Berkonomics

DECEMBER 5, 2013

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. I then created a gross domestic and gross international annual market size estimate for my industry’s products.

Metrics 239

Metrics Startup Marketing Demand 239

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. It provides a short competitive experience with a measurable outcome in which the players know who won and by how much. Create small but meaningful competitions between groups or individuals for which recognition or small rewards are published in advance.

Metrics 176

Metrics Competition Coach Email 176

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics. In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. Ask Xi or Putin how that’s going for them.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Competition: Chegg (has raised $144 in debt and equity)—estimated by Steven Carpenter ( TechCrunch ) to be 10x more unique visitors than BookRenter (during peak book renting seasons) with nearly $140mm in revenues for 2010.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2019

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. It’s the same for customers and products, where analytics have long proven their value.

Metrics 98

Metrics Tool Statistics Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Leaders have found that keeping everyone on top of changes in technology, competition, and customer demands is critical to success. Make your service deliver process “happy.”

Competition 99

Competition Services Startup Training 99

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 26, 2010

Most often at the earliest point in the life of a startup, the dominant need is certainly to produce product to get something in the market, get funding, etc. I understand the desire for hiring someone who is going to product product. How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition?

Fractional CTO 225

Fractional CTO CTO CTO Hire CTO Coach 225

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

They have have raised $2-3 million, built a product that has some amount of market traction and got to annualized revenues of around $1 million. So while the simplest way that people often evaluate stocks is by P/E ratios (price-to-earnings), one also needs to look at other metrics such as the PEG (price-to-earnings-growth). [of

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2020

New product process. 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. Failure is the best teacher.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

Berkonomics

APRIL 8, 2021

How do you make your product go viral? What are the elements needed to focus upon in making the attempt to take a product viral? Some apps, like Discord, attach a brand link to the bottom of each message so that every recipient can click upon the link and become a user of the product without further marketing by the company.

Sites 120

Sites Product Social Network Press 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

You’re unlikely to want to make this sort of investment with the product or the market not yet validated. while acknowledging that San Fran deals are often higher valuations due to increased competition amongst investors. I should also point out that while they had built their products they had limited market traction.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2013

Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. Create an action plan with metrics. Good action plans include a listening plan, channel plan, SEO plan, and a content creation plan, with activities and metrics. Marty Zwilling.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Product Metrics 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

New product process. 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. Failure is the best teacher.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Most of us are driven by the competitive spirit, the desire or need to win. It provides a short competitive experience with a measurable outcome in which the players know who won and by how much. Create small but meaningful competitions between groups or individuals for which recognition or small rewards are published in advance.

Metrics 120

Metrics Competition Coach Email 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I spend hours thinking about the products, competitors, market opportunities, recruiting and financing of these businesses. I am much more attracted to technical product teams than to new business concepts or commerce types. I know there will be victories, set-backs and even some fights. I feel personally committed and engaged.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

While I do fill that role at the moment, I'm a little hesitant to refer to myself as a CTO as we still haven't launched a product, acquired a single user, or turned or a penny in profit. How do we need to structure the systems to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition? How are we going to manage the product roadmap?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2013

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Product 92

Product Competition Netflix Ideas 92

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If you buy into the argument that a strong board can actually help you then this post will lay out how to help you have more productive meetings by preparing properly in advance. Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” This is part of a broader series on Board Meetings.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2019

Is your marketing focus product-centric or customer-centric ? If you only sell products, it’s time to realize that times have changed. With a wealth of products now available, customers look for the most memorable experience , not just the best product. Marty Zwilling First published on Inc.com on 02/19/2019.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Metrics 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Remember, investors are buying into the business, not the product. Investors are business experts, while the entrepreneur is more likely the product expert. Competitor positioning and sustainable competitive advantage. In my experience, the team's credentials are more important than the product.

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

I remember just a decade ago in 2003 when we all laughed at how dumb people in the 90′s were talking about the race to “capture as many eyeballs as possible” before your competition. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.”

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Waste in a startup is any activity that burns resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Much has been written about this subject in the world of manufacturing, stemming primarily from the 1990’s work by Taiichi Ohno, called the Toyota Production System (“Lean”). Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We back very early stage companies and work alongside executive teams as their build their teams, launch their products, announce their companies and raise their first downstream capital rounds. We can’t wait for customers to use the product for 12–18 months and do customer interviews or look at purchase cohorts.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

They are tasked with “getting deals done” so they race around talking to tons of potential partners inking anything from channel sale deals , product integration, international distribution agreements, co-marketing arrangements, M&A discussions, etc. Here’s how it goes: You have a business development group with two people.

Activity 164

Activity Conference Press Case Study 164

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 8, 2020

It is most often missed assumptions about the market, the competition, the speed of adoption, or other critical metrics you’ve researched, or selected, or even just guessed at to create your plan. I then created a gross domestic and gross international annual market size estimate for my industry’s products. Or cost estimation.

Company 156

Company Companies Metrics Resource 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

While you all recognize that reacting to weak market signals is critical to staying in business and staying competitive, I find that many don’t have the skills and focus to trigger change decisions on a timely basis. Scan for unmet needs to match new products. Establish and evaluate metrics at multiple levels.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Customer 162

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees. Incentives should be a combination of metrics and recognition to highlight results. Incent and reward employees who delight customers.

Customer 147

Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2017

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Exploit your product and service differences. You must be able to highlight these differences between your products and services, and those of your competitors.

Customer 85

Customer Custom Product Marketing 85

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

An alternate outcome that I also unfortunately observe in some cases are companies who had extreme early success with an initial product adoption but failed in key areas that limited the growth and therefore the ultimate financial outcomes. How profitable is my product or service? As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. New entrepreneurs, especially technical ones, are excited by early adopters, and tend to focus on their feedback, which will always suggest more product features and options.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Within the startup realm, there is a big difference between having an innovative product versus an innovative business. Others take an existing product, and give it new life with a creative business model. The most competitive startups do both, all the time and every time. Creativity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Competition 135

Competition Netflix Ideas Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Over 600,000 new businesses were created in the last year, or over one per minute of every day.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

My Obsession With The Product - Feld Thoughts , May 3, 2010 For some reason I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately. The Yin and Yang of Product and Engineering - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 22, 2010 For a tech company, product and engineering are the heart and soul of the business. What should I do?’.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

It must be understandable, written down, and verifiable, with regular measurements and metrics to make it real, benchmarked against the competition. Leaders have found that keeping everyone on top of changes in technology, competition, and customer demands is critical to success. Make your service deliver process “happy.”

Startup 154

Startup Training Customer Custom 154

SoCal CTO

APRIL 8, 2010

Death By Competitive Analysis - Steve Blank , March 1, 2010 Trading emails with a startup CEO building an iPhone app, I asked him why potential customers would buy his product. In response he sent me a competitive analysis. It looked like every competitive analysis I had done for 20 years, (ok maybe better.)

Startup 150

Startup Software Review Competition SoCal 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2021

Decide what to measure and create metrics. Design your invisible competitive advantage. Every company has different strengths and goals, yet each can publish internally their innovation canvas of technology, leadership, people, structure, rewards, and metrics that sets them apart. You only get what you measure.

Develop 135

Develop Development Startup Metrics 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Products and services for a business need to be attuned to customer requirements, cost and quality tradeoffs, with milestones for pricing and completion. Typically some production and delivery is outsourced, requiring formal contracts and documentation. No mention usually means no plan and not competitive.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131