Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Even if it’s only a few PowerPoint slides or typed paragraphs, writing something down is the first step toward making it real. Always write in the future tense, what you will do, and name yourself as the key person responsible. Set target date milestones and metrics to gauge progress.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Funding is depleted before customer sales ramp up. One of the pitfalls of optimism is the expectation for early customer growth, and understating the real costs of design, development, and inventory. Don’t underestimate your own value as customers arrive, establishing a line of credit, and borrowing against inventory.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

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

APRIL 9, 2017

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Communication and writing skills are required. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different.

Social Media 66

Social Media Media Tips Platform 66

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2017

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Use strong communication and writing skills. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different.

Social Media 58

Social Media Media Platform Tool 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2012

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Communication and writing skills are required. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different.

Social Media 95

Social Media Media Startup Platform 95

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. We could also spend time talking with customers rather than updating investors. I think in the end it’s helped us build a better product because we are resource-constrained. We can make all the decisions ourselves.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

There are hundreds of consultants out there who will take your money for guidance in this area, but I recommend that you start with some free resources on the Internet, or one of the many recent books on this topic. Communication and writing skills are required. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Manage human resources. Customer service and support. Develop your business plan. Product development process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Manage human resources. Develop your business plan.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance. A board meeting shouldn’t be the place an investor questions why you’re focused on customers A and not customers B.

Guide 196

Guide Startup Metrics Conference 196

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Admittedly, that last part is an exaggeration but they were bad enough that I am writing this essay in the hopes that you will read it and not make these mistakes. Q: Tell us about your customers/users …. We want hard data and metrics – we want proof. A: Huge problem causing lots of pain for customers. The #EpicNovelFail.

Tips 70

Tips Startup Statistics Metrics 70

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones. Manage human resources. Customer service and support. Develop your business plan. Product development process.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Manage human resources. Develop your business plan.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

It forces the founder to spend time in front of customers. I’ve seen companies who avoided the big round and then struggled without enough resources to ship products on time and then missed market opportunities and sold in mediocre outcomes as others sailed by them. why do I write p.s.’s sometimes?

Funding 150

Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

When you raise larger rounds there is more “due diligence,” which includes: calling customers, looking at financial metrics, doing cohort analysis (looking for trends like changes in churn rates), evaluating competitor positioning and understanding more of the competency of your executive team.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

The questions that a VC mulls before writing a check are precisely the questions you should be asking yourself. After a year in the market, MakeSpace was growing rapidly and our biggest issue was CAC (customer acquisition costs) relative to payback period (when we get our marketing investment back) and relative to LTV (lifetime value).

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

We write and create our own content for the game. We make it trivial to quickly aggregate and monitor your key metrics in real-time! CallFire provides Voice and SMS Solutions to over 40,000 customers including political groups, non-profits, insurance agents, small business owners, and marketers. Silver Sponsor.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

We also allow the users to have a custom URL, for example, resumebucket.com/joshstomel. Often human resources departments want plain text resumes, etc. Plus, we will provide resume writing services. Josh Stomel: ResumeBucket is a portal that allows consumers to simply put their resume online, within seconds.

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140