Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Exactly what is that customer experience that every modern marketer is talking about, and how do you measure it? This active discovery mindset searching for new questions drives real innovators away from more of the same. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.”

Customer 213

Customer Product Technical Review Marketing 213

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2021

Every business I know is intimately familiar with outbound marketing, or pushing your message out to customers through email, newspaper, and television advertising. Only a few really understand the process and value of inbound marketing, for pulling customers to your brand. Optimize your content for search engines to get attention.

Customer 431

Customer Marketing Social Media Channel 431

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2017

I know entrepreneurs who have suffered from premature execution often associated with the ready-fire-aim quick-to-market approach. If your product is highly innovative, and speed to market is critical, you won’t get it right the first time anyway, no matter how cautiously you plan. The target market is moving in unpredictable ways.

Marketing 136

Marketing Technical Review Cost Entrepreneur 136

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. Social-media advertising.

Lead Generation 285

Lead Generation SEM Viral Marketing 285

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a long time ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Seed viral activity.

Campaign 167

Campaign Cost Viral Marketing 167

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 249

Viral Marketing Entrepreneur SEM 249

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. Social-media advertising.

Lead Generation 365

Lead Generation Customer SEM Marketing 365

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2023

Use all available search platforms, including Internet search engines, social media, and discussions with experts to find and evaluate these alternatives. Stay open-minded and invite diverse perspectives to hone your solution features, marketing, and rollout. Evaluate alternatives that are now available.

Technical Review 300

Technical Review Stealth Social Media Search 300

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

The CEO is the check and balance on the constant parallel pushes for more development, more marketing, and more growth. They need an operational CEO who knows the market and the marketing game. Craft an operational plan and make it work. Most founders are product guys. This includes the tactical as well as the strategic.

Search 224

Search Startup Exit Strategy Leadership 224

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. If there really are no competitors, then there is likely no market opportunity, or you haven’t looked yet. In my view, this paranoid approach costs them much more than the risk of being open. Marty Zwilling

Stealth 263

Stealth Marketing Startup Early Stage 263

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. If your runway is less than a year, it’s time to either begin looking for a new cash infusion or defining and implementing a Plan B to assure survival.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a few years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 238

Viral Cost Marketing SEM 238

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Search for customer pain rather than high margins. Developing the ideal product the first time around is unlikely, high risk, and very expensive in today’s chaotic market. Open sharing also increases market acceptance of new products and expedites support infrastructures. Experiment and pivot to avoid ‘big bang’ expectations.

Artificial Inteligence 286

Artificial Inteligence Technology Leadership Business Model 286

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

Traditional marketing says you have to “push” your message out to customers, over and over again, to get you remembered. A website or blog without appealing or entertaining content for your market segment is not enchanting. Enable people to search your website or blog to find what they are looking for. Refresh it often.

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Customer Flash RSS 401

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

So what do investors look for in qualifying you for that million dollars you need to take your invention from your garage to the market? Experts and market research agree you are first. Even a patent search won’t uncover work in progress that may be well ahead of you in the business cycle. Early adopters are not a big market.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2021

Don’t forget basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so search engines improve your ranking. These are all minimal-cost survival marketing efforts.

Internet 294

Internet Web Affiliate Advertising 294

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

That doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs should ignore business and market realities, under the assumption that success is a random phenomenon. Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Find a recognized billion dollar and growing market.

Technical Review 267

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 267

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

The Wal-Mart home page is customized for each shopper based on location, local weather, and the customer search and purchase history. Manual tracking and occasional surveys won’t keep you competitive in today’s high volume and rapidly changing market. Algorithms and data are required to compete.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2011

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a couple of years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 225

Viral Marketing SEM Startup 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2022

As I’ve said before, everyone talks about innovation, but the majority of new business plans I see still reflect linear thinking – one more social network with more features, another smartphone app for marketing, or one more platform for faster e-commerce. Historic changes and great successes don’t come from linear thinking.

Marketing 313

Marketing Dilution Social Network Government 313

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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Search engine marketing is simply buying advertising for your business from Google or another search engine company. Cost per click (CPC).

Search 225

Search Engineer SEM Widget 225

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Later, in my second career as an entrepreneur with startups, I realized that limited resources and fresh insights actually created the mindset that relied on market change and innovation to survive. We didn’t notice as technology advances had opened a whole new market. Don’t wait for innovation ideas from top management.

Marketing 293

Marketing Incubator Business Plan Finance 293

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

As a long-time business advisor, and an investor in startups along the way, I’m always on the lookout for an entrepreneur who is responding first to a problem in the marketplace , rather than bringing a new technology to the market, assuming it will find a problem to solve. Avoid perfectionism – no problems have a perfect solution.

Social Media 330

Social Media Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 330

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2018

It’s less about what you know (Google search will help you in seconds), and more about whether you can work with other people to solve problems. Each generation communicates differently, and has a different view of the marketplace. The one with the most connections wins. We have moved from an information economy to a social one.

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Marketing Social Network Reputation 148

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2020

That doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs should ignore business and market realities, under the assumption that success is a random phenomenon. Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Find a recognized billion dollar and growing market.

Technical Review 434

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 434

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Find market evidence of customers with means who are willing to pay for a solution. In fact, I recommend that you search for the problem first, rather than creating a solution looking for a problem. Choose a business model that will win in the market. Pay attention to the market.

Technical Review 201

Technical Review Government Agile Differentiation 201

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2020

You don’t realize that person-to-person noise now dominates all channels through social media, effectively hiding business marketing messages. You now need a personal context in your marketing to get results. For example, the company GoPro makes cameras, yet now rarely ever talks about cameras in its marketing.

Marketing 326

Marketing Social Media Channel Media 326

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2015

That means your marketing must now include shopping apps, location-based services and mobile wallets. Today’s customers expect to be able to quickly find what they need with powerful search capabilities on your site, or even the ability to customize your solution to fit their unique needs. Blogs must provide value to customers.

Customer 120

Customer Marketing Social Media Technical Review 120

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. If your runway is less than a year, it’s time to either begin looking for a new cash infusion or defining and implementing a Plan B to assure survival.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 5, 2020

Constant search for ways to increase sales and profitability. For any company to be successful, it must dominate a market or niche. Corporate thinking is often focused on more products in more markets, with hope that the total impact will be greater than the sum of the parts.

Technical Review 294

Technical Review Business Model Employee Sales 294

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2013

Probably every one of you who has a business and a website have been approached through email or personal contact, and asked to spend money on paid search results (appear on the first page of search results, right hand column, despite low SEO rank). This is NOT the same as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Cost per click (CPC).

Search 226

Search PPC Widget SEO 226

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

Now these principles are complicated by the worldwide instant access to many competitive alternatives, indirect social and environment impacts, and the velocity of change enabled by the pervasive market move to digital. Even advertising and search results are personalized per user for maximum impact and improved business return.

Marketing 310

Marketing Advertising Customer Cost 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2016

It’s less about what you know (Google search will help you in seconds), and more about whether you can work with other people to solve problems. Each generation communicates differently, and has a different view of the marketplace. The one with the most connections wins. We have moved from an information economy to a social one.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Marketing Technical Review Social Network 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2019

If I suggest your technology needs validation in the market before scaling, it’s fair to ask how long and how expensive that test could be. If these cases, I recommend some extra due diligence and soul searching, to make sure you are not about to go down the same road again. Push alternative views limits, to check for side effects.

Technical Review 317

Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership Search 317

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2010

Every time I see a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. First of all, Seth Godin pointed out a couple of years ago that viral marketing does not equal word-of-mouth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 141

Viral Cost Marketing SEM 141

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Don’t forget basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so search engines improve your ranking. These are all minimal-cost survival marketing efforts.

Affiliate 221

Affiliate Advertising Technical Review Social Network 221