Author Archive
May 3rd, 2013
Join us on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 for a new class “Get Out Of Your Batcave: Customer Development for Lean Startups” from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at Education @ PARISOMA in San Francisco, CA.
You’ll learn how to:
- Establish “ground truth” in an early market
- Use an MVP (minimum viable product) to explore the market
- Apply what you have learned to drive early product iterations
- Make your offering attractive to paying customers
This interactive class will cover key concepts and rules of thumb for successful innovation by lean startups. We will cover actionable strategies for lean startups bringing discontinuous or disruptive products to market.
Why Get Out Of The Batcave To Discover A Market’s Ground Truth?
To Find As Many Surprises As You Can
In The Market
Before Building And Launching Your Product
For more “Get Out Of the Batcave” stories and advice see:
May 2nd, 2013
A talk I enjoyed by Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.”
Some great insights from Apple, Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Wright Brothers:
- Why -> How -> What
- Why is not “to make a profit” that’s a result..
- Why is your purpose, your reason for existence.
- Common approach is What -> How -> Why but much less compelling.
- People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.
- Dr. King said “I have a dream” not “I have a comprehensive 12 point plan.”
Sinek is the author of “Start With Why”
March 23rd, 2013
Join us in San Francisco for an interactive workshop “Validating your MVP & Value Proposition.“ We will cover a variety of proven techniques for validating your MVP & value proposition for B2B startups.
When: 5:30-8:30 PM Tue-Apr-2-2013
Where: 1355 Market, Suite 488, San Francisco
Cost: $60
This interactive workshop will provide:
- Systematic approach to validating your MVP & your value proposition
- Understand who buys your product and how they calculate its value and total cost
- Explore different options for reaching them
- Learn how to track efforts and measure results
- Determining when to pivot and when to persevere
We will cover:
- What is MVP?
- How much do I need to talk to people about my MVP?
- Techniques for Validation
- Where to find people to validate Your MVP?
- Iterating your MVP for problem validation, customer validation, market niche exploration, and product launch
January 7th, 2013
We have openings for our Mastermind Groups geared for technical entrepreneurs.
for CEOs
Entrepreneurs who wanted to form an advisory board of peers with a deeper understanding of each other’s businesses and shared accountability.
for CTOs
We have found that the CTO has a unique role on a startup team: they are expected to be fully immersed in a product’s technical architecture and roadmap but are also expected to take part in closing business with major customers. Our Mastermind group is designed to provide an advisory board you can brainstorm and compare notes with. I will help to facilitate a single conversation among a small group of peers to discuss issues and challenges, encourage peer-to-peer critique and guidance on critical business issues. My belief is that the group will help you to rise above everyday operational challenges to periodically focus on strategic planning and long-term growth issues.
Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their businesses issues, share referrals, and advise one another in a confidential, supportive environment during two meetings a month with eight qualified members.
Interested … Check it out at an upcoming open house:
Time: Jan 23 6-8pm
Location: Pacific Business Centers (Board Room), 19925 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 100, Cupertino, CA 95014
There is no charge for this open house but if you decide to join a facilitated small group there is a small monthly subscription.
Register at http://www.meetup.com/BayAreaMastermind/events/83488092/
December 15th, 2012
If you missed SKMurphy and SalesQualia at Lean Startup Conference’s workshop, Sean Murphy and Scott Sambucci led an interactive workshop on developing and debugging your repeatable and scalable B2B sales process. In the workshop, we worked a number of sales issues that the attendees from lean startups had:
- Can’t get potential customers to call back
- Won’t make a decision
- Prospects like the beta, but they will not buy
- Deals stall
Quick Summary
Engineering Your Sales Process workshop will help you learn from common sales problems by using conscious planning and experimentation. Traditional sales training stresses “every no moves you closer to a yes.” Our approach to engineering your sales process says instead, “What looks like noise is often actually data.” Designing and debugging a repeatable sales process is key to a sustainable business, and we’ll address how to diagnose common problems to determine likely root causes. You will leave with a scientific approach to understanding your customers’ needs and their buying process so that you can scale your business in harmony with it.
You can view the slides at http://www.slideshare.net/SalesQualia/engineering-your-sales-process.
Also here is the link to a readable version of the sales map in mindomo http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=e18b84e308994b1d95a032583f3885bcces
Workshop feedback
November 28th, 2012
This is the season to think about next year – time to gather up what has worked in the past year and what new things to experiment with in the coming year. 2013 offers a very big opportunity to improve or tweak your business.
One way I try to figure out what holes need to be filled is by tracking the following things:
- Size of mailing list
- Number of website visitors
- Number of new articles added to the website
- Number of request for demos
- Number of events held or attended
- Number of press releases
- Keywords
- Top and new referrals streams (partners, websites, …)
- New information sources
My promotion plan includes:
- Email blast
- Mail
- Advertising (adwords, banners, print)
- Website improvements
- New information sources to target
- Press releases
- Conferences
- Memberships
- Speaking engagements
- Video
- Partners
- New to target
- Press releases
November 17th, 2012
All companies, even those that take a lean approach, face these problems in B2B sales:
- You can’t get potential customers to call back
- They won’t make a decision
- They seem to like a ever-ending beta, but they will not buy
- Your deals stall
This interactive workshop will help you learn from these problems by using conscious planning and experimentation. Traditional sales training stresses “every no moves you closer to a yes.” Our approach to engineering your sales process says instead, “What looks like noise is often actually data.” Designing and debugging a repeatable sales process is key to a sustainable business, and we’ll address how to diagnose common problems to determine likely root causes. You will leave with a scientific approach to understanding your customers’ needs and their buying process so that you can scale your business in harmony with it.
| Early Bird $99
Regular $129
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Where: Silicon Valley, CA
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Sean Murphy, CEO of SKMurphy, Inc. has taken an entrepreneurial approach to life since he could drive. He has served as an advisor to dozens of startups, helping them explore risk-reducing business options and build a scalable, repeatable sales process. SKMurphy, Inc. focuses on early customers and early revenue for software startups, helping engineers to understand business development. Their clients have offerings in electronic design automation, artificial intelligence, web-enabled collaboration, proteomics, text analytics, legal services automation, and medical services workflow.
Scott Sambucci is the Chief Sales Geek at SalesQualia, a company dedicated to improving sales performance. With more than 10 years in Silicon Valley and 15 years in sales, management, and entrepreneurial roles in the software and data industries, Scott merges the attributes of a successful salesperson and entrepreneur, putting his experience to work for SalesQualia clients every day. He’s lectured at numerous universities across the world, presented at TEDxHultBusinessSchool in San Francisco, and recently published “Startup Selling: How to sell if you really, really have to and don’t know how.”
November 8th, 2012
Are you tired of working hard on a sales opportunity only to find an unexpected issue that stalls the sales process?
You are not alone!
Having an effective sales planning process, sharing insight across the internal team and enabling great demos, greatly improves sales productivity and use of resources. Learn how to make this happen and greatly improve your sales results, including:
- Reducing “no decisions”
- Avoid having to go back two steps
- Improving sales process inefficiencies
- Work on better opportunities
- Use your resources more effectively
In this webinar, Averting Stalled Sales Opportunities, Ron Snyder and Peter Cohan show you the key steps to forestall a stalled sales process.
Topics covered:
- The Challenge causing stalled sales
- Elements of a Successful Plan
- Guiding the Sales Process- using the Plan
- Coordinating Activities, including Demos
- A Sample Plan
Sign up for the webinar here and receive your copy of the article: “How to Write a Strategic Account Plan.” Select the date that is most convenient for you;
- November 29 at 12:00 noon Pacific time
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- December 10 at 12:00 noon Pacific time
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Ron Snyder, of Breakthrough, Inc. and Plan 2 Win Software, has trained thousands of salespeople and managers on sales effectiveness, territory and account planning. Prior to that, he was a top ranked sales salesperson at Hewlett-Packard and a manager in the field sales force and a marketing manager.
Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative, focused on helping software organizations improve their sales and marketing results – primarily through improving organizations’ demonstrations.
Sean Murphy, the moderator, is CEO at SKMurphy providing customer development services for high-tech companies. SKMurphy focus is on early customers and early revenue.
Please feel free to contact us for more information.
Ron Snyder
Plan2Win Software
rsnyder@Plan2WinSoftware.com
Peter Cohan
The Second Derivative
PCohan@SecondDerivative.com
November 2nd, 2012
Create and Deliver Surprisingly Compelling Software Demonstrations
“Do The Last Thing First” — the recipe for a Great Demo!
This is an interactive workshop with Peter Cohan geared especially for you who demonstrate B-to-B software to your customer and channels. Bring a copy of your demo and be prepared to present it — we’ll help you turn it into a surprisingly compelling demo. More information
Core Seminar & Advanced Topics
March 6 & 7, 2013
Cost: $930 (Before Feb 4: $895) |
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Where: Moorpark Hotel, 4241 Moorpark Ave, San Jose CA 95129
For out of town attendees: The Moorpark is located 400 feet from the Saratoga Ave exit on Hwy 280, about 7 miles from San Jose Airport and 35 miles from San Francisco Airport Hotels Near Great Demo! Workshop
“I am confident that with the insights gained from your workshop we will land more customers in fewer iterations.”
Lav Pachuri, CEO, Xleron Inc.
“Peter Cohan’s Great Demo method really works. It helped us win DEMOgod, and it has allowed us to explain our offering much more clearly to prospects.”
Chaim Indig, CEO, Phreesia
(See “DEMOgod Winner Phreesia Praises Peter Cohan Training“)
More information on the workshop
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Peter Cohan, Principal at The Second Derivative
Community Web Site: http://greatdemo.blogspot.com/
Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative, focused on helping software organizations improve their sales and marketing results – primarily through improving organizations’ demonstrations.
The bulk of his experience is with complex, enterprise software and strategic systems sold to varied audiences in a range of vertical markets. He has enjoyed roles in technical and product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management.
In 2003, he authored Great Demo!, a book that provides methods to create and execute compelling demonstrations. The 2nd edition of Great Demo! was published March, 2005.
In July 2004, he enabled and began moderating DemoGurus®, a community web exchange dedicated to helping sales and marketing teams improve their software demonstrations, which was subsequently transitioned to the Great Demo! LinkedIn Group in 2010-2011.
Before The Second Derivative, Peter founded the Discovery Tools® business unit at Symyx Technologies, Inc., where he grew the business from an empty spreadsheet into a $30 million per year operation. Prior to Symyx, Peter served in marketing, sales, and management positions at MDL Information Systems, a leading provider of scientific information management software. Peter currently serves on the Board of Directors for Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc., is an advisor to NewallStreet, Inc. and a mentor to StartX, the Stanford University start-up accelerator. He holds a degree in chemistry.
Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and senior management in marketing, sales, and business development. He has also been, and continues to be, a customer.
Day 1 Agenda:
- 8:15 AM Breakfast & Registration
- 8:30 AM Workshop begins
- Noon Lunch
- 1 PM Workshop Continues
- 5 PM Wrap up
Day 2 Agenda:
- 8:15 AM Breakfast & Registration
- 8:30 AM Workshop begins on Advanced Topics
- 12:30pm Wrap up
Seating is Limited
For more information: Theresa 408-252-9676 events@skmurphy.com
October 26th, 2012
Create and Deliver Surprisingly Compelling Software Demonstrations
“Do The Last Thing First” — the recipe for a Great Demo!
This is an interactive workshop with Peter Cohan geared especially for you who demonstrate B-to-B software to your customer and channels. Bring a copy of your demo and be prepared to present it — we’ll help you turn it into a surprisingly compelling demo. More information
Core Seminar & Advanced Topics
May 22 & 23, 2013
Cost: $930 (Before April-20: $895) |
|
Where: Moorpark Hotel, 4241 Moorpark Ave, San Jose CA 95129
For out of town attendees: The Moorpark is located 400 feet from the Saratoga Ave exit on Hwy 280, about 7 miles from San Jose Airport and 35 miles from San Francisco Airport Hotels Near Great Demo! Workshop
“I am confident that with the insights gained from your workshop we will land more customers in fewer iterations.”
Lav Pachuri, CEO, Xleron Inc.
“Peter Cohan’s Great Demo method really works. It helped us win DEMOgod, and it has allowed us to explain our offering much more clearly to prospects.”
Chaim Indig, CEO, Phreesia
(See “DEMOgod Winner Phreesia Praises Peter Cohan Training“)
More information on the workshop
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Peter Cohan, Principal at The Second Derivative
Community Web Site: http://greatdemo.blogspot.com/
Peter Cohan is the founder and principal of The Second Derivative, focused on helping software organizations improve their sales and marketing results – primarily through improving organizations’ demonstrations.
The bulk of his experience is with complex, enterprise software and strategic systems sold to varied audiences in a range of vertical markets. He has enjoyed roles in technical and product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management.
In 2003, he authored Great Demo!, a book that provides methods to create and execute compelling demonstrations. The 2nd edition of Great Demo! was published March, 2005.
In July 2004, he enabled and began moderating DemoGurus®, a community web exchange dedicated to helping sales and marketing teams improve their software demonstrations, which was subsequently transitioned to the Great Demo! LinkedIn Group in 2010-2011.
Before The Second Derivative, Peter founded the Discovery Tools® business unit at Symyx Technologies, Inc., where he grew the business from an empty spreadsheet into a $30 million per year operation. Prior to Symyx, Peter served in marketing, sales, and management positions at MDL Information Systems, a leading provider of scientific information management software. Peter currently serves on the Board of Directors for Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc., is an advisor to NewallStreet, Inc. and a mentor to StartX, the Stanford University start-up accelerator. He holds a degree in chemistry.
Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and senior management in marketing, sales, and business development. He has also been, and continues to be, a customer.
Day 1 Agenda:
- 8:15 AM Breakfast & Registration
- 8:30 AM Workshop begins
- Noon Lunch
- 1 PM Workshop Continues
- 5 PM Wrap up
Day 2 Agenda:
- 8:15 AM Breakfast & Registration
- 8:30 AM Workshop begins on Advanced Topics
- 12:30pm Wrap up
Seating is Limited
For more information: Theresa 408-252-9676 events@skmurphy.com
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