Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 29, 2013

Most commonly, that’s uncertainty about whether you can build the product at all (what MBAs call “technical risk”) or whether anybody will use or buy it (“market risk”). Although every organization faces some uncertainty in developing new stuff, the conditions are not always extreme.

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Lean Technical Review Startup Software Review 165

Early Growth Financial Services

MARCH 1, 2013

That’s the big question that many founders ask themselves as they try to get their product and service to market. You can find successful entrepreneurs on both sides of the bootstrap debate: there are definitely advantages—and disadvantages—to both bootstrapping and raising venture capital.

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Bootstrapping Venture Capital Startup Product Development 55

ReadWriteStart

JULY 12, 2023

CEO and co-founder of InvGate Ariel Gesto says the company will continue to expand this year. Gesto decided to scale InvGate after bootstrapping for the past 14 years. Companies can improve their efficiency, productivity, and responsiveness with the aid of these solutions.

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United States Management Mexico Artificial Inteligence 121

viniciusvacanti.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

Home About Contact Me How To Make It as a First-Time Entrepreneur Vinicius Vacanti Guide to Finding a Technical Co-Founder September 7, 2010 | View Comments Steve Job's Technical Co-Founder “I’ve got this HUGE idea. I just need to find a technical co-founder.&# I was in this situation and we barely escaped.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Founder Ruby 43

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

It should be even more important to the founders themselves, because it demonstrates that their business hypothesis is grounded in reality. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. In fact, this company hasn’t shipped any new products in months.

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Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 26, 2012

MJ Charmani, founder of iStart Jax, a business accelerator, and one of the key organizers of the event, introduced today's session with additional reports on last weekend's event. The problem, however, is that he is assuming that an investor would fund the product development. Armex Zero Suit. Investors rarely fund concepts.

Jacksonville 114

Jacksonville Florida PPC Programming 114

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

At Hustle Fund, we back both first time founders as well as repeat founders. One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Marketing first. Product second.

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Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

At Hustle Fund, we back both first time founders as well as repeat founders. One thing I’ve noticed is that almost every repeat, previously-successful-founder focuses on the same thing for their respective startups: customer acquisition. Marketing first. Product second.

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Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 4, 2015

3 Advantages to an Experiential Web Presence written by Guest Post read more at Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing. When you find your creative team to design and develop it, part of their market research entails researching your competition and your customers. I spend a lot of time online.

Web 28

Web Technical Review Sales Cycle Cofounder 28

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Well, that’s fine as far as it goes but when you’re a startup and you don’t have customers yet you need a way to bootstrap and that can feel awfully chaotic and wasteful. Eric Ries Lean Startup Schematic View Of Agile Development And Customer Development View more presentations from Eric Ries.

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Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

You have a profitable bootstrapped business with good, linear growth. You could either take or reject the licensing deal (based on your feelings about the exclusivity clause), and then plan to bootstrap the transition from a consumer-marketing model into an enterprise-sales one. What do you do? The worst decision possible.

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Bootstrapping Revenue Cost Sales 32

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

This is a choice that every startup founder must make , so I’d like to dig in deeper. To clarify the discussion, let’s use a simpler model: Companies A and B both sell products with recurring monthly revenue, and both brought in $10,000 in revenue last month. Market size Suppose the total addressable market is small.

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Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

You have a profitable bootstrapped business with good, linear growth. You could either take or reject the licensing deal (based on your feelings about the exclusivity clause), and then plan to bootstrap the transition from a consumer-marketing model into an enterprise-sales one. What do you do? The worst decision possible.

Bootstrapping 26

Bootstrapping Revenue Cost Sales 26

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 15, 2017

DSPTCH founder Richard Liu saw me talking about the bag online (I love it!) Practically speaking, the burning need was to begin hiring employees so that I could spend more of my day on product development, partnerships and driving sales. I’ve got a backpack problem. In the sense that I buy too many. and reached out.

Marketing 48

Marketing Design Acquisition Bootstrapping 48

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

As someone who has bootstrapped a software company ([link] and funded it through selling software and consulting to customers, I certainly know what it means to live lean and Ive even taken your advice ([link] I just wish I was in the Bay area and could come by "office hours". Labels: events 2comments: Andrew Meyer said.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Web Advisory Board 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 29, 2010

I believe it means were achieving product/market fit for a set of ideas. These case studies range in size and scope: from pre-product/market fit to already exited, bootstrapped to venture-backed, solo practitioner to large organization. But cant I outsource that to a market researcher? Congratulations.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 120

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

You have heard, I am sure, that venture capitalists only invest in very large market opportunities - $500 million to $1 billion. But there are others - many others - who are looking for smaller opportunities, playing in the sweet spot of $50-$100 million market opportunities. Is that a $20 million market? $30 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

You have heard, I am sure, that venture capitalists only invest in very large market opportunities - $500 million to $1 billion. But there are others - many others - who are looking for smaller opportunities, playing in the sweet spot of $50-$100 million market opportunities. Is that a $20 million market? $30 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

In Oracle’s early days Kathryn Gould was the founding VP of Marketing, working there from 1982 to 1984. When I heard that Larry Ellison was stepping down as Oracle ’s CEO I asked Kathryn to think about the skills she saw in a young Larry Ellison that might make today’s founders winners. Back then he advocated for.

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Venture Capital Software Review Database 333

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 18, 2010

Lean, when used in the context of lean startup, refers to a process of building companies and products using lean manufacturing principles applied to innovation. That process involves rapid hypothesis testing, validated learning about customers , and a disciplined approach to product development.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 18, 2010

Ash Maurya is the founder of WiredReach , a bootstrapped startup that he has been running for seven years. Recently, he was bitten by the lean startup bug and has started writing about his experiences attempting to apply lean startup and customer development principles. Read on to find out. Read on to find out.

Continuous Deployment 151

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Lean Wiki 151

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Take a look: This full-day Master Class focuses on how to build a startup from the ground up to focus on customers, markets, and speed of iteration. This workshop presents a new methodology that will allow you to bring new products -- and companies -- to life. We attempted to use Waterfall and market ourselves as B2C.

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Andrew is the co-founder and CTO of Parse.ly , a technology startup that provides big data insights to the web’s best publishers. He wrote: When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Andrew Montalenti.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

A description of the problem you’re solving for your customers, and your solution to the problem, which is usually your product or service. A description of your target market or the different market segments you’re targeting. In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products.

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Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And a few words about Persistent Systems, an outsourced software product development (OPD) company that is navigating its next phase of evolution are also warranted. My read on the business is that it needs to go to market in a B-to-B mode, expanding the scope of gift registries on major sites like Macy's and Crate & Barrel.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster. So when you’re thinking about marketing positioning to me, that side of it is the interesting side of it. Edwin: May I.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

This model of joint accountability is at the heart of the lean startup, and is just as applicable to venture-backed, bootstrapped, and enterprise startups. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you?

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It should go without saying that this post is not advice, nor is it recommendation of what you should do, it’s simply my observation of how companies using Customer Development positioned themselves to successfully raise money from venture investors. Do they believe you have a big enough vision and market. Did the VC’s like your team

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Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Tim Keane

SEPTEMBER 18, 2006

In a lot of startups (especially good ones) the founder/CEO/leader is a customer-oriented sales person. After the idea/product/service is built, and the market mapped, the company begins to grow. Its amazing how fast this happens, especially in companies with short product development cycles in non-medical industries.

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Harvest LBO Investment Bankers Wisconsin 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

No wait, I forgot, actually the question is: What happens when employee #2 makes off with your code and roadmap and marketing data and customer list, moves to Bolivia, and starts selling your stuff world-wide at one-tenth the price? To summarize: Anything that can be copied will be copied, including features, marketing copy, and pricing.

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

I continue to work on additional programs and products for bootstrapped and angel-backed startups, as well as for enterprise and future entrepreneurs. If you have thoughts about a product youd like to see created, please feel free to drop me a line. Would love to participate personally. August 14, 2009 5:59 PM Ravi said.

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Lean Programming San Francisco Continuous Deployment 102

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. Then, forget everything else, VCs included, and just build.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

That’s when you find one or more (future) customers that help fund your product development in exchange for input into the process and free or highly discounted use of the software. The Details It seems like it would be impossible to find someone to even partially fund development of an application.

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Equity Software Review RSS Widget 42

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

And then five years later computers became — they dropped half in price and then the big insurance companies could buy them, and that’s when Thomas Watson, who ran IBM at the time, was quoted as saying, “There’s only a market need in the world for five computers.”. So GoodData is at the intersection of kind of marketing and business.

Software Review 22

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Team Configuration 500 Startups Guerilla Marketing Organizations Entrepreneurship Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs Startups Startup Incubators and Seed Programs Seedcamp Y Combinator TechStars Lean Startups What is the perfect startup team? They are many more examples.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Whether you’re wondering what site search you should use or what is the best email marketing tool, knowledge is power. ” Hackernews list of “Tools of the Trade” for startups - includes over 150 SaaS tools used by startups, and over 150 comments with interesting insights from founders. Email marketing.

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Software Review Technical Review Startup 53