Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2020

In my opinion, real pain points for most people do not include a new user interface for Facebook, a new programming platform for app development, or a new size smart phone. Other countries can provide e-commerce with different business models, outsource manufacturing at low cost, and a huge market for new products.

Custom 167

Custom Customer Startup Outsource Development 167

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Most new business owners I know feel the challenges of not enough time, money, and resources, and see these as problems rather than a competitive advantage. Many are quick to call this innovation, but I believe it is often just the resourcefulness of a highly motivated owner and team, who never give up in the face of a survival challenge.

Resource 111

Resource Competition Outsource Development Startup 111

Berkonomics

MAY 20, 2021

Enterprise time, as opposed to personal time management, is the sum total of resources available to a company expressed in terms of time – time to develop, to debug, to produce, to deploy, to respond to issues, and to make changes in plans that are not working. But first, identify what those critical resources are in your company.

Resource 156

Resource Outsource Development Metrics Custom 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2022

With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. You should never outsource the management of your core technology.

Outsource Development 110

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 110

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

When you are starting a new business, every resource is precious, including time, funding, and people. It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. New businesses often burn excessive resources working on the wrong things, or doing things the wrong way.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

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. Any new enterprise is at risk if there are not enough resources to get the company to breakeven, which is a proxy for stability.

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

socalTECH

AUGUST 13, 2009

Costa Mesa-based SYSPRO , a developer of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, said Thursday that it has signed a new contract with a Savannah, Tennessee firm, Design Team Sign Company. Design Team Sign Company is a manufacturer of custom signage. SYSPRO said it edged out Epicor and Microsoft in winning the deal.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Outsource Development Design 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023

Your people on the customer front lines have the input you need on institutional changes required. Synthesize empathy with customers with new trends. Build a deep understanding of customer needs and ecosystem megatrends through interviews, focus groups, data analytics, and your own transformation team research.

Case Study 117

Case Study Outsource Development Outsource Custom 117

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. You can now skip the mandatory office space rental, with secretary and bookkeeping staff, or outsourcing. Work out of your home, and keep your own books.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

InfoChachkie

MAY 5, 2011

Big companies make seductive promises, including access to large markets, significant financial resources and vital public validation (see Pulp Facts for tips on how to maximize such validation). If you allow your prospective partner or customer to milk the cow for free , they will resist paying for it. Paul Somerson, Author.

Outsource Development 244

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Resource Press 244

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Great marketing is required to generate revenue and grow every business, especially new businesses which have no brand recognition nor loyal customer base. Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2020

With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. You should never outsource the management of your core technology.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Ideas Tool Outsource 124

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

At Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood 2012 Kevin Winston organized a panel called “How to Find and Hire a Developer”. Always have a developer do a test project before hiring them to make sure they deliver quality work. This means selling at least 5-10 customers in advance, before it is even built. Ask for is code samples.

CTO Hire 81

CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop Development 81

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

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Enterprise time, as opposed to personal time management, is defined as the sum total of resources available to a company expressed in terms of time – time to develop, to debug, to produce, to deploy, to respond to issues, and to make changes in plans that are not working. Extending the Runway book available at www.berkus.com.

Resource 176

Resource Outsource Development Metrics Custom 176

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

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. Any new enterprise is at risk if there are not enough resources to get the company to breakeven, which is a proxy for stability.

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

The second bullet, getting feedback from customers is most often not valid either. Even with these, you will have paper-tested your MVP, but the reality is that customers will not be able to assess the value to them until they actually use it. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business.

Technical Review 338

Technical Review CTO Hire CTO Coach Software Review 338

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Don’t get caught in the myth that you shouldn’t worry about monetization until after you have a large customer base. Social causes are great, but your ability to sustain your value contribution is directly linked to your ability to find paying customers.

Startup 124

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 124

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

You attend five customer meetings together over a two-week period and after each meeting you replay the results in the office about what it meant. The sales rep that brings back news from the front line that is shared with the office adds to our collective knowledge about customer needs, product design flaws or partnership opportunities.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Pilot agreements are provisional contracts under which companies can assess the veracity of a potential, long-term relationship. The “go / no go” structure of such contracts effectively allows big companies to defer their ultimate decision of whether or not they want to work with the startup until after the Pilot is completed.

Sales 215

Sales Outsource Development Metrics Resource 215

socalTECH

AUGUST 13, 2009

Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand , which develops human resources and talent management software, said Thursday that it has linked with a firm to reseller its products in the Asia Pacific region. The firm said that it has partnered with Talent2, a talent management and HR outsourcing firm headquartered in Australia.

Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Cornerstone OnDemand SaaS Outsource Development Santa Monica 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Don’t get caught in the myth that you shouldn’t worry about monetization until after you have a large customer base. Social causes are great, but your ability to sustain your value contribution is directly linked to your ability to find paying customers.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

The HTML5 platform that we use is also available as a self service tool to customers. We offer up customers a high impact creative which is not bounded by the box. As a result, our customers see a much higher percentage of engagement, more than 5 percent, versus the standard ad creative, which is a very small percentage of that.

Buzznet 100

Buzznet Outsource Development Design HTML 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Every company and startups needs marketing experts, who are skilled and knowledgeable in the development of marketing programs, content creation, lead generation, and the utilization of social media. Software Development Professional.

Startup 106

Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 106

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. I am not a government contracting expert. Some startups opt to partner with larger companies which have pre-established relationships with government customers. The Downside Of Government Contracting.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2021

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. That’s a big step from one product for one customer. You learn and gain credibility by committing to excellence, and asking customers and team members for feedback and ideas.

Startup 171

Startup Organization Training Entrepreneur 171

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

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. Second: Market risk. Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

socalTECH

DECEMBER 3, 2012

NEOGOV , which has quietly built an enterprise software company supplying human resources software to the government and public sector. Damir Davidovic: NEOGOV is a cloud-based, human resources suite. We're the clear leader in government, and we have 25 times more customers than our nearest competitor.

Software Review 243

Software Review SaaS Startup Technical Review 243

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.

Custom 164

Custom Customer Advertising SEM 164

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Markets develop for a complex set of factors that are often beyond all of our control.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2020

Every company and startups needs marketing experts, who are skilled and knowledgeable in the development of marketing programs, content creation, lead generation, and the utilization of social media. Software Development Professional.

Startup 164

Startup Social Media Course Entrepreneur 164

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

When you start your company the very first question you need to ask yourself is which kind of customers do you want to serve. Many start-ups (and even growth firms) lack this discipline and they therefore serve customers off all sizes. These are really massive customers. We knew how to land huge corporate customers.

Startup 389

Startup Custom Customer Resource 389

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2015

With a realistic prototype, you can get more accurate feedback from customers on their real need and what they might pay, before you invest millions on the final product. Don’t spend your whole development budget, before finding that you need another iteration. You should never outsource the management of your core technology.

Ideas 107

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Tool 107

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. 2) Secure Your Intellectual Property Too Early. 3) Attempt To License An Idea.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

This might mean helping customers buy traffic, arb’ing deals, helping with RTB pricing or trading, etc. Minimize Any Custom Work That Will Not Feed Back Into Your R&D. While I’d like to say that you should never do custom work that changes the scope of your product that’s not wholly realistic.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The most important way to sell a product for an early-stage business (or frankly any stage) is to have strong referenceable customers. How do you get referenceable customers? Your project is forked without a rollout organization, communications, measurement, integration and without turning sales into referenceable customers.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2014

So, how do you help ease enterprise customers into the cloud--or at least, help them use cloud technology to help them with their business goals? It''s all custom, technology agnostic, and very flexible. Companies were saying--we want to outsource these kinds of things, because they''re not our core competency.

Cloud Computing 217

Cloud Computing Outsource Development Outsource Startup 217