Focus On Your Prospect’s Pain Not The Brilliance of Your Product Idea
Many entrepreneurs find themselves in the grip of an idea, captivated by it’s seeming brilliance. But success comes from understanding a prospect’s pain.
Many entrepreneurs find themselves in the grip of an idea, captivated by it’s seeming brilliance. But success comes from understanding a prospect’s pain.
In a SaaS world where tools are more integrated and customizable, are VARs going away? How do SaaS companies reach customers? How should we compensate sales people? As a sales person, how will I make money if I work for a SaaS company? At this roundtable discussion we will exchange tips and gotchas and provide …
This event is Sold Out, No Walk-Ins accepted. Please sign up for waitlist we will be offering it again in 2008. Invest four hours now to save months later finding a path to revenue: most software startups fail after they have working functionality but before they find their market. You will leave this workshop with …
I have had two interesting conversations with friends who are frustrated with some of the internal deficiencies within their companies. Both of my friends are accountants, but work for different firms and in different departments. However, they are both part of itinerant work forces and have the same problem. While out of the office, they …
Using Web 2.0 Technology to Enable Strategic Selling: A Sales Executive Forum Read More »
Bill Paseman offers this advice to entrepreneurs: find a problem so bad that people pay you to solve and and let you keep the software.
Frank Hayes, a columnist for Computerworld, jotted down some “conventional IT wisdom” in 2000 in his “Frankly Speaking” column that they re-ran this month. Here were the best three nuggets:
How do you plan when you are in a small software startup? Big company methods are not a good fit. Here are three tips for planning a startup.
SaaS business models are proven and and gaining wide adoption. However they come with new issues: shorter release cycles, blurring of development team roles, and the need for new internal reporting and management controls now that you are responsible for the customers application infrastructure. Your development, support, sales, and product marketing folks must change how …
Inspired by Dorai Thodla’s “Triples and Congruence.” Budget, Quality, Time (project parameters aka “Iron triangle” pick any two, solve for third) Expert/Technician, Manager, Entrepreneur (E-Myth roles in a business) Beginning, Middle, End (elements of a story) Early Adopters, Mainstream, Laggards (measures of risk aversion in a population) Team, Technology, Traction (VC tests for quality of …
This event is now SOLD OUT and no walk-ins will be accepted; we are offering it again on Saturday January 19 at the Moorpark Hotel in San Jose. Invest four hours now to save months later finding a path to revenue: most software startups fail after they have working functionality but before they find their …
Ken Novak of Replicate Technology will give a talk on “SaaS Rapid Release Cycles Drive Virtualization Demand” at LinuxWorld in San Francisco Aug 7-9, 2007.
Last night I attended the IBDNetwork Strategies Series: Stepping on the Web 2.0 Scale. The event was hosted at Shasta Ventures and featured these guest speakers: Moderator: Tod Francis, Managing Director, Shasta Ventures Panel of Experts: Adam Gross, VP Developer Marketing, Salesforce Shawn Hardin, CEO, Flock Jason Pressman, Partner, Shasta Ventures Sam Schillace, Engineer, Writely/Google …
Stepping on the Web 2.0 Scale at IBDNetwork Jan-23-07 Read More »
Last night, I attended the January Silicon Valley New Tech Meetup. For those of you who do not know the format of these gatherings, it is very simple. Each group of presenters is allowed five minutes to pitch their offering and then the crowd is allocated five minutes to ask questions. The first presenters were the founders …
Gone are the days of annual release cycle. For many companies, weekly releases are the new standard. Picking the best software release cycle impacts your customers, team, and management. At this roundtable discussion we will exchange tips and gotchas. Provide a look at the impact on business models, teams and product development. Tuesday October 30 …
Coffee Break with Gary Smith It’s a strange thing to know someone who’s making the front page of the paper for losing his job. I have known Gary Smith for almost 20 years: we met when he was a methodologist at LSI Logic and their salesman for 3Com dragged him in to encourage us to …
Nusym has been on my radar screen ever since Venk Shukla came to a SIPA dinner on April 26, 2006 and joined their advisory board. Venk has been associated with a number of successful EDA companies (e.g. Cadence, Ambit, Magma Design, and Emulation and Verification Engineering (EVE)), a charter member of TiE, and definitely someone …
From Idea to Early Revenue We bring emerging technologies to market. We help software startups transform their technology development focus to a customer development focus and accelerate their business with scalable sales, marketing, and business operations. Want To Sell Your Own Products, Not Hours? Have Innovative Software But Too Few Customers? Struggling to Develop a …
Now Available — Getting More Customers Workbook At the heart of your startup is a plan to attract new customers and expand your customer base. This playbook helps you: Review a variety of proven marketing techniques. Learn how to select the best two or three methods that fit your unique professional style. Develop a 90-day …
My theme for quotes for entrepreneurs this month is effective preparation: looking back, looking forward, learning from past mistakes, and avoiding needless worry.
Treat Your Spouse As An Investor Here are ten rules of thumb that I have seen successful founders follow to navigate the first two to three years of a startup and keep their spouse on board and supportive. 1. Treat your spouse as an investor and board member from the beginning. You will need their …