Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Either way, you can use any marketing channel thats available to bring in new customers, including word of traditional advertising, SEO, SEM - wherever you can find prospects who are going to find your product addicting. All three probably make attempts at world-of-mouth marketing - its just that for Viral, its life-or-death.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Way back when the money was doled out, the team made a compelling pitch about the large market that was going to adopt their new innovative product or service. Lets return to our team thats failing to hit their targets.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? When Ive asked mentors of mine who have worked in big companies about the role of the CTO, they usually talk about the importance of being the external face of the companys technology platform; an evangelist to developers, customers, and employees. Just what is the CTO supposed to do?

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Build a world-class technology platform, with patent-pending algorithms and the ability to scale to millions of simultaneous users. As far as I know, there are no products that are immune from the technology life cycle adoption curve. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. We can skip the chasm.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 7, 2010

So you can imagine how I expected some skepticism when pitching ideas about technology innovation to, say, the U.S. So you can imagine how I expected some skepticism when pitching ideas about technology innovation to, say, the U.S. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 119

San Francisco Management Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

But too often when its time to think about customers, marketing, positioning, or PR, we delegate it to "marketroids" or "suits." Many of us are not accustomed to thinking about markets or customers in a disciplined way. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit." Very few startups fail for lack of technology.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

Trying to answer that question at IMVU led me to discover Google AdWords and the world of search engine marketing. Probably if I had been an experienced marketer, I would have known that tiny volume to be insignificant, and I would have been embarrassed. But anyone who had done direct response marketing before would have known better.

SEM 164

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 164

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Expo (and a call for he.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Web Advisory Board 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 30, 2009

I thought Id share a little bit of that, too: I’ve been interested in different approaches to software development going back to 1987 when – in my first company Feld Technologies – my partner Dave Jilk and I started talking about “semi-custom software development&# (way ahead of its time). Read the rest.

Lean 68

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Now there was nothing wrong with their analysis: anyone who invents a technology as sophisticated as The Transformers is definitely going to make a lot of money. Turns out, they were incredibly well-credentialed graduate students who had, in fact, developed some interesting new robotics technology. how big is the market?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

vs. sustainable: Compare this to the renewable strategies, like viral marketing, SEO, widgets, and ads, which can scale into 10s of millions of users but are primarily centered around tough, non-user centric work. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Problem is, you inevitably become yesterday’s old news.

Audience 119

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

As Ive written previously , lean startups are built upon three main trends: Technology commoditization. It is becoming easier and cheaper for companies to bring products to market, leveraging free and open source software , cloud computing, open social data (Facebook, OpenSocial ), and open distribution (AdWords, SEO).

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Its obvious that can lower your development costs, but I think its even more important that it can reduce your time to market. Ignore the famous people who are busy giving lots of speeches about how technology X will change the world. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Try it, you just might like it.

Software Review 68

Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 12, 2010

I continue to believe that the explosion of interest in the lean startup has very little to do with me. Recent economic events, technological change, and the rapid diffusion of information about the old models have combined to help us all realize just how important entrepreneurship is - and just how little we really know about it.

Lean 146

Lean San Francisco Wiki Startup 146

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

Software Review 68

Software Review San Francisco Technical Review Continuous Deployment 68

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

As Steve writes in the Four Steps to the Epiphany , we always seek to find a market for the product as currently specified , not conduct a focus group to tell us what the spec should be. If and only if we cant find any market for our current vision is it appropriate to change it. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 22, 2010

The cost of creating new companies is falling rapidly, and access to markets, distribution, and information is within the reach of anyone with an Internet connection. For example, over 25% of the technology companies founded between 1995-2005 had a key immigrant founder. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 121

San Francisco Indiana Lean Startup 121

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

He previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups, and has worked as a consultant to a number of startups, companies, and venture capital firms. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 142

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 142

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

That data is completely consonant with the people I know who are successful technologists today, and similar patterns are documented in each recent wave of technology innovation. Third, you market it far and wide. And as for marketing it, this post is already on the first page of Hacker News. Its a good idea. Hint, hint.

Programming 143

Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

But if you want to practice rapid deployment, you need to be able to deploy that build in one step as well. If you want to do continuous deployment, youd better be able to certify that build too, which brings us to. For more on continuous deployment, see Just-in-time Scalability. Can you make a build in one step?

Software Review 144

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 144

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

Open Source 107

Open Source San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 107

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

After an hour with a team talking dirty about deployment, youll know. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 27, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Austin: the Lean Startup tour continues Next week I head to Austin, TX for my first visit ever. and lean manufacturing to guide the creation of technology businesses that create disruptive innovation. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Learn more here.

Lean 60

Lean Austin San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2010

Typical explanations tend to focus on the well-known anecdotes and larger than life archetypes we have in mind: the twenty-something college dropouts (men, of course) from Stanford inventing some radical new technology. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. The academic research tells a very different story.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Management Founder Lean 161

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Playing with new technologies. Strategy - startups first encounter this when they have the beginnings of a product, and theyve achieved some amount of product/market fit. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Four kinds of work Innovation / R&D - this is what all startups do in their earliest stages.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 2, 2009

My son is planning a software product that will take the mystery out of wikis and make the technology easier for consumers to use. Here in Tampa, our biggest challenge is convincing the regions technology "leadership" that grassroots economic development is a good thing. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Tampa Continuous Deployment Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 1, 2009

Heres the key quote: Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn’t do market research - Bokardo It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. Now, I cant speak to what process Steve Jobs uses to get his team to do this market assessment.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 166

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

Among his ideas are that todays kids should be taught in class in a way that is relevant to their actual lives, which necessarily means allowing them to use technology. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Why ban cell phones when we can take advantage of the fact that, in most classes, they are pervasive.

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC Lean 60

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 1, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Developer Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 10, 2008

The opportunity isnt to give into temptation and figure out how to recklessly and expensively market the frontlist. It is to adopt a long and slow and ultimately profitable strategy of marketing your ever-growing backlist. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. I see startups struggle with this all the time.

San Francisco 76

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 76

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

In traditional marketing there are three main objectives. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

I want to talk specifics, and when you come right down to it, most technology startups dont have a very interesting cost structure. Particularly the Continuous Deployment and Split testing posts. Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n. Sounds a little abstract, though, doesnt it?

Lean 140

Lean Hiring San Francisco Continuous Deployment 140

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

The other revels in the world as we all know it will be someday: limitless distribution enabled by new technologies, the importance of collaborative filters, and on-demand availability of all content for end-users. Now, helping potential customers discover new things they might like is the job of the discipline of marketing.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

We talk a good game about technology adoption curves and crossing the chasm, but most of us dont seem to recognize when its happening. For readers concerned about the chasm, I recommend reading Seth Godin's thoughts on "Being remarkable" and finding a unique edge/twist for your products and marketing (edgecraft).

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

For example, should we invest a week of engineering time into making our website more failure-proof (which were pretty sure will pay off right away) or into experimenting with a new technology (that might pay off in months, years, or never)? Case Study: Continuous deployment makes releases n.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79