Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 8, 2009

That’s because many of our reports feed us vanity metrics: numbers that make us look good but don’t really help make decisions. Yet even among those who have access to good actionable metrics, I’ve noticed a phenomenon that prevents taking maximum advantage of data. Too much of this data is non- actionable.

San Francisco 84

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 84

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

So Groupon obviously filed their S-1 the other day to formally being the IPO process. It also puts another chink in the armor of the meme that monster internet companies can only be built in Silicon Valley (LivingSocial, Kayak, Gilt Groupe, CSN Stores, et al doing damage here too). AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups.

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. internet. (6). sales and marketing. (10). Impact of the recession on SaaS Sales&Marketing pr. Building Your SaaS Sales Compensation Plan. Measuring sales and marketing effectiveness of Saa.

Software Review 48

Software Review Partner United States Venture Capital 48

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. In the 20th century tech companies and their investors made money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Hire a CEO to Go Public.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Now its time to start to think seriously about how to find a repeatable and scalable sales process, how to position and market the product, and how to build a product development team that can turn an early product into a Whole Product. Growth - when you have existing customers, the pressure is on to grow your key metrics day-in day-out.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 28, 2010

To acquire new money managers, the company makes traditional sales calls, which means they’ve interviewed many, many professionals and gotten a strong sense of their needs. .&# says Rachleff. At the same time, whenever a customer closes an account, kaChing contacts the person to find out why; most agree to a short phone interview. .&#

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment SEC 158

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 26, 2022

You’d like to believe the world is completely meritocratic—that you’ll put your heads down to work on your company, hit all your metrics, and just show up on the doorstep of a VC firm who will just be bowled over at the fantastic little company you’ve created. What are those people finding when they poke around your internet presence?

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

And thanks to the radical transparency enabled by the internet, the quality of these proposals is actually constantly rising, to the point that it’s almost impossible to judge the quality of the final product – because all the proposals look polished and professional, even the terrible ones. Is that a lot? Is that good?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

The book lays out a disciplined approach to make sure this period doesnt last forever, and clear criteria for when you know its time to move to an execution footing: when you have a repeatable and scalable sales process, as evidenced by early customers paying you money for your early product. If I get sales I will expand on the site.

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

They raised around $350 million to try and sell cars direct over the Internet. Scott left the company, which eventually IPO’d and became Internet Brands. And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. And it carries no inventory. It’s awesome.

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San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 26, 2012

There used to be the Four Horsemen of the IPO world, back in the '80s and '90s. When they exited the scene, the small IPO market followed suit. IPOs by year, 1980-2011, with pre-IPO last 12-month sales less than (small firms) or greater than (large firms) $50 million (2009 purchasing power). Number of U.S.

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IPO Stock San Francisco Lean 115

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 30, 2014

He had just read my post on being uncomfortable with the phase of the current cycle and told me an anecdote from the great Internet bubble of 2001 that I hadn’t heard. In it, he talks about how he handles public company stocks that he ends up with either via an IPO or a sale of a company he’s involved in to a public company.

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Valuation Stock Angel Investor IPO 143

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

In an over-funding environment companies are encouraged to eschew revenues in a land grab to acquire eyeballs, clicks, page views or whatever other vanity metrics give VCs the false comfort that they’re sitting on a gold mine. IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot.

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Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

The early history of MySpace is inextricably intertwined with that of Intermix, a small-cap publicly traded Internet company in Los Angeles where I worked as corporate counsel from 2004-06. MySpace was incubated by a small team of employees within Intermix in 2003 (Chris DeWolfe, Tom Anderson and four others).

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

David Teten

MAY 16, 2011

Joe Chernesky, Vice President and General Manager of Global Licensing Sales, Intellectual Ventures. Prior to joining Oversee, he spent 10 years in executive leadership positions building SaaS-businesses that leveraged the power of the Internet as a platform for growth and efficiency. Panelists: Jeff Kupietzky MBA 98, CEO, Oversee.net.

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Naming Government Intellectual Property LLC 122

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 19, 2016

I began my career at McKinsey and when the Internet bubble burst in 2001, I made a shift towards online software (ASP at the time). SaaS startups need to have a VC that understands the SaaS model, including market development strategies, upsell dynamics, sales incentive plan, etc.

API 48

API Silicon Valley Europe Differentiation 48

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Labels: internet , Portfolio. internet. (6). sales and marketing. (10). Impact of the recession on SaaS Sales&Marketing pr. Building Your SaaS Sales Compensation Plan. Cracking The Code.

Software Review 48

Software Review SEM Marketing Las Vegas 48

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

Although customers didnt flock to this offering at first, we had enough of a developer program active to start recruiting early adopters to start creating 3D objects for sale in our catalog. The net result was powerful: within six months of starting the company, we were able to get a basic version of our product into open beta.

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Because this language may lead you to believe this concept is for enterprise sales only, I thought Id walk you through an example from the world of consumer electronics. It connects to the internet to automatically download the necessary codes. One of my favorite gadgets at home is the Harmony Universal Remote.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Of course, the sales folks had new features as their #1 priority. But the results were excellent - customer satisfaction, sales, profits, quality, attitudes all improved dramatically. The major change was never starting any project without sales, marketing, manufacturing, field support, purchasing, etc. What a freaking mess.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

www.huffingtonpost.com

MAY 10, 2011

I was lucky to sign on as advisor and investor the founder of a very high-profile consumer Internet site who happens to also be a former engineer, who I will call Richard. Set up the metrics first, then youll know if you succeeded. The first thing I did was to find an advisor who I could trust. ecohistorical: Great post, Mariam.

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CTO CTO Hire PHP Cofounder 43

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 29, 2009

This makes lean supply chains more robust in the face of the unexpected: if sales suddenly dry up, they are stuck with less unsold inventory and simultaneously have less debt to service. Lean vs. debt In the world of physical goods, the leaner a supply chain is, the less debt is required to operate it.

Technical Review 168

Technical Review Software Review San Francisco Lean 168

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 16, 2010

Designed for large businesses, the channels let a company share several types of documents, brand the channel with their own design elements, and then include display advertising, contest promotions, blog aggregation, social media integration and metrics reporting. The idea seemed to SlideShare to be a natural direction.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Analytics Continuous Deployment 167

Cracking the Code

MAY 25, 2010

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Labels: design , internet , sales and marketing. 5 comments: Radu Prisacaru - UK Internet Marketer. ipo process. internet. (6). sales and marketing. (10). Tuesday, May 25, 2010. "10

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Software Review Cloud IPO Jordan 74

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 30, 2008

This can take the form of a traditional sales pipeline or a registration-activation-revenue chart. ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th.

Lean 121

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment DC 121

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

the consumer internet landscape in 2004 vs. today. In 2004, the consumer internet was just beginning to rebound. In 2004, investors regained interest in the consumer internet again. And remember, LinkedIn was a consumer internet play with moderate consumer traction and without a dime of revenue. Reid Hoffman.

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Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 28, 2009

I used to think that investments in metrics were a form of waste. Customers dont care if you have good metrics, only if you have a good product. The only reason we learned the art of metrics-based decision making at IMVU was out of necessity. We set sales targets from day one, $300 the first month.

San Francisco 98

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 98

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Then, the company spends no more than a few hundred dollars marketing the product through search engines and to the contacts in its sales database and LinkedIn. Then, the company spends no more than a few hundred dollars marketing the product through search engines and to the contacts in its sales database and LinkedIn.

San Francisco 137

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 137

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The pressures of lofty paper valuations, massive burn rates (and the subsequent need for more cash), and unprecedented low levels of IPOs and M&A, have created a complex and unique circumstance which many Unicorn CEOs and investors are ill-prepared to navigate. The same thing happened to many Internet stocks.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 9, 2009

So instead of having sales, marketing, and business development, we have a problem team implementing customer development. dalelarson : "Metrics are people, too." leanstartup ericnsantos : #w2e #leanstartup Metrics should be Actionable, Accessible and Auditable. Metrics are a key questions startups face.

San Francisco 132

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean Agile 132

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Measuring sales and marketing effectiveness of SaaS companies. Labels: SaaS , sales and marketing , software. Monday, March 10, 2008. Posted by Philippe Botteri. at 8:58 PM. 5 comments: Scot. Anonymous said.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

In particular, a marketing launch can help you do three things (courtesy, as is most of my marketing advice, of The Four Steps to the Epiphany ): Drive customers into your sales pipeline. Here was our experience at IMVU, which I have seen replicated at many other consumer internet startups. In most situations, this fear is misplaced.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. Only after reaching $1M in CMRR should you consider hiring European sales and services execs behind customer demand. Labels: SaaS , sales and marketing , software. Cracking The Code. Friday, October 10, 2008.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

Of course, the real thanks should go to a startup - Gogo Inflight Internet - that I was lucky enough to meet at a recent workshop. Similarly, government purchasing is a frustrating series of hoops, even compared to enterprise sales. (Its impossible to resist the urge to plug Virgin America as much as possible. Thanks guys!)

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DC Washington San Francisco SBIR 90

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

The second time around however, I went around the internet and read blogs such as yours to see how I can save myself from all the chaos because I knew that at some point I will break and just leave for another company only to find that I will probably have to go through the same thing again! Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

Airbnb was preparing for an IPO right when the pandemic hit, and everything changed in a matter of days. Airbnb got scrutiny before we were big, because Airbnb meant the internet moving into your neighborhood. At the time, they said, it’s not enough to design a product that’s good for sales, it must also be good for the environment.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 69

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

You see every day these IPOs coming out of companies that we work, for example. Just had an IPO and last quarter they lost $700 million. I love looking at cost per account acquired as a key metric to share with potential acquirers. One, product innovation, and two, sales and marketing. John Warrillow: Right.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Switzerland Revenue Differentiation 48