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 [...]

The Red Pill is an irreversible choice – once you take the Red Pill, you look at the world in a new way. The Kauffman Foundation has been dispensing this prescription in the form of its FastTrac program, noting the uptick in accidental entrepreneurship. Detroit’s TechTown SmartZone will help mint, mentor and manage 1,200 new [...]

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 [...]

Problem: Medical device e-commerce site requires rescue and retread. Solution: Move site from a stick-built mess on a proprietary platform to a templated site that the client can maintain.  Consult on payment gateways and traffic management. Technologies used: Coaching, e-commerce consult, SilverStripe CMS Work  done on this project: Design, development, templating, hosting.

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: Dykema Gossett, a large legal firm, needs to track the work for Sears, Roebuck and Company.

Problem: Twenty-year-old shrinkwrap software startup reinvents itself as an online service provider. Solution: Restructure engineering and program management. Inject “release train” product cycles. Develop in-house programming and integration skillsets. Coach CIO to manage the transformation process. Technologies: Zope, Python, Java, Sybase, Agents, SaaS. Work done on this project: Scaled in-house development staff with Constellation talent.  [...]