Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited. Soundbites from potential customers are encouraging. This is all a part of the normal product and customer development process,” the CEO tells the team. Investors are dismayed that there are no real customers yet.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Feld Thoughts

JULY 12, 2018

As a result of growing their customer base quickly, they were invited to participate in an analyst evaluation. As a result, the younger companies approaching the problem in a completely new way were ranked poorly because the analyst missed the real value to the customer. The analyst didn’t behave like a customer.

Technical Review 73

Technical Review Warrant PR Portfolio 73

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 9, 2021

It’s tons of information, organized well, in tight, bite-sized chunks. For example, here are the chapters in Part Five: Sales by Anita Absey (p.

Fractional CTO 70

Fractional CTO Cofounder Startup Lead Investor 70

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Dick is focusing his effort on getting some early customer validation and is using a Lean Startup approach. Once these were up Dick launched several AdWords campaigns to test customer interest. Dick’s friend Samir, who is hoping to land a job with Sayahh, agreed to put together several static landing pages and email collection forms.

Balance Sheet 125

Balance Sheet Fractional CTO Burn Rate Salary 125

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 7, 2021

Your own preferences for technology platforms can get in the way of a successful meeting if the customer prefers a different system or is not set up on it. For example, if you are communicating, selling, interviewing for a job, or promoting a message, you need to make sure you will be heard.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Audience Security Technology 70

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

During this period, I helped Hewlett-Packard save on the order of ten million dollars a year on customer support costs, roughly a 100x return on my salary. send a copy to each person in this 150 row spreadsheet, with a cover letter customized to them), and to set up a review point part-way into the work (e.g.

Technical Review 195

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Software Review Cofounder 195

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 3, 2010

After meeting with the Rally team in February, we found that their ideas about company culture and vision for AgileZen matched up surprisingly well with our own, and it felt like working together was the right decision for the product and our customers. What would you tell other start-ups about being acquired ?

Founder 122

Founder Acquisition Software Developers Software Development 122

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 30, 2013

Though the notion of a “lean startup” that uses both Agile and Customer Development approaches is ostensibly strongly customer focused, the purpose of these methodologies is for the company to find an maximize its market, not specifically to optimize the user experience.

Technology 168

Technology Coder Semantic Social Media 168

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 19, 2014

We like many of their customers were begging for some time for them to support WordPress. They have built an incredibly powerful multi-tenant platform with the best set of website developer tools in the world and a container based run-time that can scale sites from 0 to >100M page-views entirely in software. That day has finally come.

Hosting 139

Hosting HTML Bandwidth Portfolio 139

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

Until now agencies have had to bear the responsibility of website DevOps for their customers by necessity. They enable digital agencies to walk into any customer at any scale and know they can nail the launch no matter how demanding the requirements. Pantheon fixes this broken and frustrating dynamic.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Portfolio Web Design 70

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 2, 2013

That means fewer late-night calls, an easier to manage environment, and more reliability for your customers. JumpCloud closes the gap between what you can do and what you know you should be doing with regard to user management and security of your cloud infrastructure.

Bandwidth 127

Bandwidth Security Cloud Cofounder 127

Feld Thoughts

MAY 5, 2011

This approach worked much better, but by this point one of the co-founders was frustrated with the customer dynamics (all business facing) and decided to leave to start a new consumer-facing business (he left on good terms, we are still good friends, and he’s much happier today). The last three months have been pleasantly insane.

CTO Hire 131

CTO Hire Cofounder Architecture Product Development 131

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2014

We had a Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network Colorado meeting with her and her partner and in the middle of the discussion about their business Jenna used the phrase “digital paralysis” to describe one of the things she thinks is driving the incredible engagement of their customers. Her example was photography.

Colorado 143

Colorado Technical Review Partner Technology 143

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 30, 2011

Trada, like many of the companies we’ve invested in, had spectacular growth (both revenue, customers, and headcount) in 2011. Over and over I’m hearing this is the best way to learn someone’s skills. Reference check – oh man how many times do I have to learn this lesson.

Software Developers 136

Software Developers Software Development Startup Portfolio 136

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 24, 2020

A number of early customers have started building solutions. Misty is in beta with this and already has several paid beta customers. Misty Robotics’ goal is to create a robot platform (hardware and software) that any developer can use to build useful and immediately applicable robot applications.

SMS 124

SMS Web Software Email 124

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 6, 2016

Some choose to stay at Techtonic Group, where they become part of a team to build custom software, mobile applications and content-managed websites, while others move on to Techtonic Group clients. After about six months, graduating apprentices are qualified junior developers, ready to work.

Coder 70

Coder Salary Software Engineering Software 70

Feld Thoughts

MAY 14, 2011

Like SendGrid, they are growing like crazy, are in use by over 10,000 customers and have sent over 3 billion push notifications. While mobile phones used to only really work effectively with SMS, you now have SMS, email, and push notifications. So we invested in Urban Airship who does for push notifications what SendGrid does for email.

SMS 138

SMS Social Media Channel Email 138

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

Can Do Colorado showcases small businesses’ hard work across the state through a series of short videos that strengthen customer confidence by connecting Colorado’s consumers with small businesses.

Colorado 207

Colorado Small Business Portfolio Metrics 207

Feld Thoughts

MAY 9, 2011

Customer : The federal government is an enormous consumer of products and services. While it claims to want to do business with entrepreneurial companies and so far pays its bills in a predictable manner, it’s a miserable customer to deal with.

Government 143

Government Technical Review Intellectual Property Accredited Investor 143

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 2, 2017

For example, entrepreneurs go to conferences and network in order to find customers and investors. As I’ve dug further into the problem, I’ve seen consistent ways that many people are excluded. If you don’t have personal savings or family members who can help support you, you can’t afford that plane ticket.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Colorado Community America 78

Feld Thoughts

JULY 8, 2013

When this happens, the organization suddenly finds itself unable to achieve the promises and commitments made to the outside world, whether it’s investors, customers, analysts or Wall Street. The goal is to shorten and amplify feedback loops, and to bring Development closer to the customer experience.

Phoenix 175

Phoenix Software Review Technical Review Cofounder 175

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2013

It involves running through our sprint process on a compressed timeline, working with a hypothetical customer, in a typical solution space. But seriously, we have a rigorous process at our startup that tests new job candidates for these traits, making it easy to determine whether they should be leveled-up to the next interview stage.

Agile 153

Agile Software Review Denver Database 153

Feld Thoughts

MARCH 11, 2010

I’ve seen things like help systems, new web sites, better customer support processes, better management of social media activity, and lots of business process stuff created and implemented during hackathons. Not all of the hackathon projects need to be about code. After the hackathon is over, publicize what you’ve done to the world.

Software Review 138

Software Review Wiki Continuous Deployment Agile 138

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Founders, who are already under immense pressure from many directions, now have to contend with that dynamic for themselves in an uncertain business environment, connected only by video conferencing and email to their teams, investors, and customers.

Founder 207

Founder Equity Stock Government 207

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 4, 2013

I thought that maybe I should just get a new machine and quit belly aching, but I pushed a little just to see what apple thought about a customer like me… and called apple to ask if there was anything more they could do. Technology apple customer service' I think this time, I might really go get the chromebook.

Croatia 156

Croatia India Colorado Customer 156

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 27, 2020

Rather than showing some flexibility, they are telling their customer (the tenant) who literally cannot use the physical space they are renting, “sorry – not my problem.” .” In a moment where landlords could generate enormous goodwill, especially with smaller companies, I believe they are doing the opposite.

Marketing 214

Marketing Portfolio Distribution Employee 214

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

For example: CEO Friend: “Are the trials converting into customers?&#. In his case he was experiencing the opposite of the yes/no problem – he was trying to ask an open ended question and getting a yes/no answer. CTO: “No&#. several (four?)

Software Engineering 136

Software Engineering Cloud Engineer Software 136

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 3, 2011

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, most of the folks I’ve been talking to and/or helping have been able to get visas. After being stymied for a variety of reasons, including extremely aggressive, negative, and inconsistent behavior at the border from U.S.

Startup 182

Startup Washington Technical Review United States 182

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 18, 2017

When you read Jeff Bezos’ annual letter and internalize “customer obsession” you realize that if you view the world from the perspective of the customer, everything in your business hinges on getting your product into their hands, and then totally delighting them.

Boston 118

Boston Lean Software Founder 118

Feld Thoughts

MAY 15, 2020

Part One: Let’s Keep COVID-19 Out of Your Workplace : Best practices in screening your workers and customers and how they need to be balanced with privacy and HIPAA concerns. Next week, WorkBright and Energize Colorado are doing a four-part webinar series on Reopening Your Business.

Colorado 116

Colorado Programming Operations Employee 116

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 9, 2013

I was a huge fan and an early customer, but not an investor, in one of his companies ( Ambient Devices ) and we share a lot of friends and colleagues from MIT and the Media Lab. On Saturday, I read the final draft of a magnificent book by David Rose. The book is titled Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and the Internet of Things.

Software Review 148

Software Review Internet Stock Media 148

Feld Thoughts

MAY 22, 2019

Would they pass on the tariff to the customer? Some companies are adding a line to their invoice called “Tariffs” and charging that to customers (I’m seeing this mostly in B2B situations). Would they absorb the tariff as an increase in COGS? Would they increase prices?

Startup 126

Startup China B2B Government 126

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Well before the web existed, I was physically tearing articles out of industry magazines and sending them to customers, prospects, other entrepreneurs, and my partner Dave, who probably got tired of the stack of paper with notes scribbled on them that landed on his desk each day.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Angel Investor Partner Database 154

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

I woke up in a customer service booth. Constable’s near term sci-fi book Becoming Monday. If you are a fan of near term sci-fi, AGI, or the singularity, go get a copy right now – you’ll love it. Or perhaps more accurately, since I couldn’t remember a damn thing, my new existence began in that booth.

Artificial Inteligence 134

Artificial Inteligence Security Developer Customer 134

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 21, 2021

This would eliminate what I expect is Discord’s most interesting current vector, which is cross-organization collaboration within either affinity groups (communities) or for corporations with their customers. I fantasize about having one app that deals with all the different sub-apps.

API 143

API Channel Community Revenue 143

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

If you like chocolates and lasers and want to give some customized laser engraved chocolate gifts for the holidays , Noteworthy Chocolates has you covered. Jennifer won me over and I expect that laser engraved chocolates will be on my gift rotation (for gifts I give my friends) in the future.

Boston 101

Boston Founder Customer 101

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 13, 2014

.” Accused Uber behavior: “177 Uber employees have requested and quickly canceled more than 5,000 rides from Lyft drivers over the past 10 months, Lyft said, in an effort to frustrate Lyfts customers and drivers.” ” As a customer, this sucks. If I was a driver for either service, this sucks.

Non-Compete 180

Non-Compete Government Valuation Equity 180