In an era dominated by fast-paced technology innovation, every product purchase decision is greatly influenced by a crucial metric: Return on Investment (ROI). As organizations navigate the labyrinth of choices…

All startups want to maximize their revenue from each customer they secure. But for B2B startups that target enterprises, achieving that swing-for-the-fence maximum with the initial deal is practically impossible….

Service companies traditionally have low gross profit margins as compared to tech companies, especially software. That’s because services require human bodies to deliver most of what the customers are paying…

All startups that get a product in the market with paying customers do a variety of things to boost their sales.  After initial product-market fit and a repeatable customer acquisition…

While in the coffee shop with your co-founder and blank sheets of paper for brainstorming you are in what I refer to as the “hope, vision, promise and potential” phase. …

Many of us that sell products have learned about value-based pricing and the benefits from pricing our product based on the value the customer actually receives.  But I’m still amazed…

With as little as it costs to get a software startup off the ground these days, many entrepreneurs start off as what we call “bootstrappers” rather than fundraisers.  There’s nothing…

It’s amazing how success can cause numerous blind spots for managers and executives.  The greater the success, the more severe the blind spots.  As an advisor, I sometimes poke on…

When I ask entrepreneurs what their most valuable resource is, I ALWAYS get one of two responses: money (aka – funding, cash) or people.  And it’s hard to argue about…

Many (probably most) startups go through periods of extremely little cash in the bank and with visions of crashing and burning before being able to recover.  Unfortunately, crashing and burning…

I know what you’re thinking.  “We don’t even have 20 employees, so why do we need a management system?”  You might be thinking this because you previously worked for a…

If you aspire to build a company that is scalable, then the size of your market is a very important element of your business plan. That’s because it suggests the…

How cool is it to use a code name for an important project rather than “version 2.5” or “next gen”? Same for a company acquisition or game-changing strategic initiative that…

If you already have an experienced product manager on your team, they are probably/hopefully following some well-established product management process. But what about the early days of company formation before…

Anyone that has taken an accounting class or learned basic business financials knows the interaction between key elements of a P&L (revenue, cost, expense) and a balance sheet (assets, liabilities,…

Regardless of a company’s size and stage, maintaining focus is often a critical success factor.  This doesn’t suggest nimbleness and flexibility are bad.  Quite the opposite, as focus and flexibility…

It’s not innovation or company culture or a determination to win.  Those are all important but successful big companies have at least some of those things too.  Startups often have…

Here’s the scenario.  You’ve got people asking you to express your strategy as a set of milestones extending through a certain amount of time.  This puts you in the mindset…

I’m afraid the current “don’t waste time creating a business plan” mantra is doing unintended damage.  It’s leaving the impression on first-time entrepreneurs that they don’t need a plan of…

I often hear startup founders say things like “We want to scale” or “We scaled a lot in the past six months.” In most cases, they should have used the…

I guess the corollary to this could be “don’t use a compass when the precision of a GPS is needed”.  In fact, the main point is to use the best…

I don’t have anything against a traditional SWOT analysis but recently found myself helping a couple of startups figure out how they are progressing against their business plan and vision. …

It happens over and over and over again.  A company has a successful growth spurt and is ready to ratchet up to the next level.  They are sitting around a…