Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. ” How many times have you heard someone agree that “it would be great if someone did X,” but when show them someone did do X, but it costs $39.99, they don’t buy? simple enough to be self-service). . $10/mo

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

This isn’t just about having a eureka moment; it’s about understanding the problem you’re solving and why it matters to your potential customers. Designing Your Business Model Crafting a business model is like building a blueprint for your venture.

Intellectual Property 130

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 130

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Funding might be a need in some cases — but it’s not an absolute necessity. ? The business should be self-sustainable. The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. Bootstrapping.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

While funding is necessary for almost all businesses, seeking it out yourself isn’t necessarily the right path for everyone. Instead, knowing how to bootstrap your startup might be a better option. How to Bootstrap Your Startup. When you bootstrap your startup, you retain full control of the new business.

Bootstrapping 145

Bootstrapping Startup Cofounder Angel Investor 145

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Based on the Startup Environment Index from the Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom a while back, personal money, or bootstrapping, continues to be the primary startup funding source. At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue.

Bootstrapping 276

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 276

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2023

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Rather than quitting, there are always alternatives, like pivoting the business model or merging with new partners for support.

Bootstrapping 339

Bootstrapping Business Model Social Media Partner 339

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 29, 2016

So now that we have the obvious laid out, you will also learn more than you could have ever imagined about yourself and running a business along with many other small trades such as laying down laminate flooring and how to use a pressure washer. It did not and we were not charging enough money given our overhead.

Bootstrapping 189

Bootstrapping New York City New Jersey New York 189

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2021

In my experience as a business advisor and occasional investor, many of you won’t make it that far, succumbing to the high costs of getting those first customers, funding an initial inventory, and building an operational support process. Use “white label” or custom contract for extra income.

Dilution 404

Dilution Incubator Bootstrapping Government 404

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

If your target customer is a business, rather than a consumer, I recommend you skip crowdfunding as poorly applicable. Most startups need more money than they anticipated, to grow and expand their business, after development and rollout. Compare the time frames and costs of alternatives.

Non-disclosure Agreement 299

Non-disclosure Agreement Angel Investor Bootstrapping SEC 299

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Funding process.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 21, 2012

In fact, he points out that conventional term loans are a far less common way to finance a business, and in some countries, credit cards are actually a more popular source of startup capital. Bootstrap, bootstrap, bootstrap. Don’t get hung up on the business plan. His advice? Don’t innovate, imitate.

Technical Review 184

Technical Review Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Acquisition 184

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer. Find a major customer, or a complimentary business, who sees such value in your idea that they are willing to give you an advance on royalty payments to complete your development. The process is long, but it doesn’t cost you any equity. Fund your startup yourself.

Equity 266

Equity Startup Small Business Administration SBA 266

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 25, 2023

. #1- Virtual assistance Photo Credit: Abdul Saboor It is my opinion that the need for virtual assistants is great since there is such a high demand for new businesses and there is such a large increase in the number of new enterprises opening their doors. Thanks to Carter Seuthe, Credit Summit ! #4- Thanks to Oliver Goodwin, Synthesys.io !

Software Review 112

Software Review Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur 112

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Outside investors are most interested in scaling a proven business model, not research and development. Thus it’s a waste of time for most entrepreneurs to be looking for investors until they have a product and some customer revenue. Most founders bootstrap product development. Fabulous solutions require great technology.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2016

Starting a new business on a limited budget without investor involvement is called bootstrapping, and it’s the only way to go if you don’t want to spend months on the investment pitch preparation and delivery circuit. There are unwritten rules in every business, and your lack of insider’s knowledge will cost you dearly.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Social Media Equity eCommerce 120

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 16, 2011

Freshdesk First, Girish Mathrubootham from Chennai, India, pitched Freshdesk , a SaaS company that provides small and medium businesses with on-demand customer support software that offers multi-channel social support. Freshdesk introduces itself as a kind of Salesforce.com for customer support so to speak.

India 123

India Bootstrapping Non-Compete Entrepreneur 123

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer. Find a major customer, or a complimentary business, who sees such value in your idea that they are willing to give you an advance on royalty payments to complete your development. The process is long, but it doesn’t cost you any equity. Fund your startup yourself.

Equity 436

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 436

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 10, 2010

In fact, 3 of the 10 selected companies from the past two years has followed this business model. To see this done right, consider Threadless , a bootstrapped marketplace matching people seeking unique T-shirts with people who invent them. What are other advantages or pitfalls of marketplace-style businesses?

Business Model 310

Business Model Finder SEO Bootstrapping 310

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 13, 2015

Often your best estimate of any metric or market behavior or business model component is at best accurate within a power of ten, for example “expected conversion rate between 0.5% and 5%” or “cost to acquire a customer between $50 and $500″ or “average monthly revenue per customer between $20 and $200.”

Business Model 120

Business Model Affiliate Startup Bootstrapping 120

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Based on the Startup Environment Index from the Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom a while back, personal money, or bootstrapping, continues to be the primary startup funding source. At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue.

Bootstrapping 191

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 191

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

In other words, you must start bootstrapping an online startup , because the future of the global business world is online. The companies that have the greatest chance of surviving the global economic shutdown are the ones that have pivoted their business processes from the brick-and-mortar model to an online model.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2020

When I heard a friend and business mentor say, “Your startup won’t fail if you don’t quit,” I realized that every entrepreneur should adopt “never give up” as their mantra. Rather than quitting, there are always alternatives, like pivoting the business model or merging with new partners for support.

Entrepreneur 304

Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Business Model Social Media 304

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Technical Review 399

Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Be prepared to explain your business model.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. They are gaining valuable customer data.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 27, 2012

How successful have they been?

San Diego 176

San Diego Colorado Software Engineering Bootstrapping 176

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is an open opportunity for an entrepreneur to build a custom solution. Today, the telecom industry charges customers based on fixed price business models for data services. SurgeForth has since graduated to paying customers, and is making good progress. Cion has 18 customers and is considering funding.

Cloud 117

Cloud Fractional CTO Entrepreneur Bandwidth 117

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

Different sources define freemium as a business model or a pricing strategy. To determine whether freemium is right for you, do the simple math: Figure out how many paying customers you need to run the company. If you charge every user $50 and spend $10K to pay the business bills, you need at least 200 customers to break even.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

The overarching idea, of course, is to reduce the cost of capital while maintaining appropriate flexibility for the venture.  Business success is the ultimate goal. But, what constitutes success for the parties involved – investors, entrepreneurs, employees, and customers – can vary dramatically.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

To clarify the discussion, let’s use a simpler model: Companies A and B both sell products with recurring monthly revenue, and both brought in $10,000 in revenue last month. Company A has 1,000 customers each paying $10/mo. Company B has 10 customers each paying $1,000/mo. Which is better? Oops, bad question.

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

Negotiate an advance from a strategic partner or customer. Find a major customer, or a complimentary business, who sees such value in your idea that they are willing to give you an advance on royalty payments to complete your development. The process is long, but it doesn’t cost you any equity. Fund your startup yourself.

Entrepreneur 240

Entrepreneur Equity Small Business Administration SBA 240

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

The cost of entry to entrepreneurship is lower than ever, due to smartphone apps and powerful free tools to create websites and ecommerce offerings. Bootstrapping not only reduces cash needs, but increases commitment. With most solutions, infrastructure cost is overhead you don’t need.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Cofounder Equity Agile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Business Model 120

Business Model Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review 120