Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Your focus for momentum could be sales, profitability, or number of customers, but trying to keep all possible parameters growing is simply not practical. It’s important to define your growth strategy, document it, communicate it to your team, and align metrics and employee rewards to target goals.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2023

Obviously, the business of business has been around a long time, with many “best practices” well-defined and well documented, so creativity that ignores these is usually not a good thing. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Marketing 119

Marketing Metrics Demand Statistics 119

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

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. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2014

Obviously, the business of business has been around a long time, with many “best practices” well-defined and well documented, so creativity that ignores these is usually not a good thing. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Metrics Demand Statistics 113

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2013

Obviously, the business of business has been around a long time, with many “best practices” well-defined and well documented, so creativity that ignores these is usually not a good thing. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Metrics 110

Metrics Entrepreneur Demand Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2014

Define hard (data) and soft (anecdotal) metrics on the change, as well as on the quality of your leadership. That means you have to start with assessing the current state against the same metrics, before you can assess progress or change. Make sure metric results are available to the team, to keep them motivated.

Startup 108

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2013

Define hard (data) and soft (anecdotal) metrics on the change, as well as on the quality of your leadership. That means you have to start with assessing the current state against the same metrics, before you can assess progress or change. Make sure metric results are available to the team, to keep them motivated.

Startup 101

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 101

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. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

You won’t need the multiple follow-ups and time to close new sales. Build a marketing plan with deliverables and metrics. If I don’t see a documented marketing plan, with measurements driven by industry norms, I assume that you are counting primarily on your passion to assess growth.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” 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. Funding process.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe your market penetration strategy, sales channels, pricing, and strategic partnerships. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe your market penetration strategy, sales channels, pricing, and strategic partnerships. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” 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. Funding process.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

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. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale. Key metrics for scaling, such as customer loyalty, are very important after initial rollout.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

It’s human nature to prioritize the metrics that get measured, so the simple act of keeping track is often enough to have a significant positive impact. You can also use this space to keep track of innovators (R&D personnel) and rainmakers (sales & marketing personnel).

.Net 89

.Net Metrics Competition Template 89

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

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. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 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. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. Solution development and delivery.

Ideas 62

Ideas Outsource Development Startup Competition 62

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

For example, I still find businesses asking you to print, sign, and return documents by mail in lieu of digital signatures or email. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. In my mind, these are killing their businesses.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Customer Custom Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2017

What metrics should you use to measure success? Define both hard data and soft (anecdotal) metrics on the new solution, as well as on the productivity of you team. That means you must know the current state of competitors against the same metrics, before you can assess progress or success. Just because Google sales hit $1.5

Metrics 58

Metrics Resource Startup Training 58

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

He also still gets excited to donate one percent of sales to environmental groups around the world. Document and communicate a solid business plan. You may be comfortable driving your future based on vision and emotion, or have long been a stickler for details and metrics. You make decisions from data, or from the gut.

Startup 94

Startup Ideas Metrics Entrepreneur 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2016

Obviously, the business of business has been around a long time, with many “best practices” well-defined and well documented, so creativity that ignores these is usually not a good thing. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Metrics 60

Metrics Demand Statistics Sales 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Marketing, sales, and partners. Describe your market penetration strategy, sales channels, pricing, and strategic partnerships. Financial forecast and metrics.

Invest 74

Invest Tips Competition Metrics 74

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

Finally you create and document your recipe (business plan). Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Don’t stand still.

Startup 81

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 81

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I suggest you use social media, blogging, crowdfunding, or documented research to quantify a real demand from people who can afford it, and don’t have a better alternative already out there. This is the point where you must manage to metrics, work on the culture of the organization, and look for partner-based growth.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2017

For example, what looks like a sales revenue problem may actually be a new competitor offering, a marketing decline, or a lag in receivables. Assignments should be documented and communicated, rather than assumed. Establish metrics to assure solution and prevent recurrence. Identify all potential sources of the problem.

Metrics 58

Metrics Entrepreneur Examples Coach 58

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2018

It takes real money to sustain a business, with a margin in the 50 percent range, and some realistic milestones and metrics. Document and initiate a multi-faceted marketing plan. Traction is marketing and sales results. The free model, with an implied intent to monetize later, doesn’t work with investors anymore.

Customer 59

Customer Custom Pricing Startup 59

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2016

As the business grows, it pays to learn how to use automated financial tools, and review the key financial metrics daily. Continue to operate without documented and repeatable processes. Watch for margin erosion as real operating growth costs kick in.

Startup 57

Startup Training Entrepreneur Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Nearly half of small businesses today still don’t have a website, despite a majority of people looking there for search, sale, and support. That means all realignments require over-communication, in multiple medias – video, voice, documents, and actions. Pick metrics to measure change implementation and results.

Press 56

Press Tool Metrics Startup 56

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Most begin by doing the product development, marketing and sales alone, but struggle making the transition to hiring and coaching others, defining repeatable processes and focusing on future strategy. For example, there once was a social network called Friendster , often credited with starting the social networking boom way back in 2002.

Social Network 59

Social Network Startup Demand Entrepreneur 59

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 16, 2015

Y-Combinator’s SAFE (Simple Agreement For Equity) is a quick way to generate deal documentation, with very little downside for founders from Shayne’s perspective. Examples of milestones: traction as measured by user numbers and user engagement; financial metrics such as cash flow and revenue. Venture debt.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Equity Funding 40

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

Indecisive prospects diffuse a startup''s focus and slow down its sales velocity. The first step to increasing your company''s sales velocity is to eliminate the word “Pilot” from your salespeople''s lexicon. The key to accelerating revenue generation in a phased agreement is to document the success metrics of the landing phase.

Sales 215

Sales Outsource Development Metrics Resource 215

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.” What happens is 18–20 firms access the data room and download all of your documents. For starters you have to realize that fund-raising is a sales process. It doesn’t. It felt like heresy.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

What used to be an “A” round in 2011 is now routinely called a Seed round and this has been so engrained that founders would rather take less money than to have to put the words “A round” in their legal documents. You have seed rounds but you now have “pre-seed rounds.”

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471