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.

Startup 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Startups with no exit planned will minimize investor returns. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

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. Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” If sales are the only way to get rewarded in your organization, then sales will take precedence over other activities.

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. Many startups see initial revenue from customers, and love the fast growth, but fail to anticipate the cost of early vendor payments, monthly overhead costs, and later taxes.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

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. The sales professional.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

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. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Member of the Advisory Board.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

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.

Startup 287

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 287

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 22, 2024

Delays can make or break a startup. In the fast-paced startup environment, where every customer counts, delays can quickly spiral into lost opportunities and tarnished reputations. Startups often juggle multiple priorities with limited resources, making it easy for delays to creep into operations.

Artificial Inteligence 144

Artificial Inteligence Customer Technical Review Operations 144

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 6, 2024

Sales incentives play a critical role in motivating employees. Definition and Importance of Sales Incentives Sales incentives are bonuses and rewards employees receive to inspire and improve their work performance. Companies find that implementing sales incentives boosts morale and improves overall productivity.

Employee 158

Employee Sales Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

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.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Climate tech – We have a fair chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change if startups offer commercial solutions to decarbonize society or remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

This is especially true for startups, which operate on the basis of customer traction to solidify expectations with investors or lending institutions. sales to product development), the problems will continue to exist. Invest time and thought into your sales processes and structures.

Customer 347

Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. Of course, there are always exceptions, but how much added risk do you need for your startup? billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. How can you get exposure?

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

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.

Metrics 387

Metrics Technical Review Leadership Framework 387

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

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

That challenge is a major business opportunity, as well as a risk, for startups. The bad news for startups is that your company can lose big if it’s caught in the middle. Sometimes the problem cause is that startups forget the technical standards and quality processes that every Internet rollout must follow to reduce the risk.

Technical Review 342

Technical Review Customer Social Network Software Review 342

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. Sales Professional. The best sales people in any company are highly focused, and self-motivated by the commissions they can earn by closing a few big deals.

Angel Investor 267

Angel Investor Social Media LLC Viral 267

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

The most common business entity used for startups is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), which is the cheapest and simplest to manage. All startups, including non-profits, need revenue to thrive, such as such as from subscriptions, retail, online, licensing, or services. Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

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 one-time sales in your business model. New channels, such as adding brick-and-mortar distributors to supplement your online sales, also can multiply your rate of growth.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I realized that he and I see several common patterns that account for a large percentage of new venture failures.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

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. Idea people must surround themselves with people who build momentum and get things done, including production, marketing, finance, and sales.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Angel Investor Partner Software Developers 341

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

This dual-leadership approach would have avoided the frustration I felt in a startup a few years ago where beta customers loved our software solution as a free prototype, but we couldn’t sell one in the first few months for a price that seemed reasonable for all our work and innovation. These two jobs need to be done in parallel.

Technical Review 399

Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

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? He must nail down a sales process that fits the domain and economy. A great hire can make a company, but a single bad one can break it.

Exit Strategy 407

Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

If your startup is great enough to get a term sheet from angel investors or a venture capitalist, the next step for the investor is to complete the dreaded due diligence process. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

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.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

The biggest challenge for every entrepreneur and every startup today is to get noticed and remembered in today’s information overload. Every one of these probably has a unique story, but in my years as a startup advisor I only remember hearing a few who capitalized on their story.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

One of the most highly anticipated startup IPOs of recent years, we now get a peek inside Airbnb’s business. Sales and marketing has been 30%+ basically forever, though undoubtedly Airbnb has enough brand recognition and loyal customers that if you turned off marketing spend then revenue would drop but not to zero.

North America 401

North America IPO Prospectus Europe 401

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.

Technical Review 324

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Business Model 324

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 alone will never find enough hours in a day to keep with all the challenges of sales, support, and scaling the business, in addition to developing and delivering your solution.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

If you have been working alone, perfecting your idea, with no new business track record, your best strategy is to license the technology to a company or team with real business startup experience. You may get that million dollars someday in future royalty payments, but don’t expect anything today. Commercialization requires infrastructure.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

VC Cafe

MARCH 7, 2025

Israeli tech funding remained stable in February, with 25 startups raising a total of $588 million and two new unicorns minted: Dream and Augury. Microsoft has introduced Dragon Copilot, an AI assistant designed for healthcare professionals as well as AI agents for sales to take on Salesforce. Startup funding -20% YoY to $19.3B

Israel 103

Israel Stealth Taiwan ChatGPT 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

Leaders and investors need to know if you have and are tapping into your key sources of relevant data, including web analytics, sales management data, and customer relationship management (CRM) software. Rarely is there alignment between sales and marketing. Long sales cycles obscure beginning and end of costs.

Acquisition 250

Acquisition Cost Customer Sales Cycle 250

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Startups with no exit planned will minimize investor returns. Most entrepreneurs like the startup role, but not the big-company role. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 17, 2024

A strong Rev Ops function is crucial for optimizing revenue generation and enabling marketing, sales, and customer success teams to work cohesively. 11:00] How do you address companies that take a very siloed approach to Sales & Marketing? [13:24] IBM's had sales operations, which is a portion of revenue operations for decades.

Revenue 94

Revenue Technical Review Framework Austin 94

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

Today, a new class of startups are attempting to sell these products to the Defense Department. Amazingly, there is no single DoD-wide phone book available to startups of who to call in the Defense Department. But startups? Most startups don’t have a clue where to start. So I wrote one.

Programming 249

Programming Customer Portfolio Government 249

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Although noteworthy, working with large corporations differs remarkably from working with startups. Are they publicly available? Beware of being swayed by big-name firms or impressive name-dropping. Understand exactly what the company contributed to each project.

Software Developers 297

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 297

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Hiring in any new venture needs to be a structured and high priority task, not the ad hoc informal process I see in many startups that are struggling to grow: Crisis mode hiring rather than planned team growth. I’m not suggesting executive search firms for every startup position, but national recruiting organizations will get better results.

Cost 260

Cost Hiring Matching Internet 260