Category Archives: Positioning

Have you found your “teacher customer?”

Posted on September 21, 2023 by Dave Berkus

 Your customers know what they want more than you do.  Find one to teach you. This week’s insight came from personal experience and from a good friend who advanced the notion of the “teacher-customer” years ago.  I internalized this phrase, … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Finding your ideal niche, Positioning | Leave a comment

Is your product ready for your market?

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Dave Berkus

You might be here: You have a great new product or service that you and your associates love.  Early adopters should climb all over each other for a look. But are you HERE? But what have you done to test … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Positioning | 3 Comments

What’s the difference between your budget and forecast?

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Dave Berkus

Hold it! These are confusing terms. When does a budget become obsolete? Do we rely upon constant changes and call it a forecast? So, let’s spend a few moments defining this sometimes-confusing set of terms. This is a budget: A … Continue reading →

Posted in Positioning, Protecting the business, Raising money | Leave a comment

Make your detailed strategic plan!

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Dave Berkus

In these past weeks, we explored the need for a tangible goal and strategies that are measurable as steps toward achievement of your goal.  Today, we explore how to create tactics to accompany each strategy, and even suggest a number … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Growth!, Positioning | Leave a comment

So, what’s the plan?

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Dave Berkus

It’s time to speak of some sort of business plan.   As a professional investor in early-stage companies, I have long discounted long, detailed business plans in favor of a concise “executive summary” followed by a believable spreadsheet-based financial forecast … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Positioning | Leave a comment

Can you guess 10 tests for your success?

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Dave Berkus

Your success must be based upon data that is solid and sometimes flexible enough to pass several critical tests if it is to guide a business enterprise to greatness.  Here in brief are ten tests for your business success.  Try … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Growth!, Positioning | 1 Comment

How are you at setting your goals?

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Dave Berkus

We’ve spent several weeks discussing your vision for success, and whether you could be the next Ford, Jobs or Musk.  Now it’s time to make this more tangible, more real – by attaching personal goals to this vision we’ve created … Continue reading →

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Sharpen your business vision!

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Dave Berkus

I love absolute statements. Pardon my English. But this is one of my favorite statements.  You’re at the ignition stage of your newest business venture.  Of course, you have a vision for what you will do to change the world.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Positioning | Leave a comment

How will you ride the next wave?

Posted on March 23, 2023 by Dave Berkus

“Re-imagining” our lives The world is experiencing a new era of re-imagination, in which virtually all our old ways of doing things are being uprooted by new, more efficient and more widely available methods of accomplishing old tasks. We collaborate … Continue reading →

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You name the price; I’ll name the terms.

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Dave Berkus

I admit that my dad taught me this when I was just a fifteen–year old kid starting a business and negotiating with suppliers for the first time.  But I learned it again and again in my various business lives. Here’s … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Positioning | 1 Comment