Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

It wasn’t so many years ago that starting a new e-commerce business on the Internet was a complex custom development project, usually costing a million dollars or more. Almost anyone can start a company today on a shoestring budget, following these cost-cutting recommendations: Establish a solid legal structure for your business.

Cost 405

Cost Entrepreneur Burn Rate Social Media 405

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

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. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

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

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

The cost of any new product these days must include education and rollout marketing, perhaps equal or greater than the development costs. New offerings which build your brand will increase acceptance and sales of all solutions, not just the new one. Don’t forget to address the risks and cost of doing nothing.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

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.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

Focus is required to resist adding a few more neat features, made possible by the new technology, which in fact make the product more complex to use, impossible to test, and very expensive in time and cost. Marketing and sales chasm. Lots of people still believe the major cost of a new product is development.

Technical Review 375

Technical Review Startup Dilution Early Stage 375

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Things will cost more than you expect. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. The best entrepreneurs manage cash flow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. You will make mistakes.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

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

DECEMBER 5, 2020

Constant search for ways to increase sales and profitability. More sales are the only way to reach real business success. Entrepreneurs relish change and new technology, which lead to new sales. The risks they take, and successes, can be applied to processes throughout the business at a fraction of the cost of expert consulting.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

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

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. 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. Use multiple small orders at first.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

More customers are lost to apathy after the sale than poor service or quality. Many experts suggest it costs six times more to sell something to a new customer than to an existing customer. A numbing 68% of all business lost in America is lost due to lack of follow-up after the sale. Customer retention.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize one-time sales in your business model. 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. Take advantage of low-cost modern tools and automation. Your solution must have value for every customer.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? The old mission statements declaring your intent to be the “low-cost provider” is no longer a motivating vision for employees or customers.

Sales 276

Sales Leadership Differentiation Global 276

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. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2020

Hiring requirements must be anticipated and implemented with the same precision and tracking as manufacturing volumes, sales leads, and customer service. Trying to save costs by seeking resumes on the Internet will result in poor quality candidates, more time required for screening and interviews, and high turnover.

Hiring 339

Hiring Matching Cost Internet 339

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2021

His focus is primarily on improving the results for traditional sales professionals, but I’m convinced that the same principles are equally critical for entrepreneurs selling their startup to investors, strategic partners, and customers. These attributes include the following: Specific moment-in-time indication. Place where it happened.

Elevator Pitch 313

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Boston Sales 313

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Things will cost more than you expect. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. The best entrepreneurs manage cash flow ruthlessly and never delegate decisions about spending money. You will make mistakes.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule. One thing hasn’t changed in the business world – competition.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

Here are a few specifics on how to be part of the solution, without the costs, rather than part of the problem: Put a personal face and address on your site; don’t hide behind an “info” email address. But that is just the beginning of the opportunity to provide or take advantage of the new power and tools on the Internet.

Technical Review 342

Technical Review Customer Social Network Software Review 342

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk. Look at the big picture first of development, finance, and marketing/sales.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Wessel also summarizes the costs and potential impacts of creating and building your startup in secondary markets, usually meaning not in Silicon Valley or one of the other super-hubs: It takes longer to raise money. It’s very important.

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2019

Long-term sales. We often talk about short-term sales and long-term relationships in mutually exclusive terms. Whereas every short-term initiative is akin to a traditional campaign, the long-term sales effort is the commitment.

Media 238

Media Cost Framework Social Media 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

For starters, here is my selection of some key metrics that every six-sigma joint like GE tracks without thinking, but that too many small businesses haven’t yet formalized: Sales revenue. Sales data needs to be correlated to advertising campaigns, price changes, seasonal forces, competitive actions, and other costs of sales.

Metrics 252

Metrics Technical Review Retention Acquisition 252

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Join a startup incubator.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

For example, when delivery costs and delays were still a major online sales hurdle, Amazon Prime membership was invented to offer free next day shipping. New inventions bring risk and cost, and they don’t see other companies using them until it is too late. The cost of being late is hard to recover.

Global 308

Global Marketing Technical Review Algorithm 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2017

In the heat of scaling the business, it’s tempting to skip the cost and time of finding qualified job candidates, and enlist those close at hand, without paying them a competitive wage for the hard work and commitment you need. Very few people are experts in all facets of a new business, including finance, sales, marketing, and operations.

Cost 180

Cost Advisory Board Entrepreneur Angel Investor 180

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2023

The same applies to other aspects of consumer experience: customer questions answered, problems fixed, and aggravations soothed, to close more sales. Modern websites adapt to the mobile environment, or you can provide a separate mobile site at low cost. Understand the power of online reviews to your advantage.

Global 267

Global Marketing Technical Review Mobile 267

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Per-unit cost less cost of goods sold is your gross profit or margin. Forecast sales-volume expectations. Quantify overhead costs.

Forecast 290

Forecast Burn Rate Widget Business Plan 290

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2019

Focus is required to resist adding a few more neat features, made possible by the new technology, which in fact make the product more complex to use, impossible to test, and very expensive in time and cost. Marketing and sales chasm. Lots of people still believe the major cost of a new product is development.

Technical Review 255

Technical Review Dilution Early Stage Product Development 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2022

It’s easy to jump to conclusions and attack the symptoms of a new problem, such as blaming the marketing team for declining sales. If you dig deeper, you may find the root cause to be new competitors, or your key product has quality problems. Quick decisions and biases can be very costly.

Technical Review 302

Technical Review Social Media Metrics Hosting 302

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

If you haven’t yet finalized the business model, cost projections, and customer segments, you aren’t ready for investors. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service.

Business Plan 273

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Social Media 273