Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. 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. The cost of social media done well is low.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. 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.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. 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. Time management.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

by Zain Jaffer, serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Zain Ventures. When the time comes, the following actions can help entrepreneurs get back on their feet: 1. sales to product development), the problems will continue to exist. Running a small business can come with a slew of challenges.

Customer 347

Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 347

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2016

Investors love the idea of backing second-time founders, especially if they have had success in their last company. etc… In addition, first-time founders I speak to often talk about how much they have learned and how they resolve to do things differently and better the next time. Is there a sophomore slump to avoid?

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder CTO Hire Early Stage 159

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2013

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can.

Technical Review 275

Technical Review Startup Software Review Database 275

YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

by Nick Frandsen, co-founder and managing partner at Dovetail. 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. Nick Frandsen is a co-founder and managing partner at Dovetail. It’s genius!

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Buffer your projected resource requirements.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 26, 2011

I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. The startup entrepreneur knows that they’re going to be wrong often. Time spent onboarding new talented team members always yields more productivity than doing everything yourself.

Hiring 335

Hiring Technical Review Startup Framework 335

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality. We asked some entrepreneurs what they loved about “being their own boss.”. #1-

Entrepreneur 152

Entrepreneur Jordan Technical Review Green 152

Hearpreneur

JULY 19, 2021

Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality. We asked some entrepreneurs what they loved about “being their own boss.”. #1-

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Jordan Non-Compete Community 139

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Moreover, since the first CEO was likely to have been one of the founders, the trauma of CEO removal begins.

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 233

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Buffer your projected resource requirements.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2011

Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. I challenge any startup to show me they have avoided all of these: One of the founders isn’t delivering. Besides, he is now more interested in designing the next product. But all too soon, reality sets in.

Startup 245

Startup Software Development Software Developers Business Model 245

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It should go without saying that this post is not advice, nor is it recommendation of what you should do, it’s simply my observation of how companies using Customer Development positioned themselves to successfully raise money from venture investors. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.” Can it scale?”

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, July 9, 2010 Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# theory of management At any given time, something like four percent of the US population is engaged in some form of new-company-creation. What motivates all these entrepreneurs? What do entrepreneurs look like?

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Management Founder Lean 161

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2012

Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. I challenge any startup to show me they have avoided all of these: One of the founders isn’t delivering. Besides, he is now more interested in designing the next product. But all too soon, reality sets in.

Software Development 229

Software Development Software Developers Business Model Product Development 229

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Global e-commerce entrepreneur and investor Richard Burry followed a unique path to the pinnacle of Internet success. As the founder of Smartvu Ltd., This is why I like to include customers in product development and testing. This helps build a great product but it’s not the best product that wins.

Portugal 145

Portugal Entrepreneur Internet Advertising 145

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Buffer your projected resource requirements.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. At this stage, I typically find a solo entrepreneur who creates, manages projects, directs, and oversees every step in the process.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 6, 2011

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can.

Technical Review 241

Technical Review Startup Software Review Database 241

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that. How do we raise the big bucks?”

Lean 263

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 263

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

As all of you know, Steve Blank is the progenitor of Customer Development and author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany. I have personally sold many copies of his book, and continue to recommend it as one of the most important books a startup founder can read. The Entrepreneur’s Guide is an easy read.

Customer Development 166

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV. Most entrepreneurs today don’t remember the Dot-Com bubble of 1995 or the Dot-Com crash that followed in 2000. It has to find product-market fit before running out of cash.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

In the last decade, SaaS (Software as a Service) has become a very popular model for new software product development. The largest cost component of establishing a SaaS company is product development costs. This includes the design, development, launch, and enhancement of the SaaS application. .

Cost 158

Cost Developer Azure Churn Rate 158

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 20, 2014

I’m reproducing in full here because it’s a great explanation of our solo-founder hypothesis and how we work more generally. Are you a solo founder with an idea? Snaptrip started as an idea, an excel spreadsheet and a passionate founder called Matt. THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN FOUNDER AND TEAM. HOW IT STARTED.

Cofounder 95

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 95

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 25, 2011

Steve Blank called last year’s conference “ Woodstock for entrepreneurs ” and my goal is do even better this year. (If SLLCONF featured incredible entrepreneurs on stage to put those ideas to rest (watch, for example: Aardvark , Grockit , Dropbox , PBworks ). Brad doesn’t meet your typical image of a scrappy entrepreneur.

San Francisco 146

San Francisco Silicon Valley Lean Agile 146

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

The entrepreneur who founded and grew the largest startup in the world to $10 billion in revenue and got fired is someone you have probably never heard of. If you’re following Tesla, you might be interested to know that Sloan wasn’t the founder of GM. The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant.

Michigan 301

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 301

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders. This is probably because many founders are product or technology people. I often hear early stage founders telling me about their initial sales successes.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are convinced that their idea and passion are so great that failure is not a possibility. Plan to and assemble the right team, including co-founders. You need skills in finance, operations, and marketing to supplement product development, and more hours of work than one person can manage.

Angel Investor 249

Angel Investor Cofounder Finance Operations 249

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 21, 2013

Enter “ The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses “, a New York Times bestseller by founder of IMVU (creator of 3D avatars) Eric Ries. Validated learning should be the goal of all entrepreneurs. This reduces guesswork, time, money and effort.

Lean 193

Lean Technical Review North America Startup 193

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 28, 2022

Enventys Partners was born when my company Command Partners, a digital marketing firm, vertically merged with Enventys, a product development firm. Our business name is a product of an online naming contest back when we were still starting. #9- A merger of two companies. Photo Credit: Roy Morejon. 10- From a naming contest.

Naming 155

Naming Entrepreneur Jordan Merger 155

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

by Steve Owens, Founder and CTO of Finish Line Product Development Services. One key attribute of great entrepreneurs is to surround themselves with the best. One big difference between successful entrepreneurs and unsuccessful ones is that successful entrepreneurs are continually testing their ideas.

Startup 133

Startup Product Development Revenue Distribution 133

Mike Michalowicz

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Small Business Association (SBA) and AARP announced they are teaming up to train entrepreneurs over the age of 50 who want to start a business. Old entrepreneurs are in fact the winners. She was one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, and controlled billions of dollars. Old Entrepreneurs Rule. Us old(er) guys?

Entrepreneur 123

Entrepreneur SBA Architecture Washington 123

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Pattern Recognition One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that you are constantly running a pattern recognition algorithm against a continual collection of customer and market data. But at times it’s why entrepreneurs can sink their own companies. The founder has seen the future and wants to get there immediately.

Customer 218

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 218

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can.

Technical Review 187

Technical Review Startup Software Review Database 187

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167