A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

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Kung Fu

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Founders almost never have a real strategy. Founders explain failures with things like “our two main competitors did [thing] to us” or “customers didn’t understand [our point of view].” The 10,000th biggest company in the world is a very successful company, as is the two-person company where the founders each take home $300k/year.

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How do I figure out who my next important hire should be?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Founders typically revert to whatever they’re already expert in, and decide they need more of that. So, a technical founder decides she needs another developer, or a sales-oriented founder decides she needs another sales person. The question is: How do you decide what role is most important to hire for?

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If you build it, they won't come, unless.

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Ask a technical founder about his startup, and he'll proudly describe his stunning software — simple, compelling, useful, fun. Four uncomfortable seconds later, a smile breaks across the founder's face. This is Part 5 of the 5-part series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. Making Oprah cry. Advertising ?? transmogrification] ?

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Yes, but who said they'd actually BUY the damn thing?

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

By definition, if you're a startup founder you're explicitly not your customer. founder Blogger & Twitter. "If Repeat after me: You are not your customer." — Eric Ries , Lean Startup leader (repeating a conversation with a startup founder). How many do you suppose produce any revenue? (My My guess: 80%).

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Startup Therapy: Ten questions to ask yourself every month

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

Okay okay, "Planning == Bad," but the supposed benefits of planning are still important: designing for profitability, understanding your customers and competitors, focusing your attention, deciding what's worth doing next, changing directions, and ensuring the founders agree on important issues. Cartoon by Andertoons. Cartoon by Andertoons.

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Startup identity & the sadness of a successful exit

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

The scrounging and scrabbling and begging and fighting the a s for those morsels of revenue, those crumbs of validation. ” Almost all startup founders experience a deep and prolonged sadness after selling their company , even when the sale is an outrageous success. A startup is the founder’s personal identity.

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Special Edition: Smart Bear Live!

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

When should a company should focus on growth only, ignoring the business model and revenue? This episode was expertly co-hosted by Joshua Baer , founder of OtherInbox , progenitor of Capital Factory , angel investor , and previous founder of SKYLIST and UnsubCentral, both sold.

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