Three Sales Pitches That Never Really Work
Here are three sales pitches that never really work with some suggestions for how to improve them.
Three Sales Pitches That Never Really Work Read More »
skmurphy
Challenges in Analyzing Market Structure and Competitive Landscape
Before you introduce a new product into an existing market you need to analyze the market structure and competitive landscape. This is a laundry list–not a prioritized list—of the set of challenges we currently wrestle with in helping clients monitor their external environment and craft strategies for new market creation and new product introduction into
Challenges in Analyzing Market Structure and Competitive Landscape Read More »
Startups Where “We Are All In This Together” Learn Faster
An exploration of some of the implications of Arie P. de Geus insight that “The ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.”
Startups Where “We Are All In This Together” Learn Faster Read More »
Ilya Semin of Datanyze on Value of Great Demo Workshop
We reach out to past attendees of the Great Demo workshop and ask them how they have applied the principles and techniques covered and what the impact has been on their business. Ilya Semin, the founder of software startup Datanyze, attended a Great Demo workshop in 2012 and sent us this detailed response. It is reproduced
Ilya Semin of Datanyze on Value of Great Demo Workshop Read More »
Chris Kane: Great Demo’s Impact On The VendorRisk Sales Presentation
We reach out to past attendees of the Great Demo workshop and ask them how they have applied the principles and techniques covered and what the impact has been on their business. Chris Kane of VendorRisk attended a workshop in 2012 and sent us this detailed response. It is reproduced here with his permission. Great
Chris Kane: Great Demo’s Impact On The VendorRisk Sales Presentation Read More »
Price Based On Your Value To The Customer’s Situation
It’s especially important to price based on your value to a particular customer’s situation when you bring unique expertise and insight to a problem. This post is based on a real engagement that started with the conversation in “Living In Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads.”
Price Based On Your Value To The Customer’s Situation Read More »
Living in Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads
It can take a while to determine what to ask in an opening conversation and which leads constitute opportunities. You have to follow up.
Living in Anticipation With Schrodinger’s Leads Read More »
Six Tips For Writing An E-Mail To A Prospect or Potential Partner
Here are six tips or writing an E-Mail to a prospect or potential partner: the Hollywood approach, the schoolboy approach, add a middleman, quit typing, begin at the end, and sketch a picture.
Six Tips For Writing An E-Mail To A Prospect or Potential Partner Read More »
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–January 2013
These quotes for entrepreneurs were curated in January 2013 to explore the map is not the territory, finding ground truth, and seeing what’s in front of your eyes.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–January 2013 Read More »
Ebb and Flow
A long term viable business model embraces ebb and flow: it organizes the abandonment of failed and obsolete products to enable an investment strategy for new growth that emphasizes experimentation in anticipation of a high rate of early small failures.
Engineering Your Sales Process Workshop Feb-8 Early Bird Closes This Weekend
Just a heads up that the early bird rates for our next “Engineering Your Sales Process®” Workshop close Sun-Jan-28. This is the same workshop that Scott Sambucci and Sean Murphy offered at the Lean Startup Conference in December 2012 but we are limiting the attendance to 12 entrepreneurs to allow it to be even more
Engineering Your Sales Process Workshop Feb-8 Early Bird Closes This Weekend Read More »
The Lucky And The Wise
Advice from a lucky entrepreneur tends to be very specific and suggest a “copy exactly” model. Better advice will offer principles and several perspectives.
The Lucky And The Wise Read More »
Bootstrapper Breakfast Comes to Tampa Thu-Jan-24
Come join other Tampa Bay area entrepreneurs who eat problems for breakfast. At a Bootstrappers Breakfast® we have serious conversations about growing a business based on internal cash flow and organic profit: this is for founders who are actively bootstrapping a startup. When: Thu-Jan-24-2013 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM Where: Oxford Exchange, 420 West Kennedy
Bootstrapper Breakfast Comes to Tampa Thu-Jan-24 Read More »
Tribes and Traction
Question: I’m reading Seth Godin’s Tribes book, what role do you think tribes play for startups? For context, we are in crunch time at my startup. We have a few part-time engineers and have soft-circled first half of angel round. Morale is still very high but have lots on our mind. I’m contemplating whether our
Tribes and Traction Read More »
Where Do Lean Startup Methods Help Most?
Where Do Lean Startup Methods Help Most? The Lean Startup 2012 conference clarified where Lean Startup principles are especially applicable: Emerging markets, Industries that are being disrupted, Companies that have fallen behind the innovation curve. All of these situations are characterized by the need for exploration and discovery instead of continued execution of the current
Where Do Lean Startup Methods Help Most? Read More »
Stein’s Law
“If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” Stein’s Law (Herbert Stein) Some excerpts from Choices for Deficit Reduction [Full Report PDF] released by Congressional Budget Office on November 8, 2012. The United States is facing fundamental budgetary challenges. Federal debt held by the public exceeds 70 percent of the nation’s annual output (gross domestic product, or
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–December 2012
You can follow @skmurphy to get these hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when these quotes for entrepreneurs are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like new blog posts to your inbox.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–December 2012 Read More »
Merry Christmas 2012
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” Charles Dickens in “A Christmas Carol“
Merry Christmas 2012 Read More »
A Conversation With A Bootstrapping EdTech Startup On Customer Interviews
What follows is a sequence of E-mails with an entrepreneur bootstrapping an EdTech startup around the challenges of doing customer interviews that have been recast as a conversation, with the original content edited for length and clarity. Entrepreneur (E): I am working with a couple of friends–we all have day jobs–on an idea for helping
A Conversation With A Bootstrapping EdTech Startup On Customer Interviews Read More »