TEDD Talks by Ted Dacko

Scaling your business requires having strong cross-organizational functions including, sales, marketing, finance, product development and client services.  The client service function is often over-looked by [...]

Many entrepreneurs believe that they have Blue Ocean companies and opportunities.  Yet, most have actually never read either of the books “Blue Ocean Strategy” or [...]

Many entrepreneurs believe that selling the features, benefits and ROI of their product will be sufficient for their success.  While this is often true, it [...]

Most of us are familiar with the classic book “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore. The book discusses how a company has to cross a [...]

Anyone who really knows me knows two things about me.  I am all about start-up growth and scale and I understand that there are no [...]

Many startup companies invent new markets or approaches to solving existing problems.  In doing so, they need to convince their markets to think differently about [...]

So, you are a Blue Ocean Strategy company, huh?  Where is your ERRC grid? Where is your Four Action Framework?  Where is your Strategy Canvas? [...]

What do Andy Grove, John Doer and Eric Schmitt (among others) know that you don’t know?  Probably a great deal.  But one of the most [...]

"Only I can sell my product" Early-stage company growth stalls for many reasons. Many companies falter at the scale stage of development (going [...]

The New Year is approaching.  It’s time for New Year’s resolutions.  This applies to personal as well as company resolutions.  Here are 10 New Year’s [...]

Entrepreneurs who lack a sales background (most entrepreneurs) often do not fully appreciate all of the things that need to be in place before a [...]

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well - Albert Einstein As an entrepreneur, you are always selling…prospects, customers, employees, [...]

Not everyone automatically “gets” your product. That’s a pipe dream. When selling through a distribution partner, you need to make sure that you address the [...]

Defend Your Price We all know that one of the main objections that prospects have in sales situations is the price of your [...]

Financial Reporting in Early-Stage Companies If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else (Yogi Berra).  If you don’t [...]

Website Bounce Rates We all understand that the very first place a person or organization goes to learn about your business is to [...]

Most founders come from either an engineering or some domain expert background.  They are exceptionally knowledgeable about a topic (experts) and come up with an [...]

I was a math major in college and graduate school, but certainly not a math genius.  I struggled to get my graduate degree.  But I [...]

Most companies spend time in the “Trough of Sorrow”.  This is where your company is not doing as well as you would like.  You have [...]

Building a successful tech company without a great team is next to impossible.  A great team is made up of a diverse set of individuals, [...]

By Steve Denning – Forbes Edited by Ted Dacko In 2005, Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the [...]

Every entrepreneur wants to be innovative.  But most entrepreneurs try to be innovative in their thinking about their product, but not innovative about their business. [...]

(This is Part 2 or a 2-Part post)   The last time we talked about tying the sales forecast to the financial plan and the [...]

(This is Part 1 or a 2-Part post) Almost all organizations of any size produce a sales forecast and also a financial forecast.  These are [...]

Many entrepreneurs want to disrupt their markets.  They want to revolutionize their industries. They want to provide a radical change in the way a problem [...]

One of my favorite phrases is "Everyone loves your product until they have to pay for it."  This is a simple but true sentence that [...]

Launching your product is, arguably, the most important function you will undertake with your company.  It can mean the difference between success and failure, or, [...]

One of the most critical aspects of the CEO role is to focus on organizational development.  That means understanding where the company is headed, what [...]

Many entrepreneurial CEOs are frustrated by sales (or the lack thereof). And, once they hire a sales resource are often frustrated even more by sales, [...]

Most organizations rely heavily on the product demonstration to make their case in sales situations. But many organizations treat a product demonstration like a training [...]

The sales forecast is the most important document you can produce on a regular basis.  And, for most companies, is the lifeblood of the organization. [...]

It sounds simple, right?  What is your value proposition?  Yet most companies struggle with this simple concept and can’t properly and easily articulate the value that [...]

SaaS organizations should strive to be metrics driven.  They should want to understand these metrics and manage their businesses to them.  But there are many [...]

Being the CEO of an organization of any size is a complex and difficult job. It is often more difficult to be the CEO of [...]

A key document (and also step in the sales process) for B2B organizations is the Statement of Work or SOW.  This is a document that specifically [...]

One of the most critical documents and processes in a company of any stage is the sales forecast.  This is a document that highlights the [...]

Having a strategy (how you are going to win in your market) is critical to business success.  Many people struggle with their strategy and often [...]

Many organizations wish to have other organizations (partners) sell their product for them. When trying to establish sales or distribution partnerships, it is important to [...]

Let’s suppose that you were an investor with a small $5.0M to invest instead of an entrepreneur looking for money.  And then let’s suppose some [...]

People often ask me why I write and talk about CEO errors, mistakes and things that go wrong.  It is because we all make mistakes, [...]

Putting the cart before the horse. It is an old idiom and means doing things in the wrong order or sequence. Many entrepreneurial CEOs do [...]

The CEO job requires (again, requires) some essential administration and the discipline to develop (or have developed) certain base level information to help you run [...]