Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

As an advisor to new hardware entrepreneurs, I often hear the myth that a business plan is no longer required to find an investor, if your idea is good enough. What you don’t realize is these famous investors only deal with entrepreneurs who sold their last company for a $100M dollars or more. You need both to survive.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

As part of UC Santa Barbara’s Distinguished Lecture Series, serial entrepreneur and noted venture capitalist Mark Suster recently shared his advice with a large crowd of emerging entrepreneurs. In the last six weeks, I have been pitched by five entrepreneurs under 20. But our product wasn’t ready for primetime.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Startup Conference Santa Barbara 272

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Entrepreneurs have always believed that their product or service must show real value to customers, but today the smart ones are even able to make their marketing valuable. The days are gone when marketing was all “pushing product.” by the so-called godfather of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi.

Marketing 106

Marketing Startup Content Advertising 106

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. I have always worked on early stage products. Some of the products I’ve helped validate and launch include GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and AppFolio.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. Status of the solution.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

InfoChachkie

JULY 16, 2012

In addition, a number of advertisers have invested significant resources into creating libraries of video content which effectively communicate brand and product attributes but are incapable of eliciting a particular action, such as: clicking to a landing page, completing a lead form, or initiating a purchase.

Custom 226

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Advertising 226

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". It was really no longer than a page um. Do you care to hear more?

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Value Prop Twitter Style : “Ringrevenue’s call performance marketing platform enables ad networks, agencies, advertisers & publishers to generate more inbound sales calls.”. In today’s market, so much focus is placed on transacting business online. 10) Rob, why does the world need RingRevenue? . “In

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2015

Many people don’t post about their experiences, but still routinely check first to see what others are saying about the brand and the product online. That means your marketing must now include shopping apps, location-based services and mobile wallets. One example of this is Nike’s shoe size page.

Custom 103

Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 103

InfoChachkie

JULY 5, 2012

Coull Entrepreneurs Get More Customers. Skimlinks is an affiliate marketing tool that allows website publishers to readily monetize their online content. This allows advertisers to offer affiliate publishers performance-based offers, which are compensated on a pay-per-view, pay-per-click or pay-per-sale basis.

Custom 133

Custom Customer Entrepreneur Advertising 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Here investors are looking for feature problems or quality issues on the current product. Status of the solution.

Technical Review 151

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 151

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

To complement local face-to-face networking, you can always use one of the many online matchmaking sites that have sprung up in the last few years, like CoFoundersLab and Startbee (think eHarmony™ for entrepreneurs, or Match.com meets LinkedIn). Most founders are product guys. Craft an operational plan and make it work.

Startup 163

Startup eHarmony Networking Guide 163

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

Most sophisticated investors ignore them, focusing their attention on an entrepreneur's pitch and presentation materials, financial forecast and executive summary. As noted in Entrepreneurs Shouldn't Pitch Their Ideas To Venture Capitalists , most sophisticated investors place their bets on people rather than opportunities.

Venture Capital 211

Venture Capital Summary Technical Review Template 211

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

Upon graduation from Wharton, John and Kyle launched a startup based upon a simple, pedestrian product: a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf driver. Putting their expensive educations to good use, they aptly named their novelty product a "MouseDriver". It was really no longer than a page um. Do you care to hear more?

Newsletter 133

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 133

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Search engine marketing is simply buying advertising for your business from Google or another search engine company. Keyword research and budget forecasting.

SEM 90

SEM Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization 90

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. They have created two internal technology “products&# and wanted to figure out how they could turn their services business into a product business that could be financed. This team is talented.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

Sponsored by VISA Business If you have a unique product or service, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, lawyers, venture capitalists, or Angels. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Startup 100

Startup Commerce Sites Blogging 100

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The lessons learned by Divshot confirm that obtaining, and more importantly maintaining, visibility on the front page of a major social news site results from the congruence of three factors: audience, timing and engagement. We’re a tool for hackers, designers, and entrepreneurs - effectively everyone who reads Hacker News. Engagement.

News 198

News Sites Startup RSS 198

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2011

Based on my own experience and feedback from friends, every investor is approached by at least ten entrepreneurs with a “hot idea” for a new business, for every one who has a real “plan” for a new business. In fact, you can find websites full of ideas, like these “ Free Innovative Ideas ,” by serial entrepreneur Kim E.

Ideas 104

Ideas Entrepreneur Summary Startup 104

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

I was running the largest deals in the media and entertainment video area across many different Google products. I worked with the head of each product area, such as YouTube, on how to drive more value for our large partners. We have our product in the market, and launched our beta in January. The metrics are very solid.

Google 233

Google Content Startup Venice 233

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

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. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. Free and freemium products need a solid base.

Startup 106

Startup Metrics Custom Customer 106

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

It's was really about herding cats and getting everyone on the same page, and making sure you could get the financials out on time. They've solved it at the enterprise paint point, where we are at the mid-market. We took it to the market in January of 2015. What's the biggest lesson you've learned so far as an entrepreneur?

Startup 124

Startup Cornerstone OnDemand Software Review Woodland Hills 124

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

There were tons of young entrepreneurs showing their latest Web 2.0 People mistook extra doses of Ajax for a successful product. The last couple of years has also seen the huge initial success of Ycombinator, the Lean Startup and many other product driven approaches to going to market. Short answer: absofuckinglutely.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 21, 2011

My macro theme was “great entrepreneurs&# who mapped to my belief system about the kind of entrepreneurs I wanted to work with. That strikes me as an attractive market for disruption over time. They recommend up-sells and cross-sells of products. “People still want calls …&#. Or can they?

Mobile 329

Mobile Advertising Media Marketing 329

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. For starters, here is my selection of some key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but that too many small businesses haven’t yet formalized: Sales revenue.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Custom 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. How big and growing is the total market and your target segment? They like billion-dollar markets with double-digit growth rates.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2013

Customers go there to check on the details of your offerings and verify that you are not a scam, investors look there to check out your management and sales approach, and suppliers expect to find contact information. Finalizing the web site validates your product plan and sales strategy. Viral marketing needs a website.

Web 99

Web Startup Sites Design 99

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Thus, I’m more impressed with entrepreneurs who ask me to review their implementation plan, rather than listen again to their idea. Prepare your marketing story for customers and investors. Make the product or service come alive. Even a non-profit needs income to operate. Make sure your solution is defensible and unique.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Tech.Co

AUGUST 16, 2017

Finding potential customers continues to be a huge challenge not only for established marketing and sales teams but also for startup executives and solo entrepreneurs. A study in 2013 showed that 61 percent of marketers found it hard to generate high-quality leads. You need to have a strategy. What’s more?

Tool 79

Tool Startup Help Template 79

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Social media is now one of the key marketing tools, but not the only one, so the challenge is to manage the resource tradeoffs effectively by constantly assessing payback versus cost.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Here are the key steps for a personal home-based business website selling a few products (as an alternative to Ebay): Go online to reserve a website domain name. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Commerce 99

Commerce Startup Sites Tool 99

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

In my ongoing quest to get you good transcripts of the wonderful interviews we’ve done in the past, I present you with one amazing interview here with Tom McInerney – a friend, co-investor, former entrepreneur turned angel investor and “wizard of Oz&# behind the scenes at the uber hot startup Klout.

Angel 302

Angel Startup Ideas .Net 302

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2013

Even though these last few years have not been great financially for entrepreneurs, it always helps to look at the cup as half full, rather than half empty. Here are a few of the many things that entrepreneurs should be thankful for this holiday season, to keep the challenges in perspective: The economy continues to rebound.

Startup 86

Startup Tips Venture Capital Demand 86

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2013

Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. Here are the key steps for a personal home-based business website selling a few products (as an alternative to Ebay): Go online to reserve a website domain name. The cost of entry has never been lower.

Sites 78

Sites Commerce Startup Tool 78

InfoChachkie

JULY 21, 2011

Play it in the background while you otherwise remain productive (or listen to it while you update your FB page, your call). 5) When I interviewed people at my past startups, I rejected them if they asked me about our dental plan, as true entrepreneurs don’t care about such pedestrian benefits. We see two markets.

Summary 246

Summary Tips Sales Entrepreneur 246

Eric Greenspan

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

I love coffee, food, farming, sales, marketing and running a startup with great potential. Today, as I write this, I’m working on several deals in the world of coffee and other food products. All of these products have a focus on healthy and this is something I can feel good about. Coffee Entrepreneuring Me'

Startup 167

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Custom 167

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

After my company was acquired by Salesforce.com I was asked to stop blogging and they took over my blog as an asset in the sale of the company. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. My blog was wiped out. Don’t be frazzled … this is just the way it is.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274