Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2022

Most people think innovation is all about ideas, when in fact it is more about delivery, people, and process. They take you step-by-step through the innovation execution process, in the context the ten most common myths about innovation, which I think makes their approach particularly instructive: Innovation is all about ideas.

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Ideas Startup Resource Research 135

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Every business I know needs to be on a constant lookout for new ideas, both in what they offer to customers, and in their internal operations, to stay competitive. Fortunately, there are ways to nurture the creation and capture of new ideas. Openly ask for new ideas from your team and others.

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Ideas PPC Custom Customer 132

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2020

I find that many entrepreneurs are so passionate about their own idea that they can’t stop selling it to potential partners. Let candidates educate you on attributes you need and they bring. The key here is to do more listening than talking in both formal and informal interviews.

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Competition High Tech Startup Social Media 174

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2020

Many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. In my experience, building a business is much more about getting things done than having great ideas. Establish a clear visual picture of each goal.

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Ideas Writing Startup Entrepreneur 121

Berkonomics

JANUARY 11, 2018

Or the important one: “Is this idea on mission?” Some ideas sound unbelievably creative – and may be that. But sometimes there is a barrier, an impossibly high cost not considered, a social backlash never thought of, or competition already covering the idea that is unknown to the originator. Generative.

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Companies Company Ideas Competition 243

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

One of the complaints I often hear from engaged business professionals is that their new ideas, innovations, and change recommendations are unfairly criticized or dismissed without analysis. This argument is actually not attacking the idea, but shows a generalized resistance to change. Your idea has unpredictable negative side effects.

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Ideas Netflix Resource Custom 116

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

His ideas to date hadn’t totally resonated and of course ideas matter, too. He had ideas. Within a few weeks he was an EIR in our offices in LA working on the idea. Of course there is competition! It’s a f **g brilliant idea! I met up with Sam in NYC last year to talk about “what he was up to.”

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UCSD Startup Ideas Course 340

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Know your market and competition, or don’t spend a dime on anything else. In this case, the competition was not from a company but a new technology. When I listen to a pitch from an enthusiastic entrepreneur or read the summary of a business plan, one of the first questions I ask is about the strength of the competition.

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Competition Research Summary Pricing 266

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2020

Leveraging the global network will improve your odds of a highly skilled match, and bring diversity, as well as more innovative ideas and thinking to your team. Traditional career talent sourcing normally limits your geographic reach, or imposes large relocations costs and delays. Optimize staffing overhead and flexibility in a fluid market.

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Competition Startup Demand Training 168

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 19, 2024

An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. We have no competition. Whether you have not been able to find companies doing something like the plan, or you have not considered the most obvious killer of new ideas doing nothing, it is a faux pas that should never be allowed to happen.

Competition 156

Competition Slides Sales Research 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2023

In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? Separate nice-to-have ideas from ones solving painful problems.

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Ideas Technical Review Patents Startup 106

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

When Fred Wilson funded Twitter I guarantee you it wasn’t obvious that it was a billion dollar idea. Many questioned whether it could survive under the fail whale, inevitable competition from Facebook, founder fighting, fights with 3rd-party developers let alone become a revolutionary business that could make money. Far from it.

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Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

It’s been a really exciting time for me personally to be able to see a partner come in with the energy, enthusiasm and new ideas that remind me of myself 6 years ago. On the one hand you can view their local stores as a competitive disadvantage because eCommerce companies can sell products with no physical retail stores.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2014

I look for whacky ideas that seem implausible or cause me to say, “Huh. I would talk about it (I don’t care if you think the idea is stupid) but frankly I don’t want to because I don’t want to encourage competition in this field of investment. By the time it’s hit demo day I’m too late.

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Venture Capital Invest Ideas Entrepreneur 337

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

It’s building a product that is substantially differentiated, and, as Bill Gross, one of the most prolific tech entrepreneurs of our era says, “ It needs to be 10x better than the competition ” (because if you shoot for that then in competitive markets you might achieve 3x. Rebelling is simply a form of snobbery.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

In reality, resource constraints should be seen by startups a competitive advantage, by forcing them to develop new markets, and to think differently and act differently than existing players. How entrepreneurs respond to these will become a larger and larger determinant of startup growth, competitive position, and success.

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Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Berkonomics

MARCH 16, 2017

[Email readers, continue here…] Here is the conclusion: It is the management team, most often led by a passionate entrepreneur with experience in the industry, which makes the biggest difference between success and failure, even for businesses built upon less than sterling basic ideas.

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Statistics Ideas Entrepreneur Startup 243

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

Today’s $24 billion storage market in the US has these same key disadvantages and that was the genesis of Sam Rosen’s initial idea for MakeSpace , which I initially funded 15 months ago. He had an idea to make it better. We then riffed on the idea of, “That’s interesting. 10x the experience.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire Startup 380

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

He succinctly outlines the key behaviors that I believe every business leader must focus on, to drive innovation without waiting for the next competitive crisis: Avoid the assumption that current gifts will keep on giving. They need to regularly listen to a few mavericks and outsiders who routinely generate nonlinear ideas and trends.

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Tips Framework Competition Ideas 160

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Meredith Perry came up with the idea for uBeam while still in college at University of Pennsylvania and like many great inventors won her school’s business plan competition. It turns out that while she had the right idea the materials needed some reworking to come in at the cost structure required to build a business at scale.

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Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2022

The core message is that real innovation and competitive advantage are more people-based than product or process-based. Every good entrepreneur needs a people-centric focus to ferret out creativity and innovation in his team, and to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Connect the dots. See the big picture.

Competition 153

Competition Mentor Ideas Organization 153

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2019

Los Angeles-based nonprofit XPRIZE --which runs prize competitions to help advance technology and solutions to world problems--said on Tuesday that celebrity Pharrell Williams has won the top prize in its latest "Visioneering 2019" annual gathering.

Competition 164

Competition Los Angeles Design Ideas 164

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

You’ll have less competition. But you have no idea what to do next. Competition is good, but – if there are hundreds of businesses out there that already have gotten to and penetrated this niche – you’re going to find it hard to get through the marketing noise. So, what other benefits are there to niche marketing?

Marketing 266

Marketing Advertising Resource Social Media 266

Berkonomics

JULY 27, 2017

If that were the ideal mode, many game-changing concepts would never have made it to market, including Fred Smith’s FedEx, first explained to a college professor in a paper returned with a C+ grade and the professorial comment that the idea was “good but impractical”. We have explored feature-functionality.

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Customer Custom Design Conference 243

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2023

In business, and in your personal life, the ability to anticipate and overcome criticism is one of the biggest differentiators between leaders, who make things happen, and followers, who may have great ideas but never seem to get things to go their way. The reality is that good ideas are always challenged, so you need to expect it.

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Ideas Case Study Mobile Resource 136

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!

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 26, 2022

At the time, the company raised $2 million, and Alexandrov said about the perceived competition, “The level of competition in this market in the U.S. From day one, we’ve had the idea of eventually converting all of our dark stores to micro fulfillment centers that will have local marketplaces to deliver their items.”.

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Funding Demand Los Angeles Competition 246

Berkonomics

APRIL 6, 2023

Or the important one: “Is this idea on mission?” Some ideas sound unbelievably creative – and may be that. But sometimes there is a barrier, an impossibly high cost not considered, a social backlash never thought of, or competition already covering the idea that is unknown to the originator. Is this idea sustainable?”

Companies 156

Companies Company Ideas Competition 156

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Email readers, continue here…] A great idea often fails from the inexperience or inability of management to bring the idea to market. And fifth: Competitive risk. Third: Management risk.

Outsource Development 294

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 294

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

However, to be a great VC you have to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time. They might be ideas they hatch internally (via a Foundry) or a founder who just left SpaceX and raises money to search for an idea. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Berkonomics

JUNE 2, 2022

Dropping that name will often immediately draw a response if the decision maker is curious or particularly competitive. Let me reinforce this: never reveal competitive information to gain access or advantage. It is unethical and your target will immediately worry whether you might do the same someday. But what power.

Ideas 156

Ideas Sales Competition Venture Capital 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe their initial idea and inspiration requires the most important creative thinking. Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. Marty Zwilling.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

If I’m covering a company can I get evidence of what the competition is doing so the story is balanced? The idea is that you put out information with data and a point-of-view and that becomes the story rather than you. Do I have data or facts to present so the story has legs? Final example. They sell accounting services.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. In today’s competitive world, with its accelerating rate of change, no competitive advantage lasts long. The only sustainable competitive advantage is creativity. Celebrate ideas. Flush out ideas and let go of the ones that fail.

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Competition Netflix Ideas Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Creating intellectual property, including patents, is the kay to long-term value and a sustainable competitive advantage. Idea management. Failure is the best teacher.

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Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2020

You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition's, and why it will succeed. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. What a banker is looking for is validation of your idea.

Technical Advisors 162

Technical Advisors Tips Startup Equity 162

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

This point was illustrated well in the classic book, “ The Power of Positive Destruction: How to Turn a Business Idea Into a Revolution ,” by Seth Merrin. I like his approach to first making sure the idea has the potential for a unique selling proposition, by asking yourself a few key questions: Does the idea solve a painful problem?

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Startup Education Ideas Custom 166