InfoChachkie

MAY 19, 2011

This series describes how entrepreneurs can craft company-changing agreements with BDCs, while avoiding Kiss of Death contract provisions. Guard against a preclusion that would deny you from utilizing the IP developed during the course of executing the agreement. Get The Cheese With Your Neck Intact.

Outsource Development 193

Outsource Development IP Technical Review Entrepreneur 193

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

At Silicon Beach Fest Hollywood 2012 Kevin Winston organized a panel called “How to Find and Hire a Developer”. Always have a developer do a test project before hiring them to make sure they deliver quality work. This will prove your product is worth building to you and to the developer. Ask for is code samples.

CTO Hire 81

CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop Development 81

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Buffer your projected resource requirements. Be a miser with contract services and facilities. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. You will make mistakes. Things will cost more than you expect.

Search Engine Optimization 124

Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media Equity 124

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

I am not a government contracting expert. Government customers abundantly waste both of these assets by negatively impacting a startup’s cash flows while causing it to spend unnecessary time participating in laborious approval processes and elongated sales cycles. The Downside Of Government Contracting.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

So when I meet with GRP portfolio companies that do enterprise sales I try to emphasize the following: 1. Often your sales engineers can do the customizations without bugging the core eng team. Importantly, make sure that you retain IP rights to your custom work which needs to be part of the engagement contract.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software Services Company 321

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. Public relations at a startup is a sales process.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on. I believe it’s flawed.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

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. Clearly the founders and senior executives of a company are the most valuable resources and their time should be maximized on the most valuable tasks. Here’s the dilemma.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2021

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. Inspire, Motivate, and Bring Out the Best in Your People.”

Startup 171

Startup Organization Training Entrepreneur 171

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. Markets develop for a complex set of factors that are often beyond all of our control. What did he know?

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2014

Companies were saying--we want to outsource these kinds of things, because they''re not our core competency. However, when they went to build out a second, disaster recovery site, they figure out that they had been there and done that, and didn''t want to build another one--they decided to outsource it. Grant Kirkwood: No, not at all.

Cloud Computing 217

Cloud Computing Outsource Development Outsource Startup 217

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Buffer your projected resource requirements. Be a miser with contract services and facilities. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. You will make mistakes. Things will cost more than you expect.

Startup 89

Startup Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 89

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Chris Tragos: The tree founders of Jetpack, myself, Kevin Woolery, and Marc Brown were all working on the publisher side at Spin Media (Editor's note: previously Buzznet) I was running sales, development, and operations, and looking at all these RFPs that came in. They wanted something custom, to close the deal. READ MORE>>.

Buzznet 100

Buzznet Outsource Development Design HTML 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Buffer your projected resource requirements. Be a miser with contract services and facilities. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. You will make mistakes. Things will cost more than you expect.

Startup 108

Startup Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 108

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Develop your business plan. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2013

Marketing is key in helping you to develop long-term, strategic plans that can stop your cash drain. Your sales forecast is an essential variable for cash and profit planning. Human resources is the #1 cost for many small businesses. Create a Marketing Plan. It’s not enough to be tactical, you need to be strategic.

Outsource Development 91

Outsource Development Outsource Startup Marketing 91

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

I could easily go into the board rooms of major European companies (I was based in London) and land $500k – $1 million contracts so my order book grew rapidly. It soaked up all of our development resources and didn’t allow us to focus on what we felt our company strategy was. We had to do intense training sessions.

Startup 389

Startup Customer Custom Resource 389

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. I was to tell noone until the contract was signed.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Buffer your projected resource requirements. Be a miser with contract services and facilities. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. You will make mistakes. Things will cost more than you expect.

Entrepreneur 105

Entrepreneur Search Engine Optimization Outsource Development Social Media 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. I was to tell noone until the contract was signed.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2014

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. You can now skip the mandatory office space rental, with secretary and bookkeeping staff, or outsourcing. Social media facilitates marketing and sales.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Commerce 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

Develop your business plan. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Outsource Development 92

Outsource Development Training Outsource Metrics 92

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2010

By Ernst Gemassmer Once you have succeeded in developing a solution and obtained initial funding, the next challenge is to penetrate the relevant domestic and international markets. Channel conflict is inevitable as you add additional sales channels. All channel partner relationships should be based on written distributor contracts.

Startup 85

Startup Outsource Development Training Resource 85

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 6, 2014

We’re talking a skeleton crew of staff, minimal sales, and even less cash. Develop your financial projections. Create a bottom-up financial forecast that uses your detailed budget and sales projections as the starting point. Identify the resources you’ll need (and associated costs) to hit each of your milestones.

Tips 101

Tips Startup Outsource Development Sales 101

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

To grow faster businesses need resources in today’s financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you. The example chart is not actually atypical. Amazing growth!”

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Develop your business plan. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 102

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. See this anecdote by Steve Blank on how a hotshot sales executive can sink your startup.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Funding Cloud Computing CIO 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

We’re talking a skeleton crew of staff, minimal sales, and even less cash. Develop your financial projections. Create a bottom-up financial forecast that uses your detailed budget and sales projections as the starting point. Identify the resources you’ll need (and associated costs) to hit each of your milestones.

Tips 90

Tips Startup Venture Capital Outsource Development 90

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

At both companies, I was the head of Finance, Human Resources, and I managed all of our legal needs (as described in Roping In The Legal Eagles ). In addition to these utility roles, I also lead revenue generation: managing direct sales, business development and online sales. Admittedly, I was not an all-star CFO.

Startup 222

Startup Coach Sales Entrepreneur 222

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Develop your business plan. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

socalTECH

DECEMBER 6, 2019

He's been doing contracting for the past ten years, and I have been watching from the side. My background is in marketing and sales and consulting, and for the past eight years since graduating from school, I have been spending time diagnosing issues within multiple kinds of organizations. Jon Grishpul: My partner is actually my uncle!

Startup 100

Startup Encino Los Angeles Ventura 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

To their credit, they were able to carve out an investment so we could develop this. They have a day job, running the existing business, and they then have to commit more time and effort into building Dentistry.com, to develop the technology, processes, and all we have to do. They bought this business 4.5 So, that's my story.

Startup 113

Startup CitySearch Outsource Development Organization 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. See this anecdote by Steve Blank on how a hotshot sales executive can sink your startup.

Startup 97

Startup Invest CTO Hire Cloud Computing 97

Jason Nazar

MAY 2, 2016

I created this resource to have the single most comprehensive guide anywhere on all the different items involved in starting a business. Ensure your business name is available on a wide variety of social networking websites in order to develop consistent branding ( KnowEm ). Human Resources. Execute the 5 Step Sales Process.

Outsource Development 40

Outsource Development Startup Google Mentor 40

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK. They were looking for a collaboration tool to manage all of their large water development projects. The initial contract was worth about $500,000 and the whole value of the contract would have been worth a couple of million over the years.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 5, 2016

Selling new products, opening new markets outsourcing business functions and every other decision affects the bottom line. The process of selling one item could include its purchase from the manufacture, shipping to its point of sale, storage, keeping records for the item and other phases of the business transaction.

Software Review 40

Software Review Technical Review .Net Outsource Development 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. See this anecdote by Steve Blank on how a hotshot sales executive can sink your startup.

Startup 90

Startup CTO Hire Cloud Computing CIO 90