Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2021

As a mentor, I’m regularly frustrated by people who try to cover their lack of confidence with ego and arrogance , rather than working on the base issue. Some of us are proud to be technologists, while others love marketing or team building. It allows you to change and learn as the market evolves, and your business needs change.

Mentor 174

Mentor Satisfaction Competition Marketing 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Fight the urge do more things, to attract more customers in a broader market. In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

But privately, as a mentor to many entrepreneurs, I see mindsets and attributes that may be equally critical to success, but are not readily admitted, for fear of being too wacky. At some stage of your education, you realize that you can learn faster, and get more satisfaction, in the real world than in a academic environment.

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Demand Customer 171

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly.

Startup 135

Startup Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review 135

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2021

In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. Believe in the need for marketing and selling. Able to marshal people and other support resources.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Ideas Social Media 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

As a long-time business advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs, I consistently find that the most thriving businesses are people-centric, and those team members create the best processes, rather than the other way around. You need their full support in today’s rapidly changing market.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. New business models that provide an ongoing revenue stream, or a secondary stream from advertising, raise your margins and can give you some additional satisfaction. Celebrate the ability to pay yourself a salary.

Startup 118

Startup Satisfaction Customer Custom 118

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. Startups funded by rich uncles rarely think about productivity. Rethink or reframe the challenge. Find the benefit in subtraction.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

Rather than get angry and upset, fall back to your initial process for evaluating markets, customer needs, and financial implications. Seek input from the team, as well as mentors. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from peers, your advisory board, and outside experts and mentors. Learn from your progress and challenges so far.

Mentor 127

Mentor Satisfaction Customer Custom 127

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2021

Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive, and focusing on the wrong ones won’t bring you that business success and satisfaction you crave. You need complementary skills for marketing, financials, and operations. A business is never a solo operation. If you find no takers, you may not have a future.

Startup 159

Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur Equity 159

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2021

Others are really marketers out to make money fast, and believe that they can entice customers to any offering. You go all over the country, the world, and the Web searching for “best practices” in marketing, finance, planning, and funding. Ultimately, most get the best help from business advisors and mentors.

Entrepreneur 134

Entrepreneur Framework Mentor Web 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Freelancers and consultants have to demonstrate results, without training and mentoring, so they can help you more quickly and probably at a lower total cost. This lets you evolve your strategy with the market. Optimize staffing overhead and flexibility in a fluid market. Higher worker engagement and satisfaction.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

These challenges, with recommendations for addressing them, were detailed nicely for me in the classic book, “ The Boomerang Principle ,” by Lee Caraher, who has built several companies, and has helped many others manage Millennials, reduce turnover, and improve satisfaction and the return hire rate.

Mentor 147

Mentor Coach Satisfaction Training 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2015

Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. New business models that provide an ongoing revenue stream, or a secondary stream from advertising, raise your margins and can give you some additional satisfaction. Celebrate the ability to pay yourself a salary.

Satisfaction 101

Satisfaction Entrepreneur Customer Custom 101

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Seth’s interest in helping others grew out of his lack of having a mentor. He was drawn to Stanford by the people ecosystem- access to professors and mentors. Leverage a feedback platform like Get Satisfaction or UserVoice. Again, he stressed the importance of good mentors. Why did you pursue an MBA at Stanford?

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Most of you business professionals that I know have at least thought about or talked about starting their own business, to get more control, make more money, or to get more satisfaction out of their life. As a mentor to young aspiring entrepreneurs , I often get asked for tips on a strategy to get started. You must feel satisfaction.

Startup 114

Startup Tips Coach Satisfaction 114

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2020

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and startups, and an angel investor, my passion is to find and nurture those entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and acumen, to make them into successful business owners. Market research and a business plan should be the focus at this stage. Startup and development stage.

Ideas 127

Ideas Entrepreneur Satisfaction Summary 127

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Pew says the Boomer demographic is the largest mainstream pool of experienced talent in the market today, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Technical Review 147

Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur Report 147

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2022

It’s been happening for some time, but business changes, accelerated by the recent pandemic, have highlighted the need for all of us to review our positions, image, and satisfaction at work. Launch a personal marketing plan for visibility. Remember that the person who knows how best to market yourself is you.

Social Media 125

Social Media Summary Startup Mentor 125

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

You need to be visible in marketing efforts, viral videos, and interactions with key customer segments. I can attest that he was always seeking relationships with other more mature executives, and even today maintains a mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett. Online it may be time to take a formal position via blogs and interviews.

Mentor 145

Mentor IBM IBM Social Media 145

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2015

Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly.

Mentor 105

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Satisfaction 105

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

was definitely in the bucket of amazingly talented founders with a great product that hadn’t yet proved product/market fit. The board was unanimous in our opinion of this including outside director Ian Rogers who has served as Jonathan’s mentor and friend. I have a very public seed stage investment policy and awe.sm

Startup 303

Startup Technical Review Product Blogging 303

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

Yet I find, as a mentor and outside consultant, that many of you focus only on working conditions and compensation as the key factors determining team engagement , health, and productivity. In my experience, a healthy team is a prerequisite for a thriving business, innovation to meet market needs, and high customer loyalty.

Technical Review 141

Technical Review Mentor Social Media Customer 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 28, 2014

Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. If you can explain the problem to a mentor, or even write it down, you will more likely get to the root cause quickly, and avoid emotional and blame-infused responses. Explore solutions, outcomes, and options calmly.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Mentor Technical Review Satisfaction 102

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2022

In my experience as an advisor and mentor to entrepreneurs in business, one of the biggest failures I see is a lack of self-leadership. This momentum is what you need for enjoyment and satisfaction, as well as for others to see you as a business leader. You can’t lead a business to success, if you can’t lead yourself.

Capital 114

Capital Coach Satisfaction Ideas 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Many people believe that new ideas are the critical element of innovation, but in my experience as a mentor and investor, long-term business success is more about implementation than ideas. Developing the ideal product the first time around is unlikely, high risk, and very expensive in today’s chaotic market.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Ideas Satisfaction Customer 114

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

As a result, Amazon has ranked as #1 for customer satisfaction for many years in a row and has grown accordingly. Studies show that a positive team culture in an organization can result in 26 percent fewer mistakes, 22 percent higher productivity, 41 percent lower absenteeism, and 30 percent stronger customer satisfaction.

Coach 120

Coach Satisfaction Customer Custom 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today.

Develop 124

Develop Development Technical Advisors Satisfaction 124

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2015

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and startups, and an Angel investor, my passion is to find and nurture those entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and acumen, to make them into successful business owners. Market research and a business plan should be the focus at this stage. Startup and development stage.

Entrepreneur 109

Entrepreneur Ideas Satisfaction Summary 109

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

As a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs and startups, and an angel investor, my passion is to find and nurture those entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas and acumen, to make them into successful business owners. Market research and a business plan should be the focus at this stage. Startup and development stage.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Satisfaction 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Pew says the Boomer demographic is the largest mainstream pool of experienced talent in the market today, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Startup 124

Startup Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Many entrepreneurs I have mentored make big mistakes in this area, by hiring low-cost friends and family, with minimal skills or training, and expecting them to have the same work ethic , passion, and business knowledge as the founder. In addition, you can reduce to soft costs of mentoring, relationship building, and socializing.

Outsource 123

Outsource Startup Technical Review Training 123

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

Without a measurable objective, you will be constantly frustrated by not seeing progress, and you will never feel success satisfaction. Avoid fuzzy goals, like making big money or being a market leader. As Yogi Berra once said, “If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else.” Celebrate your successes.

Writing 139

Writing Startup Summary Activity 139

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Ironically, as a startup investor and mentor, I have seen too many failures caused by just the opposite – too much money spent too soon, taking time to get product perfection, and assuming customers will wait. Startups funded by rich uncles rarely think about productivity. Rethink or reframe the challenge. Find the benefit in subtraction.

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2015

By definition, every startup is predictably unpredictable, since new solutions have no proven track record, startups are usually building a new market, and the world around them is changing faster than ever. Five major elements of every business include your people, product, opportunity, money and marketing.

Startup 105

Startup Entrepreneur Marketing Satisfaction 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

These are the timeless principles that must guide all hiring, marketing, and execution decisions. These will almost always be related to sales and marketing, since they must tie back to cash flow. Increase you focus on coaching, training, and mentoring. Implement the key business metrices you will live by.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140