Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

Getting these users costs money. Finding common elements for scaling is tough The site may need consumer revenue to survive. Maybe it’s selling local tours and taking a cut of the revenue. Word-of-mouth and cheap viral marketing won’t build critical masses of users, curated content, and direct sales forces.

Finder 210

Finder Curation Seattle Community 210

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Cloud computing and the open source movements have brought down the costs of starting a company by more than 90%. But in 2012 a visit to any major college in America will show you the massive increase in aspirations of our young talent to become the next Mark Zuckerberg and build a future Facebook. Today’s Normalization.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Cracking the Code

MARCH 12, 2010

Given the predictability of SaaS GAAP revenues on a quarterly basis, the fact that the 08/09 projections were unchanged is not a surprise. Given that the revenues are not growing very fast, this means that most of the companies have reduced their sales force and focused on productivity improvement. (1). ► 2012. (1).

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Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 18, 2012

It highlights the story of how United Airlines in 2008 paid no attention to social media as Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world. It’s a well-known axiom of business that efforts to retain existing customers have tremendous payback, compared to the costs of attracting new customers.

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Social Media Media Marketing Reputation 198

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 9, 2009

This strong recovery has highlighted the resiliency of the recurring revenue model in a downturn as well as the stength of the shift to soaftware-as-a-service and cloud computing. One way to measure this productivity is to look at the Customer Acqusition Cost ratio that I have defined in a previous post. ► 2012. (1).

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Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 1, 2009

► 2012. (1). Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. McKinsey highlight #1: the art of cost cutting or. The recession created opportunities! Online Gaming. (1). Portfolio. (3). sales and marketing. (10). Small and medium businesses. (2). software. (10). Venture Capital. (3). Blog Archive. ► 01/15 - 01/22. (1).

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Software Review Technical Review Cloud Europe 48

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! In regards to calculatimg the "Magic Number" - should the amount included as sales and marketing costs match the length of the sales cycle? ► 2012. (1). Support, support, support!

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Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

While it may make sense to offer very slight adjustments for favorable payment terms and one time revenue, net additions to MRR should dominate the sales rep’s thoughts. 1 of MRR generates $12 of annual revenue, so $1 commission equals 1/12=8.3% What is my cost of capital and how much is worth an incremental upfront payment?

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Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

It is intriguing to see the M&A dynamics in the space, highlighting the interest of tech companies for recurring revenue streams - even SAP announced in their analyst call earlier this month that they were moving from perpertual licenses to five year term licences. ► 2012. (1). Popular Media: the key to viral marketing.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

The fact that SaaS valuations are being more affected by the downturn than the Nasdaq can be surprising given the supposed resiliency of the SaaS model (recurring revenues) but it translates the public investors belief that SMB software spend is going to be hit very hard by this recession. ► 2012. (1). Post a Comment. Newer Post.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. We also got lucky and qualified for some startup benefits with companies like Rackspace, who covered our infrastructure costs for the first year,” continues Arsenault. “We Image source).

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 25, 2008

As I was building the spreadsheet, I also included the revenue multiples for this set of companies, both for the trailing 12-month (TTM) and the forward 12-month (FTM). ► 2012. (1). Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. McKinsey highlight #1: the art of cost cutting or. Online Gaming. (1). Portfolio. (3).

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Software Review Technical Review Europe Venture Capital 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 16, 2006

however, public SaaS companies like Concur, Saba, Taleo, LivePerson and Ultimate are growing 50-100% per year and trading at an average 5x trailing revenue multiples (I excluded salesforce leading the pack with 9x!) whereas traditional software companies of this size have a growth rate of less than 10% and revenue multiples of 2-2.5x.

Software Review 48

Software Review Silicon Valley Technical Review Software 48

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. We also got lucky and qualified for some startup benefits with companies like Rackspace, who covered our infrastructure costs for the first year,” continues Arsenault. “We Image source).

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 28, 2008

Eloqua is bringing this revolution to the B2B marketers by providing on-demand applications and best-practice expertise for B2B marketers to execute, automate and measure effective marketing programs that drive revenue. ► 2012. (1). Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. Online Gaming. (1). Portfolio. (3). software. (10).

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Los Angeles Europe 48

ConversionXL

JUNE 24, 2014

In fact, 54% of users said they may actually leave a website and go to another rather than complete an individual registration form, according to a 2012 survey conducted by Blue Research. The number of visitors directly correlates to revenue – whatever business you are in. Nothing beats word-of-mouth recommendations.

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Social Network Viral Social Media B2C 130

Seeing Both Sides

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Conventional wisdom suggests that the most important metrics for a startup - such as unit economics, cost of acquisition, lifetime value, churn rates - typically get better with time. One of my CEOs pointed out to me at a board meeting last week: “Our average customer acquisition cost (CAC) is irrelevant for the future.

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Metrics Churn Rate Acquisition SEM 20

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

” April, 2012 – Andrew Chen writes Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing , which goes viral (2.4K September 2012 – Aaron Ginn, who currently does growth at Everlane , writes Defining A Growth Hacker: Three Common Characteristics to help define the term. via AndrewChen.co). via TechCrunch). via FastCompany).

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

Up and Running

OCTOBER 2, 2015

” Peter : Let’s talk about the word viral because that’s a great one. I think the word viral lost its meaning and lost its way long ago. Jonathan : Yeah, and just the idea of making something go viral, you can’t really follow a formula and make something go viral anymore.

Viral 60

Viral Audience Advertising Social Media 60

leananalyticsbook.com

AUGUST 19, 2012

August 7, 2012 by Alistair. That might sound pretty standard, but the variety of revenue models can complicate things. Game startups care about Average Revenue Per User Per Month and Lifetime Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs). Viral coefficient (how well your users become your marketers.). Skip to secondary content.

Metrics 58

Metrics Clickthrough Lean Analytics 58

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 1, 2019

Obviously, there are a lot of people out there that would love to have this success in the revenue that’s come with that success directly related to podcasting that you have, but I talk a lot of small business owners and actually tell them that one of the little talked about things that podcasting can bring you is access.

Portland 58

Portland Audio Technical Review Video 58

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 9, 2013

Ben is currently VP Product at GoInstant, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2012. It turns out that the cost of customer acquisition for consumers was too high compared to the revenue being generated. “In Most consumer apps get around the high acquisition costs with some sort of virality, but backup isn’t viral.

Lean 284

Lean Analytics Metrics Viral 284

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

billion in annual subscription revenues not including advertising or eCommerce). I predict this will come before the end of 2012. This is an awesome trend and will further lower the cost of startup development. I know in 2010 this doesn’t seem obvious to everybody but it’s my judgment.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Cracking the Code

MAY 25, 2010

A few highlights from the different keynotes and speakers On top of Jason, we also had the chance of having many great speakers at the event and here are a few quotes and notes that I have taken during the different keynotes and panels: Joe Payne, CEO of Eloqua moderated the panel on Revenue Performance Management. ► 2012. (1).

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Software Review Cloud IPO Jordan 74

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

I found this approach interesting, but it seems to me that gross margin is a more relevant benchmark than revenues, given that the GM of saas companies varies by type of application and size of the company (for example NetSuite went from about 50% GM three years ago to close to 70% today).

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Be prepared to cross the desert - SaaS requires R&D and sales expense up front for a multi-year stream of revenue, so it demands enough investment capital to fund 4+ years of runway. Farming is also often overlooked, but can help grow customer accounts and revenues from 30% upwards (if successful). Great list! Michael Kassing.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 2, 2008

The Deutsche Bank report has a very interesting chart on the topic presenting the Free Cash Flow margins vs. the revenue growth four years post IPO for select software leaders: As you can see, with 20% Free Cash Flow margin and a 50% growth rate, Salesforce is well positioned in the pack! ► 2012. (1). per share to $8.0

Software Review 48

Software Review Software Technical Review Cloud 48

mashable.com

JULY 18, 2012

July 18, 2012 by Chris Taylor. GLIIF’s initial offering includes a brand-able and blend-able custom encrypted image at a low cost of entry, pre re-direction marketing services and full analytics. July 18, 2012 10:15:01. July 18, 2012 10:20:12. July 18, 2012 10:26:22. July 18, 2012 10:36:46. Like Tweet.

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San Francisco Acquisition Social Media Mobile 104

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 9, 2013

In a separate study done by viral content agency Fractl , they showed participants 30 of the top 100 images on Reddit, asking them to look at the image, then to the corresponding emotion on Robert Plutchik’s Wheel Of Emotion. million customers total) in 2012. image sources. image source. How do you know if your copy is any good

Sales 126

Sales B2B Campaign Video 126

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

T he response rate has been overwhelming and we ended up with 40+ companies and 80+ attendees, most of them CEOs and CxOs of leading public and private saas companies representing around 80% of the revenues of the SaaS industry in 2007. Your key business metrics are CMRR (Contracted Monthly Recurring Revenue) and cash. ► 2012. (1).

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

I was surprised today when I went through the NetSuite IPO filling (S1) to see that it looked very much like any Enterprise software document - not a single mention of churn or % of recurring revenues. The reason for this difference, from an investor perspective, is that the SaaS model provides far clearer visibility into future revenues.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

ConversionXL

APRIL 6, 2016

Example: “Do you know what a good night’s sleep costs you? Underlines improve clickthrough on Bing for both algorithmic results and ads (so more revenue) and improve time to successful click (better UX). Revenue is usually a good metric to use to evaluate effectiveness of test. Wrong Success Metric (OEC).

Retention 48

Retention Algorithm Software Review Conversion 48