Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events. Customer feedback, including blog comments, usability reviews, and early user testimonials, build relationships and provide credible marketing to the broader customer community.

Outsource Development 154

Outsource Development Social Media Software Review Customer 154

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

At Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood 2012 Kevin Winston organized a panel called “How to Find and Hire a Developer”. Always have a developer do a test project before hiring them to make sure they deliver quality work. This will prove your product is worth building to you and to the developer. Ask for is code samples.

CTO Hire 81

CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop Development 81

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

My rationale is simple: everything goes wrong and only great teams can respond to competitors, markets, funding environments, staff departures, PR disasters and the like. Your first sales people should be consultative sellers who can fuel evangelical sales. Final startup grind from msuster. Don’t hire a homogenous team.

Startup 388

Startup Slides Outsource Development Sales 388

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Ineffective and expensive marketing campaigns. The most cost-effective marketing approaches have changed; from catalogs to web sites, and from television commercials to social media.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 13, 2009

For children with a proclivity toward business, a newspaper route provided an invaluable opportunity to develop the following entrepreneurial skills: Punctuality – Newspapers had to be delivered on time, irrespective of the weather, the fact that Sunday papers can weigh several pounds each or the requirement to wake up at the crack of dawn.

Web 2.0 222

Web 2.0 Web Sales Outsource Development 222

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2018

For this morning's interview, we caught up with Elizabeth Cholawsky , the new CEO of Santa Barbara-based HG Data (www.hgdata.com), which develops software which helps marketers and salespeople understand the "technology stack" of their potential customers and prospects. So, I cam on board. What were you doing before this?

Santa Barbara 113

Santa Barbara High Tech Outsource Development Startup 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on. I believe it’s flawed.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2014

We caught up with founder and CEO Grant Kirkwood --a serial entrepreneur and veteran of providing infrastructure to the enterprise markets--on the vision behind the company. Companies were saying--we want to outsource these kinds of things, because they''re not our core competency. There are lots of folks thinking about this market.

Cloud Computing 217

Cloud Computing Outsource Development Outsource Startup 217

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2020

In my experience as an advisor to startups, the difference is almost always related to the founder and their execution strategy , more so than to the solution quality or the market. Initially, you may be able to do everything in your startup, including product development, marketing, and shipping orders.

Startup 123

Startup Outsource Development Entrepreneur Outsource 123

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

Ahead of the conference, we sat down and spoke with Kevin Anderson , co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Appetize (www.appetizeapp.com), a rapidly growing developer of point-of-sale software, on the topic of customer service. Lots of startups talk about trying to outsource all their customer support.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Services Conference 113

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 22, 2014

Outsourcing can be an extremely cost-effective solution here. Not only will you avoid adding to overhead costs at this early stage, but you’ll save management time — and free yourself to focus on developing your business. If you already have a list of targeted customers, don’t overlook email marketing. Legal Expertise.

Startup 97

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 97

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. 4) Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. Nascent startup markets are like fine wine, they take time to develop.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2013

Create a Marketing Plan. Marketing is key in helping you to develop long-term, strategic plans that can stop your cash drain. Your sales forecast is an essential variable for cash and profit planning. Strategic marketing means finding ways to promote and sell your product so that you achieve specific goals.

Outsource Development 91

Outsource Development Outsource Startup Marketing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

Outsourcing your core competency does not work. The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The financial suit. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2010

I recently did a post for startups on understanding sales people. I know this will fall like a lead balloon to the many people who believe it is possible to have a [insert: startup incubator or technology accelerator or technology consultant or outsource firm] build your technology. I don’t believe that one exists.

CTO Hire 400

CTO Hire Fractional VPE Startup Outsource Development 400

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. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Software Review 88

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 88

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Outsourcing your core competency does not work. The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The financial suit. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

Outsourcing your core competency does not work. The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. The financial suit. The operations superstar.

Technical Advisors 98

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2016

For example, at any given moment in your business, you may be limited by development, marketing, or sales. Evaluate outsourcing as a quick solution to break the constraint. Business development must maintain that balance between internal and external growth options. Investigate strategic alliance alternatives.

Startup 56

Startup Outsource Development Organization Outsource 56

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. You can now skip the mandatory office space rental, with secretary and bookkeeping staff, or outsourcing. Social media facilitates marketing and sales.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2012

The product plan tells your developers what to build, and the marketing team what to market. Enough detail is required so that someone else can build it without you (outsourcing). Market research. Development and rollout. Market research and competition.

Product 92

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 92

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Futuredontics is the consumer marketing division, and inside that is Dentistry.com. To their credit, they were able to carve out an investment so we could develop this. I ran Bugleboy.com for a couple of years, and then I moved into purely online marketing. So what specifically do you do?

Startup 113

Startup CitySearch Outsource Development Organization 113

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

This article will cover two things; First, the top mistakes small business owners make that end with inquiries leading you to the exit door before making a sale. That is, of course, as long as what you are selling is the absolute best in your market.) The word “convince” shouldn’t exist in sales. Second, how to get leads.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2011

The product plan tells your developers what to build, and the marketing team what to market. Enough detail is required so that someone else can build it without you (outsourcing). Market research. Development and rollout. Market research and competition.

Product 93

Product Entrepreneur Outsource Development Competition 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Ideas 62

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Competition 62

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Chris Tragos: The tree founders of Jetpack, myself, Kevin Woolery, and Marc Brown were all working on the publisher side at Spin Media (Editor's note: previously Buzznet) I was running sales, development, and operations, and looking at all these RFPs that came in. They wanted something custom, to close the deal.

Buzznet 100

Buzznet Outsource Development Design HTML 100

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Steve Gilison worked as a market researcher and product manager at a startup where my company, TechEmpower , did the software / web development. I have about 11 years in the technology sector including roles doing market research, sales and product development. Remind me about your background Steve? I can see that.

Los Angeles 179

Los Angeles Product Angel Startup 179

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2017

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. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Software Review 56

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development CTO Coach 56

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling. Complementary skills.

Software Review 107

Software Review Entrepreneur CTO Hire Outsource Development 107

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

At the time, when we were an agency, it was quite a crowded market. We started looking to see if we could use technology disrupt the agency business, for companies serving the performance marketing area, the cost-per-sale area. That part of the market is primarily driven by companies in what is referred to as lead generation.

Media 162

Media Advertising Startup Platform 162

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

As an entrepreneur looking for an idea, it makes sense to explore problem areas within your knowledge comfort zone, but when you are building a business with the solution, you have to stretch your comfort zone to keep up with the market and stay ahead of competitors. The idea is the only easy part. The hard part is the business execution.

Social Network 94

Social Network Startup Ideas Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Develop your business plan. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Funding process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

We had more than 700 resumes, short-listed 65, interviewed 16 in one-hour meetings had 6 full-day interviews including a presentation by the candidate on a selected market opportunity and we did 3 finalist dinners to test cultural fit. My first job after college was as a developer at Andersen Consulting. MBA fine, but not required.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 5, 2016

Selling new products, opening new markets outsourcing business functions and every other decision affects the bottom line. The process of selling one item could include its purchase from the manufacture, shipping to its point of sale, storage, keeping records for the item and other phases of the business transaction. Conclusion.

Software Review 40

Software Review Technical Review .Net Outsource Development 40