Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Either of these qualms can ultimately sidetrack your startup as not worthy of investment, so it pays to do your homework on what you say and how to communicate effectively. This is also the place to first mention patents and any other differentiators that put you ahead of competition. Investors invest in people more than the idea.

Invest 108

Invest Startup Slides Equity 108

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Competition 120

Competition Patents Resource Invest 120

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state. And fifth: Competitive risk. .

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent. Decide whether the product is local or international. Revenue model. How do you make money?

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. All of these are competitors in terms of speed, price, or luxury. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

Berkonomics

MAY 8, 2014

I am chairman of a company that, as I write this, is twelve years old and has not yet taken a dollar of outside investment. The company has been funded entirely by grants from the National Institute of Health, amounting to millions of non-dilutive dollars in all.

Company 166

Company Companies Writing Education 166

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Being first to market with a new type of drug brings advantages. The first mover sets the bar for what physicians, payers, and patients can expect of that medicine and how much it costs. It grabs market share that followers have to steal away. But the first mover isn’t infallible if someone else has something better. is counting on.

Pricing 84

Pricing Class Study Marketing 84

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

If the price of an acquisition is so high as to make the risk of creating the product or service yourself more attractive, that alternative must be discussed with your board. Remember to consider the cost of lost time if starting from scratch, and of patent or other branding considerations that would challenge a “make” decision.

Company 120

Company Companies Acquisition Resource 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Berkonomics

MARCH 14, 2019

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon their comfort with each. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state. And fifth: Competitive risk. .

Outsource Development 120

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

If electricity could be transferred like WiFi but as safe as a soundwave we use on pregnant women’s bellies and at a price-point that was attractive this is a multi-billion market. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? Could we produce this at cost? We hired OSHA regulatory lawyers.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Features, availability, and brand are just the price of entry. In many cases, growing the ecosystem is so important that your best competitive move may be to invest in facilitating “competition,” such as Tesla Motors giving away their battery patents to other auto providers, without royalties, to build the ecosystem.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2016

It is a truism that with more capital you will hire people more quickly and spend more liberally whether it’s on external contractors, PR firms, attending events, doing legal work (trademarks, patents) or whatever. You will build out features or expend to platforms — often before you have enough market feedback to warrant it.

Startup 292

Startup Software Review Pricing Entrepreneur 292

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

The same is true for filing patents, registering trademarks, and filing copyrights. Minimize investment in prototypes and tooling. For example, if you have no technical background, you probably can’t create or sell an enterprise software product for a low price, even today. Work out of your home, and keep your own books.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Outsource Development 162

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

And professional investors often penalize the company with lower-priced down rounds or expensive loans as a result. The company grew to be well known in this limited niche and was operating at slightly above breakeven, when the Board and CEO decided to seek venture investment from what we hoped would be a first tier VC firm in Silicon Valley.

Venture Capital 243

Venture Capital Product Resource Marketing 243

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2015

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Startup 118

Startup Competition Patents Resource 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost. File at least a provisional patent and one or more trademarks. Investors learned this a long time ago, so most will tell you that they invest in people, not ideas. Look hard at the technology for feasibility and risk.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I recommend a ten-slide pitch to start, reviewed by friends and advisors, to be expanded to a ten-to-twenty-page business plan with opportunity sizing, cost and price details, competitors, marketing and sales strategy, financial projections, and resources required. Make sure your solution is defensible and unique.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. Another is to gain the support of a core vendor who is willing to offer special extended terms to the company as its investment in creating the product in a finished state. And fifth: Competitive risk.

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2014

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Competition Patents Resource 110

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

Team – higher requirements for caliber of team members Product – focus on truly differentiated and not me-too Market – is it really big enough to provide investor returns** Traction – need more users, partners, patents, etc Timing – are you building for yesterday or 2 yrs from now? Business - how are you actually going to make money?

Startup 150

Startup SEM IP SEO 150

Xconomy

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

Drug company stocks got a boost with the defeat of Hillary Clinton, a vocal critic of drug prices. Will he take a softer stance on drug prices? But her near doubling of Trump (62 to 33 percent) didn’t translate into support for drug price controls. Patent and Trademark Office. Now, the U.S. CRISPR DEVELOPMENTS.

Patents 87

Patents Study Pricing Research 87

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2018

There is no perfect answer to the competitive advantage question, but investors are looking for how your offering will keep ahead of competition, not just at this moment, but throughout the life of their three to five-year investment. Leading with this answer will likely terminate any further investment opportunity with this investor.

Competition 51

Competition Patents Resource Entrepreneur 51

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2015

" Investors want to buy into an entrepreneur with a startup that can provide evidence of an ability to double customer productivity, at half the cost, with patented technology. Patents or other intellectual property are a real competitive advantage for a startup, but first to market and working harder are not sustainable.

Summary 101

Summary Patents Technical Review Competition 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2012

Look how the Japanese entered the auto industry, or how McDonalds imitated White Castle, or how Wal-Mart “perfected” the low-price high-volume approach. Of course, the first one gets the patent. But patent disclosure requirements often make imitation easier, and smart technologists can work around most patents anyway.

Patents 84

Patents Startup Statistics Course 84

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. Undercutting competitors in price is always a good strategy, but free implies no real value. Our patent will protect us.”

Patents 90

Patents Competition IBM IBM 90

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2011

Look how the Japanese entered the auto industry, or how McDonalds imitated White Castle, or how Wal-Mart “perfected” the low-price high-volume approach. Of course, the first one gets the patent. But patent disclosure requirements often make imitation easier, and smart technologists can work around most patents anyway.

Startup 91

Startup Patents Statistics Course 91

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2009

Semiconductor startups seem to be quite rare in today's environment, with few companies being funded or launched, due both to the difficulty of bringing products to market, lack of investment capital, as well as lots of established, large companies in the industry. In terms of pricing, no one can compete. Mike Neshat: I'm broke now.

Patents 100

Patents Sample Technical Review Pricing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 29, 2010

One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. Undercutting competitors in price is always a good strategy, but free implies no real value. Our patent will protect us.”

Competition 89

Competition Patents IBM IBM 89

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

This implies high odds of a scalable business, simply needing an investment to lead to success. Business model showing costs, pricing, and margins. Patents, trade secrets, and trademarks are very attractive to investors, since these are not easily overcome by competitors. Specific investment size request, and equity offered.

Product 58

Product Slides Entrepreneur Invest 58

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Middle Market Investment Banking. and international patent and trademark procurement - IP Litigation - IP Licenses and Agreements: distribution, development, joint venture - Intellectual property aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Contact Scott Herson for an overview, pricing and information at herson@joyent.com or 949-861-1069.

Southern California 113

Southern California Tech Coast Angels IP Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

By profit, I simply mean offering a product or service to customers for a price that exceeds the total costs associated with the solution, thus providing some basis for recovering sunk costs and generating a return for stakeholders. The best differentiation is a patent or other intellectual property that also provides a barrier to entry.

Entrepreneur 58

Entrepreneur Ideas Pricing Customer 58

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2014

This raises a big red flag with potential investors, who conclude that no competitors means no market, or you haven’t looked, and the new startup is likely not investable. All of these are competitors in terms of speed, price, or luxury. Here are some of the key ones: Patent protection in place as a barrier to entry.

Competition 93

Competition Startup Patents Slides 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

The intent of this question is to determine the level of commitment of founders, both cash and “sweat equity,” and how much others have already invested into this plan. Implicit in the analysis of the answers is how much progress has been made for the investment, and how stable the business is now. What’s in this deal for me?

Startup 101

Startup Invest Patents Entrepreneur 101

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

The critical success factors for a product business are well known, starting with selling every unit with a gross margin of 50 percent or more, building a patent and other intellectual property, and continuous product improvement. Indeed, there are some success factors that are common to both environments.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

I see it happen often in my angel investment group, and you can see it happen almost every week on the Shark Tank TV show. It’s like trying to sell a home still being built at next year’s dream market price. Equally bad is professing no valuation estimate at all, asking investors to “make me an offer.”

Startup 71

Startup Patents Invest Blogging 71