Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 9, 2023

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. You have to be able to communicate effectively in all the common forms, including business writing, as well as talking, presenting, and producing videos.

Tips 123

Tips Writing Startup Summary 123

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Everyone who manages a company or its sales force wants to write as many new deals as possible, and is usually warry about doing anything that might threaten the positive outcome of a pending sale. Deadlines are an important sales tool. The most powerful tool you have in a sales environment is a deadline.

Sales 120

Sales Tool Writing Customer 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 24, 2016

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. You have to be able to communicate effectively in all the common forms, including business writing, as well as talking, presenting, and producing videos.

Writing 62

Writing Summary Email Ideas 62

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2015

I write about sales often both because it’s the lifeblood of any organization and because in my experience it is the area in which more startups are least experienced or inclined. I also write and talk about it frequently because raising capital is a part of sales and this is important for entrepreneurs to understand.

Sales 150

Sales Startup Venture Capital Funding 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2021

In fact, the process of organizing and documenting these elements is the best way to make sure you understand the answers yourself. It only takes a little extra work to make it a professional document, with a cover page, table of contents, headings, and page numbers.

Sample 137

Sample Writing Mentor Content 137

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. If you’re going to play in the big leagues you need to be writing checks from a $700 million?—?$1 Are we in a bubble?” By definition?—?I’m of the fund.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2023

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. If you can’t quantify or document your service for repeatability and new employee training, you will kill yourself trying to grow the business.

Startup 111

Startup Training Services Writing 111

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 14, 2018

Here’s Why You Should Just Send the Deck I know you have your document sending tool to send your fund-raising deck to VCs and track who read your deck, which pages they read and how much time they spend on each page. I Know Everybody Told You to Send Your Fund-Raising Decks as a Link. What should not be in your deck?

Funding 239

Funding Venture Capital IP Email 239

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2020

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. If you can’t quantify or document your service for repeatability and new employee training, you will kill yourself trying to grow the business.

Startup 174

Startup Training Services Writing 174

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

These collective sets of documents form the basis of what somebody looking at investing would call “financial due diligence.” What happens is 18–20 firms access the data room and download all of your documents. For starters you have to realize that fund-raising is a sales process. It doesn’t. It felt like heresy.

Funding 336

Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Riot Ventures , the Los Angeles-based, early-stage and deep technology investment firm is going out to market to raise a $75 million second fund to finance the development of startups in LA and beyond, according to fundraising documents viewed by TechCrunch. Oculus, Snap, Tinder and others.

Los Angeles 126

Los Angeles Artificial Inteligence Invest Angel 126

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2010

Unless you work in sales and you can compare cold, hard numbers let’s just be honest about the subjectivity. I next write a paragraph to describe what I mean by each comment. Next time write it down when it happened. Don’t have your staff write their own reviews. Put it in writing. That will never fly.

Startup 297

Startup Writing Examples News 297

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

An approach I suggest these days is for freelancers to contract for the actual role, probably part-time, of startup CFO, VP of Sales, or President. Speak to people, rather than write a document every time you want a change. There are a myriad of ways to make this happen in the world of startups. Specialist versus consultant.

Startup 150

Startup Slides Email Customer 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Document why your team is the best for this challenge. Include marketing, sales, and customer rollout plans. Set specific targets on the sales channels and marketing initiatives you need, including the use of social media, brand building, franchising, trade shows, affiliates, and distributors.

Product 169

Product Summary Startup Examples 169

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2022

You really need a partner who is complementary, and can tackle the operational roles, like marketing, finance, and sales. I’m not suggesting that co-founders should be equal contributors on both sides, but the parameters for “equality” better be well understood and well documented. and the answer better not be ambiguous. “We

Startup 140

Startup Satisfaction Writing Entrepreneur 140

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

I don’t feel like canceling LinkedIn just because occasionally a well-meaning but slightly not-clued-in person from a faraway place wants me to be their personal mentor, answer 3-questions for their high-school entrepreneurship project or take a sales pitch for their recruiting services. I’m not an elitist a **e. I still sleep at night.

Email 250

Email Writing Conference Mobile 250

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2015

In fact, the process of organizing and documenting these elements is the best way to make sure you understand the answers yourself. It only takes a little extra work to make it a professional document, with a cover page, table of contents, headings, and page numbers.

Startup 109

Startup Writing Mentor Sample 109

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2013

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. No problem.

Sample 92

Sample Writing Startup Summary 92

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

The trouble is, nobody has an incentive to agree to write the first check. ” If you remember the three rules of sales : it’s. There is simply no reason for the first angel to write you a check until you have the whole round secure, which is why people herd cats. So you need an anchor. But how to get one?”

Pricing 294

Pricing Venture Capital Writing Equity 294

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The path I went down after a few years was to hire more process driven people and devolved more daily operational ownership to people running individual functions such as product management, sales management, finance, etc. One of the most obvious places where you see this is in sales & marketing. Ditto the CFO. I was the laggard.

Sales 296

Sales Pricing Startup Customer 296

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 21, 2012

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. No problem.

Sample 96

Sample Writing Summary Startup 96

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

I was a SaaS company and he had been on the Executive Board and the Strategy Council for Larry Ellison at Oracle and he taught me some key lessons about sales and he served as a useful buffer between my investors and me. I really like it when independent directors write a check into the company. But if they could even write $2,500?—?money

Startup 187

Startup Writing Venture Capital Oracle 187

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2020

In reality, the opportunities are greater for starting with a micro-business , ideally from your special expertise or passion, with fewer than five employees, and just enough sales to comfortably support you and your team. Get in the habit of documenting all agreements and terms. Meticulously manage cash inflow and outflow.

Customer 125

Customer Custom Tool Writing 125

Berkonomics

MAY 29, 2014

Included in a business plan are financials, competitive landscape, marketing plans, and projected sales to name a few. But it’s a valuable document for you. Studies found that people who write plans are more likely to put their goals in action and increases your likelihood of success. assess past performances.

Startup 166

Startup Guide Help Mentor 166

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

There’s one attribute (coming soon) that I need to have in order to write a check but I don’t believe is vital for success. 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.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Startup SaaS San Diego 267

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. This is true whether your at a sales meeting or at a VC firm. This happens often is sales meetings or VC meetings. Congratulations.

Venture Capital 318

Venture Capital Startup Sales Writing 318

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2010

This is sad, since “how to write a business plan” is a frequent topic found in every business journal, and a common title in the business section of every book store. In simple terms, it is a document which describes all the what, when, where, and how of your business for you, your cohorts, and potential investors. No problem.

Startup 91

Startup Funding Sample Writing 91

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of specifying and documenting “formal business processes.” Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve. Even if you are doing the work yourself, you need to document requirements, features, metrics, and milestones.

Startup 107

Startup Outsource Development Training Outsource 107

Berkonomics

JANUARY 16, 2014

Create roles and guidelines in the potential partnership: What role and responsibility will each of the partners have including operation, financial, sales, marketing, etc.? Perform preliminary due diligence: Review the business plan including marketing, sales strategies and financial needs. How will decisions be made and by whom?

Technical Review 204

Technical Review Startup Examples Metrics 204

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

On the product side, once you have a proven product and business model, all you need is money to build inventory, and a sales and marketing operation to drive the business. If you can’t quantify or document your service for repeatability and new employee training, you will kill yourself trying to grow the business.

Services 72

Services Startup Training Writing 72

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Writing specialists. Whether you are in manufacturing or software, you need experienced writers who can document your latest technology, write patents, and efficiently manage the multitude of data formats required by printing companies and advertisers. The days when these roles were stable careers for company employees are gone.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Services Search Engine Optimization Startup 106

InfoChachkie

MAY 16, 2011

1) Expect Independent Channel Sales Reps To Perform Missionary Sales. Rationale: I cannot afford to hire a direct sales force. Fallacy: Third-party, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) representatives succeed once the sales process is defined, proven and documented. 5) Allow Partners To Write Your Agreements.

Startup 242

Startup Outsource Development Outsource Sales 242

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

I hired a senior exec from the building materials industry (we were a document collaboration company for the engineering & construction industry) who was also ex McKinsey. From then on I was forced to do detailed sales calls, get intimately involved with product management decisions and even make minute technical operation decisions.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Since this document is outward facing, it is important to keep the terminology and tone consistent with that of your customer set, investors, and business partners. Marketing, sales, and customer experience. The details can be added later. Now let’s talk about the bases that need to be covered. Skip the acronyms and jargon.

Startup 65

Startup Writing Patents Competition 65

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 20, 2012

A business plan is an “outward facing” document for external investors, or for C-level executives within your own company. Equally important, marketing and sales people should be able to identify benefits and marketing strategies, set prices, and validate a business model. It’s definitely positive to have a product plan.

Product 92

Product Outsource Development Competition High Tech 92

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 13, 2011

With all these companies vying for attention & others just here to soak up the vibe I thought I’d write a much broader piece on how startups can make the most of their attendance at conferences & events. Write them in advance and request meetings. We didn’t have any documents due that night. We just hung.

Conference 289

Conference Startup Technical Review Writing 289

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

If I could persuade you that they’re already in these documents would you consider abandoning this structure? Those terms you fought so hard to get out of “clean term sheets” by using TheFunded, VentureHacks and the like are in your current documents. What happens in a sale or acqui-hire? That’s right.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354