Berkonomics

OCTOBER 3, 2013

A “deal room” is an electronic or physical space dedicated to storing the massive amounts of data to be used in due diligence by a buyer, lender or by an investor. Deal rooms contain access to or copies of all significant contracts with suppliers, customers, consultants, and others. Email readers, continue here.]

Software Review 191

Software Review Patents Startup Email 191

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Santa Barbara-based TrackStreet , a provider of internet brand protection and analytics software, said today that it has named Ryan Erickson as Vice President of Sales. Erickson was most recently Vice President of Sales for Teva North America, a division of Deckers Brands, and also has served at Timberland, Rockport and Reebok.

Sales 124

Sales Santa Barbara Software Review Technical Review 124

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Reviewing financial & operational performance. how much energy to put into channel partners vs. direct sales. Mentorship. As You Start to Mature.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you. .

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2020

A “deal room” is a cloud-based or physical space dedicated to storing the massive amounts of data to be used in due diligence by a buyer, lender or by an investor. Data rooms contain access to or copies of all significant contracts with suppliers, customers, consultants, and others. Your data room and its contents.

Software Review 156

Software Review Startup Patents Email 156

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer. Decreasing Your Customer Acquisition Costs. This is equivalent to being handed a free customer for every ten customers you acquire.

Custom 164

Custom Customer Advertising SEM 164

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2011

We actually built that about a year and a half ago, and are bringing that back due to overwhelming demand. But, with the economy turning south in 2008, lots of those customers went out of business. In the meantime, Groupon came along, and our media customers started to lose advertising. How do clients license your software?

Platform 263

Platform Training Software Review Advertising 263

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. As such, I understand the degree to which hand waving and vaporware can influence investors and potential customers. An interface that is engaging can fool customers into trying a sub-par product. Customers Are All That Matter. Don’t Demo Me Bro.

Venture Capital 176

Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I spent nearly a decade building software for large companies and then advising companies on the same. Your head of sales thinks she should fire somebody. You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. What lovely charts!

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Technical Review Slides CTO Coach 414

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

This can often happen when there is a good product built but no real customer adoption yet. We hired a head of technology, a head of customer service, a head of marketing, a head of strategy (which no startup should ever hire) a CFO and, ugh, 33 developers. I did all of the sales myself. This is what happened to me.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 19, 2014

Software as a service (SaaS) is a popular business model because it facilitates the delivery of incremental value to customers, while allowing the vendor to adjust their prices over time. However, such price increases generally occur after new utility has been provided to the customers. Focus on Existing Customers.

SaaS 215

SaaS Pricing Sales Custom 215

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com is continuing to report good sales this holiday season, saying today that it has seen its revenues grow over 40 percent for the first 15 days of December, compared with 2007. Buy.com also reported that average customer orders are up by over 20 percent due to bigger purchases. READ MORE>>

Sales 100

Sales Software Review Report Sites 100

Berkonomics

JANUARY 3, 2013

Most every business can take advantage of continuing, recurring revenues from its customer base. Even though that reduced short term earnings, lease revenues over time far outweighed any combination of sale and maintenance revenues, and Xerox grew into a major company based upon its innovation and its recurring revenues.

Outsource Development 197

Outsource Development Software Review Sales Demand 197

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

That died with waterfall software development. It should talk about how many customers you think you will acquire and how much you’ll charge for your product. Do you really want to spent $100k building a product to discover through Customer Development that the market is too small? Do so at your peril.

Web 2.0 334

Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. Government customers abundantly waste both of these assets by negatively impacting a startup’s cash flows while causing it to spend unnecessary time participating in laborious approval processes and elongated sales cycles.

Startup 207

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 207

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

In the initial phases of any new market you’re developing a product (hopefully with a minimal set of features), getting feedback from customers, refining your product based on user feedback and then re-launching your product. I had my sales teams telling me we needed certain features to be competitive. Rinse & repeat.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

As I look back at insights I might share, I wade through the trite suggestions of ‘work hard’ and ‘treat the customer well.’ I had to be successful at my new software company. My sales tax payments were due in the next few days, and I didn’t have the money. I made the sale, and paid my debts.

Startup 204

Startup Software Review UCLA Sales 204

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. Winning the contract meant that we would hit our quarterly revenue figure and be in good position for our annual sales target.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Your IT Reviewer. They’ve had years of business-unit managers buying software solutions they didn’t need and that eventually become shelfware. Your business unit buyer isn’t used to negotiating software and if you won over the IT team with your prowess then you’re feeling pretty good. Not so much.

Development Team Review 293

Development Team Review Software Review Pricing Startup 293

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Ask your customer why you lost. Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. Winning the contract meant that we would hit our quarterly revenue figure and be in good position for our annual sales target.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2019

Playa Vista-based point-of-sale equipment and software provider Appetize says that its recent move to offer up "self-service" kiosks to its customers, has resulted in its customers seeing more spending and demand.

Services 133

Services Software Review Technical Review Demand 133

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.

Mobile 311

Mobile Technical Review Google Screening 311

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Fast forward to almost exactly one year later, and a lot has changed for the payments and software startup. Since its 2017 inception, SpotOn has been focused on providing software and payments technology to SMBs with an emphasis on restaurants and retail businesses. Image Credits: SpotOn.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2022

Very few entrepreneurs have the range of skills and experience to be the solution creator as well as business creator, or operational as well as sales leader. If both of you are experts at software development, even though one loves design and the other loves coding, that still won’t get the marketing done.

Software Review 154

Software Review CTO Hire Outsource Development Startup 154

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 12, 2018

Both programmers, the two reconnected after doing stints as custom developers during and after college, and then when they were developing tools for their families’ businesses as residential contractors in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. These kinds of technologies, unlike AI, don’t automate away workers.

Glendale 271

Glendale Los Angeles Startup Technical Review 271

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 28, 2009

We went through the euphoria of massive exposure at the time of our launch due to an article that ran in the Financial Times. Our software wasn’t fully baked. We hadn’t even thought about having a customer support line or who would staff it. We had one of the largest US software companies talk about buying us.

Startup 331

Startup Press Custom Customer 331

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Our customers tend to be mostly moms, but also some dads who support their families, uncles, aunts, and their friends, but primarily moms. For lack of a better word, it's really social shopping--not in the way of using social networking to drive sales, but because moms are social, to allow them to share information regularly online.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). You have a large number of startup customers (because when markets crash they have a funny way of going bankrupt quickly or cutting burn precipitously).

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

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.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Acquisition Technical Review 100

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

However, savvy startups can leverage LinkedIn to create a customer acquisition and a churn reduction tool. However, in some cases, especially with its larger customers, the company displaces a competitor. It’s not about helping them use our software. Businesses typically use LinkedIn to recruit employees. Bro Benefits.

Custom 100

Custom Customer Software Review Technical Review 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

The company said the growth comes due to record sales and customer growth at the company. tigertext messaging secure health system growth hipaa compliance enterprise software texting hospital lifescience' TigerText said five of the top ten, for-profit U.S. READ MORE>>.

Software Review 138

Software Review Santa Monica Platform Report 138

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. He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2022

I see lots of new software put together on a shoestring as a “proof of concept” – but then gets rolled out to customers “asis” due to lack of time or money to “harden” the product. Don’t take shortcuts on these. Few people are paranoid about something they want and enjoy.

Customer 137

Customer Custom Technical Review Symantec 137

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. Payback periods on customer acquisition way more important to you in the near-term. You wouldn't build a single point of failure in your code - shouldn't in your company.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

The firm recently raised a $15M series C funding, and we caught up with Kevin to learn more about why its customers, and investors, are interested in its technology. We also operate the network software than runs and manages the entire network layer, from access point to end point. What does OnRamp Wireless do?

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

I’ll publish the final post in this series this week and then move on to my next series – sales & marketing. I’ll be covering my PUCCKA sales methodology. When I first met the team in San Diego they had only been working on their software for 5 months. It will be controversial – I know.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267