review Symantec 137

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

And yet, such relationships properly used and never overused, can quickly and precisely help you cut through delays in government agencies, speed the process of product planning and ultimate release, aid in positioning in the market and help you avoid a myriad of mistakes that could prove costly in time and money.

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Class Organization Technical Review Activity 194

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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Custom Customer Social Media Research 115

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Another is to fail to complete a contracted service for one customer and to do so multiple times, until many customers begin screaming for attention, drawing away all available talent from new, income earning tasks. So if you wonder why we focus on this subject to the extent of seeming redundant, well then, it’s about time.

Resource 176

Resource Outsource Development Metrics Customer 176

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. What do we like about OpenTable? The company was called Red Beacon.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

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.

Help 173

Help Startup Platform Southern California 173

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.

Help 123

Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123

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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Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

When investors do interject, demos typically become even more pedantic, as Founders feel compelled to speak expansively about specific features in an attempt address the investor’s concerns. As such, I understand the degree to which hand waving and vaporware can influence investors and potential customers. However, I am indifferent. .

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2019

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.

Customer 107

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 107

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2014

However, Redondo Beach-based StaffRanker (www.staffranker.com) has rolled out a system to help those companies better manage what is a notoriously difficult segment of the labor market, which has a lot of turnover and which just doesn''t match existing, corporate performance management systems. Who is your ideal customer?

Help 223

Help Hermosa Beach Technical Review Redondo Beach 223

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

This post talks about the last part of the PUCCKA methodology – an Aligned Purchasing Process. You know exactly when you want to sell to this customer and presumably it’s this quarter! Which customers to target: Elephants, Deer or Rabbits ? And failure to show customer adoption is the death of startup companies.

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Customer Custom Marketing Newsletter 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

The technology is now embodied in a solution that can be replicated to reliably solve a real customer problem. Don’t waste your time and energy talking to angels and VCs about technology funding when you could be focused more productively on grants, private funds and future business partners. Expanding the product line.

Help 165

Help Research Startup Funding 165

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 26, 2010

The “competition slide&# of your investment deck is such a great opportunity to talk about how you’re positioned (premium product vs. economical product? which features do you believe your customers care about and where you’re try to differentiate? It is a great place to talk about your future roadmap.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Slides Competition Education 313

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

How does it meet customers’ needs? One way to approach that last question is to use this simple model: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) How will your business reach prospects? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) How much money will your business generate from each converted customer? Don’t worry about scaling just yet.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. I don’t want to speak to customer service reps!! 61% of mobile searches in which a customer contacted a vendor, a phone call was generated.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

I agreed to do the interview because the story was about what other companies can learn rather than about airbnb in particular. Understand the Gravity of the Situation for Your Customers. The obvious starting points to think to yourself are: Has something happened that fundamentally affects my customers or partners?

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329