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

Berkonomics

JULY 15, 2021

Many senior managers and early entrepreneurs create their own mess with this one. The first professional senior manager that an entrepreneur hires to share the growing workload does not last more than a year. You as a longer-term senior manager may make the same mistake and suffer the same result. What is the common problem?

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Coach Metrics Startup 156

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. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

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

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Startup 141

Startup Ideas Entrepreneur Framework 141

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. It’s a tough job, and inexperienced entrepreneurs just don’t know where to start, and how to do it. Train and coach continuously.

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

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

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

JULY 31, 2021

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually the real culprit is procrastination, lack of focus, or low productivity and lack of metrics. Wait and hope for a miracle.

Startup 164

Startup Class Entrepreneur Coach 164

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There was no money train. And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. I was in it for the love of working with entrepreneurs on business problems and marveling at technology they had built. It was 1991.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

As the entrepreneur, business owner, or leader, your message must never be “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Every good entrepreneur I know has a “ proactive mindset.” That means making sure you are utilizing coaching and mentoring, as well as training to keep up with changes in technology and the marketplace.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

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 Coach Metrics Competition 64

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Ideas Framework Tips 103

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.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

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

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

DECEMBER 13, 2019

In the interests of helping you work smarter and last longer, I would like to offer my top ten list of key resource drains to avoid in early businesses and startups, based on my years of advising entrepreneurs and my own business experience: Expanding your product line too quickly for scaling. People with the wrong tools or no training.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2014

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that the strength of their initial idea somehow defines them as a leader, as well as the success potential of their derivative business. It takes leadership ability, as well as a good idea, to make a successful entrepreneur, and great leaders evolve from key leadership decisions along the way.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Ideas Framework Tips 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

Thus, over the years of my mentoring and consulting efforts with entrepreneurs, I have a key list of practices that I recommend to everyone starting and growing a business. Hire the best, and provide necessary training and tools. Use metrics on key deliverables to assure quality results. Don’t sell what you don’t have.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Use data analysis and metrics to measure for results. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

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

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

JANUARY 11, 2014

Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. For starters, the whole team needs to be constantly trained and encouraged to develop their skills. Relevant skills include continuous improvement of existing methods, processes and devices against a set of quality metrics. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Training Statistics 110

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

AUGUST 12, 2016

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.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Training Organization Examples 55

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2016

Most business managers preach that the key to success is holding employees accountable for actions, but I have found that successful entrepreneurs are all about holding themselves accountable. Usually the real culprit is procrastination, lack of focus, or low productivity and lack of metrics. Wait and hope for a miracle.

Entrepreneur 59

Entrepreneur Startup Class Coach 59

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. 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. You know the basic ingredients, and you can visualize the results you want. validate your business model) Continuous improvement.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 93

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

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.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

In my own business career, many years as a business advisor, and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I have validated the following strategies to practice and guide you. Make sure that you implement a metric with each solution, to prevent the issue from recurring, and check for side effects and follow-on side effects.

Satisfaction 152

Satisfaction Mentor Study Startup 152

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

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.” Did they do a major training program?

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. 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. You know the basic ingredients, and you can visualize the results you want. validate your business model) Continuous improvement.

Startup 112

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 112

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2014

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. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 108

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 108

Berkonomics

JANUARY 8, 2015

The first professional senior manager that an entrepreneur hires to share the growing workload does not last more than a year. Entrepreneurs start businesses with a strong vision of what and how , involved in every process from buying supplies to hiring and directly supervising early employees.

Coach 120

Coach Metrics Training Entrepreneur 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

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.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105