Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2019

Don’t bash the competition. Every investor knows how vulnerable a new startup is to competitors, so investors always ask about your sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. That says you are competitive today, have a real barrier to entry, and the potential to remain ahead of the competition for a long time.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 11, 2019

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition.”. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm.

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Competition Slides Research Sales 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2020

For new entrepreneurs and startups, I recommend an initial focus on these six steps from the very beginning to set the right culture and save the tremendous cost of a transformation and risky competitive catch-up later: Start with an overriding top-down focus on customer experience. Set the expectation for continuous improvement.

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Customer Custom Services Startup 168

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2021

In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. If you enjoy wearing many different hats and are constantly learning new skills, you will get more satisfaction as an entrepreneur.

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Entrepreneur Satisfaction Ideas Social Media 158

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022

Every entrepreneur believes that their product or service is memorable, and that every customer will quickly see the advantage over competitors. Differentiation is still a key requirement for a successful startup rollout, and but it must be sustainable to keep ahead of new competition. Marty Zwilling.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2021

Therefore, the least you can do is take advantage of some of the self-assessment tools and guides around, like the classic book “ The Entrepreneur Equation ,” by Carol Roth, which highlights personal characteristics and skills required. Examine the marketplace and your competition. An MBA or other academic credentials just don’t do it.

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Entrepreneur Startup Statistics Guide 169

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

That means starting your search through contract services sites, rather than conventional career hiring sites. Many entrepreneurs still believe they need a traditional multi-level organization to handle growth and scaling, so they start hiring career managers to populate it. Focus on a very flat organization, with minimal hierarchy.

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Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2020

For all entrepreneurs, starting a business is the route to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” no matter how risky. According to a classic article and poll by Startups.co.uk , having the independence to make your own decisions is considered the key benefit of being an entrepreneur. Beat the competition and discover yourself.

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Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction Competition 122

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

In fact, for the past 27-years, he has specialized in bringing exotic travel destinations to those of us who are healthy and active but whose competitive sporting days are long behind us. If you could share one startup lesson with a young entrepreneur, what would it be? Ever fantasized about climbing Mt. but we don''t.

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Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Advertising 187

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Marketing, sales, support, and service operations. Solution development and delivery.

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Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

As an entrepreneur I never really knew what to make of VC return data. to “How can we hire more staff to keep up with the services they offer?” Having a huge services venture firm isn’t for everybody and it isn’t the only strategy that can succeed. Here’s what I know: Most entrepreneurs I know would love to work with A16Z.

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. .” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. Nice sweep!

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CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

Along with that growth, there have been a host of coworking and similar service provider cropping up to serve the community, offering up office space and more to local startups and other businesses.

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Culver City Santa Monica SoCal Southern California 256

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

“I was the guy in the restaurant to pitch whenever there was a service or product,” Canter says. All of these different ordering services began to pop up and each one added more customers and incremental revenue, but each one brought challenges into our staff.” “All of a sudden online ordering started up.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2020

Most technical entrepreneurs I know demand the discipline of a product specification or plan, and then assume that their great product will drive a great business. Is it any wonder why so few entrepreneurs ever find the professional investors they seek? Opportunity segmentation and competitive environment.

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Entrepreneur Startup Summary Product 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. Product is simply about defining a physical good or service that would be valued by consumers of the product more than existing alternatives based on functionality, quality and/or price. But it works.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Each of these can go astray as follows: Your product or service hits unexpected snags.

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SoCal Tech Calendar

MAY 30, 2019

Wednesday, June 5, 2019 -- ACG101's 3rd Annual Emerging Growth Pitch Competition and Showcase. 10 selected startups will pitch to attendees, guest judges (investors and seasoned entrepreneurs) in a showcase/demo table style presentation. Three finalists will then be selected to formally do a 2-minute pitch for the grand prize!

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Competition SoCal Southern California Los Angeles 100

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

And the most logical one seemed to be “eyeballs” or number of unique monthly users finding their way to the site or registering for the service. per registered user of ICQ, the early messaging service. And yet, users rave about the service, and spend long durations of time on the site. Remembering the insanity before 2000.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. Negotiating and creating win-win deals.

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Entrepreneur Startup Sales Customer 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In my role as mentor to many of you aspiring entrepreneurs, I often find you convinced that all you need to start is a unique innovation or idea , and now you are ready to jump in with both feet and enjoy the ride. Remember that being an entrepreneur is all about starting and running a business, after the initial invention.

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Satisfaction Entrepreneur Startup Mentor 135

SoCal Tech Calendar

NOVEMBER 10, 2019

Saturday, November 16, 2019 -- Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum - Transportation. Emerging Opportunities in Urban Mobility and the Business Models It Will Enable. The ways that people and products move around cities worldwide are rapidly changing.

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CalTech Entrepreneur Demand Mobile 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

This conversation seems to come up very frequently these days both with portfolio companies and with entrepreneurs just looking for mentorship. I like to tell entrepreneurs that the “fairway&# of fund raising is 25-33% per round. Only … ONLY … if there’s a sense of competition on the deal.

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Help Startup Competition Framework 303

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

If your forte is a service, like consulting or web site design, it’s harder to find guidance on what will get you funded, and how you can scale your business. With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. Capture your “secret sauce.”

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure. Even non-profits need revenue to cover their costs, and continue to provide services.

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Entrepreneur Resource Metrics Customer 129

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned. Marty Zwilling.

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Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 126

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2023

As the business economy is rebounding from the pandemic, many entrepreneurs are thinking that life will soon get easier, and their opportunity can only grow. Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today. Way back in 1979, Michael E.

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Competition Startup Framework Pricing 88

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 8, 2014

Ability to source information easily to help build a thesis around companies / industries / competition. Great networking skills, which are critical when you want to be about to reference entrepreneurs & concepts and bounce your ideas off of other people in the industry. ” My experience tells me the same.

Help 365

Help Invest Venture Capital Technical Review 365

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2021

In their passion and excitement about a new product or service, entrepreneurs tend to continually narrow the scope of potential competitors, and often claim to have no direct competitors. Competition for your new hydrogen fuel auto engine is not limited to other hydrogen auto engine offerings, or even other autos.

Competition 166

Competition Funding Startup Patents 166

socalTECH

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Our target market is entrepreneurs, creatives, and developers. Our services range from basically any platform service to enable an entrepreneur or developer or creative, to get online with a website, or do things like set up a blog. Simon Anderson: There''s a lot of competition in the market, undoubtedly.

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Software Review Cloud Computing Technical Review Platform 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2021

It seems like everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and get rich these days. Find out if something very similar is already selling, and who your competition would be if you proceed. This is the point where you work on the specifics of being able to deliver your product or service. Now get real (cook it).

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Ideas Entrepreneur Mentor Resource 136

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. It’s usually a spreadsheet or PowerPoint (deck) of the upcoming changes to a product or service. How do early-stage entrepreneurs go about doing it?

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Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 19, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 110

Berkonomics

AUGUST 31, 2023

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. Merely adapting the switches to new digital phones would not work, since guests no longer needed the service itself, being instantly self-sufficient. In this case, the competition was not from a company but from a new technology.

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Competition Research Summary Pricing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk.

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