A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

I wanted to expand on the practical and mathematical implementations of the cancellation rate I referred to in last week’s post. “LTV” means “the total revenue you’ll get from a customer over its lifetime.” So total expected revenue is $RN/ p. Why cancellation rate is so important.

Business Model 245

Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Provide specifics on the customer business model. All startups, including non-profits, need revenue to thrive, such as such as from subscriptions, retail, online, licensing, or services. They want to see revenue to share in the return. Here I recommend a 5-year projection of revenues, expenses, and funding requirements.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Insights from market research enable you to spot both strengths and weaknesses in your planned business model – helping you steer clear of pitfalls while maximizing opportunities. Developing a Business Plan The findings from your market research should form the backbone of your comprehensive business plan.

Balance Sheet 122

Balance Sheet Technical Review Business Model Business Plan 122

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 26, 2021

There are so many businesses around us, and to stay in the game, you need to think of ways to improve your small business revenue. It’s important to remember that every small business needs a different approach. Here are 8 straightforward ways to help you improve your small business. Follow industry best practices.

Small Business 176

Small Business Mobile Revenue Social Media 176

ReadWriteStart

JULY 7, 2021

Various business models in an on-demand courier delivery app. Business to Consumer (B2C) – It is the most common type of business model. An integrated referral program – where existing customers get points and rewards for referring the courier service app to new users.

Technical Review 163

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Demand Social Media 163

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

The concept of “seed funding” originates from the metaphor of growing a tree, in which the seed represents the initial component required to move forward with developing a business. The term “seed financing” refers to the stage of funding that comes from first equity.

Seed Stage 139

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 139

View from Seed

JUNE 23, 2022

“Creators don’t want to just refer traffic towards random products to make money, but rather prefer to directly sell products which they truly believe in. Influencer Direct puts the tools to create their own eCommerce business directly into the hands of influencers.” Company: Influencer Direct. Founder: Dennis Chim.

DC 156

DC Cambodia eCommerce Social Media 156

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Doing so also closed their doors to a source of revenue they relied heavily on to keep their business alive and operating. Through this economic turmoil some businesses have collapsed and others have flourished. Innovative businesses will always find ways to adapt. Innovative businesses will always find ways to adapt.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review United States eCommerce Due Diligence 279

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. While it was a handy reference, it still didn’t help the novice. Write down your 9- business model canvas hypothesis.

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 19, 2017

The lean start-up movement has been based on a single insight – which the purpose of a start-up is to discover a business model that works. The objective of a start-up is to discover a business model that works. This process continues until a viable product (and business model) can be discovered.

Product Development 153

Product Development Lean Developer Product 153

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

But of the 83% of people that say they’re willing to refer new business to a company they love, only 29% of them do. Establish which incentives users need to refer friends. Users can refer 12 friends and get Trello Gold free for a year. It’s your job to make it worthwhile.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Get a reference customer.

Business Model 235

Business Model Product Advisory Board Angel Investor 235

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2012

For survival, the objective of every business should be to bring in revenues which exceed their costs. Yet I continue to see business plans, or even talk to founders, and can’t find the specifics of the business model anywhere. Try to relate your business model to one that’s already successful and understood.

Business Model 238

Business Model eCommerce Business Plan Revenue 238

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Get a reference customer.

Business Model 248

Business Model Advisory Board Entrepreneur Angel Investor 248

Mike Michalowicz

JULY 24, 2023

I’m not referring to punching a clock for a paycheck, either. While I understand you have a business to run, I’ve learned firsthand that when my team’s goals are understood, my business thrives. We know what each team member is working toward inside and outside of the business. Because my employees are all in.

Revenue 78

Revenue Retention Employee Business Model 78

Agile VC

JANUARY 13, 2016

It used to take 5-10 years for a great startup to go from $0 to $75-100M+ in annual revenue. A $100M revenue company which has hit an asymptote of growth is unlikely to be worth $1B+ in enterprise value, even if it reached that point far more rapidly than most companies before it. Revenue is revenue, right?

Technical Review 157

Technical Review .Net Revenue Software Review 157

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 26, 2021

Not to be mistaken for customer service, customer experience refers to the overall experiences a customer has with the brand. If you run out of capital prematurely, the business can’t sustain itself—no matter how good the business model is. No Real Business Model. Poor Customer Experience.

Startup 180

Startup Angel Investor Business Model Demand 180

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2023

Live operations refer to the ongoing management and maintenance of a game after its initial launch, and can include things like events, updates, and community management. How did the video game business evolve from its packaged goods roots in the early '90s to the complex, multi-platform, online business of today?

Generative AI 104

Generative AI San Francisco Technical Review Europe 104

Up and Running

JANUARY 18, 2021

This is what is generally referred to as software as a service, or SaaS. What revenue models are best for your online platform? While I leave to you the marketing effort to acquire clients, I will suggest to you the possible revenue models that you should consider for your platform to start making money as soon as possible.

Securities and Exchange Commission 123

Securities and Exchange Commission Revenue Networking Cost 123

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2011

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Get a reference customer.

Business Model 234

Business Model Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 234

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Getting it Right Apple’s entry into new markets by creating new product categories – iPods, iPads, iPhones – is unprecedented in the history of the modern corporation – $300 billion (75% of their revenue) is from non-computer hardware.

Search 265

Search Marketing Forecast Burn Rate 265

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

The “build” step refers to building a minimal viable product (an MVP.) Luckily Alexander Osterwalder’s business model canvas presents a visual overview of the nine components of a business on one page. revenue streams generated by the value proposition(s). activities necessary to implement the business model.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. Startups are in fact only temporary organizations, organized to search –not execute–for a scalable and repeatable business model.

Lean 300

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 300

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

This week they were testing who the customer, user, payer for the product will be (and discovering if they have a multi-sided business model , one with both buyers and sellers.) The Business Model Canvas is a great way to diagram it out. If you can’t see the slides above, click here.

Customer 236

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 236

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2011

Teams are iterating and pivoting right and left, one team threw their entire business model out the window and did a complete restart, and another team was having a meltdown over personalities. This week they were testing their hypotheses about Revenue Models: what are customers really willing to pay for?

Revenue 219

Revenue West Virginia Oklahoma Oklahoma City 219

Steve Blank

APRIL 21, 2011

Their week 6 business model now looked like this: . Last week we challenged the team that unless they developed hardware which could tell the difference between a weed and a plant, their business model would be just another set of PowerPoint slides. The Week 6 Lecture: Revenue Model. All that we expected.

Channel 221

Channel Artificial Inteligence San Francisco Business Model 221

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Write your business plan and develop your business model with this in mind so you can avoid these issues. . You can choose from a few different types of business plans depending on your needs. If you’re seeking investment, you need a traditional business plan. Target market: Who is your ideal buyer? Be specific.

Business Plan 154

Business Plan Technical Review Forecast Software Review 154

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

For survival, the objective of every business should be to garner revenues which exceed their costs. Yet I continue to see business plans, or even talk to founders, and can’t find a clear business model. You can innovate in technology, markets, and customers, but inventing a new business model is a bad bet.

Business Model 120

Business Model eCommerce Revenue Stock 120

Up and Running

JULY 22, 2014

A profit and loss statement is essentially an explanation of how your business made a profit (or incurred a loss) over a certain period of time. It’s a table that lists all of your revenue streams and all of your expenses—typically for a three-month period—and lists at the very bottom the total amount of net profit or loss.

Balance Sheet 148

Balance Sheet Forecast Equity .Net 148

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 16, 2013

A lot of time and money was wasted by Apple and publishers in bringing the Newsstand model to market because they were thinking about their own needs rather than what consumers wanted. The area where I most often see this mistake of putting the business model ahead of what consumers want is subscription ecommerce.

Business Model 104

Business Model eCommerce Acquisition Revenue 104