Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2013

I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). With a minimum viable product, your startup remains much more agile. Marty Zwilling.

Agile 263

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 263

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

As a business and entrepreneur advisor, I have no trouble getting owners and managers to agree that change is happening faster and faster in the consumer and technology world, requiring them to keep their business more agile , just to keep up. Crisis-driven agility is not enough today.

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Agile Leadership .Net Government 255

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2023

Cultivate mental agility and a learning mindset. Experts have found that your willingness to “let go of what you know” is the overarching component of learning agility. Always do this in the context of the big picture and values, and be willing to reframe your thinking as needed, based on input from others.

Leadership 281

Leadership Agile Demand Developer 281

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2020

I’m sure all of you are convinced that your new business will create the next trend and ride the wave to success, but the reality is that most startups fail , so anticipating future trends is clearly harder than it seems. Focus on agility as the key skill your organization needs.

Agile 310

Agile Social Media Reputation Restful 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Since the startup environment is usually more volatile, the challenge there in balancing advantage, risk, and performance, is more critical than in big companies. Increase change agility. Implement change mechanisms. Imbue customer change focus.

Agile 290

Agile Startup Metrics Leadership 290

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

But for startups with limited resources and experience, I always recommend a soft launch or toe-in-the-water approach in a local market -- and scale up later. In fact, for startups, it usually makes sense to announce your solution on social media and blogs even before you have built the first one. Maximum agility for required pivots.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2023

I believe that a fully engaged team is the key to both productivity and agility in the face of change. Yet I find in my mentoring practice that more and more team members prefer the human-centered approach and respond with more engagement and commitment.

Leadership 280

Leadership Agile Demand Search 280

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 28, 2011

Presenting your startup vision as a founder to a potential investor, or presenting an idea as an employee to an executive, requires that you effectively communicate, or “translate”, the value proposition into terms that the receiver can fully understand and appreciate. Implicit in agility is increased productivity on change initiatives.

Agile 230

Agile Startup Architecture Distribution 230

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

This idea was well articulated by Paul Graham in an old essay, called “ Startups in 13 Sentences ” in which he talked about “making a few people really happy rather than making a lot of people semi-happy.” Agile assumes and plans for iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve as more is known and markets change.

Agile 120

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2012

This idea was well articulated by Paul Graham in an old essay, called “ Startups in 13 Sentences ” in which he talked about “making a few people really happy rather than making a lot of people semi-happy.” Agile assumes and plans for iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve as more is known and markets change.

Agile 230

Agile Entrepreneur Social Network Software Developers 230

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2022

As a consultant, I hate to see you lose that startup focus on innovation, change, and customers. Remember that as a startup problem solving was the priority, often requiring emotional persistence and peer disagreements. Reward persistence and grit in team-member problem solving. Enable a positive and highly engaged leadership culture.

Artificial Inteligence 385

Artificial Inteligence Startup Metrics Agile 385

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Every new business dreams of growing from a startup to a global market leader in a few years, like Amazon.com, but that goal is elusive. In my view, every startup in today’s world would do well to adopt a management system with the same key objectives: Start with a customer-obsessed business model.

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Global Marketing Technical Review Algorithm 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2023

He believes that if you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your agility, and thus grow and compete more effectively, as well as learn more from failures. Establish individual and team recognition events to celebrate successes. Jeff Bezos of Amazon is a huge supporter of innovation experiments.

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Metrics Technical Review Agile Hiring 178

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2023

Bezos believes that if you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your agility, and thus grow the business more rapidly. Amazon and Jeff Bezos credit much of their growth and success to incenting innovative business “experiments.” Incent high employee engagement and accountability.

Metrics 279

Metrics Startup Agile Salary 279

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2022

Building agility and timeliness are critical components of modern leadership, due to the pace and complexity of change today. Then your work becomes a win-win result, rather than win-lose. That means double the value and credit for all efforts. Show perseverance and adaptability to the mission.

Technical Review 298

Technical Review Agile Leadership Technology 298

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

Most startup ideas begin in the mind of an individual, but an idea is not a business. While their focus has been primarily larger organizations, I believe the principles they espouse are equally applicable to startups and small businesses. Startups often begin with a revolution, but continuous revolution is risky and stressful.

Leadership 313

Leadership Agile Community Conversion 313

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

No company can afford to lose the agility, flexibility, and innovation of a startup. Every startup I know has pivoted at least once, and expects failed experiments to lead them to the true market. In corporate boardrooms, a show of hubris or emotion is deeply troubling, and can end careers.

Startup 321

Startup Leadership Agile Metrics 321

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

A partnership was announced with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem. This facilitates technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as positioning IBM for growth down the road. Maintain the agility to quickly pivot or quit. Social media relationships fuel the scaling fire.

Partner 310

Partner Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

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 the Crunchbase. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Many have disappeared, and others have forgotten how to be agile and innovative.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup 314

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

The result will be enhanced productivity and agility in the face of today’s pace of change, leading to individual as well as business growth and success. Your objective is a team culture where people hold themselves accountable, rather than have a false accountability attempt forced on them.

Metrics 331

Metrics Retention Agile Startup 331

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2022

They assure us that your fears and qualms are normal, but the next step in your journey is more than possible if you focus on this key set of practices with full intention, awareness, and agility-in-action: Capitalize on your best talents and strengths.

Leadership 227

Leadership Entrepreneur Agile Demand 227

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. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Super angels have greater scope to match talent with a startup.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2022

Jeff Bezos believes that if you double the number of innovation experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your agility, and thus outpace your competitors. Let them learn from new challenges, which also will keep your business agile and the team collaborative in the face of constant change.

Leadership 262

Leadership Agile Vertical Internet 262

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

They outline and give some positive recommendations to counter the key organizational impediments to fast transformation that I see all too often, even in businesses with top management committed to first-mover speed and agility: Passive resistance to change from within the organization. Transformation fatigue from continual challenges.

Agile 307

Agile Advisory Board Metrics Asia 307

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Presenting your startup vision as a founder to a potential investor, or presenting an idea as an employee to an executive, requires that you effectively communicate, or “translate”, the value proposition into terms that the receiver can fully understand and appreciate. Implicit in agility is increased productivity on change initiatives.

Technology 206

Technology Agile Architecture Distribution 206

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

A partnership was announced a while back with the City of New York, to connect and grow NYC's startup ecosystem. This facilitates technology growth and innovation for startups in Silicon Alley, as well as positioning IBM for future growth. Maintain the agility to quickly pivot or quit. Not everything will work.

Partner 328

Partner Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Cloud 328

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

After many years in business, working in large companies as well as startups, I’m no longer surprised at why mature and successful companies struggle with introducing innovative new ventures as the market and environment changes. Your challenge is to balance the challenge of providing a stable return today, with meeting future customer value.

Advisory Board 359

Advisory Board Incubator Dilution Agile 359

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Most startup ideas begin in the mind of an individual, but an idea is not a business. While their focus has been primarily larger organizations, I believe the principles they espouse are equally applicable to startups and small businesses. Startups often begin with a revolution, but continuous revolution is risky and stressful.

Leadership 310

Leadership Agile Community Conversion 310

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 5, 2021

John Bradberry, in his classic book “ 6 Secrets To Startup Success ” explores many of these attributes, especially passion, and defines some useful principles to help enthusiastic entrepreneurs squeeze the most out of their passion, while not being trapped by it. To succeed, a new venture needs both iteration and agility.

Agile 363

Agile .Net Founder Entrepreneur 363

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2023

If you can quickly explain how mashup technology facilities this agility challenge, the technology may quickly turn from a negative to a major positive. This priority applies to big companies, as well as startups. Every business leader knows how difficult it is to keep up with a changing market. Customer data integrity and security.

Elevator Pitch 272

Elevator Pitch Social Network Agile Technology 272

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

I remember the classic book, “ The Collaboration Imperative ,” by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, which makes the case very well for why collaboration matters in every business, as well as startups. Startup executives need to first build a culture and processes with communication and shared goals, rather than internal competition and bureaucracy.

Agile 309

Agile Global Cost Technology 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2022

By definition, new startups have to do this to even have a shot at funding from venture capitalists and survival, but I find that existing companies often rest on their laurels far too long. You can bet some startups are already out there looking. Capitalize on existing strengths to roll-out new initiatives.

Silicon Valley 367

Silicon Valley Artificial Inteligence Global Agile 367

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

No company can afford to lose the agility, flexibility, and innovation of a startup. Every startup I know has pivoted at least once, and expects failed experiments to lead them to the true market. In corporate boardrooms, a show of hubris or emotion is deeply troubling, and can end careers.

Leadership 301

Leadership Agile Metrics Cost 301

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2019

Amazon is famous for their Two-Pizza.Teams (no bigger than two pizzas will feed), allowing an entrepreneurial mindset more autonomy, agility, and accountability. Master the magic of small autonomous teams. The business owner must be the leader of the team, written specs are required, and the team must be populated only with A+ people.

Artificial Inteligence 222

Artificial Inteligence Agile Technical Review Demand 222