Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Customer loyalty and retention.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

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.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

This is part of a series on sales & marketing. I previously covered how early phase sales teams should be “evangelical&# and consultative in nature. The first post on scaling sales dealt with “aiming&# your sales teams – making sure they were focused on the right opportunities.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

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

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

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Customer loyalty and retention.

Metrics 106

Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. 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.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2022

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Real customers. Long-term sales. Owned media.

Marketing 127

Marketing Framework Social Media Media 127

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. People attending marquee conferences with rock bands, prominent speakers, Gartner Group prognosticators and lots of other happy customers. Have an in-house professional services team that implements your software.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. Average transaction size and revenue per customer.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

Here are some key strategies that I recommend to prompt you when changes to your business may be required: Look for a changing customer sense of value. You may be getting killed today by customer expectations you never worried about just a few years ago. Establish and evaluate metrics at multiple levels.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

Berkonomics

JANUARY 13, 2010

That’s how you would feel if you ran your company without a dashboard containing relevant metrics that drive your company. Metrics should be created by you and your managers to measure near real time progress for your enterprise. These measures of progress must be fresh and meaningful. Positioning.

Metrics 159

Metrics Screening Email Customer 159

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 15, 2022

Digital commerce: infinite options for buying goods and services online. There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. More and more company and personal services are being virtualized to the Cloud. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want.

Startup 126

Startup Social Media Entertainment Metrics 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2023

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Marketing 119

Marketing Metrics Demand Statistics 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2013

It''s a line from an old movie "Field of Dreams" which is still leading to the demise of too many startups, led by entrepreneurs who really started their business to build an exciting new product or service. Most struggle with the idea and practice of marketing and sales, and see these as a necessary evil, if even required.

Sales 105

Sales Startup Metrics Customer 105

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

For today's interview, we sat down and spoke with David Loo , the founder and CEO of Perspectium (www.perspectium.com), a startup which is developing service management applications designed to help connect different, enterprise service management software products together. Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Productivity and repeatability is the hallmark of a good business, whereas a hobby usually assumes everything is custom built and personal.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Netflix as a service has always prided itself on movie recommendations that are tailored specifically to you plus user ratings on the quality of films. Some customer segments value the DVD business and these may be more price sensitive. Some customer segments value the convenience of instantly available films. No, probably not.

Netflix 287

Netflix Customer Custom Pricing 287

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Live Shopping is an integral part of the “social commerce” phenomenon – a general term for ecommerce experiences within which customers don’t even have to leave social media platforms to buy items – but other tech companies like Meta, as well as TikTok, have struggled with it in the US and Europe so far.

Social Media 151

Social Media Startup Commerce News 151

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

JANUARY 6, 2021

Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

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 18, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Metrics 157

Metrics Demand Statistics Sales 157

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Thus I am morphing the points here, with specific focus on the entrepreneur, who would never think of themselves in the context of automobile manufacturing: Offering too many products and services concurrently.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

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. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Some chaos is normal in every new business, but many wait far too long before they install metrics based on “best practices,” and fail to attack obvious bottlenecks with a vengeance. Use multiple small orders at first.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2019

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Real customers. Long-term sales. Owned media.

Media 95

Media Framework Social Media Metrics 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Productivity and repeatability is the hallmark of a good business, whereas a hobby usually assumes everything is custom built and personal.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

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. You won’t need the multiple follow-ups and time to close new sales.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Make them “feel the love.”

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. 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.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

According to most investors I know, traction is some clear evidence that the “dogs are eating the dog food” – usually meaning that you have at least one customer paying full price for your solution. If your phone app or service is free, then the number of users or downloads better be impressive and growing exponentially.

Tips 79

Tips Metrics Technical Review Customer 79

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Don’t forget to add all pesky “overhead” costs, with fixed elements, like rent, insurance, and administration, and variable elements, like delivery, customer support, and commissions. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Summary Pricing 151

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2019

Digital commerce: infinite options for buying goods and services online. There is still infinite room for new startup sales modes and models. More and more company and personal services are being virtualized to the Cloud. This gives rise to the personalization and customization that we all want.

Technology 97

Technology Social Media Startup Entertainment 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2012

You can’t succeed in your new startup if you can’t win customers, and the new Internet-empowered customers are tough. Bloom’s “ The New Experts ,” that today’s customers are armed with three lethal weapons – instant access to information about every potential purchase, immense choice, and real-time comparison of competitive prices.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Startup Competition 93

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

MARCH 25, 2016

That’s the right place to start, but real growth and scale requires attracting customers who are not like you. Update your technology to reach new customer segments. Today’s customers want to be mobile and location sensitive. Make your offering part of improving customer lifestyle rather than just solving a problem.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 55