socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2021

Playa Vista-based iLife, a startup which is developing tools to help life insurance agents set up their own, branded "digital insurance agency", has raised $4M in a seed funding round, according to the company. iLife said the funding was led by Foundation Capital, and also include AME Cloud Ventures and Cherubic Ventures.

Sales 113

Sales Seed Funding Startup Tool 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

This is part of a series on sales & marketing. I previously covered how early phase sales teams should be “evangelical&# and consultative in nature. As a tech startup grows it needs to develop more process & management if it is to scale. More experienced sales leaders seldom compete on price.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

For the rest of us, we need a business plan, as well as a product plan. Some of you may be convinced that your product specification communicates the product message even better than a business plan, so why be redundant? Document why your team is the best for this challenge. You need both to survive.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

We all like to think of startups as “non hierarchic&# organizations and to some extent that should be true. I see two common mistakes in companies (not just in startups, in fact). You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 31, 2010

This is part of my ongoing Sales & Marketing Series. In the first part of this post I talked about how sales in a startup is often evangelical , requires as consultative sale and needs constant adjustments based on customer feedback. We had 4 or 5 sales reps that had been around since the early days.

Sales 286

Sales Newsletter Technical Review Activity 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. You learn by asking.

Sales 346

Sales Startup Technical Review Customer 346

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare. New product process. Followers and linear thinkers need not apply. Accountability.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2013

This is part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. The “P” stands for Pain or the reason your customer needs to implement a new product. No product sells itself no matter what startup companies like to think.

Sales 322

Sales Help Organization Product 322

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. Having a methodology instead of just going on random sales visits helped force a bit of rigor and honesty amongst team members about how well or not we thought we were doing. The best sales meetings are discussions.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? When customers are excited, your team becomes more engaged and productive. They want relationships, positive experiences, and a win-win for society.

Competition 110

Competition Sales Customer Custom 110

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

This is part of my series on Startup Advice. I’d like to talk about Crocodile Salesmen in 3 scenarios: 1) when YOU are selling (or someone on your team), 2) when you are trying to recruit a sales person. But how to apply “listening&# in a sales meeting? When I worked in London there were a ton of Aussies.

Sales 314

Sales Startup Venture Capital Customer 314

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Product 159

Product Technical Review Pricing Software Review 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 98

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

If you or your team sees you as an idea person, your first task as an entrepreneur should be to find a co-founder who can deliver. Finding a co-founder is rarely a bad thing, since two heads are always better than one in meeting all the startup challenges. Detailed product specifications and prototypes.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Ensure that you investigate the designers' past work, samples of their work product, and their process. Although noteworthy, working with large corporations differs remarkably from working with startups. Quality of Work: The end product should not only look good but function as expected. cto , product , saas Avoid them.

Software Development 295

Software Development Software Review Develop Development 295

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales. This is the growth equation for a startup.

Customer 136

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 136

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Perhaps surprisingly, the components are NOT the traditional coding/business pieces; nor are they even coding /user interface / business / sales, or whatever. Similarly, a crackerjack CTO might be in the mid six figures, but a kid performing inside sales may start at the opposite end of the spectrum. That, however, will not be enough.

Startup 189

Startup Sales Ideas Entrepreneur 189

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev.

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

socalTECH

MAY 2, 2017

He was just trying to collect more data for his startup on what was happening on real estate deals that the company had been referring to brokers. How's the startup funded? The rest of the team were doing phone calls, through cold calls. We found the team with the email was extremely outperforming the team making phone calls.

Sales 145

Sales Startup Email Tool 145

socalTECH

MARCH 19, 2014

Sales tax compliance is not a typical sexy startup area. Mark Faggiano is the CEO and founder of the company, and spoke to us about what the big deal is about sales tax software compliance. Mark Faggiano is the CEO and founder of the company, and spoke to us about what the big deal is about sales tax software compliance.

Sales 149

Sales Software Startup Commerce 149

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Some investors seem to focus wholly on the strengths of the management team, or a sustainable competitive advantage, and in reality these are the core attributes for every funding equation. While these may be necessary for funding, they may not be sufficient to make your startup the great success embodied in your vision.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process. Every aspect of your business must be about sales. This is the growth equation for a startup.

Sales 82

Sales Entrepreneur Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. This is the first business process that every startup needs, that I wouldn’t expect to find for a hobby. Team building status and plan. Managing to specific goals, priorities, and a plan.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team. The sales professional.

Technical Advisors 123

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 123

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 23, 2021

Gates’ call is being met by startups and public companies hailing from everywhere from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv, London to Los Angeles, and Berkeley to… um… Chicago. The company aims to have its first product approved by European regulators by 2023 and notching commercial sales by 2025.

Chief Technology Officer 261

Chief Technology Officer Technical Review Software Review Product 261

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my experience in large businesses as well as years of advising startups, I see far too much focus on product skills, and too little on people and process skills. His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. Great entrepreneurs are able to think on their feet, and are always prepared.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. Growth is more than simply repackaging existing products, and adding bells and whistles or slick incentives. Hire more help than helpers.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 106

Sales Entrepreneur Customer Custom 106

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. Yet every business requires revenue and volumes, as certainly as it requires a product to sell. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. I recently wrote about the three rules of sales. In sales we often call these USPs (I wrote about them here: Unique Selling Propositions ).

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Much has been written about this subject in the world of manufacturing, stemming primarily from the 1990’s work by Taiichi Ohno, called the Toyota Production System (“Lean”). Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

As a startup advisor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Startups which display real innovation, such as alternative energy sources and new medical treatments, are still rare. New product process. Followers and linear thinkers need not apply. Accountability.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

socalTECH

MAY 15, 2019

The company said, as part of that growth, it has named Jason Blais as Executive Vice President of Sales, Linda Souza as Senior Vice President of Marketing, and also promoted Yair Riemer to President of its Career Transition Services Division. The company--led by longtime technology startup veteran Robin D. READ MORE>>.

Burbank 145

Burbank High Tech Sales Los Angeles 145

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2023

They forget that top performance is a two-way street, requiring comparable initiative and responsiveness on the part of the leader, as well as contribution from each team member. In fact, there are initiatives that leaders can and must do to even enable high performance on their team. Acknowledge and reward the results that you desire.

Coach 93

Coach Satisfaction Resource Entrepreneur 93

SoCal Tech Calendar

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012 -- Predictable Revenue: Getting To Your First Million In Sales. It's not a startup until you've built something and it's not a business until you?ve The class is designed for CEOs, Co-Founders and Heads of Sales working on products that are either ready to market or already being sold.

Sales 100

Sales Class Design Marketing 100