Berkonomics

MAY 8, 2014

I am chairman of a company that, as I write this, is twelve years old and has not yet taken a dollar of outside investment. The company grows in value to its customers and to prospective buyers of the business, but without any dilution of control or ownership for the founders. Grant writing takes skill and immense amounts of time.

Company 166

Company Companies Writing Education 166

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Even practical issues, like understanding reporter deadlines, and your own editing rights, are critical. It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter.

Media 118

Media Tips Social Media Startup 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2021

It pays only if a customer clicks through AND takes a further action (conversion), such as buying a product or filling out a web form. Campaign setup and ad copy writing. Tracking and performance reporting. For sites displaying the ads, this is called pay per click (PPC). Cost per action (CPA).

PPC 154

PPC SEO Paid Search Search Engine Optimization 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

Too many of you business owners think success only means being the next Amazon, or you stress yourself out trying to be everything to every customer. Understand and write down every expense, and budget for required costs, especially initial inventory and accounts receivable delays. Meticulously manage cash inflow and outflow.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2017

And then there are investors who want updates, calls, reports, check-ins. Recruiting, business development, shipping product, writing blog posts, networking … it’s all the same. We’re expected to be at conferences, events, sales meetings and be publicly visible. People expect blog posts, Tweets, panels, speeches.

Activity 297

Activity Blogging Email Startup 297

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. An entrepreneur having low self worth is the number one deterrent for a potential customer not buying into what you are selling. Using your service or owning your product isn’t why a person buys, it’s the experience your customer will have. Second, how to get leads.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2010

How to Interpret Analyst Reports. The stats are often quoted from the latest reports. I’m writing this post to make sure you’re all on that same playing field. I had reports from Gartner Group, Yankee Group, IDC, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and a couple of others. Stats sell. What are you on about?

Statistics 415

Statistics Startup Report Research 415

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. Of course they “need&# the title to convince customers, biz dev partners and VCs that they’re to be taken seriously.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

With the sudden death of its founder, Gerald Cotton, customers are owed an estimated $190 million due to a missing password only he knew. A huge amount of cryptocurrency is believed to be stored on a device that is now inaccessible, leaving customers in the dark as to what has happened to their funds. Earlier Troubles for QuadrigaCX.

News 161

News Customer Custom Commerce 161

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? I am a VC. I hand out money. How differentiated is that?

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 17, 2019

Welcome back to Transportation Weekly; I’m your host Kirsten Korosec, senior transportation reporter at TechCrunch. This is where investigative reporting, enterprise pieces and analysis on transportation lives. This investment would give Uber ATG a valuation of between $5 billion and $10 billion, WSJ reported.

San Fernando 217

San Fernando Los Angeles Commerce News 217

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

As your organization grows and you hire senior staff where you are no longer managing every employee directly the issue of how to manage people that are not your “direct&# reports arises. Dipping: As a decision maker you rely on information being passed to you by the people who report to you.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2018

And my specific response that I recommended was to say, “I can send you our standard data pack but honestly I have too many other firms asking for customized data and we simply can’t send each person custom reports. This is part of a series I’ve been writing on fund raising. it will go a long way. Want to read more?

Funding 217

Funding Newsletter Venture Capital Email 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2019

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Even practical issues, like understanding reporter deadlines, and your own editing rights, are critical. It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter.

Press 96

Press Entrepreneur Social Media Training 96

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 21, 2017

of all Statistics are Made Up ” My summary is an example I use often: when I consumed reports from Goldman Sachs about the future predictions of mobile phone penetration for a report I was working on for a client I would call the analyst to ask how she calculated her data because I wanted to be sure of my conclusions.

Venture Capital 182

Venture Capital Statistics Writing Report 182

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2014

Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Report within the organizational structure. In the past, consultants were taught to report only to the top executive, and to assume leadership rights in the organization. Be exceptionally easy to find.

Startup 102

Startup Slides Customer Custom 102

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. We''re able to track everything we''re doing, and report back on it. What is ConsumerTrack all about?

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2017

If you isolate a task that makes you uncomfortable, like doing employee performance reviews, and then gradually visualize yourself writing a few notes on their results, over time your mind’s attitude toward the dreaded task will be reshaped. Take small actions. Thus small questions and small thoughts ultimately lead to small actions.

Writing 84

Writing Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2012

How about talking to some real customers to see if they are as excited about your idea as you are? Start writing a blog, speaking at local groups, and conversing at networking meetings about the need you see in the marketplace, before you pitch a solution. Comment on other people’s blogs, as well as writing your own.

Startup 96

Startup Writing Newsletter Blogging 96

Eric Greenspan

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

He told me this was a service the BBB provided to its customers since they saved so much money on the same service. Today, I received this email from the BBB: We’re writing to let you know that during the past month the Reliability Report that we publish on Make It Work was accessed 6 times. Please advise.

Santa Barbara 265

Santa Barbara Technical Advisors Email Technical Review 265

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

With nearly 25 million customers using Netflix it’s clear that everyone will have an opinion on this. In my opinion it’s the most natural fit and it would give Netflix a very strong presence in Los Angeles and in TV (obviously subject to getting the right writes from the studios). Indeed, my Twitter stream tells me so.

Netflix 329

Netflix Evite Pricing Hulu 329

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2011

Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Report within the organizational structure. In the past, consultants were taught to report only to the top executive, and to assume leadership rights in the organization. Be exceptionally easy to find.

Startup 93

Startup Customer Custom Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2012

Another mistake many consultants make is to charge by the hour, and customers lose track and lose confidence as things change. Report within the organizational structure. In the past, consultants were taught to report only to the top executive, and to assume leadership rights in the organization. Be exceptionally easy to find.

Startup 85

Startup Slides Customer Custom 85

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

Goldman release a report on us. We instructed customers about how eCommerce was going to change their future. It kind of reminds me a bit of how “social media experts&# are talking to customers today). Make sure you focus on what matters – your customers. Just don’t believe what they write about you.

Startup 310

Startup Press Venture Capital Journal 310

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2011

How about talking to some real customers to see if they are as excited about your idea as you are? Start writing a blog, speaking at local groups, and conversing at networking meetings about the need you see in the marketplace, before you pitch a solution. Comment on other people’s blogs, as well as writing your own.

Startup 92

Startup Writing Newsletter Blogging 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2018

It’s hard to be successful in any business when your customers can’t find you, or they find you and still can’t figure out whether your solution works for them. By far the most effective technique for improving your writing is simply carrying out user readability tests on every piece of content, and really listening to feedback.

SEO 53

SEO Tips Newsletter Statistics 53

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She focused on her customer. Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers. Now she had an extra $50,000 to start building out her team.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

My job doesn’t involve the daily grind of customer complaints, product outages, business partner / channel problems, hiring / firing, etc. You get on a plane at a moment’s notice because a senior customer agreed to meet you. The idea that people “report to you&# must validate some primal need. Maybe 10-15%.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

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. Within six months we launched with a minimum feature set that a few customers were willing to pay for.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had seen many cycles and decided that since I was going to do it all over again I should write about it. It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. That changed very quickly.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2010

How about talking to some real customers to see if they are as excited about your idea as you are? Start writing a blog, speaking at local groups, and conversing at networking meetings about the need you see in the marketplace, before you pitch a solution. Comment on other people’s blogs, as well as writing your own.

Startup 90

Startup Writing Newsletter Blogging 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2017

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Even practical issues, like understanding reporter deadlines, and your own editing rights, are critical. It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter.

Media 55

Media Social Media Startup Training 55

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Not so long ago, training to meet the press and television reporters was a realm reserved for top business executives only. Even practical issues, like understanding reporter deadlines, and your own editing rights, are critical. It could be a product quality problem, or a major customer complaint on Twitter.

Press 105

Press Social Media Startup Training 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2017

That means that you need to overtly market yourself, rather than wait and hope that the right people or customers will find you. Start a blog and write for industry forums and newsletters. Seek out and mingle with reporters at business events. Every business community sponsors a plethora of these events.

Startup 55

Startup Organization Newsletter Content 55

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

PerfectForms is a platform for business users to create web applications, to provide visibility to processes, and to report on information collected. The really important distinction is that non-technical business people can build, deploy, integrate, and create reports on these applications to help them run their business.

Startup 150

Startup San Diego Entrepreneur Tool 150

socalTECH

DECEMBER 1, 2010

We get requests like that from people who are doing their own primary research, for their own business plans; people doing market analysis; from the financial community; but also from people writing things like iPhone apps, creating their own blogs, or commenting about the industry in the newspapers.

Beverly Hills 164

Beverly Hills Research Hollywood Sites 164