socalTECH

MAY 10, 2013

We caught up with CEO Walter Delph to hear how the promise of social media advertising has measured up to reality, and what that means for brands and marketers today trying to leverage the new reality of social conversations. Walter Delph: Marketers are still figuring this out. It''s so business marketers can justify their spending.

Social Media 237

Social Media Advertising Media Metrics 237

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. In my opinion no amount of clever marketing or chest beating at conferences can create a market if you don’t have an amazing product to begin with.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2009

Los Angeles-based Image Metrics (www.image-metrics.com) recently landed a $6.5M, Series B funding round for the firm's facial animation products. Around 2006, they opened up a sales office here, with a couple of guys talking to the film and games business. Editor's note: you can see Image Metrics "Emily" demo on their web site ).

Metrics 100

Metrics Startup Sales Newsletter 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. 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

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

But LA-based performance marketing agency MuteSix didn’t wait that long to build its business around scaling DTC brands. If you have growth marketing agencies or freelancers to recommend, please fill out our survey !). Why do you think that performance marketing is the right fit for DTC?

Commerce 211

Commerce Content Marketing Startup 211

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If you are a passionate technologist , it’s easy to forget that marketing is required to sell even the most compelling solution, to cut through the information overload everyone sees today on the internet. If marketing is not your thing, then you need to find a partner or outside expert to help you.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2013

Most struggle with the idea and practice of marketing and sales, and see these as a necessary evil, if even required. Of course, for a price, there are many marketing organizations and gurus willing to come to your aid. The modern day field of dreams mantra has pivoted to “If you market it, they will come.”

Sales 105

Sales Startup Metrics Custom 105

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments. The market response model is an analytical model, which quantifies how markets respond to stimuli. Did the TV stimulate search?

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Berkonomics

JANUARY 28, 2016

A recent Experian marketing survey revealed that 52% of all email opens are from mobile devices, and that 38% of all clicks are from mobile devices. Experian looked at three hundred brands and 21 billion emails – a few more than you or I have as a resource for our marketing intelligence.

Email 120

Email Marketing Web Mobile 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

BookRenter – plus a discussion about Chegg … what is going on in the university book market? We talked about the analogies between what NetFlix achieved in movies and whether this is relevant to the book market. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues].

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. While I’m a huge believer that sales bonuses should always be uncapped, I think capping PBW’s is a good idea.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2017

We spoke with Andrew about how the company pivoted from its original model after finding a huge amount of traction for its sales software and data, and its ability to guide brokers on the best practices for them to close more deals, which it is now offering as software-as-a-service. What is Digsy? Andrew Bermudez: It's kind of funny.

Sales 145

Sales Startup Email Tool 145

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. In fact, we now live in a buyer-led digital age, where the traditional media push-marketing efforts just don’t work.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

My other co-founder, Rusty Jenkins, was also with that company, doing sales. We had gone our ways, and after we left UpSellit and were golfing, we decided that instead of being part of a lifestyle business we wanted to start our own, and help local businesses market themselves. There's an awful lot of check-in sites out there.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

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

JANUARY 11, 2023

I agree with the classic book by Ros Taylor, “ Creativity at Work: Supercharge Your Brain and Make Your Ideas Stick ,” which outlines some key psychological impediments to creative business thinking and change: Just use the data metrics. Tricked by recency. So when decisions are to be made, we tend to remember recent information and issues.

Marketing 119

Marketing Metrics Demand Statistics 119

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

Let me start by saying that Clayton is one of the most influential people on my thoughts about markets that led to both the concept behind my first startup and my main theses in investing. We spoke about what succeeds early in technology market evolutions. As markets grow, the more open and modular systems win.

Education 403

Education Venture Capital Offshore Outsource Development 403

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

I know all of this because every VC knows this because we’ve all either funded companies that have marketing technology or we’ve seen a pitch with a company that does this. Your pitch deck should really be your best marketing tool Your pitch deck shouldn’t contain your deepest, darkest secrets and plans. A deck is a deck.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Competition 239

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” Delaying going out of business gives you way more chances at product / market fit than any other strategy I know of. In your market conditions knowing what I know I would tend to go for it.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Here are some basic principles from my own experience that will improve your odds and keep you on the right track: Recognize that you are not the market. Marketing is everything these days. On the average, it takes as long to build marketing momentum as it does to build the solution. Everyone must be part of the sales process.

Sales 165

Sales Custom Customer Social Media 165

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

Content 175

Content Startup Social Media IP 175

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Real growth always requires real marketing. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. You have a marketing department with three people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Real growth always requires real marketing. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Berkonomics

MAY 19, 2022

A recent Experian marketing survey revealed that 52% of all email opens are from mobile devices, and that 38% of all clicks are from mobile devices. Experian looked at three hundred brands and 21 billion emails – a few more than you or I have as a resource for our marketing intelligence. Responsive” emails and a test.

Email 156

Email Web Tips Metrics 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

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. Market penetration. Customer acquisition cost.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Custom Customer 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

That should make you wonder - how do you measure traction in a metric? While thinking about the parameters of traction, and how to measure it, I was impressed with a new book, “ Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth ” by Ash Maurya, a serial entrepreneur, and creator of the one-page business modelling tool Lean Canvas.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Custom 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

You may be a product expert, but have little experience with running a business, or marketing, or sales. In the startup world, even the best-laid plans are probably wrong, so there is a need to be able to launch fast, have metrics in place to measure progress, learn from real customer feedback, and pivot as required.

Startup 162

Startup Metrics Ideas Entrepreneur 162

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. It freed up Ophir to grow out our sales organization, to work more closely with agencies, to innovate on product and to raise capital. It literally can put you out of business.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Access to new markets. Create roles and guidelines in the potential partnership: What role and responsibility will each of the partners have including operation, financial, sales, marketing, etc.? Perform preliminary due diligence: Review the business plan including marketing, sales strategies and financial needs.

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

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 21, 2021

Switch your focus from product development to sales. Explosive growth to an enterprise normally requires a scalable sales model, a well-documented process with incentives, training, and metrics for tracking and management. Of course, customer relationships, and penetration into new market segments are also critical elements.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

What sized team can I afford in order to sell, market & provide service to these customers? But expanding beyond our core customers was going to take more effort than simply launching in new markets. We realized that operating a business in distributed markets presented multi-city coordination efforts that we weren’t prepared for.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

The last thing you need in a startup is a false start, where you can’t deliver on a product change deadline, or a new marketing channel. Define hard (data) and soft (anecdotal) metrics on the change, as well as on the quality of your leadership. Make sure metric results are available to the team, to keep them motivated.

Startup 155

Startup Resource Metrics Technical Review 155