Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

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Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

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. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

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Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers.

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Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 12, 2010

Trouble is, customers don't want more features, they want the right features. As the competition also adds features, they reach a critical mass where they have all the features 80% of your customers want, and then just having "more" is no longer an interesting selling point. We're patenting our features. So where does that leave us?

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Intellectual Property Bootstrapping Software Review Open Source 319

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. Then, consider how you’ll reach your customers and what kind of relationship you want to build with them.

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Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 131

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. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups.

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Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

By far, the majority of new businesses I know are self-funding (bootstrapped) from your own savings and prior assets. Make sure the name and trademarks you want are available, as well as web site address, social media tags, and any other intellectual property. Test your plan to get feedback from real customers.

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Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Prior to the growth stage, your company valuation is limited to goodwill based on intellectual property and team experience, since you have no revenue.

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Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers.

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Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

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. Business success requires customers to see a solution as exciting, and they rarely care about the technology behind it.

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Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have enough resources to bootstrap our own startups, so we are completely dependent on investors to help turn great ideas into great businesses. They need to believe your valuation, based on current revenue and intellectual property, and feel the equity offered gives them a real return for the risk.

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Intellectual Property Equity Bootstrapping Valuation 352

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

Too many of you business owners think success only means being the next Amazon, or you stress yourself out trying to be everything to every customer. Keep the initial scope within bootstrapping limits. Be creative in negotiating work agreements with vendors and even initial customers.

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Intellectual Property Small Business Administration Bootstrapping Differentiation 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Prior to the growth stage, your company valuation is limited to goodwill based on intellectual property and team experience, since you have no revenue.

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Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

The right answer to this question is that you bring some new intellectual property to the table – like a patent or other secret sauce. In the real world, evidence indicate the vast majority of new ventures are self-funded, or bootstrapped. Also evaluate the values of desired customers. Great social entrepreneurs are rare.

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Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Salary 317

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

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Intellectual Property Cofounder .Net Bootstrapping 183

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Prior to the growth stage, your company valuation is limited to goodwill based on intellectual property and team experience, since you have no revenue.

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Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Being bad to your customers is bad for business – [link]. Bootstrapping is Bullshit – [link]. Being bad to your customers is bad for business – [link]. Customer Experience Nirvana: How UX & marketing are set to increasingly collaborate – [link]. Ideas for effective testimonials: [link].

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 13, 2019

Intellectual property is one of the most valuable assets acquirers seek in startups. Whether a brand new bootstrapped startup or corporate giant, your altitude, sustainability, and traction has everything to do with your team. Distribution & Customers. Customization is time-consuming and expensive.

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Intellectual Property IP Acquisition Startup 102

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

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Intellectual Property Aggregator Startup IP 175

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Prior to the growth stage, your company valuation is limited to goodwill based on intellectual property and team experience, since you have no revenue.

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2018

From accounting questions and structuring to dealing with intellectual property, speaking to someone with serious legal expertise is a solid place to start before getting too ‘into the weeds” of doing business. Unless you have some serious startup capital, chances are you’re going to want to bootstrap as much as you possibly can.

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Intellectual Property Due Diligence Startup Social Media 124

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

Investors are wary of startups with no intellectual property, even with a first-mover advantage. In fact, it is your job to show how the technology will be embodied in a solution that satisfies a painful customer need, what channels will be used for sales and what business model maximizes return.

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Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Investor Reputation 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Reveal “secret sauce” before filing intellectual property. In reality, the most common startup success results from bootstrapping, and too much money leads to poor control and sloppy decisions. The fact that your business is “green,” or cures world hunger, does not guarantee you investors, or even customers.

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Intellectual Property Due Diligence Non-Compete Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Prior to the growth stage, your company valuation is limited to goodwill based on intellectual property and team experience, since you have no revenue.

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Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

www.inc.com

JULY 9, 2010

500|5000 The 2010 Inc. 500|5000 List The 2010 Top Lists Inc. 500|5000 Conference Honorees Resources Press Apply 2011 ); Topics > Leadership and Managing > Human Resources > Recruiting and Hiring Employees > How to Attract Talent to Your Start-Up At a start-up, you need employees that are in it for the long haul and fit your unique culture.

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Intellectual Property Los Angeles San Francisco New York 55

Gust

DECEMBER 23, 2011

Or is it still possible to bootstrap and build a company organically? Many other kinds of defenses also allow you to join the venture version of the “slow food” movement: robust intellectual property rights (say, obtained from a university partnership program), exclusive contracts with key suppliers or distributors, a prime physical location.

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Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Dilution Bootstrapping 127

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

You and your team must know how to think about problems from new angles and adapt to changing market and customer demands. Once you understand when and how customers will buy from your business, you can then scale your startup accordingly. Know thy customer. So, knowing your customers is your number one priority.

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SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

Up and Running

MARCH 15, 2016

When starting a clothing company, you’ll likely be dealing with either bank loans, investment from friends, family, or your own savings, crowdfunding, and generally bootstrapping your business. Others took to starting a clothing company by bootstrapping, using income generated from a variety of sources. Your best bet?

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Intellectual Property Bootstrapping LLC Naming 60

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2022

It’s even more difficult if there’s no supporting customer interest. It might be adding the right people to your team, refocusing your market, beefing up intellectual property protection, validating your business with early sales, or something else. You’ll be rejected by customers, vendors, employees, and investors.

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Venture Capital Intellectual Property Angel Investor Bootstrapping 146

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 3, 2012

.  That is, when we think a company primarily has "execution risk," do we mean that they're facing scientific and technical hurdles to achieve results, or do we mean that they are facing the risk of selling to their market, or of delivering a product to customers who've bought?

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Technology Marketing Intellectual Property Montana 74

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2021

The market may be large and growing, but you need some “secret sauce” or intellectual property to keep the big guys from jumping in, once they get the picture. They will probably tell you all looks good, but come back later, after you have finished the product, signed up a few customers, or reached some other future milestone.

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Intellectual Property Bootstrapping Venture Capital Revenue 429

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

.   (“If we can close 35% of all opportunities, and can get an opportunity by making x contacts, and there are 300 opportunities per month, then we should be able to sell 100 customers per month if we have the capital ($35 per contact) to cover the market every month.”   This results in a five-year projection of XYZ.). Categories.

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Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

www.inc.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

500|5000 The 2010 Inc. 500|5000 List The 2010 Top Lists Inc. 500|5000 Conference Honorees Resources Press Apply 2011 ); Topics > Leadership and Managing > Human Resources > Job Descriptions > How to Hire a CTO When its time to add a technologist to your slate of executives, what are the best practices to follow?

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Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire Hiring 42

Steve Blank

MAY 26, 2009

Intellectual Property At the next class I said, “You all ought to get out and start talking to customers on day one, and get early feedback on your idea. You don’t need to worry about any Intellectual Property (IP) issues. Bootstrap for years! You can bootstrap without VC money. Yeah, I said.

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Vertical Silicon Valley Intellectual Property RSS 149

Tim Keane

APRIL 12, 2006

What are their expectations for intellectual property-protectable businesses? Are you able to explain why your product is a compelling purchase for the customer, and how the customer will make buying decisions? What are their expectations for intellectual property-protectable businesses? Bootstrapping.

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Entrepreneur Valuation Sweat Equity Common Stock 60

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Where in your area will you find land or a building with the right zoning, size, facilities, and access for bringing in raw materials, attracting customers, and/or shipping out finished beer for distribution? Breweries don’t really win customers with one beer, but they can lose customers with one beer.”. Relationships.

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Oregon Jordan SBA Cofounder 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2016

For a new startup, the best way to assure survival is to file patents or other intellectual property to keep future competitors from copying your success. The customer value proposition is difficult to quantify. Investors and customers alike want to see return that can be measured against the costs.

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Intellectual Property Matching Angel Investor Bootstrapping 120