Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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 109

Writing Entrepreneur Summary Email 109

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

Jeff (also an HBS alum) co-teaches the LTV course with Professor Eisenmann about a student of theirs who had written a blog post about sales taking on some of my previous assertions. That student is Erin McCann who formerly worked in sales at Google, so she has some ground to stand on in her assertions. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Sales Course Competition 319

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. Do you have sales productivity software? Write out the topic and maybe even the blog title. By definition, you read blogs.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 16, 2011

Talented brand sales people? Help them write other stories. One day they’ll write yours. Imagine the human progress you could make with 250 short, relationship-focused meetings. Here’s why it’s critical: 1. Recruiting. Are you looking for great engineers? A smart young marketing exec? 50 coffee meetings.

Startup 410

Startup Writing Press Venture Capital 410

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. I divided success into the phases of venture capital and 18 months into writing my first check here was my view (details on each in the link above). 5 years ago. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10. The monkey on my back.

Venture Capital 387

Venture Capital Downey Writing Press 387

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 25, 2014

Enterprise Sales – The very first thing a potential customer does when you email or call to set up a meeting is Google you. Of course you need a new angle to get a journalist interested because they don’t simply want to write what everybody else has covered. but didn’t convert to sales. Classmates call.

Press 415

Press Google Course Writing 415

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 20, 2013

In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. It the second rule of sales, “Why Buy Me?”

Sales 336

Sales Startup Competition Customer 336

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

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. They will often run all of the daily reports into them covering off for finance, sales, marketing, biz dev & HR. Similarly I talk to CEOs who can’t do a sales pipeline review with me. I think usually a COO title at a startup is an ego thing.

Startup 325

Startup Technical Review Sales Report 325

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Of course it is super helpful if a VC can drop you in to important people for business development, recruiting, PR, sales and eventually M&A. and I realized that without years of experience it is tough to answer this question.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2010

I guess let’s file this under sales & marketing advice. Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing. OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write. I didn’t want to run out of things to write about in the first 6 months.

Blogging 286

Blogging Startup Writing Summary 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 16, 2011

After college Joanne worked for 4 years in retail apparel at Macy’s where she initially managed sales reps on the floor and then worked as a buyer of clothing. This is where she first developed sales skills. She doubled her salary by going into sales. to $12m in sales. “A lot of sales is innate.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Venture Capital Entrepreneur 311

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

InfoChachkie

JUNE 3, 2013

I said, ''Hey, listen were going to start writing this newsletter and it''s going to highlight our trials and tribulations, our failures and our successes. The opening paragraphs of that first newsletter are indicative of the captivating and accessible writing style, which eventually cultivated a huge audience. And of those 35 people.

Newsletter 233

Newsletter Startup Entrepreneur Writing 233

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

You’ll get sales information from your VP of Sales, marketing information from your VP Marketing, tech information from your CTO and so on. An obvious example would be in sales. By going on sales calls you pick up directly the feedback of what customers want and also what they’re telling you about competition.

Startup 308

Startup CTO Coach Technical Review CTO Hire 308

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. When I write a blog post I often see the words before I write them. These are all creative processes.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2011

I started by writing 3-4 times / week. I didn’t have any grand ambitions other than to write, share ideas and try to build awareness of who I am through my thoughts. Just like a sales person at the end of a quarter. I still have to get sales, operations, finance, HR & corp dev right to win. I did that?

Startup 391

Startup Blogging Venture Capital Writing 391

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

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2011

Marketing futures can be really good for enterprise software companies where the information is passed between sales rep and potential customer in terms of near-term roadmap. Market to Your Target Audience – I’ve seen a lot of startups who like to write blog posts on life as an entrepreneur. Read their articles.

Marketing 380

Marketing Startup Press Technical Advisors 380

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Every time I think to write a post about this I figure the most recent board meeting I’ve attended will think it’s about them so I don’t bother. So I’m going to write a series of board meetings posts unrelated to anybody or maybe an amalgamation of them all. should we charge for our product or be freemium?

Writing 337

Writing Venture Capital Help SaaS 337

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2021

When you first start your career as an investor (or when you first start writing angel checks) your main obsession is “getting into great deals.” the sale of the company for $1 billion. You’re thinking about one bullet at a time. billion When Ring started, even the folks at Shark Tank wouldn’t fund it. It was ~30 days from bankruptcy.

Funding 294

Funding Startup Writing Invest 294

Berkonomics

AUGUST 17, 2023

Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale when others attempt to sell their shares and more.

Invest 296

Invest Capital Startup Entrepreneur 296

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 Custom 296

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Our interview today is with Amos Schwartzfarb , the author of Sell More Faster: The Ultimate Sales Playbook for Start-Ups , which comes out tomorrow, Wednesday. We caught up with Amos to learn about his new book, and to gain some tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to figure out when you're actually ready to scale your sales team.

Sales 113

Sales Startup Custom Development Framework 113

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 9, 2021

Even as NFT sales dip below their most speculative highs, startups aiming to tap into their potential are still scoring big funding rounds from investors who believe there’s much more to crypto collectibles than the past few months of hype.

Platform 308

Platform Framework Los Angeles Design 308

socalTECH

JANUARY 18, 2011

What that did, is it helped us to expand the service to help publishers do the following: identify what content to write, how to distribute that content to various mediums, and how to monetize that content. Journalists are notorious for not wanting to write based on revenues or commercial intersts, or having anyone tell them what to write.

Marketing 232

Marketing Funding Content Writing 232

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 23, 2020

An additional way the government could juice the auto industry — and specifically electric vehicles — is by providing point of sale rebates for all vehicles that could be issued through car dealerships, according to the proposal. Light-duty charging infrastructure occupies another $10 billion of the suggested stimulus measures.

Southern California 261

Southern California Los Angeles Rosemead Incubator 261

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 25, 2013

I’m not talking only about a sales call, getting past the assistant or anything like that. Write your set of bullet points on paper before the call. When you jump straight into “sales pitch mode” it feels a bit strange. How Can I Help? How can I best help you?” ” It’s what we want.

Startup 364

Startup Writing Help Email 364

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

I should try to come back and write about this more, but the point of this post is that it's important not to only think about this aspect. A few things jumped out at me: - Experience in sales or technology - considered a minor negative? If you've not had a C-level but have had experience in sales or tech. is a requirement.

Startup 198

Startup Custom Development Sales Writing 198

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

I plan to write a whole separate blog post about this quote because it’s always stuck with me. 5 years or so later I still revisit that sales campaign and relive many of the steps. I wanted to write a follow up post because it was such an important lesson for me and so eye opening. In fact, ramp up your efforts.

Startup 247

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Writing 247

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Write things down. Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

We talked about a lot of great stuff in the video including how to do sales calls and a how a new “culture of writing&# is emerging as a critical skill set in business today. I’ll write a post on how to give feedback to employees and then I’ll get emails from people telling me they forwarded it to their whole team.

Buzzfeed 354

Buzzfeed Content Tips Blogging 354

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

Write things down. Looong Appendix (only for those interested in reading another story about losing a sale & key lessons): A personal story of losing a sale that haunted me for years. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. I later learned one of my biggest lesson in sales. Be gracious.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2014

But then you can springboard from there to your next gig and you’ll be an experienced startup employee with functional experience at sales, marketing, product or whatever roles you played.” Before you start writing your friends checks for their startups, get out your checkbook and bet on you. It’s gonna suck, I know.

Startup 409

Startup Invest Venture Capital Writing 409

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 17, 2011

Actually, I think the advice in this post applies to any sales meeting also. I wanted to write a quick post on a pet peeve that I have when teams present “who they are” whether in a bio slide or just in the up front introductions. I am a big believer in VC pitches that the bio slide should come up front.

Slides 296

Slides GRP Partners Venture Capital Writing 296