Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business. Formalize the use of tools and information technology. Team building status and plan.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2013

If you are an entrepreneur these days, or trying to grow an existing business, everyone is telling you that you need to use social media. But very few are talking about how to measure your results, and the right metrics for optimizing your marketing environment. The tools to help you with all these actions are still evolving.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Metrics 102

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2013

Most investors tell me that an A entrepreneur with a B idea is much more fundable than a B entrepreneur with an A idea. This entrepreneur gets out there and actively looks for people who can help make an idea into a business, including potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, friends and peers.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Ideas Metrics Activity 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2014

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Thus I am morphing the points here, with specific focus on the entrepreneur, who would never think of themselves in the context of automobile manufacturing: Offering too many products and services concurrently. Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Resource Training Product 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2020

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Lead-stage content performance. The fuel for any good demand generation program is relevant, buyer-centric content.

Marketing 174

Marketing Invest Demand Metrics 174

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

Hamet Watt is a longtime serial entrepreneur, who just recently join LA''s Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com) as a Venture Partner. Hamet was previously co-founder at bLife and MoviePass, founded NextMedium, and was Entrepreneur-in-Residence with True Ventures, among other experience. Congrats on the new position.

Startup 191

Startup Entrepreneur Metrics Capital 191

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2021, from 280 to 360 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever. The cost of social media done well is low.

Entrepreneur 104

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media News 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2012

Most investors tell me that an A entrepreneur with a B idea is much more fundable than a B entrepreneur with an A idea. This entrepreneur gets out there and actively looks for people who can help make an idea into a business, including potential customers, suppliers, employees, investors, friends and peers.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Ideas Metrics Activity 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2013

One of the first harsh realities that every entrepreneur has to learn is that most of the things that are critical to startup success are outside of their direct control. In my experience, trust is the most powerful tool that an entrepreneur can wield, both inside and outside of his own realm of control. Never make people ask.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Startup Metrics Writing 106

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2015

Or you notice that your line of high quality tools is being undercut by cheap knockoffs manufactured in other countries. Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. If one metric changes, it may not be significant, but someone needs to monitor whole categories for fluctuations that may be a weak signal. .

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Startup 106

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

The rate of new entrepreneurs increased between 2013 and 2019, from 280 out of 100,000 to 310 out of 100,000 of the adult population. Of course, that’s both the good news and the bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs, since it means more competition, and the business landscape is changing faster than ever.

Tips 161

Tips Startup Social Media News 161

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

NOT just because they have the best deals on web based business tools. He is endlessly dedicated to our success in business and wants to deliver the best tools for us to get our jobs done well. Noah has what I believe he called “Thank You metrics”. I am a raving fan of AppSumo.com. But you need to pay the bills!’ I resisted.

Metrics 87

Metrics Email Startup Technical Review 87

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

Shane Bernstein: We look at actionable data points and data metrics which are quantifiable across the web, and we qualify them and normalize that data, and sort them based on what they've done. I was inspired looking for a tool to increase output as an agency, and decrease our costs. That's an engagement tool.

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

Landry is a serial entrepreneur, and active investor, having been co-founder of TagWorld. We're one of the limited number of companies who have been granted access to Facebook's Ads API program, which allows us to build tools on top of Facebook's advertising tools. Thanks for the time today! It's been very effective so far.

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 18, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur today, and not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Find the right tools to analyze the ROI. Return-On-Investment metrics are not new, but the tools are different. But, contrary to what most people preach, it isn’t entirely free.

Social Media 93

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Platform 93

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2021

If you are an entrepreneur these days, or trying to grow an existing business, everyone is telling you that you need to use social media. But very few are talking about how to measure your results and return on investment (ROI), and the right metrics for optimizing your marketing environment. Get attention and reach your audience.

Social Media 127

Social Media Media Metrics Satisfaction 127

socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2017

Technology was changing the business and our jobs as agents and managers, and we needed to figure out how to leverage tools to create more opportunities. We saw an opportunity to create a tool that could help with sharing earnings from content on YouTube. In particular, the entertainment industry is not as metrics focused as a startup.

Startup 140

Startup Content Metrics Platform 140

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

It was as much in reaction to my getting blank stares from entrepreneurs when I asked that question as it was for me to better understand the problem itself. Well-tuned metrics are an absolute must. And the tools for most are available, sometimes free, for the educated marketer. Intrigued by the thought, I recently made a list.

Social Network 179

Social Network Metrics Ideas Sites 179

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

Almost every entrepreneur looking for outside investors has heard the annoying rejection, “You are just too early – come back when you have more traction.” That should make you wonder - how do you measure traction in a metric? A useful traction metric is how many constraints have been removed, with resolution times.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2021

Every entrepreneur I know is short on resources, including time, money, and skills. Thus I am morphing the points here, with specific focus on the entrepreneur, who would never think of themselves in the context of automobile manufacturing: Offering too many products and services concurrently. Bottlenecks to team productivity.

Startup 161

Startup Resource Training Entrepreneur 161

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. That’s where I see too much entrepreneur burnout, growth plateaus, and founders being replaced, to their chagrin. Of course, not every entrepreneur wants to tackle this challenge. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Sales 147

Sales Metrics Guide Startup 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2018

Every entrepreneur knows that good demand generation marketing is the key to growth these days, but very few have the discipline or know-how to measure return in a world of a thousand tools and techniques. Lead-stage content performance. The fuel for any good demand generation program is relevant, buyer-centric content.

Metrics 57

Metrics Demand Marketing Paramount 57

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 22, 2016

The Most Important Metric. We had a spirited discussion regarding a number of issues related to blowing past $10M in annual recurring SaaS revenue, in front of a sold-out crowd of about 400 entrepreneurs. Near the conclusion of our discussion, I asked each CEO to name any non-obvious metrics by which they guide their businesses.

Customer 100

Customer Custom Cornerstone OnDemand Metrics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

In the interests of helping you work smarter and last longer, I would like to offer my top ten list of key resource drains to avoid in early businesses and startups, based on my years of advising entrepreneurs and my own business experience: Expanding your product line too quickly for scaling. People with the wrong tools or no training.

Outsource Development 122

Outsource Development Outsource Metrics Technical Review 122

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Or you notice that your line of high quality tools is being undercut by cheap knockoffs manufactured in other countries. Changes in your organization’s core performance metrics. If one metric changes, it may not be significant, but someone needs to monitor whole categories for fluctuations that may be a weak signal.

Entrepreneur 93

Entrepreneur eBook Metrics Examples 93

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2023

In the same way, great entrepreneurs and company leaders should no longer rely on faceless and nameless processes to drive business strategy and innovation to stay competitive. Here is my adaptation of his engagement principles for all the aspiring entrepreneurs I advise: Learn to adopt an outsider’s perspective.

Customer 140

Customer Custom Social Media Metrics 140

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2012

The service was created by experience serial entrepreneurs Mark Sylvester and KymberleeWeil, who some might know from creating service introNetworks. Mark Sylvester sat down with us to talk about the new project, and how it's applying what they've learned building their visual analysis tools to the world of Facebook and social media.

Social Media 203

Social Media Startup Tool LAMP 203

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2011

Alain Theriault, better known as StartupCoach , tells entrepreneurs that, on your way to being a great chef, you don't start by writing a cook book (business plan), you work in the kitchen for a while, you learn some tools of the trade, you experiment with a few recipes, you test on willing clients. then you can start writing a recipe.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Metrics 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2022

Even after many years mentoring entrepreneurs and advising businesses, I continue to be surprised by the primary focus on products and processes, and the often incidental attention to hiring and nurturing the right people. Almost any startup can start with Excel, and move to open-source data analysis tools, including Python or RStudio.

Tool 121

Tool Statistics Entrepreneur Metrics 121

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” Marketplace companies are notoriously difficult to start, so I'm constantly amazed that so many entrepreneurs chose this route. If you’re an entrepreneur, the glib answer is “no.”

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

A tool to better help you find bars & restaurants? You know this isn’t likely to lead anywhere and frankly you didn’t quit your job to pursue your life dream of being an entrepreneur to sell 12 months later in an acquihire. They can’t wait to hear your brilliant idea. “What? ” “True. It was not.

Startup 417

Startup Course Venture Capital Writing 417

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

In my own business career, many years as a business advisor, and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I have validated the following strategies to practice and guide you. Make sure that you implement a metric with each solution, to prevent the issue from recurring, and check for side effects and follow-on side effects.

Satisfaction 152

Satisfaction Mentor Study Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for a disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to InvoiceTracker. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2020

In the same way, great entrepreneurs and company leaders should no longer rely on faceless and nameless processes to drive business strategy and innovation to stay competitive. Here is my adaptation of his engagement principles for all the aspiring entrepreneurs I advise: Learn to adopt an outsider’s perspective.

Social Media 128

Social Media Metrics Customer Custom 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for that disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to Gallup. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2022

My job as a new business advisor is to help entrepreneurs get over this chasm early. Most entrepreneurs find that they are their own toughest critics. Measure, don’t guess, with tools that build, not limit. Don’t be limited by tools of the past – always be alert for best of breed and innovation.

Case Study 139

Case Study Customer Custom Tool 139