Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. ” Case studies get done with ebullient CEO’s espousing the benefits of said software even though their organization was barely using the product. And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2019

Too many business owners still think of “ customer support ” as an after-sale process to rectify customer problems with completed transactions. With the advent of instant communication and social media, customer service starts at the first hint of interest by you, and never ends for repeat customers.

Customer 84

Customer Custom Company Companies 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2018

While his insights have come from large organizations, I give many of the same recommendations to every startup: Channel engagement performance. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 22, 2016

The Most Important Metric. Near the conclusion of our discussion, I asked each CEO to name any non-obvious metrics by which they guide their businesses. He started by stating, “We track customer success.” In other words, are we measure whether or not we are truly making our customers more successful.”.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Cornerstone OnDemand Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2015

While his insights have come from large organizations, I give many of the same recommendations to every startup: Channel engagement performance. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better.

Metrics 101

Metrics Marketing Demand Paramount 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Switch your attention from product development to sales. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. We all have our favorite metric and our passion, but keeping up with real-world changes and trends seems to be always just out of reach.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

While his insights have come from large organizations, I give many of the same recommendations to every startup: Channel engagement performance. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

It’s important to remember that your passion for a new idea needs to be supported by market research and customer feedback , before you will get the credibility and support you expect to work at this stage. Timing is important, and communication with your customer set is critical. Galvanizing: rally a team and customers for action.

Activity 108

Activity Satisfaction Metrics Startup 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2013

Most struggle with the idea and practice of marketing and sales, and see these as a necessary evil, if even required. Of course, for a price, there are many marketing organizations and gurus willing to come to your aid. Continue building the relationship to nurture them into paying customers. Marty Zwilling.

Sales 105

Sales Startup Metrics Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Many entrepreneurs never get past their first-stage focus on their innovative product, to scaling the business globally, organizing a structure to handle thousands of employees, and concentrating their focus “on the business” rather than working “in the business.” Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

I’m not suggesting that you model your startup after the complex corporate organizations you hated in your last job, but there are at least eight key functions and activities that every investor expects to find in a startup proposal with any real potential to change the world. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Everyone in the company must adopt the principles of customer-first focus, agility in responding to change, and constant innovation to improve your processes as well as the solution. Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction.

Customer 91

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 91

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

As a business advisor, I have too often seen technical entrepreneurs get a product or service off the ground with ease, but then struggle mightily when their business reaches a couple of million in annual sales, or the employee count grows beyond a handful. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization.

Startup 137

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

Let me be a bit more specific on how follow-up trumps ideas for success in the key challenges of a startup, or any small business: Networking with investors, partners, and customers. They are too busy to follow-up on a major partner opportunity, customer inquiry, or a critical internal process that simply isn’t working.

Ideas 122

Ideas Entrepreneur Startup IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. That means keeping all the players and all the organizations centered on what matters amid the crosscurrents of change.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2021

Radhika teaches entrepreneurship and innovation, and advises organizations around the world on how to build radical products that create a fundamental change instead of optimizing the status quo. Obsessive sales – must meet revenue goals. Hypermetricemia – metrics for everything. Make sure your vision is clear and communicated.

Metrics 133

Metrics Product Yahoo Examples 133

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Make sure that metrics and goals are set up front, and not modified as the project progresses. Unfortunately, I often see goal misalignments with teams, such as marketing measured on sales volume, or sales measured on customer retention. Provide assessments based wholly on facts.

Startup 132

Startup Training Metrics Examples 132

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If customers don’t know you exist, you can’t solve their problem, they won’t buy. Getting customer attention often takes more innovation today than solving the tough technical problems. Talk to real live customers in addition to marketers. Network with local organizations and industry groups.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Switch your attention from product development to sales. Second-stage growth usually requires a formal sales model, an experienced and disciplined sales team, and a well-defined process to meet your new goals and demands. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

Coming out of ServiceNow around 2013, I realized that a lot of problems that we had been discussing and dealing with with customers adopting applications like ServiceNow into the enterprise, was establishing connections of that data and processes with systems in the enterprise. What specific problem were you seeing?

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

They outline and give some positive recommendations to counter the key organizational impediments to fast transformation that I see all too often, even in businesses with top management committed to first-mover speed and agility: Passive resistance to change from within the organization.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Our fund (Upfront Ventures) recently returned >1x an entire $200 million fund just selling small minatory in secondary sales while still holding most of our stock for an ultimate public market exits. How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges? That never would have happened 10 years ago. just to name a few!

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

I’m not suggesting that you model your startup after the complex corporate organizations you hated in your last job, but there are at least eight key functions and activities that every investor expects to find in a startup proposal with any real potential to change the world. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Steve's first question was, “Who are our customers?" I) took the 300 latest cards, personally wrote a questionnaire and called 300 customers. SuperMac's main customer base were color desktop professionals. All of a sudden I now had customers telling what market, how to reach them and what applications are important.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Customer 271

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. Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Your story should include childhood initiatives, industry organization leadership roles, and online influencer organizations that you support. These show a focus on the business elements required for success, and metrics for ensuring accountability, management control, and feedback along the way.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

For the business to prosper, every employee, and your customers, must know and relate to your core values, such as product excellence, care for the environment, and personal integrity. Implement the key business metrices you will live by. These will almost always be related to sales and marketing, since they must tie back to cash flow.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2021

There is no substitute for talking to customers, analyzing your competition, and honing your solution to meet a target market segment. The ready-fire-aim approach makes sense here, but it should be combined with metrics to learn from feedback, and make pivots as required. You already have a large and loyal customer base.

Marketing 138

Marketing Demand IBM IBM 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see that first surge of customers, but that’s just the beginning of your work. With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. They present a convincing story that every entrepreneur has the same potential, but most get sidetracked and bogged down by their technology, competitors, and internal organization. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Customer Custom 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

As a business advisor, I have too often seen technical entrepreneurs get a product or service off the ground with ease, but then struggle mightily when their business reaches a couple of million in annual sales, or the employee count grows beyond a handful. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

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. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales. But we do it anyway, because we believe that the short-term metrics probably aren''t indicative of the long term.”. If improperly administered, meetings become counter-productive, especially as an organization grows beyond its initial startup phase.

Tips 223

Tips Framework Metrics Cloud Computing 223

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world. These relationships must be nurtured over time, balanced against your personal life, and grow to include major customers, competitors, and potential acquirers. Document and communicate a solid business plan.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

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

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Sounds simple but in practice I promise you most organization fall into the latter trap. So they create a task list of all the marketing activities an organization can do: press releases, web site updates, customer case studies, blog posts, daily Tweets, Facebook fan page, attending conferences, etc.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164