Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

It has less focus on financial forecasting and a greater focus on the big picture. They have to have some degree of faith and certainty about what customers are going to want in the future. Successful entrepreneurs do actually predict the future — they know what customers are going to want and when they’re going to want it.

Business Plan 83

Business Plan Lean Forecast Exit Strategy 83

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. Investors are looking for a concise description of your product or service without technical jargon or fuzzy marketing terms with value quantified in customer terms. What are your forecasts for revenue, expenses and cash flow?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2016

By profit, I simply mean offering a product or service to customers for a price that exceeds the total costs associated with the solution, thus providing some basis for recovering sunk costs and generating a return for stakeholders. Solve a painful problem for customers who have money to spend.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In every case, the relevant pitch needs to start by highlighting a real customer problem, then outlining a new solution, with all the features and disruptive technology.

Product 120

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Burn Rate 120

The Next Web

MAY 26, 2013

Many ideas sound good on paper but fail spectacularly when put in front of customers. Unless you already have a stellar reputation, having a basic prototype and showing early success — user growth, engagement, retention or revenue — is critical to winning investor interest. Provide customer acquisition costs.

Software 151

Software Forecast Startup Exit Strategy 151

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Terms like “every customer needs this” and “next generation platform” are far too soft, and should be avoided. This is not the place for a detailed product specification, but an explanation of how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Solution and benefits. Focus is the keyword here.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

But you'd certainly share the news that you launched your new website or reached $1M in annual revenues. To better understand your customer. An in-depth customer analysis is essential to an effective business plan and to a successful business. To document your revenue model. What is the company's exit strategy?

Business Plan 128

Business Plan Private Placement Exit Strategy Finance 128

Up and Running

MAY 22, 2018

What is this one thing that keeps your customers coming back to you (that your competitors don’t have)? You’ll have to actually demonstrate that you’re generating revenue and increasing your client base. When you tell investors about your target market, use a customer persona (if not a real, anecdotal) to illustrate the details.

Exit Strategy 90

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Search Elevator Pitch 90

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

A number of analysts have particular focus on serving the customers of technology companies, e.g., Gartner and 451 Research. Custom CRM solutions for PE/VC funds are offered by Altvia , Backstop Solutions , DealCloud , EquityTouch , SalesLogistix , Satuit , Sevanta Dealflow , Navatar , Salesforce , SalesforceIQ , and Touchstone.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Up and Running

APRIL 28, 2015

This is a quick one sentence overview of your business and the value that you provide to your customers. Use this slide to expand on who your ideal customer is and how many of them there are. Describe how customers use your product and how it addresses the problems that you outlined on slide two. Slide 5: Revenue model.

Forecast 60

Forecast Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 60

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

If you are pre-revenue then it will be difficult to portray market traction unless you have the budget to conduct customer surveys. Practicing Top-Down Sales Forecasting. Investors want to see a growth/revenue model that uses sales data and assumptions that predict sales by product and region.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan NDA Exit Strategy Valuation 67

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Sloan put in place GM’s management accounting system (borrowed from DuPont) that for the first time allowed the company to: 1) produce an annual operating forecast that compared each division’s forecast (revenue, costs, capital requirements and return on investment) with the company’s financial goals.

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 156