Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

But too often when its time to think about customers, marketing, positioning, or PR, we delegate it to "marketroids" or "suits." Many of us are not accustomed to thinking about markets or customers in a disciplined way. We know some products succeed and others fail, but the reasons are complex and the unpredictable.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Seeing Both Sides

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

By viewing product development and marketing as integrated functions, not silos, leading tech companies like Facebook and Pinterest are rethinking their approach to driving growth and achieving breakthrough results. Yet, the Growth Manager role remains poorly understood, especially outside Silicon Valley.

Management 20

Management Analytics Technical Review Framework 20

Seeing Both Sides

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

By viewing product development and marketing as integrated functions, not silos, leading tech companies like Facebook and Pinterest are rethinking their approach to driving growth and achieving breakthrough results. Yet, the Growth Manager role remains poorly understood, especially outside Silicon Valley.

Management 20

Management Analytics Technical Review Framework 20

infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

For instance, if a consultant proposes to help you with public relations, pay them a commission equivalent to the greater of a flat fee per story placed or a percentage of revenue generated from the PR coverage. If a consultant claims they can enhance your marketing efforts, pay them based on their direct impact on your incremental sales.

Equity 40

Equity Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 40

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Im not offering extensive studies or research to support this conclusion; the evidence from my peers right here in the innovation capital of America, Silicon Valley, is absolutely overwhelming. Asked to help, I am confident that Silicon Valley and every other innovation center will step up. They are nerds. Hint, hint.

Programming 143

Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 14, 2010

At today's roundtable we had some intensive discussions around market sizing and its impact on financing. You have heard, I am sure, that venture capitalists only invest in very large market opportunities - $500 million to $1 billion. I asked him several times what exactly is his TAM (Total Available Market). 30 million market?

Bootstrapping 114

Bootstrapping Marketing Angel Investor Silicon Valley 114

Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

While I love TechCrunch, the post and the quote about the PR agency (“one PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy, throw ethics out the window&# ) left me wondering; how do PR agencies interact with TechCrunch and other blog and review sites? Is this behavior an outlier or is it the norm in the PR industry?

Silicon Valley 184

Silicon Valley PR Technical Review RSS 184

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

You have heard, I am sure, that venture capitalists only invest in very large market opportunities - $500 million to $1 billion. But there are others - many others - who are looking for smaller opportunities, playing in the sweet spot of $50-$100 million market opportunities. Is that a $20 million market? $30 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

You have heard, I am sure, that venture capitalists only invest in very large market opportunities - $500 million to $1 billion. But there are others - many others - who are looking for smaller opportunities, playing in the sweet spot of $50-$100 million market opportunities. Is that a $20 million market? $30 30 million market?

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

In a startup, these channels of communication are critical to understand for advertising, launch and PR purposes. If they are willing to pay big bucks, for example, to attend a conference on a certain topic, that bodes well for your ability to sell them a product related to that topic. It also gives you insight into their language.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Product launch) In todays world, there is no reason you have to do these two things at the same time. If not, do not launch there.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

A description of the problem you’re solving for your customers, and your solution to the problem, which is usually your product or service. A description of your target market or the different market segments you’re targeting. Also, make a bullet list of the marketing activities that will drive customers to your door.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

BeyondVC

JULY 10, 2004

According to Michael Powell, he decided to blog because he wants to interact direcly with his constituency, creating a dialogue and urging Silicon Valley to get involved. This is important not just for Silicon Valley—it’s essential to insure that America has the best, most innovate communications infrastructure.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley RSS Aggregator Washington 60

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

And then, at my first Silicon Valley startup , I watched friends get laid off in successive waves as it started to fail. We go to mixers, buy fancy offices, focus on PR, and try to one-up each other. Of course, those were the days when 12 year old, 80% market share, $200mm, 30% net profit companies were the ones going public.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

mashable.com

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

One of the things we hear a lot about in Silicon Valley is how cheap and easy it is to launch a startup these days. And no matter what the latest trends indicate, you will eventually have to spend money on PR and marketing. That’s why i haven chosen to start working in Network marketing and MLM.

Startup 79

Startup Social Media RSS Social Network 79

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Especially if you aren’t from around Silicon Valley. Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. and great point on seeking vc backing, i don’t think there’s a point to trying unless you graduated Stanford or have a working product to pitch.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

At some point in my career as I began to formulate thoughts about mission and intent , I started to think about the broader role of marketing in a growing technology company. It became clear to me that the mission of marketing in most companies has to be to support sales.

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley RSS Non-Compete California 126

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Launch with a PR blitz, including mentions in major mainstream publications. Build the product in stealth mode to build buzz for the eventual launch. Without conscious process design, product development teams turn lines of code written into momentum in a certain direction. Even a great architecture becomes inflexible.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco Lean Agile Continuous Deployment 150

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

Home Books for Startups Guide Secret History-Bibliography Steve Blank Startup Tools Steve Blank Entries RSS | Comments RSS Email Subscription Get Steve Blank via your RSS Feed RSS - Posts RSS - Comments Categories Air Force (12) Ardent (10) Audubon (1) Big Companies versus Startups: Durant versus Sloan (39) Business Model versus Business Plan (..)

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

For months, we made constant product and policy changes, trying to end the controversy without simply undoing our original decision and abandoning the mainstream market. Have you personally visited the Content Creator forums and read through the PR thread? But silence was the worst possible strategy. Desperately.

Community 158

Community Management Lean Software Review 158