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A recent question posted on a site I frequent asked about the use of vaporware as a means of measuring customer interest in a product prior to actually building the product. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of vaporware, the definition from Wikipedia reads: Vaporware describes products not released on the date announced by [...]
In a conversation with a client, we discussed a piece of advice he had received from a venture capitalist in regard to his business. He had been seeking an investment of a few million dollars, most of which would be spent on development and hardware infrastructure for the business. The business already had clients lined [...]
Today’s post is really short, because it’s actually a question, not an answer. I was forwarded a talk by Jason Fried about Why Work Doesn’t Happen in the Office, in which he discusses where people like to go when they need to get some work done. Interestingly, the answers he got were pretty much anything [...]
Often in my line of work, I have conversations with people who have thought of an idea for a product or service, and are looking to turn it into a business. The first barrier they need to cross, namely, having a GOOD idea, has been crossed via validation from potential customers of the product or [...]
A recent course which was titled “Starting a Business” and ended being better named “Writing a Business Plan” got me thinking about what kind of advice I would give to someone just starting out. I thought back to a few businesses which started out as a single person, and have grown, and realized that there [...]
I use Twitter as a source of interesting articles, sites, and other content. Unusual for Twitter readers, I actually read an incredibly high percentage of posts in my feed (currently about 80% of what’s posted is actually read by me), and that’s without using lists or any service other than the website itself. When I [...]
I was working on a business development plan for someone, and we discussed her business, what she envisioned being able to do for clients, and various approaches she could take to find new clients. This came, after some discussion, to the concept of unique value proposition – that is, what would set her business apart [...]
I attended a lecture recently in which the concept of boundaries came up, and how some people have a good understanding of other people’s boundaries, while some people do not. Naturally, when dealing with other people, knowing what boundaries exist is incredibly important, but unfortunately, finding those boundaries can be quite difficult. As an example [...]
Elie Kochman is the author of Advice for Small Business Owners and the founder of Optimal Upgrade Consulting. Using his experience working in the corporate world along with his exposure to the world of small businesses, he writes these articles to assist others avoiding common pitfalls of growing a business. His experience in the corporate world, building his own business, and working directly with other growing businesses has given him some perspective on the trials and pains of running a business.
