Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. To get to the core of what’s relevant to customers, you need to know them well. Helping customers discover new ways to solve common problems can quickly build you a loyal following.

Content 146

Content Newsletter Competition Writing 146

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. We can’t wait for customers to use the product for 12–18 months and do customer interviews or look at purchase cohorts. Are we in a bubble?”

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

JANUARY 13, 2022

Whether the exit was as large as you hoped, or whether your goals of taking care of all the people who helped you get to this point were realized, the exit itself generates a complex set of emotions in all of us. To celebrate with your suppliers who helped you, especially during the rough times. Write a book.

Writing 156

Writing Entrepreneur .Net Sales 156

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2020

A company like this grows in value to its customers and to prospective buyers of the business, but without any dilution of control or ownership for the founders. The effort to write a grant request is not trivial. Email readers, continue here…] Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time. How refreshing!

Equity 156

Equity Writing Education Research 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2023

Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, combines building safe high-quality products with philanthropic efforts to help the environment. In the name of this cause, the company donates time, services, and at least one percent of their sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups around the world.

Framework 95

Framework Customer Custom Tips 95

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. There are many free generalized tools, including Google Trends , which can be used to track customer behavior in looking for things that don’t exist yet.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Technical Review Software Review 57

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, combines building safe high-quality products with philanthropic efforts to help the environment. In the name of this cause, the company donates time, services, and at least one percent of their sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups around the world.

Tips 174

Tips Framework Customer Custom 174

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. So keep your eyes open and respond to new customers, new markets, and new partnerships.

Writing 102

Writing Startup Entrepreneur Capital 102

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

A friend helped him get out of this situation and changed Matt’s life forever. He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

But like the company Kyriba, where we recently sold our position at above $1 billion, it took time until the revenue exceeded $100 million recurring and then the industry really competed to back this amazing company since it had scale, defensible technology and long-term, committed customers. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

Yet there are big challenges to hyperlocal, at least for consumer-focused hyperlocal startups, according to Sean Barkulis, Founder of UPlanMe, whose initial consumer-focused business model was an early casualty, writing in Street Fight : Every site requires real curated local content to engage users. Getting these users costs money.

Startup 144

Startup Sites Content Sales 144

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. by your customers.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Whenever you write your deck and send it out I think you should actually think to yourself, “my competitors are probably going to read this one day and this will be forwarded widely” and if your response isn’t “so what!” I’m sure that some VCs and others do love online viewers when they read a deck. What should not be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Eric Greenspan

MAY 29, 2010

Using social media to increase your company’s touch and reach with each of your customers may be the most important reason to jump in to this game changing strategy. Social media can help bridge a long standing gap between customers and the companies they trust with their hard earned cash. 40,000) to join me on Facebook.

Social Media 214

Social Media Customer Custom Media 214

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

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. I should try to come back and write about this more, but the point of this post is that it's important not to only think about this aspect. If you've not had a C-level but have had experience in sales or tech.

Startup 198

Startup Custom Development Sales Writing 198

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2012

One way is developing testing tools and infrastructure around that market, to help those manufacturers in their research and development, which is just what Calabasas-based GridTest Systems (www.gridtest.com) is doing. We're there to help with that. We're essentially helping people at the R&D stages.

Help 178

Help Startup San Fernando Southern California 178

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2021

John Bradberry, in his classic book “ 6 Secrets To Startup Success ” explores many of these attributes, especially passion, and defines some useful principles to help enthusiastic entrepreneurs squeeze the most out of their passion, while not being trapped by it. These principles will help keep you from falling into the passion trap.

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Course Ideas .Net 145

Berkonomics

MAY 8, 2014

I am chairman of a company that, as I write this, is twelve years old and has not yet taken a dollar of outside investment. The company grows in value to its customers and to prospective buyers of the business, but without any dilution of control or ownership for the founders. Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time.

Company 166

Company Companies Writing Education 166

Inverted Software

NOVEMBER 4, 2017

At Inverted Software we advise our customers to start planning as early as Q4 in order to maximize results and prepare for the upcoming year. There are many tools to help you analyze your traffic and sales and you can set forth the planning to make whatever corrections you need to. Set a Roadmap for the upcoming year.

Help 48

Help Outsource Guide Startup 48

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. To be clear – I’m not saying huge successes make a VC less likely to be helpful to you – I’m just saying it’s not a guaranteed predictor. Most VCs are book smart. Connections? EQ and Team Leadership?

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. And of those 35 people.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

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

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2023

Here is my edited summary of their ten principles, which I like and may convince you that you don’t need a business plan at all, or at the very least will help you write a better one later: A new venture is a means, not an end. So keep your eyes open and respond to new customers, new markets, and new partnerships.

Startup 142

Startup Capital Resource Research 142

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. Julie Schoenfeld: When we talked last, we were focusing primarily on helping publisher monetize their archived content.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? Every sales person with a bit of street history will resonate with this question. After all, you have a paying relationship with these resources, and asking for help is not considered a daunting request.

Ideas 120

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2016

If I can help thousands with 5 minutes of my time daily — why the f**k not? I LOVE writing. But writing takes more time and some days I don’t have that. Now here is the important thing for you to understand — many of my target customers — entrepreneurs between ages 21–35 — are on Snapchat! Snapchat is faster and easier.

Snapchat 200

Snapchat Blogging Venture Capital Writing 200

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2019

Equally important, if someone does find your site, your content must stand out above all similar sites, to keep visitors engaged, close a sale, and get customers to return. Market your ideas and expertise early for customer feedback. Your blog followers will be your best customers.

Blogging 85

Blogging Search Engine Optimization Writing SEO 85

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It’s a continual process. In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. Similarly I talk to CEOs who can’t do a sales pipeline review with me. I think usually a COO title at a startup is an ego thing.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

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. Understand and write down every expense, and budget for required costs, especially initial inventory and accounts receivable delays. Meticulously manage cash inflow and outflow.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

Talented brand sales people? Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Understanding customer requirement ? Whatever amount you’re getting out and talking with prospects, customers, employees, recruits, competitors, press, investors, potential investors … it’s never enough.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2015

Whether the exit was as large as you hoped, or whether your goals of taking care of all the people who helped you get to this point were realized, the exit itself generates a complex set of emotions in all of us. To celebrate with your suppliers who helped you, especially during the rough times. Write a book; I did.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Writing .Net Sales 120