Both Sides of the Table

JULY 9, 2013

This is final part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. Well think of it this way – you have your sales process. And with scarce resources it’s your job to decide which door this lead must go through – sales or marketing.

Customer 324

Customer PR Marketing Technical Review 324

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2012

The proactive solution is to hire sparingly, and spend the time and effort needed to hire existing experts in all cases. Don’t hire your friends and family, don’t assume they can learn on the job, and don’t assume that cheap is best. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised. Too slow or too fast to change.

Advisory Board 240

Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

The rising importance of predictive AI-driven analytics became clear, hinting at a future where forecasts will shape decisions. 02:06] Can you share your experience starting with an early-stage company (Hubspot) that eventually went public? [07:11] Questions I ask Peter Caputa: [0:48] What exactly does Databox do? [02:06]

Metrics 75

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 75

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2011

The proactive solution is to hire sparingly, and spend the time and effort needed to hire existing experts in all cases. Don’t hire your friends and family, don’t assume they can learn on the job, and don’t assume that cheap is best. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised. Too slow or too fast to change.

Advisory Board 232

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 232

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

In most startups, the founder is the first salesperson and while it may be difficult to let that go you’ll eventually scale, add sales reps, or maybe some form of a Sales Manager once there are more than a couple of reps. Here are some of the telltale signs that will help you figure out if you should bring in a CRO.

Revenue 62

Revenue Hiring Forecast Early Stage 62

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true. Or you change sales strategy.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Up and Running

AUGUST 8, 2018

How did we do last month compared to our forecast? What does our cash flow forecast look like for the next few months? For those early-stage startups, this step of the meeting may be the most important step and take the longest. Let’s do the numbers. We always start with the numbers first. Did we collect money as planned?

Software Review 65

Software Review Business Plan Product Forecast 65

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 27, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine founder interview series , we talked with Travis Batiza, the founder of AssuredLeads, a sales and marketing platform serving the insurance industry. Describe the AssuredLeads product/service in 10 words or less: AssuredLeads optimizes sales production for commercial insurance agents and carriers.

Founder 98

Founder Sales Cofounder Early Stage 98

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2010

The proactive solution is to hire sparingly, and spend the time and effort needed to hire existing experts in all cases. Don’t hire your friends and family, don’t assume they can learn on the job, and don’t assume that cheap is best. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised. Too slow or too fast to change.

Advisory Board 125

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 125

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Early Stage Sales Cofounder 319

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. Pitchbot.vc 3) Originate investments.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

When you put together a business plan, you have to spend time thinking about things like your target market , your sales, and marketing strategy , the problem you solve for your customers, and who your key competitors are. Beyond understanding your business strategy, investors will also want to understand your financial forecasts.

Business Plan 138

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Exit Strategy 138

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Marketing Sales & Marketing Home Marketing Basics Sales Online Marketing Finding Customers Social Media Branding Social Media Does Your Companys Social Personality Need a Makeover? Sweat equity is just one component of early-stage valuation. Financing Some Jobs Act Proposals Make Headway.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Up and Running

MAY 9, 2016

What will you do yourself, and what tasks or site labor will your hire or subcontract for? There may be times, in the early stages of your business, where that’s what you have to do to pay the bills. What will you do yourself, and what tasks or site labor will your hire or subcontract for?

SBA 60

SBA Demand Forecast Balance Sheet 60

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

You can either hire a web designer or do it yourself with WordPress. Consider hiring an accountant at the early stages of your business. Constant changes in the way you do business will lead to positive sales and customer engagement. Post attractive content daily to gain followers. Then pick a web host.

Startup 160

Startup Social Media Forecast Early Stage 160

Up and Running

AUGUST 20, 2014

With a positive cash flow, you will be able to make inventory purchases, hire new staff and spend money on the things that matter, including paying yourself a salary! Not to mention the mental stress of having to make back every dollar you spent in the early stages of setting up your business. How do I calculate cash flow?

Forecast 135

Forecast .Net Dividend Finance 135

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Tracking and Forecasting the Trends Impacting the Future of Small Business. Before you agree to take equity in lieu of cash, you need to understand that any individual early stage start-up company equity is most likely going to be worthless. Have not met anyone I wanted to hire who was willing to work for equity.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

I strongly believe that the first few hires of a startup should belong to the growth department, whether they’re marketers, community managers, or salespeople (selling your product is the best way to learn how to improve it). Aug-15: Head of Sales (growth team). 1x hacker in charge of product/development. Lean marketing.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2018

If you’re in the early stages of fleshing out your business idea, don’t worry too much about detailed market research. You’ll be thinking about sales, marketing, the team you might need, and any partners or outside resources you’ll need to leverage. Your sales strategy. Start by thinking through your sales strategy.

Lean 134

Lean Forecast Software Review Business Plan 134

Up and Running

DECEMBER 4, 2014

You don’t need to worry at this early stage about in-depth financial forecasts, but you should do some basic back-of-the-napkin calculations to make sure your idea can be profitable. If you’re offering a service, describe the results of your service and what the deliverables would be if your prospect hired you.

Forecast 152

Forecast Elevator Pitch Lean Silicon Valley 152

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products. If you don’t yet have a team yet, list the roles you need to hire for. If you don’t yet have a team yet, list the roles you need to hire for. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

A few of the detailed case studies include: Tech legend Bill Gross building an MVP in 1999 to test demand for online car sales, which grew into CarsDirect.com. AppFog creating "high-hurdle" experiments to surface authentic early adopters with real pain. LitMotors approach to using Lean Startup to create a new vehicle category.

Lean 167

Lean Entrepreneur Agile San Francisco 167

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. Think of the one-page business plan as an expanded version of jotting your idea down on a napkin.

Business Plan 119

Business Plan Technical Review Lean Forecast 119

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

We then walked through our sales pipeline and discussed major campaigns. You put some update slides on things like key hires or biz dev deals being negotiated and you didn’t plan to talk about them. The reason the meetings felt like update meetings is because we spent hours walking through our board deck sequentially.

Startup 331

Startup Balance Sheet Forecast Early Stage 331

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Sustainable growth: Prioritise sales efficiency over growth at all costs. For more about forecasting growth in these uncertain times, check out Sequoia’s “ Adapting to Endure ” presentations published in May 2022. Early hires are super important: check for skills, motivation and cultural fit.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

Yet we used the product development model not only to manage product development, but as a road map for finding customers and to time our marketing launch and sales revenue plan. If it’s a new division inside a larger company, forecasts talk about return on investment. We had no clue what our market was when we first started.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

The company has just missed its quarterly revenue forecast. So we know from this that the problem is not the quality of those sales people. They also know precisely how much additional traffic will need to be generated to reach the growth targets, and how many sales people are needed at a given productivity level, etc.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

Sales are the bloodstream for most businesses, and tech startups are no exception. This post is about choosing the right sales strategy and channels for your startup from the start. This mix is not a good start when it comes to sales and marketing. Step 2: Choose your sales channels. Direct sales: Selling one-to-one.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

However, you’ll also need a steady flow of funds, especially in the early stages, to turn those ideas into reality. Funding is crucial for improving technology, hiring the right people, and launching a comprehensive marketing strategy to get a foothold in the market. There is no single approach here.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Up and Running

OCTOBER 22, 2014

It’s likely that your mind is filling with images of long documents, bad memories of writing term papers, and worries about doing market research and creating financial forecasts. Sales channels: How will you reach your target customers? So, you’ve been asked to write a business plan. Take a deep breath. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Business Plan 130

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Forecast Partner 130

BeyondVC

JANUARY 2, 2006

We spend lots of time on product development plans, sales plans, and financial models and not enough time preparing and thinking about how to continue to motivate and inspire your team. In terms of bonuses, I am not a huge fan of cash bonuses for companies losing money, especially in the early stages of development.

Management 60

Management Equity Forecast Salary 60

Small Business Force

JULY 7, 2016

Let’s face it; sales people are unique. So, given this set of minefields, how does a small business owner successfully find and build a professional sales team that can help the company grow? That provides a solid foundation for ANY sales position. Interviewing, hiring and managing expectations.

Sales 27

Sales Hiring Forecast Salary 27

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Moshe says that the Israeli economy is in good shape and has momentum, yet has a cloudy forecast ahead of it. He says that while the cost of hiring an engineer in Israel is nearly the same as in America, there are taxes and overhead that don’t exist in America, making it harder to compete in Israel.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital New Zealand Startup 100

Up and Running

APRIL 22, 2019

Instead of a flat lifetime value—like $120 for the single sale opportunity you have with each customer or user, you might charge $10 a month per user for as long as your customer uses your service. One of the best things you can do in the early stages of your SaaS business is to map out a quick business plan. Just start.

Software 94

Software Intellectual Property Cloud Seattle 94

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

enabling you to expand on an already working business model), and if you’re in the extremely early stages of building your company, you still need to develop your product. When it comes to product development and marketing in the early stages of your tech startup, funding is optional. You probably don’t need it (yet).

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Startup Forecast Channel 60

Women Entrepreneurs Can

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Do your homework by doing a revenue forecast. When You Are Required to Hire New Team Members. Younger businesses in the start-up phase are usually just composed of only a few key individuals who multitask to stretch resources in the early stages. In this case, doing a revenue forecast will help you weigh your options.

Due Diligence 40

Due Diligence Forecast Finance Bankruptcy 40