YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Each has specific requirements linked to each stage and value inflection point of the Traction Gap journey. What does this mean for their early stage investors?

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Each has specific requirements linked to each stage and value inflection point of the Traction Gap journey. What does this mean for their early stage investors?

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

The Startup Magazine

MAY 22, 2018

At this stage of a company, all employees of the company need to proactively focus on customers and their receptivity to the offering. For these startup companies, the client success team does not falter as the company grows because they adjust to the changing expectations of customers as the request volumes grow.

Customer 80

Customer Early Stage Churn Rate Startup 80

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

In this article, you’ll learn how to build a marketing growth strategy to increase your market penetration, market share, and revenue. A marketing growth strategy goes deeper into customer relationships to uncover opportunities that engage, activate, and retain. Your customers want different things. Market penetration.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

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

AUGUST 19, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. I believe that Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Hopefully, by bringing on strong partners early, you will get great advice and support to minimize your overall dilution down the road. They find weak pre-seed investors or angels who are almost predatory in their early stage pricing and add no value. Experienced founders: B2B. Experienced founders: Consumer.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As an early-stage VC I love this phase. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? How profitable is my product or service?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. How Unique Is A Unique Visitor?

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 25, 2023

The expansion of e-commerce should also bring about seeing returns as a strategic lever, similar to how companies used faster delivery to drive customer experience and revenue. Think of it from the customer's perspective – Why should this customer shop from your store instead of the other stores selling this product?

eCommerce 128

eCommerce Omaha Entrepreneur SEO 128

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

And given the paucity of business metrics at this point in a startup’s lifecycle, spreadsheet analysis is of little help. At this stage, the team is seeking market and customer validation metrics. The MVP is the most pared-down version of a product that customers are willing to purchase or use.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” One customer is not traction, and beta tests with a thousand customers at no cost don’t count. Customer acquisition cost.

Hockey Stick 304

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 304

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. Good metrics are comparable across industries; comparative ; readily understandable; and help drive decisions. Comparative means that you can compare a metric across time periods, groups of users, or competitors. Users/Customers.

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. If anything we feel indebted to him for his hard work.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

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? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

Billions of dollars are being poured into companies that have yet to clear the value chasm, as entrepreneurs use early traction that isn’t necessarily financially-oriented, but shows a certain level of uptick or success, to raise capital and convince early stage investors that their horse is the one to bet on.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

This early stage is often called the idea stage, best populated by people who see the need for change early, or always have a vision for unmet opportunities, or a better way to do things. Timing is important, and communication with your customer set is critical. Galvanizing: rally a team and customers for action.

Metrics 272

Metrics Early Stage Finance Programming 272

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

These are necessary to attract customers, investors, and give you a line of defense with competitors. Test your plan to get feedback from real customers. Use social media or reward target customers to volunteer for a feedback session. Define key metrics to measure progress and success.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Between January 2015 and January 2016, we grew our platform Slidebean from $1K to $20K in monthly recurring revenue. Getting the first tracks of revenue is one of the toughest processes of building a startup. Then, in 2015, this is who we added to the team: Jan-15: Head of Customer Success (growth team).

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 5, 2020

And without a steady, sustainable stream of new customers, cash reserves will dwindle, revenues will dry up, and bankruptcy will inevitably ensue. Without consistent revenue streams, growth is virtually impossible, and a business’ attractiveness to investors quickly diminishes. Leads are the lifeblood of any company.

Customer 90

Customer Lead Generation Early Stage Social Media 90

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 8, 2009

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. This kind of a simple model also helps: Define the early proof points for the company. We need to make sure we have these numbers.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

If you’re running a startup or small business, your first priority (after your family) is keeping your employees and customers safe. Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. How do you know?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Working with our summer fellows recently on a “preparing a fundraising pitch” exercise, I had them define success for the next 18 months by setting milestones in three broad categories: product/engineering functionality, customer/user numbers, and, if applicable, sales (revenue) targets.

Valuation 100

Valuation Dilution Chicago Technical Review 100

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. In a follow up post, I will use this technique to walk through the design of a set of metrics for a SaaS company.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 20, 2007

Ive personally been involved in the start-up world in Los Angeles for about 15 years, and have had the opportunity to work on many early-stage companies (e.g., Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. ” Historically, investing was a manual, artisan process.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Addressing real world problems, they thrive in uncertainty, generating new jobs and new revenue streams in new markets. experiments to build a product, find customers, test business models and hire amazing people. Agenda items will focus on key metrics illustrating value creation, particularly in software as a service companies.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, Elgg could power 100,000 networks and it would make no difference - there is no revenue stream as we give everything away under a GPL license. Common revenue streams are consulting, training, support, customization, upgraded versions for corporate applications, etc. I understand his frustration.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 244

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 244

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh. Attorney and Startup Business Advisor – Aaron Shec.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh. Attorney and Startup Business Advisor – Aaron Shec.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

Sacha demonstrated the benefits of selling many copies of an eBook at a low price, while Jarrod pointed out the advantages of higher prices, bringing in more revenue with 1/6th the number of units sold. Company A has 1,000 customers each paying $10/mo. Company B has 10 customers each paying $1,000/mo. Which is better?

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -. User Interface Beyond the Web Site ► November (7) Negative Customer Acquisition Costs - Creative Sta. Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh. Attorney and Startup Business Advisor – Aaron Shec.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Search Engineer 150

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