Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

If possible, quantify these in non-technical business terms, such as dollars saved or replacement costs over time. Provide specifics on the customer business model. Don’t let your passion convince you that word-of-mouth and viral marketing will suffice against well-funded competitors and ever more demanding customers.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

I’ve spent more than four decades founding, coaching, teaching and investing in startups, and nothing breaks my heart more than meeting a starry-eyed founder who says “we’re almost ready to show it to people.” The “it” is a physical or web product they’ve often been locked-down, pounding away at, for many weeks. What’s the honest trajectory?

Startup 332

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 332

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Investors and founders alike have been obsessed about “growth at all costs,” just as a virus colony grows without care to its effect on its host cells or whether the colony’s growth ends up destroying the host body completely, taking the colony down with it in a viral version of Lord of the Flies. This is growth driven by values.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Viral Metrics Salary 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Note that if you’re familiar with the business model canvas, Steps 1-4 below are equivalent to a visual map of the choices a founder makes as they develop a business model canvas. Founders should understand what the customer hopes to accomplish , or what their job to be done is. Final Thoughts.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2020

Driven by the current pandemic, smart entrepreneurs of all ages are jumping into the fray with new ideas, new recovery strategies, and discarding outmoded business models. But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages.

Viral 430

Viral Revenue Distribution Cloud 430

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." Now that You've Got MVP, It's Time to Think About MVC You can't raise money on achieving an MVP. Investors demand more than that.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Initially, your staff (even if that’s just you and a co-founder) will be your greatest asset in locating and connecting with your audience. As a startup, you’re working with limited resources and a lean business model. With an innovative product in the consumer payment space, the company had viral-ready content.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

Yet there are big challenges to hyperlocal, at least for consumer-focused hyperlocal startups, according to Sean Barkulis, Founder of UPlanMe, whose initial consumer-focused business model was an early casualty, writing in Street Fight : Every site requires real curated local content to engage users. This is not just a fad.

Finder 361

Finder Startup Curation Seattle 361

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Knowing these will help a founder position her pitch to get investors’ attention. Founders need to keep their eye on the prize — not just the next funding round. Business Model.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

Beyond basic business and technical credentials, here are some of the key startup team attributes that every investor is looking for: Team shows an appreciation and plan for marketing. Similarly, mentioning viral marketing without specifics won’t assure fundability. Plan includes a business model with good margins.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Angel Investor 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

If the elements of your business aren't expertly developed and aligned, even the best dream will be in jeopardy. Such failures ignore the essential business elements investors look for before committing to a startup. As a startup founder, you won’t have the marketing resources or brand recognition to appeal to all consumers.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

He is the co-­founder and CEO of Quote Roller and PandaDoc. His passions are business process automation, surfing, and his new baby girl Maya. ?. Sales are the bloodstream for most businesses, and tech startups are no exception. There is logic behind your thinking of how to determine which CAC is right for your business model.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

Funding for founder salaries at this stage is a red flag. These days, even viral marketing requires real money, for events and promotions. Professional investors always look for a proven business model and an existing revenue stream to minimize the risk. Have backup charts for investors wanting more detail.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 14, 2009 Business ecology and the four customer currencies Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model&# for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.&# Constructing a working business model is a form of ecosystem design.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2024

As the founder of The Clikk, Russell has witnessed the evolving landscape of newsletters, recognizing them as a powerful intersection of content marketing and direct response promotion. He's the founder of the clikk an email newsletter about digital marketing. I also look at sort of the virality. This is John Jantsch.

Revenue 78

Revenue Advertising Email ChatGPT 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2011

Implement a new business model. Software as a service (SaaS) has now pretty much replaced the old licensing model, but offering it was a strategic risk for SalesForce.com. Once you have established your credibility and value, a strategic partnership may lead to other business relationships or a funding source.

Founder 245

Founder Forecast Startup Viral 245

Software By Rob

AUGUST 5, 2010

You’re a startup founder, whether actual or aspiring. Business books are a founder’s learning tool. The problem is that the premise of all of them – whether true or false – is irrelevant to you as a startup founder. Join nearly 6,000 startup entrepreneurs by subscribing to my RSS feed.

Founder 78

Founder Startup Software Review Software 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Eric Ries in Times Square For any model to be useful it has to predict what happens in the real world – including the web. I realized the Customer Development model needs to be clearer in what exactly a startup is supposed to do, regardless of the business model. “What is the “Business Model” of your startup?&#

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2020

Funding for founder salaries at this stage is a red flag. These days, even viral marketing requires real money, for events and promotions. Professional investors always look for a proven business model and an existing revenue stream to minimize the risk. Have backup charts for investors wanting more detail.

Elevator Pitch 336

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 336

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 18, 2023

He’s the Founder of theCLIKK, an email newsletter about digital marketing. 09:42] Was there a point in time when you decided to use newsletters to fit your business model or you started it as a normal standard digital marketing tactic? [11:10] He's the founder of theCLIKK an email newsletter about digital marketing.

ChatGPT 92

ChatGPT Advertising Email Viral 92

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

” Founders must address distribution in their pitches both overtly and succinctly. Their business models are, in many cases, focused on outlier exits within the portfolio. The post Accidental VC: The Most Dangerous Question for Founders to Overlook in Pitches appeared first on The View From Seed. Accidental VC'

Founder 120

Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

Different sources define freemium as a business model or a pricing strategy. I talked to Adam Hempenstall, founder and CEO at BetterProposals , who has been using freemium for three years for his SaaS product: “Honestly, I think it was a mistake. However, your pricing options go far beyond freemium and free trial. Youtube ads.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

GrowthHackers founder and former Head of Growth at Dropbox, Sean Ellis , coined the term: “A growth hacker is a person whose true north is growth. In his course on Growth Mindset (part of CXL’s Growth Marketing Minidegree ), WeTheFuture.org founder John McBride describes three key components of a successful growth marketer: 1.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2018

The reality is that successful businesses these days require an equally elegant business model, with the right marketing, delivery channel, price, and target customers, to get real traction. The founder had simply not done the work to validate a price and the perfect customer segment.

Product 137

Product Advisory Board Business Model Cofounder 137

grasshopperherder.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2011

We’re testing a viral loop, direct sales, and affiliate marketing.&# If I can steal your idea by just hearing it, there is no defensible business model there. If you’re waiting for a technical co-founder to put up a landing page with signup form, you’re lazy. A: “I don’t know.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder NDA Founder Sweat Equity 47

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Another called Parker Harris, the co-founder and CTO. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. Consumer approach to software for business users. Distributed version control model – first in the industry like ours and we are filing patents.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 14, 2017

by Jon Leighton, Director of digital agency iResources and founder of neatly.io. Indeed some of the biggest names out there started off as a completely different business; including Twitter, Nintendo and most recently, Slack. But pivoting applies to all businesses and the theory behind it is exactly the same. Channel pivot.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Architecture Revenue Channel 157

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

From there, I became the first non-founder employee at an e-commerce startup called BITSource, which was the first electronic software distributor delivering electronic volume software licenses to corporations. It was also beneficial because I got some good experience with both B2B and B2C business models. It sounds interesting.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

The first did a “purchase credits&# model like iStockphoto where you then burn down the credits you bought. They realized for them this was dumb because people didn’t want to use up their credits so viral adoption wasn’t happening quickly enough. They switched to a flat rate model and sharing went up immediately.

Viral 303

Viral Investment Bankers Video Business Model 303

Austin Startup

AUGUST 3, 2017

Is this a big enough market to support a venture funded business? It might be a great idea with a solid business model but it still might not be a good fit for venture funding. We believe the risk of low consumer adoption will be addressed if we can show a Viral Coefficient of 1.5 with 95% Monthly Active Users.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Startup Texas Email 69

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Startups that are searching for a business model need to keep score differently than large companies that are executing a known business model. Yet most entrepreneurs and their VC’s make startups use financial models and spreadsheets that actually hinder their success. Managing the Business. Here’s why.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 17, 2013

The company, which the founder cleverly named “Stitch Fix,” had a remarkably unique offering compared to other women’s fashion experiences. Awareness of the service was clearly spreading virally through word of mouth. Dell’s product offering advantage, building to custom order, simultaneously created a business model advantage.

eCommerce 62

eCommerce Technical Review North America San Francisco 62

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2012

The metrics that matter the most are returning customers (user retention), turnover per customer and viral growth (k-factor). Remember that raising money in itself is not the purpose; it’s about creating an organization that can fully focus on finding retention and a working business model that can later on scale.

Bankruptcy 121

Bankruptcy Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 121

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 19, 2021

That’s because the making of the company relies on the founders, the CEO, the executives, the team members–in other words, the people who are putting in 80 to 100 hours per week, rather than the board members who are putting in one to two hours per week. Right now, our whole bet is on the CEO and the founders and making them successful.

Startup 36

Startup Cofounder Advertising Hiring 36

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 16, 2013

Seems like every third startup nowadays is using the “Freemium” business model: The lowest service tier is free, and the business is designed to get those users hooked and then upgrade to a paid plan. It also means you essentially have to build a viral product, because you can’t afford advertising.

Marketing 318

Marketing Viral Campaign Business Model 318

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

We’ve all heard the anecdotes—the famous founder who pitched 1000 investors before any of them said yes. Most founders I know who are in this mode simply haven’t done enough homework and planning on the idea. 7) Does such a model get you to a long term size that makes sense for venture capital investors (north of $100mm in revenues)?

Startup 110

Startup Viral Venture Capital .Net 110