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. Adding priced services is another way to augment a product business. Create new kinds of solutions.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2019

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 85

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Summary 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2021

In fact, as a mentor to entrepreneurs and an investor, I recommend that entrepreneurs avoid using the term disruptive with investors, since many see it as implying extra high risk, a long time for payback, and extensive marketing to build the new market. So why would any investor ever believe any of these claims?

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Entrepreneur Marketing Customer 157

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. I realized that he and I see several common patterns that account for a large percentage of new venture failures.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

As a business mentor, I sometimes feel besieged by people begging for my view and support of their latest idea. There are lots of resources available for that question, including the Internet and mentors like me. Ask some potential customers to see if there is real interest, and start thinking about price versus cost.

Ideas 136

Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the results of your mentoring and leadership. You have figured out how to undercut your competitor’s price, and still hold your margin. It can also be very inspiring, as you watch your dream morph into reality, or as you feel each little element of success: Watch your team develop new skills.

Startup 160

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 160

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Yet as I mentor entrepreneurs around the country, crowdfunding still seems to be one of the least understood approaches to startup funding, with more myths than accredited angels and professional venture capital investors combined. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge.

Funding 141

Funding Startup Outsource Development Satisfaction 141

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Do real tests with real pricing to see if customers will pay you, without being pushed. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the business model.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Custom Customer Entrepreneur 143

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2022

A common request I get while mentoring entrepreneurs is for a copy of the startup checklist they need to follow, in order to build a successful new business. I wish it was that easy. There are already a variety of cloud computing solutions available for common business usage, including the following: Software as a Service (SaaS).

Technology 133

Technology Cloud Computing Social Media Networking 133

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked for the magic that has made Amazon the world's most valuable brand , from a total unknown only twenty years ago. Their pricing algorithm crawls the Web daily, and adjusts prices to always match the lowest price found anywhere, offline or online.

Marketing 123

Marketing Technical Review Custom Customer 123

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Based on my years of experience mentoring and advising entrepreneurs, you need to attack problems and challenges with a mindset of success, or it is unlikely that you or your business will survive. I found that view confirmed for a wide range of leadership situations in a classic book, “ The Mindset of Success ,” by Jo Owen.

Entrepreneur 147

Entrepreneur Help Mentor Customer 147

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Typically this means describing interactions with customer groups, real customer feedback, and showing an understanding of price sensitivity, alternatives, and competitive offerings. They mentor each other, and seek out experts in domains outside their current expertise and experience. Maintaining an insatiable curiosity about change.

Startup 113

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

In early-stage, concentrated venture you have to be willing to let some “hot” deals pass you by whether it’s because you’re not persuaded about the team, the market, the price, the syndicate or a host of other reasons including it being too similar to other investments you’ve made. Price matters.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Invest Press Startup 374

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Dig deep to get beyond the best price or best service, to find a higher cause or unique benefit that they can remember and be happy to advocate. For example , Bill Gates shared a mentoring relationship with Warren Buffett that increased the credibility of both, although their business domains were quite different.

Marketing 133

Marketing Custom Customer Outsource Development 133

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2023

Based on my years as a business executive and mentoring entrepreneurs, I’m convinced that the principles of reframing can be learned, and apply equally well to any domain, certainly including business. When you find yourself saying, “I need to keep lowering my prices,” you just put more pressure on yourself.

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Competition Press Commerce 82

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing).

Pricing 66

Pricing Custom Customer Advertising 66

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Risk is more manageable with subscriptions and even freemium pricing. Find a strategic partner to accelerate growth.

Resource 121

Resource Metrics Entrepreneur Technical Review 121

Xconomy

JULY 12, 2019

It seems at times we’re never far removed from any one person, through their published papers, social media connections, friends, colleagues, or people they’ve mentored. We had terrible news this week of the deaths of two people whose lives and work touched many people.

Social Media 82

Social Media Mentor News Media 82

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

As an angel investor and a mentor to entrepreneurs I still see this every day. Great entrepreneurs are proactive, not only in selecting the right idea, but in implementing a product, setting a price, and choosing customers. Business success is still more about the people than the technology or idea involved. Imagination.

Technical Review 119

Technical Review Ideas Entrepreneur Custom 119

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

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. What price are you willing and ready to pay for funding? There just aren’t enough angel investors and VCs to go around. Marty Zwilling.

Funding 104

Funding Summary Entrepreneur Acquisition 104

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. He came to me months ago asking about a “strategic round” of capital for his startup at a high price. I told him that a high price now wasn’t always the best solution.

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

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.

Satisfaction 53

Satisfaction Marketing Mentor Entrepreneur 53

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

DataPop's product also creates landing pages, geo-targets offers, and uses pricing details, sales and promotions, product specs, and retail location information to tune those search marketing ads. DataPop is one of the companies in LaunchpadLA, the business mentoring and incubation effort being spearheaded by GRP Partners' Mark Suster.

Yahoo 145

Yahoo Paid Search GRP Partners SoCalTech 145

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

In a bear market executives are paid to: consolidate the number of contracts and renegotiate prices. A seed deal hasn’t already been “priced up” to a range where a new investor might be concerned about the valuation relative to performance. Valuations may have changed and “price discovery” in private markets is harder to determine.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Writing 263

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 31, 2008

The Most Informative, Targeted, Conveniently Located, and Affordably Priced SoC, ASIC, FPGA, and Foundry Technology Conference of the Year! Intel, IBM, Mentor Graphics, Toshiba, Tensilica, and over 100 other leading-edge companies will be sharing their latest technologies and products in this Southern California event.

Conference 100

Conference Southern California IBM IBM 100

SoCal Tech Calendar

OCTOBER 30, 2008

The Most Informative, Targeted, Conveniently Located, and Affordably Priced SoC, ASIC, FPGA, and Foundry Technology Conference of the Year! Intel, IBM, Mentor Graphics, Toshiba, Tensilica, and over 100 other leading-edge companies will be sharing their latest technologies and products in this Southern California event.

Conference 100

Conference Southern California IBM IBM 100

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

They include real mentors, facilitators, visionaries, motivators, and negotiators. One of the prices that you pay for being a CEO is giving up a lot of the social relationships within the company. Avoid associating with them. Proactively form relationships with positive types. Keep your initial response short and sweet and in control.

Startup 127

Startup Social Network Mentor Networking 127

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

Based on my years as a business executive and mentoring entrepreneurs, I’m convinced that the principles of reframing can be learned, and apply equally well to any domain, certainly including business. When you find yourself saying, “I need to keep lowering my prices,” you just put more pressure on yourself.

Startup 134

Startup Entrepreneur Competition Press 134

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Yet as I mentor entrepreneurs around the country, it still seems to be one of the least understood approaches to startup funding, with more myths than accredited angels and professional venture capital investors combined. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge.

Entrepreneur 129

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Satisfaction Equity 129

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

He shared tons of information about how how they were using marketing to quantitatively make marketing decisions at HauteLook and acquire customers for prices that were far cheaper than similar companies. Natural mentors – a desire to help. I instantly hit it off with Greg because we was a fountain of knowledge.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Image via Pixabay As a mentor to many small business owners, I always caution them that you can never relax completely, just because your initial solution or product set appears to be getting traction, and the market buzz is positive. Control costs and adjust prices to maintain your margin.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. What price are you willing and ready to pay for funding? There just aren’t enough angel investors and VCs to go around. Marty Zwilling.

Summary 121

Summary Startup Entrepreneur Funding 121

socalTECH

APRIL 10, 2012

Those mentors and others have given us really tangible advice. Mentors have told us -- here what your social coefficient looks like, how to make the sharing dynamic work for your business, and then they'll spend an hour or and hour and a half with us, and give us a little more specific information we can apply.

Startup 240

Startup Mentor Technical Review Santa Barbara 240

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. Every one of you has had to deal with the conflicting requirements of optimizing your business in the short term versus the long term. Attract, train, and reward only the best leaders.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Layoffs Social Media Organization 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. First impressions last a long time.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Customer Custom 131