A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Your product is designed with natural tripwires to trigger other pricing ( Freemium model ), or not (business model left as an exercise to your future self). Requires venture funding because you have no income, and if you’re successful you’ll need lots of people and tech to run the business.

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

I put in these particular elements because I did a study of the reasons people cancel at WP Engine , and these are the main reasons for cancellation. For a quality-service company like WP Engine a high cancellation rate is a sign of terminal cancer even if acquisition rates are also increasing, so this metric isn’t useful to us.

Business Model 245

Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 28, 2014

As the founder of WP Engine, I receive weekly emails from startups proposing a “win-win” deal. Here’s the problem , and how you can change your approach to business development so that it can succeed. Let’s also assume that WP Engine will receive $50 per sale, which is higher than the typical offer.

Startup 293

Startup Hosting Distribution Revenue 293

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2016

Only by combining these metrics can you get a clear and true picture of the health of the business model. Larger companies like WP Engine can have maybe three or four, but still not many. For example, you can increase price which increases MRR but also increases cancellations as people can’t afford it.

Metrics 270

Metrics Retention Revenue Equity 270

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 3, 2011

I was listening to Noah Kagan (founder of AppSumo and the marketing mind behind Mint , and the author of this great guest post ) talk to the current crop of Capital Factory companies, when he said something so simple, so obviously correct, and yet it completely changed how I thought about my approach to WP Engine.

Metrics 273

Metrics Startup Revenue Engineer 273

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 20, 2013

This is the third article in a series on novel ideas for SaaS metrics, which started with The unprofitable SaaS business model trap and COC: a new metric for cancellations. ” (This is how I currently do it at WP Engine.) is too generous unless it’s a mature, predictable business. Which method?

Retention 262

Retention Metrics Revenue Bandwidth 262

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

This is the fourth article in a series on novel ideas for SaaS metrics, which started with The unprofitable SaaS business model trap , COC: a new metric for cancellations , and The mistake of 1/c in LTV. Its tough for a growing SaaS business to ascertain whether or not it’s truly profitable. Here’s a way to do it.

Metrics 238

Metrics Revenue Flash Later Stage 238