Steve Blank

APRIL 16, 2024

Enthusiasm Versus Validation Finding product/market fit is the holy grail for startups. For me, it was a real rush when potential users in a large company loved our slideware and our minimum viable product (MVP). They were ecstatic about the time the product could save them and started pulling others into our demos.

Founder 325

Founder Engineer Sales Conversion 325

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Unfortunately, even today, building a good product doesn’t guarantee you a business.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2013

Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. I challenge any startup to show me they have avoided all of these: One of the founders isn’t delivering. Besides, he is now more interested in designing the next product. The product is behind schedule.

Founder 250

Founder Startup Software Developers Software Development 250

ConversionXL

APRIL 28, 2021

My co-founder and I consider his sister to be a trusted confidant. Wondering how to encourage users to engage with your product again and again, without constantly popping in their inboxes? To give you some context, my co-founder and I operate a website called Solitaired , which ties classic card games to brain training.

Email 151

Email Product Marketing Cofounder 151

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2023

They poured their hearts and souls into creating an innovative product fueled by the desire to make a difference in the lives of their target audience. It’s disheartening, but sadly, this is one experience that many startup founders face. I understand the struggles that come with being a startup founder.

Design 105

Design Product Churn Rate Architecture 105

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. We focused together on improving our sales methodology, our training and our comp plans.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 17, 2023

Redefining Success In Sales With The Unsold Mindset written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Garrett Brown and Colin Coggings In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Garrett Brown and Colin Coggins. 17:54] Some people just don’t have that gift, talent, or empathy.

Sales 92

Sales Technical Review Minnesota Conversion 92

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 11, 2022

In addition to our dollars, we are eager to help founders with the construction of their cap table, not just generically with the highest profile folks available, but more specifically where they might get some help along the way. What expertise do the founders personally have? Founders Often Don’t Come From These Backgrounds….

Seed Stage 102

Seed Stage Cap Table Founder Marketing 102

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). I like technical founders so this wasn’t an issue.

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

To succeed in today’s crowded market, you need to harmonize product marketing and brand marketing. In this article, you’ll learn the difference between brand marketing and product marketing, and how to balance both to stand out above the crowd. Brand vs product marketing: Friends or foe? They rely on each other for success.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

A while back I wrote a bunch of posts on Sales & Marketing and have been meaning to get back to that theme for a while. Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. You learn by asking.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 9, 2020

Here’s another from The Startup Magazine Female Founder Series. A: We help companies of all sizes and industries expedite IT projects to gain traction on performance and productivity by using a project methodology and processes in combination with customer service and leadership skills that better fit the needs of their organization.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review Founder Management Technology 159

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year. Social media is not rocket science. The timing of cash flow is everything.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

But, increasingly, the Apple hype-fests are a marketing—not a product—showcase. For product launches, long-term success relies on cornerstones of marketing research and execution, like a strong value proposition and full-funnel campaign. Yet while product launches are a risk, they’re not as risky as you think. Image source ).

Product 110

Product Campaign Acquisition Social Media 110

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2016

Ask a founder of a growing startup what they need most, and you’ll often get an answer along the lines of, “We need great people, and we need them fast.”. Founders need to make sure the quality of the startup’s offerings remains high and provide adequate sales and service support for prospective customers and new users.

Metrics 120

Metrics Founder CTO Hire Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Austin Startup

JANUARY 20, 2021

It is so important that not a week goes by without a successful investor/founder extolling the benefits of moving quickly. You are creating something from nothing, a product, a company, a dream. Yes, speed can be an advantage in quickly developing a winning product and beating the competition. 2021 instead of 2022.

Sales 64

Sales Startup Sales Cycle Revenue 64

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 28, 2014

Note that summer sale pricing for the conference ends on Monday night, so register now for the best deal possible. Generally, operational excellence is far more important for a VP of Engineering or a VP of Sales than for a VP of Marketing or CFO. Herewith, our introductions. Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz. Seppo is one such speaker.

Part-Time VPE 160

Part-Time VPE Sales Lean Cofounder 160

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Iterating with intelligent editors – products that enable users to take an existing output and refine it (ex. regenerate one frame or feature) without completely starting from scratch.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2020

by Zain Jaffer, serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Zain Ventures. sales to product development), the problems will continue to exist. For instance, in their efforts to close a deal, sales representatives may not want to address roadblocks or faults in the process. Among the list: the loss of a major client.

Customer 334

Customer Development Team Review Advisory Board Private Equity 334

Hearpreneur

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

Meet the startup co-founders that are simplifying and automating fundraising campaigns for nonprofits through their business, Kindest. We had a chance to interview Holly McKay and David Semerad, the co-founders of Kindest, and asked about their story, how they started their business and the future of Kindest. Tell us your story.

Cofounder 62

Cofounder Founder San Francisco SMS 62

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 31, 2019

Overcoming Objections in Sales written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. On today’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Jeb Blount , author of 10 books on sales, leadership, and customer experience. Blount also advises leaders through his training programs, Sales Gravy and Innovate Knowledge.

Sales 64

Sales Cofounder Technical Review Leadership 64

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 1, 2023

Strategies For Successful Product Launches written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Mary Sheehan In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Mary Sheehan. She is an accomplished product marketing leader who has held marketing leadership roles at Adobe, Google, and many startups.

Product 61

Product Framework Technical Review Cofounder 61

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 23, 2023

The larger the company, the more they’ll separate out business development and sales, with business development focused primarily on lead generation and sales focused on sealing the actual sale of the product or service. Sales roles : The sales cycle is similar to the recruitment cycle of a source.

Government 212

Government Advisory Board Salary Sales Cycle 212

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 27, 2012

He’s worked with multiple startups and is also the founder of Folyo , a service that helps companies find vetted freelance designers. Intuitively, we tend to see prices as a consequence of a product’s inherent worth , and marketers everywhere want to keep it that way. Why charge at all ?

Sales 279

Sales Software Review RSS Web 279

Small Business Force

AUGUST 27, 2017

Selling, especially for technology products always looks way easier than it actually is. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing that their products are so good, they, literally, sell themselves. They were selling a new product, in a relatively new space, with little training. Not even close.

Sales 30

Sales Sales Cycle Product Technical Review 30

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 21, 2017

by Angela Leavitt, founder of Mojo Marketing. These 7 business hacks will help to keep you productive and stress-free while on the road: 1. We always seem most productive right before leaving for a vacation, so why not treat business travel the same way? Angela Leavitt is the founder of Mojo Marketing.

San Diego 147

San Diego Product Technical Review B2B 147

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine Female Founder Series, we interviewed Ms. Here is more of her story: Describe your product/service in 10 words or less: We help companies improve their bottom-line and/or get ready to sell. Get a company ready for sale: per due diligence work and support during the sale process.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 84

Up and Running

OCTOBER 7, 2019

However, as a founder of a small business or startup, you’re juggling many things. You need to use your time and resources productively by focusing on the right metrics so you can use data to help you implement improvements that matter. KPIs Every Founder Should Track. The metrics should help you identify areas for improvement.

Founder 71

Founder Retention Metrics Technical Review 71

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

by Eliot Burdett, co-founder and CEO of Peak Sales Recruiting. Building a sales team from scratch is one of the most difficult and important tasks of a CEO. Generating revenue through sales, especially as start-up capital diminishes, can make or break a company’s success. Define sales team structure.

Sales 100

Sales Cofounder Sales Cycle Revenue 100

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 28, 2012

But when it comes to core technical skills, more and more entrepreneurs are opting to partner with technical co-founders rather than hiring someone for an in-house position. I really believe that what’s most important for a founder is the ability to have a vision for the company, make sales and hire well. Laura Roeder , LKR.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Cofounder Founder Software Review 131

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2020

You may think of this one as a given, but lots of founders and business owners still don’t know about user recording or heat mapping their website. David, Founder at Firstclasspostcodes. Implementing FOMO signals gracefully such as on a product page above a call to action button gives the signal more weighting and trust.

Conversion 90

Conversion Sales Software Review eCommerce 90

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 18, 2012

I previously touched upon the Passion/Product Fit of an aspiring entrepreneur. Product/Market Fit. Hence, a Singaporean founder will find it easier to execute in the 3rd key market that is the MENASSEA region (Middle East, North Africa and South/Southeast Asia). In this case, I urge founders to start in the US first (i.e.

Singapore 163

Singapore Technical Cofounder Product Marketing 163

This is going to be BIG.

APRIL 14, 2014

The funny thing about stats is that you can basically come up with a stat to justify any argument or position--and the whole female founders in tech conversation has a ton of numbers that people put out there as various types of proof and justification, or blame. Well, it''s gotta mean something, right? later in their careers.

Founder 143

Founder Venture Capital Cofounder Software Developers 143

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 13, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine Female Founder Series, we interviewed Ms. Here is more of her story: Describe your product/service in 10 words or less: We help companies improve their bottom-line and/or get ready to sell. Get a company ready for sale: per due diligence work and support during the sale process.

Technical Review 67

Technical Review Founder Due Diligence Early Stage 67