This blog post does not advocate free products/services.  Chris Anderson sockpuppetry may be found elsewhere. This blog post does not trash the freemium model, either.   Instead, it looks at business realities – cost of customer acquisition, revenue per customer, growth and scalabaility – advocating a large strategic toolbox and a careful selection, informed by hard [...]

Problem: Alternative Energy spinout seeks growth financing in tough times. Diversified business can fall back on professional services, but would rather invest in technology development. Solution: Position startup for gap-financing programs; recast company story to highlight leadership/incumbency; develop executive summary and financial materials for due diligence. Technologies used: Coaching, marketing consult, financial analysis Work  done [...]

Problem: New Startup professional services consulting firm needs go-to-market consultation on branding and messaging, sales pipeline, and collateral. Solution: Coach the coach, engineer the engineer, market the marketer, sell the seller. Technologies: Drupal, Flash. Work done on this project: Coaching, brand research and design, messaging platform consult and refinement, market strategy and program development, initial [...]

Blair Singer introduces neophytes to his SalesDogs cult with a combination of jacked-up motivational speaking and a simplified deconstruction of business challenges.His approach to sales training applies beyond sales: it’s a crash course in entrepreneurial stamina: the relentless tenacity and fatigue-proof high of setting and achieving goals, large and small, near and far.In this video, [...]

Problem: Everyone agrees that a business incubator is an economic development asset – until it comes time to pay for it. Solution: An incubator grows businesses, but at its heart, an incubator is a business. So create a business plan! Research entrepreneurial requirements, study other incubators and how they serve their constituencies, build a sustainable [...]

Problem: Business Incubators have traditionally focused on centralized facilities, to concentrate resources and focus services within four walls. But the entrepreneurial community is changing to a virtual model, which makes the old physical incubator look, well, “old.” Solution: A Virtual Business Incubator, that allows free access to resources and services, 24x7x365,over the web. Netwok consulting [...]

Problem: D-M-E Company needs to phase out their eCommerce site based on the no longer supported IBM Net.Commerce platform to WebSphere Commerce

Problem: ArtVan wants to venture in Internet commerce.

Problem: Biomedical startups have special facilities needs, that are underserved by commercial Real Estate industry.  Lots of venture capital is wasted building dedicated labs to house single companies. Solution: Broker a deal with a shrinking pharmaceutical giant to take over some of their wetlab facilities, and turn it into a specialized business incubator. Surprise: Halfway [...]

Problem: Pharma marketers must engage Key Opinion Leaders to influence medical opinion, but KOL selection and management has come under increasing scrutiny. Solution: Use social networks and computational linguistics to identify emergent KOL characteristics from among a large pool of candidates, then tailor KOL engagements to the particular strengths of each incumbent. Technologies: Personal-URL survey-research [...]