Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

I suggest looking for painful problems to solve, rather than “easier to use” or “nice to have” solutions, for customers with money. Customers line up to believe and buy from people who are viewed as leaders or experts relative to a specific solution. Collaborate with customers to tune your solution.

Merger 386

Merger Acquisition Software Review Social Media 386

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Implement a modern real business model.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Start Up Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Customer service systems have improved so much in then past 20 years we take for granted how arduous some things used to be. I was reminded yesterday when I had to pick up a hire car that not every industry has embraced the possible. Not to mentiond customers would actually know what they are getting.

Business Model 48

Business Model Technical Review Hiring Technology 48

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

You’ll want to select a niche with enough potential customers to make the marketplace viable — but not so much competition that it will be challenging to get started. You should also be sure to offer customer service and technical support, so customers remain happy and continue using your marketplace. Consider SEO.

B2B 131

B2B Developer Technical Review Business Model 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. 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.

Business Model 248

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 248

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

I was driving home from the BIO conference in San Diego last month and had lots of time for a phone call with Dave, an ex student and now a founder who wanted to update me on his Customer Discovery progress. Customer Discovery. He worked hard to deeply understand the customer problems of these two customer segments.

Cofounder 336

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Coder 336

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) The news from customers was not good. talk to more customers? Which value added services do public clouds want to attract customers for?

Customer 239

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 239

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. He just hired Meg Whitman. Given the stock market was buying “the story and vision” of anything internet, inflated expectations were more important than traditional metrics like customers, growth, revenue, or heaven forbid, profits.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Surprisingly if you’ve filled out the business model canvas you already know who you need. I was having breakfast with Radhika, an ex-grad student of mine who wanted to share her Customer Discovery progress for her consumer hardware startup. Who can I hire later? ——-. And what can I outsource?”

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Rent seekers are individuals or organizations with successful existing business models who use government regulation and lawsuits to keep out new entrants that might threaten their business models. Start diagraming out the relationships of all the customer segments. Bill Gurley’s point.) Who influences who?

Washington 295

Washington Government Marketing Silicon Valley 295

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

So what’s wrong the product development model? The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.)

Customer Development 243

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 243

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Implement a modern real business model.

Management 322

Management Entrepreneur Forecast Stock Options 322

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2019

A platform is a business model and capability that can be accessed and customized by external users. Create and practice an obsession over customers. Make sure everyone knows it’s their job to maintain empathy and exceed customer expectations. Institute deep metrics measuring all aspects of the customer experience.

Artificial Inteligence 222

Artificial Inteligence Agile Technical Review Demand 222

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

He is very hands-on and helpful – especially for any company looking into customer acquisition. o CPM model gave him control over the information in the acquisition cycle so he focused on that. - Good listener, take in information, • Have pulse on what the market wants (hard to train that) cannot take this from customers only.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Warrant Customer Term Sheet 304

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Most large companies manage three types of innovation: process innovation (making existing products incrementally better), continuous innovation (building on the strength of the company’s current business model but creating new elements) and disruptive innovation (creating products or services that did not exist before.).

Acquisition 333

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 333

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

My simple answer is that they keep their focus on customers, rather than technology. Jeff Bezos has kept his focus on customers. 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

You find that you need to be near major customers, or employee transportation hubs, where rents are higher than you ever anticipated. As you scale up the business, you realize how many people you really need, including full-timers, managers, and hourly workers. Obviously, the more detailed your business plan, the better.

Cost 264

Cost Founder Software Review Startup 264

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

by Bill Lee, author of “ The Hidden Wealth of Customers: Realizing the Untapped Value of Your Most Important Asset “. If so, the business world is full of specialists who are all too eager to help. No one can truly understand your customers or genuinely share their interests unless she is a customer herself. That’s right.

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

MAY 10, 2010

At the moment I’m going through the process of hiring new full time workers, plus John Reese is launching his Outsource Force program and giving away free videos on how to outsource, so this subject is a bit in focus for me right now. What Online Business Can You Start With Outsourcing? customer support. customer support.

Business Model 75

Business Model Affiliate Philippines Syndicate 75

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 28, 2019

New entrepreneurs tend to focus only on getting the product right, and assume that the right culture and ethics will come later simply by hiring good people. Building an ethical business is more than just compliance and meeting legal requirements, and it has big paybacks. Marty Zwilling.

Software Review 192

Software Review Offshore Leadership .Net 192

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2014

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. 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.

Business Model 171

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 171

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I find that I often have to remind them that the world of customers has changed since they started their last business. Pushing yourself on customers by touting features and price doesn’t work anymore. Use analytics to see why customers are buying, as well as what.

Customer 334

Customer Social Media .Net Analytics 334

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 26, 2021

For example, you can ask for feedback from your customers on what they like and dislike about your company, or you can examine your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses to see how your business compares. . A strong online presence is crucial for any small business to succeed in today’s world.

Small Business 179

Small Business Mobile Revenue Social Media 179

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy. 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.

Business Model 244

Business Model Sales Customer Distribution 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

This makes their business types very different. Some customer segments value the DVD business and these may be more price sensitive. Some customer segments value the convenience of instantly available films. They are potentially different business models. We need video reel to show customers that you care.

Customer 287

Customer Technical Review Caching PR 287

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 26, 2021

You can have a great product, fair pricing, and the best customer service in the world—but it doesn’t matter if people have no need for your product. Poor Customer Experience. Another incredibly common motivator for failure is poor customer experience all-around. But even the leanest businesses need money to keep running.

Startup 180

Startup Angel Investor Business Model Demand 180

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2019

Their assumption is that customers and investors will be wowed by this into buying, ignoring the evidence that large-scale change takes a long time, most often fails, and scares away customers and investors alike. Due to qualms of customers and governments, he sold less than 30,000 of the devices over the next five years.

Technical Review 226

Technical Review Leadership Portfolio Matching 226

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Write your business plan and develop your business model with this in mind so you can avoid these issues. . You can choose from a few different types of business plans depending on your needs. If you’re seeking investment, you need a traditional business plan. Target market: Who is your ideal buyer? Be specific.

Business Plan 154

Business Plan Technical Review Forecast Software Review 154

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Projecting from the seed stage, there are two types of team-building topics you want to address – key senior hires and org-level team building. As the company progresses through product market fit (PMF), you will want to highlight other key senior hires required to scale and round out the functional expertise of the exec team.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Up and Running

AUGUST 24, 2020

Driven by job cuts and budget reductions urging businesses to hire more freelancers , online freelancing platforms will enable companies to tap into expanded pools of global talent and hire qualified workers. But there are plenty of cost-saving, productivity and even hiring benefits that make remote work an attractive option.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Analytics Forecast Artificial Inteligence 131

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. They’ll use government regulation and lawsuits to keep out new entrants with more innovative business models. Companies Run on Process.

Government 319

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 319

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

This isn’t just about having a eureka moment; it’s about understanding the problem you’re solving and why it matters to your potential customers. Designing Your Business Model Crafting a business model is like building a blueprint for your venture.

Intellectual Property 158

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 158

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

The most common mistake startups make is assuming they can operate the same way big companies do, and expect success with little to no feedback from potential customers. A corporation like Starbucks could pick locations by throwing a dart at a map and know they’ll at least break even with a new location and mediocre customer service.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

The idea of working at a company whose entire business model revolves around catering to buyers in the HR space felt like such a breath of fresh air. When you’re hiring at Ethena, how do you assess whether a candidate is stage-appropriate? MN: This is such a great question, and an area that I don’t think gets enough attention.

Employee 113

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

He outlines six dimensions of a winning business strategy, with some practical, research-based steps that I like, to focus on in achieving extraordinary results: Above all, deliver an exceptional total customer experience. This requires constant study of what your customers value, what competitors offer, and your target market.

Technical Review 218

Technical Review Revenue Analytics Metrics 218

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 17, 2021

A host of online business education degrees are still geared towards problem-solving through teamwork and collaboration, making it a superb environment in which to meet people who you may one day end up going into business with, befriending, or maybe even hiring. Is it Worth it?

Analytics 179

Analytics Technical Review Social Media Software Review 179