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. Commit to a major customer. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2017

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Customer support chasm. Product development chasm.

Customer 191

Customer Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone. For a startup founder, this stage is when the “big idea” has become a passion for him, but he hasn’t written anything down yet.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 16, 2013

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. Investors often say that successfully navigating the early stages of a startup requires lots of street smarts, guts, and luck.

Early Stage 235

Early Stage Startup Founder Entrepreneur 235

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors. Effective communication requires real listening, as well as talking.

Intellectual Property 278

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 278

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2023

Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge. Key to required patents or trade secrets.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Planning for the future must be a regular activity, not just an early-stage or once-a-year event. With information overload due to the Internet, you need to find your customers, rather than assume they will find you. That first burst of customers via word-of-mouth or a viral video won’t sustain your growth.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial? Don’t be sidetracked by potential customers in the middle of a free trial, or friends of the founder. Think twice before you jump in.

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial? Don’t be sidetracked by potential customers in the middle of a free trial, or friends of the founder. Think twice before you jump in.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Manage customer service. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. Research has confirmed that culture is a primary driver for financial performance, customer experience, and team productivity.

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups, the hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone. For VCs, early-stage means customer revenue is less than $10M.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 9, 2020

Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge. Key to required patents or trade secrets.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2021

That story has to begin with a painful problem shared by a large collection of viable customers, with your competitive solution. Don’t waste time talking to VCs for requests less than $1M, or very early stage, and don’t expect professional investors to jump in if you have no “skin in the game.”

Software Review 307

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Early Stage 307

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

Message delivery must be customized for each investor. It takes more than one person to build a business, so the lone entrepreneur, without support from any visible team, advisors, partners, or potential customers, will not attract investors. Effective communication requires real listening, as well as talking.

Intellectual Property 316

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 316

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2019

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Customer support chasm. Product development chasm.

Technical Review 255

Technical Review Dilution Early Stage Product Development 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

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. Commit to a major customer. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. Investors often say that successfully navigating the early stages of a startup requires lots of street smarts, guts, and luck.

Entrepreneur 422

Entrepreneur Early Stage Founder Revenue 422

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2023

None normally work for or provide funds for early-stage startups. Most retail and commercial banks offer investment services to their customers, but these services have nothing to do with investing in your business. Many investment banks even call themselves “boutiques.”

Early Stage 182

Early Stage Silicon Valley Private Equity Initial Public Offering 182

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2018

Early-stage ideas fall in the same category. In other words, inventions are necessary but not sufficient to create real value for investors and customers. You need a viable business model and customers. They, and most customers, really are quicker to adopt evolutionary rather than revolutionary products.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 215

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow. In this context, there are at least six stages often included in the scope of R&D to narrow your focus: Search for new technologies. Expanding the product line.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain.

Early Stage 379

Early Stage Vertical Sales Global 379

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue). Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2014

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. This attitude sows division and mistrust at exactly the early stages when the business most needs to build precious esprit de corps. Never cover your a$$. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 258

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 258

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Manage customer service. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Value factors include your related product breadth and depth, relationships with thought leaders, key vendors, and large potential customers. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge. Key to required patents or trade secrets.

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2019

If you act, you learn from other people, especially customers, and you build momentum. Most entrepreneurs realize that for early stage startups, process is the enemy of progress, slowing you down when you're trying to move forward. Focused on progress rather than process.

Software Review 233

Software Review Early Stage Acquisition Design 233

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

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. Commit to a major customer. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. Angels are most interested to help you scale the business, once you have real customer traction and ready to break out.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Groups 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2013

In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Missions and products that are too broad confuse your team, your customers, and potential investors. Customer support chasm. Product development chasm.

Entrepreneur 252

Entrepreneur Marketing Technical Review Dilution 252

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” One customer is not traction, and beta tests with a thousand customers at no cost don’t count. Customer acquisition cost.

Hockey Stick 304

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2014

Early-stage ideas fall in the same category. In other words, inventions are necessary but not sufficient to create real value for investors and customers. You need a viable business model and customers. They, and most customers, really are quicker to adopt evolutionary rather than revolutionary products.

Technical Review 266

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2013

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. This attitude sows division and mistrust at exactly the early stages when the business most needs to build precious esprit de corps. Never cover your a$$. Marty Zwilling.

Early Stage 264

Early Stage Entrepreneur Technical Review .Net 264