Steve Blank

APRIL 2, 2009

Metrics – Mine is Bigger Than Yours The first thing SuperMac needed to do was to change how our potential color desktop publishing customers viewed our products versus our competitors’ products. As hokey as it is, when confronted with uncertainty or unknowns, human beings like to be reassured by comparative metrics.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS Software Review 124

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Extra Lucrative Conversion Advice. Conversion Optimization Services. Conversion Research. It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. I feel like “conversion rate optimization” is in 2013 what “social media marketing” was in 2009.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. Stories like these are what has led me to this definition of progress for a startup: validated learning about customers.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Customer Development is all about gathering a list of what features customers want by talking to them, surveying them, or running “focus groups.” Gathering feature requests from customers is not what marketing should be doing in a startup. And it’s certainly not Customer Development.

Customer Development 278

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 278

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

And worse, even if someone does manage to start something new, our management structure has so many financial, legal and HR hurdles that every initiative needs to match our existing business financial metrics, processes and procedures. There are financial metrics (Return on Investment, Hurdle Rate, etc.) Lessons Learned.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

Unfortunately, most decisions that confront startups lack a definitive right answer. In a startup context, numbers like gross revenue are actually vanity metrics, not actionable metrics. For example, say that your business model calls for a 4% conversion rate – as ours did initially at IMVU.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 3, 2009

Yet, I think this definition is too important to leave out. Use some customer development to find out. Split-testing is great for linear optimization; making our landing pages, conversion rates, and retention metrics incrementally better day-in day-out. Definitely like to see video of the full talk.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Cofounder 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

It definitely can be useful to judiciously take on small amounts of debt. For more examples, see the "-ilities" section here: [link] Design is definitely dynamic, and definitely benefits from feedback, so I'm also in favor of shipping early and often. That said, I agree with a lot of your more detailed points.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

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. If you find yourself getting asked non-key questions, try to use your answers to steer the conversation back to the key questions.

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

So I generally feel right at home in these conversations. So let’s turn our attention from what may happen in the future to what is definitely happening in the present. Despite all the energy invested in talking to authors about the size of their platform, very few gatekeepers have a rigorous set of metrics for measuring it.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

The response so far has been nothing short of overwhelming, and I want to especially thank those of you who participated in the survey and customer validation exercise that helped shape this event. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? For now, Id like to ask a favor.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 11, 2013

Before this occurs, the sales process is a craft or an art - custom-made by the founder or evangelist sales VP. You dive deep into a customer development process, working closely with a few customers who feed you requirements and are willing to trial an imperfect product that is evolving quickly. Related articles.

Sales 50

Sales Technical Review Software Review B2B 50

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

To introduce the themes of Lean Startup in education, we’ve invited Diane and Steven Hodas of the New York City Department of Education’s iZone, to a webcast conversation, Testing Lean Startup in Education ; both will also be speakers at this year’s conference. Join them on November 21 at 9a PT, along with conference co-host Sarah Milstein.

Lean 164

Lean New York City Startup San Francisco 164

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

So conversion rate percentage, of course it can always be higher and we’re doing a lot of stuff to make that higher, but it’s in line with other applications. Jason: Yeah, one percent conversion rate is pretty normal. I’ve had some very good conversations with a large insurance company. Jason: Okay. Edwin: Yes.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

The Definitive Guide to Building a Brand. Noah Parsons says, “Start collecting contact information for interested, prospective customers. Develop a landing page, do some lightweight advertising, and generally reach out to as many potential customers as you can.”. Step 8: Track your metrics.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

. “Growth hackers have a passion for tracking and moving a metric. Without metrics or data, a growth hacker can feel out of place and uncomfortably exposed. This strong bias towards data drives a growth hacker away from vanity metrics towards metrics that will make or break the business.” ” Creativity.

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. Each one starts from a different place and a different definition of that. Q: Enterprise by definition is settled law. Why not take a stab?

Widget 204

Widget Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 204

andrewchenblog.com

MARCH 10, 2010

Coupled with A/B testing, customer development, and thinking through business problems in a scientific, hypothesis-driven way, you end up with a powerful cocktail of techniques to build a modern startup in the most iterative way possible. Eric Ries has a great article advocating for why it’s OK to Embrace Technical Debt.

Technical Review 47

Technical Review Design Las Vegas Product 47

conversionxl.com

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

Extra Lucrative Conversion Advice. Conversion Optimization Services. Conversion Research. We’ve organized everything to best simulate a visitor’s experience on a landing page from first click to final conversion. Why You Should Focus On Clicks Before Conversions. Conversion rates for our top Adwords are way up.

Analytics 98

Analytics Software Review Conversion Video 98

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

Given the time constraints, I organized my presentation around two simple ideas: STARTUP = EXPERIMENT FASTER STARTUPS = MORE EXPERIMENTS PER DOLLAR I tried to make clear my usual definition of a startup, one that has nothing to do with size of company or sector of the economy. once it launches. Startup=Experiment. link] Amen!

San Francisco 92

San Francisco DC Washington Lean 92

Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli

JULY 1, 2010

Out of the box, Clicky gives you actionable metrics, rather than a awful lot of useless data. KissMetrics is all about funnel conversion, which any web analytics tool already offers and having to add yet another script on your page isn’t justified by having pretty conversion graphs. Amazingly quick and easy tool.

Lean 38

Lean Customer Ruby Startup 38

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 1, 2009

Heres the working definition Ive started using: A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty. In a future post, Ill attempt to unpack this definition in detail. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. So be sure to make a free user account and participate in the offline conversation there. Jason: get into customer development and it’s a big waste.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

Aymeric Gaurat-Apelli

JULY 1, 2010

Out of the box, Clicky gives you actionable metrics, rather than a awful lot of useless data. KissMetrics is all about funnel conversion, which any web analytics tool already offers and having to add yet another script on your page isn’t justified by having pretty conversion graphs. Amazingly quick and easy tool.

Lean 32

Lean Customer Ruby Startup 32

ConversionXL

JUNE 19, 2014

It’s easy to forget when analyzing the data for conversion purposes is that the end user is a real human with feelings. In an ideal world, designers and conversion optimizers can strike the perfect balance between the logical & emotional sides of the human brain & design experiences that “activate” visitors to take action.

Greece 107

Greece Customer eCommerce Design 107

ConversionXL

JUNE 19, 2014

It’s easy to forget when analyzing the data for conversion purposes is that the end user is a real human with feelings. In an ideal world, designers and conversion optimizers can strike the perfect balance between the logical & emotional sides of the human brain & design experiences that “activate” visitors to take action.

Greece 98

Greece Customer eCommerce Design 98

www.rocketwatcher.com

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

Rocket Watcher Product Marketing for Startups Product Marketing for Startups About Speaking Contact Email Posts Startups Product Marketing Messaging Social Media Commentary Uncategorized Marketing Metrics 101 for B2B Startups 13. Rocket watcher b2b marketing metrics View more presentations from April Dunford.

B2B 42

B2B Metrics Marketing Startup 42

ConversionXL

JUNE 19, 2014

It’s easy to forget when analyzing the data for conversion purposes is that the end user is a real human with feelings. In an ideal world, designers and conversion optimizers can strike the perfect balance between the logical & emotional sides of the human brain & design experiences that “activate” visitors to take action.

Greece 82

Greece Customer eCommerce Design 82

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Written By Dan Martell on February 2nd, 2012 | Category: Hiring LeanStartup Marketing Metrics Startup Life | 6 Comments. Building Metrics / Usage Reports / KPI 3. Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Why do I do it?

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 13, 2010 The Superbowl ad test I am a firm believer in the danger of vanity metrics , numbers that give the illusion of progress but often mask the true relationship between cause and effect. Vanity metrics are generally bigger. Vanity metrics. The solution? Is that really news?

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Metrics Lean PR 154

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2014

In that case, metrics and analytics are really important. That''s a crossover of UX and UI, and they definitely impact one another. LK: At that point, it''s all about early user research and customer development. I think there''s a really nice method for doing this, which is imagine your successful customer.

Lean 167

Lean Design Mobile Engineer 167

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

In the big picture, “conversion optimization” boils down to getting more of the right people clicking on the things you want them to click. Dave McClure’s conversion metrics visualize where different conversion optimization opportunities lie—including those for acquisition. Image source ).

Acquisition 111

Acquisition Software Review PPC Analytics 111

ConversionXL

MAY 22, 2014

“Conversion Rate Optimization” principles don’t just apply to landing pages or capturing emails. In a big picture, can’t “Conversion” really be boiled down to getting more of the right people clicking on the things you want them to click ? So Where Exactly Does “Conversion” Happen? image source.

Software Review 116

Software Review PPC Analytics Search 116

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

We were trying to broaden the conversation beyond just viral customer acquisition. Many viral products have flamed out over the years, able to capture large numbers of users, but proving transient in their value because they failed to engage customers for the long-term. Some percentage of customers click through.

Viral 140

Viral San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 140

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 28, 2009

Most of all, I encouraged them to start talking to their most passionate customers and running some big experiments based on that feedback. I thought we were having a successful conversation. Back to my conversation with the company I met recently. The goal of refactoring is to make it easier to do future development.

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

a guide for hackers) (This post was inspired by a conversation with Nivi from Venture Hacks , but is otherwise not his fault) There has been a proliferation of frameworks and metaphors lately that are designed to help startups avoid the all-too-common fatal mistake of failing to find a market. 4comments: Sean Murphy said.

San Francisco 89

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Ruby Lean 89

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110