Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Yet as I mentor entrepreneurs around the country, crowdfunding still seems to be one of the least understood approaches to startup funding, with more myths than accredited angels and professional venture capital investors combined. Product pre-order model. Startup equity model. Donation good-cause model. Interest on debt model.

Accredited Investor 352

Accredited Investor Startup SEC Equity 352

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many strategies leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. Finish the product before marketing begins. No startup can afford to do these serially.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

Even though the color of their money is always green, all startup investors are not the same. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan. It’s no fun for either side.

Technical Review 345

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Offshore 345

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? There was no money train.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

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.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

In my experience, the Silicon Valley startup model, focused on disrupting established industries, has treated the USA well and created some great global businesses. It has played almost no role in the emergence of current non-US bred startups, including Alibaba in China, Waze from Israel, Paytm in India, and many more.

Global 345

Global Silicon Valley Marketing Indonesia 345

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to be effective team leaders, since no one can transform an idea into a product and a business without some help. The only real alternative is to find a cofounder who can build and lead the team, while you focus on the product. Otherwise, in my experience, the startup will fail.

Leadership 318

Leadership Technical Review Technical Cofounder Development Team Review 318

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2021

It takes an effective team to attract and serve a community in business these days. With real-time online reviews and feedback via the Internet, and instant relationships via social media, a voice from the top that is inconsistent with what is heard from the firing line defines a dysfunctional and noncompetitive company for today’s customer.

Developer 387

Developer Startup Social Media Internet 387

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2022

Don’t wait for competitors to force the need for better products, lower prices and better customer service. Encourages innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. In business, this means fostering a mindset of creativity, risk-taking and continuous improvement. Allocates adequate resources to overcome constraints.

Leadership 317

Leadership Founder Startup Networking 317

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2022

I have found it to be more productive and effective to lead with the model that no meetings will take an hour, and may be done in as little as five minutes. I have personally used this approach in leading startups as well as large organizations, in highly technical roles as well as business development and marketing. Marty Zwilling.

Elevator Pitch 386

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Dividend Leadership 386

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2021

Many product innovations come from quality improvement focuses, like the Japanese Kaizen initiative. Startups may be quicker to adopt innovations, but there are clearly some large problems than can only be solved by companies with large resources. Innovation must be driven top down by visionary leaders.

Technical Review 431

Technical Review Leadership Operations Networking 431

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2021

For example, my dictate that entrepreneurs need to find a “ painful ” problem to solve (such as high cost, low productivity) to attract customers, doesn’t really account for many successful startup businesses today, including top social media platforms, dating sites, and new fashions.

Customer 432

Customer Social Media Dividend Technical Review 432

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. I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Steve Blank

JUNE 20, 2022

He previously cofounded several enterprise software startups, and his previous job was building a new innovation organization from scratch inside another large company. And more importantly it wasn’t clear which, if any, of those groups were actually continuously delivering products and services at high speed. His challenge was to.

CTO 368

CTO Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Incubator 368

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. Performance accountability processes.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

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. Labor rates are lower in some countries, but culture and language match are the real keys to productivity. Hire and train your own managers for internal and external work projects.

Cost 346

Cost Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 346

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. In fact, this article was driven by a startup press release I saw a while back, highlighting a startup’s “geo-fencing technology” as a new basis for discount coupons.

Marketing 353

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

TechEmpower

AUGUST 21, 2023

Other common scenarios that we’ve seen: Scaling and new markets: Your company and product are established, and now you’re scaling or going after new markets. Outgrowing your stack: Your tech stack was just right for your startup. Our goal is to build a decent understanding of your business, your product, and your technology.

Technical Review 260

Technical Review Development Team Review Software Review Architecture 260

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Ensure that you investigate the designers' past work, samples of their work product, and their process. Although noteworthy, working with large corporations differs remarkably from working with startups. Quality of Work: The end product should not only look good but function as expected. cto , product , saas

Software Development 295

Software Development Software Developers Software Review Software 295

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. Make sure everyone accurately posts their role with your startup on social media profiles, resumes, and references. Status of the solution.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

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? Most founders are product guys. The CEO must focus on key management team hires and assume a few mistakes which need to get fixed.

Exit Strategy 407

Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

According to an old Harvard Business Review article, many people in history, famous for their inventions, like Thomas Edison, were entrepreneurs who only later were remembered as inventors of the products they commercialized. Technology limited to a single product is seldom enough for a business. Lock in your sustainable advantage.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a classic book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

TechEmpower

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

This isn’t just our opinion - our startup metrics prove it! Product descriptions and listings require tedious editing to make them engaging - especially after the fortieth one. Are you a founder or CEO or head of product? Go through your product right now and look for empty text boxes.

Generative AI 295

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Houston America 295

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2022

With social media and smart phone apps, real product information spreads at astounding speeds. Bureaucracy can appear quickly in startups as well as large companies. An agile business doesn’t wait for their current product line to fail, before planning some enhancements. They don’t realize that business as usual is gone forever.

Agile 379

Agile Technical Review Leadership Social Media 379

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Unfortunately, for startups entering a regulated market following this advice this might not be the optimum path. And why was Bill’s advice of staying away from Washington flawed for startups? These barriers to new innovative startups are called economic rent. Regulation What’s regulatory capture? Why is it bad? In the U.S.

Washington 319

Washington Government Marketing Silicon Valley 319

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Finding a customer for your product in the Department of Defense is hard: Who should you talk to? Looking for DoD customers How do you know if they have money to spend on your product? Today, a new class of startups are attempting to sell these products to the Defense Department. But startups? So I wrote one.

Programming 249

Programming Customer Portfolio Government 249

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2023

In reality, based on my experience as a startup advisor and investor, these constraints lead the best entrepreneurs to the most innovative solutions and new markets otherwise overlooked by their peers and competitors. In fact, that feeling of autonomy makes everyone more productive, more loyal, and feel valued.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Partner Matching Channel 277

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2023

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. Work on habits that improve your productivity, and find better tools every day. Develop productive relationships with people around you. Make sure that person is not you.

Management 291

Management Leadership Demand Founder 291

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Having just retired from a career as an entrepreneur I had started thinking about why startups were different from large companies. Over the last two decades Shawn has seen hundreds of startups use the Lean Methodology. Many of them get hung up on understanding how to select the right minimal viable product. The MVP Tree.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

The biggest complaint I hear from fellow investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that their product pitch is also their investor pitch. The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes.

Technical Review 369

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 369

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. You may think that patents and copyrights are not required, since your products are so innovative, but you will find that competitors are quick to copy your idea if you don’t protect it.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 13, 2024

Key Takeaways Efficient workflows can significantly boost productivity and reduce stress. Whether you’re a startup or a multinational corporation, the need for agile and streamlined workflows is universal. Embracing these tools is pivotal to unlocking new levels of productivity.

Technical Review 167

Technical Review Software Review Agile Operations 167

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2022

Founders have to communicate their ideas and products to investors, business partners, and the rest of the team. Whenever you discuss any startup matter, the receivers will view it from their particular frame of reference, including their values, their priorities, and their background.

Semantic 342

Semantic Technical Review Retention Distribution 342

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2020

Have you noticed in your startup or around your office that some people are always at work and busy, but others seems to consistently get more done? Studies of software teams, for example, show differences as great as ten to one in productivity between working team members. Define more activities as unimportant.

Product 433

Product Internet Management Software 433

Steve Blank

JUNE 1, 2021

I just had a call with Lorenz, a former business school student who started a job at a biotech startup making bacteria to take CO2 out of the air. The conversation got interesting when I asked, “How are you going to describe the product to potential customers in the concrete industry?” Your product is not someone’s problem.

Product 433

Product Advisory Board Green Customer 433

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2023

For example, it has long been widely accepted that one of the primary causes for entrepreneur failure in new startups is that many give up too soon. It takes effort and homework to find productive relationship channels, such as industry conferences, connections to experts, and key customer relationships. Find what works for you.

Flash 303

Flash Angel Investor Technical Review Social Media 303