InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 17, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. These questions, which manifest themselves in numerous forms, all share a common underlying objective: to divine your motivations, expectations and desires.

Entrepreneur 253

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 253

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2023

All the business leaders I know have noticed that the problems we all face today are becoming more complex, multifaceted, and our customers are more demanding. These authors speak from a wealth of experience as investors, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists. Don’t demand risk elimination by perfectionism.

Demand 84

Demand Course .Net Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2014

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 102

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices. That’s stupid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 29, 2012

However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. These questions, which manifest themselves in numerous forms, all share a common underlying objective: to divine your motivations, expectations and desires.

Entrepreneur 145

Entrepreneur Google Invest RSS 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 98

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

One entrepreneur refrain I sometimes hear is “We want to raise some extra money for M&A activities.” So when you say $8–10m is your goal and you aren’t at all thinking about your valuation know that a VC hears “$24–40 million pre-money valuation expectations.” Every VC wants to fund a deal that seems to have too much demand.

Venture Capital 247

Venture Capital Capital Funding Demand 247

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

Thus, in my mentoring of potential technical entrepreneurs who have a real passion for their technology, I often recommend that they find a co-founder who can manage the marketing and execution elements of the new venture. Today, customer loyalty is based on the “ total customer experience ,” as opposed to price or service alone.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. Four Common Angel Archetypes. Painfully Diligent Investors.

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model.

Startup 64

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 64

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 101

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In essence, as a contractor, you are a consultant who is competing regularly for new work, and you constantly have to differentiate your offering from other candidates, including price. In fact, thinking like an entrepreneur is a good strategy today for success, even if you are currently in a long-term employment situation.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2018

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 66

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model.

Startup 118

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 118

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

We are taking a lot of the modern tools that most digital marketers expect, and we are applying that to an old school industry, which is proving to be a lot of value to people. That distributed print cloud enables a speed of iteration that most marketers would not expect is possible. It's been a year and a half, and it's been great.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

According to many observers , we can thank or blame technology for these higher expectations, providing information at the speed of light, leading everyone to expect more. The bar is being raised, so every entrepreneur needs new initiatives just to stay in the ballgame. Personally listen and interact with customers regularly.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model.

Startup 114

Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur Customer 114

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. entrepreneur startup customer service business'

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

It is also a result of pent-up demand. To understand this in great detail see this very important blog post by Henry Blodget on the unemployment rate in the US and its impact on the recovery. If these factors impact earnings the stock market may be headed South – If unemployment rises housing prices won’t.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

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). You can’t play by the exact same rules as everybody else and expect exponential growth. Underbelly. Underbelly.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 8, 2016

I thought it would be interesting to understand the challenges and concerns of entrepreneurs who began selling online for the first time in 2016, so I sat down with Heidi Muther, COO at Z S upply , LLC. I ended up really relating to the nuance and intricacies of product supply and customer demand. John Knits.

Sites 100

Sites Sales Santa Barbara Design 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

For instance, if your company is only a few weeks old and you have zero customers and your product offering is still in design, don’t expect someone to hand over $10 million to fund your efforts. VC money, for example, usually comes with high expectations of milestones met, board seats, and dominant control. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Startup 92

Startup Venture Capital Demand Invest 92

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

For instance, if your company is only a few weeks old and you have zero customers and your product offering is still in design, don’t expect someone to hand over $10 million to fund your efforts. VC money, for example, usually comes with high expectations of milestones met, board seats, and dominant control. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Startup 96

Startup Venture Capital Demand Invest 96

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

As an entrepreneur and startup investor, I have helped create companies which achieved two IPOs which collectively raised over $100 million, as well as two acquisitions which totaled $385 million. 1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. “Learn from the mistakes of others. 3) Attempt To License An Idea.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

industry investors rather than VCs) a good idea for entrepreneurs. His view: sometimes entrepreneurs expect too much value from the partner. An investment doesn’t guarantee your product will suddenly be on the investor’s price sheet. Are “strategic investors&# (e.g.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

A great recent example of this was a successful group of entrepreneurs who had created a company that will do $10-12 million in revenue at their system integration business (read: services business) in 2011 after having done $5 million or so in 2010 and $2-3 million in 2009. We were a great services business. They wanted advice.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 26, 2016

6 Entrepreneurs share their predictions for this year’s evolution of online industries, which will be key for small businesses across the globe in 2016. For the VPN industry specifically, we will see a lot of new providers as the barrier to entry is extremely low, and demand is high. How many gigabytes are included, and at what cost?

Commerce 40

Commerce Mobile Technical Review Google 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2022

Many business professionals and entrepreneurs I know are quick to attribute success of a peer to luck, rather than any recognition of a unique strategy or personal attributes. Passion is great, but it must be backed by data, confirming a real problem and customers willing and able to pay for your solution. Recognize limited resources.

Startup 143

Startup Competition Coach Satisfaction 143

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

There are now signs the VC market has gathered pace meaning it’s a great time to be fund raising. This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. There is a lot of pent-up demand. This is one book-end of the cycle. – IPO-able in any normal market.

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. Great lifestyle, great cost of living, motivated people and only the crap weather on the negative side. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. Of course I have.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal Delicious

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Tech entrepreneurs and executives from Silicon Valley are moving south and buying up luxury homes in the Los Angeles area. Andrew Frame, a 30-something entrepreneur who founded Internet-telephone company Ooma, bought a contemporary four bedroom in Bel Air for $5.5 Prices have gone up dramatically on this beachfront strip.

Los Angeles 44

Los Angeles Software Review Technical Review Journal 44

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The founders felt that having a legitimate site for content would discourage Silicon Valley VC’s from funding entrepreneurs to create the next big TV killer. To say that the tech elite were cynical of Hulu’s launch would be an understatement , but by the time it launched just a few months later it was getting great reviews.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

There are these great big companies that have large sales departments looking to supplement their existing products so when they’re with clients they can increase their average order size. Great inches eked out on tech blogs or industry rags. You need to stimulate demand. Without them you have great press.

Startup 293

Startup Sales Marketing Product 293

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2010

Entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, popularly known as “glocalization.” Remember when the Chevy Nova required a rename, once Chevrolet realized that Nova meant "no go" in the Spanish market (not a great name for a car). Marty Zwilling.

Startup 89

Startup Patents Offshore Demand 89