Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. Some argue to simply eliminate software patents, while others put their hopes in U.S. Patent offices can’t keep up with software technology.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

It also handles the back end as well by automating the posting, sale and shipment of unsold inventory while offering immediate payment to creditworthy sellers. to develop some sweet inventory-planning software. Syrup Tech bags $6.3M The equity will go toward hiring more talent to join Ghost’s 25-person team.

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

socalTECH

JANUARY 2, 2020

If you run a salon or spa, how do you tackle the challenges of scheduling and your point-of-sale? Los Angeles-based Boulevard (www.joinblvd.com) has develops business management software to help premium salons and spas with their operations. It provides a comprehensive scheduling and point-of-sale system for those businesses.

Startup 100

Startup Platform Software SaaS 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

By definition, true innovations are things we haven’t seen yet, but here are a few pricing alternatives that have contributed to the success of companies I know, and I recommend for evaluation by every business leader: Charging a premium for your technology innovation. Define ancillary services to increase the average price.

Pricing 145

Pricing Startup Competition Examples 145

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Gone are the days of required $50K computer servers onsite, with big software license fees up-front. Social media facilitates marketing and sales. For example, if you have no technical background, you probably can’t create or sell an enterprise software product for a low price, even today.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

In fact, subscription pricing has been around for a long time for magazines, cloud-based software, and gaming, but now I’m seeing it used for just about anything, including for more stylish clothes via Taelor Style , gourmet foods via TryTheWorld , and toys for your kids via KiwiCo. Do your homework before jumping in with both feet.

Startup 117

Startup Pricing Custom Customer 117

socalTECH

AUGUST 10, 2020

Today's interview is with Ruben Schultz, the co-founder of Swoop (www.swoopapp.com), a new startup which develops software for limousine, party bus, and other transportation providers. Part of our team is working on partnerships and sales with big companies like Netflix, Google, and others who require group transportation.

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Tool Doc 113

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

“The only success criteria of my startup career is whether GrubMarket can eventually make $100 billion of annual sales,” he said to me over both email and in a phone conversation. ” I don’t doubt that he means it.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

By definition?—?I’m Our fund (Upfront Ventures) recently returned >1x an entire $200 million fund just selling small minatory in secondary sales while still holding most of our stock for an ultimate public market exits. The market definition has changed but what we do mostly hasn’t. Are we in a bubble?”

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2021

The recent pandemic has definitely opened up opportunities for new products, and skilled people at lower costs are abundant. Every day is different, from dealing with creative elements, to financial challenges, marketing and sales, and customers of every type. You believe the economy has tilted the odds in your favor.

Startup 168

Startup Ideas Satisfaction Entrepreneur 168

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2020

In fact, subscription pricing has been around for a long time for magazines, cloud-based software, and gaming, but now I’m seeing it used for just about anything, including for more stylish clothes via Mr.Conection , gourmet foods via TryTheWorld , and toys for your kids via KiwiCo. Do your homework before jumping in with both feet.

Startup 168

Startup Custom Customer Netflix 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2021

As a counter, here are some situations where it definitely makes sense to short-circuit the traditional approach: The market won’t wait for your planning cycle. There is no substitute for talking to customers, analyzing your competition, and honing your solution to meet a target market segment.

Marketing 138

Marketing Demand IBM IBM 138

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

To be clear, I define a product specification as the technical definition of your product, to be used for development and testing purposes, with a quick business summary for context. Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. You need both to survive.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

socalTECH

OCTOBER 1, 2008

According to VanceInfo Technologies, it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wireless Info Tech, in a deal worth $1.08M in cash plus stock. VanceInfo is an IT services provider providing offshore software development in China. San Diego-based Wireless Info Tech Ltd.,

Offshore 100

Offshore San Diego Software Development Mobile 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

Between the mid nineties until 2007 wireless carriers around the world religiously protected the software that went on to phones and they guarded the end consumer relationship by controlling this software. So the value on the Internet went “up the stack” to portals such as Yahoo!, Excite, MSN and eventually Google.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Custom Customer 150

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2020

Carey Ransom: The way I think about it, is it is really the culmination of almost two decades of software and technology company building and investing. Carey Ransom: I've been involved in more than ten different software and services, fintech startups and growth stage companies in Southern California since the early 20000.

Invest 124

Invest Startup Ideas Examples 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

profitable and companies like Amazon who chose to focus on growth > profitability were not losing money on each book sale (ie they were gross margin positive). But often this doesn’t tell the whole story because often companies are also spending money on PR and other marketing activities in order to support the sales process.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2019

By definition, they liked you and thought they were a good fit for you before their applied. You've got to have great sales enablement. You have to hire great sales people, but you have to have great sales opportunities. However, until now, no one addressed the candidate experience when you did not hire them.

Content 193

Content Social Network Coach Help 193

TechCrunch LA

MAY 13, 2020

Bringing software-style beta testing to the beverage business. The company started off as a direct sales business, giving away coffee to friends and friends-of-friends. “We definitely think that it’s healthy, but we don’t think you have to compromise on the taste,” said Sharon.

Startup 284

Startup Los Angeles Seed Funding Product 284

socalTECH

JUNE 28, 2013

How did you guys decide to shift from a consumer focused startup like Beachmint, to developing software tools? It made sense for us to build this software, because it can apply to so many companies in the market. There are lots of online marketing analytics software products out there. We definitely stand out in that respect.

Advertising 203

Advertising CPC Tool Startup 203

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2018

It definitely has a “d” in it, as in it’s really not fun, raising. Let’s say you have built a SaaS company where a large part of the early revenue comes from a few big customers or a large part of the revenue is services based vs. software based. Fund raising. Let me give you an example.

Funding 236

Funding Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 236

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2010

Instead, give me the details on how you’re going to make your sales, and to whom, on the first day, the first quarter, and the first year. I’ve talked before about initial conversations with founders and the questions I’m likely going to ask Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything.

Metrics 159

Metrics Search Engine Optimization Startup Ideas 159

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

in sales last year, what he learned from his experience at TechStars, and where he's going with Fanmix. million in sales last year, with great margins, and it's profitable, with a team of ten people. Alex Benzer: We're building SocialEngine in parallel, and working on a new, software-as-service version.

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2016

The team succeeded in all functional areas, but we found it difficult to generate sales for our new and innovative technology. The management team was in total agreement to merge with a global software company. I was interim CEO of a Europe based systems software company. All key managers remained with the merged company.

Startup 99

Startup Marketing Competition Software 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.” Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

The best ones bring in more executive leadership so you can appropriate allocate resources across sales, marketing, product, engineering and support. If it’s an enterprise software company you can no longer rely on tacit knowledge to win sales campaigns. B round companies need to also look for scaling opportunities.

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2015

Bill Gates started producing software solutions, like his Basic Interpreter and MS DOS, but quickly focused on adding thousands of small partners for applications, and major partners like IBM, Intel, and other hardware manufacturers. Economies of scale also apply to marketing, distribution, and sales. Economies of scale.

Organization 100

Organization Startup Competition IBM 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2011

In case you don’t know, “the “9-9-9 plan” would replace all current taxes (including the payroll tax , capital gains tax , and the estate tax ) with 9% business transaction tax; 9% personal income tax rate, and a 9% federal sales tax.” Salesforce for years ran a campaign of “the end of software.”

Startup 289

Startup Press Software Marketing 289

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2010

I think a more subtle discussion of game dynamics in your software is warranted and it should be a supporting point to a discussion of what real innovation you’re planning. Similar current buzz-meter terms include: geo-location, geo-fencing, local deals, local offers, flash sales, group sales, privates sales and augmented reality.

Startup 296

Startup Evite Web Ideas 296

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2013

Michael Lum: There are definitely a lot of mobile ad networks out there. Instead, our software looks at each impression, and our bidding technology decides which impression to buy. Everybody in the industry is learning more and more, on how to reach that audience, and what''s effective there. There''s a huge potential in the future.

Advertising 253

Advertising Mobile OpenX Software Review 253

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

When a business leader takes a definitive position on a contentious issue, they are guaranteed to anger and alienate a portion of their current and potential customers. In particular, the Chick-fil-A Monday counter-protest resulted in a one-day sales record for the franchise. Angry People Are Motivated People. million units.

Entrepreneur 203

Entrepreneur Email Sales RSS 203

socalTECH

MARCH 11, 2016

What do you get when you combine a charitable pub crawl, the movie Anchorman, and a software developer randomly hired off Craigslist? In the case of San Diego's Classy (www.classy.org), you get an extremely popular piece of software-as-a-service to help you manage a nonprofit and its fundraising efforts. How did you start the company?

Help 100

Help San Diego Organization Startup 100

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch. Definitely take a look at he suggests you balance the choices. Again, relying on StartupRoar this time looking at NDA for Startups , I found some good stuff that you should definitely go through in more detail. Definitely read the whole thing. " Ummm. False Confidence.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Whether you are in manufacturing or software, you need experienced writers who can document your latest technology, write patents, and efficiently manage the multitude of data formats required by printing companies and advertisers. Software specialists. Information specialists. We are becoming a society of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Such feedback is especially constructive when you have something physical that users can interact with, such as beta software, a working website, etc. You definitely have a nice start. Never ask a tech community for feedback when your true intent is to close a sale. to actionable user feedback, "Just went through the demo.

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch. Definitely take a look at he suggests you balance the choices. Again, relying on StartupRoar this time looking at NDA for Startups , I found some good stuff that you should definitely go through in more detail. Definitely read the whole thing. " Ummm. False Confidence.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198