A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 31, 2010

It always goes like this: I'm just a two-person operation with no budget. We scoff at their inability to innovate and for prioritizing shareholders over customers, but still we quiver in fear. Dozens of people on Answers.OnStartups ask about it so I know I'm not alone. Answer: You're dead!

Software Review 243

Software Review Development Team Review Technical Review Software Developers 243

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 5, 2010

Boogers are drawn on the screen once, and don't change unless the window is resized — an infrequent operation. Boogers take less effort to compute than the algorithm for determining color variations in the mini-viewer. Boogers take less effort to draw.

Software Review 226

Software Review Metrics Lean Algorithm 226

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 16, 2017

No, if they’re not impacting the business, they need to go, and if they can’t operate in the state of constant uncertainty and change which is endemic to startups, they can’t be here. Whenever you’re dithering, usually the correct answer is the difficult one.

Operations 215

Operations Hiring Employee Founder 215

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 12, 2010

billion market cap), mid-sized (NetBotz with millions in revenue and funding), and small (sub-$1m operations like us). We took a simple problem (when server rooms get hot, the gear fails) and provided a simple solution (thermometer with a web page that emails/pages you if it's too hot). There were many competitors, both huge (APC with $1.5

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Software Review Engineer Search 243

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Scale is 10x harder than operating at small scale. Examples: eBay ≥ 10 x Etsy; Google ≥ 10 x Bing; Facebook ≥ 10 x Twitter; Salesforce ≥ 10 x [rest of market]. Your best marketing channel is often 10x the productivity of the next-best. True of content-marketing also. Because complexity is non-linear.).

Restful 120

Restful Portfolio Channel Business Model 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

There are other important operational metrics to help steer your company (see related post titled “ You Never Know What Operational Metrics You’ll Need – So Instrument Everything “) but these are some of the first to start with.

Churn Rate 288

Churn Rate .Net Metrics Hosting 288

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 10, 2012

” To see this, suppose you divided your time between seven companies, all operating on these terms. In fact, you need to charge more , because that formula merely brings you back to “even!”

Founder 291

Founder CPA Startup Early Stage 291

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Trouble is, this advice is inconsistent with how real (small) businesses operate , as you can often see for yourself in the same articles that promote the use of the business plan. But later she quotes a successful entrepreneur who admits "We operated with no real plan for years" and "Things don't generally go as planned.".

Business Plan 312

Business Plan Salary Finance Web 312

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 19, 2010

Thus for daily operations, cash-basis wins again. So far cash-basis has won every time, but when you shift your attention from daily operations to business analysis, cash is not king. You've probably heard "cash is king:" Real cash (not purchase orders) pays your mortgage, keeps the internet up, and pays employees.

Revenue 232

Revenue Startup Forecast Finance 232

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 20, 2016

It’s still possible, and occasionally advisable, to operate in secret. But sunlight isn’t just the best disinfectant, it’s the best way to forge durability.

Open Source 120

Open Source API Framework Salary 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 20, 2013

This is equivalent to (approximately) 12%/yr, so e.g. in the 8th year we’re still adding up revenue but discounting it downward by 64%, accounting for the uncertainty that we’d still be operating in the same way in 8 years that we are today.

Retention 262

Retention Metrics Revenue Bandwidth 262

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Worse, in many organizations everyone is operating at 90%, which then reacts like the three-server system, where the inevitable hiccup from anyone causes a ripple effect that hurts several other people or projects. This condition is a combination of frequent context-switching and interruption — the Twin Enemies of productivity.

Web 120

Web Cost Product Operations 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Or another person might value MONEY/FLEXIBILITY over INTELLECTUALNESS/CAREER, and select a one-person Internet-based business where daily activities are mundane but she can use her computer prowess and operational intelligence to pull down $7,000/mo in her jammies. And perhaps with more creativity and devotion you can compromise even less.

Social Media 246

Social Media Restful Media Startup 246

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

But, a growing SaaS company will be landing new customers, and in increasing numbers, which means piling up more and more unprofitable operations. As a result, enterprise-facing SaaS companies are unprofitable for the first 12-24 months of a given customer’s life.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 23, 2012

For years they demonstrated real, growing revenues (not just “active users”), a repeatable, scalable business model (not just flash-in-the-pan ideas), ownership of a large market (SMB lead-gen, social gaming), and they survived the operational challenges inherent in rapid-growth companies.

IPO 240

IPO Flash Bootstrapping Private Equity 240

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 17, 2012

My introduction to my daughter began and ended with a sterile view of a sterile hallway.

Startup 241

Startup Design Web Operations 241

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 1, 2012

If the cost of customer acquisition is 10x the monthly revenue or monthly revenue is 1/100th of where it should be to sustain the operations of the company, then the argument of “it gets better over time” doesn’t work, because although it gets incrementally better, it’s hard to justify orders of magnitude of improvement.

Customer 320

Customer Revenue Acquisition Cofounder 320

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 4, 2017

Small companies operate this way by necessity, and it works! They could have taken the tens of millions of dollars that the product cost to develop, and made their existing operation just 0.01% more effective, and made the same amount of money. Communication and decision-making occupy the minimum possible time.

Government 223

Government Startup Cofounder Technical Support 223

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 10, 2010

These are distinct operations — different clients, different technology, different sales process — almost like two separate companies. At the same time, they also run television ads (with celebrities), are expert at SEO and AdWords, built a user-friendly web site, and do tech support for consumers.

Business Model 310

Business Model Finder SEO Bootstrapping 310

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 8, 2010

I know, you really really want to ignore me and operate in secret. Or it might mean you have enough customers to have "proved" you have a viable business model, so now you can raise money with sensible terms. Don't lie at work. The best way to avoid a lawsuit is to prove that your employer knows you have a side project.

Startup 252

Startup Email RSS Internet 252

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 24, 2012

It’s quite simple, which is when you had systems where you had limitations on distribution or transportation of products, it enabled you to operate with a certain cost structure. You don’t exit at north of a billion dollars unless you’re operating at scale. Then you have a business that’s defensible.

Silicon Valley 204

Silicon Valley Software Review Internet Technical Review 204

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 25, 2011

Maybe that means a big new advertising campaign, or hiring another WordPress expert for our staff.

Java 311

Java Software Review Technical Review Salary 311

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 25, 2011

Not a business plan , but rather a simple spreadsheet with pricing model, how money flows in and out during normal operation, customer acquisition cost, and therefore how many customers you’ll need to break even on operating costs, and how many more to break even including human costs.

Startup 284

Startup Algorithm Design Salary 284

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 11, 2010

In the last interview Peldi Guilizzoni (Balsamiq Studios) gave detailed advice about how he earned almost a million dollars in revenue in his first year of operation. This interview is uncommonly different. In this installment we hear from startup expert Bob Walsh , whose many works for startup founders include: Blog: 47 Hats.

Entrepreneur 225

Entrepreneur Social Media Software Web 225

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

In the 90's, y'all, before that was built into all the operating systems!) We made an image browser with thumbnail previews so you didn't have to open each file individually to see what it was. (In Our advantage was speed. Not the best, not the most stable, didn't read the most formats, didn't have the most features, just "fastest."

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 26, 2016

No, it undermines US sovereignty and ability to operate, similar to blocking all interstate highways. From the same assumption of self-interest, is it in the US government’s interest that foreign nations can disable the US Internet at-will? To meet together to cooperate on this issue of mutual importance.

Security 120

Security Government Internet Algorithm 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 17, 2011

As a final note on LTV, I personally don’t care much about lifetime revenue , and prefer to compute lifetime operational profit , meaning the net revenue after taking out known costs of service. In the case of WP Engine, we knock off 2% for credit card fees and a certain amount for hosting and bandwidth costs.

Business Model 245

Business Model Metrics Engineer Technical Review 245

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

First of all, the enterprise level processes and the one like you described, where there is one or two people just trying to do basic sales with Highrise, extremely different context that they operate in, and different price points, by the way.

Widget 204

Widget Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 204

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

All technology depends on "platforms" — operating systems, browsers, libraries, even pre-existing customer prejudices. Bootstrapped companies have no such luxury. Of course you can't conclude that using another platform is automatically imprudent.

Marketing 229

Marketing Ruby SEO Widget 229

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 8, 2012

That’s the right order of operations to minimize the overall project risk and to minimize the amount of work you have to do, right? Jared: Mm-hmm. Jason: So, what I’m asking you to do is zoom out another power of 10.

API 220

API Software Review Hosting Technical Review 220

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

And the big guys can’t do that, because they’d have to re-train people and anyway, they don’t operate that way, I can.’ On the other hand, I’m going to devise exactly what you need and when there’s some feature that isn’t there that you need I’m going to put it in.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 2, 2013

How many people have written to me about their “startup” which can’t produce enough revenue to shrug off the yoke of W2′s and consulting work, exactly because the founder is only interested in banging away at TextMate instead of crafting the home page, testing the adverts, building the social following , toiling through customer (..)

Cofounder 312

Cofounder Startup Founder Engineer 312

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

The “perfect candidate” is mythical — a person who is world-class at vision, strategy, operations, people, org-structure, communication within the company, communication outside the company, gets things done quickly, mentorship, etc. Suppose we’re hiring a high-level, experienced position, like a VP of Marketing.

Differentiation 120

Differentiation Framework Restful Software Review 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 25, 2010

Your demos and note-taking must operate without being online. It's cheaper than you think and you get to pitch people in a relaxed atmosphere. People are willing to talk about your product to reciprocate. Don't depend on the Internet. Tradeshow Internet is spotty at best. Use LinkedIn every night.

Software Review 287

Software Review Sales Email Naming 287

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 6, 2013

This is a key insight to many SaaS operators, because typical metrics literature focusses only on reducing cancellation rate, which is only a third of the story. Because the definition is so simple, it’s obvious that reducing COC means decreasing cancellations and decreasing p, and decreasing p means decreasing CAC and increasing MRR.

Metrics 270

Metrics Business Model .Net Revenue 270