Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Exchanging your services for services is possible with legal counsel, accountants, engineers, and even sales people. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

More customers are lost to apathy after the sale than poor service or quality. A numbing 68% of all business lost in America is lost due to lack of follow-up after the sale. Customer retention. Many experts suggest it costs six times more to sell something to a new customer than to an existing customer. Professional relationships.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Sales and marketing has been 30%+ basically forever, though undoubtedly Airbnb has enough brand recognition and loyal customers that if you turned off marketing spend then revenue would drop but not to zero. But ops & customer support is another 17-20% of revenue and arguably you couldn’t run the business if you took that away.

North America 401

North America IPO Prospectus Europe 401

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” If sales are the only way to get rewarded in your organization, then sales will take precedence over other activities.

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize one-time sales in your business model. New channels, such as adding brick-and-mortar distributors to supplement your online sales, also can multiply your rate of growth. Your solution must have value for every customer. Strive to make real customers your best advocates for the initial rollout.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

A small advisory board of outside people with experience in your domain can give you the unbiased feedback you need, as well as connections for setting up distribution and sales channels. Talk to industry experts and investors. It’s also valuable to talk to potential investors for their views, even if you are bootstrapping the effort.

Technical Review 399

Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

Craft a no-follow-up sales letter, after you have positioned yourself as the right expert, with powerful testimonials. Instead of asking themselves “How and when will this generate sales?” They will call you back. Don’t dumb it down for social media. entrepreneurs need to focus more on who they are marketing to and why.

Marketing 353

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Sales Professional. The best sales people in any company are highly focused, and self-motivated by the commissions they can earn by closing a few big deals. Long ago, these were called secretaries, often starting in the typing pool, with the best aligning themselves with an advancing executive, leading to a long career.

Angel Investor 267

Angel Investor Social Media LLC Viral 267

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. These people also have the credibility to attract investors.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. Set specific targets on the sales channels and marketing initiatives you need, including the use of social media, brand building, franchising, trade shows, affiliates, and distributors. Professional investors and even customers invest in people, rather than just a product.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. Traction in the marketplace. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. Social media is not rocket science. The timing of cash flow is everything.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

Idea people must surround themselves with people who build momentum and get things done, including production, marketing, finance, and sales. Unfortunately for them, building a business is all about implementation. As an example, I worked with Bill Gates early on, but I fear he may have failed without partners Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Partner Software Development 341

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

His focus is primarily on improving the results for traditional sales professionals, but I’m convinced that the same principles are equally critical for entrepreneurs selling their startup to investors, strategic partners, and customers. These attributes include the following: Specific moment-in-time indication.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

Every successful startup I know has pivoted a couple of times, as they learn what really works in the marketplace and in the sales process. The probability of failure goes up exponentially as the number of product features increase. It’s tough for an elephant to be agile. Ongoing market leadership requires continuous innovation.

Startup 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Sales in their first fiscal year were $1.5 ERA asked the NSA for permission to offer the computer for commercial sale. Finally, ERA’s penchant for extreme secrecy left them unschooled in the art of marketing, sales, and Public Relations. Parker became head of sales of the merged computer division. A year later, 420.

Minnesota 317

Minnesota Engineer Minneapolis Silicon Valley 317

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

A better approach might be to use your marketing power to tell people that you can now ring their smartphone in front of their favorite store for a special sale, and allow them to “opt in,” rather than surprising them with your new technology. Few people are paranoid about something they want and enjoy.

Technical Review 342

Technical Review Customer Social Network Software Review 342

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.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You alone will never find enough hours in a day to keep with all the challenges of sales, support, and scaling the business, in addition to developing and delivering your solution. Actually, building and nurturing the right team is the hard part, requiring communication, hiring, and leadership.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

The Startup Magazine

JULY 24, 2024

Another major factor is the seasonality of sales. By using FBA, your products become eligible for Amazon Prime, which can significantly improve sales. Amazon charges fees for storage and fulfillment, but many sellers find these costs worthwhile due to the increased sales volume and customer satisfaction.

Cost 167

Cost Technical Review Software Review Stock 167

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

He must nail down a sales process that fits the domain and economy. The CEO is the check and balance on the constant parallel pushes for more development, more marketing, and more growth. Craft an operational plan and make it work. Most founders are product guys. They need an operational CEO who knows the market and the marketing game.

Exit Strategy 407

Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

A great way to make more money more easily online is to replace one-time sales with automatically renewing subscriptions. Finally, use customer feedback or promotions to attract more and more customers with less and less effort. Focus on recurring revenues. Even with all this, don’t expect it to be easy.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 312

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The larger the company, the more they’ll separate out business development and sales, with business development focused primarily on lead generation and sales focused on sealing the actual sale of the product or service. Sales roles : The sales cycle is similar to the recruitment cycle of a source.

Government 241

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 241

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

Investors expect proof that your invention can be manufactured in volume, and can justify a sales price at least double the cost, to a large customer set that has money to spend. The value is tied to infrastructure outside your control, such as a pervasive network of fuel stations, trained service facilities, and new government regulations.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

Marketing and sales chasm. Focus is required to resist adding a few more neat features, made possible by the new technology, which in fact make the product more complex to use, impossible to test, and very expensive in time and cost. Lots of people still believe the major cost of a new product is development.

Technical Review 375

Technical Review Startup Dilution Early Stage 375

The Startup Magazine

JULY 11, 2024

We recommend opting for an electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) system, a technology that has grown in immense popularity over recent years as more features and functionalities have been added to make it an end-to-end restaurant management system. This can help your restaurant or takeaway increase sales.

Software Review 158

Software Review Analytics Technical Review Software 158

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

It's a strategic choice that extends beyond a one-time development process and into anticipating future needs.

Software Developers 295

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 295

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Sales and marketing strategy. Investors will talk to their own experts on the size of the potential market and the expected growth rate. They will also assess trends in the market and how current economic, political, and demographic conditions relate.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

In business, when you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume and still be profitable. But don’t forget that the underlying laws of finance are harder to change, much like the laws of physics, so try not to ignore these basics. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Relationships also build loyalty, get referrals, and drive more sales. Relationships get the body language to supplement numbers, and provide critical feelings not found in surveys. Under-promise and over-deliver on customer requests. Customers always remember positive surprises, and they never forget negative ones.

Customer 369

Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. 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

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 20, 2024

If you have made a sale through your site then you need to send out emails to your customers so that they can tell you about their experience. If you can do that then you will soon find that it is much easier for you to not only have happy customers but to also make more sales.

Small Business 165

Small Business Software Review Campaign Technical Review 165

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Investors know that the fun of a startup turns into managing production processes, sales processes, and personnel in a few years. Investors hesitate to invest under these conditions. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

Just because Google sales hit $1.5 It’s important to separate optimism and dreams from market realities. Ask yourself, “If I were an investor, would I support this effort, given the costs and promised returns?” billion in 4 years doesn’t mean any other startup can do it. How do I avoid scope creep?

Metrics 387

Metrics Technical Review Leadership Framework 387

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Improving the Efficiency of the Sales Process Improving the sales process impacts revenue growth by making it more efficient and effective. Furniture retail software automates sales activities, like processing orders and creating invoices. These observations facilitate decision-making, resulting in enhanced sales outcomes.

Operations 167

Operations Software Forecast Software Improvement 167

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. Traction in the marketplace. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296