Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule. You need to be part of a larger ecosystem.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 1, 2010

What would a sales call look like, starting with your 30-second pitch, then dealing with skeptical questions, trying to earn this potential customer's interest, respect, and eventually money, all with only one advantage? You should go through this exercise because this skill is valuable in every sales call. Doesn't that sound nice?

Open Source 239

Open Source Dilution Software Development Software Developers 239

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

There’s an old joke in software development, “How much time does it take to design software?” If you’ve been involved with a number of software projects you already have an intuitive sense for this. In summary – I have been involved with software development for 25 years.

Software 344

Software Part-Time VPE Engineer Leadership 344

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Code Collaborator is tool which helps software developers review each other’s work, just like an editor of a book. So the economics are obvious: If two developers would each normally spend an average of 30 minutes on a code review, once a day, that’s 20 hours of total time in a business-month. And we did.

Software Review 256

Software Review Product Software Developers Software Development 256

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2021

Idea people must surround themselves with people who build momentum and get things done, including production, marketing, finance, and sales. Gates was a software developer genius, but Ballmer upheld the marketing and business side. Paul Allen was the idea visionary.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Partner Software Development 341

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 31, 2010

What if a huge company with a hundred software developers and a million dollars in marketing budget decides to copy my idea? At Smart Bear we make a peer review tool for software programmers; you don't have to be a geek to know that any software development tool company shares the following fear: "What if Microsoft copies us?"

Software Review 243

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Software Developers 243

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

Agile marketing takes its inspiration from Agile software development, which is how 90% of companies develop software today. The non-marketing parts of the business (sales, finance, and the CEO) don’t care about more marketing “stuff”; they want more leads, more sales, and more profits.

Agile 264

Agile Marketing Campaign Sales 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2014

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling. Complementary skills.

Partner 269

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 269

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Every company and startups needs marketing experts, who are skilled and knowledgeable in the development of marketing programs, content creation, lead generation, and the utilization of social media. Software Development Professional. Sales Professional.

Angel Investor 267

Angel Investor Social Media LLC Viral 267

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2011

When I was a software development manager, I tried to get a “bottoms up” time estimate from the team, and then pad it by 50%. Invariably we were in crisis mode by delivery time, and the common complaint was that “management” always forced unrealistic schedules on developers. Sales aren’t meeting projections.

Startup 245

Startup Software Development Software Developers Business Model 245

YoungUpstarts

MAY 13, 2015

Historically, the interaction between the credit collections department and the sales team has been an adversarial relationship. The sales team sees the credit collections department as an obstacle to opening new accounts and closing deals. Collecting payment is arguably more important than making the sale.

Sales 100

Sales Software Developers Software Development Distribution 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2013

When I was a software development manager, I tried to get a “bottoms up” time estimate from the team, and then pad it by 50%. Invariably we were in crisis mode by delivery time, and the common complaint was that “management” always forced unrealistic schedules on developers. Sales aren’t meeting projections.

Founder 250

Founder Startup Software Development Software Developers 250

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling. Complementary skills.

Partner 258

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Equity 258

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2012

When I was a software development manager, I tried to get a “bottoms up” time estimate from the team, and then pad it by 50%. Invariably we were in crisis mode by delivery time, and the common complaint was that “management” always forced unrealistic schedules on developers. Sales aren’t meeting projections.

Software Development 229

Software Development Software Developers Business Model Product Development 229

YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2020

Or maybe with sales? Software development? Instead of blindly trying to grind on a day to day basis, and losing track of time, you can instead build a solid plan that includes an actionable list of people you would hire to help you out with different initiatives. For instance, what is it that you need the most?

Distribution 264

Distribution Vertical Business Plan Software Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 29, 2011

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling. Complementary skills.

Partner 240

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 240

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

That died with waterfall software development. Let’s start with how much value you think you’ll create for your customer if they use your product in terms of hours saved, costs avoided, extra sales, better conversion rates or whatever. Do so at your peril. I’m talking about your financial spreadsheet.

Business Plan 334

Business Plan AJAX Venture Capital Technical Review 334

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that. Something else?

Lean 263

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 263

ReadWriteStart

MAY 16, 2018

For sales processes, machine learning is a dream come true. Not all sales tools are created equal, though. The successful sales teams of the future will lean on these to win more deals: Personalized mobile apps. Node, an AI-powered discovery engine , is going all-in on sales enablement.

Sales 90

Sales Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software Review 90

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2010

If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales. This is probably the best place to apply your “gut” feeling. Complementary skills.

Partner 230

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 230

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Examples: A popular app drops to zero downloads after Apple builds it into iOS; A Microsoft Office add-on drops to zero sales after Microsoft builds that feature into Office; A Twitter utility breaks when Twitter removes functionality from their public API. The product was built on a platform , and the platform changed.

Software Review 294

Software Review Channel Revenue Non-Compete 294

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 10, 2011

Here’s a simple question, often asked when designing software but more useful when you’re designing your marketing and sales pitch: How are people doing this today without you? Your power users are the mavens to whom non-power users look for advice, so they become your sales force. World domination!

Software Review 232

Software Review Technical Review .Net Design 232

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2011

The next step in complexity is building a software product that you can offer as a service to your customers. A simple example might be mortgage calculator to add to your real estate sales site. Any credible software developer should be willing to tackle this kind of tool for a couple of thousand dollars.

Hosting 248

Hosting Bootstrapping .Net Social Network 248

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 12, 2014

I was still doing consulting work and built a point-of-sale and CRM system for a local cellular retailer. Having a good job afforded me the luxury of giving the customer a heavily discounted rate in exchange for the rights to the software. Seek help for things you don’t fully understand. Talk to other entrepreneurs for real advice.

Angel Investor 275

Angel Investor Security Cofounder Salary 275

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 30, 2016

By Vadim Kondratiev, Head of Sales at Anadea Inc. When a project owner seeks for a software development company, they often mention in their inquiries that they want to deal with a very professional developer. But what kind of service do they actually want their developers to provide? Professional project owner.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Software Developers Software Development Software Review 133

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Isaac Cambron is co-founder and CTO of Zensight.co , whose pre-launch product enables sales reps to find and use their best content to close more deals. Below, he answers questions about developing products from scratch, as well as the difficult technology choices and tradeoffs CTOs must make. We did that for a lot of reasons.

Technology 334

Technology Ruby Startup Engineer 334

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2014

Activities cover clinical trials, FDA approvals, Freedom to Operate (IP, Licenses) software development, drug or device design, etc. Customer Relationships is what we think of as traditional sales and marketing; assembling a SAB, getting the KOL’s, conferences, articles, etc.

Intellectual Property 290

Intellectual Property Lean IP Open Source 290

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

There are three ways to grow sales – online and offline both. So what are these 3 ways to increase online sales? It’s the most expensive part of increasing sales. Since this is what I mostly write about on this blog , I’ll move on to the next 2 ways to increase online sales. #2: Only three. Conclusion.

Sales 125

Sales Phoenix Email Europe 125

VC Cafe

MARCH 7, 2025

Microsoft has introduced Dragon Copilot, an AI assistant designed for healthcare professionals as well as AI agents for sales to take on Salesforce. Kol hakavod Stav Levi Neumark and team Alta on coming out of stealth with a $7M seed round to bring AI-driven sales agents to market!

Israel 103

Israel Stealth Taiwan ChatGPT 103

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Consider investing in these four software categories to improve business performance and bring in more revenue. Marketing automation software. Attracting new customers and nurturing them along through the sales pipeline is what every business tries to do effectively and efficiently. Project management tools.

Small Business 173

Small Business Agile Software Software Development 173

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2014

The next step in complexity is building a software product that you can offer as a service to your customers, or a mobile smartphone app. A simple example might be a mortgage calculator to add to your real estate sales site. Any credible software developer should be willing to tackle this kind of tool for a couple of thousand dollars.

Startup 252

Startup eCommerce Hosting Bootstrapping 252

YoungUpstarts

JULY 17, 2014

The company started as an eBay storefront through which Amoruso sold vintage threads she found in thrift shops and at garage sales. She ran the business out of her tiny studio in a rented pool house and, in just a few years, has turned it into a thriving multi-million dollar business that does six figures in sales a day. Stormy Simon.

Cofounder 176

Cofounder Software Development Software Developers Campaign 176