The desire for economic freedom and autonomy drives many entrepreneurs. Bootstrappers would rather work for customers than investors, choosing the discipline of the competitive marketplace over the wisdom and caprice of the boardroom. “Life is too short to work at a job you hate, but everyone has to do something someone else is willing to […]
Seven movies to watch to renew your sense of wonder with interstellar travel, alternate universes, and our first steps into space.
Movies to Renew Your Sense of Wonder Read More »
A collection of quotes of interest and use to entrepreneurs: these quotes for entrepreneurs were identified in November 2014. You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would
Quotes for Entrepreneurs–November 2014 Read More »
We did something different for Thanksgiving 2014: we held a Bootstrapper’s Potluck and hosted a dinner for a dozen people or so with our family.
It’s OK to ask a B2B prospect if they would use your product during customer discovery. Just don’t to stop at “Yes” and assume validation or a likely sale.
It’s OK To Ask “Would You Use This?” in Customer Discovery Read More »
Bruce La Fetra of La Fetra Consulting for a conversation on customer interviews. We compared notes on qualitative conversations versus quantitative surveys and exchanged tips and tricks. Bruce presented some great insights on how to organize findings and how to take best advantage of insights gleaned from interviews.
Customer Interviews: How To Organize Findings Read More »
Here are my notes from tonight’s Professional and Technical Consultants Association (PATCA) meeting on “Handling Difficult Client Scenarios in an Agile and Effective Manner.” It was a candid discussion among primarily experienced consultants about real situations that were challenging–and frequently painful. Several good suggestions for preventing and managing challenging customer situations:
Preventing & Managing Challenging Customer Situations Read More »
Q: How do you develop good content for blog posts and newsletters on a regular basis? One rule of thumb for sources of good content for an e-mail newsletter is to revise something that you have already written that would be appropriate for your target audience.
Good Content Answers Real Questions Read More »
Managing sales people is a straightforward proposition: you get what you reward. Analyze the compensation package and ensure it isn’t encouraging what you don’t want or discouraging what you do. If you are unhappy with commitments the sales team is making you need to make it clear who needs to review and sign off on
Managing Sales People Read More »
Q: I struggle with the value proposition for our product. Either I am too abstract “we offer a positive return on time invested” or too vague “help increase your ability to manage critical challenges.” Do you have any suggestions for how to frame or formulate a value proposition? Here a few questions that a value
Crafting a Value Proposition Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts sent to you.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–October 2014 Read More »
Some reflections on my relationship with my father seven years after his death. At least once a week I still get the urge to call him for advice or to update him on my children.
Joseph A Murphy 1925-2007, 7 Years On Read More »
The IEEE Consulting Network of Silicon Valley continues its tradition of inviting world class experts on leading edge technologies to speak at their monthly meetings. On Tue-Nov-4-2014, Giacomo Vacca of Kinetic River will provide an overview on how flow cytometers enable a wide range of “Human Cell Analysis.” “Sean has been a pleasure to work
Giacomo Vacca On Human Cell Analysis at CNSV Nov-4-2014 Read More »
Q: In your blog post “Four Presentation Traps to Avoid” (which drew on Mike Monteiro’s “13 Ways Designers Screw Up a Client Presentation” which I found overall to be very valuable) you highlighted his item 4 “Not setting the stage properly” which ends with “Start the meeting by thanking them for their time.” I feel this puts you
Do I Need To Be A Supplicant In a Sales Call? Read More »
Mike Monteiro offered “13 Ways Designers Screw Up a Client Presentation–And One Weird Trick” in a Sep-13-2014 blog post: many of these are also applicable to entrepreneurs making presentations to prospects. The whole article is worth reading, here are my top four presentation traps to avoid from his list (I have retained Monteiro’s numbering scheme).
Four Presentation Traps to Avoid Read More »
Entrepreneurial passion has to be based on a desire to create value, to be of service to a set of target customers. There may be many things you are interested in learning and room enough in your life for several hobbies, but pursuing a passion without regard to your ability to provide value in a
Entrepreneurial Passion: Good Servant, Poor Master Read More »
I took part in a great roundtable conversation at tonight’s PATCA meeting on “Low Cost Marketing and Advertising for Consultants” Here were a couple of suggestions that I made in response to situations or challenges that other consultants put on the table.
Tips for Low Cost Marketing of Your Services Read More »
David Morse left a detailed comment today on my Sep-26-2014 blog post “Lessons Learned Blogging 1400 Posts in 8 Years” that I thought I would promote to a guest post that offers some practical tips about how to add graphics and video to a blog. Here is his bio on B2BSalesVP: David Morse helps startup
David Morse: Tips To Add Graphics and Video To A Blog Read More »
Excerpts from Paul Grahams’ October 2014 essay “Before the Startup” with commentary interspersed. This essay is in some ways less self-confident than many of his earlier ones. He seems to recognize more explicitly the limits of his ability to offer advice that entrepreneurs in the Y Combinator portfolio–or entrepreneurs applying to Y Combinator–will actually follow.
Entrepreneurs Focus On Customers Not Startup Mechanics Read More »
You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts sent to you.
Quotes For Entrepreneurs–September 2014 Read More »
