Last week, I got a question from a service company founder asking how to evolve her daily grind of a business to run more like a high-growth startup without pouring a ton of money into technology and marketing.
09.11.2021
In a recent issue of Teaching Startup (#75), I answered a founder’s question about how to get press for her two-year-old startup, now that they’re seeing traction again after nearly being taken out by COVID lockdowns.
02.11.2021
It's Halloween, and I couldn't resist making another bold statement: in most cases, building a business case to prove return on investment in a sales campaign is just: a bunch of Hocus Pocus. Many scale-ups have learned and developed a sales process with critical stages, one of which is often: proving the ROI.
29.10.2021
Creating a new project needs a lot of time and effort. So many things have to be right for it to become popular among readers and your future clients. We’re sure your teams work hard to make it worth every visit by Internet users.
27.10.2021
Most investors are good. Some aren’t great. A few are ticking time bombs. In a recent issue of Teaching Startup (#70), I answered a question from an entrepreneur about whether or not to walk away from an investment deal that was becoming more of a hindrance than a help.
26.10.2021
This week, my insights and reflection come from a lunch with a special someone I used to sell to when I was a rep. As the CTO of a large group, his perspective on sellers is not only stimulating, it also offers precious insights to all the smaller and bigger companies out there.
22.10.2021
Do you know that sinking feeling you get when your business starts to slow down, or worse yet, stop? You’ve invested time and money into this venture, so the last thing you want to happen is for it all to come crumbling down.
21.10.2021
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is chasing money you don’t need. In a recent Teaching Startup (#71), I answered a question from an entrepreneur about whether to fortify his bootstrap approach with crowdfunding or angel investment, or go right into a venture capital raise.
19.10.2021
Most successful entrepreneurs are driven by a single mantra: “I’ve gotta sell more product.” Taken in the “corporate” context, that sentence can evoke images of faceless companies steamrolling everyone to push a few more units out the door — and into this quarter’s earnings report. But for a smaller startup, selling additional product is more about flexibility than brute force.
12.10.2021
It’s 2021, and many companies have already hired a Chief Revenue Officer. But, for most startups and scale-ups, the notion of revenue is still all about having a well-oiled sales machine. In this piece, I have revived Hannibal Smith (aka CRO) and his A-team through the customer-facing departments. If you have a problem that no one else can solve. Maybe you can hire the A Team.
08.10.2021
In a recent issue of Teaching Startup (#69), I answered a question from an entrepreneur who needed to make a decision about the marketing direction for his new product — one that was on its way to the minimum viable product stage (MVP).
05.10.2021
In a recent issue of Teaching Startup (#68), I answered a question from a former corporate leader turned first-time entrepreneur about how to deal with the loss of a key employee for an indeterminate length of time for personal reasons.
28.09.2021
Recruiting marketing specialists has always been challenging for early-stage companies. How can a founder, especially one without a business background, ensure that a newly hired marketer will achieve business targets?
22.09.2021
We all know smart SEO is key to online success, but what exactly is it and how can recruiting a dedicated agency optimise the reach of a website? SEO – or search engine optimisation – is essentially the process of making a website more findable for search engines like Google.
21.09.2021