Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. Startups simply don’t have the resources to keep ahead of large competitors who see initial traction and go after it. Investors check connections.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Find technical and legal guidance and advisors.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Class Startup Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Neither speaks well for you or your startup.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2020

Don’t forget to consider customer alternatives, like trains versus airplanes. These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Choose projects with financial resources within your reach.

Technical Review 173

Technical Review Ideas Patents Startup 173

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. Here is my list of red flags that cause many investors to look elsewhere: No well-defined need or viable customer set. Ask only for the money you can justify.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Invest Funding Patents 108

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon their comfort with each. One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. If you don’t have a high level of commitment and passion, you customers won’t seek you out.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2020

Both have obviously been able to expand their focus and impact, based on learning from early challenges, availability of additional resources, and early success applied more broadly. Every investor will tell you that they invest in the person, more than the product, because they have learned that people with focus find success.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Startup Patents Resource 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Find technical and legal guidance and advisors.

Class 124

Class Startup Resource Mentor 124

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In fact, I think the evidence is clear that many entrepreneurs started their journey while still in college, and capitalized on all the resources there, before moving on: Extend your technology focus with business basics. He learned quickly that several pivots were required for business, legal, and customer acceptance reasons.

Entrepreneur 157

Entrepreneur Mentor Class Resource 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

These requirements must be based on market analysis, expert input, and existing customer feedback. It allows all members of your team, including marketing, support, and sales, to size and build the business plan processes they need to find customers, deliver, and maintain grow the business. Development schedule and checkpoints.

Product 112

Product Summary Activity Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2023

Your concept has to be understood by customers and investors in 30 seconds or less, and everyone needs to immediately see how awesome it would be, or that they would be nuts not to have it. I’m looking for the “hook” right up front, or I lose interest quickly, just like every customer and investor these days.

Startup 96

Startup Education Ideas Customer 96

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

My first suggestion is that entrepreneurs need to forget the old myth that all they need to do is sketch an idea on a napkin, and investors will line up to invest. Here is my list of red flags that cause many investors to look elsewhere: No well-defined need or viable customer set. Ask only for the money you can justify.

Funding 123

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Invest 123

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Your concept has to be understood by customers and investors in 30 seconds or less, and everyone needs to immediately see how awesome it would be, or that they would be nuts not to have it. I’m looking for the “hook” right up front, or I lose interest quickly, just like every customer and investor these days.

Startup 166

Startup Education Ideas Customer 166

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

There are lots of resources available for the challenge of that activity, including the Internet and mentors like me. In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Assess your own resources as well as funding sources. You may dream of developing a new silicon chip technology, but a bit of research should tell you that most disruptive solutions take billions in investment, and more time than you can afford for acceptance. You can’t really succeed in life if you are not happy.

Social Media 105

Social Media Writing Ideas Resource 105

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. It is not helpful to you for funders to love an idea that does not fit the criteria for their investing capability.

Software Review 123

Software Review Seed Funding Funding Startup 123

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights. Minimize investment in prototypes and tooling.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Neither speaks well for you or your startup.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

Obviously, where you need to be is somewhere in the middle, and certain that you are the right person with the right resources to win. The right answer to this question is that you bring some new intellectual property to the table – like a patent or other secret sauce. Do you have the resources to build a business?

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Examples 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. As an example of a good resource, I enjoyed the classic book, “ Idea To Invention ,” by Patricia Nolan-Brown, that does a great job on the key steps. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2018

Young entrepreneurs often are so excited by new technology or their latest invention that they forget to translate it into a value proposition that their customers or potential investors can understand and relate to. Customer data integrity and security. Payback on investment. Personal privacy protection. Martin Zwilling.

Social Network 91

Social Network Training Startup Technology 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2022

In the rush of a startup, it’s tempting to start spending the money you expect any day from a rich uncle or a major new customer. Many entrepreneurs have destroyed a strategic alliance, an investor relationship, or lost a key customer by jumping in with harsh words after a bad day at home or at the office.

Startup 100

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

These requirements must be based on market analysis, expert input, and existing customer feedback. It allows all members of your team, including marketing, support, and sales, to size and build the business plan processes they need to find customers, deliver, and maintain grow the business. Development schedule and checkpoints.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Neither speaks well for you or your startup.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

The key here is to gather the relevant facts, risks, and resources, make a decision, and move forward. As well, Jeff Bezos admits to having make an embarrassing number of bad investments, which he calls painful learning experiences, but he never gave up. Today the key is building momentum, customization, and continuous innovation.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

This person may be an extraordinary communicator, who rallies employees, customers, and colleagues around the vivid future he sees. What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers.

Startup 97

Startup Invest CTO Hire Cloud Computing 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

How an entrepreneur answers this question speaks volumes about their knowledge of business realities, customers, confidence, and their ability to handle investor funding. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor. Neither speaks well for you or your startup.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Don’t forget to consider customer alternatives, like trains versus airplanes. These days, you can find existing patents and trademarks through Google and the US Patent Office online site without spending thousands of dollars with your favorite patent attorney. Choose projects with financial resources within your reach.

Ideas 83

Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 83

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2020

In the rush of a startup, it’s tempting to start spending the money you expect any day from a rich uncle or a major new customer. Many entrepreneurs have destroyed a strategic alliance, an investor relationship, or lost a key customer by jumping in with harsh words after a bad day at home or at the office.

Startup 125

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2020

Yet if that leaves you with no documented business plan or unclear strategy, most investors and even customers will walk away. There are complex processes, like filing a patent, and financial tools that may be new to you, including Excel and Quickbooks. Prioritize your tasks ahead of helping others with theirs.

Product 123

Product Startup Tips Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2015

Passionate entrepreneurs tend to talk on and on about their disruptive technology, their intent to change the world and free services, but if a business can’t provide quantifiable value to real customers, the dream will likely turn into a nightmare. Investors worry about competitors more than customer features.

Startup 104

Startup Summary Patents Examples 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources. Find technical and legal guidance and advisors.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Capital Class Startup 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

Unfortunately, customers look for value in solving their problem, and new technologies alone scare them, so these solutions don’t get bought by customers, or funded. Attracting business investors is as tough as attracting customers, but it’s a different challenge. Customized marketing strategy and realistic sales plans. “If

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58