Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

In 2010 I deconstructed the filings for GameFly and Quinstreet. GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Filing Date: initial S-1 filed Nov 17, 2010 , updated March 9, 2011. Financial Snapshot: 2010 Revenue: $170 million.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

He had a partially built product. In my experience, it’s naive to think you can just “get developers to build the product” although it does sometimes work. You should avoid spending your time here and instead focus on finding a way to generate revenue or to attract investors so that you can afford to hire someone.

Technical Cofounder 241

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Equity Sweat Equity 241

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

This post describes how following the traditional product development can lead to a “startup death spiral.&# In the next posts that follow, I’ll describe how this model’s failures led to the Customer Development Model – offering a new way to approach startup sales and marketing activities. The board raises a collective eyebrow.

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 228

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

Cloudonomics and 2010 Planning for your SaaS and Cloud Computing business. As we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be interesting to put together a post on how to approach the 2010 planning. S&M productivity (CAC ratio) for the SaaS 13 Index. ► 2010. (5). Happy New Year 2010!

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

After 20 years of working in startups, I decided to take a step back and look at the product development model I had been following and see why it usually failed to provide useful guidance in activities outside the building – sales, marketing and business development. So what’s wrong the product development model?

Customer Development 241

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 241

Eric Friedman

MAY 9, 2019

In this constant struggle, I learned (definitely the hard way) that Revenue = Resources. When I was first on the BD team at Foursquare we would optimize many of the initiatives and strategic partnerships around brand recognition and exposure – there was no scalable revenue to speak of. Great prospects right?

Revenue 60

Revenue Warrant Early Stage Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit. Note that these are “gross” revenue numbers. To be fair to Ben Horowitz – I think he thinks this as well. DEAL OF THE WEEK: Gilt Groupe – We both admired this company.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

billion jump in funding over the same quarter of 2010 with a similar number of deals, so it clearly shows a trend to larger deal sizes for fewer startups. Your friends and family are really the only answer until you have a significant revenue stream. I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back.

Venture Capital 233

Venture Capital Revenue Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley 233

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2012

Both companies generate direct revenue from their platform in the form of a revenue share / platform tax (typically 30%) on software and digital goods sold through the respective platforms. Facebook’s direct platform revenue accounted for about 15% of the company’s overall sales whereas Apple’s was less than 1%.

Java 170

Java Flash Software Azure 170

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. This post looks at the implementation details of HTML 5 video. Good stuff from Jason.

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

YoungUpstarts

MAY 28, 2014

” Getting some revenue from at least 3 clients (proving that there’s value to what you’re doing) would be fantastic, but other types of traction and validation would help too. Everyone loves a good consumer product but even amazing products fail because it’s so difficult to get people’s attention.

Security 200

Security Incubator Technical Review Bootstrapping 200

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. but: Something is Still Missing.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

venturedig.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

In social networking, they’re ever-changing, backed by eye-opening revenue and have very little documentation. The concept of virtual currency is profoundly simple , however, the numbers and revenue this churns out is eye-opening (see table below). Total Estimated Revenue For Year: $200 million. Virtual Currency.

Social Network 55

Social Network Business Model Networking CPA 55

Steve Blank

APRIL 9, 2009

The other departments in marketing gave the same answers; the product-marketing department said their job was to write data sheets. And it was going to mention the two words that SuperMac marketing needed to live and breathe: revenue and profit. Two paragraphs, Five bullets. It didn’t take more.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Technical Review RSS PR 263

YoungUpstarts

MAY 13, 2014

They recognize an underserved segment of the population — whether that’s expectant mothers, pet owners, or cheese lovers — then develop a product or service to meet the specific needs of that customer base. In 2010, Diapers.com brought in an estimated $300 million in revenue. Know Your Total Addressable Market.

Pennsylvania 224

Pennsylvania Retention Differentiation Reputation 224

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

It would have been easy to explain the difference by changes in the 2010/2011 revenue growth projections but unfortunately that is not the case. SaaS companies projected to grow 18% over this period in January 2010 and this projection moved up only to 20% today. revenues while large caps are trading at 6.4x.

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

When a startup finds a repeatable sales process and steadily increasing revenue, its investors wants to harvest the rewards and build a culture of “execution.” While it is “just business,” many customers form emotional bonds sometimes with products, other times with the company itself. No discount for existing users?

Customer 201

Customer Silicon Valley RSS California 201

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 25, 2014

With the right amount of effort and creativity SMBs, and the agencies serving them, can dramatically increase ROI while generating new, ongoing revenue streams through social media that last and grow far beyond the holiday season. Adding “Facebook Connect” as an optional log-in for special “members only/preferred customer” offers and content.

Customer 176

Customer Social Media eCommerce Campaign 176

Venture Chronicles

MAY 5, 2010

Last week I had the opportunity to attend GigaOM’s GreenNet 2010 event, which was looking at how energy solutions are powering a new wave of innovation in Silicon Valley. I was pleased to see that Katie had focused a good amount of the agenda and speaker slots for talks given by regulators and public utility officials.

Technical Review 36

Technical Review California San Francisco Silicon Valley 36

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 27, 2014

You should sign up for Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools (Bing also offers a Webmaster Tools product that you should utilize as well). These products can help you tailor content, products, and services for your target market. Much like the offline world networking is one of the biggest keys to success in SEO today.

SEO 169

SEO Engineer Search Flash 169

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal. What’s going on?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Even though it has been a long haul, it’s nice to see some optimism on the horizon for 2010. Small Business Outlook 2010: Lessons Learned – A Case for Greater Optimism ,” was published by CIT Group, Inc., A full 59% of respondents cited a greater focus on operating efficiencies as the number one step to achieving growth in 2010.

Small Business Administration 120

Small Business Administration SBA Small Business Revenue 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2017

This combinatorial model works because it’s diversified, can best withstand bear markets, benefits from technological synergies, and it’s the mix of products and services clients value. According to research from JP Morgan, revenues from investment banking peaked in 2009 at $207.7 However each component will change dramatically.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software Review IPO 154

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. My belief is that these lean startups will achieve dramatically lower development costs, faster time to market, and higher quality products in the years to come. July 15, 2009 11:18 PM markmontgomery said.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

YoungUpstarts

MAY 8, 2012

President Obama plans to support this recovery and growth with the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership initiative, working to ensure that innovative products are created in the United States. In 2010, the oil and gas industry generated $476 billion for the U.S. million in tax revenue. million in tax revenue.

Iowa 176

Iowa Technical Review India United States 176

ReadWriteStart

MAY 19, 2011

In my post Making Money With Blogs , I have articulated some of my thoughts on the subject and presented some possible models that would enable blogs and small media properties to sustain themselves with a proper revenue framework. However, I don't believe this is a product. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes.

India 115

India Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Affiliate 115

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

Markets with Customer/Market Risk are those where the unknown is whether customers will adopt the product. is whether there is a customer and market for the product as spec’d. These are markets where it may take 5 or even 10 years to get a product out of the lab and into production. The real risk in markets like Web 2.0

Vertical 147

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 147

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

is an elegant way to model any service-oriented business: Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue We used a very similar scheme at IMVU, although we werent lucky enough to have started with this framework, and so had to derive a lot of it ourselves via trial and error. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?)

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2021

The classic lifespan of successful products is a story in four parts: Introduction Growth Maturity Decline. How this story plays out has a lot to do with the type of product and how it’s improved over time, if at all. In this article, we’ll look at the different stages of the product lifecycle through the lens of marketing.

Product 142

Product Marketing Software Review Social Media 142

37signals.com

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Follow us on Twitter for more information on our products. The unimportance of product names. Apr 27 2010. Don’t waste too much time on picking a perfect name for your product. We usually decide upon a product name by seeing what the product does. Everybody knows what a product name should be.

Product Name 44

Product Name Naming Product Software Review 44

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Consumers are turning to their mobile devices during all steps of the shopping journey, from inspiration to product research to purchase. And they’re less concerned about where they buy their products (brand loyalty) than factors like price and fast, mobile optimized experiences. More than 40% of online activities are cross-device.

Mobile 100

Mobile Software Review eCommerce .Net 100

YoungUpstarts

JULY 14, 2015

By the time you realize it’s a bad fit, you’ve lost months of potential revenue stream development. Before leaving GE Healthcare in late 2010 to start Caremerge, Asif was responsible for a portfolio of healthcare products generating $140 million annually with over 3000 customers (Hospitals and large centers) worldwide.

Startup 100

Startup Agile Sales Conversion 100

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 263

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 263

Up and Running

JULY 21, 2016

To help you out, we’ve hacked our way through the forest of general (and generic) ideas to find you only those strategies that have been proven to boost revenue. According to a 2010 Customer Experience Report by Harris Interactive/Right Now, great service, delivered time and time again is even more important than competing on price.

Revenue 60

Revenue Retention Advertising Differentiation 60

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

By contrast, Staples closed down some underperforming facilities but increased its workforce by 10% during the recession, mainly to support the high-end product categories and services it introduced. Use that intelligence to inform product portfolio and investment choices.”. Where do your consumers fall?

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

JUNE 16, 2014

Doing her best to avoid any form of full time employment, Natalie partners with a talented artist to start a production company. Natalie''s business grows as they land six figure clients for the production company. In Natalie''s case, her attention turns to her blogging business. She also runs live workshops in cities around the world.

Founder 108

Founder RSS Social Media Software Review 108

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

When we build products, we use a methodology. We know some products succeed and others fail, but the reasons are complex and the unpredictable. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit." The theory of Product/Market Fit is one key component of customer development, and I highly recommend Marcs essay on that topic.

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168