Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Any place with a fixed cost that relies on foot traffic will come under pressure. Cut costs to stay alive for 24 months. Payroll costs/other variable costs. Remember, a year from now no one wants to be the CEO of a company out of business whose lament is, “I did what the board told me to do.”. External Assessment.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

Bill was relentless in his focus on getting the software PC DOS project delivered, while continually challenging us with new business models. Customer acquisition, retention, and support. Most experts agree that acquisition of a new customer costs six times retaining existing customers.

Cofounder 389

Cofounder Startup Term Sheet Acquisition 389

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

I know the argument: The pay-back period on sales, marketing, and up-start costs is long, but there’s a profitable result at the end of the tunnel. So no, this upside-down business model isn’t what a SaaS business should construct. So these costs are amortized over the customers you do land.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key resources. Try this one.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

A sales funnel focuses on the marketing campaign and purchasing process that leads to the acquisition of new and repeat clients. You can also do the following: Increase the level of client happiness and retention. Show them you’re a dynamic business.

Sales 152

Sales Audience Social Media Email 152

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 7, 2018

The digital revolution is disrupting the traditional business model for small and medium businesses (SMBs). Predictive analytics help determine the most effective markets for adspend, suggesting areas where the product is being well-received and those where the cost of customer acquisition is unreasonably high.

Artificial Inteligence 164

Artificial Inteligence Analytics SCRUM Cofounder 164

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. Series B is about proving your net revenue model (can you be profitable?). Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market. Business Model.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50%, and a net margin in the 20% range. A healthy business, ready to scale, has been doing this for a year or more, with an existing customer set generating a non-trivial and growing revenue stream.

Valuation 235

Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

Transformify

AUGUST 1, 2022

When you go global you are providing your business access to a new talent pool and a different technology. This can bring down operational or production costs permitting the companies to improve their profit margins. Moving some divisions of your business to foreign countries is not a new concept. Improvement in profit margins.

Global 52

Global Merger Technical Review Singapore 52

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2010

Show me how much each unique visitor is going to cost you in search engine optimization and pay-per-click search engine expense. And you definitely should have ideas around important proof points for the business. Great stuff! And it’s surprising how few startup founders think in those terms.

Metrics 159

Metrics Startup Retention Software Developers 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2020

Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50%, and a net margin in the 20% range. A healthy business, ready to scale, has been doing this for a year or more, with an existing customer set generating a non-trivial and growing revenue stream.

Revenue 434

Revenue Valuation Viral Retention 434

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

These hypotheses span the gamut from who’s the customer(s), to what’s the value proposition (product/service features), pricing, distribution channel, and demand creation (customer acquisition, activation, retention, etc.). activities necessary to implement the business model. Generating Hypotheses. Testing Hypotheses.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2019

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key resources. Try this one.

Intellectual Property 250

Intellectual Property Business Model Angel Investor Channel 250

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2020

Bill was relentless in his focus on getting the software PC DOS project delivered, while continually challenging us with new business models. Customer acquisition, retention, and support. Most experts agree that acquisition of a new customer costs six times retaining existing customers.

Entrepreneur 307

Entrepreneur Cofounder Term Sheet Acquisition 307

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2019

This is a great example of the brand running through every aspect of the business. . Why referrals and retention are the keys to long term growth. For any fitness business, be it big box or boutique, the best way to succeed in the long term is through referrals and retention.

Retention 70

Retention Social Media Software Review Acquisition 70

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Note that if you’re familiar with the business model canvas, Steps 1-4 below are equivalent to a visual map of the choices a founder makes as they develop a business model canvas. In other words, you prove retention. With both growth and retention, you earn the right to build more. Chip platforms.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Just take a look at these three channels: Facebook : 171% Increase in Cost per Thousand Impressions, or CPM ( 2017 ). If you have high churn in your SaaS business, this tidal wave may be lethal. customer acquisition process and channels). Tidal Wave 2 – Rising Acquisition Costs. ?. Target or enemy (i.e.

Marketing 289

Marketing Sales Cycle Acquisition Sales 289

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 3, 2021

Growing a business is always challenging, but it’s often the hardest in the earliest stages of development. You’ll be operating with limited resources, limited knowledge, and quite possibly, a business model poised to change in the immediate future. For example, if the cost per click (CPC) is $0.50

Early Stage 125

Early Stage PPC Retention Churn Rate 125

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 5, 2013

I wanted to find a way to vastly simplify loyalty programs, eliminating most if not all of the costs and making them much lighter to deploy and manage. Throw in some basic CRM processing and analytics, and merchants can get 90% of what loyalty programs provide, for a fraction of the cost. Early results are exciting.

Programming 150

Programming Turkey Social Media Redemption 150

NZ Entrepreneur

APRIL 29, 2019

However there is also the opportunity to change your business model, because of what IoT capabilities allow you to do differently. For example if you have an asset that gets taken to market in some way, what would happen if you didn’t actually transfer ownership from your business to a customer?

New Zealand 40

New Zealand Technical Review Retention Acquisition 40

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

These groups are adapting or adopting the practices of startups and accelerators – disruption and innovation rather than direct competition, customer development versus more product features, agility and speed versus lowest cost. Every large company, whether it can articulate it or not, is executing a proven business model (s).

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

It’s misleadingly precise to have two digits to the right of the decimal in a CAC/LTV multiple for year 3 of your forecast (“Customer Acquisition Cost”/”LifeTime Value of Customer”). In addition to summary financial statements, include an output of key metrics like acquisition costs, lifetime value, cohort retention, etc.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 8, 2009

In many cases, I can break it down into: Customer Acquisition Cost – how will you reach prospects, how will you convert them and how much will it cost to convert them Customer Lifetime Value – how much will you make off of each converted customer This very simple model works for a surprising number of business models.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

SaaS business models differ from all others in that they get revenues over an extended period of time. As such, most entrepreneurs focus all their energies on customer retention. They mistakenly believe that focusing on the final stage of a customer lifecycle will yield business growth. The Model at Work.

SQL 85

SQL Metrics Business Model Revenue 85

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

For consumer companies this is usually around user acquisition, engagement, and retention. If in the long run your B2C business is likely to have an ad-based revenue model, the ability to acquire a large number of users at zero or extraordinarily low cost is critical.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2023

A SaaS UX design that is intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable can significantly impact user satisfaction, retention, and overall success. Customer acquisition cost (CAC): CAC is the money a company spends to acquire a new customer. A well-designed user experience can increase user engagement and drive customer loyalty.

Design 105

Design Product Churn Rate Architecture 105

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

They applied a community-powered business model to the mobile sector, similar to that of Wikipedia, hence the name “giffgaff,” which means “mutual giving.”. It combined bundles of data, calls, and messages–which you’d usually get only with a long-term contract–with the flexibility of a contractless PAYG model. Image source ).

Customer 85

Customer Community Revenue Software Review 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50 percent and a net margin in the 20 percent range. A healthy business, ready to scale, has been doing this for a year or more, with an existing customer set generating a non-trivial and growing revenue stream.

Revenue 246

Revenue Entrepreneur Valuation Viral 246

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 23, 2022

Revenue doesn’t measure sales efficiency – you can hit a revenue target but the question is at what cost? Revenue can be the result of good marketing, but without taking into account usage and retention, focusing on revenue alone can be misleading. What’s a good North Star Metric?

Metrics 179

Metrics Revenue B2C Portfolio 179

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2016

Bill was relentless in his focus on getting the software PC DOS project delivered, while continually challenging us with new business models. Customer acquisition, retention, and support. Most experts agree that acquisition of a new customer costs six times retaining existing customers.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Term Sheet Acquisition Metrics 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50%, and a net margin in the 20% range. A healthy business, ready to scale, has been doing this for a year or more, with an existing customer set generating a non-trivial and growing revenue stream.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

Lightspeed Venture Partners

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Real time web usage outpaces business models. Similarly, the check-in services are attracting experimental budgets from national retailers as well as forward thinking small businesses who are eager to attract new customers into their stores, and reward regular customers. On what basis then will winners pull away from the rest?

Internet 109

Internet eCommerce Advertising Flash 109

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2015

Bill was relentless in his focus on getting the software PC DOS project delivered, while continually challenging us with new business models. Customer acquisition, retention, and support. Most experts agree that acquisition of a new customer costs six times retaining existing customers.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Term Sheet Acquisition 120

YoungUpstarts

JULY 5, 2018

Monthly subscription boxes for pet goods, beauty items and apparel have exploded in popularity among consumers lately, and subscription business models have attracted the wide interest of companies from Microsoft to Cadillac to Office Depot. What they keep is paid for, and the other items can be returned at no cost.

Programming 113

Programming Bankruptcy Curation Retention 113

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Very simply, your cost to acquire a customer needs to be lower than the value of that customer (lifetime value). Ads can also be cost-per-click or cost-per-action ads.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Very simply, your cost to acquire a customer needs to be lower than the value of that customer (lifetime value). Ads can also be cost-per-click or cost-per-action ads.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

3) Customer Acquisition Cost. Your budgetary number for how much you spend to acquire a customer is known as the “ customer acquisition cost ” (CAC). The initial cost per customer should be less than the profit made once they’re converted (or be lower than LTV if you know it). David Skok, ForEntrepreneurs.com. “If

Metrics 121

Metrics Acquisition Conversion Revenue 121