Starts getting a bit complicated, and perhaps unfocused in the eyes of some. Ultimately, it would seem as users are just a means to an end (a solution for the paying customers). But on the flip side, clearly you have to show the pain point you are solving for users or an investor may not understand why you're going to get paying.customers that can take advantage of the audience.

For point number four, "WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?", would non-paying users of a consumer web-application be considered the customer of your service? Or would the customers be the companies (ie advertisers or marketing partners) that pay to allow for the service and business to continue to exist?

thanks!

Best regards,
Jenn
EntrepreneursWorldCup

“What does the sales process look like and how long is the sales cycle?”

In my work with clients over the past several years, I have learned that the majority of the companies I have worked with (both startups and the extremely large multi-billion dollar ones) really do not have their arms around the sales process – it gets paid a lot of lip service, but very few companies really understand it and attack it aggressively as a key element of their go-to-market activities.

Marketing and product management tend to invent the product to be sold and then throw it over the wall to the sales force, with mounds of documentation on what it is, spec sheets, capabilities, functionality, etc. and maybe a little bit about the intended market. This leaves the sales organization to figure out who to go sell it to and how to sell it. Missing are the answers to such questions as:
- exactly who should I be trying to see?
- how should I be positioning the product/service?
- how should I position the company?
- what questions should I be asking and why?
- how can I eliminate various competitors?
- what objections will I hear and how should I respond?

It amazes me how many marketers believe that sales people just naturally know how to do all the above – they were just born knowing what questions they should ask. They don’t. And if they appear to, it is just because they have been selling a long time and have some experience to guide their actions, but even the most seasoned sales person has to “figure it out” to some extent.

While I would be impressed with anybody who could articulate their sales process, I think it goes far beyond the items in the Powerpoint presentation. There needs to be a linking of the marketing strategy to a documented set of actionable sales steps that can be used by all the company’s sales people Day 1. The learning curve is VERY expensive not only in terms of time to revenue, but while they are figuring everything out sales people often miss opportunities that can not be recaptured later.

This is a great thought-provoking outline and I just had to throw in my 2 cents on the sales process item because I see it as a huge opportunity.

VC Pitch Tips (reprinted with permission – from myself

We talk a lot about messaging here, well in our day jobs as Venture Capitalists, investors are a key marketing target just like any other. A while ago we wrote a post on another blog (NW Venture Voice) translating…

Paul Graham has written some superb essays about start ups.  These are must-reads for people contemplating start-ups. Even for those …

Hacking Google Desktop Search- Google Desktop Search can be used as an application for remotely monitoring computers across a LAN. Got Soles ? Tom Waits picks his fav albums. Make the best VC pitch while using PowerPoint. George Frost Kennan…

Hacking Google Desktop Search- Google Desktop Search can be used as an application for remotely monitoring computers across a LAN. Got Soles ? Tom Waits picks his fav albums. Make the best VC pitch while using PowerPoint. George Frost Kennan…

PowerPoint is a perfectly efficient tool that’s badly used.

Also, people should stop thinlking about how to pitch to VCs as such and rather consider how to pitch to people in general.

The content should be specific. The methodology shouldn’t…!