A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

During a lull in her practice she got a serendipitous opportunity to shift gears completely and ended up leading software product development teams. Some head straight to the booth to get a demo; for many I give a private demo of the product on sofas in the hallway. That's just one example!

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Yet, when it comes to product demos, many marketers and sales teams fall short in creating demos that convert. How do some of the most successful SaaS companies approach their demos? In this article, we’ll look at some of the most important components of running a successful demo and what to consider when creating yours.

Product 120

Product B2C B2B Email 120

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Product marketers own a variety of marketing responsibilities, which can be roughly divided into two broad categories: pre-launch and post-launch. During product development and before launch, product marketing responsibilities revolve around the GTM strategy, positioning, and developing messaging. Image Source.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It should go without saying that this post is not advice, nor is it recommendation of what you should do, it’s simply my observation of how companies using Customer Development positioned themselves to successfully raise money from venture investors. Is there a profitable business model? Can it scale?” Great post!

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

In a way, you can think of BD as “sales when you don’t know what the product is yet.” It’s basically working with potential outside partners to reach your business goals--which could be revenue, distribution, financing, product development, awareness, etc.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

But if you are going to have somebody who's developing a product, developing a new technology, designing, or going out into marketing and figuring out new ways to market, you really need a thinker. We have demo days. They're not like you have to be in them three months or whatever, and then have a demo day.

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 27, 2010 Good enough never is (or is it?)

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Eventually early product demos start happening but they’re rough and the product looks very alpha. At month six, one of the early hires leaves, a developer who turns out wasn’t a good fit. Every now and then, investors are told things are going great and the founders are really excited about what they are doing.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

Stage 2: the teams demo their solutions and other features they’ve added against a new data set live to an NGA panel of judges, in hackathon style competition. The goal of Lean in government agencies should mean deployment not demos. Up to 15 teams who can do this can win $10,000. And the winners get to go Stage 2. Lessons Learned.

Lean 177

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 177

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2016

Stage 2: the teams demo their solutions and other features they’ve added against a new data set live to an NGA panel of judges, in hackathon style competition. The goal of Lean in government agencies should mean deployment not demos. Up to 15 teams who can do this can win $10,000. And the winners get to go Stage 2. Lessons Learned.

Lean 177

Lean Silicon Valley Government Acquisition 177

Austin Startup

MARCH 17, 2017

Engineer the experience so you can evolve the product. For example, I participated in a VR demo at SXSW that was a retail shopping simulation. A great article by the Design Management Institute (DMI) created an index that quantifies the ROI when design thinking is leveraged through the product development cycle.

Texas 54

Texas Software Engineering Austin Engineer 54

mashable.com

MARCH 7, 2011

Billion View Comments How HTML5 Is Aiding in Cross-Platform Development February 22, 2011 by Christina Warren View Comments email share email share The Mobile App Trends Series is sponsored by Sourcebits , a leading product developer for mobile platforms. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter for recent news and updates.

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Developer HTML API Ruby 93

VC Cafe

JULY 15, 2021

As Peter Yang puts it in “Why Community-Led Product Development Wins’: Announce your product early and invite interested customers to join an online community (e.g., Ask customers about their pain points and share product ideas and designs early and often. Slack or Discord).

Mobile 190

Mobile Social Media Distribution PR 190

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

It seems the focus on “virtual&# goods has been both the demo of the consumer as well as the fact that by definition virtual goods have almost no marginal costs to the seller so giving a huge slice to the carrier (and Zong) isn’t a problem since actual costs are ~ $0.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Spencer Fry

FEBRUARY 13, 2023

When considering our product development process and track record, however, I simply don’t see the value in the work that they would bring to our team that a developer, designer, or head of product can’t drive themselves. First of all, this isn’t personal; I know many PMs who are great people.

Product 72

Product Wiki Developer Hiring 72

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.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

ConversionXL

JANUARY 24, 2017

As Ronny Kohavi , Distinguished Engineer, General Manager, Analysis and Experimentation at Microsoft, put it: Ronny Kohavi: “Experimentation is getting more recognized as essential to guide product development, when it is applicable (not always, as you can see in Section 6 in this paper ).

Conversion 48

Conversion Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Analytics 48

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Most important slide: lessons learned Working product Key questions: what does the product do? Most important slide: live demo Prototype product Key questions: what will it take to ship a working product? whats the launch plan? whos on the marketing team? how do you know anyone would want it?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Each of Salesforce''s software teams was expected to complete a new software demo every 30 days, but every engineer was free to move to a new team without getting permission, which encouraged leaders to treat people well. Sarah is Lean Startup Conference co-host and CEO of Lean Startup Productions. What’s the story with pivots?).

Lean 165

Lean San Francisco Cofounder Hosting 165

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

This gets me into trouble, because it conjures up for some the idea that product development is simply a rote mechanical exercise of linear optimization. You just constantly test little micro-changes and follow a hill-climbing algorithm to build your product.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

ConversionXL

JUNE 25, 2021

Understanding how your product launch fits into the bigger picture will help you discern: How to build awareness in the introduction stage (this strategy will vary based on product type, industry, target audience, etc.) X demos booked in introduction, X revenue in growth).

Product 96

Product Social Media Audience Software Review 96

VC Cafe

MARCH 18, 2010

According to TechCrunch , it may very well be Paypal, who has been collaborating with Magento on product development since 2008. You can get a taste of what the platform looks like on the demo page. Below is a video of Roy Rubin presenting the Magento products: Roy Rubin, State of Magento, deel 1 from Guido Jansen on Vimeo.

Los Angeles 84

Los Angeles SEC eCommerce Open Source 84

ConversionXL

JUNE 14, 2021

This means buying their product, booking a demo or signing up for a trial. What product attributes are being highlighted? Sign up for a demo and go through the sales process. For some, this process will be a product development exercise, finding the best way to differentiate a new product or feature release.

Software Review 158

Software Review Audience Differentiation Framework 158

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 20, 2012

Sure, they had a demo or a prototype or something, but investors know the product will change. Even if you are on the technical side--you may never have managed before, nor been responsible for so many aspects of the product development at one time. The solution? Start asking a lot of questions.

Product Development 149

Product Development Entrepreneur Hiring Developer 149

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

In contrast, an incubator program doesn’t have a predetermined end, so there is no demo day like an accelerator, and they may or may not take equity or offer capital. And accelerator programs are usually short, lasting anywhere from one to four months. Incubators. Both accelerators and incubators want your company to succeed.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2018

Network with all the finalists from 11 am to 1:30 pm on Monday, March 12, at SXSW Accelerator Demo Day , at the Hilton Austin, Salon C. The SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event (as well as the Demo Day) takes place within the Startup & Tech Sectors track of programming.

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Startup China India 48

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. Thursday night was the unveiling of the newest batch of Launchpad LA companies. It was a great chance for the class to interact with the community in LA.

Los Angeles 276

Los Angeles Stealth Securities and Exchange Commission Southern California 276

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

Meet all the finalists on Monday, March 12, at the SXSW Accelerator Demo Day , at the Hilton Austin, Salon C. Or meet them at the SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event Demo Day on Monday, March 12. Winners in each category will be honored at the Accelerator Award Ceremony at 7 pm Sunday, March 11, at the Hilton Austin.

Startup 67

Startup Austin Community Technology 67

Seeing Both Sides

MAY 23, 2013

Today is Demo Day for Techstars Boston. I love Techstars Demo Days for many reasons, not the least of which is the amazing community that gathers to hear the brief, well-rehearsed pitches from the various start-ups who have spent months planning for this big event. Now.off to demo day!'

Boston 40

Boston Community Networking Equity 40

Austin Startup

JULY 20, 2010

uControl , which launched 5 years ago at DEMO , announced the addition of two new vice presidents and the final $3.9M They started with a market and an idea, and they’ve been iterating the company focus over time to find solid product-market fit. The company exemplifies what startups and entrepreneurship are really all about.

Institutional Investors 63

Institutional Investors Austin Partner Global 63

VC Cafe

APRIL 22, 2020

In the beginning, the founders gave demos all day. Product and customer support shared insights from development and existing customers. As a result, it will become easier and faster to solve problems, create more growth channels, and enhance customer confidence in your products or services. Everyone made a contribution.

Sales 113

Sales Cofounder Channel Revenue 113

Up and Running

MARCH 1, 2016

Here’s an example of a great sell sheet for a product called Well Well Wow! Your sell sheet should include: Your product name. A demo video (if you’ve got a digital sell sheet). A benefit statement. Visuals like illustrations or photos. A list of features. Necessary contact details. Validating your idea.

Non-disclosure Agreement 60

Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Non-Compete Naming 60

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 29, 2018

But rather than spending marketing dollars on expensive, bottom-of-funnel ad buys—or on content that attempts to explain the value of a product—a product-led strategy lets consumers create their own “Aha!” Consumer psychology also suggests why product-led strategies may enjoy more success : Endowment effect.

Customer 119

Customer Conversion Acquisition B2B 119

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 28, 2010

Their supposed lack of ambition was belied by the many cool demos and startups I got to meet. Their supposed lack of ambition was belied by the many cool demos and startups I got to meet. In fact, you have to learn to adjust to the humility. It was described to me as "what the Segway should have been."

Australia 111

Australia Lean New Zealand San Francisco 111

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

sites from scratch - Experienced with the majority of the social api’s (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Meebo, PayPal, Flickr) - Experience managing offshore dev teams - Most recently a Director of Product Development at an early stage funded startup [link] meeblog » Blog Archive » starting up: finding your co-founders [.]

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

Diego Basch

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

YC, AngelList, demo days). Your involvement with your product will decrease over time; if you really like product development (think Steve Jobs) you’ll either neglect other tasks or do it in your “free time.” This why there are so many startup advice posts by investors.

Startup 28

Startup Silicon Valley Founder Employee 28

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Engage Users Product development is a conversation with the user that doesntreally start till you launch. I met some investors that had invested in a hardware device and when I asked them to demo the device they had difficulty switching it on. Over-engineering is poison. Its not like doing extra work forextra credit.

Technical Cofounder 110

Technical Cofounder Startup Cofounder Founder 110