Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Understanding customer requirement ? Whatever amount you’re getting out and talking with prospects, customers, employees, recruits, competitors, press, investors, potential investors … it’s never enough. 50 coffee meetings.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

If I can help you avoid some of my first-time mistakes it would be a victory. The biggest problem with over-stealthing yourself is that you cut off some of your most valuable resources in terms of testing your ideas, getting feedback from smart entrepreneurs & investors and helping you figure out the potential flaws in your approach.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. Julie Schoenfeld: When we talked last, we were focusing primarily on helping publisher monetize their archived content.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2013

I’ve been writing a series on a simple methodology that we used at my first enterprise software company. Simply, this is identifying a customer need that has economic value to them if they can solve it. This solves the customer question, “Why Buy Anything?”. There are many out there and many books have been written on the topic.

Sales 328

Sales Customer Custom Examples 328

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

Define your customers, partners and other relevant people to your organization (e.g. That’s blogging to the echo chamber unless they’re your target customers. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. I didn’t want to run out of things to write about in the first 6 months.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2019

What every entrepreneur needs more than anything else, after they have built an innovative new product or service, is visibility, credibility, and trust by customers, potential employees, and future business partners. It makes customers feel special, and gives you the opportunity to highlight your broad experience and credentials.

Writing 19

Writing Technical Review Entrepreneur Advertising 19

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It’s a continual process. In a startup this is a mistake.

Press 319

Press Startup Writing Training 319

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 9, 2021

Mythical Games , an NFT games startup based out of Los Angeles, has banked a $75 million raise from new and existing investors betting on the startup’s aim to expand the ambitions of their first title and locate a substantial platform opportunity amid helping developers build blockchain-based gaming experiences.

Platform 308

Platform Framework Los Angeles Design 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A Visualization is so important to help yourself & others conceptualize ideas. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. For others they swear by music.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

The point of PUCCKA was to develop a common methodology to make sure our whole team approaches sales with the same mindset and to give us a language to talk with each other about our prospects, as in, “have you identified your customers pain point yet?”. The goal is to get the customer speaking about their organization.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. In addition to helping manage the board Chris also helps represent the interests of the angel investors / common stock holders.

Tips 365

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 365

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. To be clear – I’m not saying huge successes make a VC less likely to be helpful to you – I’m just saying it’s not a guaranteed predictor. I’m not afraid to help make difficult decisions.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

If you live somewhere where this is the case you’re better off discussing with your employer that you may from time-to-time work on private projects outside of work hours and you want their clearance in writing that this is OK. Get customer input. Interview customers to better articulate their problems. Register a company.

Startup 365

Startup Technical Advisors IP Ideas 365

socalTECH

OCTOBER 10, 2012

One way is developing testing tools and infrastructure around that market, to help those manufacturers in their research and development, which is just what Calabasas-based GridTest Systems (www.gridtest.com) is doing. We're there to help with that. We're essentially helping people at the R&D stages.

Help 178

Help Startup Southern California San Fernando 178

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2013

She entered you reservation by writing in a time slot in a paper calendar and you were in. ” For starters OpenTable had an advantage in that the restaurants back then needed an IT system to help with table management (the restaurant layout, table configurations, etc.) After hours there was the answering machine.

Development Team Review 324

Development Team Review Course Mobile Writing 324

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Five broad sources of independent, third-party validation are: Customers, Partners, Distributors, Industry Experts and other Stakeholders. For instance, validation that directly supports your company's underlying value proposition is more valuable than corroboration that indirectly suggests customers might ultimately adopt your solution.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital RSS Customer Custom 265

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. Simply, this is identifying a customer need which has economic value to them if they can solve it. by your customers. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain.

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

.&# They know instinctually how customers buy and how to excite them. Because they’re street smart, most great entrepreneurs tend to prefer getting out and talking with real customers rather than sitting in a cubicle all day doing beautiful PowerPoint slides. They have a sixth sense for the competitors’ weaknesses.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2011

Journalists write stories that have an appeal to readers whether the accusations have merit or not. Understand the Gravity of the Situation for Your Customers. The obvious starting points to think to yourself are: Has something happened that fundamentally affects my customers or partners? It doesn’t help you.

Startup 329

Startup Press Training Media 329

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

You can ask them to come and watch your videos at your owned & operated websites (O&O) where you can make higher margins as well as ask directly for more meaningful customer information such as Facebook connections, Twitter oAuths, email addresses and the like. This helps get CPM rates higher – even within YouTube.

Company 339

Company Companies Technical Review Content 339

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

As a CEO you never stop needing to go on sales calls (or to work the phones in telesales or customer support) and ceasing to do this as your company grows because you’re focusing on investors, recruiting, PR or whatever is a mistake. As a content management system we had lots of write activities and went with Postgres.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

I’ll try to get write-ups shortly but for now here is an overview of my interview with Nanea Reeves – President and COO of textPlus. In this short clip below, Nanea emphasizes this important point – if you create a product customers love, it will ultimately be a good business decision as well. Company Organization.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I’m sitting at my computer now at 9.00pm writing this – which is an hour earlier than I normally write (there are about 8 women at my kitchen table having a book club (aka excuse to drink wine & gossip so I’m locked in another room writing. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 20, 2013

It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. Help us to get to know him or her.

Slides 399

Slides Startup Conference Writing 399

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

DJ’s couldn’t help but want to play his records. It also helps to start with a target demographic so you can focus your efforts. You should start by getting out and talking directly with customers as Bieber did. The media eats it up as they always need something to write about.

Entrepreneur 398

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Blogging 398

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Selling at smaller retailers will net you fewer customers and higher margins.

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

Of the 225 customer reviews currently posted on Amazon, over 90% are highly positive. Guy, how would your 2004 book, Art Of The Start , differ, if you were writing it today? If I were writing the book today, there would be a whole chapter or two…about how to use Facebook and Twitter. That doesn’t work.”.

Santa Barbara 262

Santa Barbara Technical Review Social Media Startup 262

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I’m not saying I don’t spend time trying to help entrepreneurs that I am not planning to invest it – anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I do. So I spend much time with them and trying to help. You get on a plane at a moment’s notice because a senior customer agreed to meet you. Maybe 10-15%.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? Think about Luma Partners.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

How does it meet customers’ needs? One way to approach that last question is to use this simple model: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) How will your business reach prospects? Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) How much money will your business generate from each converted customer? Please write us at blog@techempower.com !

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Slides Technical Review 260

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

.&# When I talk to people about sales I often describe the sales process as a series of hurdles (objections) that are put up to avoid making a purchase and your responsibility is to work through these common objections with your customer. In the evangelical phase you’re working through these with customers on the fly.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

. - Journalists don’t know enough about your company before the show, don’t have time for proper research, and you will be competing for their time afterward with 49+ other companies that want them to write about you. - The more she got to know more the more she called me for help with stories. It started socially.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2012

But, they could not write, and did not know what to write from the travel perspective. Every one of those writers has a byline and a bio, and are paid twice a week at a pretty decent rate for that writing or assignment. They couldn't find enough people to write the content they needed, at the quality they need.

Demand 240

Demand Media eHow Content 240

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. I should try to come back and write about this more, but the point of this post is that it's important not to only think about this aspect. What are they really looking for? What are they really looking for? is a requirement.

Startup 198

Startup Custom Development Sales Writing 198

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

I try to be helpful. You’re writing a freaking blog post! Customer support – After my pre-breakfast meeting I had my actual breakfast meeting. But it’s mostly customer service. I’m a university student working on a project on entrepreneurship - could you help? If I can help I will.

Email 314

Email Product Startup Writing 314

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. And of those 35 people.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. Starting in 2009 I began writing checks consistently, year-in and year-out. I admit that my writing style back then was a bit more carefree, provocative and opinionated.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466