Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. But here’s where a truly great sales artist comes in.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. Or in between?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. Or in between?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

Account-based marketing is an approach where marketing and sales work together to nurture target accounts and convert or retain customers. Sales finds aligned accounts and works with marketing to create customized journeys. This required more product evangelism and customer wins. What is account-based marketing?

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

A frequent metaphor I use in customer acquisition, fundraising, or any kind of deal making is that you as the founder and promoter should present the finished meal on the dining table and not drag your counterparts into the kitchen. Most customers will sell themselves if you just give them half a chance.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 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). Sales cycles matter though.

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). Sales cycles matter though.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

So unless your feature can increase that outcome – and not just incrementally by 20% but a serious differential like 10x – it’s unlikely that a current happy Mailchimp customer will want to switch to your product. Think about it – if you’re using MailChimp and make let’s say $100 in sales for every send.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

So unless your feature can increase that outcome – and not just incrementally by 20% but a serious differential like 10x – it’s unlikely that a current happy Mailchimp customer will want to switch to your product. Think about it – if you’re using MailChimp and make let’s say $100 in sales for every send.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Only after reaching $1M in CMRR should you consider hiring European sales and services execs behind customer demand. Labels: SaaS , sales and marketing , software. ” Take advantage of being on-demand and allow customers to try and buy your service with as little friction as possible. 16 comments: BdH. Great list!

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

So let’s look at Bookings as an example: Bookings =No of deals closed * Average Deal Size For Reseller Channels, we might be looking at something different like this: Revenue = No of productive resellers * average productivity per reseller (Note: in many businesses there are several categories of deals.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

ConversionXL

APRIL 7, 2021

The book dedicates quite a few pages to the ‘customer-centric stack’ and argues that because you’re now able to know when someone is in the market for a solution like yours [via IP lookup or 1st or 3rd party intent data], you don’t need to “spam” them. In those days we just called it sales. Is ABM right for you?

IP 98

IP Marketing Technical Review Software Review 98

ConversionXL

JUNE 14, 2021

Why should customers buy from you? In this guide, you’ll learn how to differentiate your business and attract your ideal customers by creating a unique selling proposition. How a unique selling proposition (USP) attracts better customers and builds your brand (and where marketers get it wrong).

Software Review 158

Software Review Audience Differentiation Framework 158

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

There is an inherent conflict in a consultant’s business model and the needs of a startup. Tracking such revenue can be a challenge but is possible to approximate the revenue impact of PR activities via the use of unique URLs, customer surveys, etc. Yet, it does nothing to help you execute your business model.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

ConversionXL

MAY 19, 2016

Linear funnels are conducive to the traditional customer lifecycle you’re used to hearing about. All of these questions lead to pages like this… Josh suggests that actual customer journeys are much more complex than a linear funnel would indicate. Like any model it has its pros and cons. Tweet It!].

Analytics 78

Analytics Metrics Channel Software Review 78