Remove Competition Remove Marketing Remove Oracle
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Why You Should Make Your Competitors Your Frenemies

Both Sides of the Table

In short, acknowledge they exist, be transparent about strengths & weaknesses and use your differences to talk about how you want to position yourself in the market. A healthy respect for your competition will serve you well. And after Siebel’s death the Salesforce rallying cry has extended to Oracle and Microsoft.

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Understanding How The Innovator’s Dilemma Affects You

Both Sides of the Table

The framework of his book has profoundly altered how I think about the technology market and affects how I thought about building my businesses and how I think about investing in venture capital. Let’s start with the incumbents position in a market. They were serving a latent market need for mid-sized businesses to use CRM.

Startup 376
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Understanding Changes in the Software & Venture Capital Industries

Both Sides of the Table

Venture capital is in the process of its own creative destruction with new market entrants and new models of innovation at the precise moment that our industry itself is contracting. million in team costs to code, launch, manage, market & sell our software. When I built my first company starting in 1999 it cost $2.5 And maddening.

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Interview: Mark Douglas, President & CEO, SteelHouse Media

InfoChachkie

In this interview, Mark discusses how his experiences at Oracle, eHarmony and the Rubicon Project contributed to the creation of his latest venture, SteelHouse Media. 4) Did I read correctly that you were part of the original development team for Oracle Financials? When I joined Oracle, they were essentially ‘the Google’ of their time.

eHarmony 204
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Helping Startups Understand Salespeople & the Sales Culture

Both Sides of the Table

Features don’t win or lose sales – especially in nascent markets. If it wasn’t you, I guarantee you they were influenced by your competitor – either through their sales efforts or through marketing. The marketing guys blame the sales guys who can’t close their leads. That stuff is for Oracle or IBM.

Sales 382
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People Management: Startup Teams Should Dip but not Skip

Both Sides of the Table

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition. Skipping is insidious.

Startup 308
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Improving Sales: The Excuse Departement is Closed

Both Sides of the Table

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. Features don’t win or lose sales – especially in nascent markets. The marketing guys blame the sales guys who can’t close their leads. Sure, you need to be competitive on price.

Sales 316