Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

Finally, we’ll zoom out and assess the big picture: how various categories of company may be impacted long-term, how this crisis compares to 2008 (and what that means for early-stage founders), and the industries and business models that are now prime for growth. Transcript: Hi, and welcome to the a16z podcast. I’m Lauren Murrow.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2017

I began asking around who the smartest people in the online media industry were and two names came up again and again — Jonah Peretti (social & viral content) and Ze Frank (social video). I asked Jonah in my interview how he became this viral guru. Jonah is truly a pioneer in online media.

Media 210

Media Los Angeles Russia Viral 210

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

It’s true that the carrier then gets their huge slice for being the billing and payment engine but the idea is that you as a website more than make up for this in terms of customer conversion. It is a platform to help brands building viral marketing campaigns. Wildfire was one of the darlings of the fbFund incubator program.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

In 2008, I went to breakfast with Hilary Mason while I was down there. Over and over again, it''s small groups and conversations that I''ve had down in Austin that seem to have the most lasting impact on my business and career--so as the parties get bigger, and flashier, I find myself retreating to smaller enclaves.

Dividend 135

Dividend Viral Community Austin 135

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

It could be a button color, a bit of web copy, an image — something extremely finite that may (or may not) have a measurable impact on desired actions, be they conversions or a simple click-through. A Y-Combinator startup itself, Optimizely was used by the groundbreaking online Obama campaign in 2008.

Developer 73

Developer Software Review PHP Social Media 73

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2012

It highlights the story of how United Airlines in 2008 paid no attention to social media as Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world. Increase customer leads and conversion. United Airlines is still recovering from that debacle.

Social Media 198

Social Media Media Marketing Reputation 198

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

This is a common problem that results from viral-loop optimization. By copying the exact same registration flow as every other successful viral app, many viral apps completely lose their positioning. Heres why I dont think engagement loops are that helpful: unlike viral loops, its not bad if its not self-sustaining.

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

mashable.com

AUGUST 20, 2011

Join the conversation by adding Mashables Pete Cashmore to your Circles on Google+ Close Welcome to Mashable! Soon they had grown into a shared space in San Francisco, and finally zozi got its own office space in August 2008. Sign in with Facebook or Twitter to get started!

Cofounder 81

Cofounder San Francisco Social Media Startup 81

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

Conversely, if an account already mentioned its willingness to churn at a specific date, it would be misleading to represent that customer as a recurring revenue account. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 ► 2008. (11). The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. Churchill Club 2008 Top 10 Tech Trends.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

Austin Startup

MARCH 22, 2020

Capital Factory was started in 2009 right after the 2008 housing market crash and the last recession. Coronavirus: An open letter to the Austin Startup Community was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. We need entrepreneurs.

Community 66

Community Austin SBIR Startup 66

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, December 6, 2008 The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: part three Those startups that manage to build a product people want have to deal with the consequences of that success. Having early customers means balancing the needs of your existing customers with the desire to find new ones.

San Francisco 74

San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment 74

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Ted Serbinski: Angel investor Ted Serbinski sold his startup MothersClick to Lifetime in 2008 and joined the cable network as CTO of the ParentsClick Network. Passion was certainly a recurring topic of conversation amongst the investors we interviewed. Craig is currently the CEO and founder of stealth-ish startup BetterWorks.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 ► 2008. (11). The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. Churchill Club 2008 Top 10 Tech Trends. Happy New Year 2008! Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. on a scale of 1-4). Add RSS feed. Subscribe via email. Cracking The Code on Facebook. Hard times.

Software Review 48

Software Review SEM Marketing Las Vegas 48

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 7, 2010

At least, not in the traditional sense of trying to squeeze every tenth of a point out of a conversion metric or landing page. Or should you focus on user engagement or virality? At least, not in the traditional sense of trying to squeeze every tenth of a point out of a conversion metric or landing page.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Lean Metrics Design 154

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 10, 2007

When you activate it, it reduces the sound level from your iPOD and enables a conversation without removing your earphones. 1st 2008 with a base value of 100.00 ► 2008. (11). The Bessemer 10 laws of SaaS - Fall 2008 Release. Churchill Club 2008 Top 10 Tech Trends. Happy New Year 2008! Add RSS feed.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Video Europe 48

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

It has been awesome, flattering, and humbling to see that post went viral and has been seen by so many thousands of people — mainly aspiring entrepreneurs — and has been translated into many languages. 90 Things I’ve Learned From Founding 4 Technology Companies.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 14, 2017

We’ve had over 20,000 people download that free tool that we built, and the key metric there is if somebody has used that free tool, their conversion rate on our paid product is three times higher than those who have not. In 2008, and 2009, we were really starting to grow. It was a huge piece of the puzzle for us.

Kansas City 38

Kansas City CTO Hire Las Vegas Software Developers 38

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, December 7, 2008 Getting started with split-testing One of the startup founders I work with asked me a smart question recently, and I thought Id share it. December 7, 2008 6:05 PM Cupar Garden Centre said.

San Francisco 132

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 132

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2020

In the “tweet heard around the world,” Oreo was able to quickly create a piece of content in real time that went viral and won numerous awards during the Super Bowl a few years ago. What conversations are happening? Music, shots of a game, and excited conversations with fans combine to create an emotionally moving tale.

Customer 92

Customer Audience Campaign Social Media 92

Software By Rob

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

You either luck out that your idea goes viral (which happens to maybe 1 out of 10,000 startups?) Based on conversations with these friends the reasons given for pursuing this path are the same ones I gave back when I started pursuing this road with a couple Yale MBAs. You just need to be lucky. 6 comments ↓ #1 Anton on 09.22.09

Marketing 50

Marketing Software Review Technical Review Startup 50

Hacking Startups

JUNE 16, 2008

This will create an opening for serious and useful apps, now squeezed out of the ecosystem by the higher virality of the silly apps. The division will reduce Facebook’s need to police the apps, because serious apps will treat serious users more in line with their expectations and giggly users are more tolerant of highly viral tactics.

Viral 79

Viral Silicon Valley API Distribution 79

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Products can find sources of validation with impressive stats along a number of dimensions, such as high engagement, viral coefficient, or long-term retention. Whats the right set of materials, conversations, etc. Some products have relatively obvious monetization mechanisms, and the real risks are in customer adoption.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Is the company growing because of an amazing viral loop paired with a strong engagement loop? Notice that cohort and conversion based metrics do not suffer from this problem. When we look at the same conversion percentage for cohort after cohort, we are effectively getting a new, independent, report card for our efforts each period.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Metrics Lean PR 154

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 9, 2013

In a separate study done by viral content agency Fractl , they showed participants 30 of the top 100 images on Reddit, asking them to look at the image, then to the corresponding emotion on Robert Plutchik’s Wheel Of Emotion. image sources. If nobody is comfortable enough to talk about the problem, how can the problem be fixed?

Sales 126

Sales B2B Campaign Video 126

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JUNE 19, 2010

It made this site very sticky and it grew organically through viral word-of-mouth as a result of doing that. In the Magic site’s case it was a forum that would grow virally by itself. The great thing about this strategy is you already have a conversion mechanism. Improve conversions. Attract more sponsors.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Software Review Prospectus Audience 76

Hacking Startups

JUNE 16, 2008

This will create an opening for serious and useful apps, now squeezed out of the ecosystem by the higher virality of the silly apps. The division will reduce Facebook’s need to police the apps, because serious apps will treat serious users more in line with their expectations and giggly users are more tolerant of highly viral tactics.

Viral 40

Viral Silicon Valley API Distribution 40

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 27, 2009

Do it right, and your conversion rates might be as high as 20%. At a high level, anything that drives virality should be free. To take your specific example about virality - why do we want to have more users sign up? Do it wrong, and your LTV gets very close to zero. January 28, 2009 1:54 AM startupcfo said.

San Francisco 148

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 148

Up and Running

OCTOBER 2, 2015

.” There was a point in time I was at a weekend-long conference, and I got on the plane and was having a conversation with my wife. ” It really caused me to pull back for a minute and realize, “Yeah, I just keep using these jargon-y words that mean nothing when you’re having a normal conversation with another person.”

Viral 60

Viral Audience Advertising Social Media 60

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

The primary goal of this conversation was to explain how and why a great startup board can be a powerful tool to help the CEO make the company successful. All viral products are somewhat spammy, but I think we’ve become too spammy in the following ways, and here are some techniques we should be using instead.”

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write and 9 Tips To Get Started - OnStartups , September 27, 2010 "The best part of blogging is the people you will meet"- Hugh MacLeod repeating wisdom from Loic Lemeur to me at the Big Pink at 2 am in South Beach after the Future of Web Apps 2008. Why You Should Write. Kanye West.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

www.foliomag.com

JULY 31, 2012

2008 FOLIO Award Winners. Curalate allows us to see how the content we pin to our boards is performing, as well as the content people are organically pinning from our sites, and more importantly how viral those actions are, since it’s reported that 80 percent of Pinterest activity comes from repins.” FOLIO: Staff. --> Suppliers.

Social Media 40

Social Media Rhode Island Media South Dakota 40

www.readwriteweb.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Some of the most successful things I have worked on, in terms of traffic and conversions, have been successful almost in spite of the design, rather than because of the design. "If The landing page for Bonds viral, social game, Spymaster. Aesthetics play a major part in that decision."

Web 42

Web Design Startup Flash 42

blog.expensify.com

APRIL 24, 2012

Conversely, plenty of folks who write code in more “acceptable” languages/platforms are lazy bastards who have no concept of the underlying complexities of their chosen tools. Working for or started something in 2008 that may or may not make it. March 26, 2011 at 9:18 pm. March 27, 2011 at 9:56 pm. sean is my user name.

Java 107

Java PHP Software Review Coder 107