Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2023

Many experts will tell you that you can’t succeed as a part-time entrepreneur, as any good startup will require a 100 percent commitment of your time and energy. But not many of us have enough savings to live for a year or more without a salary, fund the startup, and still feed the family. Thus I often recommend that entrepreneurs keep their day job until the startup is producing revenue.

Intellectual Property 275

Intellectual Property Cofounder Salary Metrics 275

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2023

Young entrepreneurs often are so excited by new technology or their latest invention that they forget to translate it into a value proposition that their customers or potential investors can understand and relate to. They become frustrated with investors, senior executives, and even customers who don’t seem to “get it,” with the result that everyone loses.

Elevator Pitch 272

Elevator Pitch Social Network Agile Technology 272

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2023

As a business consultant and mentor to many young entrepreneurs, I often get questions about leadership challenges , and what you can do to solidify your leadership position and impact. It seems that today’s worker generation is more demanding, and less willing to accept guidance and direction from anyone with a leadership title. They want a role in every leadership decision.

Leadership 281

Leadership Agile Demand Developer 281

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2023

Many business leaders I meet in my consulting practice are frustrated by the challenge of getting their teams working together, increasing engagement, and tackling market change requirements. We all realize that the pace of change is increasing, and new global markets makes it critical that every team member is focused on the market, rather than internal battles and risk aversion.

Social Media 294

Social Media Global Campaign Leadership 294

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Serious investors, on the other hand, look for a professional business plan or summary first, and hardly ever look at the product plan. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek?

Business Plan 280

Business Plan Product Architecture Business Model 280

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. Yet if you are on the other side of the table, there are some other key questions that you need to ask, which will tell you more about the real success prospects for this business.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Every entrepreneur I know has their favorite excuse for a previous failure – an investor backed out, the economy took a downturn, or a supplier delivered bad quality. 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.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2023

Over my many years of mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals, I often hear a desire to start a new business, with a big hesitation while waiting for that perfect idea and perfect alignment of the stars. From my own experience and from the best entrepreneurs I know, I always offer some basic business realities, and assure you that conditions will never be perfect.

Technical Review 373

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Entrepreneur 373

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2023

The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. 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. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation.

Technical Review 369

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 369

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. There are no “overrides” – for example, businesses don’t thrive just because they offer the latest technology, or because everyone wants to be “green,” or because their goal is to reduce world hunger.

Business Model 256

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 256

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2022

As a business consultant with experience in large companies as well as startups, I often hear about dysfunctional management hierarchies, as well as the value provided by exceptional ones. We have all heard about the successes of flattened management organizations in the last decade at Facebook, Valve, Zappos, and others. Individual team members all dream of being unleashed.

Management 333

Management Dilution Forecast Leadership 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2022

The largest and most successful businesses of the past have been traditionally driven by autocratic and powerful leaders who managed a highly structured organization of subordinates. I see that model changing today to one of team collaboration and decision making, per companies such as Amazon, Google, and Zoom. Where do you see your fit in this leadership transformation ?

Leadership 262

Leadership Agile Vertical Internet 262

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2022

Perhaps sparked by the recent pandemic, I’m seeing a new era of the entrepreneur, with startups springing up all around. Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. They have an uncanny ability to find elegant, easy, and fast solutions to pain points in the marketplace, as well as their own challenges.

Startup 338

Startup Technical Review Partner Restful 338

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2022

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. Traditional business leadership practices, including autocratic, reactive, and narcissistic, aren’t good enough. Over 16 percent of workers are still actively disengaged , and half have left at least one job because they hated their boss.

Leadership 380

Leadership Customer Employee Channel 380

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

Today more than ever, the evidence is clear that business people need to find and communicate a purpose that goes beyond making a profit, in order to ensure customer engagement, as well as your own, and drive results in the marketplace. In my work with entrepreneurs, I have concluded that finding and communicating that purpose is often more important than the solution offered.

Technical Review 357

Technical Review Green Social Media Lean 357

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. In fact, they need an early focus on developing their moral compass, as well as setting the right ethical tone. Building an ethical business is more than just compliance and meeting legal requirements, and it has big paybacks.

Software Review 291

Software Review Offshore Entrepreneur Leadership 291

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2022

Starting and running a company is a team effort. Yes, it takes a leader (entrepreneur), but you can’t do it alone, without a team. Maybe only you and a co-founder comprise the team at first, to provide key skills, back you up, and test your ideas. As the startup grows, the team has to be able to really push you in making growth decisions, rather than you pulling them along.

Cofounder 330

Cofounder Leadership Design Naming 330

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2022

The entrepreneur’s challenge is to effectively communicate their value proposition, not only to customers, but also to vendors, partners, investors, and their own team. Especially for technical founders, this is normally all about presenting impressive facts. But in reality facts only go so far. Stories often work better, because humans don’t always make rational decisions.

Chad 307

Chad Audience Founder Security 307

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2022

Startup work environments are always chaos, but they can still be great environments to work in, or they can be terrible. Whether yours is terrible or great, that same tone flows out to your customers, and regulates your productivity inside. You as the founder are the starting point and definer, so you need to get it right. What does it take to create a positive workplace culture?

Startup 290

Startup Founder Customer Product 290

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

In my consulting work, when I ask team members in startups and small businesses how they know whether they are doing a good job, the typical response I get is “Nobody has yelled at me today,” or “No news is good news.” This means you are missing the positive impact of catching people doing things right and reinforcing that performance with timely praise and support.

Startup 333

Startup Leadership Employee Small Business 333

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

It’s a whole new world out there in the workplace. Millennials want work that matters, and don’t care for hierarchies. Boomers are coming back to work, but because of their experience, they may be insulted by constant feedback. All prefer more flexible hours, the chance to work from home, and the traditions of lifetime loyalty to one company no longer apply.

Employee 368

Employee Green Salary Matching 368

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

What sparks paradigm-shifting and disruptive innovation in any business? It’s a special mix of entrepreneur and company, regular in every respect except for having the courage and foresight to make an idea happen that was supposed to be impossible. As an entrepreneur in a startup, how do you know if you have this potential, and what are the steps to get from an innovation to a revolution?

Technology 341

Technology Entrepreneur Non-Compete India 341

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2022

Fundraising is brutal. Actually, according to Paul Graham of Y-Combinator fame, “Raising money is the second hardest part of starting a startup. The hardest part is making something people want.” More startups may fail for that reason, but a close second is the difficulty of raising money. Quite a while back, I outlined “ The 10 Best Sources of Cash to Start Your Business ” for startups, listing angel investors as alternative six.

Angel Investor 384

Angel Investor Advisory Board Database Institutional Investors 384

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 1, 2022

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Since every business is built by unique individuals, I’m totally convinced that exceptional people are the key to an exceptional company. To check out the Google founders, and because I still see so many business plans that are modeled after Google (more search engines, and more billion dollar growth models), I had to take a look at the classic b

Startup 328

Startup .Net Advertising Search 328

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2021

Many of the startup investors I know are disappointed that so few of the startup ideas they see are really innovative or disruptive. Most of us are incremental or linear thinkers , and we miss the really big opportunities, like the next smartphone or space travel. That ability to “ see around the next corner ” seems to be limited to a very few entrepreneurs, such as Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.

Artificial Inteligence 344

Artificial Inteligence Matching Leadership Entrepreneur 344

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. By contrast, predictive analytics uses data patterns to make forward-looking predictions that guide you to where you should go next. This is a whole new world for small businesses seeking enterprise application opportunities, as well social media trend challenges.

Analytics 248

Analytics Retention Social Media Startup 248

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 27, 2021

Based on my own experience in business, the best results come from a balance of vision and creativity, combined with a clear focus on logical problem solving and results. This balance is rare and often called “ whole-brain ” thinking, versus the traditional right-brain or left-brain orientation. Recent studies indicate that less than ten percent of business leaders show this balance today.

Technical Review 332

Technical Review Metrics Leadership Technology 332

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2021

Most of you business leaders focus first on providing guidance to your team, but neglect self-leadership as an equally important dimension. In my experience, many entrepreneurs rely too much on the perspective of a trusted advisor, or try to emulate a competitor who is getting attention. Personal leadership is setting your own direction and making real decisions first.

Leadership 330

Leadership Reputation Entrepreneur Developer 330

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

In my role as a business advisor, I find that most still resist change , especially change they can’t control and did not choose, rather than accept it as the norm, and seek to capitalize on it. I believe that that by adopting a more positive change mindset , you can actually make surfing the waves of change much more manageable, and even make your business and career fun again.

Portfolio 347

Portfolio Developer Management Customer 347

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe that a great idea alone will assure business success. Experts argue that it’s more important to have a great plan, and personal business acumen. Hardly anyone mentions selling principles. Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business.

Sales 348

Sales Startup Bootstrapping Technical Review 348

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2021

With the advent of the Internet, social media, and instant communication via texting, customer expectations for service, as part of their entire customer experience, have changed. They expect you to be there, to know their history as a customer, and to treat them with priority and respect. They tell their friends and the world everything, and a bad experience can kill your business.

Customer 427

Customer Social Media Public Relations Internet 427

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2021

Every entrepreneur with a new technology tells me that his innovation will be industry-disrupting, meaning that it will render the existing technology obsolete, and create a new market. Yet truly disruptive innovations, like the smartphone from Apple and the rise of the Internet, are very rare, and are generally unpredicted. So why would any investor ever believe any of these claims?

Non-Compete 394

Non-Compete Technical Review Forecast Social Media 394

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2021

Businesses always seem to take longer to succeed than an entrepreneur expects. Seth Godin once said that overnight success in startups takes about six years, and Seth is an optimist. Thus we all look for shortcuts. Execution shortcuts would be hidden strategies to achieve the endgame sooner, without losing 40 to 60 percent of the financial potential along the way.

Startup 435

Startup Demand Entrepreneur Product 435

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2021

During all my years in business, I’ve noticed that some people seem to make their job look effortless , while others are always in a struggle, no matter how simple you thought the task should be. I’ve always wondered if some people are just that much smarter, or what some do that the rest of us can emulate, in order that we too get the best results without working so hard.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Restful Internet Small Business 309

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

As an advisor to new business owners, I’m accustomed to seeing primarily the simple traditional product pricing strategies , usually driven by competitor prices, or cost plus a reasonable margin. I often wonder whether you as the entrepreneur have worked as hard on your pricing strategy as you have on your innovative solution. I hate to see money left on the table through poor pricing.

Non-Compete 363

Non-Compete Startup Revenue Cost 363

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2021

I’m convinced that people who have fun at work are more innovative, as well as happier. I don’t have any big scientific studies to prove this, but in my considerable business experience, I haven’t seen many successes come out of a group of fearful pessimists or unhappy people. As I was looking through the literature, I did find evidence that many strong business leaders, like John D.

Restful 404

Restful Product Startup 404

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2021

We all know entrepreneurs who have overcome adversity, like the current pandemic or personal setbacks, and achieved success. There are famous people like Walt Disney and Nelson Rockefeller, who overcame learning disabilities, and people like J. C. Penney and J. K Rowling who struggled through personal bad times before finding their true legacy. I’ve always been interested in how this works, and why it’s true.

Entrepreneur 366

Entrepreneur Naming Developer 366