YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 22, 2012

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff put it best when he said that even though every company knows customer references are important, most companies have a lax approach to actually managing them. Someone may hand him a list of prospective references who may or may not be happy customers, or strategically significant, or even profitable.

Programming 145

Programming Customer Social Media Advisory Board 145

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Microsoft will find local “MVP” customers who are well connected in their local communities, and who want to increase their status, and help them do so by providing access to early releases and “insider knowledge.” It’s better to be a thought leader than to depend on the kindness of strangers. Rock Star advocates can help.).

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

He had teamed up with a former product manager at P&G to deliver seminars on just this subject. It was a management problem. We had been outsourcing an important part of our demand creation strategy – packaging – to an outside agency without having the expertise to judge or manage the results.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

A major angel group used Influitive , an advocate management tool, to track, activate and motivate their members. 4) Manage deal flow. For example, we created a pipeline management tool that automatically adds deals along with relevant information (such as attachments received) to our funnel. Pitchbot.vc 5) Due diligence.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

MAY 22, 2009

While one could argue that a trade show is just another demand creation activity akin to advertising or PR, trade shows are the closest eyeball-to-eyeball contact you’re company is going to have with customers, competitors and partners. What didn’t? Go to trade shows like it matters.

Silicon Valley 136

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 136

The Startup Toolkit

DECEMBER 12, 2012

For example, succeeding at PR before you have retention is actively unhelpful. Customer Development and UX both have good tools for doing this. But for you, it is more important to manage your downside — how much money you stand to lose. When you talk to your team or VCs, bring them back to your own questions.

Lean 54

Lean Startup Metrics Retention 54

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Paid - if your product monetizes customers better than your competitors, you have the opportunity to use your lifetime value advantage to drive growth. In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Thanks to Suns amazing PR blitz, there was tremendous demand for experts on Java, and I did my best to convince people that I was one of that mythical breed. But I managed a few "good learning experiences" before throwing myself full-bore into IMVU. Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science?

San Francisco 155

San Francisco Technical Cofounder Fractional CTO CTO 155

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

Potential customers such as gamers who like to play specific types of games? Or people inside companies with a specific title, like product or program managers, CIOs, etc? Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. influencers”) and how they manage them (e.g. Customer Discovery Never Stops.

Marketing 316

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 316

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries. None of mine did.)

Silicon Valley 269

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 269

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

And so, the concept for a digital PR service was born. Using my existing skills and resources (including an old domain name), I tested a productized digital PR offer. About 18 months later, we pivoted our messaging to evolve beyond digital PR. Conduct client development interviews. niche down”). Image source ).

PR 120

PR B2B Lean Audience 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

While I love TechCrunch, the post and the quote about the PR agency (“one PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy, throw ethics out the window&# ) left me wondering; how do PR agencies interact with TechCrunch and other blog and review sites? Is this behavior an outlier or is it the norm in the PR industry?

Silicon Valley 210

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 210

Steve Blank

JUNE 22, 2009

General managers of divisons are compensated on division P&L not long term innovation. You cannot say it is the people (owners, manager or workers). Steven Blank: Managers need to be more entrepreneurial. CEO’s and the executive staff are watching the corporate bottom line and earnings per share.

Silicon Valley 186

Silicon Valley RSS California Agile 186

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

It has to be found and managed. In that same spirit, here are some suggestions for tactics you can use to increase the leverage of your product development efforts: Free and open source software (and even hardware ). In the meantime, I think we have a good explanation for what all those PR dollars are being spent trying to obscure.

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

The Message Sitting around a conference room table brainstorming messages that might resonate with customers, or worse having a PR agency doing that for you, is a firing offense in a small company. You should be brainstorming messages with current and potential customers. I know that, so why do I need you?

Silicon Valley 203

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 203

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Whats striking about these stories, if you get past the PR hype, are two very important themes: These prodigies were self-taught, and had a fundamental fascination with technology from a very young age. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

Programming 143

Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Do your customers really read TechCrunch? Do some Customer Development instead. Spend your time with renewable sources of customers and iterate.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The higher the vanity ratio, the more effective the PR. It helps companies with PR. And companies crave positive PR and control over their message – all for rational reasons. The higher the vanity ratio, the more effective the PR. It helps companies with PR. It sells newspapers and magazines.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean PR Metrics 167

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 17, 2010

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. ► May (3) Thank you Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster (WSJ on the.

San Francisco 107

San Francisco Romania Cleveland South Africa 107

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This "success theater" is occasionally useful for PR or getting through a tough board meeting. This "success theater" is occasionally useful for PR or getting through a tough board meeting. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

Metrics 121

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 121

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

In a startup, these channels of communication are critical to understand for advertising, launch and PR purposes. But beyond the obvious, its also important to know where customers go to get answers to pressing questions. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The host is seemingly-omniscient Michael Krasny who somehow manages to ask in-depth questions on every conceivable topic. Maybe it's just the obsessive engineer part of myself, but pretty soon I found myself managing my schedule so that I could listen to Forum on my commute both ways.

Lean 159

Lean San Francisco Houston Engineer 159

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

This is completely analogous to the situation elsewhere on the internet, where launching a new website, product, or service with PR is getting harder and harder. Customers and prospects are overwhelmed by the number of media and companies clamoring for their attention. Acqusition competition is how new apps get new customers.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Steve Blank

JULY 13, 2009

Not being able to hear negative customer input is an extremely bad idea. Out of the Ashes A few of the key tenets of Customer Development , came from the ashes. era&# , but really interested in your take on these “free&# models through the prism of Customer Development. We all know how that ends up.

Silicon Valley 122

Silicon Valley Product RSS California 122

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

That’s a mouthful to say that our sales people didn’t sell our products directly to a customer. Instead they managed rep firms (independent sales companies that carried multiple, non-competing products) that called on computer resellers that sold to the customers. I’m sure the CEO thought I was crazy.

Silicon Valley 210

Silicon Valley RSS Software Review Technical Review 210

Steve Blank

AUGUST 3, 2009

about the earliest days of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, it’s worth checking out this post from serial entrepreneur Steve Blank. There was a big flap in the press when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles refused to permit Nikita Khrushchev to bring a captured gondola and tour the USA to show what the Government was playing over Russia.

Silicon Valley 173

Silicon Valley RSS Europe Germany 173

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

And when you look at the tools that we use, I mean we’ve made so many technological advances, but really to manage a meeting there’s not a practical tool available. We use email; we use Word; we use task manager; we use a file sharing tool. They are so happy that they finally have a tool to manage their business.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

However the VC’s are managing a portfolio while you, the entrepreneur are managing one company – yours. Customer Development There was nothing wrong about Rocket Science having a vision radically different than the conventional wisdom. Rocket Science was just another one of those companies (with better PR).

Silicon Valley 222

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 222

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

What happened when we got early press (circa 2004) in violation of our own no-PR rule. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

Lean 74

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 74

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Engineers are offenders in this category too, but so is any gender-segregated activity, like an all-female PR or marketing team. And yet, when I suggest this practice to hiring managers and recruiters alike, they rarely do it. For more on this subject, take a look at The product managers lament.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Sweden Continuous Deployment 167

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

Product management is a fulltime job and if your product needs work before you want to throw people at it, it’s worth the time investment and focus. It’s the kind of thing you can repeat in an elevator, simple to understand , universally applicable , and, most importantly, doesn’t burden your tech team with a lot of custom development.

Early Stage 138

Early Stage Developer Technical Review Widget 138

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Journalists, PR firms, investors, and the public at large love a scrappy come-from-behind story about two guys in a garage who figured out how to take down Goliath. These successful startups managed to have enough tries to get it right. Customer Development Engineering : techniques for accelerating your product development.

San Francisco 117

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 117

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

I used a freelance web designer and I only created the core functions to create, send, and manage invoices. Further functions such as expense tracking, recurring invoicing, and quoting were on my development list but I waited with the implementation until I was able to prove that my customers were interested in these additions.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

I managed to be envious of dozens of other companies, founders, and colleagues who seemed to be having tremendous success but later turned out to be a mirage. We go to mixers, buy fancy offices, focus on PR, and try to one-up each other. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

And it’s a combined product management and technical function, to boost an already positive growth curve into something even bigger.” (via PR and publicity drive attention…to drive sales. It is simply getting customers. Conducted Customer Development. Established a Customer Success philosophy.

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 15, 2013

Lean Business: Capacity Management, Overhead, and Your Business – [link]. Bad Customer Development Questions and How to Avoid My Mistakes – [link]. Bad Customer Development Questions and How to Avoid My Mistakes – [link]. Crowdsourced Workforces Rising | Xconomy – [link]. – [link].

Social Media 105

Social Media Small Business Design Media 105

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

Using mTurk to interview 100 customers (in 4 hours) | Customer Development Labs - [link]. Managing Your Own Psychology | ben’s blog - [link]. Using mTurk to interview 100 customers (in 4 hours) | Customer Development Labs - [link]. What’s The Most Difficult CEO Skill? ” - [link].

Social Media 93

Social Media Small Business Design Media 93