Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

In a previous post , I covered the three main drivers of growth: Paid, Sticky, and Viral. Let’s look at a viral growth company, like Facebook. If you are building a large, viral, ad-support consumer internet property, you just want to go big! They’re off to cross the chasm. As soon as possible!&#

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

In this first step, the goal of a startup is to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. You’ll realize you’re ready to exit the Search step when you have customer validation: You’ve found a sales channel that matches how the customer wants to buy and the costs of using that channel are understood.

Startup 120

Startup Lean Venture Capital Advisory Board 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

One of our prior investments was an e-commerce company that grew primarily through organic search. Banks invested because they wanted access to our large and growing consumer base or to try to catch the lightning in the bottle of our virally growing payments business. . 4) Are these investment partners for the long haul?

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

This is a common problem that results from viral-loop optimization. By copying the exact same registration flow as every other successful viral app, many viral apps completely lose their positioning. Heres why I dont think engagement loops are that helpful: unlike viral loops, its not bad if its not self-sustaining.

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Lets call this ratio the Customer Acquisition Cost ratio or CAC ratio. From our private investor experience, a breakeven in 1-2 year seems reasonable and if we look at Salesforce.com CAC ratio since its IPO, it is indeed within this 0.5-1 In search of Europe's next tech stars. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

2007 was a turning point for the SaaS industry with the successful IPOs of NetSuite, SuccessFactors, DemandTec, Salary.com, Aprimo and Constant Contact. or What do I need to do to get ready for an IPO. Save Asia for post-IPO. In search of Europe's next tech stars. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Save Asia for post-IPO Single instance, multi-tenant, single datacenter - Have only one version of the code in production. The CLTV is the net present value of the recurring profit streams of a given customer less the acquisition cost. Cashflow is the other key metric. Philippe Botteri. Bessemer SaaS Law #2.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Products can find sources of validation with impressive stats along a number of dimensions, such as high engagement, viral coefficient, or long-term retention. Do you have any thoughts on scalable customer acquisition in cases where a decent bit of knowledge work has to be invested into each customer?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The App Store is a channel for customer acquisition. I think its helpful to think about two kinds of competition for distribution: acquisition competition and retention competition. On the web, we have many of these channels: SEM, SEO, world of mouth, PR and viral. So what can you do? Its like knowing the future.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68