Sales, Marketing, and Strategy

Should You Focus On Product Quantity Or Quality?

“That sounds like death by one thousand cuts,” Rob, the VC I was pitching to said to me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I had just told Rob that the average customer would buy $10,000 per year of our products and that the average product would sell…

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Should You Grow As Fast As Your Investors Want?

“Don’t worry, Brett. We’ll support you,” “Raul”, one of our investors, said to me in our board of directors meeting. Raul wanted us to go faster than I had originally planned for. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. And Raul meant what he said. He was, in that…

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Should You Focus On Profits Or Providing Value First?

One of the greatest lessons I ever got in business was from my mom. She began her career as a successful writer. Then, when my brother and I entered middle school, my mom pivoted and began selling homes in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe…

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How Do Early Stage Startups Get Their First 10 Customers?

I am really excited to share with you how do early stage startups get their first 10 customers.  Now, your first 10 customers may not seem like a lot, but when you’re starting, and you have zero customers, 10 customers is a huge number. Over the past five years, I’ve worked directly with over one…

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How To Validate Your Startup Idea In 7 Steps

Wouldn’t it be great if you could validate your startup idea in less than one hour because you absolutely, positively have to validate your startup idea? Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. There are seven steps that you need to take to validate your startup idea. And I’m…

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How Do You Learn How To Sell?

“You’ve figured it out,” I said smiling to “Vern”, an engineer turned CEO that I’ve been working with. Since we started working together, I’ve been urging Vern to drive sales himself. Yet, until this conversation, he resisted my suggestion. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Vern sells enterprise…

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How Do You Do Market Research For Your Startup?

Back in the day, long before the internet, I would drive over to Stanford University to do my market research. The business school had a really nice library where I could find just about everything I wanted. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. This would be my ritual…

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The Top Ten Mistakes First Time Entrepreneurs Make

“You’re a first time CEO.  You’re going to make mistakes.”  That’s what investors say about first time CEOs.  And, you know what, investors are right, you’re going to make mistakes.   However, why make business mistakes when you can avoid them.  In today’s video, I’ll walk you through the top ten mistakes entrepreneurs make.  Plus, I’ll…

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How Fast Is Too Fast For Your Startup To Grow?

“We are going to grow our earnings by one penny per share per quarter,” Jack Gifford, Maxim Integrated Products founding CEO, regularly said to public market sell side analysts. And every quarter, like a clock, the company grew earnings at one penny per quarter or better. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I…

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How Do You Determine Your Total Available Market?

Understanding how big your total available market is a critical step in building your startup, and understanding your TAM is a critical slide when you’re fundraising.  Yet most entrepreneurs get their total available market slide wrong. Part of the problem is should you present your TAM or your SAM? Or, maybe you should you present…

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