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
When It Comes to Startup Success, The Market Is King
Entrepreneurs and investors alike often haggle about which is the more important ingredient for startup success, the product or the team behind it. Is the idea the sun around which everything else orbits? Or, are there truly rock star personalities out there who can turn even mediocre ideas into strong startups? Almost everyone I’ve met
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
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
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
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,
Understanding and Analyzing Financial and Operational Metrics
As a business begins to grow at a higher and higher growth rate, ie. changing growth rates quarterly or monthly, management must pay close attention to the financial statements and key metrics used to measure business performance and manage cash. These metrics are called key performance indicators (KPIs). These statements, metrics and trends help determine
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
Who Is Your Target Customer?
To whom are you selling? This is one of the most basic, albeit crucial, questions you must answer when developing your go-to-market strategy. The answer will determine your target market, a group of potential customers who you intend to be the recipients of your marketing efforts. These customers are the people or organizations that have
What Can You Do (Or Not Do) With An Attorney?
Being a founder is hard. You have a million things you need to do, half a million things you’d like to do and often no money to do any of it. Unless you are an attorney, nothing is exciting about seeing a lot of time and money spent on addressing legal matters. So, as an
For Startups, Value Attracts Funding
At the most basic level, you cannot grow a startup without capital. And yet, getting too fixated on the capital-raising process risks losing focus on creating value, which is what potential investors are actually buying. Early-stage investing is a very risky business, which means investors are always looking for some early proof points of value