Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2010

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. Marketing and sales chasm.

Startup 227

Startup Technical Review Dilution Early Stage 227

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

They make money by starting a product from scratch and then selling it in thousands of dollars. In most cases, they hit the jackpot when their products are sold for millions. You don’t have a product and most of your meetings will not bring any fruit. You are looking for cofounders that can help you build a product.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

In addition, I’ve noted a few multi-product lending firms, e.g., Kapitus and United Capital Source , which provide RBI as one of many structural options to companies seeking capital. . We have a special program if you are pre-seed and need product development. Alternative Capital. “ You qualify if you have $5k+ MRR.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 18, 2014

(Quicken, TurboTax, and QuickBooks are a few of its products.) One of its primary goals was to galvanize product development by discovering often-unstated customer needs and creating solutions for them. Unfortunately, Toyota diluted that system in its drive for global expansion and global sales leadership.

Employee 162

Employee Operations Global Dilution 162

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

For a more elaborate explanation of the deal, please read my blog post 1M/1M: Alternative Financing For Startups Using A Sales Channel Partner. I have discussed at length why revenue sharing channel deals may serve as perfectly fine alternatives to raising equity (or even complements) because of their non-dilutive nature. Safarclick.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

A year ago I blogged about one of my most common mantras that applies to sales, biz dev & fund raising alike: “ Time is the Enemy of all Deals.&#. When you see evidence that there is this so called “product / market fit&# then you may be ready for larger amounts of capital. So if you can take 27% dilution for $1.5

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

YoungUpstarts

JULY 23, 2012

I learned that most juices of exotic “superfruits” like pomegranate or cranberry are often diluted with “fillers” like apple, pear or grape juice. The sections on POM Wonderful, the billion dollar global business focused on 100% pomegranate juice, were especially enlightening. Image source.

Ruby 159

Ruby Fiji America Dilution 159

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

And once you have a relationship with an author, musician, or journalist, it will be quite easy for them to offer new products and services – and for you to give them feedback that helps them shape ever more interesting (and ever more profitable) offerings. There are too many products clamoring for attention. Is that a lot?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

ConversionXL

AUGUST 30, 2018

It slows product development. According to that same NNG research: Ecommerce sites can expect to double their sales. For web-based products, user research can deliver quantitative measurement of on-site user behavior and qualitative insights from open-ended surveys and user recordings. Your product is not ready.

Design 111

Design Framework Product Development Technical Review 111

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 14, 2013

We’re starting here with a conversation about content with Stephanie Hay , the leading voice behind Lean Content , which she describes as “finding the ‘right’ words to acquire customers before building products.” Within a month, we learned that both audiences were lukewarm on the product. Steph: For me, it leads.

Lean 167

Lean Conversion Audience Design 167

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I learned how to better run a product management process. I learned how to integrate customers into our product development process. But in our first year of sales (and those were really shitty years to be selling software) we sold $2.1 I learned how to establish sales targets and how to manage a sales pipeline.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Seeing Both Sides

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Developing expertise in raising capital is more than a necessary evil, it's a competitive weapon. If you have a stronger balance sheet than your competition, you can push off monetization decisions and focus on product-market fit. You can take more risks on partner deals, focusing on long-term value creation, not short-term gain.

Balance Sheet 42

Balance Sheet Entrepreneur Dilution Portfolio 42

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

million registered users, 7500 supplier partners, 600 team members, and a run-rate of more than $150M in sales in just 15 months. It’s all about the product. The only thing that matters is how good your product is. Getting all 3 parts of our product right is everything. So, here goes. Always has been. Always will be.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Building Product 2. Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Would it be a good idea clubbing all the other products / services under 1 venture, because some of them are totally unrelated. do something else.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

I assume both cofounders will be diluted equally as more employees and investors get involved. Sorry for the rant, but in all seriousness, Ive seen too many good non-technical founders delay building a product for months because theyre too stingy with equity. Hes the guy designing and building the product.

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 13, 2015

I have been thinking about the challenges of crossing the chasm - that is, taking a cutting-edge product and selling it successfully to the mainstream, not just early adopters who are more tolerant of less complete solutions - and the challenges of scaling in general as many of my portfolio companies are dealing with these issues.

Mezzanine 20

Mezzanine IPO Finance Business Model 20