Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

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.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

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Customer Custom Startup Course 124

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Post-sale, AI analyzes customer data to improve service and loyalty, making it a cornerstone of modern sales methodologies.

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Generative AI TechEmpower CTO Hire Outsource Development 295

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

I’m sure you have all noticed how today’s customers have changed the way they shop, but I still find, as an advisor and consultant, that many of you aren’t sure how to deal with the new mode, or are still waiting for things to get back to the old normal. Convenience is in the eye of the customer, not your company.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2022

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Solis outlines the heuristics of social psychology that are key to building positive customer experiences today.

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Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 122

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Santa Monica-based Invoca , which provides call tracking and analytics software, says a new study it ran shows that website experience and customer experience has become much more important in the era of COVID-19, particularly in big ticket purchases. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

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. Experience using the product is only one stage.

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Design Customer Custom Product 105

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Businesses see this as the Holy Grail for finally being able to predict who, where, and when customers will buy their existing solutions, and what their future solutions must look like to be attractive. I found some help in this regard from a classic book, “ Humanizing Big Data ,” by leading consumer researcher Colin Strong.

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Customer Custom Social Media Research 115

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders. Spending time selling to customers is the best way to find out what their problems are and how good your solution currently is at mapping to their needs.

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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. Customer support is more than handling exceptions. Your challenge is to present a total business solution to the right customer set to build your credibility and momentum.

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Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Creating a gerat company in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that the entrepreneur knows what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. The first step : Involve potential customers early. The third step: Reiterate and return to customers for comments.

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Company Companies Startup Custom 229

Berkonomics

MAY 30, 2019

And the best way to do this is with the placement of a case study, a story told about and by a satisfied customer with something to say about how your product solved their problem or pain. But it must be told about and by the customer, with your product as the tool of solution, not the focus of the story.

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Case Study Study Customer Custom 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2014

There’s a healthy balance between allowing a design team to dream up functional requirements, talk with customers, analyze competitors and for technical projects – research the latest cool-kid tools to play with. Design with no constraints becomes a research project. CEOs are time-driven creatures.

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Software Startup Design Course 344

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.

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Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

But the no-longer nascent sneaker and streetwear market is a big market, with the potential to reach $30 billion in sales globally by 2030, according to a recent report by the research firm, Cowen ( cited by The Wall Street Journal , which first reported the financing). ” Money, it’s gotta be the shoes.

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Commerce Journal Los Angeles Research 255

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

I mostly like to have coverage in the tech press where most of my customers (entrepreneurs) and business partners (other VCs) are. But I also need to address the other side of my customer base – the people who fund VCs (they are called LPs). It is every journalists starting point for researching a story. Kind of obvious.

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Blogging Journal Press Startup 309

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

What about opposition research on journalists? Clearly the press don’t want to have rich, powerful companies researching their private lives. I doubt they have a customer problem. They want our customer records. Was it dumb and insensitive to say Uber might target journalists for opposition research?

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Press Journal Startup Training 418

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Well, here is one of those, and it deals with market research first and foremost. Here’s where some intelligent market research might have saved the company and my investment. That response is quite different than one where competitors have paved the way and existing customers prove through use that the product or service is valued.

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Competition Research Summary Pricing 266

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Founded four years ago by Matt Danna and Sean Stavropoulos, Boulevard was inspired by Stavropoulos’ inability to book a haircut and Danna’s hunch that the inability of salons and spas to cater to customers like the busy programmer could be indicative of a bigger problem.

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Software Beverly Hills Los Angeles Equity 323

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 19, 2018

With lead investors like Fika Ventures and Fathom Capital, and co-investors, including Toyota AI Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Riot.vc, Osage University Partners and Stage Venture Partners, Elementary Robotics is readying itself for commercial pilots with a few undisclosed customers as it proves out its technology.

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Los Angeles Angel Artificial Inteligence CalTech 207

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Technology pilots. Expanding the product line.

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Help Research Startup Funding 165

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2012

But only from customers. That’s because you are not their customer. The customer are advertising agencies and brands themselves. Unless you become a paying customer you’re just a cost center to them. I’d be driving them to merchants who want to reach their potential customers through me.

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Mobile Technical Review Google Screening 311

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. What is ConsumerTrack all about? Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company.

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Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

I researched the pricing of the car at TrueCar – not because we’re an investor – but because it gives you complete price transparency over what other people in your area paid for a car. Your 2am coding session is more important than their 2am cocktails on the redeye back from Japan where they have no customers.

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Conference Technical Review Truecar Software Review 398

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

And because I wanted Ethan to be able to attract a great team, build & iterate a product, test it with initial customers and refine his strategy before having to take the wrappers off of his company. Because I knew that Ethan was on to a powerful idea and one in which he had developed huge competence and domain knowledge in.

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CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Modern libraries are still worth a visit. Martin Zwilling.

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Marketing Statistics Research Report 157

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

It makes it easier to persuade others to join you, it alerts other angels & VCs that you’re a company to be on their radar screen, it helps potential customers know that you may be worth doing business with and it builds you up to announce other milestones down the line. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

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Startup Funding News Press 355

socalTECH

DECEMBER 15, 2020

San Diego-based outsourced healthcare R&D marketplace Scientist.com said this morning that it will acquire HealthEcnomics.com , which operates an online community of scientists and suppliers of heatlh economics and outcomes research. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.

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Outsource Research San Diego Acquisition 113

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 19, 2019

TechCrunch spoke to two customers who said the Mercedes-Benz’ connected car app was pulling in information from other accounts and not their own, allowing them to see other car owners’ names, recent activity, phone numbers, and more. The other customer said they did not attempt to test either feature.

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Startup Los Angeles Custom Customer 189

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 31, 2024

One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? Third: Management risk.

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Outsource Development Ideas Resource Patents 294

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

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.

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Startup Training Customer Custom 154

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2020

Risk level has always been directly correlated to the number of unknowns, so eliminating even one variable will improve your odds: Eliminate one aspect of research and development. According to a classic Harvard Research study, first inventors spend at least a third more on their initial technology than later innovators.

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Startup Social Media Study Research 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2020

Based on traditional research, getting new customers is five to ten times harder than getting additional revenue from existing customers. Here the key is to convince customers that you have something really rare, and maybe even entice them into a long-term but affordable relationship. Front-of-the-line model.

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Startup Custom Customer Netflix 168

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2020

A company like this grows in value to its customers and to prospective buyers of the business, but without any dilution of control or ownership for the founders. No dilution to shareholders or the founders. How refreshing! How grants are considered.

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Equity Writing Education Research 156

Berkonomics

JUNE 3, 2021

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. Yes, we’ve seen gray areas.

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Custom Customer Examples Email 156

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Creating a new product in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that you know what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. The first step : Involve potential customers early. The third step: Reiterate and return to customers for comments. Involve your customers early.

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Product Custom Customer Ideas 156

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 10, 2014

Research In Motion''s (RIM) rebranding effort earlier this year is a classic example of a company attempting to overlay a new brand onto a misguided strategy. Their name change was a natural reflection of the company''s broader applicability, beyond customers with performance-based ad budgets. A Band-Aid On A Gushing Artery.

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Technical Support Marketing Advertising SaaS 250

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

I had this discussion with Steve with the camera rolling and we talked about “ The Secret History of Silicon Valley ” as place that largely grew out of defense and government spending plus research labs around the Stanford campus. 4:30 How did you come up with the idea of customer development? What brings you to LA?

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Startup Ideas Education Class 350