A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

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How should a startup founder value her time?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Almost no startup founder values her time properly. Supposing this client is an early-stage startup — even if funded — the most likely event is that they stiff you! Consultants know exactly what their time is worth: their hourly rate. As they say, it’s how much “the market will bear.”

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The wrongness of relativism

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Was there any startup founder who didn’t feel depressed when that happened? Another collective sigh shudders through the ranks of startup founders, as we grumble over our trifling grindstones. Instagram had 13 employees when they sold for a billion dollars. Yes, depressed. They’re next!

Metrics 246
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Smart Bear Live 7: More from AZ Disruptors

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

The way Bitvibe broke in is that the co-founder is the drummer for several really big bands that you’ve heard of from the 80′s and right now he’s in Gregg Rollie Band. But the answer is the co-founder’s been in the industry for 30 years and he’s somebody and so they can get meetings. Interviewee: Right.

Cofounder 199
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When do I *stop* doing customer interviews and start writing code?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

If the founder sits down with what ought to be the perfect customer and chats for an hour and cannot convince more than one in twenty of the value of the project, it’s too difficult to sell. More cooks in the kitchen — at this very early stage — is not better, because design is not a field for the Wisdom of the Crowds.

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Which is better: Many customers at low price-point or few at high price?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

This is a choice that every startup founder must make , so I’d like to dig in deeper. If a co-founder has a rolodex in the industry — extremely common — then it would be surprising not to find 10 people. The ensuing discussion swirled around the merits of selling more units (i.e. maximizing per-unit profitability).

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Episode 3: Smart Bear Live!

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Well when I hear that I think of writing checks because I feel like that’s all I do sometimes as a founder of start ups is write checks because you don’t see them when they come in. Michael: Well, I’m very in the early stage, and my question reflects that. Jason: That’s like C-K-S or X-S or what is that?

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How to get attention from internet celebrities

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Meet founders? PRODUCT is an early stage web application that enables content creators to playfully combine multimedia from anywhere on the web through a shared, virtual whiteboard. For example, I do an audio podcast where I help founders on the spot. This email fails in both regards, for different reasons. Be pitched at?

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