Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

As a small business and startup advisor, I find that entrepreneurs often love to talk about their latest idea, but not their execution. For example, Elon Musk is recognized as a visionary entrepreneur, but his fortune and his impact has come from the great companies he has built, including SpaceX, Tesla Motors, and PayPal.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

In a funding round with 1 or 2 VCs and 15-20 angels or 4-6 seed funds if you gave every investor you financial information and performance metrics your proprietary information would increase in its probability of leaking out. Let me give you a real world example from this week. There is a reason for this. Is this investor on AngelList?

Venture Capital 352

Venture Capital Seed Funding Email Blogging 352

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Examples I have seen include atomic battery technology, or how marine algae could help feed the world.

Entrepreneur 126

Entrepreneur Ideas Resource Examples 126

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. Example: you allocate 4% in warrants to channel partner ABC. I believe that PBW’s should have hard metrics.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2013

Most investors tell me that an A entrepreneur with a B idea is much more fundable than a B entrepreneur with an A idea. This entrepreneur gets out there and actively looks for people who can help make an idea into a business, including potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, friends and peers.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Ideas Metrics Activity 103

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

I like to say to first-time entrepreneurs, picking a VC is more permanent than marriage. Keeping a blog has been great because so many entrepreneurs have written me with questions about their companies and I’ve gotten to know many of you personally through the process. There are many great VCs. Let me explain.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2013

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. For example, LinkedIn is attuned to business professionals, Facebook is dominated by the social and upwardly mobile crowd, and the fading MySpace is for tweens and creative types. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 101

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Metrics 101

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Greathouse: Your collective experiences have clearly made bootstrapping a viable option for you, more so than might be the case for a typical, younger entrepreneur who needs more direction, doesn’t have cash discipline, etc. Semick: We’re a very metrics driven company, and we have been from the beginning.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2015

For example, if it’s getting harder to charge a price premium for the product you’re marketing, or others are offering your subscription service for free, it may be time to start thinking in a new box. Another example is seeing substitute versions of a product, like eBooks, for a low price displacing hardcover books. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

In my role as advisor and mentor to many new entrepreneurs, I often find myself suggesting that they think bigger. For example, I’m not sure the world needs one more social media niche site, or another dating site, or yet another flavored drink alternative. I always look for room in your plan for change, and the mindset to learn.

Startup 162

Startup Metrics Ideas Entrepreneur 162

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

JJ is a successful entrepreneur and technologist giving back to the entrepreneurial. community in many ways, including his weekly Internet TV program on entrepreneurism, and participation in several mentoring programs. . Example: salary, equity, joint venture, etc… Can the business afford it? By JJ Richa.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. I have had this discussion with many a first-time entrepreneur. For example, look at the following graph.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2013

Entrepreneurs are now measured against the “triple bottom line” (TBL or 3BL) of people, planet, and profit. How does any entrepreneur define the right balance, and then measure their performance against real metrics? Many young entrepreneurs seem to think that capitalism and making profit are dirty words.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Startup Examples Satisfaction 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2012

Most investors tell me that an A entrepreneur with a B idea is much more fundable than a B entrepreneur with an A idea. This entrepreneur gets out there and actively looks for people who can help make an idea into a business, including potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, friends and peers.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Ideas Metrics Activity 97

SoCal CTO

APRIL 1, 2009

So you can see that Entrepreneur (60) LinkedIn (15) Metrics (16) SEO (15) Company (141) are all considered highly relevant to the term "startup." You can see that he talks about: Marketing , Metrics , Customer and Social Media more than most. You can read more about the technology in the post: Topic Hubs.

Southern California 150

Southern California TechEmpower Technology Council Metrics 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2013

One of the first harsh realities that every entrepreneur has to learn is that most of the things that are critical to startup success are outside of their direct control. In my experience, trust is the most powerful tool that an entrepreneur can wield, both inside and outside of his own realm of control. Under commit and over deliver.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Startup Metrics Writing 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

The recent pandemic was a strong signal for change, and I see most of you entrepreneurs and business owners responding to the business changes required and new opportunities presented. An example is the transportation industry moving to electric – key player positions are changing rapidly.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

As discussed in Hiring Entrepreneurs, the impact of each new hire during your startup’s early days is tremendous. Our third-party seller business is an example of that. But we do it anyway, because we believe that the short-term metrics probably aren’t indicative of the long term.”. Be Stubborn And Flexible. “We

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

I see entrepreneurs every day who are trying to change the world with a new idea, and startups that are trying to survive their hyper-growth phase by changing processes to meet demand. Here are ten of the key questions that apply equally well to the world of startups and entrepreneurs, as they do to large organizations.

Startup 155

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 155

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations. Entrepreneurs should sign every check and manage cash personally, rather than delegate this task to anyone. Too many entrepreneurs hate the numbers side of the business, so they assume their accountants will warn them of danger signs. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Entrepreneur Summary Pricing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

For example, if it’s getting harder to charge a price premium for the product you’re marketing, or others are offering your subscription service for free, it may be time to start thinking in a new box. Another example is seeing substitute versions of a product, like eBooks, for a low price displacing hardcover books.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Examples 93

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2020

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. No-one challenged this number, and it became an unattributed source of the metric for market size for years. Sources for your data.

Company 156

Company Companies Metrics Resource 156

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. But the most important metric has been the deep and lasting relationships that have been built with startups and also between senior executives.

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

Based on my own years of experience in startups and big business, and more recently as an angel investor, I often cringe when I see one of you entrepreneurs missing a cue that I have seen work for many before you. A passionate entrepreneur I met a while back had found that a certain algae could be grown cheaply, and could end world hunger.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2020

One of the characteristics that every good investor looks for in an aspiring entrepreneur is resilience , or the ability to learn from and bounce back after a failure. With startups, almost every entrepreneur I know has failed at least once, often several times, but never gave up, and ultimately achieved their goal.

Startup 173

Startup Mentor Activity Entrepreneur 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

Almost every entrepreneur looking for outside investors has heard the annoying rejection, “You are just too early – come back when you have more traction.” That should make you wonder - how do you measure traction in a metric? A useful traction metric is how many constraints have been removed, with resolution times.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

As a business advisor, I have too often seen technical entrepreneurs get a product or service off the ground with ease, but then struggle mightily when their business reaches a couple of million in annual sales, or the employee count grows beyond a handful. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 137

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

Many of the entrepreneurs like you that I have met in my role as a business advisor are really product creators versus business creators, convinced that a great product will generate a great business. Entrepreneurs are typically focused on the big picture – creating a vision, purpose, and a long-term strategy.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Yet in my experience on both sides of this equation, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs focus only on the best idea , assuming that it will attract the right investors. Investors love entrepreneurs who come across as constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and able to grasp the larger implications for market change.

Ideas 140

Ideas Entrepreneur Equity Resource 140

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. For example, LinkedIn is attuned to business professionals, Facebook is dominated by the social and upwardly mobile crowd, and MySpace is for tweens and creative types.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

As a business advisor, I have too often seen technical entrepreneurs get a product or service off the ground with ease, but then struggle mightily when their business reaches a couple of million in annual sales, or the employee count grows beyond a handful. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

As a new business advisor, I hear facts all the time about how hard an entrepreneur is working, but often have a hard time getting them to quantify results. Even you as the entrepreneur, who may not be getting paid at all, are tricked into thinking that if you had more hours, you could get better results.

Metrics 124

Metrics Entrepreneur Satisfaction Study 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. For example: If you were to invest $41 million into a company (and one could assume that you owned between 33-50%) then the company is worth $82-123 million at funding. That’s fine.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

I’d like to give you a few examples that are more nuanced: 1. You know this isn’t likely to lead anywhere and frankly you didn’t quit your job to pursue your life dream of being an entrepreneur to sell 12 months later in an acquihire. Of course you need to be open. I believe in transparency as much as the next guy.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2021

As a long-time business consultant and investor, especially to entrepreneurs, I recognize your sparkle of vision , to build the ultimate world-changing product. I found these maladies summarized well in a new book, “ Radical Product Thinking ,” by entrepreneur Radhika Dutt. Hypermetricemia – metrics for everything.

Metrics 133

Metrics Product Yahoo Examples 133

socalTECH

JANUARY 24, 2011

In that market, there are literally no ROI metrics. The best metrics are estimated impressions. An example of that is, we might be able to show you the hottest concerts in West Hollywood, or the hottest acts in Santa Monica. This was especially true in music and entertainment.

Startup 220

Startup West Hollywood Metrics Entertainment 220

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2022

They randomly churn for hours a day on a couple of their favorite social media platforms, with little thought given to goals, objectives, or metrics; and ultimately give up and fall back to traditional marketing approaches. Create an action plan with metrics. See some recent examples in the 10 of the Top Social Media Campaigns of 2021.

Social Media 135

Social Media Framework Media Metrics 135