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.

Customer 137

Customer Custom Technical Review Symantec 137

Inverted Software

JUNE 15, 2018

At Inverted Software we often help our clients manage offshore and onshore development teams. Our proprietary processes and unique experience helps us evaluate and correct software development practices that have proven inefficient and instill practices that insure productivity and success. Developers love to experiment.

Software Review 51

Software Review Software Development Outsource Development Development Team Review 51

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 3, 2013

A “deal room” is an electronic or physical space dedicated to storing the massive amounts of data to be used in due diligence by a buyer, lender or by an investor. Deal rooms contain access to or copies of all significant contracts with suppliers, customers, consultants, and others. Email readers, continue here.]

Software Review 191

Software Review Patents Startup Email 191

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

However, savvy startups can leverage LinkedIn to create a customer acquisition and a churn reduction tool. However, in some cases, especially with its larger customers, the company displaces a competitor. It’s not about helping them use our software. Businesses typically use LinkedIn to recruit employees.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Software Review Technical Review 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2020

In 2020, the pandemic radically changed the customer acquisition process for many consumer-facing industries. This presented MomentFeed with an immense opportunity to help multi-location consumer brands meet the challenges brought on by an overnight shift in consumer shopping patterns. Contact our editors for details.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Software Review Organic Search Startup 140

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. As such, I understand the degree to which hand waving and vaporware can influence investors and potential customers. An interface that is engaging can fool customers into trying a sub-par product. Customers Are All That Matter. Don’t Demo Me Bro.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

com) � backed by local investors Rincon Venture Partners and Bonfire Ventures�is helping to solve that problem, with its career pathing software designed for helping employees at large enterprises figure out what's next. I can't help myself in being an entrepreneur. How is it your first customer was in Australia?

Help 100

Help Southern California Startup Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

Organization 280

Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

Tech.Co

JANUARY 3, 2020

Customers are happy, clients are beaming, and the revenue just keeps rolling in. Companies of all shapes and sizes are now taking advantage of digital resources to help run everything from daily tasks to tedious data analysis. Point-of-Sale Systems. Field Service Software. Great for shops and restaurants.

Technical Review 91

Technical Review Software Review Social Media Platform 91

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Fan Appz, a Santa Monica headquartered firm founded in 2010, and a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) today Tuesday launched its Personalized Marketing Platform, a next-generation social media marketing solution set to help firms convert fans into customers and increase repeat purchases by turning good customers into great ones.

Platform 82

Platform Help Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

To help you focus, I have prioritized the following list of success principles, too often overlooked by otherwise smart people, blinded by dollar signs, who jump in before they consider the consequences and alternatives: Find a unique niche you love which adds real value. Collaborate with customers to tune your solution.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

Inverted Software

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

In today’s connected world, businesses are focusing on acquiring and retaining customers using a wide array of tools. At Inverted Software we have gathers the top 5 marketing software tools we think every business should utilize in order to effectively reach customers while keeping time effort in check. ConstantContact.

Software Review 44

Software Review Tool Software Marketing 44

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

The market is changing so fast these days, and if you are not planning a solution today for tomorrow’s customers, you may be setting yourself up for failure and don’t even realize it. Regularly follow reviews and influencers in your industry. Spend more time with people who can help, rather than be helpers.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

On the business side, I am adapting here his seven success principles, too often overlooked by people who leap before they look: Find a niche to help real people. Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Case Study Software Review Startup 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Commit to a major customer. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Reviewing financial & operational performance. how much energy to put into channel partners vs. direct sales. Mentorship. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

It also handles the back end as well by automating the posting, sale and shipment of unsold inventory while offering immediate payment to creditworthy sellers. The end of the product lifecycle is where Murthy and Kaplan feel Ghost has “an enormous opportunity to help people be more efficient in that process,” Murthy added.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 12, 2018

Both programmers, the two reconnected after doing stints as custom developers during and after college, and then when they were developing tools for their families’ businesses as residential contractors in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. These kinds of technologies, unlike AI, don’t automate away workers.

Glendale 271

Glendale Los Angeles Startup Technical Review 271

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Jackson added, “FinTech has traditionally lagged behind the innovation that’s happening in other areas of enterprise software. 25 Years of Writing Code. He helped develop an airline tracking system for Homeland Security and is an organizer of the Agile Open SoCal conference. and Schlumberger. Founded in 2010 by Eric M.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review Bertelsmann Technology 88

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

For today's interview, we sat down and talked with Mike Whitmire , the CEO and Co-founder of Los Angeles-based FloQast (www.floqast.com), a developer of financial close management software for enterprise accounting. Mike tells us about the company, who uses its software, as well as how he was initially turned away from the Amplify.LA

Startup 124

Startup Cornerstone OnDemand Software Review Woodland Hills 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Commit to a major customer. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

profitable and companies like Amazon who chose to focus on growth > profitability were not losing money on each book sale (ie they were gross margin positive). In general I find that raising large amounts of money when you haven’t figured it out ends up papering over problems more then helping solve fundamental issues in the business.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

You need to move to right location and get connected before you ask for help. Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 22, 2014

Whether it’s a killer software or physical inventory, don’t leave yourself open to a major loss or legal claim with no protection. An accountant can help you accurately categorize and set up accounts as well as create an appropriate record-keeping system to enable you to track expenses.

Startup 97

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Now, with powerful high-level tools and open source software, winning smartphone apps can be built by a good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Startup 105

Startup Software Review Technical Review Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

Even if you are looking in all the right places, it helps to know what you are looking for. If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term.

Software Review 107

Software Review Entrepreneur CTO Hire Outsource Development 107

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. Government customers abundantly waste both of these assets by negatively impacting a startup’s cash flows while causing it to spend unnecessary time participating in laborious approval processes and elongated sales cycles.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Look for validation from your mainstream customers. No matter how passionately you believe that everyone needs one, and positive feedback from friends and early adopters (false positives), before you invest in scaling the business, make sure you set and meet good metrics in cost of customer acquisition, recurring sales, and margin.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Commit to a major customer. It always reduces risk to plan your business first.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

This is true of any buying process where a customer has to make a large investment decision on your software or when an investor must decide whether to give you $5 million. I spend a lot of time coaching entrepreneurs through their fund-raising processes by doing “pipeline reviews” of all of the firms with whom they are speaking.

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Xconomy

JULY 26, 2016

LendingClub helped to pioneer the model, saying in November 2012 that it had surpassed $1 billion in loans issued since 2006, when it was founded. LendingClub stumbled earlier this year, however, when an internal investigation found improprieties in the sale of $22 million in loans.

San Diego 40

San Diego Help Software Review Funding 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2019

On the business side, I am adapting here his seven success principles, too often overlooked by people who leap before they look: Find a niche to help real people. Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Case Study Software Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Even if you are looking in all the right places, it helps to know what you are looking for. If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term.

Software Review 103

Software Review Equity CTO Hire Outsource Development 103