Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. Many times they also pick up product and tech, too. Often times you find the CEO who really just likes to do product or tech. Similarly I talk to CEOs who can’t do a sales pipeline review with me.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Even when you do sign-up initial customers it’s still not clear that your company will be a success and you’re still likely paying yourself under market rates. He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school. If you can and if you want to – you should.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Reviewing financial & operational performance. how much energy to put into channel partners vs. direct sales. Mentorship.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 27, 2012

David encourages entrepreneurs to stay away from the big tech firms (such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple) because they are hard to compete with. I believe entrepreneurs should, in David’s words, “build big businesses on the outskirts” but I don’t believe that Silicon Valley tech giants will outmaneuver startups.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Venture Capital Yammer Google 299

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

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. 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.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2017

The insurance industry today is one of the last industries to fully jump into adopting technology for offering up their products, says Wayne Slavin , CEO and founder of SURE (www.sureapp.com), and just needs some help in getting there. We're here to serve, as a technology distribution platform, to help those insurance carriers become digital.

Southern California 244

Southern California Technical Review Startup Commerce 244

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. Rinse & repeat. It seemed to be purely speculative. I was a victim of this kind of thinking.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most newspapers are written at a third-grade reading level, White House press releases average a fourth-grade reading level and the New York Times is easily digestible by the average fifth grader. What does your pain reliever look like, how is it implemented by the customer and what future products do you expect to roll out?

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. Marketing is everything these days.

Tips 75

Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2015

That’s why they insist on spending a day with your team as part of the due diligence process. Customize your organizational structure based on individuals' strengths. Technology can be used to facilitate customer support and sales, as well as enhance your product. Every investor knows this.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Training 102

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. BDCs often ask to “private label” or “white label” a smaller company’s technology. This generally involves the BDC selling the startup’s technology under the BDC’s brand. The resulting credibility will help you establish future business development and customer relationships.

Outsource Development 170

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 170

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. Not any more for me. I work hard, don’t get me wrong.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

socalTECH

MARCH 24, 2016

How do you apply technology to help improve that industry? We want to handle everything from helping them with due diligence, making offers and making counteroffers, reporting to sellers, checking out analytics, figuring out how well deals are tracking, and everything to manage properties, to best and finals with buyers.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Startup Mobile Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? You need to clearly convey what makes your startup the only choice for your customers.

Startup 103

Startup Marketing Social Media Technical Review 103

InfoChachkie

MAY 9, 2011

Relinquish Press Release Capabilities. BDCs often ask to “private label” or “white label” a smaller company’s technology. This generally involves the BDC selling the startup’s technology under the BDC’s brand. The resulting credibility will help you establish future business development and customer relationships.

Outsource Development 124

Outsource Development Entrepreneur Press Technical Review 124

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

Focus on your customers and don’t obsess about deals or keeping up with your competitors releases.&#. I’m doing due diligence on a company of another entrepreneur in LA whose company was apparently doing very well. I know, I know … technically they can be structured as mergers. Me: “Zero dilution.

Technical Review 276

Technical Review Startup Press Pricing 276

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2012

The following guest post is from Eric Greenspan, Founder and CEO of MakeItWork, a consumer facing, in-home tech support service. Our customers benefitted from this and saved thousands over the years as a result. But later in 2011, new customers slowed, appointment bookings slowed and average appointment time dropped.

RSS 170

RSS Technical Review Capital Email 170

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I suppose I should have imagined that this line would get more press than all other comments combined. Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# customers who paid for services often get burned. Fair enough. You feel it, too.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I get company portfolio requests (review board packs, sign legal docs, help with fund raising, review a new candidates resume, help with press release, request for meeting to discuss topics, etc.). A large percentage of my inbound email is what I consider “customer service&# and I dedicate as much time as I can to that.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2009

However, what happened as we worked with clients on AdBook, we got deep into the trenches with online ad sales and learning the operational nuances--there are plenty--we realized that there were a couple of big gaps in the market. Because of that, the sales team is left with a data entry problem. It's an automatic proposal builder.

Advertising 127

Advertising Startup Sales Tool 127

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. Use the fact that you were on an anointed list to build credibility when you eventually approach journalists (and VC’s, customers, employees). But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now. When you read about the funding in the press it sounds like it was a walk in the park. It only takes one.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. As with any sales campaign you need to: Qualify your buyers early so you focus your scarce resources on people likely to buy your product. . Three rules in sales: Why buy anything? Remember again that the three major steps to a sale are: Why buy anything?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash It’s also true that there will be tough moments in your company’s journey where you will want to be able to carry people behind the tough decisions you want. Some members probably want most of the board meeting to be a review of financial information.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

That is when no customers wanted to work with Internet startups because we as an industry had burned so many customers. I learned how to integrate customers into our product development process. I learned how to get press coverage when we were no longer “hot.&# I learned how to manage costs effectively.

Startup 285

Startup Venture Capital Sales Software Review 285

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

I’m looking for somebody who can sell, but not better than our head of sales. You do a startup and decide you want somebody to step in and run the company so you can focus on technical excellence. You want somebody who can raise $15 million to build out your R&D, business development and sales organizations.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

I want to know how many people, their level of tech sophistication, their age and their interests. And if we’re reflective, it’s also one of the most important success criteria for investors, senior executives, tech writers and virtually anybody involved in business leadership. So I thought I would. That’s a shame.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2010

For decades the “layering&# of technology has allowed us to develop IT systems and networks in a specialized way that let’s best-of-breed technology solutions to emerge at each layer of the stack and to allow people with different skill sets to specialize in key areas without having to have competence in every technology arena.

Startup 343

Startup Technical Review S3 Services 343