View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Sales and marketing has been 30%+ basically forever, though undoubtedly Airbnb has enough brand recognition and loyal customers that if you turned off marketing spend then revenue would drop but not to zero. But ops & customer support is another 17-20% of revenue and arguably you couldn’t run the business if you took that away.

North America 401

North America IPO Europe Prospectus 401

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 19, 2024

These systems apply complex algorithms to parse sales data, forecast demand trends, and manage stock levels efficiently. Take, for example, businesses in the fashion industry. For this type of company, using AI inventory management systems can be particularly beneficial.

Technical Review 146

Technical Review Startup Differentiation Social Media 146

Duct Tape Marketing

JULY 17, 2024

A strong Rev Ops function is crucial for optimizing revenue generation and enabling marketing, sales, and customer success teams to work cohesively. 11:00] How do you address companies that take a very siloed approach to Sales & Marketing? [13:24] IBM's had sales operations, which is a portion of revenue operations for decades.

Revenue 93

Revenue Technical Review Framework Austin 93

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 23, 2022

Every startup lucky enough to get some traction gets to the point where they decide to hire some “regular employees” for sales, marketing, and administrative tasks. Sales will be the organization’s sole focus.” If sales are the only way to get rewarded in your organization, then sales will take precedence over other activities.

Startup 337

Startup Technical Review Employee Hiring 337

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize one-time sales in your business model. New channels, such as adding brick-and-mortar distributors to supplement your online sales, also can multiply your rate of growth. Your solution must have value for every customer. Strive to make real customers your best advocates for the initial rollout.

Merger 386

Merger Software Review Acquisition Social Media 386

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 22, 2024

Here are some common culprits: Disconnected Systems: When inventory, sales, and customer service tools dont talk to each other, delays are inevitable. By integrating different operational areas such as inventory management, sales tracking, and customer service, ERPs eliminate the inefficiencies of disconnected systems.

Artificial Inteligence 144

Artificial Inteligence Customer Technical Review Operations 144

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 19, 2025

Analyzing sales trends can also help businesses predict demand more accurately, preventing overstocking or understocking. Implementing smarter inventory management strategies can free up cash and improve operational efficiency. Startups can use just-in-time (JIT) inventory systems to order stock only when needed.

Management 143

Management Startup Forecast Finance 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 30, 2021

A small advisory board of outside people with experience in your domain can give you the unbiased feedback you need, as well as connections for setting up distribution and sales channels. Talk to industry experts and investors. It’s also valuable to talk to potential investors for their views, even if you are bootstrapping the effort.

Technical Review 399

Technical Review Product Advisory Board Business Model 399

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

Craft a no-follow-up sales letter, after you have positioned yourself as the right expert, with powerful testimonials. Instead of asking themselves “How and when will this generate sales?” They will call you back. Don’t dumb it down for social media. entrepreneurs need to focus more on who they are marketing to and why.

Marketing 353

Marketing Technical Review Social Media Technology 353

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

The sales professional. A sales fanatic on the founder team helps to contain that risk. The combination of technical insight, founder authority, and sales experience is a hard-to-beat advantage in a competitive market. These people also have the credibility to attract investors.

Technical Cofounder 309

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Advisory Board Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. Set specific targets on the sales channels and marketing initiatives you need, including the use of social media, brand building, franchising, trade shows, affiliates, and distributors. Professional investors and even customers invest in people, rather than just a product.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2021

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. Traction in the marketplace. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 379

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 10, 2025

You’ve got a new CRM to support sales success. In Part two, the focus is bringing your whole sales team on the journey to deliver the full return on investment from your CRM implementation. Visibility across your entire sales process. The sales team is happy to keep its manual processes, rather than using the CRM.

Sales Cycle 52

Sales Cycle Sales Technical Review Software Review 52

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Sales in their first fiscal year were $1.5 ERA asked the NSA for permission to offer the computer for commercial sale. Finally, ERA’s penchant for extreme secrecy left them unschooled in the art of marketing, sales, and Public Relations. Parker became head of sales of the merged computer division. A year later, 420.

Minnesota 325

Minnesota Engineer Minneapolis Silicon Valley 325

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

Every successful startup I know has pivoted a couple of times, as they learn what really works in the marketplace and in the sales process. The probability of failure goes up exponentially as the number of product features increase. It’s tough for an elephant to be agile. Ongoing market leadership requires continuous innovation.

Startup 424

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 424

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

A better approach might be to use your marketing power to tell people that you can now ring their smartphone in front of their favorite store for a special sale, and allow them to “opt in,” rather than surprising them with your new technology. Few people are paranoid about something they want and enjoy.

Technical Review 342

Technical Review Customer Social Network Software Review 342

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

You alone will never find enough hours in a day to keep with all the challenges of sales, support, and scaling the business, in addition to developing and delivering your solution. Actually, building and nurturing the right team is the hard part, requiring communication, hiring, and leadership.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2021

He must nail down a sales process that fits the domain and economy. The CEO is the check and balance on the constant parallel pushes for more development, more marketing, and more growth. Craft an operational plan and make it work. Most founders are product guys. They need an operational CEO who knows the market and the marketing game.

Exit Strategy 407

Exit Strategy Leadership Founder Networking 407

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

Investors expect proof that your invention can be manufactured in volume, and can justify a sales price at least double the cost, to a large customer set that has money to spend. The value is tied to infrastructure outside your control, such as a pervasive network of fuel stations, trained service facilities, and new government regulations.

Technical Review 391

Technical Review Intellectual Property Early Stage Global 391

TechEmpower

DECEMBER 11, 2023

It's a strategic choice that extends beyond a one-time development process and into anticipating future needs.

Software Developers 297

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Software 297

View from Seed

JULY 22, 2024

This is usually a more straightforward sale if you can justify the ROI around efficiency gain of the existing data team headcount (notwithstanding the challenge above).

Generative AI 234

Generative AI Technical Review SQL Architecture 234

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2021

Sales and marketing strategy. Investors will talk to their own experts on the size of the potential market and the expected growth rate. They will also assess trends in the market and how current economic, political, and demographic conditions relate.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Angel Investor 380

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

In business, when you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume and still be profitable. But don’t forget that the underlying laws of finance are harder to change, much like the laws of physics, so try not to ignore these basics. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

NZ Entrepreneur

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

Has your sales cycle lengthened? Here are five simple ways to help speed up your slow sales cycle. Find out if theyre got budget Remember its not a sale until cash moves into your business bank account. This will keep the sales conversation progressing, and prevent unnecessary delays in your sales process.

Sales Cycle 98

Sales Cycle Sales Conversion Email 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Relationships also build loyalty, get referrals, and drive more sales. Relationships get the body language to supplement numbers, and provide critical feelings not found in surveys. Under-promise and over-deliver on customer requests. Customers always remember positive surprises, and they never forget negative ones.

Customer 369

Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Maxwell Wessel, in a classic article in the Harvard Business Review on this subject, points out the exception successes of Zappos in Las Vegas, Sendgrid’s massive growth in Colorado, and RightNow’s $1.5

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

With some practice you can translate the topline, account, or Program Element (PE) Line changes into a sales Go-To-Market strategy, or at least a hypothesis of who to call on.

Programming 258

Programming Customer Portfolio Government 258

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

Just because Google sales hit $1.5 It’s important to separate optimism and dreams from market realities. Ask yourself, “If I were an investor, would I support this effort, given the costs and promised returns?” billion in 4 years doesn’t mean any other startup can do it. How do I avoid scope creep?

Metrics 387

Metrics Technical Review Leadership Framework 387

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

Sales and distribution channel activity will be analyzed, as well as cost of customer acquisition, to make an independent assessment of your financial projections. Traction in the marketplace. A smart investor will take an independent final reading in the market on barriers to entry, active competition, demographics, and price sensitivity.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Bankruptcy 296

VC Cafe

MARCH 7, 2025

Microsoft has introduced Dragon Copilot, an AI assistant designed for healthcare professionals as well as AI agents for sales to take on Salesforce. Kol hakavod Stav Levi Neumark and team Alta on coming out of stealth with a $7M seed round to bring AI-driven sales agents to market!

Israel 104

Israel Stealth Taiwan ChatGPT 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

New offerings which build your brand will increase acceptance and sales of all solutions, not just the new one. Even more important than solution marketing is building your brand. Make sure new solutions offered actually build your brand, rather than dilute it. Solution may require new category development time.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

NZ Entrepreneur

JANUARY 16, 2025

Youve still got sales targets to hit with less resources. A leaner, downsized sales team. Whatever youre facing, there are smart sales strategies you can deploy to combat the recession, even on a low budget. Better still some of these sales strategies are free (apart from your time!). So, theres a recession. Be careful.

Sales 98

Sales B2B Networking Social Media 98

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 16, 2023

Effective inventory displays can significantly impact the results of visual merchandising, bringing more sales and revenue to the business. The post The Psychology Of Inventory Display: How Visual Merchandising Boosts Sales appeared first on Young Upstarts.

Sales 243

Sales Revenue Marketing 243

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 30, 2024

Sales Processes: Create processes that are as streamlined as they are effective. Building a Customer Strategy After the sale, the real work begins. Certainly, it's advertising and all the things that create awareness. It should also be about building trust and facilitating a seamless buying experience.

Marketing 87

Marketing Retention Algorithm Advertising 87

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 22, 2024

13:18] A Holistic View The role of a Fractional CMO isn’t just about marketing—it’s about integrating sales, customer service, and even operational aspects to ensure that the entire business is aligned and working towards common goals. We have to get into sales, we have to get into customer service.

Leadership 84

Leadership Technical Review Retention Campaign 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Every successful startup I know has pivoted a couple of times, as they learn what really works in the marketplace and in the sales process. The probability of failure goes up exponentially as the number of product features increase. It’s tough for an elephant to be agile. Ongoing market leadership requires continuous innovation.

Startup 287

Startup Bandwidth Distribution Agile 287