Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

They forget that adapting their company and themselves as their customers evolve is the key to long-term survival. Think of Blockbuster and Toys ‘R’ Us , both of whom missed customer changes and the move to online. Of course, it’s smart not to stray too far from your core competency for credibility and risk reduction.

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Customer Custom Examples IBM 143

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 124

Customer Custom Startup Course 124

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual.

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Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

This is part of a series on sales & marketing. I previously covered how early phase sales teams should be “evangelical&# and consultative in nature. The first post on scaling sales dealt with “aiming&# your sales teams – making sure they were focused on the right opportunities.

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Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 26, 2022

The email recounts some of the company’s recent mistakes, including prioritizing strategic projects that “distracted” the company from its core beauty business and that executives “got ahead of ourselves on hiring.”. The tech team layoffs are notable for a beauty retailer that has often described itself as a technology company.

CTO Hire 197

CTO Hire Layoffs Commerce Email 197

Berkonomics

AUGUST 2, 2012

Especially in a growing company, the CEO is drawn into daily process issues by all of his or her direct reports, often responding to questions and problems, leaving little time for strategic thought. And that behavior results in leaving little time for outreach to the most critical possible component in your chain – your key customers.

Customer 159

Customer Custom Course Email 159

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 4, 2009

Many entrepreneurs who start technology companies are product people, technologists or savvy business people who worked previously for a larger company. Most start-up entrepreneurs have little or no sales experience. But through nearly a decade of startups I learned that sales comes down to three essential elements: 1.

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Sales Startup Platform Tips 319

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2013

This is part of a series that describes a sales methodology for technology companies or frankly many other types of companies, too. ” We developed this at our first company and called it PUCCKA – the overall methodology is described here. No product sells itself no matter what startup companies like to think.

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Sales Help Organization Product 322

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Los Angeles-based e-commerce retailer Newegg said this morning that it is expanding its lineup of products, and has expanded into textbook sales for high school and college students. Newegg said that the effort is one of the elements of an effort by the company to broaden its product portfolio.

NewEgg 100

NewEgg Sales Commerce Los Angeles 100

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Of course, even though that is your contract with the investors, way over half of those implied contracts never work out that way. It is perfectly OK for you to want to grow your company and plan to keep control for you and your offspring, with no intention to sell. The advantage of creating an evergreen company.

Equity 156

Equity Course Sales Invest 156

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. Had I been guilty? Shout it out! . That’s much better than “How’re you doing today?”

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Resource Customer Custom Coach 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. According to one study a decade ago, only 45% of founders plan to exit after stage one, and my guess is that less than half the remainder survive the next stage in their own company. Switch your attention from product development to sales.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Of course, that means a mindset willing to give up much more equity, and taking on a whole new level of risk. In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company. Switch your focus from product development to sales. Isolate marketing from sales for maximum customer focus.

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Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Berkonomics

JULY 26, 2018

These are so succinct, so well defined, so precise that everyone in sales and everyone involved in marketing must be able to answer these three questions without pause, and convincingly. It would pay you to work over this set of questions in a special session with sales, marketing and senior management in the room at once.

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Sales Customer Custom Pricing 226

Berkonomics

JUNE 11, 2015

It’s good advice; the theory being that entrepreneurs can discover the flaws in their business models sooner, make course corrections and move in a more favorable direction. In my case as a young software entrepreneur, I had a different approach: Fail Locally, one customer at a time. And I would learn customer service.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Writing Southern California 120

Berkonomics

MAY 17, 2018

This one may be like one or more you have experienced in your company. It is a story about focus upon the customer, first. And about reinforcing the culture of the company in support of that important focus by senior management, and by all employees who see that leadership in action…. An event of extraordinary customer service.

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Sales Customer Custom Course 226

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 24, 2022

So, when do we know which course to take? In one industry I know well, the dominant player with 22% market share was acquired by one of the largest companies in the technology world. Been skewered for slow customer service? The issue of mature companies as competitors. Quietly abandon a niche? Refuse to engage?

Resource 156

Resource Competition Examples Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Many MBA programs still cater too much to the needs of large, corporate management jobs or prepare students to enter big consulting companies or investments banks. Here is a sample of the reading list for the course that gives you a flavor for just how modern and practical this course is.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Berkonomics

JUNE 4, 2020

Most college econ courses teach marginal economics. Let’s say that your company is exactly at breakeven. There is amazing leverage in high gross profit margins once a company is past breakeven. There is amazing leverage in high gross profit margins once a company is past breakeven. That’s impressive sales leverage.

.Net 156

.Net Sales Tool Email 156

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

In my last post I pointed out that many of the media commentators who have criticized the YouTube video network companies as not having strong businesses were mistaken. The next part of the margin mix online video companies must get control of is talent margins. The best companies look at data to know what time to post.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

The remainder of this article will deal with this decision but it comes down to the different economics of DVD rentals due to “ the first sale doctrine ” which gives Netflix a complete library of films and the fact that the first-sale doctrine doesn’t apply to digital downloads. A blog post! to be synchronized.

Netflix 287

Netflix Customer Custom Pricing 287

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain. A startup must gain balanced traction.

Education 151

Education Customer Custom Sales 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2014

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s recent book, “ The New Experts: Win Today''s Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 98

Customer Custom Entrepreneur Startup 98

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2015

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 101

Customer Custom Startup Course 101

Berkonomics

MARCH 18, 2021

Well, of course it is. Sometimes, you can reduce your personal risk by taking in other people’s money in various ways, perhaps starting with a consulting contract with a customer, purchasing a going business where profit or loss is known, or spinning off an existing revenue-generating portion of an existing business.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Resource Statistics Customer 156

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. Are you looking to potentially sell the company in the next year or two?

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It’s a story of how people handle unusual situations when selling to the top – an executive of a prospective customer. Recently a CEO friend told me her story of a dinner including her director of business development and an executive of a major company, a candidate for a large sale. Well, I didn’t make the sale. .

Sales 156

Sales Conference Startup Course 156

Tech.Co

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Currently, TikTok relies heavily on digital advertising to bring in revenue, although this has not been as reliable of a profit stream in recent months as it has previously and is forcing the company to look for alternative ways to make money. A Mountain to Climb. Should Tech Giants Stop Trying to Make Social Commerce Happen?

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Commerce News 143

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We have global opportunities from these trends but of course also big challenges. Technology solutions are now used by authoritarians to monitor and control populations, to stymie an individual company’s economic prospects or to foment chaos through demagoguery. Of course we can’t. Hot, Flat & Crowded.” By definition?—?I’m

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. You course correct. How hard could it be?

Entrepreneur 385

Entrepreneur CTO Hire Startup Sales 385

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on. I believe it’s flawed.

Startup 403

Startup Sales Software Review Technical Review 403

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

When I publicly Tweeted that all companies should be gross margin positive many people pointed out that Amazon wasn’t profitable for many years. profitable and companies like Amazon who chose to focus on growth > profitability were not losing money on each book sale (ie they were gross margin positive). That bit is easy.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Everyone in the company must adopt the principles of customer-first focus, agility in responding to change, and constant innovation to improve your processes as well as the solution. Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction.

Customer 91

Customer Custom Marketing Startup 91

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 52

Customer Custom Startup Course 52

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

And as I always assert, “Great companies are built in downturns. It’s when the noise stops and you can actually get customer attention, press articles and VC meetings. And it’s when mediocre companies get pulverized.” Of course back then it literally was sold in a package and stored on a shelf!

Marketing 354

Marketing Case Study Metrics Sales 354

Eric Greenspan

MAY 29, 2010

Using social media to increase your company’s touch and reach with each of your customers may be the most important reason to jump in to this game changing strategy. Social media can help bridge a long standing gap between customers and the companies they trust with their hard earned cash. Eric Greenspan.

Social Media 214

Social Media Customer Custom Media 214