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

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2014

Marketing is everything these days. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s recent book “ Do It! Don’t fall into the marketing-speak trap. Good marketing is not rocket science.

Technical Review 259

Technical Review Technology Marketing Entrepreneur 259

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2017

Marketing is everything these days. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. I like the guidance from marketing coach David Newman’s classic book “ Do It! Don’t fall into the marketing-speak trap. Good marketing is not rocket science.

Marketing 188

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 188

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Pew says the Boomer demographic is the largest mainstream pool of experienced talent in the market today, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

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 both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Partner 385

Partner Software Review CTO Hire Cofounder 385

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2013

Marketing is everything these days. Yet I see many entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. I found some help from marketing coach David Newman’s new book “ Do It! Don’t fall into the marketing-speak trap. Instead of asking themselves “How and when will this generate sales?”

Marketing 258

Marketing Startup Technical Review Social Media 258

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2022

The power and influence of paid media advertising, including print ads, TV commercials, radio, and even online digital campaigns is waning, in favor of unpaid earned and owned messaging from your website, social media, key market influencers, and existing customer word-of-mouth. Long-term sales. marketing is not zero marketing.

Marketing 319

Marketing Framework Social Media Metrics 319

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Use social media for early marketing. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2013

There are other chasms out there just as deadly as the technology one, such as the ones below: Market requirements chasm. Marketing and sales chasm. These days, with all the clutter in the marketplace, the highest cost is usually marketing. Marketing costs can be a deep hole.

Entrepreneur 252

Entrepreneur Marketing Technical Review Dilution 252

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. In today’s marketplace, junior staffers are often the most intimately connected to the market, technology, and the customer network.

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Even though many of these can be mitigated by testing and early customer feedback , you will find that it pays big dividends to do your homework before building and rolling out every new initiative: In today’s customer data overload, marketing is essential. Even more important than solution marketing is building your brand.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. In fact, we now live in a buyer-led digital age, where the traditional media push-marketing efforts just don’t work.

NPV 436

NPV Net Present Value Conversion Ratio Marketing 436

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Email marketing. Direct mail marketing.

Lead Generation 285

Lead Generation SEM Viral Marketing 285

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2023

Entrepreneurs have always believed that their product or service must show real value to customers, but today the smart ones are even able to make their marketing valuable. The days are gone when marketing was all “pushing product.” by the so-called godfather of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi.

Customer 261

Customer Marketing Harvest Advertising 261

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? Market and customer positioning. Clearly focusing on the right market and customer profile sets your competitor differentiation.

Sales 276

Sales Leadership Differentiation Global 276

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

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 financial suit.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

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. For any company to be successful, it must dominate a market or niche. Think like your ideal customer seeking value.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2021

Effective marketing. Guerrilla marketing preaches the importance of prospect follow-up if you even hope to succeed in business. 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. Customer retention.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Startup Software Review Retention 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2022

In my role of business advisor to startups, I often recommend these to increase initial brand identity and market penetration. With the rate of market change today, and the advent of worldwide competitors, you need every strategy you can muster to keep up, and respond quickly to new threats.

Marketing 299

Marketing Social Media Merger Acquisition 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. When sales fall off, you need to dig deep for the “why,” rather than just assuming the price needs to go down.

Marketing 405

Marketing Flash Social Media Metrics 405

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity. Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2021

This is a statement that they are willing and able (and successful) at projecting market and technology turns, not just straight-line innovations. They have the courage to make bold decisions, often contrary to conventional market research. For real entrepreneurs, crazy is a compliment, and the new market may be just around the corner.

Marketing 393

Marketing Founder Design Entrepreneur 393

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Exchanging your services for services is possible with legal counsel, accountants, engineers, and even sales people. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Intellectual Property 341

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 341

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events. Customer feedback, including blog comments, usability reviews, and early user testimonials, build relationships and provide credible marketing to the broader customer community.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2022

In business, entrepreneurs hunt for new innovative solutions to problems, new ways of beating competitors, new markets, and new customers. They love the continuous hunt, for investment capital, resources, talent, and new markets. These are the ultimate hunters. They build businesses as their lifestyle, not as a job.

Entrepreneur 310

Entrepreneur Marketing Employee Restful 310

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If you are a passionate technologist , it’s easy to forget that marketing is required to sell even the most compelling solution, to cut through the information overload everyone sees today on the internet. If marketing is not your thing, then you need to find a partner or outside expert to help you.

Las Vegas 385

Las Vegas Matching Marketing Social Media 385

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

There are other chasms out there just as deadly as the technology one, such as the ones below: Market requirements chasm. Marketing and sales chasm. These days, with all the clutter in the marketplace, the highest cost is usually marketing. Marketing costs can be a deep hole.

Marketing 238

Marketing Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 238

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2016

Many entrepreneurs assume that everyone will love their solution as much as they do, so they tune their marketing focus based on their own needs and wants. Expanding your market into these areas requires thinking outside your personal box. Identify your built-in biases and define compensating development and marketing strategies.

Customer 120

Customer Marketing Social Media Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2015

The world of marketing is changing faster than technology these days. Winning entrepreneurs have long since supplemented conventional print and video “push” marketing with digital online interactive “pull” marketing, and more recently added social-local-mobile ( SoLoMo ) to the mix. Proactively seek out win-win alliances.

Marketing 120

Marketing Technical Review Startup Mobile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2020

With the availability of high-speed Internet and social media access around the world, it’s easy for entrepreneurs to assume that the world is just one big homogeneous market, and project their business will scale accordingly. The most common mistake is overestimating a particular market’s potential, based on your domestic context.

Marketing 335

Marketing Global Algorithm Business Model 335

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2023

Sales people tend to remember the latest product when selling to clients, not the one best for that customer. Review and measuring decision results facilitates learning, just like sales metrics facilitate a better understanding of sales. Tricked by recency. Avoid the tendency to fix blame and look for excuses. Failure to learn.

Marketing 299

Marketing Metrics Differentiation Demand 299

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Use social media for early marketing. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Email marketing. Direct mail marketing.

Lead Generation 365

Lead Generation Customer SEM Marketing 365

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2022

There are other chasms out there just as deadly as the technology one, such as the ones below: Market requirements chasm. Marketing and sales chasm. These days, with all the clutter in the marketplace, the highest cost is usually marketing. Marketing costs can be a deep hole.

Technical Review 375

Technical Review Startup Dilution Early Stage 375

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

They couldn’t possibly understand the new social media culture, new technologies, or have the determination to beat their younger counterparts in the market. Pew says the Boomer demographic is the largest mainstream pool of experienced talent in the market today, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

If you are the hot-shot technical innovator that invented your solution, make sure you have an equally adept business and marketing expert to complement your skills. “If Pivot early, as required, to tune your features and marketing to meet the market and technical realities. The market is unpredictable and changes fast.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Modern libraries are still worth a visit.

Business Plan 393

Business Plan Marketing SBA Venture Capital 393