Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Thus I was pleased to see my own insights covered in a new book, “ Why Startups Fail ,” by Tom Eisenmann, a Harvard Business School professor, who has mentored many more entrepreneurs, and authored more than a hundred HBS case studies from real-world startups. Look for validation from your mainstream customers.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

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.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

Starting something new is risky, no matter how many experts have reviewed it, or how much money you have. Most people don’t remember that Bill Gates first software venture, called Traf-O-Data , was a dismal failure. Challenge your team, and your customers, with expanding their mindset, achieving personal goals, and changing the world.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Software Review 131

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 9, 2019

I fund startups for a living and before that I ran two software startups that I founded. During a customer pilot, a Fortune 1000 company discovered that an 8-person conference room was used by 3 or fewer people for 78% of all business hours; it was used by 8 people (its intended capacity) just 3% of the time.

Product 214

Product Software Review Technical Review Startup 214

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2019

Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Automate to the max.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Case Study Software Review Startup 97

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. The challenge is to increase response rates and propagate a single view of the customer, by integrating customer data from multiple Web and social media interactions. Customer retention with churn modeling.

Social Media 70

Social Media Study Guide Examples 70

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 You would have met many smart people who live a mediocre life. Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product.

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2016

Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Automate to the max.

Startup 107

Startup Technical Review Case Study Software Review 107

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. The challenge is to increase response rates and propagate a single view of the customer, by integrating customer data from multiple Web and social media interactions. Customer retention with churn modeling.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Social Media Study Guide 103

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). Sam did all this analysis before even deciding to build V1 of his software and before we put serious money behind him launching.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

An Insider’s Perspective “Bird Zero” that are custom designed by the company There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has quietly re-emerged as a powerful force of growth where few really appreciate the speed and scale of what has happened.

Santa Monica 250

Santa Monica Venice Competition Software Review 250

Xconomy

JUNE 3, 2016

Even though most services are usually not subject to sales tax, some states are now asserting that certain online services are taxable either as software, data processing, or information services, even if the type of service would not be taxable if delivered the old fashioned way – by people – rather than computing platforms.

Sales 62

Sales Company Companies Software Review 62

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. The challenge is to increase response rates and propagate a single view of the customer, by integrating customer data from multiple Web and social media interactions. Customer retention with churn modeling.

Social Media 62

Social Media Study Guide Examples 62

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2013

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. The challenge is to increase response rates and propagate a single view of the customer, by integrating customer data from multiple Web and social media interactions. Customer retention with churn modeling.

Startup 98

Startup Social Media Study Guide 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 7, 2013

Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Automate to the max.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Case Study 105

InfoChachkie

JUNE 30, 2014

Too bad, as they would be well served to study Dirty Franks marketing plan, which has withstood the test of time. For instance, at the time we invested in The Resumator , purveyor of software which facilitates the hiring process, the company had spent less than $10,000 on marketing. Brand Building The Old Fashion Way.

Marketing 193

Marketing Software Review Product Social Media 193

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2012

Take advantage of software tools to automate routine business functions, like taking and delivering orders. Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Automate to the max.

Technical Review 99

Technical Review Case Study Startup Software Review 99

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2009

It's somewhat unusual in this economy to find companies who are seeing strong growth, so we were intrigued recently in running into BlackLine Systems (www.blackline.com), a firm which develops software for helping in the financial reporting process. First, for our readers who aren't familiar with your software, can you explain what it does?

Startup 124

Startup Software Review CTO Hire Oracle 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

A deep dive into the Foundry Group investment philosophy including an interesting discussion of their investing Themes. “… our lens is: Internet Software Companies anywhere in the U.S. If you are outside internet software we are not going to invest. So if you are outside the U.S. we are not going to invest.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Much effort and study has been expended to determine how a web site can better convert its visitors to paying customers. The good news is there are more than a few ways to improve the chances a visitor will become a customer. . At that point you have likely lost any chance at converting your visitor to a customer. .

Sites 40

Sites Search Engine Optimization Technical Review Web Development 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Funding Startup Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Develop 70

Develop Development Product Startup 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. Commit to a major customer. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 123

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 123

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2018

If you find yourself in this category, you need to focus on techniques to improve your productivity On software teams, for example, a detailed study published years ago shows differences as great as ten to one in productivity between comparable team members. Limit your daily “to-do” list to the top three results due soon.

Coach 56

Coach Paramount Software Review Product 56

socalTECH

MAY 23, 2017

Our interview this morning is with Jonathan Zweig , the CEO of Los Angeles-based AppOnboard (www.apponboard.com), which has created software which allows mobile app developers--and in particular, mobile game developers--to create demos of those games which can be played without having to download and install those apps.

Startup 113

Startup Southern California UCLA Technical Review 113

InfoChachkie

MAY 20, 2013

I became acquainted with Tige, when I was researching examples of exemplary online customer service. How did an American software engineer come to own an adventure travel company cited by National Geographic as, "one of the best adventure travel companies on earth?". As I got to know Tige, I became intrigued with his story.

Entrepreneur 235

Entrepreneur Startup Software Engineering Technical Review 235

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

A recent study by Nielsen showed that an average American adult spend some 34 hours per month using mobile internet on smartphones compared to 27 hours via personal computer. The premise is simple: if you want to engage with your customers, go where they are and where you can matter. Today, that oh-my-god moment refers to a mobile app.

Mobile 40

Mobile Social Media Google Software Review 40

InfoChachkie

MAY 20, 2013

I became acquainted with Tige, when I was researching examples of exemplary online customer service. How did an American software engineer come to own an adventure travel company cited by National Geographic as, "one of the best adventure travel companies on earth?". As I got to know Tige, I became intrigued with his story.

Entrepreneur 164

Entrepreneur Startup Software Engineering Technical Review 164

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 15, 2016

She has come a long way since then, putting herself through Berkeley, where she studied computer engineering. She stresses the focus on useful products that their customers will be proud to own. She is passionate about authenticity in customer interactions. Her schooling led to a seven-year-long career in computer engineering.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Social Media Startup Screening 40

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2008

Is this hardware, software, a combination of both? Dr. Ramin Sadr: We had to innovate, in everything from the antenna devices, to RF markers, to DSP hardware, and HDL with our DSP and ASIC components--all the way to our DSP real-time software and our protocols. So this technology is now being deployed? READ MORE>>

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Innocal Technology Software Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2011

What results must you have in order to raise venture capital or garner good press coverage that helps drive customer acquisition (and also more funding!)? They fund people with no customers. We need to sign up a few more customers and prove we can make money.&#. You have beautifully executed software. ON SUCCESS.

CTO Hire 363

CTO Hire Technical Review Startup Demand 363

socalTECH

MARCH 17, 2009

At some point, you've got to figure out where you draw the line, due to social network fatigue when you're at the point where you are checking 8, 9, or ten different sites every day. Rob Farrow: The average user is a great case study for us. MySpace--even though I'm a little old for the MySpace genre--is incredibly powerful.

Social Network 147

Social Network San Diego Sites Startup 147

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

I’m a software guy so I’m sure there are cases where building isn’t feasible. release out the door and get some customers using it, or friendly people piloting it then at least there is some validation to the product and some people to speak to about their experiences. But for most businesses it is.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Computer scientists call the study of graphs “ network theory ,&# but on the web the word “network&# is used to refer to the websites themselves). Silly, right?

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217