InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Thus, you must first create the playbook by which an independent sales rep can readily sell your product, including: identifying objections and developing strategies to overcome them, creating reference accounts and establishing meaningful customer adoption. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements. 8 ) Grant Exclusivity.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. Will the public respond in numbers to buy, license or rent your offering? And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

A big trend in business these days is hiring freelancers or contract personnel for the duration of a project, rather than permanent staff. 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.

Startup 98

Startup Outsource Development Competition Social Media 98

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Sales people will often blame your pricing.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Write things down. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. I was to tell noone until the contract was signed.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Write things down. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. I was to tell noone until the contract was signed.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Marketing should start before product development.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 105

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). Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model.

Product 92

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 92

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). Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model.

Product 93

Product Entrepreneur Outsource Development Competition 93

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. The initial contract was worth about $500,000 and the whole value of the contract would have been worth a couple of million over the years.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. Marketing should start before product development.

Startup 57

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Ideas 57

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

Instead, they outsource to an expert like Edegcast. Software-as-a-service companies write good software, and network companies build good networks, but rarely do you find both that do that well as the same time. Those two typically don't go together well.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

But the thing I am most proud of about Rob is that he has taken a company with a uniquely talented founder & CTO – Nick Halstead – and managed to build a very tight working relationship with Nick where we drive world-class product development without having the usual founder / CEO conflicts. ” I know it sounds obvious.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 25, 2016

If such write-downs only impacted the faux unicorns and their avaricious investors, there would be little need for alarm. The constant media coverage of the aberrant unicorn valuations has caused otherwise level-headed entrepreneurs to expect investors to participate at prices which are detached from their startups’ fundamentals.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Venture Capital 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

He writes with a great perspective and is well worth reading. My first job after college was as a developer at Andersen Consulting. I don’t believe you can hire great business people who outsource the development to a hot incubator who builds you code to match your ambitions. I had to laugh a bit reading it.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2010

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). Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model.

Product 48

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 48

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Typically entrepreneurs doubt themselves because they undervalue their offerings, but it isn’t about creating a product, setting a price and hoping people will buy. Valu e and Exp erience versus Price and Product. On the card I usually write the date, where I met the person, how I met them and what value I can bring to the table.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Marketing SEO 85

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

As a teenager he experimented with writing & producing his own rap music and received a lot of feedback from elders that he had a talent with words. He wanted to create awareness for himself to generate marketing buzz and demand and then get the retail stores to pay wholesales prices for his cds. Here are some take away’s: 1.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

If you have the proper mechanisms to accurately calculate your Cost Per Customer / Lifetime Value Equation, you will happily purchase as many customers from affiliates as your cash flow constraints will allow, as long as the average acquisition price is less than the customers’ average lifetime value.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

InfoChachkie

MAY 23, 2011

Hipster-wannabes routinely wait in line for hours for the opportunity to buy exorbitantly priced drinks in an exclusive nightclub. As noted in Contract Traps Entrepreneurs Should Avoid , exclusivity can kill a small company. Write this number down. In this context, your Bro Foe is inclined to communicate a very large number.

Technical Review 183

Technical Review Marketing Sales Competition 183

Jason Nazar

JUNE 18, 2009

Music – enable a dead simple player on band and profile pages that lets users upload their songs and have them purchased for any price they set. Leverage a worldwide community to enable a perfect market for outsourcing activities like online research, writing, & content review. Movies – no website has more Hollywood DNA.

Development Team Review 76

Development Team Review Content Sites eHow 76

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. He previously led business development for Affiliate Fuel, leading to its acquisition by Experian in 2005.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

Nobody commits, nobody wants to set a price, nobody wants to stick their neck out then BOOM! It’s like the entire industry wants to outsource its brain to the smartest person they know and then follow that person. I have successfully used this in business development, sales, fund raising and even the press. Reid Hoffman is in?

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

Clearly a startup should consult its lawyer before filing or not filing.But the attorneys I relied on to write this piece told me that they’ve done lots of Section 4(2) deals in the past, and would recommend it to clients who had relatively simple financing agreements (not tranched-out, not too many investors, etc.) Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. Was it a Startup Founder Developer Gap ? But I didn’t write it for you; I wrote it for myself. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may not be charging enough for your product - Seth Levine's VC Adventure , August 12, 2010 I’ve been pulled into a number of product and pricing meetings recently (for reasons unknown I’ve become the Foundry pricing and productization guy). Develop your business plan.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Now, he ‘outsources’ his investments through John Frankel of Frankel Asset Management. I appreciate the write-up and your continued support of this blog. After AltaVista, Mike spent a year doing business development for USA Networks ( now IAC – Interactive Corp ). This feature is in development right now.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

First Principles. Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. -

Startup 378

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. I believe this makes Twitter the perfect ecosystem for development. How about if they knew how often I came to Vegas?

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

This ended up developing into Visual Basic for Applications , the strategy for programmability in Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office ended up beating its competitors because it was able to read and write to file formats other than its own. Do you see product managers as a hindrance to software development? Pricing information.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software Blogging Startup 285