InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Steve's first question was, “Who are our customers?" I) took the 300 latest cards, personally wrote a questionnaire and called 300 customers. SuperMac's main customer base were color desktop professionals. All of a sudden I now had customers telling what market, how to reach them and what applications are important.

Marketing 271

Marketing Startup Sales Customer 271

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Hidalgo recommends a focus on engagement stage indicators including customers by channel, conversion ratio, and cost per revenue. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better. Lead-stage content performance.

Metrics 101

Metrics Marketing Demand Paramount 101

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2009

Los Angeles-based Image Metrics (www.image-metrics.com) recently landed a $6.5M, Series B funding round for the firm's facial animation products. Around 2006, they opened up a sales office here, with a couple of guys talking to the film and games business. Editor's note: you can see Image Metrics "Emily" demo on their web site ).

Metrics 100

Metrics Startup Sales Newsletter 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. While I’m a huge believer that sales bonuses should always be uncapped, I think capping PBW’s is a good idea.

Startup 298

Startup Sales Slides Metrics 298

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2013

Most struggle with the idea and practice of marketing and sales, and see these as a necessary evil, if even required. A great resource for all is a new book by Drew Williams and Jonathan Verney, “ Feed the Startup Beast: A 7-Step Guide to Big, Hairy, Outrageous Sales Growth.” Focus your resources to convert prospects to customers.

Sales 105

Sales Startup Metrics Customer 105

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 22, 2021

As I talk to many of you in my role as business advisor, I still often hear the concern for maximum return to the business and stakeholders, more than a passion for sustainably enriching the lives of your customers and team. This applies to your own team, as well as customers. Make every customer experience memorable.

Customer 114

Customer Custom Satisfaction Metrics 114

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 22, 2016

The Most Important Metric. Near the conclusion of our discussion, I asked each CEO to name any non-obvious metrics by which they guide their businesses. He started by stating, “We track customer success.” In other words, are we measure whether or not we are truly making our customers more successful.”.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Cornerstone OnDemand Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Custom 109

Custom Customer Satisfaction Sales 109

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Obsess About Customers, Not Colleagues Or Competitors. “We We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”. You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused. Be Simpleminded.

Tips 279

Tips Startup Framework Customer 279

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales. But we do it anyway, because we believe that the short-term metrics probably aren''t indicative of the long term.”. We know this is a feature that’s good for customers. Let Your Competitors Chase The Quick Buck. You have to use your judgment.

Tips 223

Tips Framework Metrics Cloud Computing 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Hidalgo recommends a focus on engagement stage indicators including customers by channel, conversion ratio, and cost per revenue. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better. Lead-stage content performance.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Leaders and investors need to know if you have and are tapping into your key sources of relevant data, including web analytics, sales management data, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Acquisition Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Detailed roadmap of features you plan to build Detailed customer information Salary information Any other information you wouldn’t want seen or know by your competitors or a larger audience In short, there is nothing in your deck that should give you pause or make you feel like you can’t just send the damn file to somebody.

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others.

Content 175

Content Startup Social Media IP 175

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2019

Too many business owners still think of “ customer support ” as an after-sale process to rectify customer problems with completed transactions. With the advent of instant communication and social media, customer service starts at the first hint of interest by you, and never ends for repeat customers.

Customer 84

Customer Custom Companies Company 84

Berkonomics

JULY 27, 2023

That’s how you would feel if you ran your company without a dashboard containing relevant metrics that drive your company. and great, relevant metrics? Email readers, continue here…] Metrics should be created by you and your managers to measure near real time progress of your enterprise. The post Go ahead!

Metrics 156

Metrics Screening Email Custom 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2021

Here are some key strategies that I recommend to prompt you when changes to your business may be required: Look for a changing customer sense of value. You may be getting killed today by customer expectations you never worried about just a few years ago. Establish and evaluate metrics at multiple levels.

Marketing 162

Marketing Social Media Metrics Custom 162

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

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. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership. Value creation.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

socalTECH

JANUARY 14, 2011

Its primary goal is to focus on identifying what is truly driving demand, analytically, so that our customers can optimize their activities. We have a very sophisticated, analytics and software platform that over half the Fortune 50 are now using, to help guide how they invest in marketing and sales activities and investments.

Social Media 235

Social Media Demand Activity Marketing 235

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 21, 2023

It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Innovative technologies have no value until they are turned into solutions to real customer problems. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership. Value creation.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 18, 2020

I agree with the classic book by Ros Taylor, “ Creativity at Work: Supercharge Your Brain and Make Your Ideas Stick ,” which outlines some key psychological impediments to creative business thinking and change: Just use the data metrics. Even good decisions today will require adjustments as the environment or customers change.

Metrics 157

Metrics Demand Statistics Sales 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Every new business I know dreams of building momentum in their business, where growth continues to increase, customers become your best advocates, and employee motivation is high. Unfortunately, with limited resources, this isn’t possible, and it frustrates customers and the team. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

That should make you wonder - how do you measure traction in a metric? While thinking about the parameters of traction, and how to measure it, I was impressed with a new book, “ Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth ” by Ash Maurya, a serial entrepreneur, and creator of the one-page business modelling tool Lean Canvas.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Major innovation, with major payback, requires real change, addresses a major pain point, and hits a large customer segment who can pay. You may be a product expert, but have little experience with running a business, or marketing, or sales. For example, smart entrepreneurs look for recognizable patterns in disconnected domains.

Startup 162

Startup Metrics Ideas Entrepreneur 162

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Obviously this definition is generic, so my first recommendation is that you take the lead in defining traction metrics for your startup, and then selling your results convincingly to investors. As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. Customer acquisition cost.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

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

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

Switch your focus from product development to sales. Explosive growth to an enterprise normally requires a scalable sales model, a well-documented process with incentives, training, and metrics for tracking and management. Of course, customer relationships, and penetration into new market segments are also critical elements.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2018

Selecting the right sales channels is one of the first strategic decisions that every startup faces. Hidalgo recommends a focus on engagement stage indicators including customers by channel, conversion ratio, and cost per revenue. Understanding culture is paramount, but measuring results is even better. Lead-stage content performance.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

Steve Reich

JUNE 11, 2012

This is not an article about the high moral purpose and the nobility of listening to your customers. It is an article about how to make your company worth a fortune by listening to your customers. It gives the best customer experience of any phone. Listen to your customers and grow rich. Why does Google dominate search?

Custom 97

Custom Customer Software Review SaaS 97

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 31, 2010

I was on an airplane 2-3 times / week meeting potential customers, investors, employees, business partners and the press. I stayed up late every night after a day of meetings doing email until 3am so that I didn’t feel out of touch with our product and sales pipelines. I scheduled runs with teammates and even with customers.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

." Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Payback periods on customer acquisition way more important to you in the near-term. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. Things happen, people tire, sometimes tragedies.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

Every entrepreneur’s first priority should be the alignment of interests across the range of constituents required for success – partners, investors, customers, vendors, and employees. If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143