VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Companies like iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, and Spotify are investing in and leading the evolution of audio, focused on music streaming (on-demand and lean-back modalities), podcasting and content production. Products that were previously not inherently social, will embrace community, stories and sharing to increase stickiness and drive revenue.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2012

Facebook’s direct platform revenue accounted for about 15% of the company’s overall sales whereas Apple’s was less than 1%. Of course both companies use their platform to increase user lock-in which indirectly helps their core revenue streams of advertising (in Facebook’s case) and hardware sales (for Apple).

Java 170

Java Flash Software Azure 170

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 17, 2021

Any great business starts with an entrepreneur who develops a value hypothesis in order to test and identify core product value, which is a real and substantial solution to a valuable client problem. Entrepreneurs are intimately familiar with their products. Thanks to Michael Hammelburger, Sales Therapy! #10- 10- The passionate.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Kentucky Syndicate Syndication 96

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

In many ways that might be one way to interpret even Facebook where Sheryl stepped in as COO but by all accounts ran much of Facebook for a few years (other than product). I’m excited to see what Nick can product. It now seems that Mark is more firmly in control. I like technical founders so this wasn’t an issue.

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates - enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). It’s a great idea and at Foundry we quickly decided it would be an interesting experiment to form our own syndicate.

Syndicate 93

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 93

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

Srivastava leads Verizon’s innovation outpost (their Silicon Valley R&D center) in Palo Alto focusing on building products and services powered by big data and analytics. I presented them to our chief product officer and our CTO. ” Let’s define an MVP, a minimum viable product. He was the CEO of two startups.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

YoungUpstarts

MAY 29, 2017

by Rhonda Adams, president and founder of PlanningShop and author of “ Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies “ Small business owners never seem to have enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks on our to-do lists — developing new products, searching for new customers, training employees, closing the sale.

Bootstrapping 140

Bootstrapping Syndicate Syndication Small Business 140

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 30, 2012

Thanks to Kenny Jahng of Big Click Syndicate LLC. No one know better how your product is used. I realize that some sales reps may go to trade shows looking for work. It has ranged from other vendors to even friends that love our product and understand the opportunity to support it. Customers Know Best. Thanks to Eula M.

Employee 144

Employee LLC Non-Compete Utah 144

Agile VC

OCTOBER 27, 2011

The classic delineations of web products for business and consumer (“enterprise” direct selling, on premise vs cloud, etc) are only getting blurrier. B2B software can no longer just get away with crappy UI… it has to at least match the ease of use and aesthetics of all the consumer web products users love.

Software 100

Software B2B Silicon Valley Acquisition 100

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

I have seen this criticism at various places where this recap is syndicated on a weekly basis, as well as in certain random forums on the internet. But once a set of reference customers are in place, this business definitely needs a telesales channel, not a direct, feet-on-the-street sales force.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

View from Seed

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. Reason being, there’s more of a defined strategy for the company.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

VC Adventure

MAY 21, 2014

A few months ago AngelList announced Syndicates – enabling investors on AngelList to create fund-like groups of investors to invest together in AngelList companies (following a single lead investor). It’s a great idea and at Foundry we quickly decided it would be an interesting experiment to form our own syndicate.

Syndicate 48

Syndicate Syndication Technical Review Due Diligence 48

SVPG

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Article: Behind Every Great Product. I titled the paper, “Behind Every Great Product” and it was inspired by the classic Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager by Ben Horowitz. The paper proved popular and helped many teams to get a better understanding of just what product was all about.

Product 60

Product Technical Review Software Review Engineer 60

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 2, 2024

So what that means is your customers are searching for your product or service, but they don't actually click anywhere, including clicking to your website. We've been using ActiveCampaign for years here at Duct Tape Marketing to power our subscription forms, email newsletters and sales funnel drip campaigns.

SEO 68

SEO Search Generative AI Engineer 68

ConversionXL

APRIL 7, 2020

According to Edison Research , 80% of users listen to most of each episode, averaging 7 per week, while 69% of listeners agree that podcast ads make them aware of new products or services. But podcasting does have a lower cost and barrier to entry than video (at least quality video production). Podcast production.

Syndicate 85

Syndicate Syndication Hosting Audio 85

Mike Michalowicz

DECEMBER 18, 2012

You may not be as good at marketing, sales, social media and generating the kind of publicity required to be a huge success. I highly recommend you hire marketing, sales and social media experts to assist you in positioning your business to succeed. Thanks to Kenny Jahng of Big Click Syndicate LLC. Second Guessing Decisions.

LLC 166

LLC Non-Compete Revenue Hiring 166

Hippoland

MARCH 30, 2018

My hypothesis is that there will be a real shake up in how deals are done in startups, and you’ll see turnover as some of these new brands overtake older well-established VC firms. (This is an aside for another blogpost) And then there are also syndicates. From there, you can find various syndicates. They aren’t.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Convertible Security 48

Hippoland

MARCH 30, 2018

My hypothesis is that there will be a real shake up in how deals are done in startups, and you’ll see turnover as some of these new brands overtake older well-established VC firms. (This is an aside for another blogpost) And then there are also syndicates. From there, you can find various syndicates. They aren’t.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Convertible Security 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 23, 2013

Their computers then cleverly merge your ads with search results when users search words imply an interest in your products. With PPC, the goal is for the search user to not only see your ad, but to click on it to get to your website (click-through), and buy your widget (conversion to sale). Keyword research and budget forecasting.

Search 226

Search PPC Widget SEO 226

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

MAY 10, 2010

By that I mean I have several products I could roll out, and many improvements I could make to current projects, which I just haven’t bothered with because I don’t have the right team around me to make it happen. Product research. Information Products. product creation. product graphics. sales copy.

Business Model 75

Business Model Affiliate Philippines Syndicate 75

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

Very few, if any, of these interactions are with a sales rep. Because if people are making up their own minds, without coercion from sales, creating demand is the best way to get them to choose you. Marketers raise brand awareness to capture leads that are handed to sales teams to convert into customers.

Demand 95

Demand Management B2B Campaign 95

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. is an AI bot which helps companies refine their sales pitch to VCs. Numerous VC funds rely on more general CRM and sales funnel solutions like Pipedrive and Streak. Pitchbot.vc 3) Originate investments. 5) Due diligence.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Coinvestors: Flexible VC terms have not been standardized, which may make the investment harder to syndicate. Typically stable, high margins; repeatable sales model; clear path to profitability; and high growth potential. Early-stage: Cofounder with engineering/ product background from top-tier university or major technology company.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 1, 2018

Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to determine what is the product of genuine entrepreneurial wisdom and what is pure bunk. Explore content syndication opportunities to expand the reach of your blog posts. In fact, sales and profitability can fluctuate — sometimes dramatically — from one year to the next.

Social Media 133

Social Media Syndicate Syndication SEO 133

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 21, 2010

At First Round , I often hear the term “product-market” fit. Sometimes they’re testing various pricing models…other times they’re not sure if it’s a partnership strategy or a direct sales effort that will get the most uptake. A less product-focused entrepreneur would not have been able to make that call.

Product 68

Product Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Syndicate 68

Lightspeed Venture Partners

SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

Most of the sharks dropped out quickly, concerned about the short runway for the company, lack of any barriers to entry, lack of issued patents, missing product features and valuation expectations. This is a company that has failed to find product market fit over the last 21 months and after spending almost $2M (capital raised plus revenue).

Pre-Money Valuation 167

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Dilution Distribution 167

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 3, 2010

Their computers then cleverly merge your ads with search results only when users search words imply an interest in your products. With SEM, the goal is for the search user to not only see your ad, but to click on it to get to your website (click-through), and buy your widget (conversion to sale). Tracking and performance reporting.

Search 225

Search Engineer SEM Widget 225

Genuine VC

MAY 1, 2014

The result is that publishers are shifting strategies, transitioning to investing in direct-to-consumer marketing, which represents a shift in the $10B per year globally spent on sales and marketing for books. Today BookBub is announcing its $3.8M Series A financing.

Cofounder 118

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Social Network 118

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

For those who did, I was offered a set of confusing options with opaque pricing without any relative understanding of the quality of the service or the product itself. Renoviso has established direct relationships with both product manufacturers and high-quality installers to enable a seamless experience for the end-consumer.

Syndicate 100

Syndicate Syndication Lead Generation Acquisition 100

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 14, 2018

So, think of all of the consumers your business could potentially reach, solely by taking the time to share more about your company, its products and services, and other relevant information via a dedicated podcast. But in 2018, Ruffino expects this number to almost quadruple, increasing to $20 million in total sales. Source: Pixabay.

Demand 72

Demand Audio Syndicate Syndication 72

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. He has a good team, and theyve shipped a working product to many customers.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

Version One Ventures

APRIL 8, 2014

start-up databases/networks like CrunchBase and AngelList ) has led to unparalleled access to investment capital as more seed funds, angels, and syndicates emerge on the scene. Business data on start-ups, VCs, PE, financial markets, sales and marketing is being created at an alarming rate. Today, the boom of information (i.e.

Venture Capital 160

Venture Capital Vertical Curation SEC 160

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 13, 2012

You don't give a sales team like that a target without expecting him to crush it. A chalkboard stood in the corner with sales totals for the week. When I asked him to come share his sales and company culture expertise at GA, he was on it--right in the middle of acquisition negotiations. The answer: it wasn't.

Syndicate 151

Syndicate Syndication Viral B2B 151

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 29, 2012

You're going to want syndication partners on the deals you find and sounding boards on the thesis behind each of your potential investments. A mutual fund manager won't give you their portfolio strategy but most seed funds love having a network of angels to syndicate deals with. Bonus: Never stop learning.

Angel Investor 133

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Portfolio 133

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

Otherwise, the hours you spend posting about your product, service or even general advice will yield little to no fruit. – Alexandra Levit , Inspiration at Work. Stop spending money on aggregation services that, at best, syndicate your content without driving any real eyeballs. – Firas Kittaneh , Amerisleep. Expensive Agencies.

PR 145

PR Small Business SEO Warrant 145

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

It comes as no surprise as technology today enables companies to prove product-market fit much earlier in their lifecycles. Having said that, there are times when it’s wise for the startup not to work with the parent company…or to hold off until its product is mature enough. Are they good sales people?

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

ConversionXL

JUNE 16, 2022

Recommending additional products or services can help customers solve problems while upping their investment. It’s called cross-selling; a tactic that drives 35% of sales for Amazon and helps leading SaaS companies reduce churn. From this small addition to each page, Amazon generates over a third of sales on its platform.

B2B 129

B2B Email Sales Acquisition 129