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 specific marketing and sales plans?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Solution and benefits.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

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

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

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Solution and benefits.

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. Marketing, sales, and partners. Solution and benefits.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

Marketing and Sales Plan. What marketing and sales tactics will you be using? Your business plan isn’t complete without a financial forecast. Every business is solving a problem for its customers and filling a need in the market. Who is your ideal customer? Who are you selling to? Read more ». Read more ».

Business Plan 163

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. is an AI bot which helps companies refine their sales pitch to VCs. A number of analysts have particular focus on serving the customers of technology companies, e.g., Gartner and 451 Research. Pitchbot.vc are using AngelMob.co

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Growthink Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

To better understand your customer. An in-depth customer analysis is essential to an effective business plan and to a successful business. What is the company's exit strategy? This definition allows you to succinctly describe the business and position the brand to customers, investors, and partners.

Business Plan 128

Business Plan Private Placement Exit Strategy Finance 128

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. Keep it short and simple.

Forecast 60

Forecast Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 60

Up and Running

AUGUST 20, 2018

Every business has long-term and short-term goals, sales targets, and expense budgets—a business plan encompasses all of those things and is as useful to a startup trying to raise funds as it is to a 10-year-old business that’s looking to grow. The projections include sales, costs, expenses, and cash flow. Leave them on the computer.

Business Plan 119

Business Plan Technical Review Lean Forecast 119

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

In order to launch a successful business and raise the capital needed to do so, a startup needs to consider several aspects of the business including the management team , the size of the opportunity, the product/service/technology, the market/sales/distribution channels, the competitive environment and several other factors.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan NDA Exit Strategy Valuation 67

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Keep customers at the forefront, and listen to them. “Let your mission, values, and customer happiness be the guiding force behind everything you do, and remember you are not the customer. If a taking on a customer means changing too many things, that client just might not be the right fit, Nelson says. Plan ahead.

Bootstrapping 107

Bootstrapping Cofounder Portland Burn Rate 107

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Top management was trying to coordinate all of the operating details (sales, manufacturing, distribution and marketing,) across all the divisions and the company almost went bankrupt that year when poor planning led to excess inventory (with unsold cars piling up at dealers and the company running out of cash.)

Silicon Valley 156

Silicon Valley United States RSS Customer Development 156

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

Lots of new box companies have trouble ironing out the kinks in their process: their customer can’t easily unsubscribe, their boxes just aren’t exciting or well-curated, and more. Target market (intended customers). Marketing and sales plan. You can see what your customer needs out of your subscription box, and why they need it.

Business Plan 63

Business Plan Curation Balance Sheet Intellectual Property 63

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Set a specific time each month to review it , comparing forecasts to actuals and revising as necessary. Then you’ll think through your ideal customer, your competition, and your opportunities for growth. This section of your business plan describes what services you provide and how they benefit your customers. Key customers.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

FEBRUARY 11, 2011

One of those ventures was the creation, establishment, growth and sale of an e-commerce business. The cologne and perfume industry is approximately a $25 billion industry in North America that is forecast to grow exponentially. My business concept was one based on volume (sales), and not product margin (profit per item sold).

SEO 86

SEO PPC America Design 86

The Next Web

MAY 26, 2013

Many ideas sound good on paper but fail spectacularly when put in front of customers. Understand your sales funnel. Having a robust understanding of your sales funnel will be tremendously helpful to include in your pitch and presentation to investors. Provide customer acquisition costs. Emerson Spartz , Spartz.

Software 151

Software Forecast Startup Exit Strategy 151

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)? When you tell investors about your target market, use a customer persona (if not a real, anecdotal) to illustrate the details. Say what your customer is experiencing to set the stage for how your solution can help.

Exit Strategy 90

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Search Elevator Pitch 90