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JULY 5, 2022

Rachel Hodes (RH): What problem exists in the market that your business is trying to solve? One hour I’m deep into product development, the next I’m thinking about our hiring needs and recruiting, to the next on a sales call. ” – Lee Hower. Get to know the business.

DC 156

DC Software Review Government Boston 156

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NOVEMBER 28, 2016

When you hear “brand marketing,” what do you think about? But what if brand marketing could help you get actual results, whether that’s user acquisition or raising a Series A? In this episode, we talk to the VP of Brand Marketing at ecommerce company Wayfair, Nancy Go. Visit wayfair.com to shop their store.

Marketing 120

Marketing eCommerce Startup Acquisition 120

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MARCH 20, 2020

The National Restaurant Association forecasts sales declines of $225 billion over the next three months. Food delivery has already been growing at a significant rate, and Morgan Stanley research estimates that the US market for online food delivery will triple to $60 billion between 2018 and 2025.

New York City 374

New York City Demand Technical Review Non-Compete 374

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MARCH 24, 2021

In this comprehensive template and guide we break down each of the nine core sections in the deck: intro , team , what do you do , is it working , why does it matter (market) , can you be the best in the world (product, growth, financial metrics) , where are you going , what do you want (the ask) , and appendix. ” (Lee Hower).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

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FEBRUARY 4, 2016

Arrive to the market too soon and there’s no demand for the product. The perks of being early in the marketplace are obvious: shorter sales cycles due to lack of competition, less competition for top talent, and so on. But one of the most undervalued and elusive factors is timing. As they say, timing is everything.

Startup 120

Startup Cofounder Software Review Sales Cycle 120

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. Dispense is a B2B software company, focused on transaction software specifically designed for the cannabis industry.

Cofounder 234

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 234

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

I am by no means a sales or fundraising expert, but I’ve learned a bunch of lessons going through this process several times now. They need to show their clients that their fees are justified in a market where it takes a long time to show outperformance. Some LPs are buying access to direct investment opportunities.

LP 309

LP Customer Early Stage Portfolio 309

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APRIL 8, 2020

Stevens has held roles across verticals such as head of sales, marketing, product, and professional services at five startups over twenty years. He helps early-stage startups with sales, marketing, and general “go to market” topics. Your sales process is not on anyone’s mind right now.

B2B 156

B2B Angel Investor Vertical Early Stage 156

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AUGUST 30, 2016

Let me start with a few addresses: 1355 Market Street. Incepted in 2012, Alignable’s platform hit the market in 2014, and since then, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of business owners in North America join. SMBs account for 54% of all US sales. Full disclosure: NextView is an investor in Alignable. 2029 Stierlin Court.

Social Media 185

Social Media B2B North America Media 185

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APRIL 5, 2016

Rachael is enrolled at the Startup Institute , an eight-week program that teaches its pupils the nuances of web development, web design, technical marketing, or sales and account management. Rachael is still searching the market for opportunities as a junior developer. She is looking for more than that. .

Founder 120

Founder Web Development Web Community 120

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. Dispense is a B2B software company, focused on transaction software specifically designed for the cannabis industry.

Cofounder 202

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 202

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JULY 19, 2022

Rachel Hodes (RH): What problem exists in the market that your business is trying to solve? . Stelios Kapandais (SK): eCommerce retailers have historically leaned on paid digital marketing channels to acquire new customers. RH: Who are your customers? RH: What’s your favorite thing about being an early-stage founder? And your least?

eCommerce 156

eCommerce Greece Early Stage SMS 156

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AUGUST 10, 2021

Near-term product development and commercial traction are still important goals, but being profligate with capital or time early on or being inconsistent about your vision & strategy makes it harder to be a meaningful force in a market in the years to come as that market grows and matures.

Chicago 177

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 177

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

By the time you get to this point in the pitch, you have hopefully convinced the investor that your team is special, you are pursuing a market opportunity that matters, and have a product offering that is resonating in the market. Your job is to show that your positive momentum will lead to sustained market leadership.

Seed Stage 192

Seed Stage Metrics PR Leadership 192

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SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In recent years, cannabis has emerged as a legal industry, and thus, companies operating in this new market have often had to find or build new software stacks in order to operate their businesses. Dispense is a B2B software company, focused on transaction software specifically designed for the cannabis industry.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder B2B Early Stage Software 156

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JUNE 21, 2022

. “We have been deep believers in the re-commerce market since seeding one of the earliest pioneers in this space in ThredUp. We believe that Nuw represents a huge leap in this market by enabling a near frictionless peer-to-peer model that their early customers absolutely love!” ” – Rob Go. It’s hard….

Ireland 156

Ireland Europe Early Stage Founder 156

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AUGUST 10, 2021

Near-term product development and commercial traction are still important goals, but being profligate with capital or time early on or being inconsistent about your vision & strategy makes it harder to be a meaningful force in a market in the years to come as that market grows and matures.

Chicago 156

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 156

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APRIL 30, 2015

In many instances, you raise an institutional round to either fulfill a product strategy or go-to-market strategy or you’re increasing sales and marketing hires, so you have better visibility into what needs to happen in the next six, 12, 18 months. We also consider the market opportunity.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

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DECEMBER 6, 2018

In practice it is essentially an invention by retailer Alibaba who holds massive online sales on this day across their platform (Taobao, Tmall, etc). Other Chinese e-commerce companies like JD.com will likely do tens of billions in sales in their own one day or multi-day sales.

Demand 136

Demand China Sales Revenue 136

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DECEMBER 7, 2020

I say this to remind you that reporters are humans too — and even if you’re building the most interesting product on the market, it may not be the right story, or the right moment for whoever you’re pitching. Yes, you know your businesses, market, and growth opportunities better than any reporter ever will. And that’s okay!

PR 177

PR Early Stage Founder Differentiation 177

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AUGUST 10, 2021

Near-term product development and commercial traction are still important goals, but being profligate with capital or time early on or being inconsistent about your vision & strategy makes it harder to be a meaningful force in a market in the years to come as that market grows and matures.

Chicago 136

Chicago Cofounder Miami B2B 136

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JULY 17, 2019

There may be many fewer series A investors in your home market than elsewhere. The quality, network, or experience of your local investors is likely fairly different from those in other markets. The risk tolerance or expected pricing of investors in your home market may be markedly different from investors in other markets.

San Francisco 243

San Francisco Cofounder B2B Seed Stage 243

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DECEMBER 17, 2015

Do they understand what the product is for and who the market is? In addition, as a senior engineer, I want to hear about the product marketing plans too. If I want to reach out to the marketing manager for Android Wear, for instance, the guy is there to help me do my job better. At Google, a lot of the teams are support teams.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Engineer Software Review Founder 120

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MARCH 5, 2019

When Uber started off as a more expensive “black car” service, people questioned whether it would eventually become a more mass market phenomenon or not. The simplistic way to do this is to zero out the Sales & Marketing line item in the financials and see what happens. So does Lyft have a flywheel of money?

Aggregator 120

Aggregator IPO .Net Revenue 120

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JANUARY 23, 2017

Kristen Craft is VP of business development and marketing at Ovia Health. This is a deep, nuanced exploration of a job role that doesn’t often fit as neatly into departmental categories as engineering, product, sales, or marketing. And Kristen is one of the best in the biz to discuss it. Follow Kristen on Twitter.

Hiring 120

Hiring Developer Startup Channel 120

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SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

Or will you be fine with a head of marketing or a controller or a sales lead? And while the best management teams have considered current market forces, potential headwinds and tailwinds in the industry, and competitive advantages, the fact remains that you just don’t know what you don’t know. But do you really need a COO?

Hiring 336

Hiring Cofounder Startup Technical Cofounder 336

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MAY 28, 2020

Farmers need to know how much to grow, distributors need to know how much to order and sell to maximize sales and reduce spoilage, restaurants need to order more efficiently, and consumers are demanding more transparency and less waste. Alternative animal products will continue to take market share from the meat and dairy industries.

Memphis 256

Memphis Distribution Bankruptcy Operations 256

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JUNE 11, 2019

This makes sense, because it’s more likely that a firm with a weaker competitive position is willing to stretch and pay a price way above market in order to win what they think is a competitive deal. I’ve also found that the best lead investors tend to be somewhat more price sensitive.

Syndicate 202

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

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MARCH 24, 2016

As a startup that sells to later adopters of technology or very small businesses, how do you think about product, marketing, and sales? This time, Angus Davis, the founder and CEO of Upserve (fka Swipely) shares stories and tactics around selling to Main Street businesses.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Small Business Sales 120

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

For “later” seed stage companies that have a business up and going, or even those earlier startups with some early market feedback, supplemental details about the market traction provide useful proofpoints about the venture. Marketing Deep Dive: How are you acquiring those customers and why?

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Retention Restful Valuation 166

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JUNE 5, 2018

Measure and manage your recruiting effort like a marketing/sales funnel. B2C companies usually have a strong grasp of their marketing funnel (and B2B companies with their sales funnel), and the best ones are relentless on constant fine-tuning and optimization. How to track your recruiting funnel like a pro.

Hiring 120

Hiring Portfolio Metrics B2C 120

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MAY 16, 2019

One of the key questions for me was how might Slack stack up against other great SaaS companies when it comes to average revenue per user (ARPU), and how ARPU and total addressable market (TAM) might drive Slack’s long run market cap. Market Cap. might have a market cap of $150B+. ARPUs/year. Salesforce = $2,200+.

Lock-up Period 168

Lock-up Period Retention Azure .Net 168

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JANUARY 5, 2021

Mercenary founders tend to do more extensive market mapping to build a company in “white spaces” versus being guided to an opportunity by a specific set of values. But sometimes they’re the founders most motivated to build a successful company. MBA founders often, though not always, fit into this archetype.

Detroit 367

Detroit SEC Founder Affiliate 367

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APRIL 21, 2015

We heavily underinvested in sales and marketing but have been able to reinvest and recover from that nicely … I think it is critical and make a big difference in the trajectory of the company. We thought that if we had built the best product, everything else would come easy. On Harvard Business School.

Founder 120

Founder Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder 120

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MARCH 15, 2016

Plain text emails have become the norm for sales and marketing emails that we send, and the response rate has been amazing. In a world of highly designed marketing emails, these plain texts emails stand out and feel much more authentic. But we ignore that understanding when we try to market our companies.

Customer 174

Customer Startup Email Channel 174

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DECEMBER 6, 2018

Fab.com (asset sale to PCH in 2015). But as of 2013, an average of 4 companies per year reached a $1B+ valuation looking back over the preceding decade, and that was a combination of both private valuations and public market caps. Uber ($72B valuation in 2018 Toyota investment). Pinterest ($12.3B valuation in 2017 round).

IPO 120

IPO Valuation San Francisco Silicon Valley 120

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JULY 28, 2016

In episode 22 of our podcast, Traction , Unbounce co-founder and marketing keynote speaker Oli Gardner shared five key parts to well-optimized startup landing pages. Your email list can be used to get real-world feedback as you validate the market.

Startup 136

Startup Seed Stage Cofounder Aggregator 136