Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2023

If you are looking to start a new business in any domain, it’s definitely worth your time to check your fit for one of these models: Membership website model. With this model, you provide website access to insider information for a regular subscription payment. All-you-can-eat content model.

Business Model 294

Business Model Startup Cloud Curation 294

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

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. A business model is not an after-thought. Self-demanding beats boss-demanding every time.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Business Model Demand 229

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Most new business owners I know feel the challenges of not enough time, money, and resources, and see these as problems rather than a competitive advantage. Adopt alternative business models to address challenges. Most businesses stay focused on their core solution until they face growth stagnation and competition.

Technical Review 277

Technical Review Partner Matching Channel 277

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2023

Most experts agree that the pace of business change is increasing , and all the business owners I know are struggling to keep up, much less surpass the wealth of global competitors now entering the market. Highlight the competitive edge you bring to the market. Use test marketing to identify changes before scale-up.

Marketing 290

Marketing Leadership Differentiation Equity 290

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. A business model is not an after-thought. Self-demanding beats boss-demanding every time.

Technical Review 324

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Business Model 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Solutions and inventions alone do not make a business. Find market evidence of customers with means who are willing to pay for a solution. A single innovator can envision or even build an innovative prototype, but it takes a team to build the solution into a business. Choose a business model that will win in the market.

Technical Review 201

Technical Review Government Agile Differentiation 201

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2022

Having only a large capital base and distribution channels, with no innovation, is not a sustainable business model. Non-industrial large organizations cling to outdated business models. Single-node factories may be home-based with a global market. Many countries have learned to make products cheaper and better.

Artificial Inteligence 315

Artificial Inteligence Offshore Merger Technical Review 315

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Viral marketing costs real money, and your support staff and hosting systems cost even more. Even non-profits need a profitable business model to offset staff and operating costs. Assume passion level defines business opportunity. Not every great idea is a viable business.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Developing the ideal product the first time around is unlikely, high risk, and very expensive in today’s chaotic market. More success has been logged with companies like Amazon, which lightly funds many business model experiments each year, and is not hesitant to pivot or learn from failures.

Artificial Inteligence 286

Artificial Inteligence Technology Leadership Business Model 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

For any company to be successful, it must dominate a market or niche. Corporate thinking is often focused on more products in more markets, with hope that the total impact will be greater than the sum of the parts. Entrepreneurial thinking is focused on dominating a segment of a competitive market.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

So what do investors look for in qualifying you for that million dollars you need to take your invention from your garage to the market? Here are some reality checks you should apply: It takes a business team to build a business. You need a viable business model and customers. Early adopters are not a big market.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2020

With the availability of high-speed Internet and social media access around the world, it’s easy for entrepreneurs to assume that the world is just one big homogeneous market, and project their business will scale accordingly. The most common mistake is overestimating a particular market’s potential, based on your domestic context.

Marketing 335

Marketing Global Algorithm Business Model 335

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2020

As they watched their market share dwindle instead, they realized too late that these segments were already defined, and they needed a new focused brand to attract customers from other segments. The result will be less visibility, slower growth, with fewer delighted customers and little word-of-mouth marketing.

Customer 308

Customer Technical Review Matching Business Model 308

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

If the customer need is obvious and large, the calculated risk is in the quality of your solution, your team, and marketing. Implement a modern real business model. Use metrics to measure results of marketing initiatives. Opportunity and revenue projections based on deep market and customer analysis are a smarter risk.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 235

Business Model Product Advisory Board Angel Investor 235

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2023

No matter how well your business seems to have worked for you up to this point, you can be certain that it will need to be heavily transformed for tomorrow’s new world-wide economy and no industry sector boundaries. Others, lured by hot new markets, abandon their core prematurely, with equally disastrous results. Always keep a balance.

Partner 350

Partner Operations Metrics Leadership 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 248

Business Model Advisory Board Entrepreneur Angel Investor 248

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

Viral marketing costs real money, and your support staff and hosting systems cost even more. Even non-profits need a profitable business model to offset staff and operating costs. Assume passion level defines business opportunity. Not every great idea is a viable business.

Intellectual Property 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2021

As a business adviser, I often see entrepreneurs practicing what Tom Peters calls the “ ready-fire-aim ” go-to-market strategy to their detriment. Yet even I have been known to recommend that approach, in cases where you have a highly innovative product, speed is of the essence, and no clear existing market is available.

Marketing 347

Marketing Demand Social Media Metrics 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. If you are one of those, here are some basics principles you should follow and live by until that milestone is behind you: It’s the market, stupid. Sell what you have, not what you dream.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key activities. Key partners.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

A proven business model, ready to scale, is particularly attractive. A strategy of learning and willingness to pivot, based on market feedback, is a great survival skill and attitude, cherished by investors. Many key insights to success in any business can’t be learned from books or the Internet.

Intellectual Property 278

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 278

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2021

A classic book by global business consultant Diana Rivenburgh, “ The New Corporate Facts of Life ,” highlights these challenges and opportunities to the corporate world, but I believe they need to be understood as well by every startup. This occurs when a new product, service, or business model renders the old way of doing business obsolete.

Marketing 339

Marketing Startup Global Viral 339

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2012

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Target market. Production.

Business Model 242

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 242

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events. Customer feedback, including blog comments, usability reviews, and early user testimonials, build relationships and provide credible marketing to the broader customer community.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

Of course, no business wants to be the next Blockbuster , which kept charging straight ahead despite subtle clues that the Internet was changing everything. Here are some key strategies that I recommend to prompt you when changes to your business may be required: Look for a changing customer sense of value.

Marketing 405

Marketing Flash Social Media Metrics 405

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

According to a well-researched Motly Fool report, the challenge is very real, since around half of all businesses fail in the first five years. The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2012

Yet I continue to see business plans, or even talk to founders, and can’t find the specifics of the business model anywhere. As Guy Kawasaki says in his book “ The Art of the Start ,” if you can’t describe your business model in ten words or less, you don’t have a business model. eCommerce model.

Business Model 238

Business Model eCommerce Business Plan Revenue 238

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2021

By focusing your marketing activities on key individuals known to wield influence in your target customer market, you can deliver a more "authentic" message. Yet don’t assume that any of these will override the basic need of every business to be self-sustaining via revenue to meet expenses over time.

Customer 432

Customer Social Media Dividend Technical Review 432

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Marketing is everything these days.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

You must show your appreciation with a “thank you” for the business every time, offering a reward for referrals, and doing things together in the community. Respond to new market shifts and opportunities. Keeping customers coming back is not a one-time thing, but an on-going effort to not let them forget you.

Technical Review 239

Technical Review Revenue Social Media Cost 239

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2011

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Target market. Production.

Business Model 246

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 246

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). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 234

Business Model Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 234

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2018

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. A business model is not an after-thought. Self-demanding beats boss-demanding every time.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Due Diligence Business Model Demand 233

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2022

For Logan Green of Lyft, his international travel purpose helped inspire him to the creation and growth of an industry-altering business. By finding new perspectives, he was able to redefine business models and satisfy customer needs in new and ingenious ways. Driven to reduce personal hardship and suffering.

Technical Review 357

Technical Review Green Social Media Lean 357