Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

In 2001 companies IPO’d very quickly if they were working, by 2011 IPOs had slowed down to the point that in 2013 Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures astutely called billion-dollar outcomes “unicorns.” We can’t wait for customers to use the product for 12–18 months and do customer interviews or look at purchase cohorts.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Tim Keane

JUNE 19, 2012

.  For instance, I've recently written "Bill, I'd like you to consider talking to Ned at Newco who has an intriguing start up that's made some traction in the party planning/social media space as evidenced by some good stats on customer sign-up and early salres results. April 2013. January 2013.

Milwaukee 79

Milwaukee Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 79

Tim Keane

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

How do we know how much the customer will buy and how long it will take?  How big is the customer problem being solved? How do we know how much the customer will buy and how long it will take?  How big is the customer problem being solved? April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping.

Technical Cofounder 68

Technical Cofounder Wisconsin Cofounder IP 68

crowdSPRING Blog

JUNE 21, 2013

2500+ Free Custom Photoshop Shapes | [link] – [link]. 13 Resources to Design for Bootstrap | Vandelay Design Blog – [link]. Case Study – Fabule Custom Type Logo | Abduzeedo – [link]. New Web Design Trends: Try And Succeed in 2013 | DJDESIGNERLAB – [link].

Social Media 93

Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 29, 2013

We’re looking for speakers for the 2013 Lean Startup Conference. What if your company is concerned that emerging customer pressure and local laws will make disposable razors difficult, if not impossible, to sell in the U.S. This post was written by Sarah Milstein, co-host of The Lean Startup Conference. in ten years?

Lean 165

Lean Technical Review Startup Software Review 165

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

   We worked all day building market strategies for customers while we tried to embody our expertise on software that would expand the company's reach.     We worked all day building market strategies for customers while we tried to embody our expertise on software that would expand the company's reach. 

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2013

Raise your first round of money, or bootstrap. You either do it on your own, taking all risks and responsibility yourself (“bootstrapping”), or you find investors that believe in your company. Your first salesperson who brings in your first customer is not likely to be your VP Sales. There are two ways to start a tech business.

Management 120

Management Cofounder Startup Bootstrapping 120

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 19, 2006

The customer comments were entirely negative. We communicate to customers and competitors by how we price, and it is not simple to change. The customer comments were entirely negative. We communicate to customers and competitors by how we price, and it is not simple to change. April 2013. January 2013.

Software Review 60

Software Review Wisconsin Technical Review Angel Investor 60

The Next Web

MAY 2, 2013

The company is best known for its flagship product, ShortStack , software that’s designed to help small business owners and designers create custom apps that harness the power of social media. ShortStack recently celebrated its second birthday; Pancake Labs has several new software products slated for release in 2013.

Video 114

Video Nevada Founder Social Media 114

The Next Web

MAY 1, 2013

The company is best known for its flagship product, ShortStack , software that’s designed to help small business owners and designers create custom apps that harness the power of social media. ShortStack recently celebrated its second birthday; Pancake Labs has several new software products slated for release in 2013.

Nevada 112

Nevada Founder Social Media Cofounder 112

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 17, 2015

We’ve been on a wonderful ride with them ever since we led their first financing – a $10 million round – in October 2013. I first met Eric in the summer of 2013 on a trip he took to Boulder to buy imagery from a satellite company in the area. In 2013, the mapping space was in yet another wave of turmoil.

API 70

API Cofounder Bootstrapping Algorithm 70

Rob Go

MARCH 20, 2013

The best trick I’ve heard (which is actually really hard to do) is to talk to customers, but to do it from the perspective of a skeptic. We all have full-time jobs elsewhere, but hope to work for our company full-time by the end of 2013. Be brutally honest with yourself.

Bootstrapping 46

Bootstrapping Finance Dividend Vesting 46

Tim Keane

JANUARY 11, 2013

The Myth of Private Markets: Symmetry and Expectations » January 11, 2013.  Sales goals have to involve first hand knowledge of the possible (how often people will buy, how much, what the demand is, why, etc.)  coupled with an ongoing creativity about solving customer problems to win the order. April 2013.

Wisconsin 89

Wisconsin Angel Investor Startup Bootstrapping 89

Tim Keane

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

All of us like leaders of ventures who:  Have a passion for the customer, and a deep understanding of the customer's business.  This raises the chances for success as it keeps the company itself very close to the customer needs and desires. . April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping.

Ireland 60

Ireland Angel Groups Wisconsin Bootstrapping 60

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2012

These are with no doubt worthwhile goals, but I’d like to pose an important challenge for founders: Make learning and development your key resolution in 2013. How to Build a Startup (EP245) by Steve Blank: You’ll learn the key steps of the Customer Development process. Startup Hiring : How to attract, hire and retain the best people.

Artificial Inteligence 156

Artificial Inteligence Founder Private Equity Ruby 156

Spencer Fry

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Paul Graham wrote a very influential article in July 2013 entitled Do Things That Don''t Scale. Bootstrapping by definition means that you don''t have a lot of money to work with, which forces you to cut down your product to the basics and rely on manual processes wherever you can. Automating the Process: Order Fulfillment.

Bootstrapping 68

Bootstrapping Warrant Employee Email 68

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 3, 2012

.  That is, when we think a company primarily has "execution risk," do we mean that they're facing scientific and technical hurdles to achieve results, or do we mean that they are facing the risk of selling to their market, or of delivering a product to customers who've bought?

Technology 74

Technology Marketing Intellectual Property Bootstrapping 74

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 18, 2013

Exciting news: we’ve nailed down dates for The Lean Startup Conference 2013. and we are NOT looking for talks about how to bootstrap or run a business on the cheap. * This post was written by Sarah Milstein, co-host of The Lean Startup Conference. Instead , tell us what you’ve learned.

Lean 167

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 167

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 4, 2010

If your business sells to a quantifiable and identifiable group of business customers who are in the tens of thousands, or less, there's really no reason not to individually identify every one of them and track all of your contacts with them.  Any former customers from other places now working there? Market Math. Market Math.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Marketing Angel Investor Startup 60

Tim Keane

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

It welcomes feedback from potential customers and experts, reduces the cost and risk of the startup and can potentially drive success quickly.    An average customer will spend $X per year with us because they spend three times that now.    Customer premise - who will buy and why.    Why?) 

Wisconsin 116

Wisconsin Marketing Startup Angel Investor 116

Software By Rob

MARCH 26, 2015

I started embracing it as a framework on my podcast around 2010, and in 2013 I gave it a name. I decided it was time to put pen to paper and lay out what I see as a repeatable path with a higher-than-normal success rate, to bootstrapping yourself to the point of quitting your job. I call it The Stairstep Approach. all at once.

Bootstrapping 41

Bootstrapping Technical Review SEO Revenue 41

Up and Running

AUGUST 2, 2016

Though he worked as a shop teacher until his retirement in 2013, he had previous experience as a business owner. “I Long story short, my neighbor wrote for our local Pennysaver and she wrote a story [about Mill Street Treats] that came out a week before Thanksgiving in 2013. Drawing inspiration from satisfied customers.

Pennsylvania 60

Pennsylvania Business Plan Operations Small Business 60

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 8, 2012

.  The company prepared, as I recall, several million labels for their big customer (really their only customer) a major retailer based in the midwest.   What RTMS missed was that instead of the boolean logic selecting the top 2MM customers , it had selected a random 2MM customers.

Wisconsin 68

Wisconsin Entrepreneur Illinois Startup 68

Tim Keane

JUNE 8, 2009

  In my case, in the first company, it was early customer selling that provided the startup cash.  These companies find capital primarily by finding customers and understanding trade-offs.  Posted at 09:23 AM in Bootstrapping | Permalink. April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping. March 2011.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Bootstrapping Angel Investor Startup 60

Software By Rob

MARCH 26, 2015

I started embracing it as a framework on my podcast around 2010, and in 2013 I gave it a name. I decided it was time to put pen to paper and lay out what I see as a repeatable path with a higher-than-normal success rate, to bootstrapping yourself to the point of quitting your job. I call it The Stair Step Approach. all at once.

Bootstrapping 36

Bootstrapping Technical Review SEO Revenue 36

Tim Keane

JANUARY 14, 2009

" In some ways this is analogous to bootstrapping, where the first principle really is "go ask the potential customer if they like what you want to do."  " In some ways this is analogous to bootstrapping, where the first principle really is "go ask the potential customer if they like what you want to do." 

Advisory Board 60

Advisory Board Wisconsin Bootstrapping Angel Investor 60

Tim Keane

MARCH 24, 2008

You (the entrepreneur and founder of this "company") hire a call center to take calls from customers who want an inexpensive medical diagnosis. Of course, in the interest of being a low cost provider, your call center is staffed by folks with a good customer service orientation, but no medical training. Ridiculous?

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping Startup 60

Software By Rob

MARCH 26, 2015

I started embracing it as a framework on my podcast around 2010, and in 2013 I gave it a name. I decided it was time to put pen to paper and lay out what I see as a repeatable path with a higher-than-normal success rate, to bootstrapping yourself to the point of quitting your job. I call it The Stairstep Approach. all at once.

Bootstrapping 27

Bootstrapping Technical Review SEO Revenue 27

Tim Keane

JUNE 21, 2011

" "What are your assumptions about how long it will take to get customers?" " "Where do you expect to find these customers?" "  "What's the current solution these potential customers are using today?" Sales to segment A will be $500 per customer.

Forecast 68

Forecast Business Plan Sales Wisconsin 68

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Then we ship it to customers way before it’s ready. We didn’t spend any real cash prior to getting our first paying customer,” recounts Arsenault. “I’ll Doctor says the company had its first customer on the Monday after their MVP was released. They landed their first customer the following March. Qualified.io

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 16, 2016

Myself and the other founders managed to develop our company and generate more than 200,000,000 visits, hire 22 people, get 3,000+ customers, and promote products for the likes of Creative Labs, Polaroid, and Sony. The capital earned in the agency was used to bootstrap the progression of the key business we wanted to launch.

Greece 100

Greece United Kingdom Ukraine Philippines 100

The Startup Magazine

DECEMBER 14, 2021

Facetune was originally released in 2013, and Facetune 2 was released in 2016. Lightricks was founded in 2013 by Zeev Farbman, Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein and Itai Tsiddon. A Lightricks spokesperson confirmed today that Facetune and its successor, Facetune 2, combined for over 30 million downloads in 2021, on iOS alone.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Bootstrapping Valuation Social Media 167

Tim Keane

APRIL 14, 2008

Can we quantify success in terms of calls, visits, customer sizes, and so forth? Can we produce a market map to track what our customers want, and from whom they are getting it? Can we quantify success in terms of calls, visits, customer sizes, and so forth? April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping.

Ireland 60

Ireland Wisconsin Forecast Sales Cycle 60

ConversionXL

MARCH 13, 2013

Wowzers rock on, but after stuffing around with payment processors for months I finally put up my buy now button in January 2013 ($9 / month) and guess how many people signed up?…. What info do I need: I need to know if I can acquire customers in a scalable fashion for significantly less than they are worth long term.

Metrics 111

Metrics Analytics Aggregator Revenue 111

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 2, 2007

Are we planning for the lowest customer acquisition cost the industry has ever seen? Are we planning for the lowest customer acquisition cost the industry has ever seen? April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping. Greg Gianforte: Bootstrapping Your Business: Start And Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money.

Business Model 60

Business Model Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 60

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The Future of Startups 2013-2017, beginning of a series. Sunday, January 27th, 2013. So originally the customer was the Department of Defense. It was the first customer for the computer. He mentions about 10 companies he’s involved in – let’s see what’s happened in the past year with them.

Software Review 22

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

Tim Keane

OCTOBER 11, 2006

  Telling a customer you are busy--when you aren't 2.    Being busy and prioritizing work based on customer criteria -- and raising prices 2.    Telling a customer you are busy--when you aren't 2.  April 2013. January 2013. Bootstrapping. Signup for email updates.

Term Sheet 60

Term Sheet Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 60