Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

After struggling to create your business plan for months, every entrepreneur likes to think that their document is inspirational and will reach someone who is smart enough to see the brilliance of the idea, intuitive enough to recognize their business acumen, and enthusiastic enough to offer the money required to make it happen.

Business Plan 242

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Technical Review .Net 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

Others will work hard on a business plan, and then mail it indiscriminately to every potential investor they can find on the Internet. Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.”

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Angel Investor Business Plan Social Media 157

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

Briefly, we think there’s a substantial market for a business which helps enterprises to execute initiatives which require coordination across diverse stakeholders, e.g., make a large sale to a critical client, or lobby for a change in regulation. I finally had a brainstorm, and started writing a business plan. A nonprofit?

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Briefly, we think there’s a substantial market for a business which helps enterprises to execute initiatives which require coordination across diverse stakeholders, e.g., make a large sale to a critical client, or lobby for a change in regulation. I finally had a brainstorm, and started writing a business plan. A nonprofit?

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

Others will work hard on a business plan, and then mail it indiscriminately to every potential investor they can find on the Internet. Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.”

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Angel Investor Business Plan Social Media 120

Up and Running

JANUARY 23, 2019

Nothing quashes an enterprising spirit quite like opening a business and then having to shut down due to negligent preparation. Review local and federal rules and regulations to ensure your facility is in check. There was a time when anticipating your target demo was more or less guesswork. Write a business plan.

Software Review 83

Software Review Las Vegas Technical Review Artificial Inteligence 83

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Otherwise you’re a stock picker, which in this business isn’t a good thing. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). It’s a Demo Day thing.

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Otherwise you’re a stock picker, which in this business isn’t a good thing. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). It’s a Demo Day thing.

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

After struggling to create your business plan for months, every entrepreneur likes to think that their document is inspirational and will reach someone who is smart enough to see the brilliance of the idea, intuitive enough to recognize their business acumen, and enthusiastic enough to offer the money required to make it happen.

Elevator Pitch 244

Elevator Pitch Technical Review Business Plan .Net 244

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2021

Unlike traditional demo days or Shark Tanks which are, “Here’s how smart I am, and isn’t this a great product, please give me money,” a Lessons Learned presentation tells the story of a team’s 10-week journey and hard-won learning and discovery. . – while simultaneously building a series of minimal viable products. Stay tuned.

Lean 385

Lean Security Asia SBIR 385

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

Most VCs love demos. Demos help them learn more than they could from any document, especially about their interest in the product. We believe the demo, a prototype, or an alpha is far more important than a business plan or financial model for the very early-stage company. Go the extra mile to be transparent.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence 100

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Ask a technical founder about his startup, and he'll proudly describe his stunning software — simple, compelling, useful, fun. Maybe you'll even get a wobbly demo. We're going to get reviews on blogs.". The idea of editing and review is so embedded in your industry you can't imagine life without it, and you're right!

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. So very few investors want Business Plans any more.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

ConversionXL

JUNE 16, 2022

Zendesk offers tech industry people a concise description of how Zendesk can benefit their company. In a business plan, key questions are answered in an executive summary. The answers inform investors so they can understand what they’ll learn and decide whether to read the rest of the plan. Company information.

Campaign 149

Campaign CTO Marketing Social Media 149

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

His book — Surviving a Startup: Practical Strategies for Starting a Business, Overcoming Obstacles, and Coming Out on Top. Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! You know, could you look at my business plan? See if the business model works, all these questions. And it doesn't have to be technology.

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Well … I have had many late nights and I really didn’t contemplate writing many blog postings this month because I spent November in this interesting venture capital / fund raising dance involving lots of late night sessions reviewing legal documents, rewriting business plans and preparing for pitches. After Office 2.0

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

I was the classic case, so busy diligently counting passes that I missed a gorilla (I know, the one I linked to was a bear, but this one was a gorilla) walking right through the scene. Of course we took the demo down, and quickly. It didn’t save the work. But I still remember the lesson we learned.

Software Review 73

Software Review Technical Review Restful Software 73

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

When writing your business plan , consider that customer relationships begin the moment a consumer learns about your company. Analyze problem areas in customer complaints, bad feedback, and reviews, which are all early warning indicators of issues faced by your organization. Build and define relationships. Show your value.

Sales 152

Sales Audience Social Media Email 152

Steve Blank

JUNE 12, 2020

Unlike traditional demo days or Shark Tanks which are, “here’s how smart I am, please give me money,” a Lessons Learned presentation tells the teams’ stories of a 10-week journey of hard-won learning and discovery. Steve Weinstein 30-year veteran of Silicon Valley technology companies and Hollywood media companies. What a year.

Oakland 301

Oakland Asia Lean Video 301

Up and Running

MAY 4, 2015

In this article, I’ll review: What to include in a one minute, five minute, ten minute, and 20 minute pitch. Tips from entrepreneurs who successfully pitched their businesses for funding. So how do you know what to include in pitching opportunities for varying lengths of time? We’ve got you covered. How much time do you have?

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Entrepreneur Software Review Houston 60

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 6, 2017

You can take courses offered by prestigious schools like Stanford University and Yale, and even pursue master’s degrees in business and computer science (among others). Coursera’s catalog offers a wide variety of courses, from music and art to technology, science , and business. ” Udemy. Udemy has you covered.

Programming 73

Programming Technical Review Small Business Illinois 73

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 30, 2014

7 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Use Video To Grow Their New Business written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. Your business plans are in place, perhaps you have sought out and won investors, and gotten a foothold in the market with your product. Is your product tech?

Video 77

Video Widget Software Review Entrepreneur 77

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

In the last post I beat you to death about ditching your business plan but failed to provide an alternative. Which of your business operations do you hate? Do you like creating new features but hate tech support? Enjoy product demos but hate cold-calls? It could be an outsourced office assistant. Or switch off.

Startup 315

Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

During the due-diligence process, I sat down with one of the partners who pulled out a set of slides and asked me: ”Have you seen these?” No business plan survives first contact with customers The real value is finding the product/market fit. Are These Your Slides? That’s not found in a set of slides.

Silicon Valley 225

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 225

crowdSPRING Blog

AUGUST 6, 2017

You can take courses offered by prestigious schools like Stanford University and Yale, and even pursue master’s degrees in business and computer science (among others). Coursera’s catalog offers a wide variety of courses, from music and art to technology, science , and business. ” Udemy. Udemy has you covered.

Programming 48

Programming Technical Review Small Business Illinois 48

ConversionXL

JUNE 20, 2019

In fact, JW Player was the technology that ran the earliest version of YouTube. It has continued to offer technical capabilities at the forefront of online video. The technical features of JW Player have attracted enterprise-level publishers (e.g. Here’s a demo featuring my name: Who is personalized video right for?

Hosting 127

Hosting Video Technical Review Software Review 127

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

This human touch can be as light as email follow ups, or as much as inside sales people doing multiple sales calls and demos. Lessons Learned – Business Planning Stage My advice to entrepreneurs working on a new business plan is to build a model similar to those above to estimate the cost of customer acquisition.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Customer Relationship Management is a technology designed to help your business manage customer relationships and interactions in an organized way. The more well organized your data is the easier it will be to review and uncover specific insights and similarities. Identify your business needs. What is CRM? Collaboration.

Management 116

Management Customer Software Review Technical Review 116

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

Many entrepreneurial programs feature a business plan competition, which is a great exercise. At SJSU, we also have a business plan competition in the spring, which ideally allows the students to build a viable business model around their NIF projects. How Much Diligence is Due. Steve Bennet.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Product Development – Getting Funded as The Goal In a traditional product development model, entrepreneurs come up with an idea or concept, write a business plan and try to get funding to bring that idea to fruition. The goal of their startup in this stage becomes “getting funded.” Just as a refresher.

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2020

As a small business owner, in order to compete with the big players, you need to be able to sell like them. Typically this means investing in sales technology that makes you more agile and is easily scalable as you drive long-term growth. Remember to review your business plan , financial forecasts , and current cash position.

Software Review 113

Software Review Software Sales Small Business 113

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

Of course, rigorous diligence is performed, the team is challenged, and assumptions are tested. I first met Jeff about 8 years ago when he was finishing his first year at the Stanford GSB and was beginning to raise money for a business plan he developed for a secondary market ticket exchange. How Much Diligence is Due.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Up and Running

MARCH 1, 2016

To find out what people are complaining about, read forums, turn to your social media accounts, and read reviews. A demo video (if you’ve got a digital sell sheet). At Palo Alto Software, we use the One-Page Pitch feature in LivePlan to quickly validate new business ideas. What do your friends want? A benefit statement.

Non-disclosure Agreement 60

Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Non-Compete Naming 60

Gust

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The expectation is that in an era of increasing technology and decreasing costs, you will be bringing them an operating company with at least some traction. Blindly sending your business plan to every single angel and VC in the world will have zero effect, and simply clogs the system while annoying everyone.

Software Review 164

Software Review Term Sheet Technical Review Angel Investor 164

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

I wassurprised recently when I realized that all the worst problems wefaced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors.Dealing with competitors was easy by comparison. Angels whove made money in technology are preferable,for two reasons: they understand your situation, and theyre asource of contacts and advice.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

David Teten

JULY 12, 2013

Nominate company representatives as speakers for tech or entrepreneurship conferences. These conferences are not only a great way to raise your startup’s profile, they also serve as valuable networking opportunities within the tech/VC community. For a full list of major tech conferences, see technologyconference.com.

PR 114

PR Public Relations Startup Technical Review 114

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

They need to have a place where they can gain an understanding of their different options for financing the venture, how to determine exactly what is needed in the marketplace, how to negotiate, how to read contracts, the role of technology, how to write a business plan, understand what your ratios are saying. ► January.

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43