YoungUpstarts

MAY 21, 2020

Before rushing to build your concept to push out to consumers, it’s important to first undertake product discovery. Product discovery is the purpose of identifying the smallest amount of software needed to determine market value. Notably, this occurs prior to building the Minimum Viable Product , or ‘MVP’. How is it done?

Product 264

Product Cofounder Audience Product Development 264

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What stage? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. I like to see how they improve their products when there are obvious holes. What price?

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

What stage? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? I like to see how they improve their products when there are obvious holes. I like to debate with them how they will land customers and how they deal with the press. What price?

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 26, 2022

Designing new hardware products that have a positive impact on customers is no small feat. There are several elements that go into hardware product design that taps an unaddressed customer need, has the customer WOW factor, and succeeds long term in the market.

Design 133

Design Development Team Review Product Technical Review 133

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

Three types of organizations – Incubators, Accelerators and Venture Studios – have emerged to reduce the risk of early-stage startup failure by helping teams find product/market fit and raise initial capital. They do the most to de-risk the early stages of a startup. Reducing Startup Risk.

Technical Cofounder 346

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 346

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 11, 2021

What you need is a custom IT solution. Converting your business ideas, goals and needs into a unique IT product will offer competitive advantage. This would be ideal for someone who is at the early stages of building their business and looking to stick to a limited budget. Fast processor and productivity.

Software Review 140

Software Review Developer Technical Review Customer 140

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital , customers, and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Customers?

Early Stage 54

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley San Antonio 54

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

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. Product development chasm.

Technical Review 375

Technical Review Startup Dilution Early Stage 375

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

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.

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live for less than £30k (that generally includes founder salaries and time spent doing customer research).

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

ConversionXL

APRIL 28, 2021

Wondering how to encourage users to engage with your product again and again, without constantly popping in their inboxes? In many cases, customers are more willing to give out their info when rewards are at stake, like discounts or sales. But that’s just the start of building a beloved product without email marketing.

Email 151

Email Product Marketing Cofounder 151

SoCal CTO

APRIL 2, 2012

Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. The problem is you don't yet have product/market fit, and until you do, you don't really know what to build. When product vision is truly clear, then it makes sense to execute it, and hiring follows.

CTO Hire 205

CTO Hire Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO Los Angeles 205

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

I will tell you brief details about seed stage funding, and deal sourcing on this page, so read the conclusion until the end. The following is a condensed explanation of seed funding: Seed money is a form of early-stage financing that new businesses receive from investors in exchange for a share of ownership in the company.

Seed Stage 126

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 126

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. Product development chasm.

Customer 191

Customer Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 191

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers." I’ve spoken to dozens of customers, I have a validated customer persona, built an MVP to test key behavioral hypotheses, and the data doesn’t back what you’re saying." " One was an enterprise software product.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The larger the company, the more they’ll separate out business development and sales, with business development focused primarily on lead generation and sales focused on sealing the actual sale of the product or service. At a large company, sales usually means someone else has done the broad shaping for a potential customer.

Government 212

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 212

YoungUpstarts

MAY 1, 2020

Given that mindset, it’s only natural that most entrepreneurs jump at the first chance they get to secure early-stage startup funding. Most startups will need a viable product and proof of credibility before they can expect early-stage investors to really bite. Instead, approach your fundraising in tiers.

Early Stage 165

Early Stage Security Angel Investor Lead Investor 165

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Muun found a market need but failed to compete with bigger names that provided customers with authoritative content and resources. One neglected its positioning by failing to target the biggest pain point, and the other failed to build a brand that its customers could trust above the other major players.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 3, 2021

Still, you need to find some way to pull your company out of this early-stage quicksand. First, we need to address the core challenges of developing effective early-stage growth strategies for new businesses. Many new businesses have a small customer base, limited revenue, and a finite amount of funding to work with.

Early Stage 125

Early Stage PPC Retention Churn Rate 125

Up and Running

OCTOBER 13, 2021

The world grows more impersonal by the day, and people crave being more than just another number in the customer queue. During the last few years, marketers have turned toward more personalized experiences to win customers over. How to use personalization to improve customer experience. What is personalized marketing?

Customer 118

Customer Marketing Artificial Inteligence Technical Review 118

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. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge. Experience and connections in your business area. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here.

Technical Cofounder 247

Technical Cofounder Equity Distribution Cofounder 247

The Startup Magazine

MAY 22, 2018

At this stage of a company, all employees of the company need to proactively focus on customers and their receptivity to the offering. For these startup companies, the client success team does not falter as the company grows because they adjust to the changing expectations of customers as the request volumes grow.

Customer 81

Customer Early Stage Churn Rate Startup 81

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

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 million at the end of last year, we’re laser-focused on fast growth without sacrificing customer experience. Be honest with yourself VCs are now going to be looking closer at margins, cost structures and true sales, and product market fit. That includes us.

Early Stage 111

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 111

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. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial?

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders, no surprise?—?that’s founders, marketers, investors?—?and

Founder 424

Founder Product Cofounder Acquisition 424

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. Building the product may be the easy part of your startup challenge. Experience and connections in your business area. Textbook knowledge and academic degrees don’t count here.

Cofounder 435

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Equity Intellectual Property 435

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. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

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. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. Is there a real customer willing to give a testimonial?

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

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

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You may think that patents and copyrights are not required, since your products are so innovative, but you will find that competitors are quick to copy your idea if you don’t protect it. Planning for the future must be a regular activity, not just an early-stage or once-a-year event. Survival requires regular updates.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. Since the economic downturn started, neither angels nor VCs have given much attention to startups without a product and a revenue stream. Early-stage startup. Every startup is early-stage to someone.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Each has specific requirements linked to each stage and value inflection point of the Traction Gap journey. Product Architecture. Revenue Architecture.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127