Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

ConversionXL

JULY 22, 2021

The technical elements of your website’s SEO are crucial to search performance. In this article, you’ll learn how to conduct a technical SEO audit to find and fix issues in your website’s structure. Using a technical SEO audit to improve your SEO performance. Think of a technical SEO audit as a website health check.

Technical Review 162

Technical Review SEO Software Review XML 162

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 19, 2025

Yet, most small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management. Image source Startups often face unpredictable revenue streams and mounting operational costs, making cash flow management particularly challenging. Setting aside a percentage of monthly revenue creates a financial buffer that can cover urgent expenses when needed.

Management 143

Management Startup Forecast Finance 143

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2024

In March 2022 I wrote a description of the Quantum Technology Ecosystem. Just as a reminder, Quantum technologies are used in three very different and distinct markets: Quantum Computing , Quantum Communications and Quantum Sensing and Metrology. Different technical approaches (superconducting, photonics, cold atoms, etc.)

Technical Review 267

Technical Review Illinois Algorithm Software Review 267

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

So how did a company that provides storage grow so fast (we’ll exit 2017 with 10’s of millions in recurring revenue), why is it so defensible and is it really a tech startup? If you buy that Amazon is a tech startup then essentially you’ve already answered the question. In short — how the hell did we raise $30 million?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Los Angeles Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of entertainment tech, gaming and commerce. The move to remote work forced quick adoption of cloud technology and tools that were once having difficulties selling to large corporates, saw explosive growth – from Zoom to Hopin, new unicorns were born in record time. billion in revenue last year.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 21, 2025

The Shift to Sustainable Transport Transportation is changing quickly due to growing concerns about the environment. Entrepreneurs entering this field should consider adopting environmentally friendly technologies to stay competitive. The initial purchase price of electric and hybrid cars tends to be higher.

Technical Review 144

Technical Review Government Operations Demand 144

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

This post previously appeared in the Harvard Business Review. But these look for founders who have a technical or business model insight and a team. Accelerators provide these teams with technical and business expertise and connect them to a network of other founders and advisors. Carlos stirred his coffee.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

VC Cafe

JANUARY 16, 2022

It’s enough to look at the predictions from 2019 (that didn’t see Covid coming…) to understand how big trends can missed due to an unpredictable sequence of events. But Benedict Evans rightfully questions if it’s not premature to do so, in his excellent Tech questions for 2022.

Technical Review 187

Technical Review Mobile Merger IP 187

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

We had nascent revenues, ridiculous cost structures and unrealistic valuations. SEEING THINGS FROM THE VC SIDE OF THE TABLE While I was a VC in 2007 & 2008 those were dead years because the market again evaporated due the the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Until we weren’t. Nobody cared about our valuations any more.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

Some analysis and due diligence along the following lines should be performed on every idea, as a reality check, before committing your efforts and other people’s money to building a business: Look for places where competitors are few. Even good social causes need to bring in revenue to continue their worthy efforts.

Technical Review 267

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 267

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We did a full-court press led by Steven because once we decided this was the team we wanted to work with and this opportunity mapped to our belief system that content + tech will build a generation of great Internet companies. Again, I think the company would slug me if released revenue data, but … wow. Domain Knowledge.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review North America Los Angeles Cofounder 373

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. The “span of control” for a growing tech startup is probably 6-9 people. You help them prioritize their objectives and review the results. They review competitors offerings and analyst reports. You set direction.

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees. Yet, as a business consultant, I often find minimal focus on improving employee engagement and assessing their customer-facing performance.

Customer 369

Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public. From a technology perspective our journey is nowhere near over. 2007 was the watershed year.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

But when you create a product for a large segment of users who previously couldn’t afford products due to price or complexity and if that product can work at “Internet scale” you have the chance to do something truly amazing. I have written this up before if you’re interested – I call it Deflationary Economics.

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Startup Business Model Non-Compete 401

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2020

For example, if your idea is so new and different that it implies real social or technological change is necessary before widespread acceptance, investors will define your market as nascent or unproven, and be very reluctant to fund you, no matter how convincing your projections may be. Typical valuations range from 3x-5x revenues.

Artificial Inteligence 436

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Valuation Startup 436

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

You can read various articles out there which will give you the cursory facts about Airbnb like their overall revenue or profitability or how their business has faired here in 2020 in the COVID environment. But ops & customer support is another 17-20% of revenue and arguably you couldn’t run the business if you took that away.

North America 401

North America IPO Europe Prospectus 401

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to the Internet as an opportunity to get rich quick, instead of a place where you can start a business you love, for very little capital and minimal technical expertise. Generate revenue around the clock. Focus on recurring revenues. Use the Internet to outsource staff.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

But there is no magic formula on how to bring these together a second time, but I did see some good insights on the parameters in a classic startup business parable, “ Endless Encores ,” by Ken Goldstein, who advises startups and has built companies in technology, entertainment, media, and e-commerce.

Technical Review 324

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Business Model 324

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. In my experience, even in startups, longer-term strategy often gets pushed off the agenda due to current challenges. Hone your process for due diligence and integrating these new elements.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Merger Social Media 312

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. An example of the systems companies build are pricing & revenue management tools to best help to optimize yield. Seriously, this happens.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Every one of you business owners I know periodically introduces new products and services to sustain growth, fight off competitors, or take advantage of new technologies. Target audience may be limited or new due to price. Don’t count on these as short-term solutions to a growth problem. Incent these early.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. If you are early in a platform (Zynga to Facebook, AngryBirds to iOS, Maker Studios to YouTube) you catch a major marketing wave where acquiring customers and growing revenue is exponential.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2023

With so many startups facing a tough journey right from their inception, the pressing question becomes: How does one successfully navigate the tech industry? The key lies in having a groundbreaking idea and understanding the broader tech landscape and the forces shaping it.

Technical Review 137

Technical Review Startup Silicon Valley Agile 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Bartering technically means exchanging goods or services as a substitute for money.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. In fact, they are well-qualified overall, having worked with high technology and computers for at least 20 years, are highly educated, and highly motivated.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

Conversely, due to the lack of continuous monitoring, an unattended site means that a tank overflow could go unnoticed for hours. This technology allows customers to remotely monitor multiple tanks simultaneously with a single device that sits 50 feet away from any critical equipment. Extended IIoT Applications.

Revenue 179

Revenue Technical Review Cost Operations 179

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

So if your costs are $500,000 per month and you have $350,000 per month in revenue then your net burn (500-350) is equal to $150,000. But those of us with longer memories remember that the revenue line can move south very quickly when the market overall turns south. Gross burn is the total amount of money you are spending per month.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

This article first appeared on the Harvard Business Review blog. He sold off slower-growth, low-tech, and nonindustrial businesses — financial services, media, entertainment, plastics, and appliances. GE’s gross margin was 21% last year, compared with 28% at United Technologies and 30% at Siemens.

Institutional Investors 271

Institutional Investors Dividend Stock Technical Review 271

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 12, 2024

While artificial intelligence has been decades in the making, only recently has the tech industry generated such high expectations for how it will usher in a new era for digital innovation. Following the AI boom in 2023, the spotlight has been even more on this technology, ensuring that this would be the year when companies went all-in on AI.

Technical Review 167

Technical Review Cost Artificial Inteligence Analytics 167

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 5, 2025

Whether you are trying to increase your revenue or improve your customer satisfaction, taking your business to the next level means looking at all of your strategic opportunities. Leverage Technology for Growth Technology is a powerful tool for driving efficiency and innovation.

Software Review 147

Software Review Technical Review Retention Campaign 147

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

In addition, founders thinking about starting a company can be overwhelmed by choice, as there are so many problems to tackle with technology, but it could be comforting to know that investors are interested in those areas in the first place.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. Nail the solution. Process myth: Why building a product leads to failure.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359