Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

Most entrepreneurs looking for an investor can tell you how much money they need, but few have given much thought to what they are willing to give up for it. For later investments, the price is equity, with a percentage of the owner stock to be assigned to the investor. Even founder’s shares are common stock.

Demand 105

Demand Startup Equity Invest 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. Consensus and change are hard.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Custom 154

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2022

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly. After this connection, you need not share the 30% of all revenue collected by the store platform. Look for value points to control.

Develop 138

Develop Development Platform Mobile 138

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

His groundbreaking book, “Early Exits” has become a textbook for angel groups and entrepreneurs throughout the world. His Strategic Exits Corporation provides M&A advisory services, and he is much in demand as a speaker at angel and entrepreneur events worldwide. – Dave. By Basil Peters.

Pricing 120

Pricing Demand Marketing Email 120

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

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

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. Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Custom Customer Entrepreneur 143

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth.

Startup 106

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Custom 106

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My advice to entrepreneurs was and is “ when the hors d’oeuvres tray is being passed take two ” (e.g. So I agreed to offer my current thinking on the economy and what it portends for the VC industry & fund raising for entrepreneurs. raise money now to weather any storms). We took $2.3 We took $2.3

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2016

This new sharing economy is rapidly becoming the new business of sharing, with major winners already including Airbnb (rooms), Uber (rides), and Chegg (books). If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game.

Marketing 52

Marketing Commerce Social Media Entrepreneur 52

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. A standard entrepreneur retort I heard back then (2008-09) was “I don’t know what my company is worth now.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2016

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. Consensus and change are hard.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Sales Startup Custom 106

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. Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Custom 113

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

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I think there is also no denying the role that Richard Rosenblatt has played in building the LA tech ecosystem and spawning great entrepreneurs who followed in his footsteps. He built & IPOd Demand Media.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. In Part II of this series, I suggest that entrepreneurs seek agreements in which “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” Agree to Bundling Without a Minimum Price.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In my experience as an angel investor for new startups, I’m always surprised by how many entrepreneurs are looking for funding without outside advisors. For example, I once was approached by an entrepreneur, passionate that his new algae strain would cure world hunger and make him rich. Bandwidth is a constraint we all feel.

Startup 142

Startup Technical Review Equity Entrepreneur 142

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 2, 2014

Every smart entrepreneur needs to realize that trying to treat every customer the same, with limited resources, may mean that you are treating them all poorly, or at least limiting your own growth. Be the first to share the knowledge that demonstrates you are better. Raise prices. Point them to big-box providers for low prices.

Custom 95

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Pricing 95

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 7, 2015

We talk a lot about college entrepreneurs here at Tech.Co, but what about the younger generations? Specifically, two high school seniors in LA, Dillon Rosenblatt and Tyler Makhani, recently built out an app called Tutors , a platform for on demand tutoring. Why not bring tutors into this new on-demand economy? .

Demand 126

Demand Technical Review Los Angeles Platform 126

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2020

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth.

Pricing 123

Pricing Cloud Computing Custom Customer 123

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Every smart entrepreneur needs to realize that trying to treat every customer the same, with limited resources, may mean that you are treating them all poorly, or at least limiting your own growth. Be the first to share the knowledge that demonstrates you are better. Raise prices. Point them to big-box providers for low prices.

Custom 150

Custom Customer Startup Pricing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2020

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly. After this connection, you need not share the 30% of all revenue collected by the store platform. Look for value points to control.

Mobile 126

Mobile Develop Development Platform 126

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

And for some strange reason entrepreneurs didn’t share this information. I’ve started from day one trying to build total transparency into my process with entrepreneurs. This starts with understanding how VCs and entrepreneurs often see valuation differently. Back then VentureHacks didn’t exist.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

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. You need other people with skills that complement yours, are not “yes” people, and have relevant experience rather than a low price-tag.

Startup 143

Startup Competition Coach Satisfaction 143

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

Please download the episode here , if for no other reason than to make Harry happy :) but I’ve also included some quick notes below including a few notes I didn’t share in the podcast (and vice versa by the way?—?if In a bear market executives are paid to: consolidate the number of contracts and renegotiate prices. That may happen.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

Yesterday I saw a Tweet from Chris Sacca fly by that prompted me to want to write a blog post helping entrepreneurs understand why they should push back against VCs asking for “super pro-rata” rights. They might own 8% of your company after the first funding but demand up to 33-50% of your next round of financing.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Writing Invest 310

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. Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right.

Startup 98

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 98

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. Smart entrepreneurs are now starting to look at this option again, as well as the challenges of running a public company. The M&A alternative looks simple by comparison. Constant pressure to increase earnings.

Startup 98

Startup Report IBM IBM 98

Berkonomics

MAY 21, 2015

Venture capitalists sometimes make an error in directing their portfolio company CEOs to push resources to the limit and scale the business to immense size quickly, all to seize market share. It was true for Amazon and other visionary companies that grabbed market share during the early Internet era. But beware.

Venture Capital 120

Venture Capital Social Media Invest Marketing 120

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

entrepreneur” and by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel”, David is a former Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur and the founder of New York Angels. collaborate with over 250,000 entrepreneurs in 95 countries. collaborate with over 250,000 entrepreneurs in 95 countries. By David S. Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak?

Startup 189

Startup Sales Ideas Entrepreneur 189

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

However, many people are not aware that prior to entering academia, Steve was a wily and creative marketing entrepreneur. Despite these abundant resources, the team's ineffectiveness was reflected by the company's dismal 11% market share. We had been pricing our graphics cards to be a low-cost provider. 11% To 68% Market Share.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Custom 271

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 Custom Customer 133

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2017

The pervasive Internet and mobile device access allows instant communication of new options, total sharing of customer experiences, and mass customization, on a world-wide scale. Historically, many businesses profited from the time lags between supply and demand by exploiting geography, relationships, and buying habits.

Demand 54

Demand Technical Review Pricing Custom 54

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. They steal a share of your market, slow down customer buying decisions, making it harder to close new business, and put the brakes quickly on your exponential growth.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Cloud Computing Custom 116