Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

To be fundable, fifth year revenue projections need to be in the $20-$100 million range. Opportunity sizing and financial projections must be credible. Every investor likes to see opportunities that are large, with double-digit growth. Larger numbers are not credible, and smaller ones may make a great business, but won’t attract angels.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2020

Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Even good social causes need to bring in revenue to continue their worthy efforts. If you find more than a dozen solutions that loosely match your idea, it may be time to skip that one and try another.

Technical Review 434

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 434

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

A recurring expense was turned into a recurring revenue. The search for a perfect solution delays progress, hurts morale, and blinds everyone to practical quick solutions which are good enough. Openly acknowledge current challenges in your business. Avoid perfectionism – no problems have a perfect solution.

Social Media 330

Social Media Entrepreneur Revenue Internet 330

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Think of these alternatives as paying interest on a loan, and manage them wisely. Be a miser with contract services and facilities.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

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

APRIL 7, 2017

Kristin Zhivago, in her classic book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. Build and deploy a revenue growth action plan. The Internet and smartphones have changed everything. Align your business model to how your customers want to buy.

Small Business 147

Small Business Revenue Technical Review Business Model 147

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Think of these alternatives as paying interest on a loan, and manage them wisely. Be a miser with contract services and facilities.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

This means spending more money on search marketing (SEM) to make it look like the buzz is working. Some startups not only ignore this and don’t budget for it, but they actually plan on the free viral marketing to generate enough revenue from click-through advertising to fund operations and future growth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 268

Viral Marketing SEM Campaign 268

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Search engine marketing (SEM). This popular form of Internet marketing seeks to increase website ranking in search engine results. Techniques include search engine optimization (SEO) and paid result placement. Rates per click are very low, so don’t try to live on ad revenues until visit rates are very high. Crowdsourcing.

Internet 239

Internet SEM Wiki Viral 239

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

Kristin Zhivago, in her book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. Build and deploy a revenue growth action plan. The Internet and smartphones have changed everything. Align your business model to how your customers want to buy.

Technical Review 234

Technical Review Business Model Revenue Social Media 234

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

AUGUST 25, 2011

Kristin Zhivago, in her new book “ Roadmap to Revenue ,” makes the point that the selling system is broken, since sellers no longer sell the way customers are buying. Build and deploy a revenue growth action plan. The Internet and smartphones have changed everything. Align your business model to how your customers want to buy.

Customer 242

Customer Technical Review Business Model Revenue 242

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Think of these alternatives as paying interest on a loan, and manage them wisely. Be a miser with contract services and facilities.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Search engine marketing (SEM). This popular form of Internet marketing seeks to increase website ranking in search engine results. Techniques include search engine optimization (SEO) and paid result placement. Rates per click are very low, so don’t try to live on ad revenues until visit rates are very high.

Internet 224

Internet SEM Wiki Entrepreneur 224

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Even good social causes need to bring in revenue to continue their worthy efforts. If you find more than a dozen solutions that loosely match your idea, it may be time to skip that one and try another.

Technical Review 208

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 208

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

The advantage is no time and effort searching and preparing for the other alternatives, and you don’t have to encumber yourself or give up control of your company. Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

In fact, you need to have at least a prototype web site published several weeks before you expect anyone to find yours, since it takes that amount of time for the web search engine “spiders” to find you and index your content. The website can be a source of revenue. But word-of-mouth and viral marketing doesn’t work without a web site.

Web 349

Web Viral Naming Internet 349

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

The advantage is no time and effort searching and preparing for the other alternatives, and you don’t have to encumber yourself or give up control of your company. Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. Self-funding is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you can do it.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

This means spending more money on search marketing (SEM) to make it look like the buzz is working. Some startups not only ignore this and don’t budget for it, but they actually plan on the free viral marketing to generate enough revenue from click-through advertising to fund operations and future growth. Seed viral activity.

Campaign 167

Campaign Cost Viral Marketing 167

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Even good social causes need to bring in revenue to continue their worthy efforts. If you find more than a dozen solutions that loosely match your idea, it may be time to skip that one and try another.

Technical Review 267

Technical Review Due Diligence Entrepreneur Intellectual Property 267

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2021

Yahoo has been an example of a company which expanded in all directions through 53 acquisitions, to the point where most customers were confused, and it was overtaken by Google as your main search engine. Obsessive sales – must meet revenue goals. Make sure your vision is clear and communicated.

Dilution 334

Dilution Metrics Acquisition Revenue 334

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2023

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. The wealth of data available online is already much larger than the entire Library of Congress, and much more current.

SBA 300

SBA Venture Capital Business Plan Social Media 300

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Google , for example, was not the first Internet search provider (think Yahoo!, AltaVista, InfoSeek and others), but according to Investopedia , Google was the first to really monetize search. As a result, Google has become a verb, and the company is a tech giant with record growth rates and a revenue of $74.5 billion in 2015.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Architecture Agile Business Model 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

It’s easy to get so pre-occupied with handling the business rollout that you forget to maintain and increase your social media interactions, search engine optimization efforts, and highlighting positive customer reviews on your website. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Real growth always requires real marketing.

Startup 335

Startup Social Media Metrics Viral 335

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 11, 2013

This means spending more money on search marketing (SEM) to make it look like the buzz is working. Some startups not only ignore this and don’t budget for it, but they actually plan on the free viral marketing to generate enough revenue from click-through advertising to fund operations and future growth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 249

Viral Marketing Entrepreneur SEM 249

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

Searching LinkedIn, for example, is a must for contemporary entrepreneurs. Angel investors typically provide early-stage rollout funding, while venture capital firms won’t be interested until you have real traction and revenue during scaling. But don’t wait for them to contact you.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor Stealth Bootstrapping Early Stage 246

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

Dell announced years ago that it had earned $3 million in revenue from using Twitter, and other businesses report daily on increases in web traffic up to 800%. It seems to me that there is abundant proof in the marketplace of the financial returns to both large and small businesses, the low cost of entry, and the ubiquity of social networks.

Social Media 289

Social Media Small Business Media Technical Review 289

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. These start with your brand image, search visibility and process, and extend to the actual sales transaction. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction. Seek to dominate your market over competitors.

Agile 229

Agile Leadership Global Distribution 229

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2021

In startup business plans, a bubble is too many entrepreneurs and too many investors chasing the latest “next big thing,” like Google search engine, Facebook social network, or Amazon e-commerce site. The focus should always be on execution, revenue, and profits. In all these cases, a bust is inevitable, and everyone may lose.

Demand 362

Demand Government Venture Capital Valuation 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

Searching LinkedIn, for example, is a must for contemporary entrepreneurs. Angel investors typically provide early-stage rollout funding, while venture capital firms won’t be interested until you have real traction and revenue during scaling. But don’t wait for them to contact you.

Stealth 434

Stealth Startup Angel Investor Bootstrapping 434

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2012

This means spending more money on search marketing (SEM) to make it look like the buzz is working. Some startups not only ignore this and don’t budget for it, but they actually plan on the free viral marketing to generate enough revenue from click-through advertising to fund operations and future growth. Seed viral activity.

Viral 238

Viral Cost Marketing SEM 238

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Too many businesses handle change on a piecemeal basis – maybe they update the product, but don’t look at the revenue model, or the selling process. Nearly half of small businesses today still don’t have a website, despite a majority of people looking there for search, sale, and support.

Metrics 120

Metrics Video Cost Revenue 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

Even advertising and search results are personalized per user for maximum impact and improved business return. Digital disruptors have also introduced the concept of value vampires , who shrink the overall revenue and profit pool in a market to gain competitive advantage.

Customer 258

Customer Advertising Cost Networking 258

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Even if the idea sounds unique to you, it’s worth your time to do a few Internet searches using relevant keywords. Even good social causes need to bring in revenue to continue their worthy efforts. If you find more than a dozen solutions that loosely match your idea, it may be time to skip that one and try another.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Internet 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2021

Take the time to build a database of contacts, and structure your online filing system to include a total search capability. An entrepreneur’s ultimate task is to define success in term of results desired – number of customers, revenue, and profit. Hire an expert, if required, to automate repetitive tasks.

Product 384

Product Database Restful Email 384

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

If ten percent of these numbers, multiplied by your average product price, will get you the revenue you need to scale your business, you will get the love you need from angel and venture capital investors. The wealth of data available online is already much larger than the entire Library of Congress, and much more current.

Business Plan 393

Business Plan Marketing SBA Venture Capital 393

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2015

Adopt a project-based revenue model. With a few Internet searches, anyone can find all the recommendations and advice that even the best consultants have at their disposal today. Simply defining yourself as a specialist or professional minimizes the stigma of a consultant role (think marketing specialist or staffing professional).

Startup 120

Startup Software Review Social Media Curation 120