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Is your startup eager to expand to new markets and offer different products? Well, InRule cofounder Rik Chomko warns not to be “all things to all people.” Find out what he means on this week’s episode the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
Does the success of your startup begin and end with your co-founder relationship? Redox co-founders Luke Bonney and James Lloyd believe that the health of the co-founder relationship is critical to company success. Listen to their explanation on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
While it might be the instinct of a startup to go it alone, it’s not always the right decision. UK-based startup Kafoodle recognized early on that it would be important to forge meaningful partnerships. Listen to Kafoodle co-founder Tarryn Gorre speak with Roland Siebelink about the importance of partnerships on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast. [Read More]
In the startup world, the use case typically comes before there is a solution. But what happens when there is great technology before there is a problem to solve with it? To find out, listen to LuxTag co-founders Rene Bernard and Jeff McDonald on the latest episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
At the time when tech startup Emesent launched its first product, there was a “pent-up demand” for it. How did co-founders Stefan Hrabar and Farid Kendoul create that kind of demand immediately after launching their product? Find out on this week’s episode of the Midstage Startup Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
Video platforms are everywhere nowadays, and that’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Livepeer is hoping to build open video infrastructure for the world using blockchain and open-source technology. It’s a lofty and ambitious goal, but Livepeer has already started to make headway. [Read More]
It’s estimated that after receiving seed funding, roughly half of midstage startups will fail to reach each subsequent round of fundraising. That means only a small fraction survive long enough to raise a Series C or D. But why are so many startups losing momentum in the midstage and struggling to survive? There are a lot of reasons why this happens, but on the bright side, there are just as many ways to avoid this fate. [Read More]
One of the first lessons all founders learn is that it takes more than a good product to build a company. For example, there are a lot of confusing legal documents that startups need to get off the ground. Fortunately, Capbase is around to help founders who can’t afford a high-priced lawyer with the legal side of starting a company. [Read More]
When should your startup start nurturing partnerships? According to Latent AI co-founder Jags Kandasamy, it’s never too soon to start educating partners who may be able to help you at a later date. Listen to his explanation on this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
They say that slow and steady wins the race, but how many tech startups succeed with a patient approach? Cash management startup Neo is a shining example of slow and steady winning the race. While waiting two years for regulatory clearance, Neo built a huge customer base before they could even sell. Now they are poised to reap the rewards. [Read More]
If you’re a fan of sci-fi, you’ll expect robots will one day rule the world. Thanks to tech startup Mobot, we’re a little closer to that day. The young company is changing QA for mobile apps by using robots to test apps in ways that imitate the way that humans actually use those apps. [Read More]
The pandemic has been terrible for the restaurant industry. But that hasn’t stopped tech startup Superb or its founder and CEO Zaedo Musa. Superb is a guest experience management platform that created the first OS for restaurants. Despite this being a tough time for restaurants, Superb has found great traction and is being used by restaurants worldwide. [Read More]
The growth of the Internet has been nothing but amazing. Since I sent my first email from a unix terminal in 1992 (using ‘vi’!), we’ve seen the Internet over 50 billion (!) new “things” connect. With people using so many IoT devices and facing cyber-security threats, it’s more important than ever for networks to be properly managed. That’s where Milan-based tech startup Tanaza comes in. They provide a smarter and cheaper alternative for network solutions, empowering both internal and external IT departments with their software. [Read More]
Scaling operations is the biggest challenge any business will ever face. With so many things changing, it helps to have automation tools that you can control. That is precisely the pain point being solved by Alessio Alionco and his startup Pipefy. Unlike other workflow software, Pipefy is lightweight and geared toward non-technical users. It helps manage requests from stakeholders and make individual contributors more efficient. As Alessio puts it “empower the doer.” [Read More]
Think about how easy it is to send a text message compared to making a phone call or sending a letter via snail mail. Well, what if text messages could be used by consumers to pay bills or companies to converse with customers who owe money? That’s precisely the use case addressed by startup Everyware. Using technology originally developed to help hotels and resorts communicate with travelers, Everyware is now making bill-paying as simple as sending a text message. [Read More]
On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be a close connection between farming and modern technology. But Milan Dobrota and his startup Agremo are starting to change that. Agremo uses AI technology to analyze aerial imagery as a method to help in crop production. Agremo’s technology can be used for any crop and addresses a huge lack of data that is useful for crops and agriculture. [Read More]
It’s always great to talk about startup success stories. But what about those startups that have great potential but are still struggling to get on track and find a path to success? There is still a lot to learn from startups like Knowable, an audio-first learning program that launched in 2020. Whil [Read More]
Blockchain technology continues to change the world in new ways. Tech startup Data Gumbo is one of the latest examples of that. Data Gumbo uses blockchain technology to create a network of smart contracts for industrial companies to automate their vendor management. By doing so, Data Gumbo vastly re [Read More]
For most startups, creating one product, finding the right market for it, and turning it into a profitable business is hard enough. But what if you were doing the same thing simultaneously with two different products? That’s the challenge for the co-founders of Greendeck, who created a price optimiz [Read More]
It can be a beautiful thing when new technology coming to the market creates opportunities for startups to do something useful with the data and resources available to them. That is exactly what founder Jakob Muus and his startup Tracks are doing. Tracks uses the telematics systems inside trucks all [Read More]
Do you play the games you like best—or the ones that have been marketed to you the hardest? This is a huge problem in the gaming world. FRVR is hoping to fix a broken system by helping gamers play the games they’ll enjoy the most while also helping game developers reach their audience better. [Read More]
Are you still struggling to find product-market fit? Maybe you haven’t spent enough time exploring the problem you’re trying to solve? In this week’s episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, Speechly CEO and co-founder Otto Söderlund explains to Roland Siebelink that working directly with ent [Read More]
Do you ever have problems getting on the same page with your co-founder? YourWelcome co-founders Henry Bennett and Paul Loram have it down to a science after 15 years working together. Listen to them share their secret to a strong co-founder relationship with Roland Siebelink on this week’s episode [Read More]
Has a lack of funding forced you to go to market sooner than expected? It may not be the worst thing in the world. Sheetgo founder Yannick Rault was able to make it work by listening to customers and iterating his product. Listen to his story on the latest episode of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podc [Read More]
Are you still sending Word docs into Docusign? Thanks to Contractbook, legal tech has been taken to the next level with contract lifecycle management. Contractbook helps SMBs to automate everything related to their legal documents. In fact, the company sets out to make its users feel like legal prof [Read More]
Do you ever wish AI could handle some of your company’s project coordination and free up team members to do their best work? Well, it’s 2020, and all of that is possible with Forecast. Co-founder and CEO Dennis Kayser describes Forecast as “the ultimate power-up for project teams and professional se [Read More]
Worldwide travel has come to a grinding halt during the ongoing pandemic. But the travel industry always bounces back after a setback, and it always comes back stronger than before. Helping to make that a reality is Redeam, a startup that connects travelers, operators, and re-sellers by bringing the [Read More]
Ready or not, cryptocurrency is a big deal and is here to stay. Fortunately, tech startup ZenLedger is along for the ride and ready to help crypto investors and tax professionals with tax compliance as it relates to cryptocurrency. ZenLedger co-founder and CEO Pat Larsen has a unique background for [Read More]
There are no limits to how Artificial Intelligence can have a positive impact on the world, and the dental industry is about to learn that first-hand. Tech startup Pearl has developed AI technology that aims to help improve the consistency of dental diagnoses and treatments. It won’t be easy with th [Read More]
It’s always good for startups of all stages to have goals and be working every day in pursuit of those goals. However, too many startups lose sight of those goals and the practices that can help get them there. That’s the precise problem that founder and CEO Matt Tucker is looking to address with hi [Read More]
Efficiency is always the name of the game, particularly for development teams that don’t like distractions or interruptions. That’s why co-founders Ori Keren and Dan Lines have created LinearB, a project management tool aimed at improving workflow for dev teams without distracting meetings, standups [Read More]
There are few things in this world as complicated as banking regulation. That’s especially true when so many small-medium businesses become part of the delivery chain. Tech startup LexAlign is simplifying compliance for banks by developing the “missing piece in the digitization of banking.” [Read More]
With adult-use cannabis products legal in 11 US states and several countries, the industry is poised for massive growth over the next several years. Tech startup Apex Trading is aiding in that growth by providing a wholesale business management and sales platform for businesses in the US cannabis in [Read More]
How quickly should your startup be able to hone in on the right type of customer? It’s not always as quick and easy as you think. Listen to Pedro Góes of InEvent discuss how often his startup tried something different before finding the ideal customer. Check out this week’s Silicon Valley Momentum P [Read More]
As a startup leader, how do you maintain a consistent culture and stay focused on your goals? Listen how the leaders of CloudApp were able to stay true to their vision for their company. In this week’s edition of the Silicon Valley Momentum Podcast, with Roland Siebelink. [Read More]
Has your startup reached product-market-fit? Congratulations. Now the real game starts. Do you know what the new challenge is your team will face first? And what happens if your team fails to master it before your runway runs out? In this article, we pull together the four key challenges every start [Read More]
There’s no doubt that is more and more business being conducted remotely these days with the ongoing global pandemic. Of course, some companies like design startup Superside were ahead of the curve. Superside has been 100% remote since Day 1, delivering better and faster design projects and giving c [Read More]
With so many potential distractions, it’s easy for startup leaders and their companies to lose focus on what’s important. The result is time wasted on tasks that could be outsourced or accomplished more efficiently as opposed to the differentiations that a startup brings to the market. [Read More]
it’s amazing how many startups find themselves in a funk. The momentum they had in their early days is waning and you have to start pushing employees to take responsibility and go the extra mile. [Read More]
The question I get from CEOs is how can they get their startup out of this kind of funk. After four or five years and two or three rounds of funding, it’s amazing how many startups find themselves in a funk. The momentum they had in their early days is waning and you have to start pushing employees [Read More]
Roland Siebelink of scaleupallies.com spoke with Krish Raminemi, the cofounder and CEO of Fireflies, an AI voice assistant. Fireflies has similar functionality to systems like Siri or Alexa but is designed for the workplace. During the podcast, you will hear from Krish about how Fireflies is the per [Read More]
How do you hold your cofounder accountable, especially when you've been working in the same mid-stage startup for many years? [Read More]
Roland Siebelink of ScaleupAllies.com tackles the question of how to hold your co-founder accountable. This is one of the most common issues for startup and scale-up leaders who have been working together at the same mid-stage startup for several years. [Read More]
For the founders and leaders of start-ups, the current public-health and economic crisis has been by no means easy. However, there could be ways to turn a negative into a positive by spotting new opportunities. The only thing we know for sure is the world will look different coming out of the crisis [Read More]
Your business has survived these tough months - now what? The company has survived but likely has some wounds to deal with around trust and a sense of negativity. Infusing positive energy requires 4 key actions from you as founder. [Read More]
Sustain the future of the business. That is your core assignment as a leader of a startup in this crisis. I want to get to the core of (what many people feel) is the core of adapting a startup to a crisis situation such as this one. It is to make the numbers match with the expected future. In other [Read More]
Instruct your people. Tell everyone what you want them to do right now, even if you're not quite sure how things will pan out in the long run. The third step in our C.R.I.S.I.S. framework, for leading your startup through crisis, is “Instruct your People.” It is about giving clarity to people what [Read More]
Reassess your reality. What are the truths you have to give up on to lead your startup through the crisis? It's all about reassessing your reality, finding the truth that you have to give up on, and some new truths that you may have to accept as driving your business now. We divide it up in a few [Read More]
In this episode, Roland explains his framework on how to lead your startup through a C.R.I.S.I.S. which will help you navigate your startup during these uncertain times. [Read More]
Listen in to this week’s episode in which I interview 2 of Redox’s 3 co-founders, Luke Bonney and James Lloyd. We discuss the above questions and what they’ve learned to do to keep a healthy partnership as well as how to clean up train wrecks in their startup journey. [Read More]
Roland interviews Kevin Yoo and Keith Kirkland, cofounders of Wear.Works, a wearable tech that allows for wayfinding and navigation using the sense of touch/feeling. [Read More]
In this podcast, Roland is joined by Rik Chomko and Loren Goodman of InRule Technologies. [Read More]
Many of us are facing challenging times going through this crisis. We will talk about the steps you can take to lead your startup through CRISIS with maximum chances of survival and success. This first step is all about communication. [Read More]
These are challenging times. Many are worried about the very survival of their startup. Worried if they're doing the right thing by their employees, by their customers, their suppliers. Worried if they're even focused on the right way of bringing their startup through this crisis. [Read More]
I guess you have a lot of things on your to-do list that stress you out. I also guess you sometimes find it hard to prioritize between them. [Read More]
Have you found yourself disagreeing with your co-founders about what is proper behavior in your startup company? Or how to manage employees? This is probably a sign that you need to think through your core values and shared principles. [Read More]
How are you doing on increased, even maximized accountability in your startup team? We've already taken you through three steps. Do you have the right seats around the table? Do you have people focused on the right things? And are they doing the right handovers? Now for the fourth and last step, do [Read More]
Are you making progress with increasing accountability in your team? This is already the third blog post leading you through our accountability roundtable worksheet, talking about the right handovers. In the previous two blog posts we talked about, do you have the right seats around the table an [Read More]
Are you working on maximizing accountability in your startup team? It would mean, that you can property delegate all these responsibilities down and rely on people to actually deliver the results that you need. In the previous blog we talked about worksheet number one of our accountability round t [Read More]
Are you frustrated with having responsibility for everything in your growing startup? Even if you now have 10, 20 or maybe even 30 people in your company, you are still the one where always, the buck has to stop. Well, stop it already. You have people in your leadership team. It's time to make [Read More]
Are you also looking forward to your teams' next quarterly offsite? Not! Here are some tips to make it into more of a success that everyone can apply. [Read More]
"Who" is a bigger problem in your business than "what" you are working on. A famous saying by Geoff Smart, the person who told us that hiring the right people is much more important than what strategies you come up with and how you execute them. Now, how to hire only A-player [Read More]
Did you know that over 80% of your frontline workers may be busy doing work that adds no value to your customers? If you need to save cash, deliver more with less cash, that's where you want to start. Not with the layoffs and not with letting people pay for their own coffee. But with understanding [Read More]
Did you know that over 67% off strategic goals never get executed in the way that people intended them to be. I want to help your teams break down a big goal into an actionable execution plan. The three levels are clear ownership, clear metrics and clear milestones on the ownership side. [Read More]
How does your top team in your startup or scaleup pick the most effective OKRs for their top team? I've worked with many top teams of scaleups and startups to help them pick the right OKRs. This is not something that always comes naturally to these teams. Here are some mistakes I often see: Man [Read More]
Do you want to drive up the value of your startup using just two North Star Metrics? Every startup uses KPIs, but we see many problems with the KPIs that startups are using. [Read More]
Can you become that company that leads in a fast growing market? Here are the seven questions we look at in our full FastAtScale assessment. [Read More]
Is the cash in your business cycling fast enough to keep you afloat even in the bad times? [Read More]
How can you get your teams to deliver on your goals dependably without all the drama? [Read More]
Are you focused on the best chances you have of winning in your marketplace? [Read More]
Is everyone on your team still a good fit today and are they all still growing in their careers? [Read More]
Have you taken and communicated all the foundational decisions? So that your team knows the boundaries between which they can operate freely? [Read More]
Is your executive team providing a great example for the organization and giving them the right guidance to produce the results you want? [Read More]
Are you giving the people in your business enough financial and human resources to get the job done? [Read More]
Fulfillment, the process by which you deliver the promise benefits to your customers. [Read More]
As companies scale, it can be a challenge to keep up innovation momentum. To assess if a scaleup company is still ahead of the trail, we employ these seven levers in our FastAtScale™ Health Check. [Read More]
Can you make your sales growth not only sustainable, but also predictable? [Read More]
How Can you Hire Only A-Players? How can you hire only A-players? What if you knew there was a tool that could help you zero in on them whenever you recruit someone new? Look no further. Our “Preparing to Hire an A-player incorporates the teachings of Brad Smart (“Topgrading”) and especially his so [Read More]
Many startup founders start additional lines of business as soon as they have discovered product-market-fit in their first. In this chapter from Scaling Silicon Valley Style, Doug Miller and Roland Siebelink suggest that that might be too early. Scaleups can maintain more speed and agility whe [Read More]
Are you also dreading your next quarterly planning session? You know your executive team has to have one. But how effective do you really find these quarterly planning sessions? Well, most executives would say they are not very effective. [Read More]
One of the biggest frustrations founders ask me about is:“Everything is slowing down! The more people I hire, the less seems to get done." [Read More]
DOUG: Continuing the preview of our next book, junior scaleups have already mastered disrupting. So what else do senior scaleups need to master? ROLAND: Senior scaleups need to defend from attack the rapid gains that they have made in the junior stage. Junior scaleups build out the fortresses. Seni [Read More]
DOUG: Freshman scaleups were trying to master distribution. So sophomore scaleups must have reached a scalable sales process. ROLAND: Yes, sophomore scaleups have figured out distribution. They are adding much sales capacity, funded by a healthy gross margin on their product. New customers have a h [Read More]
Hung Tran: Founder and CTO of Got It Hung Tran (Trần Việt Hùng) is the Founder and CTO of Got It Inc, the leader in the Knowledge-as-a-Service market. Got It TUDY is their first app. It offers students immediate help with a STEM problem in their homework. Snap a picture of the problem with the ap [Read More]
When startups "hit it" and reach product-market-fit, they become scaleups. And the first thing they need to learn as a "freshman scaleup" is how to scale their marketing and sales. Mastering acquisition or, in other words, mastering distribution. DOUG: The freshman scaleup is th [Read More]
DOUG: Applicant scaleups are really startups, is that not right? ROLAND: Yes, correct, they are startups in the classic sense, companies before product-market-fit. They hope to transition to the first scaleup stage. DOUG: What are the typical characteristics of these Applicant scaleups? ROLAND: I [Read More]
DOUG: Back to how to define a startup, broad or narrow. You made an interesting analogy with raising kids. ROLAND: Yes, for venture capitalists, all their portfolio companies are like kids. Kids are their parents’ financial responsibility until they have “left the nest.” Toddlers, school kids, teen [Read More]
DOUG: We have introduced the concept of a scaleup now. How exactly is a scaleup different from a startup? ROLAND: That is simple. A startup is a venture that is still looking for product-market-fit. A scaleup has already found product-market-fit and is looking for product-market-dominance. DOUG: I [Read More]
Doug: Why do you feel that playbook is so important? Roland: Because businesses succeed to a large extent through alignment. Playbooks provide that very alignment, especially in fast-changing circumstances. The stronger the playbook, the less people will panic and the more they stay focused on the [Read More]
Doug: So the challenge is to overcome a landscape of obstacles and high failure rates. To lead your startup to a successful IPO. In other words, it needs to become more like a big corporation. Roland: Wrong. This is another reason we wrote this book. To fight against the tendency to copy big corpo [Read More]
Roland: With this book, we especially want to reach the founders of tech scaleups. Those in charge of a startup that has "hit it" and is struggling to serve surging demand for their product. Which means the founders are struggling too. To hire enough people, to align the teams and to rais [Read More]
Doug: I have enjoyed writing this tech scaleup book with you, Roland! It takes place in the land of technology startups. Roland: Yes, our story will be about startups that "take off". From the first sales, through several growth phases, up to a corporate incumbent. In other words, it is [Read More]
Do you find it difficult to get your team to buy into your priorities? If that is the way you ask yourself that question, you may already have the wrong perspective. The way you get A-players to buy in to new priorities, is for them to have influence on setting those priorities. You se [Read More]
Distributing or Centralizing Teams Multi-office scaleups struggle to organize their teams efficiently. Once your scaleup has several offices, how do you organize your teams? Should each function have representatives in each location? Or should certain functions remain centralized in headquarters [Read More]
Strengthening the competitive positioning for your scale-up company is the key to reaching product-market-dominance. Using our free “sandbox” tool, you can quickly figure out your competitive focus in products, segments, geography and activities. Are You Growing In All Directions? Is your [Read More]
Effective Ownership of Quarterly Rocks In their quarterly offsites, the executive team determines up to five quarterly rocks that are key in driving the business forward. It is a high visibility opportunity to own one of these rocks on behalf of the company. But how do you make sure you deliver on [Read More]
Improving Your Success Formulas Does your company seem to get less efficient as it grows? Are you constantly playing arbiter between the heads of your different functions? Then it may be time to identify key cross-functional processes and improve your four success formulas. Our free “Cashflow Accel [Read More]
Fewer Markets, Bigger Profits The story of Zentrick illustrates the impact that focusing on the core can have. Zentrick is a New York-based scaleup with roots in Belgium. They sell a video interactivity layer to advertising technology platforms (DSPs and SSPs). The product provides market-standard [Read More]
Focusing—not Hedging The first step in restoring growth momentum in a scaleup company is to focus the energy. Focus on the one product-market that the company has the biggest chance of dominating. This focus is not self-explanatory. Most scaleups have entered five to ten markets, but have only obt [Read More]
1. Understand how strategy changes from startup to scale-up Strategy should be a primary differentiating factor between a startup and a scale-up. In a startup we hardly distinguish strategy as separate from other activities. But in a scale-up, the strategy should be the key driver for growth. Star [Read More]
The Right Theory of Growth Many of the ScaleUps I start working with are scrambling to reach former rates of growth. But are they using the right methods? More often than not, I suspect they apply what Chris Zook calls “ The Wrong Theory of Growth ” Situation-Dependent The first thing to realize [Read More]
Sustaining growth is crucial Startup life does not get easier after Product-Market-Fit. To reach product-market-domination before competitors, your startup has to maintain ever increasing growth. Until far into the market majority. Stalling growth may not be such a problem if you rely on internal [Read More]
Fit at just 2.5% of the market The Startup phase obsesses with Product-Market-Fit, the Scaleup phase obsesses with Product-Market-Domination. The most important reason for this shift in attention is the sheer size of the opportunity. Product-Market-Fit represents the cusp between Early Innovators [Read More]
Has your startup reached Product-Market-Fit? It is time to set your eyes on Product-Market-Domination [Read More]