Investor Connect Podcast

Product Reporting

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

It’s important to track the key metrics for your product.

Here’s a list of numbers to capture:

Customer acquisition cost -- the cost to acquire a customer.

Customer lifetime value -- the total revenue received from each customer on average.

Churn rate -- the percentage of customers dropping out each month.

Conversion rate -- the percent of customers that convert from a lead each month.

Unit sales per month - the number of total units sold each month and tracked over a six-month period.

Active users -- the number of daily and monthly active users per product.

Cost to build -- the cost to build and deliver each product.  

Gross margin per product -- the percentage of revenue after subtracting the cost to build.

Cohort analysis -- the performance of the product after making specific changes.  This is often used in A/B testing.

Cost to develop -- the cost and time it takes to create a new product.

It’s important to track this for each product to understand the contribution of the product to profitability.

It also helps in budgeting and forecasting new product development. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

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Direct download: Product_reporting.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Usage Metrics

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Metrics are a key tool in product management.

In managing a product track these metrics:

Customer acquisition -- track the performance of the product in acquiring new customers.

This is often done broadly across all products but should be done by each product as well.

Customer adoption -- track the performance of the product during the customer onboarding process.

This is the conversion rate and demonstrates how well the product was designed for customer usage.

Customer engagement -- track the performance of the product in how often the customer uses it.

This could be daily, weekly, or monthly.

Customer satisfaction -- track the performance of the product in generating happy customers.

This tracks retention and churn rates and highlights areas for improvement.

Revenue and profitability -- track the financial performance of the product.

This includes both how much revenue it generates for the company as well as the profitability.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_usage_metrics.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Development Process

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are many approaches to product development.

Here are some approaches companies use:

Defines the ideal process. This lets the process work out from project to project. 

Systematizes development activities. The core systems are made available to the team to use as they like.

Focus on the customer and their needs. They align their systems to customer requirements.

Outlines the team’s duties and responsibilities.  This provides a functional overview of how each team member works.

These approaches are built into well-known models such as the Scorecard-Markov model which assigns a score to new ideas and prioritizes development accordingly.

The IDEO process emphasizes the customer's needs and focuses on form, fit, and function.

The BAH model provides a set of steps for product development as follows: strategy, idea generation, screening, analysis, development, testing, and commercialization.

The Stage-Gate model funnels product development through a series of phases as follows:  generating ideas, screening, testing the concept, business case analysis, product development, market testing, commercialization, and launch.

There are a variety of approaches to setting up product development and executing it.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
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Direct download: Product_Development_Process.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Gamification of the Product

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In designing your product consider adding gamification to it.

Here are some key elements to consider:

Include goals for the user to accomplish with the product.

This makes it engaging for the customer.

It also provides a benchmark on how much the customer uses the product.

Provide control over the product so that the customer can customize it.

This generates more ownership as the customer can configure their own workspace.

Design the product so the work flows easily from one step to the next.

This generates flow which provides a more engaging environment for the customer.

Consider adding avatars that customers can use to personalize the product.

By generating unique identities the product fosters community among the users.

Setup levels in the product so novice users can find it easy to work with while experienced users can find more capabilities.

This customizes the product for the experience level of the user. 

Finally, try and make the product fun to use as the customer will look forward to working with it. 

Consider adding these elements into your product design.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Gamification_of_the_product.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

User Experience Design

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The user experience of the product must be designed into the product from the beginning.

Here are some key points in researching the user experience:

Understand the user’s goal and what they are trying to achieve.

The user may be trying to generate a report or store key information, or analyze data.

Identify the user’s challenge in accomplishing the goal.

The user may be trying to use multiple tools to solve a problem of which you’re one tool.

Understand what part of the problem they are trying to solve with your solution.

The user may have many steps to complete the process.

Understand how your solution fits into the user's workflow and what comes before and after your step.

The user must move from one tool to the next to solve the problem so your tool needs to fit into the workflow.

Understand the user's constraints.

The user may not have all the information they need to solve the problem fully but can solve it if they have key information.

Understand the user's preferences.

The user may prefer one method over the other so you can design the product in that direction.

Design the product with these issues in mind to provide the best solution possible.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: User_experience_design.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Data

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product data is the information about the product used for product management purposes.

Here are some key data points to capture and maintain:

Customer tests for new product features.

Capture A/B test data into a central repository as the answers may be useful for building future features.

Key metrics such as customer engagement and satisfaction rates.

Keep a running list of KPIs about your product for product decisions and business strategy.

Feature usage measures how customers use the product.

Track which features customers use most often and least often.

Customer sign-ups track who joins to use the product.

Keep track of client signups to understand what they expect to gain from the product.

The churn rate tracks those who stop using the product.

Keep track of client departures to understand why they left to build an ideal customer profile.

Cost to build the product.

By tracking the cost to build you can make future product development decisions easier to forecast and budget.

Capture all product data into a central location for future product planning and strategy sessions.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_data.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Yao Huang, Managing Partner at Division One Capital.

Located in Seattle, Washington, Division One Capital is a fund that provides capital to minority-owned businesses so they can grow and realize their potential. They exist to help minority communities, their people, and businesses prosper.

Every business, company, or brand needs capital in order to grow steadily and have a shot at reaching their highest ambitions, but the discriminatory system has created a gap of disadvantage for minorities. Division One Capital’s fund aims to fill that gap through non-discriminatory funding.

Yao is an investor and tech veteran with two decades of experience in technology, partnerships, and investing. She has founded companies, helped corporations launch new innovation initiatives, and venture partner in 2 funds. She leads a 16-year network of 10,000 women across 30 cities touching every corporation. She believes in minorities' and women’s access to capital in fairways and works to increase those funds in different ways.

Yao was named by Forbes as one of eleven women at the center of New York’s digital scene, by Beta Beat as one of 25 Women Driving New York’s Tech Scene, and TechWeek’s 100 most influential people in tech. She was part of the U.S. State Department Global Entrepreneurship Program Delegations in bringing entrepreneurship and initiatives to strategic countries.

Yao is a sought-after speaker in areas of building internet companies, technology, big data, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Yao and her efforts have been featured in Fortune, INC Magazine, Reuters, Daily News, Red Herring, Crains, American Venture, and TED. She is on the board of Carbon Optimum, a carbon sequestering company removing carbon and methane from polluting cement, oil, and gas plants. She has a particular passion for climate solutions to save the planet as well as helping entrepreneurs, women, and social causes with projects in place to build global communities, and push more women into executive positions. 

Yao shares what excites her now, advises startups and investors, and discusses some of the challenges associated with putting together the fund.

Visit Division One Capital at www.divisiononecapital.com; www.linkedin.com/company/division-one-capital/

Visit Yao at yao@divisiononepartner.com, yao@hatcheryny.com, and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/yaohui;

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

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Direct download: Yao_Huang_of_Divison_One_Capital.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Development Priorities

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are many features to add to a product and never enough resources to do all of them.

Consider these points in prioritizing your product development:

Look for lost sales to find high-priority features to work on.

Focus product development on customer requests.

Look at how the customer is solving their problem now with your product for potential features that would be helpful.

Test the customer’s desire for a feature by charging for it and then see who actually pays for it.

Investigate customer complaints about a missing feature before committing resources to it. 

Not every new feature will turn into a big jump in revenue, but collectively they can give the startup a competitive edge.

Avoid copying competitors and stay focused on your customer audience.

Don’t bet the entire startup on a single product launch.

Instead, roll out the features serially and test the customer’s response. 

In product development start with small steps and build out the product incrementally.

It’s best to underpromise and overdeliver. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

Thank you for joining your host Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_development_priorities.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

MVP Mistakes

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In developing a minimal viable product avoid these mistakes:

Trying to create your vision fully in the MVP.

The MVP will be a greatly reduced version of the envisioned product.

Taking customer feedback literally.

Customers will provide feedback and ask for specific features.  

In building a product you must look at the bigger picture to see what problems you solve and what problems you don’t solve.

Overbuilding the MVP.

The MVP should be simple to install and use and should not require extensive support to engage users.

Using the MVP as the basis for the final product.

The MVP provides feedback from which you rethink the entire product including the form factor, features, and even what problem you solve.

Building just one MVP.

The more MVPs you can build and test the more you will find the right mix of features, pricing, and form factor.

Avoid these mistakes in building your minimum viable product.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: MVP_mistakes.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Features

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The features of your product will determine your competitive position in the market. 

For any market, there is a baseline set of features that customers will expect.

To enter the market your product must provide these basic services.

To beat the competition your product must have differentiation features.

Differentiation features distinguish your product from the competition.

This gives the customer a reason to choose your product over competitors.

Customers will demand the basic features and their performance.

It is up to the founder to drive the development of the differentiation features.

Your sales team will push for basic features and their performance to close current customers.

Your current customer will drive the basic feature set for their own needs.

You must drive the differentiation feature set for new markets.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
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Direct download: Product_features.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Adoption

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product adoption raises awareness about the product and drives users to sign up for it.

A strong product adoption process generates more customers, reduces churn, and increases customer loyalty.

Product adoption comes in stages as follows:

Awareness -- first make your customer aware of your product.

It is important to educate the customer about your product and the need it solves.

Interest -- you must build customer interest in your product.

Content marketing, events, and webinars can be useful tools for providing more information.

Consideration -- you must differentiate your product from the competition.

You want the customer to consider your product in an evaluation alongside the competition.

Testing -- you must engage the customer in a pilot test.

These could be free or reduced-cost trials.

Lock-in -- you want to set up your product so that it becomes a must-have for the customer.

Designing sticky features will help lock in your solution.

Consider these stages in driving product adoption.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_adoption.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Experience

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product experience is the customer's engagement with the product.

Consider these customer touch points in developing the product experience:

Sign up -- this is the stage customers commit to the product and join.

Make sure you have an easy signup process that states clearly what the customer will receive.

Onboarding -- this is the stage customers set up the product for their own use.

Again, make it simple for customers to use the product.  

Design it such that the user gains a benefit from it quickly. 

Support -- provide multiple channels of support.

Provide online and on-the-phone support for the customer to get answers to their questions.

Renewals -- build automatic renewals into the product.

Remind the customer that the renewal is coming up and check for any concerns.

Upgrades -- provide updates to the product with new features.

Notify the customer of upgrades and how they will impact their use of the product.

Sharing -- give the user the ability to share their experience with the product both good and bad.

Provide a community access channel that gives the customer a chance to find additional information about the product and also share success stories.

Design the product experience up front so it’s part of the product itself.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
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Direct download: Product_experience.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Thank you for joining us today for our TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program.

In this program, we help startups prepare for a fundraise. 

We provide templates, tools, eGuides, and advice to founders who are working towards raising funding.

We’ll kick off the session with a short overview on a fundraising topic, then we’ll answer questions from the founders.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

___________________________________

Thank you for joining us for the TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program where we help startups prepare for a fundraise. 

For more episodes, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/  

For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 

For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  

For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  

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Direct download: 2022-05-10_TENFL_Friends_and_Family_Funding_Q_A.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Research

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Before building your minimum viable product, you’ll need to research the space.

Here are some key points to consider:

Know your customer and their problem very well.

Many founders start building a solution to a problem that they only know superficially.

Talk to at least fifty prospective customers about the problem to understand it.

For the next fifty prospective customers propose a solution and capture the feedback.

Once you have a product you must continue the research to refine the product features, positioning, and selling points.

For researching the next version of the product here are key questions to ask:

How did you find the product?

Why did you choose the product?

Who in your organization uses the product?

What do you like most about the product?

What do you like the least about the product?

Would you recommend this product to someone else?

Look carefully at what the customer does with the product in addition to what they say about it.

Many customers will complain about a product but they continue to use it extensively.

Look at the characteristics of those who are successful with the product and those who are not as it helps build an ideal customer profile. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_research.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Research Best Practices

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In researching your product include these best practices:

Always be researching when talking with prospects and customers.

Focus on the audience and their needs and not the product and its features.

Identify the customer journey and how your product fits into it.

Track the user's thought process in engaging your product to see where there’s alignment and misalignment.

Focus on what the user actually does with the product rather than only what they say about it. 

Engage the entire team on research by arming them with questions to ask and capturing any feedback they receive.

Create a central repository for customer feedback so it’s easy to access.

Summarize the research with proposals and recommendations to share with the entire team.

Segment the research into logical groupings so it’s easier to understand the data points collected.

Measure the contribution each team member makes by reviewing the centralized repository.

Product research is a continual process. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_research_best_practices.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Innovation

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Innovation is a part of product research and development.

Product innovation provides a competitive advantage, opens new markets, and increases sales to existing customers.

Determine how much you will spend on product innovation.

Set a budget for people and time to work on those innovations.

Base this budget on demands from customers as well as pressure from the competition.

Segment your customer base and perform market research.

Brainstorm various innovations and test with customers to determine the potential increase in sales from each innovation.

Compare the cost of innovation with the potential sales increase.

Consider pursuing innovations that can pay back more than the basic development cost.  

Repeat this process with each segment of the customer base and with various solutions.

Prioritize the approved innovations across the various customer segments to work on the highest return projects first.

Innovation is a key aspect of product development but it must be managed within the constraints of the company’s budget and the ability to monetize the innovation.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_innovation.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Product Development Challenges

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product development in a startup brings several challenges.

Here’s a list of key challenges to overcome:

Picking the right problem to solve.

There are many problems to solve so it’s important to select the right problem up front.  

You’ll need a compelling solution and a means to monetize it.

Building the first product.

Many founders focus on their ultimate vision but the first product will be a greatly reduced version of it.

Look for an entry point that you can build in a short amount of time and can monetize equally fast.

Knowing your ideal customer.

It’s important to know who will buy your product and why as well as how much they have to spend for it.

Validate your idea.

Once you have a proposed product, you’ll need to test it out on prospective customers to see if they will pay for it.

Scoping the first version of the product.

The initial product should solve an important part of the problem rather than the entire problem.

It should work well for the customer.

Scope in on your product and tighten your ideal customer profile to build your first product.

With a product available to sell you can grow revenue, feedback, and a customer base that you can use to raise funding.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Product_development_challenges.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Minimum Viable Product

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product development begins with a minimum viable product.

In building your MVP, set constraints with respect to development time and selling time. 

In software development, it takes six months to build the product and six months to sell it. 

If you can’t build it in six months you scoped the product too large. 

If you can’t sell it in six months then you built the wrong product.

By putting constraints on your MVP up front you can eliminate many paths letting you focus on the few that are viable.

The purpose of the MVP is to test the market, close initial customers, and raise funding. 

The customer feedback from it will drive the specification for the first product. 

The first full version of the product is rarely an incremental revision of the MVP.

It’s most often completely different in features, packaging, and pricing. 

It’s not important to get the MVP exactly right as it’s for initial testing. 

It’s far better to go out to the market quickly and gain feedback.

Save the deep dive development for your first full product. 

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Minimum_viable_product.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Martin Tobias, Managing Partner at Incisive Ventures.

Located in Seattle, Washington, Incisive Ventures is a $10M pre-seed fund currently seeking limited liability partners. They focus on technology companies that reduce friction at scale, targeting high-friction industries like Fintech, supply chain, vertical SaaS, and health and fitness.  

Martin is also an ex-Accenture, Microsoft, and a former venture partner at Ignition Partners. He is a 3X venture-funded CEO raising over $500M with two IPOs and has also invested in over 200 companies as an angel, 50 through Incisive Ventures, and he is also a limited partner in over a dozen VC funds. He was an early investor in Google, DocuSign, OpenSea, and over a dozen unicorns.

Martin is the father of 3 daughters, a cyclist, surfer, poker player, and life hacker. He writes about venture capital on [Incisive Ventures](https://incisive.vc/insight/) and notes to himself on how to live the good life on his [personal blog](https://deepgreencrystals.com/).

Martin shares some of the challenges startups face, his criteria for making an investment, and how he sees the startup industry evolving in the near future. 

Visit Incisive Ventures at https://incisive.vc/, and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/incisive-ventures/. 

Reach out to Martin at: www.linkedin.com/in/martintobias/; twitter.com/martingtobias; martin@incisive.vc; martin@slashr.com.  

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Direct download: Martin_Tobias_of_Incisive_Ventures.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Source of Failures in Product Development

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are many challenges in product development.

Here’s a list of failures points to watch out for:

Inexperienced developers who mean well and work hard but lack the experience.

Hire for the skills you need rather than try and build the skills on the go.

Growing a product from a custom solution into a general solution can be difficult.  

Setup a separate development plan to turn the custom solution into a general one.

Lack of ownership.

Make sure there’s a team lead who owns the outcome.

There’s no overarching vision of what the product will become.

Set up a strategic plan for the product with a five-year window.

The team continues to fall down due to defections and a lack of interest.

Build in strong leadership who can hold a group together.

There are too many features and requests.

Install a process for prioritizing development on new features.

Feature creep pushes out the delivery date.

Set target dates for upgrades and ship on those dates moving the undone features to the next release.

There’s no product launch to the market.

Budget for marketing to bring the product to the market.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
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For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group   

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Direct download: Source_of_failures_in_product_development.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Challenges in Product Development

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product development brings many challenges to the startup.

Here are some key points to watch out for:

Funding takes time to raise so focus your product development on MVPs and draw as many lessons to be learned as you can from each one.

Building a product that actually solves the customer’s problem is a key challenge.  Keep the big picture in mind and continue to use customer feedback to guide development.

Hiring people takes time so make sure your recruiting keeps up with your development plans which often require new hires.

When things don’t go as planned make sure you have thought about alternative paths. 

What if sales aren’t what was forecasted?  What if the customer doesn’t adopt the product as expected?  

Have a plan for each situation. 

Competition can change your company’s position with the customer.  

Research your competition and keep up with their progress.

Planning ahead will help you overcome these challenges when they arise.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
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Direct download: Challenges_in_product_development.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

Outsourcing Product Development

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Many startups outsource their product development.

Here are some key points to consider before outsourcing:

Outsourcing gives you access to additional skills and resources you may not be able to hire yourself.

It can also lower your costs as you pay for the work to be done through contracts rather than salaries.

The key is to have someone on your team manage the outsourced product development.

Their job is to specify the work to be done including designing architectures, coding to standards, and documenting the code. 

The team building the product needs to have a project manager that can set priorities, drive to meet deadlines, and communicate with the startup hiring them.

Startups must have a very well-defined specification that includes wireframes, screenshots, and clear descriptions of each function.

There must be daily email communications for posing and answering questions as well as weekly status updates on what is accomplished.

Collaboration tools for tracking the project status and communications between the developers and the team are a must.

The startup must be able to test the software on a regular basis and provide feedback.

You must install solid specifications, project management, and communication processes to gain the benefits of outsourcing product development.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
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Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Direct download: Outsourcing_product_development.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

How to Reduce Costs in Product Development

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Product development often runs over budget.

Here are some steps to reduce costs:

Start with good planning and define the goals clearly.

Many projects launch with unreasonable expectations.

Track the progress using metrics to know how you are doing. 

Make sure the team is up to the tasks at hand.

Identify the skills needed for the project and match them to the team you are proposing to hire.

Build communication into the process using collaboration tools.

Setup communication channels including regular status reports, code reviews, and documentation deadlines.

Define communication as a part of everyone’s job.

Test the software as you develop it.

Some groups run daily builds from the get-go.

Start with the core features and work out from there to the ancillary ones.

Focus on the minimum viable product for the first version.

Simple processes can help you bring your product to market on time and under budget.

 

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
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Music courtesy of Bensound.

Direct download: How_to_reduce_costs_in_product_development.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

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