Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

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. A business plan is for you first, not investors. Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Building a successful business is all about execution.

Intellectual Property 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

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

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

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

He nails the current key startup parameters, including the following: Crafting a lean business plan as your road map. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2020

Additionally, you’re not expected to excel at every single vertical of successfully managing the business. But it’s a lot harder to prepare a proper business plan unless you’re planning ahead of time and considering the additional resources, you will need help you with this endeavor. Or maybe with sales?

Vertical 264

Vertical Distribution Business Plan Software Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves. Even if you feel that all is well, here are some thoughts and actions I would strongly recommend: Whole team must know the plan. Contact key vendors and existing customers.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

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

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

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.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

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

MARCH 6, 2021

Don’t forget to add all pesky “overhead” costs, with fixed elements, like rent, insurance, and administration, and variable elements, like delivery, customer support, and commissions. If you expect payment in 30 days, many customers will stretch this period to 45 days or even 90. This difference will kill your profit margin.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

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. A business plan is for you first, not investors. Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Building a successful business is all about execution.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

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

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Here are some key reasons why I believe every entrepreneur should create a formal Advisory Board or Board of Directors before they ask for funding, or even build their business plan: We all need a bit of reality to balance our passion. The sooner you face these issues, the more success you will garner from investors and customers.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2019

He offers some practical entrepreneurship lessons I most often see talking about Silicon Valley: You still need a good business plan to start. As an advisor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I’m still surprised at how many people believe the myth that business plans are only required to appease big investors.

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Missouri Technical Review Boston 269

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. These days, computer hardware also extends to smartphone subscriptions, iPads, and laptops as your employees and customers expect mobile operation. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

With today’s worldwide Internet and social media, your brand impact is not set by what you say, but by numbers of followers, influencers, and satisfied customers. Just be aware that building your customer base first requires deep pockets, or many investors. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 2/25/2022.

Valuation 368

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor 368

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

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

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

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 140

Balance Sheet Technical Review Business Model Business Plan 140

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

He nails the current key startup parameters, including the following: Crafting a lean business plan as your road map. The days of lengthy, text-heavy, business plan documents prepared by expensive experts are behind us. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Market research Initiating your journey into the plumbing business world mandates a thorough and meticulous foray into market research. It’s paramount to comprehend the demand for plumbing services in your targeted geographic area and delve into the intricate intricacies of your potential customer base.

Non-Compete 147

Non-Compete Technical Review Australia Reputation 147

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

They don’t realize that business projections with no third-party validation have no credibility with investors, and smart potential investors will walk away. Every good business plan needs an early section which sizes the total market opportunity, and then breaks down that total into the most relevant segments for your focus.

Business Plan 393

Business Plan Marketing SBA Venture Capital 393

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

This class is built on conducting in-person of interviews with customers/ beneficiaries and stakeholders, but due to the pandemic, teams now had to do all their customer discovery via a computer screen. How would customer interviews work via video? See here for an extended discussion of remote customer discovery.).

Lean 417

Lean Security Asia SBIR 417

YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

You envision your business as the next Uber or Spotify, yourself as the next Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, reaching that prestigious ‘unicorn’ startup status in record time. Like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably mapped out the business plan, dreamed up the layout and you’re already snapping up domains and emailing developers with your plan.

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

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

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

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

AUGUST 7, 2024

Develop a Solid Business Plan A detailed business plan is crucial for any startup. Outline your business goals, target market, competition analysis, marketing strategy, and financial projections. This plan will serve as a roadmap for your business and help you secure funding if needed.

Software Review 158

Software Review United States Social Media Advertising 158

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Of course, every risk level can be mitigated by a good plan that addresses the issue, offers a credible action plan, and will convince you, as well as investors and customers, that what looks like a risk to many is actually a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup. Off-shore or foreign-country based. If you want U.S.

New York City 315

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 315

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

That story has to begin with a painful problem shared by a large collection of viable customers, with your competitive solution. After a good elevator pitch or initial presentation, investors will ask for your formal business plan and financial projections. You don’t need surprises or disappointments either.

Software Review 307

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 307

YoungUpstarts

JULY 7, 2020

Here are tips on how to start on this business: Have a business plan. When starting a business, the first thing most entrepreneurs work on is how to distinguish it from other business. In the aluminium joinery business, there are few options available on how to develop your brand. Know your location.

Reputation 237

Reputation B2B Technical Review Social Media 237

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

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.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247