Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

In that spirit, I offer my perspective on ten common startup failure sources that rarely get admitted by entrepreneurs: Choose to skip the written business plan. A business plan is for you first, not investors. Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Not every great idea is a viable business.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

In that spirit, I offer my perspective on ten common startup failure sources that rarely get admitted by entrepreneurs: Choose to skip the written business plan. A business plan is for you first, not investors. Offer free solutions to bring in more customers. Not every great idea is a viable business.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 120

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 26, 2012

If you’re starting a new business, do not take one more sip of coffee, one more step and spend one penny before you write your business plan. The executive summary is the first and most important part of your business plan. Here you can discuss plans to franchise. Executive Summary. Market Analysis.

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Business Plan Forecast Viral Matching 207

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Tech may be the tool, but hospitality – making life a little easier, more comfortable, and more enjoyable for your customer, is the winning focus. Unfortunately, too many of the technical entrepreneurs I mentor and advise are focused on their technology, and assume that the value will be self-evident to customers.

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Artificial Inteligence Reputation Viral America 205

Up and Running

AUGUST 23, 2016

Kinsman says, “One strategy that has helped our business is to benchmark a company that is in the position we want to reach—ideally a global company—and then set our sights on overtaking them, planning to be their direct competitor. Try to match them in every aspect. It’s easier than it seems.”. Brand activation.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2013

So sites have to invest heavily in viral marketing to achieve critical mass, which competes with current social networks, while users expect to join both for free. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. So are customers. Intellectual property is tough. Sophisticated search engines.

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Intellectual Property Social Network Matching Viral 215

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2018

In my experience with technical entrepreneurs, they work hard on creating an innovative and elegant solution, and assume that customers will flock to them (“if we build it, they will come”). The founder had simply not done the work to validate a price and the perfect customer segment. Make every pilot customer commit to be a reference.

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Product Advisory Board Business Model Cofounder 137

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2011

So sites have to invest heavily in viral marketing to achieve critical mass, which competes with current social networks, while users expect to join both for free. It’s hard to invent and patent more “scientific” methods on how to match people. So are customers. Intellectual property is tough. Sophisticated search engines.

Intellectual Property 229

Intellectual Property Social Network Matching Viral 229

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Jokes aside, the top-down approach has its place in business plans and pitch decks commonly used to ask people for money. Where they don’t belong is with a bootstrapped founder trying to figure out how many customers she can expect to reach next month on her shoestring marketing budget. Mistake #1: Log in! D’oh.

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Marketing Software Review Matching Bootstrapping 64

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

It typically takes multiple iterations and pivots to find product/market fit – the match between what you’re building and who will buy it. Sales (and/or customer acquisition in a multi-sided market) becomes achievable by a sales force (or network effect or virality) without heroic efforts from the founders.

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crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

Entrepreneurs should learn to show the same loyalty to their team, to their investors, and to their customers. There are plenty of resources available from the big recruiting firms right down to the alumni websites and it is important that where you post the job is a good match to the person you are looking for. Photo: hmcadams.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2010

So please don’t send me any more business plans along these lines, looking for investor funding, with no marketing budget, and promising huge returns. So sites have to invest heavily in viral marketing to achieve critical mass, which competes with current social networks, while users expect to join both for free. Marty Zwilling.

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Intellectual Property Social Network Matching Viral 124

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. So that means stuff like thinking about what a business model might be, it does mean customer development. So I have a question for you, Jason.

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mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

When it comes to the right time to go after funding, Kashyap says, “Founders should raise money after they have developed a solid business plan and require additional capital to develop or expand their business.&# A well-funded startup with no product is still behind a startup with no money but a product and customers.&#

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Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2016

See Also: How to Write About Sourcing and Fulfillment in Your Business Plan. A proven traffic source for your initial set of sales, from a group of customers who know that they should be leaving reviews. A plan for tapping into the traffic that’s already on Amazon, while making yourself stand out from the crowd.

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PPC Campaign Sales Search 60

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

If you want to serve enterprise customers,NET is one of the best ways to do that and do it well. The tools which you find restrictive I consider a huge timesaver (which paying customers tend to appreciate)… they allow me to rapidly prototype and get solutions to customers. March 25, 2011 at 2:16 pm. William Pearson.

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Java PHP Software Review Coder 107