Remove Burn Rate Remove Customer Remove Hiring Remove Product Development
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Is the Lean Startup Dead?

Steve Blank

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. He just hired Meg Whitman.

Lean 335
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Startup Sales – Why Hiring Seasoned Reps May Not Work

Both Sides of the Table

Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early.

Hiring 346
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The Customer Development Manifesto: The Startup Death Spiral (part.

Steve Blank

Finally, I’ll write about how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

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Why More Funding Won’t Magically Fix Your Startup

Mucker Lab

These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. Hire the wrong people. Be trigger shy about hiring.

Startup 78
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Create Structure out of the Gate and You’ll Thank Yourself Later

Feld Thoughts

They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work. ASC starts building product, but as they get into the thick of it, the team realizes executing on their vision is going to be extremely hard. Early customer development talks are going great which keeps the team really excited.

Burn Rate 152
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What Makes an Entrepreneur (2/10) – Street Smarts

Both Sides of the Table

.&# They know instinctually how customers buy and how to excite them. They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs. You can practically hear the “voice of the customer&# when they’re presenting their concept. Hold the phone far away from your ears.

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Twitter Link Roundup #235 – Small Business, Startups, Innovation, Social Media, Design, Marketing and More

crowdSPRING Blog

Are startup burn rates out of control? This Invaluable Lesson Will Keep You From Making Catastrophic Hiring Mistakes - crowdspring.co/XeV4JS. Hiring startup engineers? Voice of the Customer: The Secret of Great Landing Page Copy | WordStream – crowdspring.co/1rgMIOC. They seem to be | AVC – crowdspring.co/1rbM5FT.