Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Time management. More customers are lost to apathy after the sale than poor service or quality. A numbing 68% of all business lost in America is lost due to lack of follow-up after the sale. As an aside, I would suggest that you should never aspire to be a manager or an executive if you don’t do follow-up.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? Your managers and everyone on your team needs to understand how their actions and leadership relate to value provided. Customer and employee value propositions.

Sales 276

Sales Leadership Differentiation Global 276

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

Of course, we all realize that this approach will take longer, and could jeopardize both roles if not managed effectively. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Manage customer service. Personnel Manager. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Software and hardware development architects and designers.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize one-time sales in your business model. In this age of the gig-economy, you can more quickly hire and manage freelancers, contract workers, and contract operations. Every new business has unexpected pivots and adjustments, and outsourcing is easier to manage. Your solution must have value for every customer.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

Company people, whether employees, managers, or executives, can view customers either with disinterest or as problems. Constant search for ways to increase sales and profitability. More sales are the only way to reach real business success. Entrepreneurs relish change and new technology, which lead to new sales.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

Of course, we all realize that this approach will take longer, and could jeopardize both roles if not managed effectively. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. Set expectations accordingly. Get a loan or line-of-credit. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

For the elite startups and entrepreneurs who manage to attract the investor they dream of, and survive the term sheet negotiation, there is still one more hurdle before the money is in the bank. This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 9, 2020

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. These people also have the credibility to attract investors. The operations superstar.

Technical Cofounder 308

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Stock Options 308

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

In both cases, it’s easy for them to become frustrated and give up, since most have never been trained in change management, and don’t even know what questions to ask. Just because Google sales hit $1.5 It takes a strong team and strong leadership to manage it. billion in 4 years doesn’t mean any other startup can do it.

Metrics 387

Metrics Technical Review Leadership Framework 387

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Here are my recommendations for training and managing your team to keep their delivery memorable for customers, as well as profitable for your business: Hire team members who enjoy customer interaction. Relationships also build loyalty, get referrals, and drive more sales. Under-promise and over-deliver on customer requests.

Customer 369

Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

We all just need your help in managing personal data correctly, and making sure you are part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. That challenge is a major business opportunity, as well as a risk, for startups. Few people are paranoid about something they want and enjoy.

Technical Review 342

Technical Review Customer Social Network Software Review 342

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If they or you find it hard to trust others, love to work alone, always have to be in control, or insist on micro-managing, it may be time for change or looking elsewhere.

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2019

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 is really an issue of the quality of the people you hire rather than the management or compensation system. Employees will care only about work they create.”

Employee 222

Employee Technical Review Hiring Lead Generation 222

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2021

Hiring virtual assistants for each specific project can be a lot more efficient and cheaper than hiring and managing employees. A great way to make more money more easily online is to replace one-time sales with automatically renewing subscriptions. Generate revenue around the clock. Use the Internet to outsource staff.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 312

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

No matter how passionately you believe that everyone needs one, and positive feedback from friends and early adopters (false positives), before you invest in scaling the business, make sure you set and meet good metrics in cost of customer acquisition, recurring sales, and margin. A growing team needs skilled managers and an HR organization.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

Thus I was pleased to see the evidence confirming that perspective in a new book, “ The Amazon Management System ,” by Ram Charan and Julia Yang. In my view, every startup in today’s world would do well to adopt a management system with the same key objectives: Start with a customer-obsessed business model.

Global 308

Global Marketing Technical Review Algorithm 308

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2019

Even in your early days, before you break even and have to pay taxes on profits, various governmental organizations will be after you for payroll taxes, sales taxes, unemployment, and a host of fees, licenses, and permits. Staffing and people-management costs. Subscription software and computer hardware.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

Of course, we all realize that this approach will take longer, and could jeopardize both roles if not managed effectively. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

This is the last step of the process, where surprises in the evaluation of the management team, documentation, and personnel problems can derail the investment. Sales and marketing strategy. Some startups do nothing to prepare for the due diligence process, assuming the people and business plan documents will speak for themselves.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Entrepreneurs should sign every check and manage cash personally, rather than delegate this task to anyone. In business, when you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume and still be profitable. If you fail to pay a cash obligation when it is due, the business is technically insolvent. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure the rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing. If you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume. Your revenue model has to make sense. Marty Zwilling.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2014

Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. See this anecdote by Steve Blank on how a hotshot sales executive can sink your startup.

CTO Hire 252

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Angel Investor Public Relations 252

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cashflow personally every day.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2019

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. Here is an outline of the stages that we both see: Envision, implement, sell, and manage every step.

Leadership 248

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

In addition to fresh products, you need people smarter than you for real help, with the right combination of skills, experience, and passion to foster and manage new growth. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics. Separate marketing from sales for further leverage.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Manage customer service. Personnel Manager. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers. Software and hardware development architects and designers.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Make employee management a proactive process. The problem is that more SKUs dramatically increases complexity and cost, when you can least afford it.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2012

Of course, one sale isn’t really enough, so you need to get the first customer to recommend you to a second, and make sure rate of sales ramps up quickly enough to keep the business alive and growing. If you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume. You need a sales channel that works, and one you can afford.

Sales 240

Sales Customer Business Model Distribution 240

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2017

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 is really an issue of the quality of the people you hire rather than the management or compensation system. Employees will care only about work they create.”

Employee 173

Employee Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Chief Sales Officer (VP Sales). What you really need is a VP of Marketing and Customer Development, who can help with lead generation and honing the message, rather than an executive to manage a sales team and existing customers. See this anecdote by Steve Blank on how a hotshot sales executive can sink your startup.

CTO Hire 244

CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup Angel Investor 244

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2014

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 is really an issue of the quality of the people you hire rather than the management or compensation system. Employees will care only about work they create.”

Startup 262

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 262

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

Idea management. Build and manage a pipeline of ideas. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Once a new product is launched, a key metric is the ratio of new product sales to overall sales. Ongoing coaching from the top is essential to maintain the attitude and spirit.

Intellectual Property 343

Intellectual Property Metrics .Net Social Network 343

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2013

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill.

Management 273

Management Startup Entrepreneur Revenue 273