Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

In fact, there are a host of reasons why a non-focused startup business is more likely to struggle for survival, lose market and investor attention, and miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on their scope: Time to market is tied to the size of your offering. No startup can implement a broad strategy quickly enough to stay ahead.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. What they should be doing is hiring only “entrepreneurs,” meaning people who think and act as if this is their own business. We don’t need to reward lead generation.”

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TechEmpower

AUGUST 14, 2023

Startup founders make decisions on a daily basis – significant decisions that will have lasting impact on their business. Actually, many startups need two kinds of technical advisors. We’ve talked about this before in Startup CTO or Developer. No good innovator turns down advice! And Maybe You Need Two! innovation

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2022

Successful startups seem to follow similar paths to greatness, and unfortunately all too often that path leads them back down the hill much faster than they went up. By definition, most startups begin as a result of some innovation in product, process, or service. Consider MySpace and Webvan. Product-line expansion.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2021

Here are three key cost elements of just the viral marketing campaigns: Hire brand evangelists. Some startups not only ignore this and don’t budget for it, but they actually plan on the free viral marketing to generate enough revenue from click-through advertising to fund operations and future growth. Marty Zwilling.

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The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

Startups are the most vulnerable considering they are limited in terms of the resources needed to invest in robust cybersecurity systems. Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki from Pexels Going beyond hiring security guards, it’s also important for startups to implement the right strategies that prevent attacks through their physical assets.

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The Startup Magazine

JUNE 20, 2024

When it comes to B2B startups, effective marketing can make or break a company’s early growth trajectory. With limited resources and high stakes, startups must be strategic about every decision, particularly when it comes to marketing. One increasingly popular strategy is to hire a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO).

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

In fact, there are a host of reasons why a non-focused startup business is more likely to struggle for survival, lose market and investor attention, and miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on their scope: Time to market is tied to the size of your offering. No startup can implement a broad strategy quickly enough to stay ahead.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

These approaches allow your startup to grow more rapidly, save costs, but costly mistakes can lead to business failure. Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects. Some entrepreneurs view their outsourced employees as temps, or as a cheap way to staff the company during its startup phase.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

One of the biggest myths in the business world is that startups are no place for Baby Boomers, that aging generation born between 1945 and 1964. Today people over 55 are almost twice as likely to create successful startups as Gen-Y, age 20 to 34. Yet credible reports on current trends tell us just the opposite.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

If you are a young startup founder, how do you find that CEO or other executive for your “dream team” to close on funding or complement your skills to kick start your company? The CEO must focus on key management team hires and assume a few mistakes which need to get fixed.

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The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

Keep reading to discover the key benefits of hiring a professional to orchestrate your next gathering. Stress Reduction and Time Management Advantages One of the primary advantages of hiring a professional event planner is the substantial reduction of stress.

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The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 24, 2024

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash Here are tips to help you hire the ideal virtual CFO: Understand Your Business Needs Your first step is to clarify what your business requires. Having clear objectives will ensure the hiring process becomes less cumbersome, so you can focus on candidates with relevant experience.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2022

This means hiring the right people, providing training and tools, and improving systems to overcome challenges. Hoping for good luck and applying pressure is not leadership. Being able and willing to size and allocate the resources to win the small battles will ultimately win the war. Incents business growth and people's well-being.

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Steve Blank

JUNE 20, 2022

How does a newly hired Chief Technology Officer (CTO) find and grow the islands of innovation inside a large company? I just had coffee with Anthony, a friend who was just hired as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a large company (30,000+ people.) This post previously appeared in Fast Company. Good News and Bad.

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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.

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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. Almost any startup can start with Excel, and move to open-source data analysis tools, including Python or RStudio.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2023

It seems like every entrepreneur I meet these days is quick to proclaim themselves a visionary, expecting that will give more credibility to their startup idea, and improve their odds with investors. In reality, I’m one of the majority of investors who believe that startup success is more about the execution than the idea.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Entrepreneurs who experience success with their first startup are often amazed to realize that the risks and fears of doing it right the second time go up, rather than down. Encores are tough, especially in the high-risk world of startups, yet every entrepreneur I know can’t wait to start over and do it again.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

I see entrepreneurs every day who are trying to change the world with a new idea, and startups that are trying to survive their hyper-growth phase by changing processes to meet demand. Here are ten of the key questions that apply equally well to the world of startups and entrepreneurs, as they do to large organizations.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Most of you prefer to ignore the feedback from analysts that your chances of creating the next unicorn startup may be as low as one in five million. Minimize permanent hiring and customized operational facilities. The big question is how you can beat these odds. Facilitate rapid growth through contracted resources.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2022

Also, it’s possible to turn your weaknesses into strengths by getting guidance from peers you trust who have complementary skills, hiring people with the expertise you lack, and overcompensating with excellent preparation. Count on the people around you to help. Celebrate small successes in your leadership efforts.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2020

It seems like every entrepreneur I meet these days is quick to proclaim themselves a visionary, expecting that will give more credibility to their startup idea, and improve their odds with investors. In reality, I’m one of the majority of investors who believe that startup success is more about the execution than the idea.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Focus on talent and people growth.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

As an entrepreneur mentor, my mission is to foster the attributes in you as a startup founder that I believe will lead to success. Unless you sold your last startup for a billion dollars, the days are gone when you can just scratch your idea on the back of a napkin, and investors will throw money at you.

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Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

Three types of organizations – Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Studios – have emerged to reduce the risk of early-stage startup failure by helping teams find product/market fit and raise initial capital. They do the most to de-risk the early stages of a startup. Reducing Startup Risk.

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The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Use Contracts to Your Advantage Whether you’re hiring employees, working with vendors, or entering into agreements with partners, contracts are essential. The post How Entrepreneurs Need To Plan To Protect Their Business appeared first on The Startup Magazine.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen. Build a service vision that everyone sees as clearly as you.

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The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 19, 2025

If youre not confident in managing these alerts yourself, consider hiring a reputable Managed Services Provider (MSP) to handle 24/7 remote monitoring for you over the holidays. The post New Year, Same Threats: 8 Ways to Prepare Your IT Infrastructure for the Holiday Break appeared first on The Startup Magazine.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

As a mentor to startups, I see more startups that are really an individual professional, marketing themselves as a consultant or freelancer in this new gig economy. Tomorrow you may be looking for a Personal Finance Professional, Health-Care Professional, or even a Startup Professional. Staffing Professional.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Yet it always amazes me that I can find two different startups, seemingly working on the same problem, with one having a burn rate several times higher than the other. They understand startup realities. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2020

This will improve your effectiveness in your current role, and give you a head start towards a future role, such as startup founder, where you are the boss. Then when you have to hire people, you will pick the best. As an entrepreneur, executive, or team member, you are most impacted by the people you gather around you.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

He was able to identify ten lessons from the common threads to survival in the winning explorer teams, which I believe apply equally well to the survival and success of business startup teams today: Never lose sight of long-term goals, but focus real energy on short-term objectives. Then it extends to the hiring process.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Thus I often recommend that before you kick off your own business, you join another startup or existing business to see how things really work. Actually, building and nurturing the right team is the hard part, requiring communication, hiring, and leadership. Even the best college degree is not a substitute.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Hire only people with positive and can-do attitudes. It’s easy to spot negativity and complainers, which should be a major red flag in every hiring process. In fact, many experts believe that hiring for attitude is more important than hiring for skill. Use the interview process and really listen to responses.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Trying to save money by recruiting family members, or hiring only interns, is a bad risk. Recruit the best team members and provide incentives.

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