Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Marketing, sales, support, and service operations. Solution development and delivery.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Cost of customer acquisition.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” There are no guarantees in business, but it pays to learn from the experiences of entrepreneurs and business experts who have gone before you. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing.

Resource 121

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Customer 121

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven?

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Me: At what price? Him: It wasn’t priced. So you did raise with a price. It’s just a maximum price. Convertible notes have both features in them but for some reason entrepreneurs don’t understand it. It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. There were no metrics.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Capital Pricing Doc 417

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

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. This post looks at the implementation details of HTML 5 video.

Pricing 150

Pricing Acquisition Customer Custom 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Cost of customer acquisition.

Metrics 106

Metrics Startup Sales Statistics 106

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

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

However, many people are not aware that prior to entering academia, Steve was a wily and creative marketing entrepreneur. As the VP of Marketing, Steve inherited a department of 14people that was burning $4M annually. All of a sudden I now had customers telling what market, how to reach them and what applications are important.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Customer 271

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Marketing, sales, support, and service operations. Solution development and delivery.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

As an investor in startups, I most often see entrepreneurs who are technologists, or at least have a real passion for a specific product. They rarely highlight their marketing and relationship skills , even though, in my experience, these are more often the key to success in business than product skills.

Startup 113

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven?

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. Market penetration. Investors want evidence that the “dogs are eating the dog food,” and your financial projections are not just a dream.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Most of the entrepreneurs I meet as an investor and advisor have no shortage of right-brain thinking, showing vision and creativity, but often don’t realize that their potential is being limited by a balancing focus on results, metrics, and customer specifics. Every balanced leader does marketing early.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Satisfaction Metrics Startup 133

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

The best are ones quickest and most willing to do the realignment on a continuous basis these days, as the market changes, customer interests change, and you learn from experience. These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2021

Intuitively, many entrepreneurs and businesses believe that the key to faster growth and success is more products, features, and markets. Later, after that initial success builds resources, and your penetration of the target market approaches 30 percent, it’s time to expand your horizons and make anticipatory changes to your focus.

Startup 154

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Metrics 154

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Yet as a business advisor I am convinced that making the jump from a startup to a the next unicorn takes a different mindset, and actions most entrepreneurs are reluctant to face. In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. Pivot early, as required, to tune your features and marketing to meet the market and technical realities.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. Most companies have a roadmap describing what they’re planning to build, deliver or market. That causes friction internally.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

For a new business, you can provide unique ingredients, but the preparation steps in your business plan must follow a tried and true recipe for startup success: Identify a market with a real need. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

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.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

I’m sure all you accountants will agree that fixing the mistakes listed here does not require rocket science, but I’ve seen them so often that to be forewarned is to be forearmed: Failing to factor in fixed costs when pricing. Always use a break-even analysis to measure what volume and price are required to offset total costs.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Summary Pricing 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

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.

eBook 111

eBook Metrics Examples Startup 111

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 26, 2021

Thus I recommend to every business owner and entrepreneur that you focus constantly on building and maintaining personal trust through the following strategies: Use storytelling to highlight previous trustworthiness. Proactively market and defend your trust image. Take full responsibility for key business milestones.

Company 165

Company Companies Metrics Entrepreneur 165

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

For a new business, you can provide unique ingredients, but the preparation steps in your business plan must follow a tried and true recipe for startup success: Identify a market with a real need. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service. investors invest in people, not ideas) Effective and timely go-to-market.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

I’m sure all you accountants will agree that fixing the mistakes listed here does not require rocket science, but I’ve seen them so often that to be forewarned is to be forearmed: Failing to factor in fixed costs when pricing. Always use a break-even analysis to measure what volume and price are required to offset total costs.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Entrepreneur Summary Pricing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

As a startup advisor and investor, I find that more and more entrepreneurs avoid using the term “profit” in pitching their new venture. Thus I was pleased and a bit surprised to see a new book, “ The Purpose Is Profit ,” by Ed “Skip” McLaughlin, an entrepreneur who has both succeeded and failed in starting multiple businesses.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Exactly what is that customer experience that every modern marketer is talking about, and how do you measure it? Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist. This will create a connection with them, which demonstrates more value than price or quality. One metric now commonly used is called the Net Promoter® Score (NPS).

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2012

The best are ones quickest and most willing to do the realignment on a continuous basis these days, as the market changes, customer interests change, and you learn from experience. These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Social Media Startup Framework 93

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. If tracking the market and reality checking are not your thing, you may need a partner who can fill that gap.

Mentor 133

Mentor Startup Customer Custom 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Startup 97

Startup Sales Metrics Guide 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person. His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics. For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I spend hours thinking about the products, competitors, market opportunities, recruiting and financing of these businesses. How else can I begin this multi-year journey if I’m not in love? Maybe some people can be dispassionate financial investors. I feel personally committed and engaged. Early stage.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” There are no guarantees in business, but it pays to learn from the experiences of entrepreneurs and business experts who have gone before you. If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing.

Startup 115

Startup Resource Metrics Entrepreneur 115