Berkonomics

MARCH 18, 2021

Sometimes, you can reduce your personal risk by taking in other people’s money in various ways, perhaps starting with a consulting contract with a customer, purchasing a going business where profit or loss is known, or spinning off an existing revenue-generating portion of an existing business. The same is true about marketing.

Entrepreneur 156

Entrepreneur Resource Statistics Customer 156

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. So what should an entrepreneur do to convince themselves, as well as potential investors, that they have a viable business model before it is totally proven?

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2021

The message I hear publicly from most entrepreneurs is that you have to think outside the box and take big risks to ever beat the odds and be among the less than ten percent that experience real success. Don’t look to customers for breakthrough ideas. You now have many bosses, including partners, investors, and customers.

Entrepreneur 171

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Demand Customer 171

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

As a startup advisor, I see too many entrepreneurs get distracted by technology or their favorite cause, and then wonder why they can’t find an investor, attract customers, or build a long-term business. Customers now put big value on experience, social impact, empowerment, and feedback.

Customer 103

Customer Custom Competition Netflix 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2022

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. Their experience as executive coaches and entrepreneurs gives real credibility to their assessment of some new leadership approaches that are required in business today.

Customer 152

Customer Custom Coach Satisfaction 152

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

Customer 136

Customer Custom Sales Social Media 136

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Having the best solution is a good start these days, but a solution alone is no longer enough to keep customer attention and loyalty. Start with feedback from real customers, set measurable objectives, and make sure rewards and incentives are tempered by customer experiences, rather than only internal thresholds.

Custom 106

Custom Customer Startup Competition 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends. Don’t assume that early input is adequate.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2022

Marketing is everything these days. You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.

Marketing 141

Marketing Startup Social Media Technical Review 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2022

Here are some key insights that I and others have collected for mature company leaders, as well as serial entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, in this new age of rapid market change and harder-to-satisfy customers, you can’t assume that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. If you like it, so will all your potential customers.

Entrepreneur 144

Entrepreneur Artificial Inteligence Social Media Commerce 144

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2019

Marketing is everything these days. You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late.

Marketing 97

Marketing Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 14, 2021

As a logical and data-driven business advisor, I have long focused on facts, technology, and quantifiable pain in guiding entrepreneurs. I now offer the following additional guidelines for how to attract customers and position your product: Find the latest social trend, or even create it. Highlight benevolence to customers and society.

Customer 172

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 172

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 26, 2013

A startup''s marketing launch strategy should resemble an inverse funnel. This approach allows your venture to "fail in the small" and make course corrections before spending significant marketing resources. It also facilitates determining your proper product and market fit before your startup is under a white-hot media spotlight.

Marketing 247

Marketing Entrepreneur Journal Media 247

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2020

As a long-time business executive and adviser to entrepreneurs, I see a definitive shift away from customer trust in traditional business messages, and the executives who deliver them. I believe that the sooner every entrepreneur and brand builder adapts to this emerging trend, the sooner they will find success.

Customer 173

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

As an entrepreneur mentor and startup investor, I see with sadness the 50 to 90 percent that fail. This fallacy, often called historical myopia, essentially involves extrapolating only from recent positive events, and ignoring the reality that markets saturate or evaporate. Extrapolating you as the target customer.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Netflix Social Media Startup 125

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

Yet every business and every entrepreneur I know struggles with this challenge, focused on hiring the right people and implementing the right process. I was happy to see my own view reinforced in the classic book, “ Innovation Thinking Methods for the Modern Entrepreneur ,” by long-time entrepreneur and innovation expert Osama A.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Design 158

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

According to most definitions, an entrepreneur is one who envisions a new and different business, meaning one that is not a copy of an existing business model. Many entrepreneurs have a passion and an idea, or even invent a new product, but are never able to execute to the point of creating a startup. Startup and development stage.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Satisfaction 108

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Startup Course 146

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2022

Many of you don’t like to think of it this way, but penetrating a target market with your startup is a lot like a military invasion. Too many entrepreneurs I know charge into battle with only their passion, and hope for the best. Too many entrepreneurs I know charge into battle with only their passion, and hope for the best.

Marketing 125

Marketing Technical Review Startup Resource 125

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2021

The ultimate compliment that any entrepreneur can get is that they can “see around corners.” This is a statement that they are willing and able (and successful) at projecting market and technology turns, not just straight-line innovations. They have the courage to make bold decisions, often contrary to conventional market research.

Marketing 157

Marketing Design Entrepreneur Ideas 157

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2021

In my role as mentor to business professionals, I often get the question about your potential of going out on your own as an entrepreneur, versus your current role of working for a boss at an established company. Most importantly, you have to deal with customers, and understand their wants and needs. There are no startup expert roles.

Entrepreneur 158

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Ideas Social Media 158

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

As part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about retaining and keeping your customers using the subscription model?

Customer 166

Customer Custom Conference Social Media 166

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

Customer 158

Customer Custom Social Media Satisfaction 158

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2021

Every technical entrepreneur is an early adopter of technology, so naturally they build things with people like themselves in mind. Unfortunately, for most solution markets, early adopters represent only 10 to 15 percent of the total opportunity, so it’s easy to get mislead on the real requirements of mainstream customers.

Customer 117

Customer Custom Technical Review Product 117

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 23, 2019

Thursday, January 24, 2019 -- TCVN Program: Customer Development. The four tracks are: Legal, Execution, Finance, and Marketing and will consist of a series of five, consecutive monthly programs designed to give the entrepreneur a comprehensive overview of each area. Who is your customer? See [link] (more)

TCVN 100

TCVN Custom Development Custom Customer 100

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Every entrepreneur I know is dismayed by the number of friends who approach them with a line such as “I have an even better idea that will change the world, and one of these days I’m going to get around to starting my own business.” In today’s rapidly changing market, perfection is a fleeting and impractical objective.

Entrepreneur 153

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Knowledge Base 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2023

From my consulting with entrepreneurs in Europe and other countries, I’m convinced that we all could benefit from adapting to meet their environments. I second his list of top innovation challenges and strategies to capitalize on untapped global startup opportunities: Create new markets rather than disrupt existing ones.

Capital 138

Capital Marketing Ideas Venture Capital 138

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2020

Traditional marketing may be adequate for linear growth, but it likely won’t catapult you to Amazon’s unicorn status , or make waves in the business world. For example, I usually hear about an aggressive marketing budget, with a plan to penetrate a few big retail chains, and some videos to catch your attention on YouTube.

Marketing 170

Marketing Startup Examples Customer 170

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2020

Having the best solution is a good start these days, but a solution alone is no longer enough to keep customer attention and loyalty. Start with feedback from real customers, set measurable objectives, and make sure rewards and incentives are tempered by customer experiences, rather than only internal thresholds.

Customer 168

Customer Custom Services Startup 168

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2023

The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. Entrepreneurs talk to customers and competitors talk to each other about the new trends and technologies they see. Evaluate customer response prior to development. Demonstrate a minimum viable product (MVP).

Marketing 105

Marketing Startup Search Engine Optimization Ideas 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2021

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Negative advice on an unknown is easy and safe to give, so every entrepreneur hears it over and over. Ignore the voices of dissent again.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Technical Review Mentor Customer 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

It’s a special mix of entrepreneur and company, regular in every respect except for having the courage and foresight to make an idea happen that was supposed to be impossible. As an entrepreneur in a startup, how do you know if you have this potential, and what are the steps to get from an innovation to a revolution? Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 136

Entrepreneur Technology Examples Ideas 136

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 8, 2022

Most people agree that entrepreneurs have to think differently and take risks to have much chance of building a successful business. In the classic book “ The Entrepreneur Mind ,” from serial entrepreneur Kevin D. Johnson, he outlines 100 essential beliefs, insights, and habits of serious entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Startup Customer Custom 117

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. People won’t flock to marketing materials. Educational.

Customer 93

Customer Custom Marketing Tips 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If you are a passionate technologist , it’s easy to forget that marketing is required to sell even the most compelling solution, to cut through the information overload everyone sees today on the internet. If customers don’t know you exist, you can’t solve their problem, they won’t buy.

Technical Advisors 154

Technical Advisors Tips Marketing Case Study 154

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Email marketing. Direct mail marketing. Display advertising.

Marketing 114

Marketing Invest Social Media SEM 114

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 4, 2022

As a startup advisor and investor, I’ve met many aspiring entrepreneurs, and I often get asked the question, “I have a great idea for a startup – do you agree that it real potential?” If you are dreaming of an opportunity to get rich quick, the entrepreneur route is not for you. You enjoy building relationships as well as products.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Sample 121