Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

There were startups and a software industry but barely. 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. There was no money train. It was 1991. We still loved every moment.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. Simple metrics and your personal knowledge of the industry can’t keep up with all the relevant competitive forces. You need to be part of a larger ecosystem.

Competition 142

Competition Software Review Social Media Customer 142

Tech.Co

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

However, 10 years after the software was first released, the kanban-based system is getting a major overhaul. The software now offers Timeline, Table, Dashboard, and Calendar views. The Calendar displays start dates, due dates, and advanced checklist items at-a-glance so you can see exactly what needs doing and when.

Software Review 152

Software Review Guide Technical Review Class 152

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

As a potential investor, I always think of the high rate of failure of disruptive technologies, due to the longer learning curve of customers, infrastructure change consistently required, and higher marketing costs. Define realistic metrics to keep track of progress. You need metrics to incentivize the right team behaviors.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Metrics Resource Software Review 101

socalTECH

JULY 10, 2017

Tim Grace , who co-founded San Diego-based PointPredictive with Frank McKenna and Joe Jackson, is a startup veteran, who sold BasePoint Analytics to CoreLogic in 2009, and is a former executive from HNC Software. Tim Grace: We all get our started at HNC Software in San Diego. What is PointPredictive?

Artificial Inteligence 124

Artificial Inteligence Software Review San Diego .Net 124

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

It's the same as when I've created financial models and then have it reviewed by a hard-core CFO, sophisticated investor or similar kind of expert. And in the case of defining mobile/web/software, there is even more variability in terms of form and format. I'm never trying to embarrass someone. I know how it feels.

Develop 354

Develop Development Technical Review CTO Coach 354

Berkonomics

AUGUST 15, 2013

A good dashboard of relevant real time information is now available for most any business, often created by computer software from data derived from monitoring real time tasks within the business. You should consider creating such a dashboard, or reviewing the one you use if already driving with one at hand.

Metrics 184

Metrics Software Review Statistics Technical Review 184

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Oracle Software Review Ideas 123

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

Or app companies that went viral due to spammy friend requests to download in an app store only to have a community backlash and subsequent crash. And of course it’s true in personal productivity apps, SMB apps, B2B software and so forth. Not vanity metrics. Push yourself hard to be honest with yourself.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

No matter how passionately you believe that everyone needs one, and positive feedback from friends and early adopters (false positives), before you invest in scaling the business, make sure you set and meet good metrics in cost of customer acquisition, recurring sales, and margin. Gather your resources before scaling the business.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

Leaders and investors need to know if you have and are tapping into your key sources of relevant data, including web analytics, sales management data, and customer relationship management (CRM) software. You must have a strong Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with a clear strategy for spending, and metrics to gauge results.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

9 Reasons Why Many Smart People Go Nowhere - Life Beyond Code , March 29, 2010 You would have met many smart people who live a mediocre life. The Exit Disconnect - Ask the Angels , March 25, 2010 I’ll admit to having a bias towards exits and focus my review of a potential investment on the exit potential. There are MANY of them.

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

I provided a whole set of questions that I go through with founders before Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Before You Develop Anything. What existing systems will we leverage, what programming languages, software development methodologies, web application frameworks, revision control systems, etc.? Accounting?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Old School Software Distribution Is Doomed. On December 10th, 1993, a small group of software developers in Shreveport, Louisiana changed the software world. id Software’s first-person shooter game, entitled simply DOOM, could be downloaded free, allowing gamers to play the first nine levels.

Entrepreneur 230

Entrepreneur Software Review Allegis Metrics 230

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse. Sam began drawing out plans for a new way to provide storage after he had horrific experiences with traditional storage after the storm.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Los Angeles-based Signal Sciences (www.signalsciences.com), which develops web application firewall software, just inked a big, $35M series C funding round a few weeks ago, and now has plans to dramatically expand its hiring in Los Angeles. Were excited about both angles. What does your offering look like nowadays?

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Startup 97

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 97

socalTECH

JUNE 11, 2018

We've created a database that writers can optionally join into, to present their needs, their positive reviews across different organizations, all in one place so that the industry can discovery emerging talent. Scot Lawrie: I cut my teeth in Philadelphia, developing software in the big data and ad-tech areas.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Hollywood Platform Competition 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

It allows you to share private and confidential information about your company, and have a dialog with your investors, within a walled garden where you can put the documents you need for diligence. For investors, it gives them a dash board of key metrics, and ensures those investors stay in the loop. Who would find this most useful?

Southern California 243

Southern California Entrepreneur Software Review Yammer 243

Steve Reich

JUNE 11, 2012

MindBodyOnline is a terrifically succesful SaaS company, based in San Luis Obispo, that provides scheduling and transactional software for Yoga studios, hair salons, and spas. MBO is very metrics driven, and their shareholder reports are dense with detailed, disciplined reporting that remind you that Rick is former Naval officer.

Customer 97

Customer Custom Software Review SaaS 97

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

A classic article in the Harvard Business Review “ The Truth About Customer Experience ” defines it as your customer’s end-to-end journey with you, not just the key touchpoints or critical moments when customers interact with your organization. One metric now commonly used is called the Net Promoter® Score (NPS).

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

Some things need to be done whether we like them or not; for example, daily cash-flow analysis and business metrics. Smart business executives learn to use new technology software to give them new insights and more free time. They see customer support as positive lessons to improve quality and processes.

Software Review 57

Software Review Technical Review Startup Press 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Startup 109

Startup Technical Review Oracle Software Review 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Sites 59

Sites Startup Technical Review Oracle 59

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

Maxwell Wessel, in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5 Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Startup 102

Startup Technical Review Oracle Entrepreneur 102

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

So while the simplest way that people often evaluate stocks is by P/E ratios (price-to-earnings), one also needs to look at other metrics such as the PEG (price-to-earnings-growth). [of Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition. Investors value growth.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

LATechDigest

MAY 12, 2016

Santa Monica-based talent management software firm Cornerstone OnDemand announced the launch of its suite of people analytics products at its annual Convergence Conference. Cornerstone Planning.

Cornerstone OnDemand 40

Cornerstone OnDemand Product Artificial Inteligence Organization 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It says that selling an airplane ticket for $500 and getting paid a $5 fees by the airlines (1% gross margin) is not the same thing as selling $500 of software that you built (>90% gross margin). Sam did all this analysis before even deciding to build V1 of his software and before we put serious money behind him launching.

Startup 150

Startup Marketing Study SEO 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

We have been using LinkedIn for both sourcing recruits and reviewing backgrounds for recruits. Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Its been great to zero in on very specific skillsets.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

When you raise larger rounds there is more “due diligence,” which includes: calling customers, looking at financial metrics, doing cohort analysis (looking for trends like changes in churn rates), evaluating competitor positioning and understanding more of the competency of your executive team.

Startup 150

Startup Capital Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

Many years ago I worked at Andersen Consulting, originally developing software for large corporations and then as a strategy consultant. They’re easily impressed when you’re selected for TechCrunch50 but not easily engaged in a detailed discussion about your conversion metrics. Let me explain. But much good also came.

Venture Capital 297

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Entrepreneur 297

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Once you build it, they will now ask you about the key metrics that they need proven in order to see if you really are a good investment. The real reason to build an MVP is to do early tests of key Startup Metrics for the business. " Once you have the metrics defined, it focuses your effort. Review the code being built.

Technical Review 338

Technical Review CTO Hire CTO Coach Software Review 338

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

The use of biological metrics and neuroscience in marketing is starting to expand to political research and campaign strategy-making. But that method was losing reliability due to lower response rates, as well as the movement toward mobile phones.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review News Social Media Startup 40

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

What existing systems will we leverage, what programming languages, software development methodologies, web application frameworks, revision control systems, etc.? What do we need to do to make sure we can survive technical due diligence by investors and partners? What are the biggest areas of technical risk? Accounting?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” Any great board member should tell you, “please don’t create any performance metrics or materials that analyze the business that you’re not already creating for your own management’s use.” Sometimes they don’t even know.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Looking ahead at the next decade I am excited by what I believe will be viewed as one of the best and most rational investment periods for venture capital due to seven discrete factors: 1. If you want to understand the details of why this is, I covered it in detail in this post, Understanding Changes in the Software Industry.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

Design the full stack, not just a new software element. With a singular focus on building unicorns, very rapid growth has been a key metric. Facebook’s market value tumbled many billions in 2018 due to users’ decreased confidence in the platform. In Silicon Valley’s classic model, startups must start “asset light.”

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138