Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. This commitment to hire people who think like entrepreneurs, or instill an “owner’s mindset” in every employee, should be a high priority in every business.

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Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2023

Among other things, he presents convincing reasons why employee empowerment is now a force that is here to stay in today’s workplace: A new generation of workers are flexing muscles. Immigration has always been a key source of diversity in the workplace, which is known to drive innovation and employee empowerment.

Non-Compete 282

Non-Compete France Japan Technical Review 282

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Yet, as a business consultant, I often find minimal focus on improving employee engagement and assessing their customer-facing performance. For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees.

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Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

In my experience as an employee, up to an executive, in large companies as well as small, I’ve found that people who are consistently negative and complain are a big constraint on productivity, as well as the most difficult management problem that most business leaders face. They may really want to change.

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Employee Salary Hiring Stock 371

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2023

Some are doing this at the expense of employee experience , which I believe is one of the major causes of employee dissatisfaction and exit of good employees today. To achieve real growth, business leaders need to improve both employee as well as customer experiences. Responsive – empower employees to help peers.

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Employee Matching Customer Leadership 282

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

Thus I was pleased to see a much more complete and broader perspective of employee support recommendations in a new book, “ Employees First! ” by Donna Cutting, who is a globally-recognized guru on employee culture and optimizing customer service. Other studies have shown a return of up to 400 percent for this approach.

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Technical Review Cofounder Employee Global 353

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2018

The most valuable assets of a new startup are the people on the team, and the most challenging task of the entrepreneur and team leaders is to spend their leadership time and energy productively.

Employee 129

Employee Leadership Cofounder Matching 129

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2020

With today’s interactive social media and the real-time Internet, both customers and employees see inside your company easily, so you can’t hide your real company culture. At the same time relationship perceptions have become the biggest drivers to customer loyalty and employee engagement. Lead with purpose as a balance to profit.

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Employee Social Media Matching Hiring 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Employees are still too often thought of as a commodity, to be acquired “just in time” for the lowest cost, and managed as a disposable asset. Employees are often ineffective because they don’t care about their work or because they don’t possess the skills to contribute. Subjectively measuring employee engagement.

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Analytics Hiring Open Source Employee 303

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

These days, it is almost impossible to find a small business where everything is done by full-time employees, in the office or at home. Utilization and personal growth of virtual employees is not my problem.” Some entrepreneurs view their outsourced employees as temps, or as a cheap way to staff the company during its startup phase.

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Cost Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 346

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2019

I’ve always thought that I might be overly sensitive, until I saw an article about bad bosses a few years ago by The Business Journals , which claims that many employees spend 10 hours a month complaining or listening to others complain, and 75 percent say their boss is the most stressful part of their job. Don’t hire them.

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Employee Cofounder Salary Hiring 239

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2018

The old way doesn’t work, and results more than ever in slow decision-making, lack of real connection with employees, and ignorance of what customers really want. Interact with employees and customers on a regular basis. No change means you are falling behind as a leader.

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Employee Miami Private Equity Social Media 241

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2019

She and I both offer the following insights on how to green your own pasture by helping employees find and use their strengths, and inspiring them to be more satisfied and productive, on your side of the fence, and even happily return if they do wander in their career advancement: Provide a structured approach to mentorship.

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Employee Developer Green Salary 216

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Too many employees count on their managers to get them promotions, or count on a resume to get the next job. Keeping a low profile, or fighting change, will not serve you well as a freelancer or an employee. Pick your niche, and continually invest in improving your expertise and keeping up with trends. Develop the courage to move on.

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Employee Elevator Pitch Differentiation Social Media 246

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2022

These can be as simple as how to handle customer over-payments, or more complex in how to handle the choices every employee may face between conflicting customer and company interests. While codes of behavior do not guarantee an ethical culture, they do clarify desired behavior and articulate for employees what is expected of them.

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Software Review Offshore Entrepreneur Leadership 291

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2020

One more key employee or one more investor will probably not turn the situation around. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. These questions are the key ones in every due diligence effort, always done by accredited investors, but almost never done by key employees and new partners.

Technical Review 436

Technical Review Due Diligence Sweat Equity Burn Rate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2022

Some of the companies with the best team cultures, including Zappos , even go so far as to offer new employees $2,000 to quit after the first week on the job if they don’t feel a fit with the team assigned. It’s a small cost to prevent a long-term loss. Give priority to attitude over experience. Be patient when filling open positions.

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Hiring Technical Cofounder Cofounder Retention 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2023

You really hearing employees also augments engagement levels and business results. Your employees judge you by body language and cues, like repeating the message back. If possible, let the project be based on the employee's own ideas. Ensuring that your people feel heard empowers both them and you.

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Leadership Employee Community Cost 279

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

One more key employee or one more investor will probably not turn the situation around. Calculate employee stock option values and vesting times, as well as salary. These questions are the key ones in every due diligence effort, always done by accredited investors, but almost never done by key employees and new partners.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2020

One of the most stressful and unanticipated challenges that comes with starting a new business is hiring and managing employees. While this approach appears to cost more on the surface, it often actually costs you less, when you consider the hidden costs of rework, poor customer satisfaction, employee management, and training required.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Startup Employee 308

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

They look for the use of talent analytics, such as productivity per employee, as well as the practices and attitude toward employee satisfaction. Investors want organizations that manage people talent and growth, through good hiring, performance feedback, development on the job, and building commitment.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2022

Personal loans from individuals, employees and board members. As in any company, they can lead to employee problems, or messy legal issues. This could work to get you legal or accounting services, but won’t get you cash to pay employee salaries. Personal loans are certainly an option, but should be avoided if possible.

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Angel Investor Equity Technical Review Exit Strategy 327

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2018

One of the lessons I have learned over the years as a business executive, and now as a mentor to entrepreneurs, is that if you really want employees who enthusiastically take ownership of their work, you have to start treating them like owners, not renters. Employees can’t be owners if they don’t understand the business targets and realities.

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Employee Stock Options Leadership Stock 180

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

To be successful, and leave a positive legacy, you need a team of motivated employees and loyal customers. Define the leadership attitudes and activities required to effectively detect and analyze failures, then establish a system for extracting learning and propagating it to all your employees.

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Artificial Inteligence Technology Leadership Business Model 286

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Rounding out the team with employees and freelancers. Successful startup teams today have a mix of remote employees, freelancers, and contractors. With the Internet and modern video communication tools, including Skype and Google Hangout, you can find the people you need, from anywhere in the world, and sign them up quickly.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

For best results, my advice is to think like an entrepreneur, even if you are a corporate employee. He lays out seven thinking strategies for both entrepreneurs and employees that will make them business winners: Focus on the customers at all times. They don’t realize that customers are the source of all business payback.

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Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 10, 2018

As a business advisor, one of the things I see most often as a drag to productivity and growth is employees who, despite their best efforts, can’t change things that they know are hurting the company. Plan to redesign and realign employee teams every quarter. Assure employee engagement and buy-in for each change.

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Employee Demand Metrics Cost 157

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

The process must be employee friendly, as well as customer friendly, and have feedback mechanisms to correct poor results. If service employees are not happy, the process isn’t working yet. Make your service deliver process “happy.” A well-designed service delivery process will make you easy to do business with.

Technical Review 249

Technical Review Salary Metrics Matching 249

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2019

For example, it may seem quicker and more effective to hand your service desk employees the store policy manual, and tell them to follow the rules, rather than spend time coaching them on how to really listen to customer feedback, and use their strengths to build customer loyalty. They want ongoing conversations, not just annual reviews.

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Management Technical Review .Net Employee 239

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2021

Only the best leaders and CEOs pay real attention to how and when people commit, how employees accept accountability, and how they win. Great CEOs humbly invest the time and energy to walk the halls, travel to customers, and hold regular employee meetings, with real listening. If your focus is on an effective culture, you are a leader.

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Leadership Framework Demand Employee 340

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

These days, it is almost impossible to find a small business where everything is done at the home location, by full-time employees. Utilization and personal growth of virtual employees is not my problem.” Some entrepreneurs view their outsourced employees as temps, or as a cheap way to staff the company during its startup phase.

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Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2018

For example, entrepreneur Richard Branson, beyond his flamboyant and irreverent style, is known for seeming to viscerally understand the needs of his employees and being a conduit for fulfilling those needs. Help your employees build their individual strengths with customized coaching and special assignments.

Employee 130

Employee Australia Leadership Social Media 130

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. Your frugal role model of bringing your own lunch won’t be convincing to most employees. Ramp-up facilities and utilities required. Staffing and people-management costs.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Make sure the Business Plan and all related documents are current, synchronized, and in the hands of every key employee. This is a good time for the CEO to present the final investor charts, and answer any questions from employees. If everyone gives a different story, you have no story. Personnel situation is stable.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Rounding out the team with employees and freelancers. Successful startup teams today have a mix of remote employees, freelancers, and contractors. With the Internet and modern video communication tools, including Skype and Google Hangout, you can find the people you need, from anywhere in the world, and sign them up quickly.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

The process must be employee friendly, as well as customer friendly, and have feedback mechanisms to correct poor results. If service employees are not happy, the process isn’t working yet. Make your service deliver process “happy.” A well-designed service delivery process will make you easy to do business with.

Technical Review 385

Technical Review Salary Metrics Matching 385

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 30, 2017

She and I both offer the following insights on how to green your own pasture by helping employees find and use their strengths, and inspiring them to be more satisfied and productive, on your side of the fence, and even happily return if they do wander in their career advancement: Provide a structured approach to mentorship.

Employee 153

Employee Green Salary Matching 153