YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

This is the second in a three-part series that aims to help you understand the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale. Read on to find out what exactly the “gap” in the Traction Gap Framework is and why traversing that gap is so critical to your success.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

Eric Friedman

JULY 19, 2019

Many early stage investors look for financial models for 3+ years from founders to make an investment. I can’t remember an early stage team putting together a model that has been accurate for 3 years. In fact, for early stage companies you are usually wildly wrong.

Early Stage 114

Early Stage Startup Framework Revenue 114

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

A marketing growth strategy goes deeper into customer relationships to uncover opportunities that engage, activate, and retain. This philosophy comes from The Lean Startup methodology , which relies on testing hypotheses to better understand your customers’ pain points and goals. Your customers want different things.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Very few of them are started, in my experience, by sales people and very few early stage companies really understand sales. They work through ROI calculations with customers. a) they don’t tend to make great heads of sales departments and b) they aren’t the people you want early in your company.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

View from Seed

MARCH 11, 2020

They tend to have some sort of framework in their mind with a hierarchy of conviction and hierarchy of pain they are willing to put founders through. For me, it looks something like this: The first layer of diligence happens when an investor is early in their process, but intrigued. Talking to your customers.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Due Diligence Term Sheet Seed Stage 279

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers?

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

I propose here a framework for prioritizing your platform buildout. Dan Kozikowski, Partner and Head of Platform, First Mark Capital , said to me, “Firms should match services to the stage-specific needs of companies. For example, recruiting writ large is useful at all stages of development. Customer Development.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2023

I remember a classic book, “ The Purpose Effect ,” by renowned author Dan Pontefract, that provides a good framework and background or doing just that. The challenge of every business is to create a win-win relationship between business owners, partners, team members, customers, and the community at large.

Early Stage 238

Early Stage Framework Community Customer 238

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2013

“The reality is that there has not been a reliable, simple, or cost-effective way to calculate an early stage company’s valuation – which is why so many entrepreneurs and angel investors get it wrong,” says Alan Lobock, co-founder of Worthworm.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Web Technical Review Angel Investor 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

I remember a classic book, “ The Purpose Effect ,” by renowned author Dan Pontefract, that provides a good framework and background or doing just that. The challenge of every business is to create a win-win relationship between business owners, partners, team members, customers, and the community at large.

Early Stage 436

Early Stage Framework Community Customer 436

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

These five strategies are proven to work for early-stage companies in a variety of industries — including, perhaps, yours. But it’s not perfect — merely good enough to perform its intended function and delight your first customers in the process. Adequate documentation for Customs clearance.

Cost 100

Cost Developer Small Business Administration Marketing 100

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

In the early stages of every technology, the market is usually dominated by products built for early adopters who are typically tech savvy – this mainly consists of developers who like to have full control over a product and its features. The key to win those new customers was simplicity and intuitiveness.

PHP 143

PHP Management HTML Framework 143

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. The problem stems from selling each customer a custom one-time product.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Let’s set up a framework. Plus, most early-stage M&A fails so this isn’t likely a good use of capital for a young company). You are particularly vulnerable if: You have revenue concentration (few customers each providing a large total of percentage of your revenue). Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2022

The good news is that a recent Kauffman Early-Stage Entrepreneurship (KESE) Index shows the highest level of new business activity recorded in the last two decades, and the cost of entry at an all-time low. The jungle framework is a great one to set the right perspective. Money is no substitute for these other treasures.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Startup Early Stage Venture Capital 281

Steve Blank

MARCH 3, 2015

Over my career as a serial entrepreneur I observed that since the late 1990s, no early-stage Silicon Valley investor had used business plans to screen investments. Traction and evidence from customers were what investors were looking for – even in “slow” sectors like healthcare and energy. And there it was. Berkeley-wide.

Business Plan 120

Business Plan Silicon Valley Saudi Arabia Lean 120

David Teten

MARCH 28, 2012

The company teams they work with are usually highly motivated entrepreneurs trying to engage in extensive product and customer development efforts for a product they don’t typically have a full vision of, for a customer whose needs are opaque, and for a use case which is ambiguous.

Portfolio 144

Portfolio Private Equity Venture Capital Early Stage 144

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital , customers , and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48

JANUARY 9, 2014

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle framework “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” Simon Sinek If your customers believe in your mission, then they’ll warm to you and listen to what you offer and how. He points out that most buying decisions are based on emotion, rather than logic. This is where the Golden Circle comes in.

Early Stage 102

Early Stage Startup Cofounder Design 102

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Muun found a market need but failed to compete with bigger names that provided customers with authoritative content and resources. One neglected its positioning by failing to target the biggest pain point, and the other failed to build a brand that its customers could trust above the other major players.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

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 not about executing a plan where the product, customers, channel are known. Get Out of the Building and test the Business Model.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 26, 2021

Margolis shares his three-step narrative framework that will help you capture your audience’s imagination, attention, and relate to your story about what you’re selling. He then went on to found his own business and run marketing for a number of early-stage startups. Click here to listen to the episode. Hall, Ph.D.,

Marketing 91

Marketing Silicon Valley Cofounder Framework 91

View from Seed

DECEMBER 8, 2015

We have a bias towards very early stage investing for a bunch of reasons, but it’s not easy. It’s often a good idea for founders to find a way to build something and get some early market validation before raising outside capital. I think this stage, more than others, is very dependent on the individual investor.

Product 120

Product Startup Early Stage Seed Capital 120

The Next Web

JANUARY 27, 2013

There will inevitably be delays as the SEC works to implement a new framework to support this legislation, but it would be wise for entrepreneurs to start comparing equity crowdfunding with their alternative options now. This is the best thing for an early stage company and can save an entrepreneur years of their lives and tons of money.

SEC 146

SEC Equity United States Technical Review 146

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

Customer interviews allow you to uncover: Why they decided to do business with you; Why they love working with you; What other challenges they have in their business; Where they go for new information. Your customers can provide you with pain-points to write about, as well as success stories to attract new clients.

Audience 127

Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. A number of analysts have particular focus on serving the customers of technology companies, e.g., Gartner and 451 Research.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

View from Seed

APRIL 21, 2015

On the heels of our research on HBS entrepreneurs , NextView’s Dimitri Dadiomov (HBS ’15) interviewed several top founders on the early stages of their companies. On Launching and Finding Early Traction. How did you find your first customers and hit important, early milestones?

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

View from Seed

JULY 21, 2022

RH: Who are your customers? RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? EP: Getting to live in the mindset that everything is “figure-outable” has by far been my favorite part of being an early-stage founder. And your least?

Early Stage 156

Early Stage San Francisco Michigan Portfolio 156

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

While the posts were theory I was a bit surprised when John Selep , an early-stage investor, approached me and said he was actually using the Investment Readiness Level (IRL) in practice. Since I began incorporating the Investment Readiness Level framework I’ve made three observations. Here’s John’s story. But the ‘ah-hah!’

Sacramento 306

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 306

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. Fast forward to today. We can adapt these startup tools for use inside the corporation.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Incubator 120

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Though RBI will displace some traditional equity VC, its much bigger impact will be to expand the pool of capital available for early-stage entrepreneurs. . However, only recently have early-stage companies started to use this model at any scale. . So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

View from Seed

JULY 19, 2019

Like other investors, we at NextView have a number of frameworks which we use to evaluate decisions on making new investments. All early stage venture firms essentially look at some weighting of team, market, product, and traction. JDCC stands for “Jaw-Dropping customer value through a Competition-Crushing business model.”.

Boston 149

Boston B2B Early Stage Portfolio 149

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

In most cases, the two most important things to prove early on are 1) that the founders can attract A+ talent and 2) that there are signals of market demand for their product. I have a related framework that company milestones fall into two buckets. Things that are hard but inevitable and things that are hard and uncertain.

Seed Stage 180

Seed Stage Bootstrapping Demand Early Stage 180

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 24, 2019

The good news is that the latest Kauffman Early-Stage Entrepreneurship (KESE) Index shows the highest level of new business activity recorded in the last two decades, and the cost of entry at an all-time low. The jungle framework is a great one to set the right perspective. Money is no substitute for these other treasures.

Intellectual Property 236

Intellectual Property Early Stage Venture Capital Framework 236

David Teten

JULY 25, 2017

the “TOPSCAN” framework from my research study on value creation by VCs ): T eam-Building – We aggregate openings across our portfolio on our jobs page. We also have a better known brand than some of our early stage companies, so we can leverage that to help source talent. RJMetrics ); technology (e.g.,

Portfolio 60

Portfolio Technical Review Private Equity Database 60

View from Seed

JANUARY 21, 2022

After graduation, I spent the next 9 years working at a bank, an early-stage b2b fintech startup, and a growth-stage mortgage startup. My first hand experience has helped me build a framework for go-to-market strategy (more specifically d2c marketing) and thinking about how to reach short term goals by constraining the factory.

B2B 120

B2B Germany Stock Engineer 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

It’s a very personal topic and I’d like to offer you a framework to decide for yourself, based on the following factors: How Long is it Taking to Raise Capital at Your Stage in the Market? ” and if anybody gives you a specific number I would be a bit skeptical because there is no universal answer.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150