Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

is an elegant way to model any service-oriented business: Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue We used a very similar scheme at IMVU, although we werent lucky enough to have started with this framework, and so had to derive a lot of it ourselves via trial and error. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The App Store is a channel for customer acquisition. This is completely analogous to the situation elsewhere on the internet, where launching a new website, product, or service with PR is getting harder and harder. On the web, we have many of these channels: SEM, SEO, world of mouth, PR and viral. My advice: dont launch big.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

We were trying to broaden the conversation beyond just viral customer acquisition. You could try and drive home that positioning with an expensive PR campaign, superbowl ads, and whatnot. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Today, I was comparing notes with Ed Baker (one of the gurus of viral growth).

Viral 140

Viral San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 140

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Launch with a PR blitz, including mentions in major mainstream publications. As with many Silicon Valley failures, a flawless PR launch turned into a flawed customer acquisition strategy. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Conduct constant focus groups and usability tests.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150