Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Operating productivity.

Metrics 100

Metrics Technical Review Sales Custom 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

You need to first create a compelling product. 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. You need product / market fit. Product / market fit is everything. ” True.

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. They decide to wake up early to read the materials. There are too many pages. The meeting starts. It probably starts late.

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Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

And of course you could add up impressions by counting your the followers of everybody who had retweeted plus your own. It is what is commonly referred to as “vanity metrics” as in, “Look at how many more followers I got us! Here’s a screen shot of my home page on awe.sm. End of story. End of story.

Marketing 307

Marketing Technical Review Startup Tool 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2022

Based on their years of experience as successful executives and productivity consultants, they and I agree that focusing on these key positive elements will more likely get you the accountability you desire: Set clear and high standards of performance. Make sure they are seen as based on metrics, and belong to the performer.

Coach 145

Coach Slides Social Network Metrics 145

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

We caught up with Rachel recently to hear more about the company. I was running the largest deals in the media and entertainment video area across many different Google products. I worked with the head of each product area, such as YouTube, on how to drive more value for our large partners. How did you end up in Los Angeles?

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Google Content Startup Venice 233

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2015

Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Startups should begin by selecting just a few of the vast array of social media offerings out there, and customize based on results. Concentrate your efforts on two to three platforms to start.

Social Media 108

Social Media Media Startup Tips 108

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” A graph that shows a hockey-stick “up and to the right” curve with at least three data points per key indicator is a great visual assist.

Startup 106

Startup Metrics Custom Customer 106

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

I have been watching ProductPlan for several years, as the founders are both friends and pillars of the Santa Barbara Startup Community. Greathouse: We’ve known each other for a long time but let’s start with the basics for my readers. I have always worked on early stage products. Semick: They are.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Image via Pixabay In my role as a new business advisor and occasional investor, I hear lots of people talking about their dreams of “someday” starting and running a new venture. They can talk with passion about their innovative new idea, and ask lots of questions, but never seem to really get started.

Ideas 99

Ideas Slides Writing Startup 99

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2019

If you have yet to get started, here are some key steps that I recommend to my advisory business clients: Actively engage customers via top social media sites. Recently I was surprised to find that up to 25 percent of businesses still don’t use social media at all, and many more only monitor it, but rarely engage.

Marketing 94

Marketing Social Media Technical Review Custom 94

socalTECH

JANUARY 24, 2011

For this morning's company profile, we thought we'd connect with ShareSquare (www.getsharesquare.com), a newly funded Los Angeles startup focused on QR barcodes -- 3D barcodes -- focused on musicians and entertainers. We caught up with Matthias Galica , the firm's founder, to hear more about the company.

Startup 220

Startup West Hollywood Metrics Entertainment 220

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

For today's interview, we caught up with Clark Landry , the chairman of GraphEffect (www.grapheffect.com), a Santa Monica company which is helping other companies to hone their advertising on Facebook. I learned quite a bit from James, who knows more about this than anyone I've ever encountered, and who came up with the idea to start this.

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2013

There is no single formula for how to stay healthy while starting and running an exciting but demanding new business, but here are a few suggestions, depending on your lifestyle: Stay fit and rested. Real job performance is more a function of productivity than hours worked anyway. Quality improvements.

Startup 93

Startup Tips Entrepreneur Metrics 93

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. Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2014

As our first time covering a 500 Startups demo day , we could only imagine the stratospheric levels of stress our Batch 8 founders must have gone through to get on stage and present their progress from their last four months of startup bootcamp. In true 500 Startups fashion, Demo Day had an almost cathartic feel.

Startup 111

Startup Mobile Commerce Education 111

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Based on my experience and data from the field, over seventy-five percent of new startups fail, even with venture backing. I love good causes and social entrepreneurs, but a recent pitch to me about eliminating world hunger with a new product (harvesting algae at low cost) seemed to forget that really hungry people don’t have any money.

Ideas 94

Ideas Slides Technical Review Patents 94

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We love capital efficiency until we love land grabs until we abhor over funding until we get huge payouts and ring the bell for more funding until we attract every non-VC on the planet to invest in startups until it crashes and we start the cycle all over again none the wiser. the more money you give a startup the faster they grow.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Maybe it’s just another example of nature abhorring a vacuum, but I prefer to think it’s a natural evolution of the pervasive social networking communities where people relate to, and expect to interact with businesses and products they like. Startups are the only businesses able to set their culture and values from a clean slate.

Startup 101

Startup Tips Education Custom 101

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Failure is part of the startup process. I’ve had the pleasure to read some really excellent applications that crisply and concisely showcased what made that startup shine. Applications so bad that I threw up a little in my mouth. We start skimming, skipping, and then bailing on the application altogether.

Tips 70

Tips Startup Statistics Metrics 70

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a simple example, the Wal-Mart website now shows shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases. The Wal-Mart home page is customized for each shopper based on location, local weather, and the customer search and purchase history. Algorithms and data are required to compete.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Custom 142

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2017

If your dream has long been to start and manage your own business, there is no time like the present to get started. Statistics show that the failure rate for new businesses within the first four years is fifty percent or greater, even with companies that have a large startup budget. Focus on usability, layout, sound, and video.

Social Media 57

Social Media Search Engine Optimization Startup Custom 57

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

You must have a strong Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with a clear strategy for spending, and metrics to gauge results. What if someone sees an ad, visits a web page, watches a video, downloads a brochure, responds to an e-mail, and finally buys a product? Multiple marketing tactics seek to share attribution. That’s $300 a lead.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Acquisition Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. The number of startups being created has increased by an order of magnitude. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin! The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2011

I know it’s easier to write “horse race&# stories about who’s signing up more users, raising more funding or who’s “hot&# lately. Not just the fact that you Tweet publicly versus privately, but also that they’re open in letting their Tweet stream flow into other products & services. Not so open.

Social Media 274

Social Media Google Media Startup 274

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 7, 2009

I talk to a lot of founders of startups. My initial conversations normally focus on the core of the business, important Startup Metrics , probably marketing strategy (ex. SEO for Startups and Negative Customer Acquisition Costs ) and, of course, the product itself. Normally the product is defined as a web site.

Web 150

Web Sites Email HTML 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Every startup begins with an idea, but from that point forward, it’s all about execution. Continuous improvement applies to the business model as well as the product. Set business goals and milestones, and use metrics to track performance. Merely keeping up with previous results is falling behind.

Ideas 59

Ideas Technical Review Google Startup 59

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

We just recently started rolling out ad-related products, like Ad Manager, which is like Google's ad manager with baked-in social targeting. Ian Swanson: We have 1500 publishers using our products. It's simple as Google Analytics, and you just place it on your canvas page for your application.

Social Media 113

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 113

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

We caught up with Zach James and Rich Raddon , co-founders of MOVIECLIPS, to learn more about the company and also hear about the firm's funding round. Our metrics show that when people watch chips, they increase their tendency to want to watch that feature length film. I ran the Los Angeles Film Festival for a decade.

Startup 190

Startup Los Angeles Content Hollywood 190

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2011

For today's interview, we spoke with Clark Benson , CEO and Founder of Ranker (www.ranker.com), on how the firm is looking to harness that same force to power its own startup, which offers up a way for users to create their own ranked lists of pretty much anything. How long has the site been up and running? READ MORE>>.

Startup 195

Startup Platform Sites Java 195

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

We just recently started rolling out ad-related products, like Ad Manager, which is like Google's ad manager with baked-in social targeting. Ian Swanson: We have 1500 publishers using our products. It's simple as Google Analytics, and you just place it on your canvas page for your application.

Social Media 100

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 100

socalTECH

JANUARY 15, 2009

Our startup interview this morning is with Josh Stomel , founder of ResumeBucket (www.resumebucket.com), a new web site that is focused on helping people share their resumes with the world. Stomel--who is bootstrapping the startup from his recruiting firm, NeoHire--explained the site to us. What's the idea behind the site?

Startup 140

Startup Yahoo Sites Oversee.net 140

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 19, 2015

They suffered in trying to live up to public perceptions and the demands to continue their successes. The road is littered with startups that shined bright before burning out. Startups are All Naked in the Mirror. It was a lot to bear. Every founder knows this. The Yo-Yo Life of a Tech Entrepreneur.

Press 150

Press Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Every plan must start with the problem you are solving, not a description of your company and product. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 14, 2013

Of course there are scenarios where a written business plan is not critical, but I haven’t seen one yet where a well-written 15-page document, or at least a 10-slide pitch, is a negative. You have built a successful startup, and plan to use the same investors. loan entrepreneur startup investor business plan' Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technical Review Writing Slides 100