Category Archives: Finding your ideal niche

Big corporations are just slow to act.

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Dave Berkus

  By David Steakley  This week, David Steakley returns for another bite at the corporate apple,  with just the right amount of tart comments that will keep this document legal for now.  Read on!  – DB How do you judge a … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Growth!, Ignition! Starting up | 1 Comment

Plans? Humbug! Show me what you’re made of.

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Dave Berkus

By David Steakley Our guest insight this week comes from David Steakley, a past President of the Houston Angel Network,  and a reformed management consultant.  He is an active angel investor, and he manages several angel funds in Texas.   Hang … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Surrounding yourself with talent | 4 Comments

The most important person on the startup team

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Dave Berkus

By David S. Rose  Described by BusinessWeek as a “world conquering entrepreneur” and by Forbes as “New York’s Archangel”, David is a former Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur and the founder of New York Angels. He is the founder and … Continue reading →

Posted in Depending upon others, Finding your ideal niche | 4 Comments

Really do think outside the box.

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Dave Berkus

Creative entrepreneurs find niches for their business that are not full of competitors fighting over the last dollar of margin, or niches that are mature and shrinking in size.  They search for areas unexplored, or those covered by companies with … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche | 3 Comments

Protect and grow your core competency.

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Dave Berkus

It is a rule that early stage managers should find, protect and grow the core business, finding resources wherever possible to service that core in the form of variable expense, to be added to or shed at will as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Growth!, Positioning, Protecting the business | Leave a comment

Find your core competency.

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Dave Berkus

Consider your core.  It is the one skill, process or advantage you have over your competition.  Then think of all the things you do to surround that core with people and assets that complete the company and allow you to … Continue reading →

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

The four “P’s” of Building a Great Business.

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Dave Berkus

Some of us remember things better when given a catchy phrase or rhyme.  Here’s one to help you with squeezing the most out of your available resources.  It reflects the new reality in our business world, one with little room … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Growth! | 6 Comments

Be careful how you define your competition.

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Dave Berkus

Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.”  That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other.  It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Positioning | 2 Comments

Address the five risks to increase your valuation.

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Dave Berkus

In the creation of a new enterprise, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur.  Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each.  So it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Finding your ideal niche, Ignition! Starting up, Positioning | 4 Comments

Be approximately right rather than exactly wrong.

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Dave Berkus

I love this statement from John Tukey, coiner of the word ‘bit’ to describe a single switch of digital micro-data.  Tukey was a statistician, one you would expect to describe events in terms reeking with precision. Instead, Tukey implored us … Continue reading →

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