Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Build qualified advisory board.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Flexible VC: Revenue -based. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

I hear a lot of entrepreneurs contemplating their great “idea” for several years with little discernable progress, and looking for money to start. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Build qualified advisory board. Marty Zwilling.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2011

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Prove the technical concept.

Business Model 234

Business Model Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 234

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers? And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2010

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Prove the technical concept.

Business Model 120

Business Model Advisory Board Angel Investor Channel 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

Almost every entrepreneur looking for outside investors has heard the annoying rejection, “You are just too early – come back when you have more traction.” According to most experts , business traction is evidence that somebody really wants your product. Build an inside advisory board of influencers and experts.

Metrics 143

Metrics Advisory Board Startup Lean 143

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 7, 2017

by Patrick Henry, author of “ Plan Commit Win: 90 Days to Creating a Fundable Startup “ What makes one idea good, and another one bad, from a business perspective? In creating a successful business, it is important that you assess your business idea in terms of its ability to make money. 5) The Idea Refinement Test.

Advisory Board 138

Advisory Board Revenue Vertical Business Model 138

The Startup Magazine

MAY 28, 2019

They see it as a tool to drive their business instead of sharing their revenues with us.’. We’ve learned that our product solves a problem occurring in hundreds of cities in the world and scalability is key for us’ Overcoming tough App revenue challenges. Embargo has just started generating revenues from two streams.

Advisory Board 90

Advisory Board Angel Investor Startup Cofounder 90

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. Include Advisory Board members and key industry people connections.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. How does your business model make money? Include advisory board member qualifications and key industry connections.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. Include Advisory Board members and key industry people connections.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 19, 2018

FUND is a national connector of entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts with a focus on deal flow and making connections. We have been revenue positive since day one. Has going through the process of trying to raise capital impacted your vision and strategy for your business? What is your secret sauce?

Texas 73

Texas Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 73

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. Include Advisory Board members and key industry people connections.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

This can happen through early marketing, independent of whether you have yet delivered a single product, proven your business model, or have any real customers. Assemble a credible inside advisory board and partners. A sure sign of no traction is a lone inexperienced entrepreneur looking for an investor.

Advisory Board 199

Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Many entrepreneurs scare away potential investors by claiming that their technology represents “truly disruptive technology.” Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. Explain the business model. Include Advisory Board members and key industry people connections.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Growthink Blog

JANUARY 16, 2012

The so famous and always timely Gandhian creed of “be the change you seek in the world” is never more relevant than when it comes to what entrepreneurs must do to get better in order to lead profitable enterprises and to fulfill on the mission and promise of their organizations. The sessions were painful. They were discouraging.

Advisory Board 76

Advisory Board Leadership Metrics Business Model 76

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

Army Signal Corps advisory board, and the Army was going to acquire their first computer for research. We Changed Our Mind In 1966, 10 years after Hewlett’s memo, Hewlett Packard’s revenue and headcount had grown ten fold; $200 million and 11,000 employees – all from test and measurement equipment.

Silicon Valley 164

Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 164

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 20, 2012

Editor's note : This is the second in a two-part excerpt from the book The Startup Owner’s Manual , a step-by-step how-to guide for entrepreneurs. Moreover, they can be potential advisory board candidates. Use the Business Model Canvas as the Customer Discovery Scorecard. Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) First.

Customer 119

Customer Advisory Board Engineer Cofounder 119

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

It has been awesome, flattering, and humbling to see that post went viral and has been seen by so many thousands of people — mainly aspiring entrepreneurs — and has been translated into many languages. But, you can iterate and iterate on features, but you cannot iterate your way to a business model. hkvn liked this.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

The class was designed to teach educators (and the adjunct entrepreneurs that support them) the Lean LaunchPad approach (Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) for teaching entrepreneurship. Berkeley and NCIIA , Jerry Engel and I first offered the Lean LaunchPad Educators Class.

Delaware 297

Delaware Lean Entrepreneur Advisory Board 297

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

The class was designed to teach educators (and the adjunct entrepreneurs that support them) the Lean LaunchPad approach (Business Model Design, Customer Development and Agile Engineering) for teaching entrepreneurship. Berkeley and NCIIA , Jerry Engel and I first offered the Lean LaunchPad Educators Class.

Delaware 189

Delaware Lean Entrepreneur Advisory Board 189

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 20, 2019

Often entrepreneurs and business owners create their daily, weekly, quartely or yearly goals around their business. It could be more revenue, hiring clients or launching a new product or service, where setting goals presents a fresh opportunity to achieve different objectives. Photo Credit: Paige Arnof-Fenn.

Papua New Guinea 64

Papua New Guinea Hawaii Advisory Board Churn Rate 64

Austin Startup

MAY 29, 2019

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series/ebook, over the years I’ve noticed that I tend to frequently share certain Lucky7 posts with entrepreneurs we’ve backed , team members at data.world, or other startup investors I know. In totality, these posts are at least as long as most business books.

Networking 48

Networking Fractional CTO CTO Hire B2C 48