Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2021

As an advisor to new business owners, I’m accustomed to seeing primarily the simple traditional product pricing strategies , usually driven by competitor prices, or cost plus a reasonable margin. I often wonder whether you as the entrepreneur have worked as hard on your pricing strategy as you have on your innovative solution.

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socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

Los Angeles-based TheBouqs (www.thebouqs.com) thinks so, with its new, cut-to-order online flower delivery service for the iPad generation. The third part of this is the subscription service we offer. There are lots of online flower delivery services, in a pretty established market. What is the Bouqs? Closing this $1.1M

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the other hand, the biggest winners will turn out to be much larger than the prices people paid for them and this will happen faster than at any time in human history. And the truth is that several entrepreneurs prefer it this way. However, to be a great VC you have to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at the same time.

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SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - First Principles.

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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. “Invoice price” is an equally meaningless marketing tool. As many air bags as possible. But I digress.

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. I spoke about how Amazon Web Services deserves far more credit for the last 5 years of innovation than it gets credit for and how I believe they spawned the micro-VC category. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. I believe that. That’s fine.

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Berkonomics

APRIL 13, 2017

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. Some great ideas just cannot be made into a product at a reasonable enough price to attract customers. Where in industry life cycle?

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Berkonomics

JUNE 22, 2023

If your vision is for a product or service that fills a need in a mature industry, you may be flying against the prevailing winds as a market shrinks over time, taking your business with it. Some great ideas just cannot be made into a product at a reasonable enough price to attract customers. Where in industry life cycle?

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

A personal story as an investor … [Email readers, continue here…] My very first investment as a professional angel was in a small startup where the entrepreneur’s vision fueled my imagination in the audio market niche where I had run a business in an earlier life. Why tell this story at all?

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. And I had been telling my partners for a couple of years that I thought Ethan was one of the more talented entrepreneurs I had come across in San Francisco.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

I call this “arming & aiming&# your sales teams where you need to standardize both the assignment of territories, industries & accounts (aiming) as well as the process of selling, the collateral, the legal agreements & pricing. We moved toward more standardized pricing (e.g. less negotiating & haggling).

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 30, 2021

Therefore, the least you can do is take advantage of some of the self-assessment tools and guides around, like the classic book “ The Entrepreneur Equation ,” by Carol Roth, which highlights personal characteristics and skills required. That should indicate that a lot of entrepreneurs get more than they bargained for.

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Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

In case you don’t know – as VCs we have have 2 sets of customers: LPs (limited partners) who invest money in our funds and entrepreneurs (who we in turn give money to and help support them in building businesses we hope will be valuable). Who else is going to tell a VC if he got a bad reference from an entrepreneur or fellow VC?

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

As I’m generally a believer in ‘pricing rounds’ I initially didn’t agree with the premise of the post. Not that they’re “such a bad idea&# but more that there are inherent problems for entrepreneurs in the process of raising angel money that need to be addressed. Photo credit: D. rings true to me.

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TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Upgrading ParkMobile’s license plate-based service with a computer vision based system that recognizes cars as they enter and leave garages has been Metropolis’ mission since founder and chief executive Alex Israel first formed the business back in 2017. Israel, a serial entrepreneur, has spent decades thinking about parking.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

With the appearance of do-it-yourself services on the Internet, entrepreneur curriculums at every university, and a wealth of new books on the subject, the need for expensive consultants and business advisors has also been mitigated. A programmer can build a new smartphone app for a few thousand dollars.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

You have an open source stack, cloud services for storage, processing & management and APIs for just about anything you want. These days that’s not the case and it’s a great outcome for entrepreneurs and for innovation. A: Only because it’s a nicer branding for entrepreneurs. That’s all.

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Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

In 1994, (I know a long time ago), I invested over a million dollars into a company whose entrepreneurs had a vision that I bought into for many reasons, not the least of which was that I had industry experience and understood the need. Surprisingly, many entrepreneurs immediately respond. Back to 1996. There is no competition.”

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. on the entrepreneur side of the table) when I raised at too high of a price.

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Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price?

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Berkonomics

JUNE 29, 2017

[Email readers, continue here…] My very first investment as a professional angel was in a small startup where the entrepreneur’s vision fueled my imagination in the audio market niche where I had run a business in an earlier life. A small venture firm and a few more angels rounded out the total investment. Why tell this story at all?

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Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

As I outlined in my talk, I believe the greatest Internet companies created over the past 15 years have been “deflationary” meaning they are driving down the prices or goods & services. Declining prices & margins in a small market is much less interesting. Prices down. Network Up. But what else?

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I tend to see many of the same obstacles appearing in every new startup, and since I don’t want to appear to be a downer , I’m not sure how to properly warn people ahead of time to be on the alert for these challenges. Each of these can go astray as follows: Your product or service hits unexpected snags.

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TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Launched by Karen Rodgers O’Neil, a longtime marketing executive, and Daniel Perrone, a serial entrepreneur and technology executive whose previous company, BroadMap, was acquired by Apple; The Shed hopes to take the rental model that Home Depot has turned into a billion dollar business line and take it to the masses. .

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 20, 2020

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. With this model, a startup pre-sells their product early, at a cheaper price, in exchange for a pledge. Product pre-order model.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

His focus is on sales, but I see the same skills needed for entrepreneurs. His top eight required skill set elements for sales don’t even mention product skills, and match my view of the right skill set for successful entrepreneurs, with only a few priority changes: Creating and sharing a vision. Negotiating and creating win-win deals.

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Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

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InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

If you could share one startup lesson with a young entrepreneur, what would it be? So I ask prospective new entrepreneurs, ''What is it specifically that you can bring to the industry?'' Do you have any specific advice for entrepreneurs who might be considering starting a venture with a loved one? How have you made it work?

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Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 11, 2012

Sometimes I even say, “I will change price / terms if I need to. Your job is to offer a price (or terms) and walk. If you get to the end of the road and turn right and they’re not following you then you know you offered a price that was too low. In that case my price was too low even for him. I prefer not to.

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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. Marketing, sales, support, and service operations. Solution development and delivery.

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Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

Let’s be honest – as professional investors we have ALL been to meetings with other groups of investors where we talk about whether there’s a bubble, price creep, etc. Here’s the thing: entrepreneurs who aren’t at all of our private meetings really didn’t know what do think about the situation.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The founders felt that having a legitimate site for content would discourage Silicon Valley VC’s from funding entrepreneurs to create the next big TV killer. Once this new service became popular then the media companies could control the rules of distribution & advertising. Older shows might allow a single season.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Young entrepreneurs and startups, in particular, often remain naively unfocused, despite their passion, of what it takes to provide the high-quality service expected.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” There are no guarantees in business, but it pays to learn from the experiences of entrepreneurs and business experts who have gone before you. Risk is more manageable with subscriptions and even freemium pricing. In reality, all risks are not the same.

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Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Certainly, bootstrapping is a preferred method of funding growth if it does not hold back the speed of growth or hobble the quality of product or service to the extent that better-funded competitors can overtake the business. There is a lot to say about retaining control. Dave’s book and ebook on raising money available on Amazon.com.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2020

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Yet, for those with more realistic expectations and the right motivation, the entrepreneur lifestyle can be the dream life you envisioned. Marty Zwilling.

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Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

I pointed to several Economist articles I had read that mapped historical prices of real estate for 400 years and how on average property values grow at no more 1.5% above inflation yet in many markets in the US & Europe prices were rising at 10-25% per year. And it’s driving up prices beyond their inherent value.

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