Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Both have worked. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Twitter showed no focus on revenue in the first five years, but was able to parlay 500M users into a $53B public company, and now growing revenue.

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Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 24, 2023

Every organization I get asked to help these days seems to realize that innovation is required on their part to survive and thrive in this age of constant change. Their challenge to me is how to integrate innovation into the thinking and process of every team, and measure the “ risk versus reward ” of resources expended. They also want to know how they stack up to competitors.

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Silicon Valley Government Early Stage Valuation 277

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

If you really want to start a business your way without a boss or professional investor hovering over you, then just fund it yourself or through friends and family, and grow it organically. It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. According to Investopedia , over 90 percent of successful businesses currently start this way.

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Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 31, 2022

Most entrepreneurs are so convinced that they are the disruptive element, they fail to anticipate that unknown facts or events can and will occur to disrupt their own well-laid plans. While it’s true that there is no way of know specifically what might happen, you need to anticipate the worst, and actually build a Plan B. People who haven’t thought about a Plan B often don’t survive the shock.

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Agile Viral Entrepreneur Technology 246

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Every business owner and entrepreneur I meet in my consulting rounds dreams of finding that “ disruptive ” innovation that will supercharge their business and move it into the ranks of business unicorns (billion-dollar valuations), such as SpaceX and Apple. They don’t realize that these are still rare, require a large risk, and may not be the best way to keep up with change in the market.

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Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review Metrics 252

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

Business partnerships have traditionally been agreements to drive more transactions than either company could do alone. The new paradigm, driven by disruptive technologies, cloud-served supercomputing, and the new generation of young adults with global empathy, is partnering and giving something now for a competitive advantage in the future. An excellent example is the initiative by Elon Musk and Tesla Motors a few years ago to give away their battery patents, to infrastructure and competitive c

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Partner Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Cloud 328

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. A major chunk of this activity is provided by the newer class of “super angels,” who often look more like micro-VCs, except that they are investing their own money.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

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. They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Yet credible reports on current trends tell us just the opposite.

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Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

The days of “ if we build it, they will come ” are gone. Great marketing is required to generate revenue and grow every business, especially new businesses which have no brand recognition nor loyal customer base. Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers.

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Marketing Revenue Matching Viral 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2022

Many entrepreneurs still don’t understand that building a business culture today of doing good, like helping people (society) and planet (sustainability), is also a key to maximizing profit. Employees and customers alike are looking for meaning, not simply employment and commodity prices. Every company needs this focus to attract the best minds and loyalty in both categories.

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Leadership Early Stage Demand Hiring 359

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2022

The concept of “ force multipliers ” originally was developed in military science, but certainly applies equally well to business. It refers to multiplication factors that occur when complementary actions or approaches are used together for greater impact. In my role of business advisor to startups, I often recommend these to increase initial brand identity and market penetration.

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Marketing Social Media Merger Acquisition 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2022

I have learned from experience that scaling any business is difficult. You may feel good when that first burst of customers arrives, but don’t assume that “ word of mouth ” and those early adopters will grow your business to match your dreams of success. In these days of global competition via multiple channels, you need continuous marketing to find more customers.

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Technical Review Social Media Channel Flash 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2022

When the economy struggles as it is doing now, that’s a strong signal that things have to change, and it’s hard to miss. But most of us in business have to deal most of the time with weak signals, or change that is happening in a far more subtle way. These changes can be cultural, like the increasing need to be social, spawning Facebook and a hundred others, or technological, like the explosion of mobile devices around the world.

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Metrics Agile Community Government 277

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Smart entrepreneurs are now starting to look at this option again, as well as the challenges of running a public company.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2022

Once your business is running and sustainable , everyone these days expects it to grow, as an indication of long-term health and competitiveness. Thus continued growth becomes the biggest challenge for many of you business owners I meet in my consulting practice. Everyone is looking for that magic strategy that will keep them growing, even during market and company changes.

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Intellectual Property Acquisition Non-Compete Merger 322

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2022

In my experience as a business advisor, most organizations, large and small, struggle to keep up with the pace of change and competitive forces today. You may have a brilliant product strategy, but your operational teams seem to fight change, as well as each other, resulting in turf battles and confusion, leading to the internal drama and problems that occupy too much of your time.

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Forecast Agile Lean Distribution 340

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2022

Most of the entrepreneurs and business owners I work with recognize that they must occupy and practice a primary leadership position , but many will admit that they are not thriving in this role. They are not having the impact they expected, and they are not feeling the personal satisfaction they need for next level motivation. This is a tough challenge for every coach and mentor.

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Leadership Entrepreneur Agile Demand 227

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

Marketing is everything these days. 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. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value f

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Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2022

It seems like every entrepreneur and business owner I meet is highly focused on fast growth to a large business, and becoming the next unicorn. They don’t realize the running a large business brings a whole new set of problems, and may not be all that much fun, compared to their small business role. If you enjoy your role today, I believe it makes more sense just to keep it that way.

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Public Relations Small Business Leadership Channel 231

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2022

When it’s time to sell your company, or get new investors, valuation is the key parameter to success or disappointment. The first step is to quantify the value of assets and current financial performance, but every one of you wants to go further by adding additional value for “intangibles,” commonly called goodwill. The challenge is what and how to highlight these to your advantage.

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Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2022

In growing your business, how you communicate under pressure can make or break your progress, as well as your relationship with the team and outside constituents. In my experience as a mentor and consultant, it is not just the words, but also your tone, approach, body language, and the context in which you choose to engage that can make all the difference.

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Leadership Audience Conversion Customer 288

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

I’m sure you have all noticed how today’s customers have changed the way they shop, but I still find, as an advisor and consultant, that many of you aren’t sure how to deal with the new mode, or are still waiting for things to get back to the old normal. I’m convinced you need to face reality – success with customers now requires developing a whole new relationship with your customers.

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Demand Customer Dividend Curation 315

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately, from my own experience, it’s not that simple, and not doing some preparation first can easily result in stress, lack of satisfaction, and a hard road to success.

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Entrepreneur Stealth Social Network Business Plan 339

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2021

A “downer” is defined here as someone who seems to dwell on the negatives of every business challenge, and loves to highlight bad news or potential problems. No matter how smart or experienced this person may otherwise be, things must change or they will kill your startup. I’m not talking about someone who has an occasional bad day, but rather people who when asked, “How are things?

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Employee Startup Product Management 324

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

Every business founder knows the need for a culture that promotes continuous innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit, and one that creates sustainable value across all functions in the business. Yet most don’t really know how to create that environment, or assess when they have achieved it. They only know in retrospect too late when they don’t have it, and the business is in crisis mode.

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Developer Metrics Leadership Customer 338

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2021

I’m sure we have all seen entrepreneurs with high levels of passion and confidence touting an idea that seems to make very little sense to us. Of course, we never see ourselves in this mode, yet we need to recognize that all humans see reality differently through a built-in set of “cognitive biases,” based on their own unique background of experiences, training, and mental state.

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Startup Founder Entrepreneur Cost 373

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2021

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination. I was reading an old article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”.

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Initial Public Offering California .Net Business Plan 317

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Every technical entrepreneur is an early adopter of technology, so naturally they build things with people like themselves in mind. Unfortunately, for most solution markets, early adopters represent only 10 to 15 percent of the total opportunity, so it’s easy to get mislead on the real requirements of mainstream customers. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias.

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Technical Review Product Customer Restful 294

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. I agree with Robert E. Litan, former VP of research at the Kauffman Foundation, that these are exceptions to the rule, rather than a model to emulate.

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Entrepreneur Chad Incubator Dilution 373

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2021

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs probably have long searched for that special idea that will catapult you and your startup to success. Yet, my experience as a business advisor and investor has convinced me that the magic is not the idea, but you and the execution. I have seen people with mundane ideas hit it big, and really great ideas implemented poorly, with disastrous results.

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Dilution Entrepreneur Merger Acquisition 428

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2021

One of the business ironies that many entrepreneurs have learned the hard way in the past is that ideas which are truly disruptive carry the highest risk of failure, take the longest to gain traction, and thus are the least likely to get external funding. So some entrepreneurs stick with incremental solutions, avoiding more transformational or adaptive solutions implying disruptive change.

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Cloud Technology Mobile Entrepreneur 435

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2021

As a long-time advisor to new entrepreneurs here in the USA, I’ve long been impressed with the number that come here from other countries, and the positive traits that most of these seem to bring with them. Logically, I would expect these non native-born entrepreneurs to be at a big disadvantage, having to learn the culture here, local idiosyncrasies, and new relationships.

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South Africa Greece Russia Global 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2021

I’m sure you have all been frustrated at least once by not being able to get the Internet domain name you want for your company. Who owns all of these names, and should you ever buy one for a premium? The simple answer is that if you want to be found on the Web, the perfect domain name can be well worth a few thousand dollars, but don’t pay a fortune for one.

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Naming Internet Montenegro Matching 340

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2021

Online dating sites usually fail because online dating usually fails. The simple reason is that everyone expects quick results, no one can make that happen, and users get very unhappy very quickly. Even the main industry rag, Online Dating Magazine , admits that the success rate is a mere one percent, compared to an estimated fifty percent for startups in general.

Intellectual Property 337

Intellectual Property Social Network Matching Viral 337

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2021

If you are a new business owner or entrepreneur, you are likely to be creative and willing to take a risk , and you probably assume that most potential team members have the same mindset. Unfortunately, the reality is that not everyone has that mindset, and one of your toughest jobs is to find the right hires to make your business a success. In these days of rapid change, the pandemic, and worldwide competition, you need to make sure your entire team is customer-focused, innovative, and always l

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Agile Social Media Hiring Leadership 436

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 31, 2021

I’m a big fan of the old adage "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers." We have all heard questions that begin, "This may be a dumb question, but …" used effectively by smart people who are not afraid of risking ridicule by challenging a questionable assertion from an intimidating speaker. Most people in business seem to expect their leaders just to give orders.

Leadership 435

Leadership Lean Employee Management 435

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

A while back I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. After exchanging a couple of notes, I concluded that she was more likely a victim of item #1 on my reject list below, rather than a drought on seed funding.

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Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 307