Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Manage customer service. Personnel Manager. All the learning from parenting pays big dividends here.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2013

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations survive in the early-stage startup environment. This attitude sows division and mistrust at exactly the early stages when the business most needs to build precious esprit de corps. Never cover your a$$.

Early Stage 264

Early Stage Entrepreneur Technical Review .Net 264

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Hire more help than helpers.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 10, 2011

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment. This attitude sows division and mistrust at exactly the early stages when the business most needs to build precious esprit de corps. Never cover your a$$.

Startup 263

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 263

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2012

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. Trusted partners quit, personal friends become enemies, and staff management becomes a huge burden. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised.

Advisory Board 240

Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

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. Good performance management is more about rewarding desirable behavior than penalizing bad performance. People relationship focus.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2022

As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in the classic book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Never commingle personal and business funds.

Early Stage 307

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 307

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2011

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. Trusted partners quit, personal friends become enemies, and staff management becomes a huge burden. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised.

Advisory Board 232

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 232

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

In reality, very few executives or professional stars from large corporations thrive in the early-stage startup environment. This attitude sows division and mistrust at exactly the early stages when the business most needs to build precious esprit de corps. Never cover your a$$. Don't solve problems you don't have.

Startup 238

Startup Early Stage Technical Review .Net 238

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

This early stage is often called the idea stage, best populated by people who see the need for change early, or always have a vision for unmet opportunities, or a better way to do things. This work requires market feedback, managing trials, and working with the sales team as well as developers.

Metrics 272

Metrics Early Stage Finance Programming 272

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

The indirect costs of time and effort to find the right grant, complete the application and manage the process, even if you win, can be substantial. Just like you can hire investment brokers to find equity investors, you can hire grant writers and expeditors to help you through the process and improve your odds of success.

SBIR 120

SBIR Equity Technical Review Early Stage 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2016

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. The allocation of shares among the founders, and the number and size of outside investments, will tells volumes about the health, stability, and management of the business.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in the classic book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Never commingle personal and business funds.

Early Stage 317

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 317

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2022

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Marketing 283

Marketing Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting 283

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2015

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. The allocation of shares among the founders, and the number and size of outside investments, will tells volumes about the health, stability, and management of the business.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Hire more help than helpers.

Mezzanine 244

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 244

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2010

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. Trusted partners quit, personal friends become enemies, and staff management becomes a huge burden. Stretch” goals in early-stage are not advised.

Advisory Board 125

Advisory Board Startup Forecast Early Stage 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2019

Image via Wikipedia As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Early Stage 218

Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting Entrepreneur 218

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2018

As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in the classic book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Never commingle personal and business funds.

Early Stage 158

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2014

As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in a new book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Neither of these approaches bodes well for success.

Entrepreneur 265

Entrepreneur Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue 265

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Hire more help than helpers.

Mezzanine 141

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 141

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2017

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Early Stage 242

Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting Entrepreneur 242

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Hire more help than helpers.

Mezzanine 240

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 240

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Entrepreneur 315

Entrepreneur Early Stage Lead Generation Media 315

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 29, 2013

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. The other four are: new product development, writing, time management, and sales/marketing.

Startup 291

Startup Early Stage Lead Generation Hosting 291

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 16, 2013

If the company was incorporated five years ago, and is still in early stages, with the same founding team, chances are slim that it will suddenly get back on track with you as an employee, or you as an investor. They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire.

Due Diligence 253

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Burn Rate 253

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Hire more help than helpers.

Mezzanine 120

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2015

As an entrepreneur, you need to start early to implement the discipline and business practices that will lead to success. Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in a recent book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Neither of these approaches bodes well for success.

Early Stage 120

Early Stage Startup Bootstrapping Revenue 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

If the company was incorporated five years ago, and is still in early stages, with the same founding team, chances are slim that it will suddenly get back on track with you as an employee, or you as an investor. They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire.

Due Diligence 244

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate Intellectual Property 244

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

If the company was incorporated five years ago, and is still in early stages, with the same founding team, chances are slim that it will suddenly get back on track with you as an employee, or you as an investor. They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire.

Due Diligence 237

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Entrepreneur 237

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2010

If the company was incorporated five years ago, and is still in early stages, with the same founding team, chances are slim that it will suddenly get back on track with you as an employee, or you as an investor. They should be asking to speak to you if you are a potential investor or a superstar hire.

Due Diligence 229

Due Diligence Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup 229