1. Starting A New Venture How will you know if you succeed? George Bounacos Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
2. About George (aka Why George?) GMU alum Judge SOM business case competition Fairfax County Consumer Protection Commissioner COO, Silver Beacon Marketing 4 prior startups, plus federal and B2B work Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
7. Without a mission and metrics,how is success determined? Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
8. Qualified Successes The Internet – inventors didn’t intend current use Constantly changing storage media Tape (reel-to-reel, cassette) Optical drives Solid state drives Reset to cloud computing Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
13. Tactical Plan – 1 month incrementsCreate a success metric Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
14. Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Why are we starting this venture? What is our financial plan? Who is accountable? How will we define success? When will our milestones occur? Questions To Ask
15. Funny, but true concept #1 Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
19. Go All-In New ventures are not 40 hour / week jobs Prepare to go all-in Commit: Your time Your personal resources Your reputation Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
26. Cash Is King Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com “Some people around here better get some perspective. My promotions budget at [company] was bigger than this whole place’s free cash flow.” --COO to Morgan Stanley partner shortly before road show
27. Cash Is King Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com “Someone who owns the company writes on both sides of the paper.” --the same COO after the IPO blew up
28. Cash Is King – The Simple Version Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
29. Cash Is King – The Real Version Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Lower sales than expected
30. Cash Is King – The Real Version Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Litigation / Insurance Lower sales than expected
31. Cash Is King – The Real Version Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Debt servicing Litigation / Insurance Lower sales than expected
32. Cash Flow – Famous Business Quote Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is cash.
37. Sales Projections Your organization’s sales growth will not ramp up like Twitter’s Or Google’s Or Microsoft’s Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
40. Customer Service 25 people learn about 1 negative experience Who knows if this is true? Who cares? Isn’t it enough 1 does? Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
41. Customer Service Costs to acquire customers almost always more than to keep ones you have. But who does that work? Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
42. Customer Service Hiring people costs money. Average customer service rep salary in Washington, D.C.: $30,000 Fringe benefits: $10,000 Explicit Cost: $40,000 for one person Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com
43. Customer Service Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com Who is answeringthe phone when I go to lunch? :sigh:
44. Customer Service New organizations must budget customer or client service time. That is time not spent making sales …or working on strategy …or doing anything but holding on to existing business. Silver Beacon Marketing www.SBMteam.com