Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Some entrepreneurs do very little to prepare for due diligence, assuming all the talking has already been done, and the business plan and results to-date tell the right story. Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

For entrepreneurs, effective networking is required to find investors, partners, and customers. Serious investors expect founders to have their homework done before the first interaction – documented executive summary, business plan, and financial model. Customer retention. Investor negotiations. Time management.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

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 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

I’m sure all you accountants will agree that fixing the mistakes listed here does not require rocket science, but I’ve seen them so often that to be forewarned is to be forearmed: Failing to factor in fixed costs when pricing. Always use a break-even analysis to measure what volume and price are required to offset total costs.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

In fact, I often have to tell aspiring entrepreneurs that their inventions have zero value, at least not until they are put in the context of a business plan, with qualified people committed to executing the plan. Of course it helps to have innovative technologies before you start building a business. Don’t get me wrong.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2020

A good business plan is critical to starting a successful business. Creating a plan for business expansions is no less essential. And using your business plan template to develop an expansion plan increases your odds of success and allows you to avoid bad investments.

Business Plan 152

Business Plan Forecast Operations Dilution 152

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

Value is embodied in previous success with investors, proven problem solving ability, and having built and executed a business plan with minimal resources. Experience and connections in your business area. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here. Amount of venture funding provided.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

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 business model.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost. Unfortunately, I see too many new entrepreneurs who let their passion for a new idea or invention blind them to the stark realities of customer need, opportunity size, or pricing and cost implications.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Before you jump into starting your own vacation rental business, you’ll need a business plan. This article will cover the steps to create your Airbnb business plan, along with some tips to run it successfully. How to write an Airbnb business plan. Why are you starting your Airbnb business?

Business Plan 110

Business Plan Software Review Technical Review Forecast 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Some entrepreneurs do very little to prepare for due diligence, assuming all the talking has already been done, and the business plan and results to-date tell the right story. Others schedule exhaustive training sessions for everyone on the team, including showcase customers, to make sure that everyone paints a consistent picture.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. In that spirit, I offer my perspective on ten common startup failure sources that rarely get admitted by entrepreneurs: Choose to skip the written business plan.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Women Entrepreneurs Can

OCTOBER 30, 2024

For the markets that don’t have anything like this, you can usually find a business worksheet online that will help you calculate your startup costs. You will face numerous expenses, depending on the type of business you run. Having a website will also help you to reach customers, so be sure to keep this in mind.

Cost 40

Cost Software Review Technical Review Business Plan 40

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Others will work hard on a business plan, and then mail it indiscriminately to every potential investor they can find on the Internet. Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Entrepreneur 299

Entrepreneur Technical Review Business Plan Angel Investor 299

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 10, 2023

In the realm of great business ideas, a well-crafted business plan takes center stage. Beyond that, it acts as your business's guiding roadmap, ensuring you stay aligned with your goals as your operations adapt to evolving circumstances. Thanks to Evan Tunis, Florida Healthcare Insurance ! #2-

Business Plan 143

Business Plan Jordan Entrepreneur Florida 143

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Remember, the definition of a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. ( A business model is all the parts of a strategy necessary to deliver a product to a customer and make money from it. While they still may share the same passion as a startup, the goal is now scale.

Acquisition 334

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 334

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

Others will work hard on a business plan, and then mail it indiscriminately to every potential investor they can find on the Internet. Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.”

Technical Review 310

Technical Review Angel Investor Business Plan Social Media 310

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2022

Most business advisors I know will say that writing a business plan is the first step to starting your own business, but I believe that a better first step is to do a self-analysis of your real drivers, strengths, and assumptions before committing to this lifestyle. Every business is a work in progress.

Founder 262

Founder Intellectual Property Social Media Business Plan 262

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. The cost of social media done well is low.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Others send investors email and business plans in all uppercase or no punctuation. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Intellectual Property 316

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 316

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

Up and Running

OCTOBER 28, 2022

This presents the question—how much of your personal money should you put into your own business? Pros and cons of using your own money for startup costs. Few people have deep enough pockets to fund a business beyond launch. Conduct a cost estimation. Find the right funding mix for your business.

Cost 138

Cost Startup Early Stage Vesting 138

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

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. Place where it happened. A memorable story needs to start with location specifics to make it real.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Given the stock market was buying “the story and vision” of anything internet, inflated expectations were more important than traditional metrics like customers, growth, revenue, or heaven forbid, profits. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Others send investors email and business plans in all uppercase or no punctuation. Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors.

Intellectual Property 278

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 278

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica 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.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 24, 2020

You’ve made it past the ideation phase, perhaps you’ve got a business plan in place, and now you’re ready to watch your business grow. A lot of startups will bypass important things like hiring HR or buying an insurance policy to protect their business. Not too fast. You can hire a remote HR company online , for example.

Software Review 184

Software Review Startup Technical Review Hiring 184

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 15, 2019

A sustainable business plan is one that is flexible. There is no point in having a rigid strategy for the business and crying foul when customers shift to a much more relatable brand/organisation. Focus on Customer Service. Customer service is not a favour for the customers, it’s an opportunity for the business.

Small Business 196

Small Business Software Review Technical Review Viral 196

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

Of course, most of you expect that raising money will be difficult, as well as staving off competitors, and handling that occasional toxic customer. No matter how certain you are that your solution, target market, and customer need are well-proven, you are likely wrong, or the world changes by events you could not have anticipated.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Due Diligence Startup Acquisition 306

Up and Running

OCTOBER 26, 2020

But if you start with realistic expectations for how much it may cost to launch a successful eCommerce store, you’ll be far more likely to succeed. So, before starting an eCommerce business , follow these tips to better plan out your site and accurately budget your startup costs. Template vs. custom design.

eCommerce 149

eCommerce Development Team Review Hosting Security 149

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Every country has their own unique business requirements and customer culture. These may traditionally have high returns, but are still high risk. Off-shore or foreign-country based.

New York City 315

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 315

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

As the global economic situation deteriorates amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy costs, many aspiring entrepreneurs might be tempted to give up and wait for better days. Investors can also be skittish, and winning new customers is not easy. It helps you to understand your customers better.

Startup 198

Startup Technical Review Ghana Guerilla 198

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In my experience, the key steps I look for always include the following: Testing the idea against customers who have money to spend. Just because you think it’s a great idea doesn’t mean there is a business opportunity. Build a credible business implementation plan to quantify costs.

Intellectual Property 235

Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Harvest Technical Review 235

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 7, 2024

Research and Understand the Market Before launching your business, it is essential to understand the market demand and trends. Develop a Solid Business Plan A detailed business plan is crucial for any startup. Hire Skilled and Experienced Staff Your team is the backbone of your business.

Software Review 158

Software Review United States Social Media Advertising 158

VC Cafe

JULY 26, 2020

Most principles of Lean Startup remain true, as described by Steve Blank in The Lean Startup Changes Everything : Business Plans are dead: Startups a series of hypothesis that need to be tested. Ditch the business plan and when assumptions are proven wrong, pivot Customer Development: Build a product your customers want (vs.

Lean 214

Lean Seed Capital Startup Burn Rate 214

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 4, 2023

This will allow you to identify opportunities, challenges, customer preferences, and emerging trends. Market research involves gathering information about potential customers in your target area, competitor strategies, pricing scales, and demand patterns amongst other things.

Balance Sheet 145

Balance Sheet Technical Review Business Model Business Plan 145