Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Labor rates are lower in some countries, but culture and language match are the real keys to productivity. With modern technology, and worldwide reach, it should be seen as an important tool for building an efficient, lean, and competitive business, optimized to give you more time for strategic focus.

Entrepreneur 303

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 9, 2013

I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). With a minimum viable product, your startup remains much more agile. Show some traction before funding.

Agile 263

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 263

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration” or Lean Startup methodology, where you assume you won’t get it right the first time, so you launch with a minimum viable product (MVP). With a minimum viable product, your startup remains much more agile. Show some traction before funding.

Agile 253

Agile Startup Social Network Software Developers 253

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

You may have a strong product development background, but typically have minimal experience in hiring and leading team members and groups, or managing financials. Build a lean team to complement your strengths. Thus my job as a small business advisor really is really more about getting you developed than perfecting the business.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

The vision part is fine, but successful entrepreneurs have found that the extreme uncertainty of a new product or service usually requires many course corrections, or “pivots” to find a successful formula. In this case, what previously was considered a single feature in a product becomes the whole product. Platform pivot.

Lean 255

Lean Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Architecture 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Much has been written about this subject in the world of manufacturing, stemming primarily from the 1990’s work by Taiichi Ohno, called the Toyota Production System (“Lean”). For market changing products, build first a minimally viable product (MVP), and never build products for sale until you have real orders in hand.

Startup 404

Startup Lean Metrics Matching 404

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2017

In my own experience as an investor, I have concluded that success is more about the people than the product. Implement “lean startup” principles. Even the most diligent investors are often surprised by apparently solid business startups that fail, while others succeed, despite the odds. Instead, find a partner with domain experience.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Stealth Lean Social Media 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2018

Labor rates are lower in some countries, but culture and language match are the real keys to productivity. With modern technology, and worldwide reach, it should be seen as an important tool for building an efficient, lean, and competitive business, optimized to give you more time for strategic focus.

Philippines 181

Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder Affiliate 181

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2014

Labor rates are lower in some countries, but culture and language match are the real keys to productivity. With modern technology, and worldwide reach, it should be seen as an important tool for building an efficient, lean, and competitive business, optimized to give you more time for strategic focus.

Entrepreneur 231

Entrepreneur Philippines Bandwidth Cofounder 231

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 17, 2023

It forces one to step from existing assumptions and tools, and lean instead on creativity and thinking outside the box. Let new technical insights drive innovative products. It’s called radical innovation versus incremental improvement. Every startup technical team has unique insights, which should become new innovations.

Artificial Inteligence 285

Artificial Inteligence Open Source Lean Leadership 285

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

It is no longer enough to just have a great product or service. It requires that you lean into complexity to proactively align people, processes, and systems to deliver on new opportunities, often at the expense of current and comfortable ones. Be the disruptor, rather than a reactor and hindrance to change.

Lean 290

Lean Leadership Partner Customer 290

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Look for a part-time job in a local or family business to provide access to things you will need only occasionally, such as a high-speed printer, video equipment or product assembly tools and storage. Bootstrapping does require a full confidence in your own passion to make decisions and change the world with no investors to lean on or blame.

Equity 349

Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

You don’t need to invent an innovative product to be a real entrepreneur. They are not the generalists required for new product startups. So I believe we all need to learn how to be good entrepreneurs, in the sense of taking responsibility for our own education, skills, well being, and productivity.

Product 223

Product Entrepreneur SEM Lead Generation 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2022

You may have a brilliant product strategy, but your operational teams seem to fight change, as well as each other, resulting in turf battles and confusion, leading to the internal drama and problems that occupy too much of your time. People need to feel motivation. Foster it rather than fight it.

Forecast 340

Forecast Agile Lean Distribution 340

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

He nails the current key startup parameters, including the following: Crafting a lean business plan as your road map. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Minimum viable products (MVPs) are recommended for validating the market, with iterative enhancement to quickly meet market feedback.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2023

Testing for real is the assumption behind approaches such as Lean Startup. These include financial management, marketing and sales, and the appropriate production ability. Market research techniques for trying to predict the market’s response to a new venture can be costly and are often unreliable. Get started and get some momentum.

Business Plan 357

Business Plan Lean Matching Cost 357

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

Affirming all shared values is the way to building productive and working relationships. Trust is the key to productive relationships, and relationships with peers, constituents and customers are key to great businesses. The most effective and satisfying leadership comes without a title to lean on. Without trust, you can’t lead.

Leadership 334

Leadership Startup Lean Community 334

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2022

It’s very hard to attract talented people to a single product startup, but much easier if the entrepreneur has a bigger vision, with several entities producing complementary products. Expensive “lean startup” specialists can see a career potential, work full-time, and drive multiple successes.

Bandwidth 362

Bandwidth Entrepreneur Portfolio Cofounder 362

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

He is convinced this assures maximum productivity, and that no one's ideas get drowned out or ignored. Many new business leaders can’t wait to implement fixed team processes to improve productivity and minimize risk. While productivity is important, the bigger risk is not learning from customers and the market, and falling behind.

Honduras 368

Honduras Nepal Startup Lean 368

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Thus I was happily surprised when I found the classic book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground.

Technical Cofounder 144

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 144

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2022

The pivot can be as simple as changing the pricing model, or as complex as moving from a product business to a services business. It happens on the front end for startups to get traction, and then again later for every company as the economy, competition, and culture changes around them. Your market segment has lost its luster.

Social Media 317

Social Media Lean Distribution Business Model 317

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2014

Thus I was happy to see a new book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Cofounder 245

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2015

Labor rates are lower in some countries, but culture and language match are the real keys to productivity. With modern technology, and worldwide reach, it should be seen as an important tool for building an efficient, lean, and competitive business, optimized to give you more time for strategic focus.

Philippines 120

Philippines Startup Bandwidth Cofounder 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2020

It is no longer enough to just have a great product or service. It requires that you lean into complexity to proactively align people, processes, and systems to deliver on new opportunities, often at the expense of current and comfortable ones. Be the disruptor, rather than a reactor and hindrance to change.

Lean 419

Lean Partner Customer Leadership 419

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2020

It forces one to step from existing assumptions and tools, and lean instead on creativity and thinking outside the box. Let new technical insights drive innovative products. It’s called radical innovation versus incremental improvement. Every startup technical team has unique insights, which should become new innovations.

Artificial Inteligence 413

Artificial Inteligence Open Source Lean Leadership 413

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2011

He brings a strong technology base to the table, as a former CTO, and creator of the Lean Startup methodology. These are great for understanding the big picture, spotting trends, and product reviews. He definitely has experience on both sides of the ‘entrepreneur versus investor’ table. Lessons Learned , by Eric Ries.

Curation 230

Curation Technical Review Entrepreneur Cofounder 230

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

Look for a part-time job in a local or family business to provide access to things you will need only occasionally, such as a high-speed printer, video equipment or product assembly tools and storage. Bootstrapping does require a full confidence in your own passion to make decisions and change the world with no investors to lean on or blame.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

Thus I was happy to see a recent book, “ The Tech Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide ,” by Bernd Schoner, PhD, and cofounder of ThingMagic, which leans heavily on the people side of the equation. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Cofounder 120

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

Later, half of these come back to admit that their day job was not all that bad, less stressful, the work predictable, with others to lean on for hard decisions. It pays to be able to fall back into a familiar mental role to recover, when the pressures of fund raising, new product development, and satisfying initial customers wears you down.

Salary 383

Salary Cofounder Lean Revenue 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2020

Testing for real is the assumption behind approaches such as Lean Startup. These include financial management, marketing and sales, and the appropriate production ability. Market research techniques for trying to predict the market’s response to a new venture can be costly and are often unreliable. Get started and get some momentum.

Startup 359

Startup Business Plan Lean Matching 359