Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

In the case of MakeSpace we had huge initial successes in New York City as Rahul led the scaling of our drivers, our trucks and our warehouses and we figured out the right price points to beat the local competition. presented pricing challenges when compared to a whole new set of offline competitors we didn’t know well.

Startup

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

One of his companies - Gluecode - was sold to IBM for a pretty good price. Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Southern California

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? 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. But don’t practice too long. Don’t stand still.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Products and services for a business need to be attuned to customer requirements, cost and quality tradeoffs, with milestones for pricing and completion. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Train them fully, give them authority, make them accountable, and tie their pay to customer satisfaction. It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Train and coach continuously. Know your customers intimately.

Competition

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

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

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics. Control costs and adjust prices to maintain your margin. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale.

Metrics

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Products and services for a business need to be attuned to customer requirements, cost and quality tradeoffs, with milestones for pricing and completion. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Outsource Development

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. 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.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Train them fully, give them authority, make them accountable, and tie their pay to customer satisfaction. It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Train and coach continuously. Know your customers intimately.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

For example, consider Whole Foods , whose focus on healthy foods and a sustainable environment is legendary, even though their prices are often a bit higher. Put operational systems and metrics in place early. Proactively provide training and team member rotation. Bring in experienced advisors to keep you on track.

Marketing

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2023

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? 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. But don’t practice too long. Don’t stand still.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

In all cases, you need customer support, formal processes and training in place. As an entrepreneur, make sure you understand your direct and indirect costs, staffing requirements, margins and metrics to make sure these elements are in place. Validated pricing and a sufficient revenue stream.

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

Products and services for a business need to be attuned to customer requirements, cost and quality tradeoffs, with milestones for pricing and completion. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Outsource Development

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. It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools.

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2012

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? 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. then you can start writing a recipe.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2016

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entrée, and correctly included all costs? 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. But don’t practice too long. Don’t stand still.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2019

Now customer support is called the “customer experience,” and everyone is expecting you to actually anticipate their personal needs, and totally delight them with all aspects of the shopping experience, price versus value, as well as help with any follow-on questions or problems. The marketing metrics covers support as part of experience.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entree, and correctly included all costs? 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. then you can start writing a recipe.

Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. The best companies have found that it’s important to constantly prepare team members for moving to the next level, through mentoring and training, rather than trying to keep them in their current role.

Technical Review

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2018

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. Have you set the right price for your entrée, and correctly included all costs? 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. But don’t practice too long. Don’t stand still.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2016

As the business grows, it pays to learn how to use automated financial tools, and review the key financial metrics daily. Prices need to be reviewed to cover total costs and margin. Too busy to focus on hiring, training, and managing employees. Watch for margin erosion as real operating growth costs kick in.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2018

I learned this the hard way a few years ago in a startup where customers loved our idea and the free prototype, but we couldn’t sell one for the full price needed to meet our financial projections. We simply hadn’t tested the price sensitivity in the market segment and geography that needed the features we offered.

Custom

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

It must be written down, with measurable team objectives, validated by metrics and compared against competition. Provide coaching and mentoring as well as training. Formal training for the team is just the beginning, not the end. Most importantly, your actions speak louder than words.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2016

Products and services for a business need to be attuned to customer requirements, cost and quality tradeoffs, with milestones for pricing and completion. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Solution development and delivery. Hobbies are developed ad-hoc, driven by personal needs.

Ideas

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2016

You need metrics to show dominant penetration of the relevant customer demographic, added value over existing media, and real customer testimonials of value. Cultures and values are different, pricing norms are unique, and customer needs have to be validated in each location. Local businesses expect proof of value, not promises.

Advertising

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. In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. It was 1991.

Venture Capital

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

Such follow-up are akin to a train whistle. Each note alerts the investors that your venture is gaining momentum and creating value and they better jump aboard before the train leaves the station. The dynamic of a competitive atmosphere allowed him to sell his cars at their list price while increasing the velocity of the sales process.

Venture Capital

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Sales

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Sales

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Too many employees expect a raise or promotion before they accept new responsibility, rather than demonstrating their value, getting training and experience first. Quantify your results in terms of cost per transaction, higher customer satisfaction, lower prices, and profit per employee, rather than number of transactions or hours worked.

Technical Advisors

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Startup

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 29, 2014

If we rewind to 8 years ago, it was me in San Diego training for my second marathon and I was trying to start another company at the time. Metrics are important for any fitness buff and MapMyFitness does the job well by providing necessary data such as calories burned, distance traveled, time spent on workout, etc.,

Social Media

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 25, 2014

It’d been a big year in tech, and the different supporting parts of team TZ – so what better way to kick off the festivities with an inaugural train-bound journey, courtesy of the good people at Amtrak. Erin Chase – Favado , combining price comparisons with grocery shopping.

Entertainment