Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

It’s important to define your growth strategy, document it, communicate it to your team, and align metrics and employee rewards to target goals. For example, Mark McClain, cofounder and CEO of SailPoint Technologies , created an employee growth culture resulting in growth of forty percent a year, with more than $100 million in revenues.

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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. For example, your quality problem may well have both design as well as manufacturing elements. Search for the multiple dimensions of a problem.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2022

For example, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has started or grown over 400 companies, from record labels to space travel, so for him the joy is clearly in the startup. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Practice leadership by example beyond your business entity. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2022

For example, I’m an introverted product guy who doesn’t care so much about building the personnel relationships needed to keep a motivated team. A strong vision and deep insight may get your business off the ground, but long-term success requires constant data analysis, metrics, and attention to your customer feedback.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. For example, I believe Bill Gates would have failed without his partners Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2021

As a mentor, my mission is to recommend actions that can strengthen your image with investors and peers, as well as help you get the startup job done. An example of a good balance is clearly Whole Foods , whose focus on healthy foods and a sustainable environment is legendary. Define and use real metrics to measure progress.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2020

Implement the key business metrices you will live by. Identify the three most important metrics your business must hit every week to achieve growth goals. Increase you focus on coaching, training, and mentoring. These are the timeless principles that must guide all hiring, marketing, and execution decisions.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2020

For example, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has started or grown over 400 companies, from record labels to space travel, so for him the joy is clearly in the startup. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Practice leadership by example beyond your business entity. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

For example, I have a friend with a Ph.D. For example, I often cite the case of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer , who grew Microsoft together. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics. That’s why I caution my aspiring entrepreneur clients against proclaiming to investors that they are a great “idea” person.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

For example, many investors I know tell me they look for business plans that allocate the largest portion of a requested investment to marketing, but most often see the top “ use of funds ” to be further product or service development. Seek out people who are already known in your space. Allocate resources to handle bumps along the way.

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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. Keep your plan updated, and don’t be caught off guard.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Examples I have seen include atomic battery technology, or how marine algae could help feed the world.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2022

As a mentor to business professionals, I find that many are frustrated that peers and managers don’t recognize the true value of their contributions. It is important to set the expectations for success early, as well as the appropriate metrics. Communicate the criteria for success early and often.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2020

As a mentor to entrepreneurs over the years, I see many of you who don’t communicate enough, others who seem to do all the talking, and some that are hesitant to be direct and open. For example, every business team needs focus and direction to be productive. I find that having the right mindset is key to getting all these right.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Unfortunately, many aspiring leaders I mentor are not aware of the signals people are looking for, or are not attuned to the subtleties of their own actions. Define metrics to measure what you want to achieve. For example, measuring marketing team members on sales leads may not get you the revenue growth or trust you expected.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2022

One of the attributes that I often recommend to the business professionals and entrepreneurs I mentor is to always be totally accountable for your actions and ideas. Setting your own metrics, and measuring yourself , will facilitate accountability. Be available for mentoring and coaching to others.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

Image via Pixabay As a mentor to many small business owners, I always caution them that you can never relax completely, just because your initial solution or product set appears to be getting traction, and the market buzz is positive. Document processes and metrics for economies of scale.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

For example, even though Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook as an innovative product, most experts believe it was successful due to his relationship with Peter Thiel and other top VCs that he convinced to invest early. They mentor each other, and seek out experts in domains outside their current expertise and experience.

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SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

For me, FI was great for networking with Adeo and the other mentors, who are all world class successful entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the other founders in the program. For example, with photos, two years ago it was enough to enable users to actively share photos with friends online. and also to local advertisements.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2023

In fact, in my experience as an executive and a mentor to entrepreneurs, sustainable results require a balance between hard work and learning , for you and your team members. No matter how hard you work as a business leader or entrepreneur, you can’t sustain consistent results without an equally hardworking team, each with a learning mindset.

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Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2018

For example, I still find businesses asking you to print, sign, and return documents by mail in lieu of digital signatures or email. You need to communicate quantified and updates goals quarterly, including the metrics to assess progress and success. In my mind, these are killing their businesses.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

For example , when Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia , a successful outdoor products company, his real goal was building safe products to help the environment. Assess who you can get for value and mentoring. You may be comfortable driving your future based on vision and emotion, or have long been a stickler for details and metrics.

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socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Michele Ruiz: Robin Richards and I formed the company, after he approached me, after having been a business mentor for me for fifteen years. It's a great example of a made-in-LA thing. Why that it is important, is the metrics associated with this is are how scalable it is. How did the three of you connect?

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Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

As an employee of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets from 1999-2003 and of the Indianapolis Pacers from 2003-2008, I learned first-hand from the likes of Rod Thorn, Byron Scott, Jason Kidd and Larry Bird about the importance of leading by example and keys to assembling a championship-caliber team. Sergey Belyankin is our Chief Technology Officer.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 25, 2018

It’s easy to see how cultures go astray, for example, when you pay only for sales volume, but expect a high focus on customer satisfaction. Establish metrics on the culture, as well as the product. These metrics need the same top management attention as customer retention and sales metrics. Place shapes culture.

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Jason Nazar

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

I’ve been a part of dozens (maybe hundreds) of product launches And in each of these cases I ask my team to put together a simple dashboard of a small set of metrics for our paid and free products that let me know the success of our efforts. For startup entrepreneurs, you can also track these metrics with Google analytics.

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Jason Nazar

MAY 1, 2016

I’ve been a part of dozens (maybe hundreds) of product launches And in each of these cases I ask my team to put together a simple dashboard of a small set of metrics for our paid and free products that let me know the success of our efforts. For startup entrepreneurs, you can also track these metrics with Google analytics.

Marketing 40

Marketing CPC Metrics .Net 40

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2016

Promote by example a superior customer experience mindset. It must be written down, with measurable team objectives, validated by metrics and compared against competition. Provide coaching and mentoring as well as training. Lost customers provide the best input. Most importantly, your actions speak louder than words.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2016

For example, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has started over 400 companies, from record labels to space travel, so for him the joy is clearly in the startup. Implement metrics and set objectives for every organization. Practice leadership by example beyond your business entity. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Entrepreneur 55

Entrepreneur Training Organization Examples 55

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2016

So, for example, if you and your family have heart health issues, that might be the first dimension where you have interesting opportunities to optimize your health. In today's world, people are lonely, and they are really looking for someone to mentor them, to guide them, to hold them accountable.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 16, 2017

In the same way, you may think that people assessment is all about skills and experience, but as a mentor to business owners, I have learned to look more for the right attitude, persistence, and determination, as success factors. Thus most investors I know claim to invest in the person, rather than the product.

Software Review 57

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Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2013

My every day is trying to fundraise, reaching, re-reaching out, and trying to keep people updated with metrics. ML: I do mentor and advise a lot of young entrepreneurs, especially from USC since I went to that school. Take us for example, we have done tens of thousands of dollars in sales and now we are going to raise money.

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SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

For example it includes the following kinds of things that a CTO should be addressing, but that may not be part of the expectation, time allocation, etc. What metrics are going to be the key startup metrics and how do we get those metrics without too much cost? What specific technical innovations might make sense?

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

One preparation example is the value of building a business plan before you start. In my perspective as an advisor and mentor to many entrepreneurs, there are a set of basic strategies that can be applied to every startup to dramatically improve the odds of success, no matter what the business domain.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2019

As a mentor to entrepreneurs, I often get asked for the magic that has made Amazon the world's most valuable brand , from a total unknown only twenty years ago. For example, when delivery costs and delays were still a major online sales hurdle, Amazon Prime membership was invented to offer free next day shipping.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. As a mentor to many entrepreneurs and startups, here are my best recommendations for keeping the burn rate low, planning ahead and maintaining credibility with investors: Manage cash flow personally every day. Desperate entrepreneurs lose their leverage and die young.

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