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.

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

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. In reality, more features will more likely make the product confusing and less usable to all. Broad product offerings require too much infrastructure.

Startup 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

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

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

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. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

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

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

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. Product management?

Distribution 264

Distribution Vertical Business Plan Software Developers 264

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.” Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service.

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

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 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

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Unfortunately, even today, building a good product doesn’t guarantee you a business. Obviously, the more detailed your business plan, the better.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

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

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

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. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

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. In reality, more features will more likely make the product confusing and less usable to all. Broad product offerings require too much infrastructure.

Startup 287

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 287

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

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

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

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

– while simultaneously building a series of minimal viable products. Unlike traditional demo days or Shark Tanks which are, “Here’s how smart I am, and isn’t this a great product, please give me money,” a Lessons Learned presentation tells the story of a team’s 10-week journey and hard-won learning and discovery.

Lean 417

Lean Security Asia SBIR 417

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. It’s even acceptable to make up a place with a “what if.” Every story needs a main character.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 20, 2020

Moreover, define the unique capabilities of your company in terms of product, service, or technology that make you different from other companies like you. Analyze the other business aspects and identify which affect or disrupt your business development. 2 – Listen to Your Customers. Here is how you can do it.

Web 194

Web Technical Review Startup Audience 194

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. You need a big differentiator in these arenas.

New York City 315

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 315

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan.

Business Plan 280

Business Plan Product Architecture Business Model 280

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

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

YoungUpstarts

JULY 7, 2020

To know more about aluminium products, you can check out Window Factory for detailed information. 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. 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. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

None of this was law, and nothing in writing required this; this was just how these firms did business to protect their large institutional customers who would buy the stock. Twenty-five years ago, to go public you had to sell stuff – not just acquire users or have freemium products. 4. Founder-friendly VCs.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2019

For example, if you start a new business with a software product you developed, you really need to know the basics of marketing and finance, but you will probably never be the expert in marketing and finance you require. Sharing your business ownership increases the risk. Partner with experts who share the risk.

Bandwidth 246

Bandwidth Software Review Salary Angel Investor 246

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

One thing that comes with being a venture capitalist is you see hundreds and hundreds of businesses. You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. Payback periods on customer acquisition way more important to you in the near-term.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242