4 Things Startups Need To Know About Social Media Measurement

Social media has given startups and small businesses an incredible opportunity to reach and engage with their consumers directly. But understanding how to measure social media’s impact leaves many startups scratching their heads. In fact, even large companies often struggle with the fact that each new channel has its own terms and analytics platforms that

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Looking For Leads? Technology Can Help

Healthy revenue begins and ends with a predictable sales pipeline. But how do you actually build that pipeline? Fortunately, technology affords businesses several highly effective options for prospecting clients and generating qualified leads. Here are a few tried and true techniques:   Optimize your website for search engines Search engine optimization is a powerful and

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The Nuts and Bolts of Building a Customer Success Team

As you launch your product, you’ll need to think long and hard about the role of Customer Success in your business. A general rule of thumb; your business model should determine your Customer Success demands. In turn, these demands will determine the staffing model while being governed by your pricing structure.   In this blog, we will outline the broad-brush strokes of setting up a Customer

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Securing Your First Pilot: Where The Rubber Meets The Road

You have arrived at that fateful moment when you need customers (prospects actually) to try your product. You have been developing, started marketing and selling, and now you need to get someone to commit to putting your product into active use in a real-world setting. The question is: How do you get someone to do

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From Try To Buy: Converting A Pilot To A Paying Customer

The goal of a pilot is to build up enough proof in your prospect’s mind that they can decide to purchase your product (or not). Contrary to what you might think—a valid and valuable outcome for an entrepreneur is to have the prospect choose not to buy what you are offering or you to choose

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How To Build The Perfect Pitch Deck

Having an impressive pitch is a key component in raising capital. A great pitch can get an investor excited about your business and opens the door to the investors wanting to learn more and take you through a due diligence process. There are thousands of templates online that provide guidance on what slides to incorporate

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Landing Your First Customer In 4 Easy Steps

If you are following JumpStart’s Entrepreneur Roadmap methodology, you probably have a checklist where you are running down the items completed. MVP? Done. Website? Built. Pricing model? Check. Contracts? Ready to go. Customers? Not a prospect in sight. It feels that way sometimes—you spend so much time working on a product and all the things

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8 Questions To Ask Yourself When Preparing For Fundraising

Starting your own business is challenging. No matter how unique your idea is, it’s unlikely to get off the ground without proper funding. Securing the necessary funding to start and sustain a business is one of the biggest hurdles that every aspiring entrepreneur faces. Within Northeast Ohio, there is a significant and growing number of

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You’ve Launched Your product… Now Comes The Hard Part!

Congratulations! You’ve built and launched a product! Now it’s time for the heavy-lift… onboarding and adoption. Say hello to your new key function, Customer Success! A newer term that grew out of the concept of customer support, Customer Success focuses on proactive behaviors, specifically: Getting the user actively engaged Focusing on early usage Ongoing engagement

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4 Time- And Money-Saving Reasons To Create An Employee Handbook

Do you cringe when you hear the words employee handbook? Once labeled a tedious piece of HR paperwork, this tool has recently become an important piece of a company’s talent strategy. When used correctly, this tool will communicate clear expectations and guidelines to all employees. In this article, you’ll find out why it is important

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Pilot Management Brings In The Test Data You’ve Been Seeking

Congratulations! You made it this far. You have interviewed hundreds of customers (not your family, relatives or friends) and know what they want/need/will pay for. You are sure (okay, you think you are sure) that you have a product-solution fit. You may have even found product-market fit. You and your team have invested time and

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Identifying and Engaging the Right Investors

One of the most frequently asked questions members of JumpStart’s Services and Investing Team receives is about how to obtain funding. This question is understandable. Growing a technology-based business at scale requires capital. To address capital needs, entrepreneurs often look to pitch investors. The entrepreneurs who are the most successful in both obtaining and leveraging

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