Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Join a startup incubator. Barter your services for their services.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2023

Customer service has traditionally been focused on the resolution of complaints , primarily after a transaction. You must know or react to the expectations of individual customers, and personalize their treatment to gain their remembrance of exceptional service. Great customer service now must be proactive, rather than reactive.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

Los Angeles-based on-demand, storage service Clutter is expanding into the moving business, saying on Wednesday that it will start offering up in-city moving services. The new service will be priced per move per hour, allowing users to move a room or an entire home across the cities Clutter offers its service.

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TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 17, 2020

Allan Jones’s first startup was Fourth and Grand , a Trunk Club-like service backed by the venture studio and accelerator, Science, out of Santa Monica. What sets Bambee apart from companies like Zenefits and other companies looking to provide human resources services is its focus on the needs of employees as well as employers.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2021

Los Angeles-based dropshipping startup Topdser has extended its offerings for drop shippers to sourcing and storing product, the company said on Monday. The new service is on top of its existing, drop shipping offering. The new service is on top of its existing, drop shipping offering. Topdser was founded in 2019.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

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socalTECH

MAY 28, 2013

In real life, you can just about bargain a price for anything you want to buy--a car, a house, even that new stereo from your local electronics store. We caught up with CEO and Co-founder Joe Marrapodi to hear more. Joe Marrapodi: GreenToe is a name your own price marketplace for products. But, online, that''s not the case.

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TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Kevin Novak, the architect of Uber's dynamic pricing technology and the head of its data team, has joined the Los Angeles-based financial services startup Tala as its new head of data.

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TechCrunch LA

MAY 25, 2019

Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a newsletter published every Saturday that dives into the week’s most noteworthy venture deals, fundraises, M&A transactions and trends. Let’s take a quick moment to catch up. Haus, like any good consumer startup in 2019, is shipped directly to your door. Fundraising.

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Startup Venture Capital Newsletter Tips 223

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Kevin Novak, the architect of Uber’s dynamic pricing technology and the head of its data team, has joined the Los Angeles-based financial services startup Tala as its new head of data. Read More.

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InfoChachkie

APRIL 13, 2015

Avoid a simple pricing mistake which could sink your startup. Vendors often respond by discounting their prices at the 11th hour, in the hopes a lower price will spur a purchase. However, if you never offer price discounts to anyone, you can resist all such requests by deferring to your company “policy.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Every one of you business owners I know periodically introduces new products and services to sustain growth, fight off competitors, or take advantage of new technologies. Target audience may be limited or new due to price. Also fears can be mitigated by warranties provided, complementary service options, or money back guarantees.

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Tech.Co

JANUARY 3, 2022

Well, another year has come and gone, and while we're yet to leave the pandemic behind, it has led to a record number of small businesses starting up. A startup for startups! Having built our own startups we know that startup models are usually wrong from day one. “We’ve been in your shoes.

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socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Looking to score the best price on that gift for the holiday season? A new, Los Angeles startup, Scoutfit , said today that it has launched a new, online shopping service which helps users track discounts and get price alerts on items during the holiday. scoutfit pricing promotions alert shopping ecommerce coupon'

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 18, 2015

Los Angeles-based ZendyHealth (www.zendyhealth.com) thinks it has figured out a way to help both patients and doctors by helping connect patients to doctors and specific procedures, with upfront pricing. Explain what your startup does? It's an on-demand, name your own price service.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

They fail to realize that the considerations are quite different for each, which can make or break their investment efforts, and ultimately their startup. The amounts from angels start as low as $25K, while minimum venture capital amounts usually start in the $2M range. How big is your startup opportunity?

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Many passionate entrepreneurs fight to add more features into their new products and services, assuming that more function will make the solution more appealing to more customers. No startup can implement a broad strategy quickly enough to stay ahead. Did you know that both YouTube and Facebook started out to be dating sites?

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socalTECH

APRIL 2, 2012

Santa Barbara-based Make It Work , the on site technical support and computer repair service headed by Eric Greenspan, said Monday that it has switched its services to a new fixed-price, per-service model. The firm also will offer specific service add-ons like application installs and other help at $35.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 1, 2014

Young startups claim they are going to change the world, large companies that dominate that sector scoff at how low quality these new entrants are, until l ike frogs boiling in water they come to the realization that “this s**t is real.” So what could be wrong with price transparency in the auto sector?

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

I realized a while back that creating a new company for the first time is a lot like whipping up a great dinner entrée for the first time – you need a recipe, even though it may look simple. Yet you may not be so sure where to start, and how to put it all together. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

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Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Los Angeles-based Service , the venture backed startup which helps travelers automatically receive compensation for airline delays and cancellations, has expanded into hotel booking, saying it now is able to scan a user's email for upcoming hotel reservations, then automatically search for price drops, rebooking rooms when that happens.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

This post is part of my series “ Startup Lessons &#. Elephants, Deer and Rabbits – Some thoughts on start-up segmentation. I know that this advice won’t apply to every possible startup – but I think it applies to many. So when I started my first company I naturally went for elephants.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

Southern California is once again the target expansion market for a Bay Area startup offering cleaning services via the web this morning, as EXEC said it is expanding beyond the San Francisco Bay Area, and launching its cleaning service in San Diego. The service parallels, almost exactly, the steps at Pathjoy.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 5, 2015

In his premier film appearance in the blaxploitation send-up “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” Chris Rock inadvertently addresses a key pricing challenge faced by most entrepreneurs. Watch this 93-second clip and see if you can identify the pricing pitfall addressed in this humorous snippet. Price = Value. How Much For A Rib?

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

I’m fully convinced that both inspiration and perspiration are always required in a startup. Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. Starting a business may be fun, but it’s not easy. Start even before the product is ready.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Investors will tell you that they love to put money into startups that are scalable, and ready to become the next unicorn. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. Investors don’t invest in services startups.

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InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Software as a service (SaaS) is a popular business model because it facilitates the delivery of incremental value to customers, while allowing the vendor to adjust their prices over time. However, such price increases generally occur after new utility has been provided to the customers. A hybrid of the SaaS model is emerging.

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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. Each of these can go astray as follows: Your product or service hits unexpected snags.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2022

Yet if you wait for an economy bubble before starting your new business, you will be making a comparable mistake to the people who thought during the dot-com bubble "all I have to do is a startup, and I'll be rich." If your alternative is no job security, and low pay, why not work for yourself and build your startup?

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Almost instantly, via the Internet or on their smartphone in the store, they can find the lowest price alternative or their favorite features, without waiting for push marketing or listening to your best sales person. Great startups manage to continually improve the relationship through outstanding follow-on support and service.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 24, 2014

Los Angeles-based venture capital investor Upfront Ventures is one of the investors in a new, luxury valet service launching in San Francisco, called Luxe. Valet parking seems to be on the minds of investors lately, with at least one Southern California startup--valet parking startup Curbstand --also recently announcing a round of funding.

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socalTECH

MARCH 26, 2015

Santa Monica-based HONK , the on-demand, roadside assistance app startup led by Corey Brundage, said this morning that it has raised $12M in a Series A funding round. Honk offer ups an online app, for either iOS or Android, where motorists in need of a jump start, tire change, lock out services, or fuel can request a tow truck.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2023

Every existing business, as well as every startup, needs to reassess their product or service in the context of these five forces: Intensity of competitive rivalry. These plans just list a few key competitors out there now, compare feature richness, quality considerations, and pricing. Threat of new competitors entry.

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