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73.6% of all Statistics are Made Up

Both Sides of the Table

Often when they do I throw out my favorite statistic: 73.6% of all statistics are made up. Here’s how I learned my lesson: I started my life as a consultant. I had to read each report, synthesis it and then come up with our best estimate of the markets going forward. I say it deadpanned. It’s irony.

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7 Startup Marketing Strategies To Bring In Customers

Startup Professionals Musings

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Social-media advertising. Email marketing. Cold calling.

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6 Information Surges Raise Huge Startup Opportunities

Startup Professionals Musings

It’s enough to drown any business which tries to fight it or ignore it, and it’s an opportunity to ride higher and faster than even the successes of Google and Facebook, for those startups that use it as their driving force. For startups, this is an engagement opportunity worth billions of dollars. Big data:” learning from the flood.

Startup 126
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6 Initiatives To Prep Your Startup For The Road Ahead

Startup Professionals Musings

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Since the startup environment is usually more volatile, the challenge there in balancing advantage, risk, and performance, is more critical than in big companies. It starts at the top with the founder and CEO, but has to extend quickly to the bottom of the organization.

Startup 116
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5 Keys To An Unbeatable Solution For Your New Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

I’m convinced that this “me too” or incremental thinking is one of the key reasons that ninety percent of new startups fail, and most of the investors I know won’t sign non-disclosure forms, since they claim to hear the same startup ideas over and over again. Collaborate with experts and people with experience.

Startup 162
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8 Tactics To Highlight Your Startup For Early Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

Startup 109
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4 Simple Steps Will Get Startup Financial Projections

Startup Professionals Musings

Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Per the words of an old country song, “if you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” If you are losing money on every unit, it’s hard to make it up in volume. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

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