Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. Series B is about proving your net revenue model (can you be profitable?). You need to begin to “instrument” your customer acquisition process with analytics. 2M in 18 months.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

of revenue, force-feeding sales pipelines with an unprofitable product. I know the argument: The pay-back period on sales, marketing, and up-start costs is long, but there’s a profitable result at the end of the tunnel. Marketing, sales, legal, account management, on-boarding, technical guidance, training.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

Net Income (Loss). For early stage companies, the metrics that matter might typically center around activation, engagement and retention. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Sales Pipeline. Conversion to Sales %. Net MRR Churn %. Gross Profit. Payroll Expenses. Available Cash. Remaining Runway. Users/Customers.

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 6, 2018

Before raising your B round, you’ll need to be able to show how you can scale sales and marketing and that you are starting to really understand your business. Retention rate: What percentage of users can you retain quarter over quarter? It’s even better to be net negative (expansion dollars > churn dollars).

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Distribution Metrics Retention 150

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

It’s misleadingly precise to have two digits to the right of the decimal in a CAC/LTV multiple for year 3 of your forecast (“Customer Acquisition Cost”/”LifeTime Value of Customer”). A model that shows X% growth over time with no embedded correlation to sales/marketing is a huge red flag. 15) Bridge historical and projected data.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 1, 2013

No other metric so holistically captures as many critical aspects of a web site – user design, usability, performance, convenience, ad effectiveness, net promoter score, customer satisfaction – all in a single measurement. Nearly every Internet company on the planet has invested in some form of the first activity, customer acquisition.

Metrics 93

Metrics Conversion Internet Acquisition 93

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2016

Acquisitions are happening more and more, while companies like PillPack, Actifio, CarGurus, OnShape, Acquia, Applause, and others continue to march forward. SMBs account for 54% of all US sales. SMBs represent 55% of jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s. The number of SMBs in the US has increased 49% since 1982.

Social Media 185

Social Media B2B North America Media 185

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

Given that most users abandon apps within 30 days post-installation, high downloads don’t lead to high audience retention, satisfaction, or revenue. Of course, a video with low ROI can still generate awareness, expand impact, and lead to sales. For ASO, this happens when you prioritize downloads over long-term value.

Analytics 134

Analytics Metrics Channel Video 134

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

Sales teams are commission-based, executive compensation is based on EPS, revenue and margin, business units on revenue and margin contribution, etc. Finance The goals for public companies are driven primarily by financial Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). What Does this Mean?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Click-Through Rate Definition The Conversion Rate Formula: How to Calculate Conversion Rate Bounce Rate: Everything You Want to Know and More How To Calculate and Increase Customer Lifetime Value PPC Click-Through-Rate: What it Means and How to Use It (and Improve It) How to Track and Improve Ecommerce Customer Acquisition Effectiveness.

Metrics 105

Metrics Analytics Marketing Acquisition 105

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

It has grown remarkably, has favorable gross margins and customer acquisition payback, and a clear path to profitability. The other tiny portion (1%) comes from sales of hardware, like the tablet stands and POS like cash drawers that some businesses use to process Square payments. What are customer acquisition costs like?

IPO 165

IPO .Net Revenue Acquisition 165

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

The startup didn’t work out, but I found ways to be around it, whether it was on the sales side in Goldman for a few years. So they have about 60 million customers now, and they have a view of the net present value of each customer when they’re onboarding them and their models to show it. Jonathan Siddharth. Sounds great.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

The SEC’s proposed rules (mandated by the JOBS Act of 2012) amend the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to allow the offer and sale of securities through an internet crowdfunding campaign, similar in some respects to donation crowdfunding campaigns conducted on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Equity 125

Equity SEC Technical Review Security 125

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

How to prepare a sales forecast for a business plan » March 09, 2011. Example one: Sustainable net operating income with some growth in a stable market.    If plenty of cash flow regardless of plan for sale/retention of business: Senior bank debt based on cash flow coverage and new assets. 

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Version One Ventures

JULY 13, 2015

Gross merchandize volume (GMV) is the total sales dollar value for goods sold or services purchased through the marketplace over a certain time. Given that GMV is one of the most important marketplace KPIs, founders should track its growth rate on a monthly and yearly basis, and understand its makeup by customer acquisition channel.

Due Diligence 60

Due Diligence Retention Metrics Revenue 60

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

Some see it as a sales tactic, while others view it as a content marketing strategy. Account-based marketing is an approach where marketing and sales work together to nurture target accounts and convert or retain customers. It needs perfect alignment from sales, marketing, and executive leaders across the organization.

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

For websites, this can include “sales volume,” “number of visits,” “average cart value,” and a variety of other metrics. Visitors are important — no visitors, no sales — but they aren’t as important as sales. 3) Customer Acquisition Cost. KPIs are metrics, but not all metrics are KPIs; the terms aren’t mutually exclusive.

Metrics 121

Metrics Acquisition Conversion Revenue 121

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

Would that help retention and NPS (Net Promote Score)? Could we offer a “dial” to issuers and let them (and perhaps their ad agencies) decide? * * For GS.com , EXCLUSIVE access to GS hot deal might be a critical competitive tool to keep customer acquisition costs low and encourage larger clients to more to our site from a competitor’s.

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2022

How did Outreach grow in just a few years to 50,000 monthly active users , $10 million in new bookings, and net revenue retention (NRR) of more than 140%? The sales platform is intensely devoted to nurturing its monthly active users (MAU). By focusing intently on a single measurement, known as a north star metric.

Metrics 120

Metrics Acquisition Revenue .Net 120

ConversionXL

AUGUST 13, 2019

SaaS sales and marketing teams can get overwhelmed by metrics. If growth is the best way to get out alive, marketing metrics do little unless they correlate with sales. Chances are you’ve been told to focus on metrics like: Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR); Lifetime Value (LTV); Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

Metrics 117

Metrics SQL Retention Churn Rate 117

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. Underpinning it all I wrote: sales, asset management, analytics & talent management. I have a high fear of failure that acts as my safety net. I use tools to invoke my creative self.

Technical Review 356

Technical Review Framework Audience Media 356

ConversionXL

MAY 3, 2017

Basically, folks who are already in the sales funnel. Facebook Custom Audience campaigns will help you cover the gap, and get some real mileage out of your acquisitions. Their campaign netted them seven times the ROI and 11 times as many new subscribers as their newsletter did. The newest entrants to your sales funnel.

San Jose 133

San Jose Customer Database Campaign 133

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Some are complex and require sales development and account executives to close, like Oracle’s marketing cloud. Could be wasting sales and customer success time if not). Some of the conversions you can optimize for with SaaS could be… visit → trial (quick to test, but doesn’t always correlate to sales).

Conversion 48

Conversion Churn Rate Retention Metrics 48

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 3, 2021

This has challenged me to take new risks and investments that have helped put my business on the market and increase its sales. The corporate has created e-commerce stores that enable sales teams to target a broader customer base, hence generating new sources of revenue. And top stars can give you that visibility.

Entrepreneur 117

Entrepreneur Africa South America Europe 117

Venture Chronicles

APRIL 20, 2014

When you combine inbound marketing with account-based scoring, you get a very potent combination of predictable opportunity funnel that also benefits from lower customer acquisition costs. We know from this data that there are tipping points that occur in the opportunity (account) scoring that should and do cause additional sales activity.

B2B 45

B2B Marketing SEM Bandwidth 45

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. I also like to get a sale $$$ ASAP. do something else.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

We’ll also share how to achieve marketing goals at this stage, using your existing customers and experimentation to increase sales and loyalty. The growth stage is the period of the product life cycle with the sharpest increase in sales thanks to a boost in-market presence.

Product 102

Product Marketing Social Media Channel 102

ConversionXL

APRIL 7, 2021

Here’s the irony though— even though potential customers may be in the market for a solution like yours, you still need to deploy the traditional sales/marketing strategies to convince them to make a purchase. When sales made a list of logos they wanted to sell, or the list of ‘dream customers’ to close.

IP 98

IP Marketing Technical Review Software Review 98

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2018

Facts don’t change minds – true for both sales and customers. Tara Robertson – How to 10x Growth by Optimizing Customer Marketing & Retention. Retention is the most important thing – if that’s poor, nothing else matters. Start with retention. Optimize for retention, not just acquisition.

Retention 106

Retention Artificial Inteligence Channel Email 106

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

That’s how I decided that MAUs were an “important to know” metric but what really mattered is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) of a demand-user who interacted with a supplier who used our app. Galyen cautions that many PMs get stuck inside what he calls “four walls.” Be careful, though! Product management also requires political skill.

Management 85

Management Product Technical Review Software Review 85

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

For example, if data reveals that 40% of sales calls don’t convert, the algorithm may recommend further training for sales reps. The company once had the market’s highest churn rate and lowest Net Promoter Score (NPS). sale, sign-up, or download) compared to the total number of visits. Customer acquisition cost (CAC).

Analytics 106

Analytics Metrics Channel Campaign 106

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Email is an incredibly important part of your business’s customer activation and retention funnels, so I don’t recommend cutting corners here. Besides the cost of a press manager’s salary, getting media mentions is a low-cost acquisition channel that can have a huge return.

Marketing 28

Marketing Channel Analytics Metrics 28

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 30, 2019

Now try to think of the last time you experimented with something other than your acquisition strategy. Article after article, course after course, conference talk after conference talk addresses acquisition experimentation—getting more conversions at the top of the funnel. Every tip is acquisition-centric. Acquisition.

Retention 101

Retention Metrics Churn Rate Acquisition 101

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 19, 2011

His latest book, “ Flip the Funnel: How to use existing customers to gain new ones ,” presents a powerful hypothesis that retention can become the new acquisition through the strategic incorporation and elevation of customer service, customer experience and customer initiated word-of-mouth, content creation and incentive-based referrals.

Social Media 32

Social Media Retention Acquisition LLC 32

ConversionXL

AUGUST 12, 2016

That’s the sound of potential customers leaking out of your sales funnel. After fighting tooth-and-nail to launch your SaaS business, the last thing you want is a leaky sales funnel to undermine all your hard work. However it comes with it’s own set of challenges, like retention and churn. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

Software Review 48

Software Review Metrics Revenue Acquisition 48

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

We were trying to broaden the conversation beyond just viral customer acquisition. I wrote about this challenge for iPhone developers, in an essay on retention competition : the battle over what icon the user will click when they go to the home screen. Have you struggled with engagement and retention? very cool post Eric!

Viral 140

Viral San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 140