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. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2013

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience continues to decline. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Customer 92

Customer Custom Startup Services 92

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 Company Companies 84

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. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Then always measure customer results, not work. Focus on activities rather than results. There is no cushion.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

These must be countered by a focus on changes and training that benefit your people, as well as your business. Set up training courses that highlight agility, and adopt agile working practices. One effective intervention is to take a step back every few months, and review how things are going.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Coach 144

Coach Metrics Social Network Competition 144

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. Customer support is more than handling exceptions.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Coach 137

Coach Metrics Competition Ideas 137

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

If you aren’t yet adapting to the market and your customers, you are falling behind. I define business agility for my consulting clients as the ability to change your business rapidly to meet customer and environmental changes, with minimal organizational disruption and cost. Adopt some key metrics to measure your change agility.

Competition 148

Competition Metrics Demand Customer 148

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 Customer Custom 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

It’s always tempting to think that more product variations will satisfy more customers and lead to new sales. Some chaos is normal in every new business, but many wait far too long before they install metrics based on “best practices,” and fail to attack obvious bottlenecks with a vengeance. People with the wrong tools or no training.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2021

Usually these people think they are doing a great job, and are totally oblivious to their unhappy customers or cash drain. An example of this would be finger pointing at unfair managers, blaming economic downturns, and irrational customer expectations for missed commitments. Use blame and complain in lieu of accepting accountability.

Startup 164

Startup Class Entrepreneur Coach 164

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

He closed stores for a day to update employee racial-bias training. Make sure that metrics and goals are set up front, and not modified as the project progresses. Delegating control means having the right information, the right tools, and the right training to make the right decisions. Provide assessments based wholly on facts.

Startup 132

Startup Training Metrics Examples 132

InfoChachkie

MAY 22, 2012

If this is the case, offer to make a meaningful introduction to a potential customer or partner of one of their portfolio companies. For instance, you might propose a lead sharing relationship in which both companies trade customer introductions. Such follow-up are akin to a train whistle.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Capital Research Customer 236

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Competition 99

Competition Services Startup Training 99

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

These only come with the proper training, investment in tools, and focus on customer relationships. Managing business growth is more than metrics. You can hire the best salespeople, have great products and define good metrics, but without decisive and innovative managers, the sales organization will not reach its full potential.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2016

The challenge is to recognize the people with the right traits to get results, and to train yourself to work on the right things. Sets goals and milestones, with metrics to track progress. They define metrics for each goal, and diligently track themselves against these metrics. Investors like happy teams.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Satisfaction Metrics Ideas 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

In business vernacular, targets are usually called metrics. A good metric has to be easily measurable, and directly correlated to results, rather than hours worked. For example, for a sales person, this metric number would likely measure new revenue or new customers. Evaluate where technology and training can help.

Metrics 124

Metrics Entrepreneur Satisfaction Study 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2022

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Startup 116

Startup Training Statistics Summary 116

TechEmpower

OCTOBER 9, 2023

So let’s summarize what we've already found to be different about searching with LLMs: What’s Different About Search with LLMs Search methods powered by LLMs stand out as transformative tools, offering businesses an edge in their information retrieval and customer engagement processes. Strive for a balanced outcome.

Generative AI 346

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Tool Knowledge Base 346

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

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. Isolate marketing from sales for maximum customer focus.

Startup 151

Startup Course Sales Entrepreneur 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2022

You may think it’s great that demand exceeds your supply chain, but customers only remember it as a loss of your credibility, and will tell others. Proactive customer communication should be your first recourse, followed by cost and service concessions. Hire the best, and provide necessary training and tools.

Startup 134

Startup Training Tool Demand 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

In all cases, don’t skip the basic training. If you can’t identify customer interest, it doesn’t matter how good your product is. Don’t be afraid to test your ultimate entree on customers. You know the basic ingredients, and you can visualize the results you want. You need a good cook, good marketing, and first-class service.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

For the business to prosper, every employee, and your customers, must know and relate to your core values, such as product excellence, care for the environment, and personal integrity. Implement the key business metrices you will live by. Increase you focus on coaching, training, and mentoring.

Metrics 140

Metrics Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction 140

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

That means making sure the right people are hired, trained, and in the right place at the right time. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Growing the company means growing people through mentoring and training. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 137

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 137

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. Dinners were consumed with customers or in hotels and often past 10pm. I took the night train that night to London to try and hold investors firm. I scheduled runs with teammates and even with customers.

Entrepreneur 308

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Conference 308

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

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. Training and coaching. Set milestones and meet them. Ownership.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Coach Metrics 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

Entrepreneurs need to document a process of responding to a market need, sizing opportunity, assigning a specific business model, and planning for marketing, sales, and customer satisfaction. Show that you have a process to hire, fire, and train others as required. Customer receivables collection and vendor payments.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

Waste in a startup is any activity that absorbs resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Then always measure customer results, not work. Focus on activities rather than results. Waste means death.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to see that first surge of customers, but that’s just the beginning of your work. With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics.

Metrics 86

Metrics Startup Training Customer 86

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2014

How good are you and everyone on your team at proactively scanning the environment for opportunities, emerging trends, and customer feedback? Imbue customer change focus. Provide direct customer contact to everyone, as well as training. Increase change agility.

Entrepreneur 110

Entrepreneur Startup Training Statistics 110

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

If you can’t provide a memorable customer experience, your startup won’t survive very long these days. You now need more than loyalty from your customers -- they need to be your best advocates. The days of pushing new and marginal performers into customer service are gone. Every job on your team drives your customer experience.

Customer 55

Customer Custom Startup Coach 55

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

A broken process or a subtle quality issue can generate a flood of customer satisfaction problems, cost overruns, and loss of market share. Without this mindset, and the determination to make a decision, nothing happens, and customers find alternatives. Provide training and tools to upgrade solution skills.

Satisfaction 152

Satisfaction Mentor Study Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

That means making sure the right people are hired, trained, and in the right place at the right time. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Growing the company means growing people through mentoring and training. True entrepreneurs love the tactical and problem solving challenges.

Startup 125

Startup Training Entrepreneur Organization 125

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We have customers from so many different industries like software, financial services, healthcare, and media. We could also spend time talking with customers rather than updating investors. Within six months we launched with a minimum feature set that a few customers were willing to pay for.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2015

Waste in a startup is any activity that spends resources, but creates no value or competitive advantage in the eyes of customers. Productive processes start with a plan, and end with metrics that measure value delivered. Then always measure customer results, not work. Focus on activities rather than results. There is no cushion.

Resource 105

Resource Startup Entrepreneur Training 105