article thumbnail

How to find that first big customer

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

But this was 2002 when AdWords was affordable and I had no competitors, so you can’t repeat that — it doesn’t matter how I did it. The contract says you retain the IP and are allowed to sell a product like this to other companies. It’s rarely true that your first customer will be big. I didn’t.

Customer 231
article thumbnail

An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis

David Cohen

You are the engine of our future, after all. By 2002 the NASDAQ had fallen by nearly 80%. Other startups will fail, and you can acquire their talent, their IP, their customer bases for cheap. Now is the time for you to adapt, to show your strength. Use your advantages. Do more faster. Emerge stronger. You can do this.

Founder 174
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Making Decisions in Context

Austin Startup

I’m never surprised when I see product development driven by engineers proceeding at top speed developing the next cool thing. You value creativity in your engineering staff, but it translates into profits only when pointed in the right direction. One of my engineers once told me my favorite color was plaid. Paisley is OK.)

article thumbnail

Startups in stealth mode need one piece of advice.

www.humbledmba.com

I had taken classes on IP, first-mover advantage, etc. If we werent careful about this, our IP claims would be worthless. <o:p></o:p> Other companies spend a lot of money and time trying, and often succeeding, in engineering around patents. I started my first internet company while getting my MBA. And they do work. <o:p></o:p>

Stealth 90
article thumbnail

CEO Friday: Why we don’t hire.NET programmers

blog.expensify.com

I am the VP of Engineering at a cutting-edge startup that sells software built on the.NET platform. You whine about how hard it is to find good engineers, then go on and on about how you intentionally avoid at least half of the market for skilled people? It’s also missing the point of engineering anything. Elaine Kenny.

Java 107