Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

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 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

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. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, or an inadequate revenue model. Target market.

Business Model 256

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 256

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2013

Entrepreneurs always work hard to create an innovative product or service, but often count on standard seller marketing for sales. But the reality is that sellers are no longer in charge of the customer buying process. The best way to do this is with real customer interviews. Build and deploy a revenue growth action plan.

Revenue 263

Revenue Startup Technical Review Business Model 263

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2023

Solution and business model innovation require pushing the limits. Perfectionists never win in the startup business. Leapfrog products invent and reinvent markets. Incremental product ideas do not change markets. Focus on the customer for repeated success. A business model is not an after-thought.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Business Model Demand 229

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2024

Our deep dive into the world of email newsletters unveils tactical strategies for transforming subscribers into revenue-generating assets. As the founder of The Clikk, Russell has witnessed the evolving landscape of newsletters, recognizing them as a powerful intersection of content marketing and direct response promotion.

Revenue 78

Revenue Advertising Email ChatGPT 78

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

Three types of organizations – Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Studios – have emerged to reduce the risk of early-stage startup failure by helping teams find product/market fit and raise initial capital. But these look for founders who have a technical or business model insight and a team.

Technical Cofounder 346

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 346

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

Each sale requires us to handhold the customer and takes way too long to close. He took a deep breath, looked around the boardroom table and then proceeded to outline a radical reconfiguration of the product line (repackaging the products rather than reengineering them) and a change in sales strategy, focusing on a different customer segment.

Business Model 332

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

Most business professionals I know have been conditioned to think of inflation as highly negative, driving up their costs, and reducing customer buying. I see it as an opportunity to find new ways to attract customers , make long-needed changes to improve productivity, and lower your own costs of doing business.

Technical Review 239

Technical Review Revenue Social Media Cost 239

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Implement a modern real business model.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The increasing importance of private credit in today’s market cannot be overstated. The challenges I faced building companies were multifaceted, ranging from securing adequate funding to navigating the labyrinth of market dynamics and building a team that shares a common vision and drive.

Technical Review 132

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 132

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2020

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Both have worked.

Revenue 434

Revenue Valuation Viral Retention 434

The Startup Magazine

JULY 4, 2021

Digital marketing has affected every industry, more so the automotive industry. Therefore, automotive business owners must invest their time and resources to target preferred audiences, attract them, and convince them to consider your business. It should be attractive yet simple enough to keep the customer engaged.

PPC 147

PPC Marketing Social Media Audience 147

Steve Blank

JUNE 23, 2020

The pandemic has upended the business models of most startups and existing companies. As the economy reopens companies are finding that customers may have disappeared or that their spending behavior has changed. Suppliers are going out of business or requiring cash-up-front terms. Here’s how.

Customer 436

Customer Marketing Customer Development Lean 436

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 8, 2024

How to Scale Your Agency with Productized Marketing Services written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing The best thing you can do right now to scale your agency is to productized marketing services. Struggling to scale your strategic marketing agency? productized marketing services.

Product 65

Product Marketing Social Media SEO 65

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? Seed is about showing initial product market fit. To reduce the impact of dilution, the expectation is that startup valuation should more or less double between the pre-seed to the seed, and seed to series A (ideally backed by reasonable traction/ revenue multiples).

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Solution and business model innovation require pushing the limits. Perfectionists never win in the startup business. Leapfrog products invent and reinvent markets. Incremental product ideas do not change markets. Focus on the customer for repeated success. A business model is not an after-thought.

Technical Review 324

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Business Model 324

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Not just any carpet cleaning business, but specifically an endeavor in dry carpet cleaning services. This blog aims to guide you through the process, from the initial steps of conducting market research to operational management, hiring staff, and more.

Balance Sheet 106

Balance Sheet Technical Review Business Model Business Plan 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

Every new business quickly realizes that revenue coming in every period on a committed basis is the Holy Grail to survival and growth. Based on traditional research, getting new customers is five to ten times harder than getting additional revenue from existing customers. All-you-can-eat content model.

Business Model 294

Business Model Startup Cloud Curation 294

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2019

It’s a well-known fact of business that customers must be the focus of a successful business model; hence the now-cliched idiom “the customer is always right”. But in this customer-focused model, some businesses make the mistake of neglecting to focus on their employees.

Employee 113

Employee Customer Software Review Salary 113

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

AI to build enterprise software – In the future, every enterprise could have their own custom ERP, CRM or HRIS that is continually updating itself as the company itself is changing. Technological Convergence – The global equity market value associated with disruptive innovation could increase to 60% by 2030.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

It’s not just the competition against the incumbents and the large tech platforms that founders has to worry about, but most importantly is the company’s performance and product market fit. Understanding the benchmarks on conversion, retention, and churn for your business is therefore critical.

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

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.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

That means it solves a real problem for real customers who are ready and able to spend real money. The number of current potential customers is large and growing. MySpace, for example, boomed after launch for five years without a revenue model. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Revenue 297

Revenue Widget Angel Investor Early Stage 297

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

.”) So although it’s a single number combining several factors, and we know that averaging can obfuscate , I think cancellation rate is a good overall measure of how well the company is servicing its customers, and with tools like our detailed log you can still break apart the single number into concrete, actionable influences.

Business Model 245

Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

To be clear, I define a product specification as the technical definition of your product, to be used for development and testing purposes, with a quick business summary for context. Use non-fuzzy terms to quantify customer value. Quantify the market opportunity in business terms. Budget time and dollars for each.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

She realised the revenue operations market was booming, especially within the tech industry, and therefore wanted to explore what is largely an untapped market within the UK and Europe. RevOps, or “Revenue Operations”, is a B2B function that uses automation to help teams make the right decisions to grow their business.

Congo 133

Congo Technical Review Africa Netherlands 133

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

In this article, you’ll learn what growth hacking in marketing is and what it’s not. Growth hacking is a practice that aims to acquire as many customers as possible while spending as little money as possible. Growth hacking is a practice that aims to acquire as many customers as possible while spending as little money as possible.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

I suggest looking for painful problems to solve, rather than “easier to use” or “nice to have” solutions, for customers with money. Customers line up to believe and buy from people who are viewed as leaders or experts relative to a specific solution. Collaborate with customers to tune your solution.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

I asked Tsutsumi-san to write a guest post for my blog to describe his experience with Customer Development in Japan. Leveraging my marketing skills, I successfully made what Steve calls an “onslaught launch”, generating a lot of press coverage and apparent early success. But customers didn’t agree.

Japan 292

Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 292

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

But the product/market fit of this first iteration is a swing and a miss. Marketing and capital expenses (new factory, high R&D expense) were predicated on consumer-scale sales. I got a preview of PhotoCD when I was the head of marketing at SuperMac , a supplier of hardware and software for graphics professionals.

Search 256

Search Marketing Forecast Burn Rate 256

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 26, 2021

There are so many businesses around us, and to stay in the game, you need to think of ways to improve your small business revenue. It’s important to remember that every small business needs a different approach. Here are 8 straightforward ways to help you improve your small business. Follow industry best practices.

Small Business 164

Small Business Mobile Revenue Social Media 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Steve Blank via Flickr by jdlasica I see more and more entrepreneurs who seem to have everything going for them – vision, motivation, passion, even a good business plan, product, and money, and yet they can’t close customers. Great businesses begin with a customer problem that has a big and monetizable pain point.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

The Startup Magazine

JULY 16, 2021

The lesson of the pandemic era is clear, as market conditions change, business models must evolve. Success is not, as you would think, about having stable business models across market conditions. Find a Defensible Market Segment. A third option, hard to achieve, is to go for both.

Business Model 167

Business Model Aggregator Revenue Analytics 167

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

If you’re a CEO who can’t quickly bias yourself for action and if you wait around for someone to tell you what to do, then your investors, or more likely the market, will make those decisions for you. But other businesses like law firms, contracting firms, real estate firms, will take hits, too. Your revenue plans are no longer valid.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Implement a modern real business model.

Management 322

Management Entrepreneur Forecast Stock Options 322