Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

One more key employee or one more investor will probably not turn the situation around. Every startup should have at least a couple of outside advisors who are not major investors or family members, anxious to talk to new investors and key new hires. Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial?

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

If one of your core values is exceeding your customer expectations for quality and service, and your potential partner ascribes to the low cost, high profit mantra, a successful partnership is highly unlikely over the long-term. Partner decisions are more important than team member hiring decisions. Conflicting visions won’t work.

Partner 385

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 385

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value.

Analytics 303

Analytics Hiring Open Source Employee 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

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 385

Technical Review Salary Metrics Matching 385

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required.

Technical Review 308

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Employee 308

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 15, 2021

These professionals are the most qualified and skilled at using the software to ensure that a company implements measures to attract customers. Their expertise is crucial to a company’s attempts to improve its interactions with customers. Here are six effective hiring tips for a salesforce consultant you should know. Conclusion.

Hiring 167

Hiring Software Review Technical Review Software 167

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. You may be the main problem, insisting on making every decision, and hiring cheap helpers rather than help. Be sure to attach employee bonuses and even overtime opportunities to measurable business results.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Hire only ethical people, so further time on business ethics is not needed. This is usually an excuse for not developing ethical policies and practices.

Software Review 291

Software Review Offshore Entrepreneur Leadership 291

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Manage customer service. They probably have arbitrated differences many times before in their lives, and know how important it is to remain calm and soft-spoken in the face of emotional customers and processes that are not working. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Personnel Manager.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

Investors, partners, team members, and customers implicitly value or devalue a startup based on the leader’s physical presence, emotional identity, social skills, intellectual agility, moral values, and past performance in the domain. I have paraphrased his key points here as follows: Leader personal impact. Focus on talent and people growth.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

Venture Studios are an “idea factory” with their own employees searching for product/market fit and a repeatable and scalable business model. The studio’s internal team builds the minimal viable product, then validates an idea by finding product/market fit and early customers. They do the most to de-risk the early stages of a startup.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Hiring virtual assistants for each specific project can be a lot more efficient and cheaper than hiring and managing employees.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

Investors, partners, team members, and customers implicitly value or devalue a startup based on the leader’s physical presence, emotional identity, social skills, intellectual agility, moral values, and past performance in the domain. I have paraphrased his key points here as follows: Leader personal impact. Focus on talent and people growth.

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Post-sale, AI analyzes customer data to improve service and loyalty, making it a cornerstone of modern sales methodologies.

Generative AI 297

Generative AI CTO Hire Fractional CTO Software Review 297

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 12, 2020

Also, if your employees will use personal devices in the workplace, you must ensure they are using the latest security protections, such as: Biometric authentication. You must also routinely review your data security plan as you hire more employees and create more departments. Facial recognition. Fingerprints.

Security 273

Security Software Review Technical Review Networking 273

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

VC’s have just changed the ~50-year old social contract with startup employees. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. As Venture Capital emerged as an industry in the mid 1970’s, investors in venture-funded startups began to give stock options to all their employees. Here’s why.

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Such companies often have less workload compared to established businesses with a large customer base. Experienced financial experts are expensive to hire in-house. Small businesses can hire such firms and get quality services on a pay as you go basis. Customer service. This is because such experts may be underutilized.

Startup 238

Startup Technical Review Salary Hiring 238

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

If you’re an early employee at a startup, one day you will wake up to find that what you worked on 24/7 for the last year is no longer the most important thing – you’re no longer the most important employee, and process, meetings, paperwork and managers and bosses have shown up. The company was going to hire a VP of Marketing.

Part-Time VPE 334

Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Hiring 334

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. Your frugal role model of bringing your own lunch won’t be convincing to most employees. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required. Staffing and people-management costs.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Your customers will no longer be your customers. Your customers start buying. The CEO should dial through as many of the largest existing customers to get a firsthand understanding of the magnitude of any revenue shortfall. Ask yourself: Are there now new customers, new services and new channels to pursue?

South Korea 334

South Korea Salary Business Model China 334

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2021

Only the best leaders and CEOs pay real attention to how and when people commit, how employees accept accountability, and how they win. CEOs who make this happen start by hiring the right people, communicating a strategy, and being the role model for collaboration. If your focus is on an effective culture, you are a leader.

Leadership 340

Leadership Framework Demand Employee 340

The Startup Magazine

MAY 31, 2022

Any operation that involves an employee, like recruitment, payroll management, or even offboarding, can be included in these HR functions or duties. . Your human resource activities can be outsourced to: Independent HR consultants are professionals who can assist you with hiring, HR policies, and other decision-making.

United States 158

United States Salary UAE Hiring 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Manage customer service. They probably have arbitrated differences many times before in their lives, and know how important it is to remain calm and soft-spoken in the face of emotional customers and processes that are not working. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Personnel Manager.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Business success is all about having the best team, yet the average entrepreneur has little prior experience with hiring people and building top-notch teams. Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service.

Cost 260

Cost Hiring Matching Internet 260

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Customer care is one of the most critical steps in starting a business. It’s a crucial part of every business for you to build strong relationships with your customers. According to a survey report provided by ArenaCX, 56% of customers stated that they are willing to pay a premium for a product to get excellent customer care.

Customer 158

Customer Social Media Software Review Startup 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

Some entrepreneurs have an abundance of passion, but are short on the realities of customer needs, market trends, and financial constraints. Employees are engaged, committed, and accountable. They now expect a solid documented plan, with specific goals and targets based on data. The ability to make timely and fact-based decisions.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Partner Software Developers 341

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 20, 2024

One increasingly popular strategy is to hire a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO). link] Now, according to Forbes , a startup has to spend around 15 to 50 percent of its budget on paying its employees. Early-stage startups often operate with tight budgets, making it impractical to hire a full-time CMO.

B2B 148

B2B Hiring Salary Early Stage 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2019

Provide website forums to help customers solve their own problems. Use free e-commerce software and services like PayPal before building an expensive customized solution. Hiring virtual assistants for each specific project can be a lot more efficient and cheaper than hiring and managing employees.

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 243

Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2017

His company had marched through customer discovery, learning about the customer problem, validated solutions and was now scaling sales and marketing. It wasn’t that I had somehow inherited dumb employees. Help Engineering understand customer needs. All good news. I wasn’t surprised. This is a big idea.

Startup 329

Startup PR Public Relations Channel 329

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

A common practice is to hire local employees who know the geographic culture, even though this may well dilute the company culture. For additional growth, most companies expand the product portfolio to cater to more customers, and sell more to existing customers. Product-line expansion.

Dilution 355

Dilution Startup Merger Flash 355

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

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

You will see that I believe innovation is only one of many factors that ultimately determine your position with customers and your own legacy: Ideas are everywhere – success is all about execution. Search for customer pain rather than high margins. Provide outside training opportunities and hiring to promote this culture.

Artificial Inteligence 286

Artificial Inteligence Technology Leadership Business Model 286

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

Some people claim ‘culture and employee engagement’ are luxuries you can focus on in good times but during market downturns they should be subjugated to business KPIs. MN: I think where most people go wrong during times of difficulty is to try and shield their employees from the truth — especially when it can feel scary.

Employee 138

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 138

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. He just hired Meg Whitman.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2022

People who have been followers too long as an employee don’t realize how hard it is to be a leader. Every new entrepreneur has to initiate the right actions to be perceived as a leader in their chosen business domain by their team and by their customers, or the road to success and satisfaction will be lost along the way.

Leadership 317

Leadership Founder Startup Networking 317

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 14, 2024

Brian shares insights on effective feedback techniques, the significance of employee engagement, and how to align a team around a common mission. The conversation highlights the role of training and development in fostering a motivated workforce and the importance of understanding employee perspectives through stay interviews.

Wisconsin 90

Wisconsin Cofounder Leadership Employee 90