Sales, Marketing, and Strategy

How You Can Avoid Nine Startup Sales Killers

“It’s too early to hire a VP of Sales!” The VC said to me. “You should be doing the selling!” Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “I hear where you’re coming from,” I said. “And believe me, I will be selling.” “’Ken’s’ been part of the company since…

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What Are The Early Signs Your Startup Is In Trouble?

“There is no negotiation on this term sheet,” “Raul”, the Venture Capitalist, said to me. I was stunned. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. There’s always negotiation, isn’t there? Everyone negotiates, right? Not this VC. The terms we were given were horrible. I tried everything I could to…

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How Do You Dethrone A Competitor With A Monopoly?

“Why in the hell are you selling your part for $20,” The VP at Vitesse angrily said to me. “You’re screwing it up for the rest of us. We’re selling our part for $100!” I smiled and said, “$100 is way too high a price. $20 seemed like a fair price for customers.” [Do you…

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What Is The Real Truth About Creating Killer Products?

“You just go visit customers. They’ll tell you what to do,” the job candidate said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Read any trade publication, listen to an earnings call, or listen to any podcast. You’ll hear the same advice: “Listen to your customers. They’ll tell…

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How Do You Compete Against A Large Company?

“You’re going up against Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Linear Technology, National Semiconductor, and Maxim,” the Venture Capitalist, Jim, said to me. “These companies have all been in business for over twenty years. How do expect to compete against them?” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Jim’s question was almost…

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The Ten Things Startup CEOs Need For Success

I’ve built several businesses from zero to over $100 million, and I’ve worked with a lot of CEOs to help them grow their businesses too.  Over and over again, the successful CEOs I’ve worked with have been able to master the same set of ten core skills. That’s what today’s video is all about.  I’ll…

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What If Facebook Enters Your Market?

“Welcome.” That was Steve Jobs’ famous response when IBM entered the PC market in 1981. Maybe Jobs should have been more worried. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. After all, by 1984 IBM sold $4 billion worth of PCs versus Apple’s $2 billion. The question of “What if…

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How To Turn Your Pitch Deck Into Your Business Plan

I remember the first business plan I wrote like it was yesterday. I had just joined Maxim Integrated Products, and my boss, the late Ziya Boyacigiller, asked me to develop a plan for Maxim’s Voltage Reference business. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help.  Click here.] So I set about developing…

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The Five Steps For Scaling Startups

 The Five Steps For Scaling Startups   How and when to scale a startup is where too many startup CEOs fail. They either wait too long to scale, and their startup loses momentum. Or, the CEO moves too quickly and burns through their cash and the startup fails. I don’t want this to happen to…

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