Steve Blank

MAY 27, 2010

Negotiating deal points before we thought through our strategy at best would have cost us a ton of money with little progress. We could easily agree to a 90-day non-compete as a sign of good faith (what Visio didn’t know is that we had no bandwidth to take on another customer while we were getting their software installed.).

Fractional CTO 303

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Software Review Startup 303

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Traditional video had very high costs of distribution due to limited time slots of broadcast TV (we only had enough spectrum to support 3-4 channels). Much of network television can cost $100,000 / minute to produce. Producers can cost-effectively test formats and build fans as they go. Much of it already is. Not so fast.

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Cloud computing and the open source movements have brought down the costs of starting a company by more than 90%. They need a combination of capital and experience to separate from the rest of the pack – the low cost of starting a business means it is even more vital to become the market leader more quickly.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

I’m absolutely amazed by the number of non-technical hiring managers and CEOs who are still wary of open source developers. If you’re non-technical leader, the best thing you can do is recognize that you aren’t the expert and make sure the people who are the experts are involved in the hiring process. Embrace open source.

Software Developers 152

Software Developers Software Development Software Hiring 152

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2009

One theme that I always get is, “I’ve gotten an offer from a VC, but they want me to do X, what do you think?&# X is always something non-standard that the entrepreneur knows in his gut isn’t right. I tried to make the case that cost was only one factor and India was already an order of magnitude cheaper than the UK.

Pakistan 297

Pakistan India Technical Review Software Review 297

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I’m dropping everything non-portfolio related in the next few weeks and setting my sights on righting my wrong. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK.

China 333

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 333

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2010

The world has globalized and there are now many countries around the world competing for the jobs of the future. He gave a simple graph that showed that 4 years of incarceration costs tax payers approximately $130,000 per inmate, which is more than it would cost to educate that same person in a basic private school for the entirety of k-12.

Technical Review 340

Technical Review America Software Review Sacramento 340

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

It’s the one thing I miss having switched from player to manager – I love the joy of winning and of competing. I’m dropping everything non-portfolio related in the next few weeks and setting my sights on righting my wrong. I had been competing to win a contract at Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK.

China 328

China Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review 328

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

Non-Disclosure and Non-Compete Clauses That Are Too Broad. However, getting off on the right foot means that you need to dot your i’s and cross your t’s in every aspect of the business — including contracts — to prevent potentially costly problems down the road.

Cost 113

Cost Intellectual Property Software Review Non-Compete 113

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Stock options for all employees of startups served several purposes: Because startups didn’t have much cash and couldn’t compete with large companies in salary offers, stock options dangled in front of a potential employee were like offering a lottery ticket in exchange for a lower salary. Why would they do that? That made sense.

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group. But of course it wasn’t always so and many online companies gamed the system by paying third-party firms to build link networks of websites set up by hand in low-cost countries to drive up the PageRank of websites.

SEM 379

SEM Viral Marketing Widget 379

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

MakeSpace (as he named it) would help you get your excess goods into low-cost warehouses. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer? and we were met with weak demand, slow growth and high costs.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 22, 2018

File Several Types of Non-Disclosure Agreements. There are several types of non-disclosure agreements , and it’s important that you understand which are most relevant to your business and can be beneficial to you. To help minimize your costs, try working with a lawyer who can complete the work for a fixed fee.

Intellectual Property 129

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Software Review Non-Compete 129

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

But give me a story of a kid from a non-privileged background and single mother who makes it big through natural talent plus tons of hard work and a belief that he can do it despite everybody telling him he can’t and I’ll watch that film all day long. Justin Bieber is a self-made entrepreneurial success.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Atlanta Audience SEM 398

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2016

This alternative has been around for several decades, with the generally accepted advantage of reducing costs. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive. Don’t count on contracts and non-disclosure agreements to save you. Factor in all the cost elements.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Software Review Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Entrepreneurs often put off the hassle and the cost of filing a patent until first funding. Then they realize that they have talked to many people without signing non-disclosure statements, precluding a patent, or someone else has now beat them to the filing docket. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Cost 363

Cost Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder 363

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 14, 2013

Many other business commentators have stated this maxim before (in various other ways as well), but the idea is simple: find a position that’s based on non-price value i.e. do not compete on price. Revenue before cost. You know the trend of cutting costs to boost profitability?

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Non-Compete Differentiation Revenue 174

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

The first and primary role of a government is to provide basic public goods competently. I have ranked this list in ascending order of cost (defined as combined time and money). - Educating the VC/angel community on the city/state resources available to them to build companies.

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 31, 2011

He wasn’t consciously giving a glib non-answer; he was understandably, desperately avoiding it. click and competed with no other advertisers. Even if I restricted myself to things like “code review tool,” the cost is two orders of magnitude more per click, and there’s tough, entrenched competition.

Customer 279

Customer Software Review SEM Technical Review 279

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

Businesses often require employees to sign non-compete agreements to protect their business interests. However, just because an employee has signed a non-compete agreement does not make the agreement valid under the law. Non-Compete Time Period. by Yasir Billoo, partner at Golden & Grimes LLP.

Non-Compete 187

Non-Compete Florida Miami Employee 187

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 16, 2011

For the uninitiated, Zoho introduced a CRM system that was one-tenth the price of Salesforce.com and penetrated the lower end of the market using an Indian cost structure. They charge $9, $29 and $59 per agent per month and I am eager to see bootstrapped, scrappy Freshdesk morph their pricing structure to aggressively compete with them.

India 123

India Bootstrapping Non-Compete Entrepreneur 123

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 21, 2014

More non-professional investors will become angel investors and entrepreneurs will benefit from their domain expertise. The first consists of core focus areas and try to focus 95% of your time and effort; your core competency. Clutter includes: toxic people, time drainers, unnecessary events, and non-crucial product features.

Entrepreneur 210

Entrepreneur Startup Non-Compete Balance Sheet 210

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 16, 2020

Although there are many collaboration tools (like Slack and Trello) available, they do have a learning curve that can be hard for non-technical folks. They also complain about managers favoring in-office staff, even if they are less competent. Lower operational costs. For small businesses and startups, every penny counts.

Technical Review 200

Technical Review Startup Belgium Software Review 200

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

It wasn’t a lack of competence or skill in her job; it was just that as far as she was concerned, her job had no connection to the rest of marketing, our customers or our ultimate success as a company. I also wanted to know who our existing customers thought we competed with. What did they think we stood for? If so, where?

Silicon Valley 213

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 213

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

Tech Knowledge Is Cost-Effective. One of the worst things I’ve seen are very non-technical VC’s teaming up and opening tech companies. Pay a company to build your product, which could cost $80,000 to $100,000 for an initial app and website, and even more as you add features and improve your product in response to customer feedback.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 6, 2013

More often that not I see deals that are filled with legalese and are impossible to really understand by non-legal personnel. Obviously you need to clearly understand your situation and your cost benefit analysis so that you can go into the deal with a solid understanding of what is a huge success for yourself. Use plain language.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Securities and Exchange Commission Non-disclosure Agreement Due Diligence 164

ConversionXL

JUNE 24, 2020

Juniper Research estimates that click fraud cost advertisers $42 billion in 2019. Competing businesses. Competing businesses may click on each other’s PPC ads to waste money. If you conduct some intricate research (detailed below), you may be able to identify the IP address of competing businesses. If you can—great!

PPC 121

PPC IP Idaho Non-Compete 121

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

These are hard things to initially comprehend until you see them in full force as local retailers get wiped out due to their albatross of high real estate costs leading to either higher prices to consumers or lower margins on their p&l statements. Thus Amazon’s market cap is $200 billion. And here’s the thing. ” Ha.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review San Diego Dallas Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

Count the number of new projects, time and resources required to implement, and measure the return in revenue, customer satisfaction, or cost savings. Create a non-online memorable customer experience. Find your niche, and it’s probably not competing on price and volume alone. Don’t allow a subjective view to cloud your reality.

Customer 130

Customer eCommerce Non-Compete Technical Review 130

David Teten

MARCH 31, 2012

Governance is clearly not a core competency of the US; it’s time we outsourced governance to those who do it better than we do. The additional revenue earned from taxation on a better-managed state easily allows them to cover such costs. Take Singapore again: Singaporean government ministers are paid , on average, $1.26

Government 154

Government Singapore New York City Non-Compete 154

Up and Running

OCTOBER 21, 2014

To my mind, it’s fear of the unknown that holds most of us back and not the thought of whether we’re competent enough or intelligent enough or whatever else we feel is needed to run a business. Or is it about running a non-profit soup kitchen for the unemployed? You’re also going to figure out what ‘success’ looks like for you.

Elevator Pitch 166

Elevator Pitch Software Review SBA Angel Investor 166

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2016

Compete against non-consumption and non-existing markets. Often entrepreneurs are more able to think outside the box and bring disruptive change to less-known business domains. Consider Apple’s move into music, telephones, and watches. Facebook built the social media market before customers even knew they needed it.

Non-Compete 120

Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2015

Compete against non-consumption and non-existing markets. Often entrepreneurs are more able to think outside the box and bring disruptive change to less-known business domains. Consider Apple’s move into music, telephones, and watches. Facebook built the social media market before customers even knew they needed it.

Marketing 120

Marketing Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast 120

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 23, 2023

With technological advances, it’s becoming easier and more cost-effective than ever to streamline your loan origination system. Compliance Management: Ensuring Regulatory Adherence The financial industry is heavily regulated, and adherence to compliance requirements is non-negotiable. Are you ready to take advantage?

Technical Review 146

Technical Review Analytics Non-Compete Mobile 146

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 15, 2016

One should also be competent in operating the debugger in IDE to be able to troubleshoot any bugs in the code. Technical skills are important as they help you design great apps whereas the non-technical skills like communication, collaboration and writing will help you showcase your all-round abilities and succeed in this field.

Java 100

Java XML Developer API 100

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2020

I then suggested that they work with factories in the interior of China to reduce those costs, but again their compliance teams took too long to approve these new factories for it to help. And social media gave them all the ability to market their products in non-traditional ways.

Fractional CTO 147

Fractional CTO CTO Hire China Silicon Valley 147

Version One Ventures

MAY 23, 2019

Chelsea started her first business when she was 12, and her first non-profit when she was 13. I still worry about that, but the cost of a lawsuit is drastically less than the cost of our entire team working on the wrong things, or not working to the best of their abilities, so it’s not my first priority. Most of us don’t do it.

Part-Time VPE 135

Part-Time VPE Software Review Salary Non-Compete 135