Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2013

Customer service has always been reactionary, meaning someone has to wake up and answer website email requests. That’s just not savvy enough to hold today’s fickle, less loyal, and ready to jump customer. This exemplary customer service is just savvy marketing. Respect your customer’s view of usability.

Custom 89

Custom Customer Services High Tech 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2020

As an aspiring entrepreneur, one of the most important things you need is a memorable “ elevator pitch ,” to communicate your startup value proposition and leave a great first impression on friends, investors, employees, and future customers. Customers think about alternatives, and investors worry about competitors.

Sample 127

Sample Summary Startup Slides 127

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2012

Customer service has always been reactionary, meaning someone to wake up and answer website email requests. That’s just not sufficient to hold today’s fickle, less loyal, and ready to jump customer. I found a good summary of these new expectations in a book just published by Micah Solomon, “ High-tech, High-touch Customer Service.”

Custom 97

Custom Customer Services Startup 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

It’s clear things have changed for good and the need for managing remote communities of employees, customers and partners has become ever more important. In marketing materials founders often refer to their customer base as a “community”, but there’s a huge gap between having customers and creating a community.

Software 234

Software Startup Tool Platform 234

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. Due diligence always involves on-site visits, informal discussions with any or all members of the team, vendors, and good customers as well as bad. Status of the solution.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Custom 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Most people will be engaged by a single-page double-sided glossy executive summary, and offer support or the right people to move forward. Whether you are looking for partners, investors, or future customers, you need to show a level of professionalism and leadership very early that will draw people to your idea.

Ideas 126

Ideas Slides Sample Examples 126

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Summary notes, as always, provide below. The idea actually came to him from the Yellow Pages business. He took out an ad in the Yellow Pages (it was the early 80′s, pre Internet), which cost him $1,000 / month for a half-page ad. So the Yellow Page business was always “pay for placement.&#.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters. Too many plans don’t have a summary section, or the summary is all you get. You lose in either case.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2015

Blogging is one of the best ways to do this and build a brand, even before you have a product or service. Thus I recommend that every entrepreneur start blogging in parallel with solution development for the following benefits: Get customer idea feedback before you commit resources. Start building your customer community early.

Blogging 110

Blogging Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media 110

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

We had agreed to a stated internal policy that even though taking this stance would mean our product would have considerably less traffic it was an important part of what we felt our long-term brand represented. ” If people had seen the article on the home page of the news outlets website it no doubt would have been Tweeted.

Press 336

Press Blogging Journal News 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Almost always the CEO plus members of his or her management team including tech, marketing, sales and/or product. I know that back in your office you will disagree with each other – but never in front of investors, customers, partners, etc. Summary : Teams matter. Each of these scenarios has a team presenting.

Venture Capital 377

Venture Capital Slides Course Summary 377

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Send the plan without a summary. An Executive Summary is a one page elevator pitch of the whole plan (may be separate from the plan), which gives an investor a net perspective on the key business parameters. Too many plans don’t have a summary section, or the summary is all you get. You lose in either case.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Paige is a gifted communicator and my summary does not do him justice. He offers a number of worthwhile tips and tricks that I was not able to capture in the textual summary, so the 14-minute audio file is well worth your time. What follows is a summary which paraphrases Paige’s responses. Click here to listen to the Audio File.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2015

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. Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

Startup 104

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Slides 104

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. They have created two internal technology “products&# and wanted to figure out how they could turn their services business into a product business that could be financed. This team is talented.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2018

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. Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

Startup 65

Startup Entrepreneur Slides Content 65

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Build a prototype product. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most Angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Build an investor presentation and summary. Close at least one initial customer.

Angel 104

Angel Screening Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

The first page of the business plan better be an executive summary which gives the investor a taste of the financials, as well as opportunity, competition, and key executives. “I Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Too much detail at first contact is just as much of a turnoff as no information.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2011

A summary of what we discussed is below: Not 100% in order of the video, but close. Give everybody pages of the deck they’re to cover or parts of the demo for which they are to talk. Progress to date of your company (when started, key milestones, what shape is the product in, any pilot / beta customers, financing).

Venture Capital 340

Venture Capital Slides Doc Startup 340

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

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. Executive summary glossy. For the more traditional investor, or for that chance meeting in a real elevator or meeting, you need a two-page brochure (two-sided page).

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

The elevator pitch should be the first few paragraphs of your business plan, your executive summary, your investor presentation, and the first page of your web site. Here are some additional recommendations to increase the impact: Describe your product or service. The investor is "buying" the business, not the product.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2013

Just because you or your friends think it is a great idea or great technology, that doesn’t mean that a large number of customers will buy it. I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. Draft a business plan summary. Make sure the idea is technically viable.

Ideas 106

Ideas Startup Summary CalTech 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2012

Try something like, “the product costs $X, and we sell it for $Y.” You can innovate in technology, markets, and customers, but inventing a new business model is a bad bet. Here is a summary of a half-dozen of the most common models: Facebook model. Products are usually drop-shipped directly by the manufacturer.

Startup 95

Startup Custom Customer Summary 95

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 18, 2011

What follows is a summary which paraphrases Mark’s responses. 3) How has your role as the senior Tech Leader at the Rubicon Project and eHarmony influenced SteelHouse’s product roadmap and go-to-market strategy? How does SteelHouse enable its customers to leverage the existence of these various consumers?

eHarmony 204

eHarmony Media Oracle Commerce 204

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Link has a summary of his argument plus a great video). Everything we were taught pre-Internet is still relevant.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2015

Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture. Due diligence always involves on-site visits, informal discussions with any or all members of the team, vendors, and good customers as well as bad. Status of the solution.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2012

Just because you or your friends think it is a great idea or great technology, that doesn’t mean that a large number of customers will buy it. I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. Draft a business plan summary. Make sure the idea is technically viable.

Ideas 97

Ideas Summary Startup CalTech 97

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Build a prototype product. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Build an investor presentation and summary. Close at least one initial customer.

Invest 99

Invest Angel Technical Review Summary 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

In addition, every business has operating costs, like customer acquisition, fulfillment, inventory, and customer service. In the online world, you need a solid connection between your domain name and your product, brand, or business. Visit [link] to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business.

Social Media 93

Social Media Content Startup Web 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2011

Just because you or your friends think it is a great idea or great technology, that doesn’t mean that a large number of customers will buy it. I hear many ideas that sound more like dreams, rather than products. Draft a business plan summary. Make sure the idea is technically viable.

Ideas 104

Ideas Entrepreneur Summary Startup 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

Try something like, “the product costs $X, and we sell it for $Y.” You can innovate in technology, markets, and customers, but inventing a new business model is a bad bet. Here is a summary of a half-dozen of the most common models: Facebook model. Products are usually drop-shipped directly by the manufacturer.

Ideas 92

Ideas Startup Custom Customer 92

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. TWIVC Summary – Richard de Silva. Mike built a white label product that let large publishers leverage text based ads by building their own marketplace rather than using Ad Words. Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is a long post, so I put an executive summary here if you want to get the point without reading all the detail. If you plan to read the post you can skip the summary if you want. The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. I rewrote the page 7-10 times. That’s a shame.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356