Hiring a Development Firm, Part 3: Managing Contract Resources

In my tenure working with founders, I’ve had the opportunity to watch more than my fair share of development efforts using contracted resources. For the business-oriented founder who has a strong idea but not a technical co-founder or resource in their corner, it’s a viable way to get an MVP up and in the market

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Hiring a Development Firm, Part 2: Terms, Contracting, Execution

So you have found a development firm you want to work with to build your product. Hopefully, you took the advice outlined in Part 1 of the series to vet candidates and obtain the right firm for your project. So now it is time to code, right? Wrong!  Remember, the whole purpose of vetting candidates is to figure out who

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How To Incorporate Use Cases In Your Product Strategy

The term “use case” is thrown around a lot, and it is important to be clear about what it is and what it is not. A use case is a specific situation in which a product or service could potentially be used. Given people buy the same product for different reasons, use cases can vary

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Should I Price My Product For Value Or Adoption?

BOGO. Gift with purchase. Free to download. Get the first 30 days free (just enter your credit card… you won’t be charged unless you decide to continue). We’ve all received offers like this, all with varying degrees of impact. Promotions have become a way of life, setting a precedent for how we engage, buy and

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How To Develop Your IP Strategy

Imagine working hard to launch your company. You build your product, implement a go-to-market strategy, make a logo, hired employees, finalize investors, and more. Many entrepreneurs I have worked with got to this point to discover: You are now being sued for infringing upon someone else’s Intellectual Property (IP) Rights. Because they build their product

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How To Fail … Fast

A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak to a group of entrepreneurs about the key traits of successful startup founders. With the topic phrased so broadly, it would be easy to spin all over the place, trying to cover all the bases. Should I talk about this? No, what about that? But wait,

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Understanding The Technology Behind Your Product

Building a business is a serious feat. You may frequently feel like you are being pulled in 12 different directions, and this can be especially true when your business is built around a software product. Custom SaaS products, mobile apps and enterprise solutions all come with serious technical pieces. And, most of the time, your

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Before Building A Product, Build Your Product Roadmap

A few years ago, an image began making the rounds of the internet—a piece of notebook paper in landscape orientation, marked up heavily in blue ballpoint ink. The thirteen rows and ten columns laid out critical plot points and interconnections for a portion of one of the highest-selling books of all time—Harry Potter and the

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Engagement Is A Trip, Plan Wisely

As you move from the Development stage of product build into the Launch stage of the Entrepreneur Roadmap, you are going to find yourself making the sharp turn from inwardly-focused activities to rapid dives into marketing and demand generation. You’ll know you’re making this turn on your path when you find yourself caught up in

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Who, or What, is the MVP?

As an entrepreneur in our digital age, MVP is an acronym you will hear often. And, unless they’re specifically talking about you, MVP probably doesn’t stand for most valuable player. In fact, they more than likely mean minimum viable product. And by minimum viable product, they mean the product/project version you can release with the

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3 Steps To Profitably Price Your Product Or Service

As an entrepreneur, how do you set appropriate prices for your product or service? This can be a difficult decision to make—choose a price that’s too low and you may weaken profits but assign a price that’s too high and you may deter consumers. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for how to price your

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4 Keys To A Killer Sales & Marketing Funnel

If you’ve spent any amount of time digging into blogs or think pieces on the startup journey, you’ve no doubt run into the phrase ”sales funnel.” It’s a key part of building a company and may also be one of the most misunderstood aspects of building and launching a company. That’s not because it’s hard,

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