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Why vanity metrics are dangerous

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why vanity metrics are dangerous In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In this post, Id like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics. My personal favorite vanity metrics is "hits."

Metrics 167
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Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control

David Teten

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. I believe that Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem.

Revenue 60
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Times Square Strategy Session – Web Startups and Customer Development

Steve Blank

In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers? What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” End of theory.&#

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Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More - Ten Recent Great Startup Posts

SoCal CTO

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. This post looks at the implementation details of HTML 5 video.

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Cracking The Code: State of the SaaS 13: Q1 2010 Sentiment

Cracking the Code

Friday, March 12, 2010. State of the SaaS 13: Q1 2010 Sentiment. So, here is the first edition, including the recent Q4 2009 earnings and the updated 2010 forecast. So, here is the first edition, including the recent Q4 2009 earnings and the updated 2010 forecast.

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Cracking The Code: Cloudonomics and 2010 Planning for your.

Cracking the Code

Cloudonomics and 2010 Planning for your SaaS and Cloud Computing business. As we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be interesting to put together a post on how to approach the 2010 planning. ► 2010. (5). State of the SaaS 13: Q1 2010 Sentiment. Happy New Year 2010! ► 02/20 - 02/27. (1).

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Use agile budgeting to manage your cash

David Teten

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. The next most important set of metrics are sales by category; working capital (cash and other current assets, less current liabilities); EBITA; and gross margin. Traditional budgets can be destructive and a huge waste of time.

Agile 60