An array of advice, in various form factors, from those who’ve learned what works and what doesn’t, were presented at the one day “Biz Tech Day†in San Francisco. Through tell-all presentations and panels with representatives from successful companies and venture firms, tips were doled out on lessons learned about success.
BizTechDay 2010 San Francisco Highlights, Major Take-aways
- Getting funded: Don’t name drop or put pressure on because you’re already talking with others; models for funding startups have changed entrepreneurs are in the driver’s seat with less up front investments and more little fish succeeding
- When looking at being acquired, dissect your business pitch into easily understood pieces so they can see the fit within the bigger picture and be patient, it’s a slow process
- Building virtual teams take time, be around, treat it like being a parent: create a better workplace, write clear job descriptions, keep in touch with candidates you admire, use contractors as a testbed for permanent roles and always hire A players.
- Stay close to your customer through monitoring, analytics and talking directly to customers
- Be honest and build trust (any way possible, content, accuracy, acknowledging mistakes) the best way to keep a customer happy
- Use your site to create a customer experience
- Measure your marketing; find a process that works to analyze your business then invest in the right tools to evaluate the cost of acquiring customers profitably
- Repetition and regularity build brands; find a unique niche and fill it; know what drives your business
- Create loyalty in your customers to retain them
- Build your brand, make it unique, remarkable and be sure it solves a problem
Bottom line: Create your own path, learn lessons from others, especially those who continually reinvented themselves until they found a path that led to success.