Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

There is always the next generation of workers coming of age who expect more, as well as the current generation already having the lowest engagement and productivity levels that business has ever seen. In addition to a tangible brand boost, CVS has found more fulfilled and productive employees.

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Tips Satisfaction Coach Mentor 159

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Minimum viable products (MVPs) are recommended for validating the market, with iterative enhancement to quickly meet market feedback. Building your public image and presence should start even before product development, through your website, logo, and blogging.

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Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Everyone assumes their product or service is so great that “word-of-mouth” will carry the day for them. Educational. Make sure your paragraphs are short.

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Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

As organizations we have become more open and I believe this is great for businesses and their customers. We spent time out in the marketplace talking with customers, looking at their solutions, comparing ourselves with our competition and then squirreling ourselves away in our offices designing our next set of features.

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Organization Customer Custom Tips 280

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 25, 2014

He has gone from simply selling books online to offering consumers tens of thousands of products. Not satisfied with conquering the online retail world, Amazon then productized access to its infrastructure, ushering in the era of the public cloud. Obsess On Your Customers'' Experiences, Not Your Colleagues'' Politics. “We

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Tips Startup Customer Custom 239

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 25, 2017

Wednesday, July 26, 2017 -- Launching Your Product in the New Reality of Retail (MAKE IT). If you have a consumer product, planning and executing your launch is critical to thrive–or even just survive–in today’s repidly changing landscape of retail. Hear war stories and learn hard-earned tips from experts that are living it today.

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Product Tips Pricing Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2019

Image via Wikipedia The challenge for all of us in business is to improve competitiveness by improving employee productivity and reducing costs. According to Gartner , one of the biggest drags on productivity is employee engagement, still hovering around 30 percent, and costing our businesses over $450 billion per year.

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Tips Satisfaction Training Mentor 96

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

That means they normally only invest in startups with a working product that has already been sold to at least one customer for full price (beta tests, giveaways and best friends don’t count). They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development. Make your focus and priorities clear.

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Tips Funding Startup Invest 91

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

My article 5 Time-Tested Success Tips From Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos was so well received, I am sharing five more pearls of wisdom from Mr. Bezos. If improperly administered, meetings become counter-productive, especially as an organization grows beyond its initial startup phase. We know this is a feature that’s good for customers.

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Tips Framework Metrics Cloud Computing 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2022

Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. A related “red flag” in a business plan is a missing competitive analysis section, or a short paragraph that essentially says, “this product has no competition.” Yet most products can be made dramatically cheaper as technologies improve.

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Ideas Startup Tips Competition 145

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2017

I can’t change who your board members are so let me offer some thoughts on how to make your interactions with your board more productive. Nothing drives me more bonkers than board members who want to hold dissertations on 409a valuations, product feature minutiae or spend 30 minutes on how many people they know that they can introduce you to.

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Tips Slides Startup Technical Review 212

SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 10, 2012

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 -- Custom Software. For many companies, custom software provides the edge they need. Improved productivity and efficiency leading to cost reductions, easier to use services leading to increased customer satisfaction and retention, a new needed product or service that is not available anywhere else.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2021

In a two-minute video clip, you can introduce yourself, show your passion and the engaging personality you need to win over customers, partners, and employees. Pitch your company, not your product. Successful startups are all about the right people with the right stuff. Net out the problem and your solution in the first 30 seconds.

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Entrepreneur Tips Funding Startup 156

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

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Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

InfoChachkie

MARCH 1, 2012

Article first published as Five Business Tips From The Beatles on Technorati. In the list below, I have compiled some of my favorite lessons from Come Together , combined them with a few of my own Beatles inspired startup tips. Your startup should strive to offer as much value to its customers as possible. What’s Your B7?

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Tips Startup Entrepreneur Product 259

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Article first published as Eleven Startup Tips From Mark Cuban on Technorati. Mark’s Startup Tips. Such selling goes beyond promoting a company’s products and services. Some are counter-productive douche bags, as made clear in Some People Are Indispensible, But No One Is Irreplaceable. " [Tweet this quote].

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Tips Startup Entrepreneur Ideas 274

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

The company used its overdraft protection service and money management display to shift customers’ focus away from the total balance that their account would show by giving them a sense of how much was actually left in their accounts once debits were included in their statements.

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Company Companies Startup Tips 262

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

First of all, I will admit that there is some risk involved with talking to any potential investors, even with an agreement, just as there is risk in all the elements of your plan, product and market opportunity. Product details in the public domain can never be patented. Unsolicited proposals or requests for information.

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Ideas Tips Technical Review Patents 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2020

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. There is real value in doing the key things yourself, before your startup is even started: Demonstrate thought leadership before selling a product. In fact, you don’t need a third-party public relations agency at this stage.

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Ideas Tips Marketing Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter. How to respond to media in a crisis. A crisis is an event, precipitated by a specific incident, that attracts critical media attention and lasts for a definite period of time. Prepare, prepare, prepare for every media event.

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Media Tips Social Media Startup 118

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Obsess About Customers, Not Colleagues Or Competitors. “We We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”. You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused. The Two Pizza Rule.

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Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

TechCrunch LA

MAY 15, 2022

The new programs are a part of a range of new products Uber is launching across its ride-hail and delivery platforms, which are being announced on Monday at the company’s Global Product Event. Customers will be charged for deliveries with both Serve and Motional, including the cost of food, according to Uber.

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West Hollywood Los Angeles Santa Monica Customer 232

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2020

With social media and smart phone apps, real product information spreads at astounding speeds. Today’s customers are much more proactive in going online for the latest information, rather than simply reacting to the “push” messages that businesses traditionally use to drive commerce. Continually watch for new opportunities.

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Tips Technical Review Organization Social Media 126

Southern California Edison Blog

JULY 31, 2020

In the modern age, businesses rely heavily on networks to host and run their daily processes and applications, allowing employees to be productive and efficient. Not having enough bandwidth can limit what an organization is capable of and can limit overall productivity of the business. Prevent network overloading and crashes.

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Tips Networking Organization Southern California 59

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 8, 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013 -- Use 90 Sec Videos to Explain Your Product - Create Awesome. How do you quickly and succinctly explain your product or service to your target customer so that you can engage them right away. A good video will not only engage your target customer but avoid also lots of "how does your site work" emails.

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Product Tips Email Ideas 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. So if all I need to do is make some customer calls, interview potential employees or help with his fund-raising decks – hallelujah. Further Reading.

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Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

But it's also about operations and customer relationships." Innovation is commonly associated with either the introduction of new products or new features added to existing products. Such innovations are often focused on making products stronger, faster, smaller, lighter and cheaper. " [Tweet this quote].

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Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company. If you sell a product direct to a customer – in person or on the phone – you need to understand what their pain points are and position your product benefits against those pain points.

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Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

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. 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.

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Technical Review Tips Marketing Entrepreneur 103

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was talking with an early-stage founder who has a product vision and wants to get it built. He wanted to get input from me on what he's doing, and he wants to begin to ask developers what it would take to build his product. Me : Product definition, use cases, feature list, wireframes, comps, really whatever you have.

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Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

However, his first-hand knowledge of how software is created, tested and commercialized facilitated his execution of Microsoft’s initial strategy, in which it leveraged its operating system to create a suite of business productivity solutions. I am not suggesting you spurn product excellence. Frugal Is As Frugal Does. "Instead

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Tips Startup IP Santa Barbara 275

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. 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.

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Tips Marketing Technical Review Startup 75

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Here are some tips to consider while prospecting and interviewing candidates for your first employee: Don’t Hire Your Clone. They may not be a salesperson by title — but they should be able to effectively pitch and sell your product to customers. What should you look for in hiring your first employee? Sales Mentality.

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Tips RSS Ideas SaaS 182

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

When enhancing your value proposition, ask the same question a newcomer would ask, "what is the best way for users to interact with the new features, irrespective of the existing customer experience?" The value of a startup's products must be obvious and easily accessed.

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Startup Tips CTO Coach Technical Review 268

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2015

Entrepreneurship is more about building a business than inventing a product. Most importantly, it’s more about being a proactive leader who connects to customers and the team deeply, rather than a bright light that struggles to be seen amidst the glare of a million other bright lights.

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Customer Custom Entrepreneur Tips 97

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. A software product is a classic example of a scalable solution, since it costs real money to build the first copy, but unlimited additional copies can be quickly cloned for almost no incremental cost.

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Tips Startup Outsource Ideas 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2020

This means talking to your loyal customers, as well as non-customers who are in related market segments. We are all human, so our creativity gets limited by learned behavior and all the things we do to function as productive adults. It also helps to bring in outsiders periodically to suggest ideas you might be overlooking.

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Tips Ideas Metrics Help 94