Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2023

This alternative has been around for several decades, with the generally accepted advantage of reducing costs. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive. Results on commodities, including mature software maintenance, adapt well to low-cost contracting.

Software Review 285

Software Review Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property 285

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2017

Employees are still too often thought of as a commodity, to be acquired “just in time” for the lowest cost, and managed as a disposable asset. Underestimating absenteeism and accident costs. They look only at historical data, and lump it all under "the cost of doing business."

Management 134

Management Analytics Open Source Hiring 134

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2021

We all strive to reduce costs and improve efficiency, but the ultimate test is the potential to erode values, culture, and brand image. As you expand the business into new geographies and market segments, focus on culture inclusivity rather than trying to manage multiple subcultures. Accommodate and integrate multiple cultures.

Leadership 426

Leadership Management Brazil Differentiation 426

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2020

This alternative has been around for several decades, with the generally accepted advantage of reducing costs. Saving cost won’t help you if you can’t make the daily innovations required to stay competitive. Results on commodities, including mature software maintenance, adapt well to low-cost contracting.

Intellectual Property 306

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Software Review Technical Review 306

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

These approaches allow your startup to grow more rapidly, save costs, but costly mistakes can lead to business failure. There are many books written on this subject, but this classic by Chris Ducker, “ Virtual Freedom ,” manages to pack a lot more practical guidance into a small space that many others I have seen.

Entrepreneur 303

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2022

They point to several key trends in organizational cultures and working practices that can boost output, cut costs, and give employees more freedom. What is new is the trend and mentality to just look for results and ignore other traditional management constraints, like the amount of time spent. Measuring results in itself is not new.

Cost 313

Cost Stock Options Cloud Differentiation 313

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

illustrates this with humor for each of fifty dumb mistakes that smart managers don’t make. Managers who speak critically of team members, customers, friends or family members, have something going on within them that needs to be examined. Real leaders embrace and manage these feelings, rather than complain to associates.

Leadership 247

Leadership Management Cost Entrepreneur 247

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The cost of entry has never been lower. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites cost a million dollars to set up. The cost for the domain name is maybe $10/year, and the hosting starts around $50/year. This costs nothing, and allows you to safely collect money from customers all around the world.

Cost 220

Cost Startup Hosting Bootstrapping 220

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk. If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere. Neither partner needs to be managed.

Partner 385

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 385

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Employees are still too often thought of as a commodity, to be acquired “just in time” for the lowest cost, and managed as a disposable asset. Underestimating absenteeism and accident costs. They look only at historical data, and lump it all under "the cost of doing business."

Analytics 303

Analytics Hiring Open Source Employee 303

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Years ago, it cost a million dollars for a new e-commerce site, one that you can now create for almost nothing with current tools and technology. The cost of social media done well is low.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost. Unfortunately, I see too many new entrepreneurs who let their passion for a new idea or invention blind them to the stark realities of customer need, opportunity size, or pricing and cost implications.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. The challenge is to avoid the bad risks, while actively seeking and managing the smart risks. Risk is more manageable with subscriptions and even freemium pricing.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2022

They know leadership is all about managing their own complicated, illogical, and fallible human foibles, as well as the people they depend on. These can trip up even the best, often at the cost of more than a good night’s sleep. Managed effectively, stress is a good thing, leading to survival. What causes a star to fade?

Management 297

Management Merger Leadership Affiliate 297

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Set expectations accordingly.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2021

illustrates this with humor for each of fifty dumb mistakes that smart managers don’t make. Managers who speak critically of team members, customers, friends or family members, have something going on within them that needs to be examined. Real leaders embrace and manage these feelings, rather than complain to associates.

Leadership 342

Leadership Management Cost Startup 342

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Business agility is defined as the ability to adapt rapidly and cost efficiently. Managing an agile business means managing change, not solidifying a status quo. Entrepreneurs that are not listening, not engaging, and not changing are destined to be left behind even in the best of times.

Agile 379

Agile Technical Review Leadership Social Media 379

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required.

Technical Review 308

Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Employee 308

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

In my experience as an employee, up to an executive, in large companies as well as small, I’ve found that people who are consistently negative and complain are a big constraint on productivity, as well as the most difficult management problem that most business leaders face. They may really want to change.

Employee 371

Employee Salary Hiring Stock 371

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Years ago, it cost a million dollars for a new e-commerce site, one that you can now create for almost nothing with current tools and technology. The cost of social media done well is low.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

I’m sure all you accountants will agree that fixing the mistakes listed here does not require rocket science, but I’ve seen them so often that to be forewarned is to be forearmed: Failing to factor in fixed costs when pricing. Always use a break-even analysis to measure what volume and price are required to offset total costs.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

I recommend a trial run with an experiment or MVP (minimum viable product), at full price and cost, before the big bang launch, risking your investment money and a major time commitment. Growing too fast kills many new ventures, due to staffing costs, inventory, and funding delays. Gather your resources before scaling the business.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

The problem is that more SKUs dramatically increases complexity and cost, when you can least afford it. Buy too much inventory too soon to get unit costs down. Unit costs are important, but don’t forget about the cash flow hit, extra storage costs, and the probability of obsolete inventory due to necessary updates or pivots.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2022

It’s a small cost to prevent a long-term loss. Team managers in a hurry to hire often skip references, assuming they won’t get the real story anyway. In truth, much can be inferred from what is not said, and the tone of former managers. Building and managing a great team doesn’t stop when your last position is filled.

Hiring 337

Hiring Technical Cofounder Cofounder Retention 337

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Thus I was pleased to see the evidence confirming that perspective in a new book, “ The Amazon Management System ,” by Ram Charan and Julia Yang. 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.

Global 308

Global Marketing Technical Review Algorithm 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2018

These approaches allow your startup to grow more rapidly, save costs, but costly mistakes can lead to business failure. There are many books written on this subject, but this classic by Chris Ducker, “ Virtual Freedom ,” manages to pack a lot more practical guidance into a small space that many others I have seen.

Philippines 181

Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder Affiliate 181

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

This reduces the cost of customer acquisition, allows easy upgrades for service and new features, and improves customer loyalty in the face of new competitors in the market. In this age of the gig-economy, you can more quickly hire and manage freelancers, contract workers, and contract operations.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2021

In fact, it’s all about understanding the differences between early adopters and mainstream customers, and managing your own marketing and development efforts to cross this deadly chasm. Many technical entrepreneurs continue to “tune” the system, and add new parameters for users to worry about, simply because they can.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Product Customer Restful 294

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

As a potential investor, I always think of the high rate of failure of disruptive technologies, due to the longer learning curve of customers, infrastructure change consistently required, and higher marketing costs. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Define realistic metrics to keep track of progress.

Technical Review 252

Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review Metrics 252

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Time management. Many experts suggest it costs six times more to sell something to a new customer than to an existing customer. As an aside, I would suggest that you should never aspire to be a manager or an executive if you don’t do follow-up. Some struggling entrepreneurs are totally event driven. Customer retention.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

You can review all the specifics of this approach in the classic book by Nathan Furr and Paul Ahlstrom, appropriately titled “ Nail It then Scale It: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating and Managing Breakthrough Innovation ,” but I will net it out here. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Employees are still too often thought of as a commodity, to be acquired “just in time” for the lowest cost, and managed as a disposable asset. Underestimating absenteeism and accident costs. They look only at historical data, and lump it all under "the cost of doing business."

Analytics 245

Analytics Metrics Employee Open Source 245