Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

I’ve started writing up some of those sales & marketing lessons and I plan to continue to build that section out over time. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Sales people will often blame your pricing.

Sales 316

Sales Startup Pricing Customer 316

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

I call this “arming & aiming&# your sales teams where you need to standardize both the assignment of territories, industries & accounts (aiming) as well as the process of selling, the collateral, the legal agreements & pricing. We moved toward more standardized pricing (e.g. Ditto the CFO.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Custom 296

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. I’m not sure I really even need to write this at length because Nivi absolutely nailed the topic in his article “ The Option Pool Shuffle.&#.

Venture Capital 405

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Funding 405

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. Simply write a great book?

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

The idea that the course asks students to write public blog posts is a testament to its more modern teaching style. My list of excuses includes: product, pricing, competition and lack of sales support. This includes presentations, ROI calculators, competitive analyses and so forth.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. But if you raise the money at the big price (or any price) please go in with the expectation that you are going to build a large, long-term business. to justify a “strategic” price.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Fast early growth in a market is often eroded when competition gets fierce and prices are forced down due to competition.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Competitive sportswoman. Kara on one side of the table showing me market sizes, competitive dynamics, product roadmaps, pricing plans for physical products with COGS and gross margins. She helps write press releases. Remember, it’s about Lines, Not Dots. I first met Kara 5 years ago. Stanford MBA.

Startup 398

Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly. “I As a starting point I have to believe the founder has the attributes of an entrepreneur that matter most to me : Tenacity, resiliency, inspiration, perspiration, attention-to-detail, competitiveness, decisiveness, risk tolerance and integrity.

Invest 254

Invest Writing Pricing Metrics 254

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

We talked with Noah about how the company grew out of a business plan competition at the University of Southern California, his recent funding from the Maverick Angels, as well as how the firm hopes to stand out among a crowded list of comparison shopping sites. Noah, thanks for the interview. How did the company start?

USC 207

USC CPC Sites Startup 207

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

It’s true the some VCs have started writing so many checks that they resemble stock pickers but the majority of us still have less than 10 board seats at any time and tend to go pretty deep so the result is that we care deeply about where we commit our time. Could we produce this at cost? Would they build a world class team.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

If a round of funding does happen then this debt is converted into equity at the price that a new external investor pays with a “bonus&# to the inside investor for having taken the risk of the loan. They also trust VC’s to determine the right price to pay for the company securities that they buy.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes. But make it competitive.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. But that doesn’t mean that people are paying rational prices as investors based on intrinsic value. Rational people can disagree and some may argue that today’s prices are rational and under-pinned by economic drivers. I believe that. That’s fine.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They decided to re-open the competition for 3-4 more weeks. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I believe that it is part of the DNA of an entrepreneur – being so competitive that you’re practically sick when you lose. They’re competitive. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. They decided to re-open the competition for 3-4 more weeks. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2010

there may be major competitive changes in the market that makes your next funding round hard (e.g. And how do you think the next person who’s thinking about writing you a check going to feel about that sort of cavalier attitude with their money? you may hit unexpected bumps in the road yourself making the next round tough.

Startup 319

Startup Venture Capital Capital Competition 319

socalTECH

APRIL 29, 2014

A number of teams have recently been looking to turn that vision into reality, as a result of the Qualcomm Tricorder Prize , a $10M competition being run by the X Prize Foundation to create a real life Tricorder. That''s essentially how the Tricoder competition was formed--it''s time for this to happen. It was announced in the 90''s.

Startup 262

Startup Competition Software Review UCLA 262

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

If you know, VCs end up writing sizable checks into their own funds, which is important in better aligning interests. They will have to negotiate price and terms. Therefore of course they need to be more selection when writing checks and can’t spread their bets across 75 deals. million round I might write $1.8 – 2.2

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Invest Course Technical Review 356

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

Once you prove that a substantial, addressible market segment is willing to pay a price for your solution that exceeds your costs, you can consider a licensing strategy. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements. Thus, I will let my Big Dumb Company (BDC) partner write our agreement. 4) Perform China Syndrome Market Analysis.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2012

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. Will the public respond in numbers to buy, license or rent your offering?

Outsource Development 200

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 200

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

A new group of investors have clustered around writing earlier-stage, smaller checks. Price creep hurts investors. But it also hurts entrepreneurs – Mike asked people about what they were doing to keep prices down. There is no way for people to keep prices down – it’s a competitive market.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

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. When you account for competition for talent, the difficulty of retention, the cost of living and the difficulty of rising above the noise – there are many advantages of staying put.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

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. Should I write off my $2.5 You would figure out how to monetize later. I say ring the freaking cash register. I have said so for years.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain. I believe the old adage that you don’t know what you don’t know until you try to write it down. A business plan is for you first, not investors.

Startup 174

Startup Writing Entrepreneur Ideas 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

He did it yesterday, “Mark, I’m going to write a blog post following on from your VC’s aren’t dumb. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes. Ask them for a meeting to review your pricing strategy with you. .” I know it sounds obvious. Trust me – most people don’t do it. Rob does it.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. People want to invest in people they trust – once you’ve made money for someone you can always go back, and even get better pricing. o Everything is for sale but it’s the price that moves the timing. o Put a timeframe/money – competition in the picture.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Custom Customer 304

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Many people will write the history on why Ring became an enormously successful company and why it became a real-world unicorn in a world when many startups are anointed that merely on paper. Throughout all of this we saw a tinkerer, a problem solver and a completely obsessed leader who was competitive and wanted to win.

Startup 247

Startup Pricing Product Marketing 247

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2012

My first job was as a page at NBC, and after that I went and did a year and a half of writing and production at MSNBC with Keith Olbermann and Chuck Scarborough. We somehow got on a conversation about shaving, and he mentioned the price of brand name razors. What's your background, and how did the company start?

Dollar Shave Club 210

Dollar Shave Club Startup Pricing Sample 210

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

This can include: Fund raising, product development choices, sales, marketing effectiveness, competition, business development, M&A … whatever. You can write this as a narrative in 3–5 key bullet points. There is limited way for board members to read them, digest them, compare them to the last board meeting, write up questions.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

This risk can be mitigated by finding a customer willing to purchase as soon as a proven model is completed, and willing to state this in writing. And fifth: Competitive risk. . Will the public respond in numbers to buy, license or rent your offering?

Outsource Development 156

Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

His challenge is to focus on one market, with a specific design, cost, and price. Then, he'll need to patent it and create a plan to show opportunity, competition, and financial projections. I have tried to convince him the general idea alone does not make a business. Yes, there are a lot of bridges to cross.

Ideas 126

Ideas Writing Examples Outsource 126

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization.

Startup 150

Startup Companies Company Venture Capital 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

You may have already found several articles, web pages, or books about writing the perfect executive summary. They all offer a list of requirements that might take 50 pages to address, but of course they ask you to write concisely. Your competitive advantage. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition.

Summary 97

Summary Writing Competition Sample 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

With services, scaling the business often implies cloning yourself, since you are the intellectual property and the competitive advantage. For example, both need to provide exemplary customer service, build customer loyalty, and provide real value for a competitive price. Capture your “secret sauce.”

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 10, 2018

Nobody commits, nobody wants to set a price, nobody wants to stick their neck out then BOOM! I remind founders that the no’s come early because it’s super easy to qualify out a deal that you know is unlikely due to stage, focus, geography, competitive deal you’ve done or even just the fact that you’re too busy right now. Happy raising.

Press 232

Press Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 232