Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2018

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

Metrics 101

Metrics Marketing Demand Paramount 101

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

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

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

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for a disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to InvoiceTracker. Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2023

Every business owner and entrepreneur like you I work with wishes they could better predict product demand and sales, for managing inventory and long-term business planning. We all have our favorite metric and our passion, but keeping up with real-world changes and trends seems to be always just out of reach.

Metrics 81

Metrics Demand Statistics Sample 81

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? Growth constraints would include staffing shortages, funding needs, quality problems, and sales coverage.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Custom 57

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

JANUARY 11, 2023

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Marketing 119

Marketing Metrics Statistics Demand 119

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Lead management performance.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2020

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Metrics 157

Metrics Demand Sales Statistics 157

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2014

Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. Using data metrics alone for decisions, without seeking the root problem and alternative solutions, kills creativity. Tricked by recency.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Metrics Statistics Demand 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

I’d like to do a few posts on what life looks like on the way up and perhaps how to keep your head on straight and avoid drinking your own Kool Aid because as I often advise entrepreneurs on irrational exuberance, “ In a strong wind even turkeys can fly.” Create company measures for success that go beyond financial metrics.

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Entrepreneur 64

Entrepreneur Metrics Coach Competition 64

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. New startup founders keep all the operating metrics they need in their head. Set your startup health gauges and use them.

Startup 99

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Metrics 144

Metrics Coach Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

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? Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. For example, quarterly sales on one of your most important products suddenly decreases, or your inventory across a whole category has surged. New entrepreneurs are notoriously great at capitalizing on new opportunities, both weak and strong.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Examples 93

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. An entrepreneur looking for a sure thing will never innovate. It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

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

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

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. When sales fall off, you need to dig deep for the “why,” rather than just assuming the price needs to go down.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Custom 162

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 Ideas Competition 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for that disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to Gallup. Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Obviously this definition is generic, so my first recommendation is that you take the lead in defining traction metrics for your startup, and then selling your results convincingly to investors. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Custom Customer 121

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 Metrics Resource Technical Review 155

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. We all are excited to hear real innovation, and struggle daily to increase every potential entrepreneur’s scope of thinking. For example, smart entrepreneurs look for recognizable patterns in disconnected domains.

Startup 162

Startup Metrics Ideas Entrepreneur 162

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

The problem is that stakeholders, like marketing and sales, don’t know what the latest version of the roadmap is. Greathouse: Having run these groups, I know all about the inherent friction between sales and marketing with regard to lead quality, volume, etc., Metrics related to customer acquisition, lifetime value and churn.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

These things change so fast these days that the primary role of the entrepreneur as CEO is to be the Master of Realignment. Most entrepreneurs recognize the need to pivot on a regular basis, but many forget that pivoting usually requires a realignment effort to get all the players back in sync. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

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

JULY 4, 2021

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Thus I am morphing the points here, with specific focus on the entrepreneur, who would never think of themselves in the context of automobile manufacturing: Offering too many products and services concurrently. Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2021

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Although many won’t admit it, true entrepreneurs can’t wait to exit their current startup, and build a new and better one with their next great idea. New startup founders keep all the operating metrics they need in their head. Set your startup health gauges and use them.

Startup 173

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Acquisition 173

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

MAY 30, 2014

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Thus I am morphing the points here, with specific focus on the entrepreneur, who would never think of themselves in the context of automobile manufacturing: Offering too many products and services concurrently. Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115