2012

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

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Why “saving money” and “ROI” are probably the wrong way to sell your product

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

I can’t remember how many times at Smart Bear I tried to sell Code Collaborator with the argument that it “saves you money.” And customers demanded it — some even required that we produce an ROI spreadsheet. And we did. The argument makes sense (though it’s wrong). Code Collaborator is tool which helps software developers review each other’s work, just like an editor of a book.

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Smart Bear Live 7: More from AZ Disruptors

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Welcome back to Smart Bear Live, the call-in show with Jason Cohen, sponsored by Software Promotions. In this episode, we share three more interviews from our AZ Disruptors meeting last fall. Hamid Shojaee, CEO of Axosoft , cohosts a group of Phoenix-area startup founders (Jason was on Skype video – everyone else was in the room … it works way better than you’d think): Dan from Member Desk Cofounder question Gelie from Networking Phoenix Pin It Listen to this episode if you wan

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How to find that first big customer

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. Freshman Salesman writes: I’ve read somewhere in your blog about how you had a very large organisation as the first customer for your software.

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How Perfect Pricing got me 1500 Sales in 2 Days

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

This is a guest post by Sacha Greif – a designer and entrepreneur who recently sold thousands of copies of a self-published eBook that shows how to design a user interface step by step. He’s worked with multiple startups and is also the founder of Folyo , a service that helps companies find vetted freelance designers. Here, Sacha explains how he set the pricing for his eBook — a critical step in its success.

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Smart Bear Live 4: Nick from PinfoB.com at AZ Disruptors

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

We’re back in gear with the podcast! We’ll be more regular now. Here’s the deets if you’re unfamiliar with how this works. Audio attached here, downloadable on iTunes or below, and transcript below. Listen to this episode with Nick from PinfoB.com to learn how to tell customers no. Transcript Automated transcription services provided by: Announcer: Welcome to Smart Bear Live with Jason Cohen.

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Smart Bear Live 6: Jared from Padseeker.com

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Welcome back to Smart Bear Live, the call-in show with Jason Cohen, sponsored by Software Promotions. In this episode, Jason speaks with Jared from Padseeker.com. Pin It Listen to this episode if you want to hear a really tough conversation about refining a cool idea into a profit-making business. This is a long episode (1:20), but it’s a conversation that will resonate with a lot of early-stage startup founders.

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Which is better: Many customers at low price-point or few at high price?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

The results of a serendipitous live experiment were recently published as guest posts on this blog. Sacha demonstrated the benefits of selling many copies of an eBook at a low price, while Jarrod pointed out the advantages of higher prices, bringing in more revenue with 1/6th the number of units sold. The ensuing discussion swirled around the merits of selling more units (i.e. maximizing reach) versus selling more expensive units (i.e. maximizing per-unit profitability).

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