Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

If they’re not running their business then perhaps the wrong person was picked as CEO or perhaps they need more mentorship / coaching to better allocate their time. Of course they “need&# the title to convince customers, biz dev partners and VCs that they’re to be taken seriously.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan. And because I wanted Ethan to be able to attract a great team, build & iterate a product, test it with initial customers and refine his strategy before having to take the wrappers off of his company. The company was called Red Beacon. So there you have it.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 28, 2010

And of course there was the Michael Porter’s “ 5 Forces.&# Frankly, I kind of found all of this stuff to be bullshit (bull shiitake?) People started to believe that there was real intellectual insight into the bullshit PowerPoint slides and customer surveys they were spitting out. I grew up and played sports all my life.

Startup 378

Startup Framework Slides Coach 378

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

So I did want any rational person who wants to improve does – I hired a coach. Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Custom 316

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2014

Of course I’m not preaching crazy, irrational spend or having Kid Rock at your next company party. You can do them all yourself, of course. You’re the coach, mentor, cheerleader. And while this might sound to the inexperienced person like a sensible idea – it is not. But at what cost?

Startup 381

Startup Resource Venture Capital Activity 381

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Of course, this comment made me think of the many times I had been guilty of this more than occasional heads-down office work over the years of management and assume that most of you who have supervised others have fallen into the same trap. How do you frame menial desk jobs as “customer support?”. Had I been guilty? Shout it out! .

Resource 156

Resource Custom Customer Coach 156

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Good entrepreneurs can admit when their course of action was wrong and learn from it. Yes, I know it’s my job as the CEO to be the coach for people and that’s fine. Entrepreneurs make fast decisions and move forward knowing that at best 70% of their decisions are going to be right. They move the ball forward every day.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Over time you start to figure out who you customers are and how to sell to them or how to get them to adopt your products if you’re a consumer-oriented startup.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

While I do agree that many attributes of a good entrepreneur, such as curiosity, confidence and determination, are largely determined by early-life experiences, a good education is critical in understanding the elements of creating a business and wooing customers. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA.

Entrepreneur 149

Entrepreneur Tips Writing Coach 149

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2021

Once you are able to achieve some real “traction” with your business (paying customers, revenue stream), it may seem the time to relax a bit, but in fact this is the point where many founders start to flounder. The key is to make decisions from data and feedback, once your business has real customers and real products.

Entrepreneur 169

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Mentor 169

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Once you’ve been around for a few years, attracted some great people, landed real, paying customers and raised venture capital you’ve likely got a talented team around you. In your case this might simply be a VP of Sales or Customer Support for multiple locations. Lots of requests for “just 20 minutes of my time.&#.

Venture Capital 319

Venture Capital Startup Sales Customer 319

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2021

Here are the key reasons that I recommend that aspiring leaders focus on people before process: Customers judge the business by the people quality. Whether it be in person, on the phone, or implied in your marketing, your people and their engagement level is the key driver of customer loyalty, advocacy, and sales growth.

Satisfaction 154

Satisfaction Demand Resource Competition 154

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2022

In addition, today’s customers judge a company by perceived people relationships through social media, phone conversations, and sales experiences. Of course, some balance is required. Customers demand more engagement and flexibility. In the end, engagement drives customer retention, sales, growth and profit.

Coach 128

Coach Mentor Organization Startup 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Of course, that means a new level of risk, giving up some control, and a new business plan. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Optimize the total customer experience. There is no free lunch.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

” Of course I agree with this. In practice it can be a fine line between sparring partner / coach and stepping over the line to brute-force persuasion. Of course by the next quarter if I felt ripped off I could advocate for 7% or maybe ops requirements needed to be upped to 20% for one quarter.

Startup 150

Startup Sales CTO Coach Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

For many, it’s hard to make the switch from that top-down order-giving culture, and it’s hard to find the time to recruit and coach the new team members you need to scale the business to success. You need them to make a personal commitment to customer service, improved quality, and change to improve the future.

Startup 147

Startup Custom Customer Ideas 147

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 25, 2013

And Coach Campbell. I’ve heard directly from top executives that Jeff Bezos (in my opinion the most talented person in the tech industry) has received his fair share of VC coaching in the early years. And let the entrepreneur decide the course of action. Not according to my sources. It led to hiring Eric Schmidt.

Venture Capital 374

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Invest Funding 374

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 2, 2021

Perhaps you need to do more to be a role model for accountability , and provide more coaching on exactly what it means. I often think of the scope of this example in my role as mentor to a struggling entrepreneur who is quick to blame his problems on employee mistakes, or even changing customer expectations.

Training 173

Training Examples Startup Social Media 173

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2023

Of course, they may be out of money as well, but that is often more of an “excuse” than a reason. You probably realize that the leading edge is very near the bleeding edge, where only early adopter customers dare to tread. On the other hand, if you wait for competitors to get there first, you may be left in the dust with no customers.

Startup 135

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Course 135

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Of course, as you work with contract players, explore the potential for a long-term relationship, and wait until your organization matures to pursue career positions. By hiring contract experts, less oversight and coaching is needed. You all have to deal today primarily with on-demand customers in an on-demand economy.

Competition 168

Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2022

by Donna Cutting, who is a globally-recognized guru on employee culture and optimizing customer service. In my experience, a healthy team is a prerequisite for a thriving business, innovation to meet market needs, and high customer loyalty. Of course, you as the business leader have a key role in making all this happen.

Technical Review 141

Technical Review Mentor Social Media Customer 141

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. We are judging how well you are coached on stage. I like to debate with them how they will land customers and how they deal with the press. I spent time on college campuses. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). Do you have good quips?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

While I do agree that many attributes of a good entrepreneur, such as curiosity, confidence and determination, are largely determined by early-life experiences, a good education is critical in understanding the elements of creating a business and wooing customers. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA.

Writing 111

Writing Coach Incubator Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

With some coaching and mentoring from other leaders, I was able to do it myself, so I know you can do it too, by committing to the following strategies: Train yourself to always look for positives, not negatives. Of course, most professionals are optimistic, so they tend to over-commit and underestimate work requirements.

Coach 137

Coach Training Satisfaction Mentor 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2020

Of course, they may be out of money as well, but that is often more of an “excuse” than a reason. You probably realize that the leading edge is very near the bleeding edge, where only early adopter customers dare to tread. On the other hand, if you wait for competitors to get there first, you may be left in the dust with no customers.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Startup Statistics Course 121

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

This is true of any buying process where a customer has to make a large investment decision on your software or when an investor must decide whether to give you $5 million. Of course stringing out the process doesn’t lead to good outcomes. Possibly offend and entrepreneur leading to reputation risk amongst other entrepreneurs.

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

The creators of the renowned StartupWeekend — a place where random ad hoc teams work frantically for 54 hours to build a demo of a new business and then complete for fame and fortune — have picked up where StartupWeekend left off and have birthed a new course for entrepreneurs who need to level up called StartupWeekend Next.

Class 98

Class Mentor Startup UCLA 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2016

While I do agree that many attributes of a good entrepreneur, such as curiosity, confidence and determination, are largely determined by early-life experiences, a good education is critical in understanding the elements of creating a business and wooing customers. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA.

Entrepreneur 98

Entrepreneur Tips Writing Coach 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2018

While I do agree that many attributes of a good entrepreneur, such as curiosity, confidence and determination, are largely determined by early-life experiences, a good education is critical in understanding the elements of creating a business and wooing customers. Practical business courses are better than an advanced degree or MBA.

Startup 97

Startup Writing Coach Incubator 97

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Of course I went through normal other channels of deal flow. We are judging how well you are coached on stage. I like to debate with them how they will land customers and how they deal with the press. I spent time on college campuses. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). Do you have good quips?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2014

Of course, they may be out of money as well, but that is often more of an “excuse” than a reason. You probably realize that the leading edge is very near the bleeding edge, where only early adopter customers dare to tread. On the other hand, if you wait for competitors to get there first, you may be left in the dust with no customers.

Startup 110

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Course 110

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2015

Does it mean the right thing from a customer perspective, societal impact, maximizing business returns or personal benefit? Another article indicates that 80 percent of customers continue to base some portion of their buying decisions on their perceptions of the company’s ethics. Be a coach, rather than a dictator.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Training Demand Custom 102

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Of course, that means a new level of risk, giving up some control, and a new business plan. These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Optimize the total customer experience. There is no free lunch.

Startup 108

Startup Sales Metrics Entrepreneur 108

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

But of course all of these things are intertwined. Obviously you need to be mentally flexible enough to spot if your instincts were wrong and a change of course is necessary. I’ve spent hours this week reading about the firing of the head coach and personnel manager of the football team I support – The Philadelphia Eagles.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2022

Every business owner I know wishes that all team members were leaders, to proactively tackle the challenges of growth , interact effectively with customers on their needs, and eventually step into your role. Notice people who always take a customer perspective. It’s no secret today that customers are more demanding than ever.

Custom 110

Custom Customer Coach Organization 110

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2022

Be sure to encompass all your constituents, especially including customers. Whole Foods , for example, has built their business with a commitment to natural and organic foods, and have a culture of loyal employees and customers, resulting in 500 stores worldwide. Commit to delivering a positive customer experience.

Product 109

Product Training Custom Customer 109

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2019

I found some good guidance on this subject in a new book, “ The Leader You Want To Be ,” by Amy Jen Su, a managing partner in an executive coaching and leadership development firm. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to ask for help. Clearly identify key constraints around your request.

Help 123

Help Entrepreneur Course IBM 123