Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2021

I also enjoyed the classic book, “ 63 Innovation Nuggets for Aspiring Innovators ,” by George E. In reality, the best business process innovations usually come from regular employees on the front line of your business, just trying to do a better job and better serve customers. Innovation must be driven top down by visionary leaders.

Technical Review 431

Technical Review Leadership Operations Networking 431

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

I found these challenges and opportunities outlined well in a classic book, “ Out-Innovate ,” by Alexandre Lazarow. The distributed model draws on a diverse pool, helps manage costs, and captures regional insights and focus necessary to win local customers. Manage risk – don’t just “move fast and break things.”

Global 345

Global Silicon Valley Marketing Indonesia 345

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2023

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

Social Media 328

Social Media Customer Media Employee 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2021

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. In his classic book “ Invent, Reinvent, Thrive ,” Lloyd E. Seek out customer trends before they become an avalanche.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Institutional Investors 417

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Don’t get caught in the myth that you shouldn’t worry about monetization until after you have a large customer base. Social causes are great, but your ability to sustain your value contribution is directly linked to your ability to find paying customers.

Intellectual Property 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2021

In a classic book, “ Disruption by Design ,” by the renowned innovation consultant Paul Paetz, I found a list of common patterns and recognizable attributes that I like, called disruption fingerprints. Look for sizable customer populations unattractive to incumbents. Pitch your innovation against today’s market. Marty Zwilling.

Non-Compete 394

Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast Social Media 394

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point. Nail the solution. Nail the go-to-market strategy.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

In his classic book, “ The Leadership Capital Index ,” Dave Ulrich, a best-selling author, business consultant, and business school professor, provides some real insights and metrics on what makes up the elements of goodwill in the minds of top valuation experts. I have paraphrased his key points here as follows: Leader personal impact.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a classic book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Just make sure you can fill in all the details. Establishing your brand with interactive social media.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

In the classic book, “ Fish Can’t See Water ,” Kai Hammerich and Richard D. Incidentally, I love that book title, which seems to me applicable to most aspects of business (and even people), as well as business culture. Lewis explore these cultural issues, both national and international, that can make or break your company strategy.

Dilution 355

Dilution Startup Merger Flash 355

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. How many customers will have any idea what this means to them? I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s classic book “ Do It!

Marketing 353

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

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. You and the customer have to be on the same side.

Sales 348

Sales Startup Bootstrapping Technical Review 348

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

Today more than ever, the evidence is clear that business people need to find and communicate a purpose that goes beyond making a profit, in order to ensure customer engagement, as well as your own, and drive results in the marketplace. As you grow, so will your team and customers. Driven to reduce personal hardship and suffering.

Technical Review 357

Technical Review Green Social Media Lean 357

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

A business plan is the outward facing definition of the business you hope to drive with your hardware solution, with a hardware overview in the intro to highlight customer value and competitiveness. Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value. Provide specifics on the customer business model.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2023

For example, only a few people today still think of Amazon as an online provider of books and related goods, now that they have exploded their business world-wide into every product arena, added web services (AWS), television and film production (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), a bricks-and-mortar grocery chain (Whole Foods), and more.

Partner 350

Partner Operations Metrics Leadership 350

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

I found a good summary of the most common mistakes in a classic book by Kelly Clifford, “ Profit Rocket ,” written primarily to help you on the other side of the equation – skyrocket your profits. If you expect payment in 30 days, many customers will stretch this period to 45 days or even 90. In startups, cash is king.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2023

The importance and the specifics of practical team leadership were re-confirmed to me a while back in the classic book, “ Unlocked ,” by Robert S. This is the time to talk about wins with customers and what is coming on the horizon, and the team role in each. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail.

Leadership 318

Leadership Technical Review Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 318

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

Thus I was pleased to see a much more complete and broader perspective of employee support recommendations in a new book, “ Employees First! ” by Donna Cutting, who is a globally-recognized guru on employee culture and optimizing customer service. Emotional stability. Environmental safety. Intellectual stimulation.

Technical Review 353

Technical Review Cofounder Employee Global 353

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

For example, I remember a classic book by Penina Rybak, “ The NICE Reboot ,” that does a great job of outlining problem solving steps, honed from working with special needs youngsters. Listen to your customers to arrive at acceptable and marketable solutions. Resolve conflict, accept outcomes, and rebuild communications.

Startup 338

Startup Technical Review Restful Partner 338

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

With real-time online reviews and feedback via the Internet, and instant relationships via social media, a voice from the top that is inconsistent with what is heard from the firing line defines a dysfunctional and noncompetitive company for today’s customer. Thus team makeup is the critical success factor.

Developer 387

Developer Startup Social Media Internet 387

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. Focus is the art of limiting your scope to the key function that really matters for the majority of customers.

Startup 287

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 287

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2023

A common initiative I hear from business owners today is their effort to improve the customer experience. To achieve real growth, business leaders need to improve both employee as well as customer experiences. Flexible – listen to allow flex hours and customization. Proactive – timely communication to build trust.

Employee 282

Employee Matching Customer Leadership 282

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. Remember you are pitching to investors, not customers. Investors don’t need to know the implementation details of your patent or customer support plan. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes.

Technical Review 369

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 369

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Technical Review 249

Technical Review Salary Metrics Matching 249

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

It’s what every customer looks for in every transaction. Most people will tell you this is impossible, but I found a classic book, “ Army of Entrepreneurs ,” by Jennifer Prosek, where she seems to have actually accomplished this. Employees will lose focus on their work.”

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Providing business leadership is a challenge under the best of circumstances, but it is especially difficult in times of market and customer crises. For most of the others, it was a crisis where business leaders were challenged like never before to rethink their business model, redefine their organizations, and reconnect with customers.

Leadership 305

Leadership Business Model Customer Small Business 305

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

While these investors, and early customers, will always argue that they found you, I’m convinced that there is no substitute for aggressive networking on your part. Ability to relate aspirations to customer needs. You need to show insights to real customers and their needs, that get beyond your passions and projections.

Silicon Valley 284

Silicon Valley Technical Review Leadership Metrics 284

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Don’t get caught in the myth that you shouldn’t worry about monetization until after you have a large customer base. Social causes are great, but your ability to sustain your value contribution is directly linked to your ability to find paying customers.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2023

They bristle quickly when investors or even potential customers raise issues with real value, competition, risk, and sustainability. I like the specifics on how to do this in the classic book, “ The Agenda Mover: When Your Good Idea Is Not Enough ,” by leadership expert Samuel B.

Technical Cofounder 341

Technical Cofounder Founder Cofounder Mobile 341

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Then, hopefully, come customers, distribution channels, and going public or merging with an attractive buy-out candidate. Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team.

Semantic 342

Semantic Technical Review Retention Distribution 342

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

Lowen, Creating the Cold War University [Great book if you want to learn more about Stanford’s military-industrial complex origins. Put yourself in the shoes of Mark Liu, chairman of TSMC: Do you view China as more of a competitor or customer – and why? Optional Rebecca S. Not required for class.] . Why or why not?

Technical Review 407

Technical Review Taiwan Technology Artificial Inteligence 407

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

In his classic book “ The 3rd American Dream ,” thought leader Suresh Sharma summarizes the large corporate accomplishments of the 19 th and 20 th centuries, and then lays out the potential of a new entrepreneurial business ecosystem for the 21 st century. The new corporate model is a distributed entrepreneurial model.

Artificial Inteligence 315

Artificial Inteligence Offshore Merger Technical Review 315

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

For a hands-on guide in developing data-driven people strategies, I found some practical techniques in the classic book, “ The Data Driven Leader ,” by Jenny Dearborn and David Swanson. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value. Bigger organizations should invest in the new “big data” tools.

Analytics 303

Analytics Hiring Open Source Employee 303

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2023

This point was highlighted well in the classic book, “ Disrupting Digital Business ,” by R “Ray” Wang, CEO and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research. Communications that traditionally could only be broadcast to all can now be done on a customized person-to-person level, interactively.

Silicon Valley 265

Silicon Valley Flash Social Media Software Review 265

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2022

I was pleased to see this approach highlighted as well in a new book for startups, “ Zero to IPO ,” by Frederick Kerrest. A co-founder who has different motivations, for example maximum profit versus great customer service, will likely undermine you, take a minimal role, or leave the business quickly.

Technical Review 313

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Cofounder 313

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

I also enjoyed the classic book, “ 63 Innovation Nuggets for Aspiring Innovators ,” by George E. In reality, the best business process innovations usually come from regular employees on the front line of your business, just trying to do a better job and better serve customers. Innovation must be driven top down by visionary leaders.

Technical Review 235

Technical Review Leadership Operations Networking 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2021

With the advent of the Internet, social media, and instant communication via texting, customer expectations for service, as part of their entire customer experience, have changed. They expect you to be there, to know their history as a customer, and to treat them with priority and respect.

Customer 427

Customer Social Media Public Relations Internet 427