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Hold it! These are confusing terms. When does a budget become obsolete? Do we rely upon constant changes and call it a forecast? So, let’s spend a few moments defining this sometimes-confusing set of terms. This is a budget: A budget should be created each year after a series of negotiations between departmental managers and their superiors all the way yup to the CEO, all in support of the next year’s tactics previously agreed upon (which in turn support the longer-term strategies leading to the
When talking to startup founders or other innovators, we always ask questions to better understand their business as a core. What does the business do? How does it meet customers’ needs? And most importantly, how does it make money? One way to approach that last question is to use this simple model: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) How will your business reach prospects?
A group of researchers in Australia have been awarded just over $400,000 (USD) in government funding to study the possibilities of merging AI with human brain cells, a research project likely to bring a number of AI-related ethical and existential questions to the fore. The team, working in collaboration with Monash University and Melbourne-based Startup Cortical Labs – is the same group behind the DishBrain project, which involved teaching a group of human brain cells how to play the retr
Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. That’s like trying to sell part of something to a stranger for big money when you haven’t fully defined it yet. It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility when you need them later. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy).
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
When it comes to nurturing startups, San Diego boasts an incredible entrepreneurial ecosystem that has provided a solid foundation for success. Our Startup San Diego team spoke with Jason Cabildo, Co-founder and CEO at Savorite, a proud alumni of the Startup San Diego Incubator program, to learn more about the remarkable support and opportunities they […] The post From Incubator to Success: The Savorite Journey with Jason Cabildo: Where Food, Savings, and Community Collide appeared first o
At TechEmpower, we frequently talk to startup founders, CEOs, product leaders, and other innovators about their next big tech initiative. It’s part of our job to ask questions about their plans, challenge their assumptions, and suggest paths to success. The conversations are interesting and varied because they’re about new, exciting, different things.
A Fractional CTO bridges the gap between founders and developers to help keep your tech strategy aligned with your business goals. This helps your startup stay agile and competitive in a fast-paced marketplace.
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A Fractional CTO bridges the gap between founders and developers to help keep your tech strategy aligned with your business goals. This helps your startup stay agile and competitive in a fast-paced marketplace.
Have you ever driven a car that had no speedometer? I had that thrill when a student at the Richard Petty Stockcar School of Driving at a motor speedway in California. With a wide track, angled aggressively at the curves, and being told to hug the wall on the straightaways, there was little reference available to a novice driver as to speed. How it feel to have no information: I followed my instructor’s car closely, but still could not tell anything about my speed, so that I could neither comp
In these past weeks, we explored the need for a tangible goal and strategies that are measurable as steps toward achievement of your goal. Today, we explore how to create tactics to accompany each strategy, and even suggest a number of tactics to consider for your strategies. Definition of tactics: Tactics support strategies and are shorter term and more procedural than the strategies they support.
Continuing the process of planning… So now we’re getting organized. There are many ways to express the roadmap for your enterprise. One of the most popular was used by the U.S. Army late in World War II and adopted by many high-profile businesses such as Texas Instruments after the War. And I’s my favorite method of organizing a strategic plan. There are two important elements.
People with a victim mentality should never be entrepreneurs. We all know the role of starting and running a business is unpredictable, and has a high risk of failure. For people with a victim mentality, this fear of failure alone will almost certainly make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m sure you all know someone who is the perennial victim. The problem is that most of these people aren’t likely to accept your assessment, so it’s hard to help them.
One of my favorite sayings is “Real change doesn’t happen until the pain level gets high enough.” There aren’t many of us who love change, just for the opportunity to learn something new, and even we won’t pay much for it. Entrepreneurs who search for real pain points, and build solutions around them, have the best chance of changing the world. In my opinion, real pain points for most people do not include a new user interface for Facebook, a new programming platform for app development, or a ne
I still know some entrepreneurs who boast of simply following their gut instincts, rather than listen to anyone or any data, to make strategic decisions. We’ve all worked with autocratic leaders in large companies who seem to thrive in this mode. They all forget or ignore the high-profile failures that have resulted from some single-handed business decisions.
Despite a packed schedule of obnoxious tweeting, lawsuits, and organizing a cage match with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk has found time to launch a new AI company called xAI. Initially pinned as a generative AI startup for Twitter when it first hit the headlines back in April, the xAI website seems to suggest that the new startup will remain separate from the social media platform, as well as Musk's collection of other technology companies.
As an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, I see a lot of dreams, but not so many business results. I’m always excited by the dream, and disappointed by what I perceive as a lack of courage in many people to take the actions required to realize the dream. I’ve always wished I had a magic metaphor to motivate the best dreamers to become the best entrepreneurs.
“The devil in the details” is a quote that we have all heard, and clearly applies to startups, where success in the long run is all about execution. But for you as an entrepreneur trying to get started, the devil is really in your mind, where you must prevent drifting, and maintain that confidence, commitment, and passion, to achieve your business dream.
Establishing and maintaining the right company culture is a major key to success in any business these days, especially with the growth of the millennial generation of workers. It has a huge impact on productivity, as well as morale and loyalty to the company. In this age of interactive social media, your culture image quickly spreads to customers, and determines their loyalty.
Most of the time, I’m all about providing encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs. They need it and they deserve it, because entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. But every so often, I try to give them a reality check, just to keep their feet on the ground and their nose to the grindstone. A few years ago, I enjoyed one of Guy Kawasaki’s first books, “ Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.
We’re continuing the conversation on AI this upcoming 1st Mondays - Networking & Happy Hour. Join us and 150+ community members for a night of connections and libations.
Every startup and every new business needs a unique selling proposition (USP) to get people’s attention these days, and make it stand out in the information overload we all see. Your concept has to be understood by customers and investors in 30 seconds or less, and everyone needs to immediately see how awesome it would be, or that they would be nuts not to have it.
Every business needs both managers and leaders. My experience confirms that managers are needed to achieve organizational goals through implementing processes, such as budgeting, and staffing, while leaders are more focused on making decisions on new challenges and capitalizing on growth opportunities. Most team members aspire to career growth as managers, then leaders.
Every business owner feels the pressure of the thousands of things that need to get done, all seemingly at the same time. There is just not enough time! The real solution is better time management to put you back in control of your life. We all know someone who always professes to be stressed out and “so busy” that they never have time for anything – yet they never seem to get things done.
Donna Fenn, in her classic book, “ Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business ,” was one of the first to predict that Gen-Y would lead the charge, bounce back from the last recession, and be big winners. She describes a new generation of entrepreneurs that is highly collaborative, quick and alert when it comes to new technologies, and hell-bent on changing the world in general.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs I mentor can talk at length about their innovative ideas and passions, and ask lots of good questions, but never make much progress in building a real business. In my experience, building a business is much more about getting things done than having great ideas. The challenge is to move from ideas to specific goals, to delivered solutions.
We have all had to work with annoying team members in business. If you are not their manager, it’s tempting to just walk away, tune them out, or react sharply, but these reactions are not appropriate for managers, and are equally ineffective for peers and teammates. Remember that annoying doesn’t mean non-productive – these may be top performers, with critical business skills.
As the business economy is rebounding from the pandemic, many entrepreneurs are thinking that life will soon get easier, and their opportunity can only grow. In reality, the business world gets tougher every day, with new entrants, new technology, and competitors more easily entering the fray from around the globe. Way back in 1979, Michael E. Porter proposed his Five Forces framework for analyzing the competitive environment which I think makes even more sense today.
One of the biggest challenges in changing your lifestyle from an employee to starting your own business, is focusing on the right ownership elements, versus having a boss who sets the business goals, and provides performance feedback. Most entrepreneurs relish being their own boss, but find the transition to “ownership thinking” to be more difficult than anticipated.
There is no question that the recent pandemic has changed working in the office forever. What was once a workplace where everyone commuted to work together daily, has now become a hybrid environment where some team members rarely meet physically, and others see each other one or two days per week, while not working remotely from their home office. This transformation challenges the leadership of every business owner and raises many fears and concerns from all involved.
We all face pressure in our lives, but there’s nothing like that of an entrepreneur facing customer crises and the competitive challenges of a new business. Don’t believe the myth that all you have to do to get rich is bring up an e-commerce website, and the money rolls in while you sleep. Most successful business leaders have learned how to reframe pressure situations into opportunities.
Sometimes I like to drop the comment socially that “I knew Bill Gates back when he was a regular guy.” I know that dates me a good bit, but it also shows that I have been hanging around startups and big companies for a long time. The honest truth is that I worked directly with him in the early days of Microsoft from my “safe” perch in big IBM, during the startup of the IBM PC.
The name “investment bank” somehow always sounded like a place where I could deposit my investments, and maybe even earn a little interest. Then I learned that these banks really negotiate investments and collect fees on the transactions, sort of like commercial banks do with loans to businesses. None normally work for or provide funds for early-stage startups.
Based on my years of experience as a business consultant, I’m convinced that most business leaders are so busy with day-to-day issues that they have no time to be proactive with new innovation and staving off future competitors. Thus they are blindsided and try to react quickly when a new competitor starts stealing customers. The result is constant stress and losing ground.
People tell me there may be over 8,000 dating sites with scientific matchmaking algorithms worldwide, but I couldn’t find one that focused on scientifically matching companies and people for business-to-business (B2B) relationships. Yet, every business expert tells me that finding good business partners is just as tricky as a good marriage, minus the sex.
Startups provide leadership in the market. Entrepreneurs provide leadership to their startup. There are many styles of leadership, like dictatorial, laissez-faire, and democratic. One that I hear discussed more these days, in this age of relationships, is called “servant” leadership. What is servant leadership? The servant leader serves the people they lead through mentoring, direct assistance, listening, and acting on their employees input.
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