www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key partners.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

With over a decade of experience in his toolkit, he specializes in helping clients build out cross-channel acquisition systems using a mix of owned, earned and paid tactics. 07:17] What is you cross-channel acquisition strategy? [11:13] 20:58] Are there any overlooked channels or platforms worth exploring?

Channel 63

Channel Acquisition Framework B2B 63

View from Seed

JANUARY 6, 2021

When a company is pitching a VC, there is typically one partner who is the advocate for the deal and is shepherding the process. Part of what I like about working with my partners is that I really believe that our collective decision-making is better than our decision-making as individuals.

Partner 181

Partner Distribution Founder Acquisition 181

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Learning could be about product features, customer needs, the right pricing and distribution channel, etc.) These hypotheses span the gamut from who’s the customer(s), to what’s the value proposition (product/service features), pricing, distribution channel, and demand creation (customer acquisition, activation, retention, etc.).

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2019

An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. In my experience as a new business advisor, a business is nothing until people are aligned and work in sync. Key partners.

Intellectual Property 250

Intellectual Property Business Model Angel Investor Channel 250

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 27, 2015

by Jack Narcotta, Devices Analyst at Technology Business Research. Nadella’s efforts to reboot Microsoft positions the company to more effectively engage with channel partners and enterprise customers. A unified Microsoft has set the stage for sustained revenue growth.

Cloud 100

Cloud Mobile Software Review Technical Review 100

VC Cafe

JUNE 6, 2024

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Definition : CAC is the total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing and sales expenses. Benchmark: Serena Capital advises B2B SaaS startups to target a gross margin of 80% or higher to demonstrate the scalability and profitability of their business model.

B2B 97

B2B Burn Rate Generative AI Retention 97

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2010

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came early. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business. Marty Zwilling.

Acquisition 214

Acquisition Merger Startup Bandwidth 214

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

The biggest mistake for most of these startups was not understanding that optimizing their business model for the 24 million people in the Australian market would not prepare them for the size and scale they needed to get to big. But other critical hypotheses such as activities, resources, partners, channels needed testing offshore.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

First is that there are, perhaps, a thousand people in the world of entrepreneurship who know what they are doing when it comes to dealing with issues like financing, positioning, market sizing, customer validation, customer acquisition and other seemingly obvious topics that all entrepreneurs need to deal with. On to the roundtable recap.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

Steve Blank

JANUARY 14, 2014

A pivot can change any of nine different things in your business model. A pivot may mean you changed your customer segment, your channel, revenue model/pricing, resources, activities, costs, partners, customer acquisition – lots of other things than just the product. Business Model.

Business Model 332

Business Model Lean Customer Development Channel 332

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came quickly. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business.

Merger 243

Merger Acquisition Startup Bandwidth 243

Up and Running

JUNE 25, 2020

If you want to continue building clout amongst your customers and other businesses, you need to showcase your expertise. This means providing resources, hosting webinars , conducting research studies , and even running Q&A’s through your social channels. Develop additional income streams.

Small Business 180

Small Business Hosting Social Media Community 180

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.). In contrast, startups search for a business model. (Or to optimize this search. to optimize this search.

Wiki 316

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 316

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came early. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business.

Entrepreneur 249

Entrepreneur Merger Bandwidth Acquisition 249

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came early. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business.

Startup 232

Startup Merger Bandwidth Acquisition 232

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2015

Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came quickly. Teaming with another company, or buying another company, can add new geographical locations and new customer segments to the business.

Merger 120

Merger Acquisition Differentiation Channel 120

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

The best drivers apply the brakes just ahead of the curve (they take out excess costs), turn hard toward the apex of the curve (identify the short list of projects that will form the next business model), and accelerate hard out of the curve (spend and hire before markets have rebounded). Progressive. Image source ).

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Startups that are searching for a business model need to keep score differently than large companies that are executing a known business model. Yet most entrepreneurs and their VC’s make startups use financial models and spreadsheets that actually hinder their success. Managing the Business. Here’s why.

Balance Sheet 304

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 304

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2010

I taught the class this semester with Ann Miura-Ko a partner at Maples Investments. Our goal is to teach students the key concepts of the startup process and help them understand that a startup is a search for a profitable business model. And learn how to pivot their model as reality intrudes.). Teaching Goals.

Intellectual Property 257

Intellectual Property Business Model Customer Development Distribution 257

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2019

My contribution has been, “Why don’t we design classes more closely modeled to what innovators and entrepreneurs actually do.” Today the capstone class is most often experiential, team-based, hands on, focused around the search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Distribution channels, brand loyalty, etc.

Incubator 332

Incubator Lean Programming Government 332

YoungUpstarts

JULY 5, 2018

Monthly subscription boxes for pet goods, beauty items and apparel have exploded in popularity among consumers lately, and subscription business models have attracted the wide interest of companies from Microsoft to Cadillac to Office Depot. Among the strategies tested by retailers are subscription billing programs.

Programming 113

Programming Bankruptcy Curation Retention 113

Steve Blank

MARCH 11, 2015

And when we do make bets, they’re small bets on incremental products or acquisitions that simply add to the bottom line.”. I suggested the best place to start the conversation is with the 21 st century definition of a startup: A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.

Widget 120

Widget Lean Business Model Metrics 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

How does your business model make money? Good causes such as feeding the world’s hungry may help your marketing but may not sustain a business. The business model has to clearly define who is your customer, market penetration expected, how much customers pay versus total costs and the investment required to sustain cash flow.

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

So what’s wrong the product development model? The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.)

Customer Development 244

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 244

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. Developing O&O (owned & operated) businesses (outside of YouTube).

Networking 366

Networking Media Distribution Video 366

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 14, 2022

Bob is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Acceleration Partners, a global partner marketing agency. They can keep doubling down on advertising with the digital goliaths of today or begin to diversify and invest in other marketing channels, with an eye toward the future. 9:14] How do I find partners? [12:58]

Marketing 87

Marketing Affiliate Channel Software Review 87

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

It’s not a channel, campaign, or tactic. ABM is a full-court press to build powerful engagement with contacts on the channels that they’re most active. How you approach it will depend on your business model and ideal accounts and how (or if) you plan to expand campaigns. ABM isn’t a quick and easy win. Do they get along?

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

This can happen through early marketing, independent of whether you have yet delivered a single product, proven your business model, or have any real customers. Assemble a credible inside advisory board and partners. Investors and potential partners measure your credibility by the quality of your advisors and peer partners.

Advisory Board 199

Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Benchmarks are typically specific to stage/business model/geo. In Rob Go’s words: For seed and Series A deals, investors will also need to see a high-potential team with founder/market fit , a large and attractive market opportunity , and a business model with increasing returns to scale.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 11, 2013

Across our portfolio and in my own entrepreneurial experience, I have seen three main sales models work successfully in scaling B2B sales: 1) Enterprise; 2) Telephone; and 3) Developer-driven. The typical quota for a sales rep varies by type of business model (SaaS vs. perpetual), product gross margin (e.g.,

Sales 50

Sales Technical Review Software Review B2B 50

Growthink Blog

MAY 30, 2018

Here, a great (and for most mature small businesses, under-utilized) solution is to “strengthen the balance sheet” through an outside capital raise. Then, when deal opportunities present themselves - like strategic partnerships, new hires, marketing campaigns, growth-by-acquisitions, etc. Well, get a deal done so that you are!

Balance Sheet 48

Balance Sheet Artificial Inteligence Business Model Acquisition 48

Up and Running

JULY 22, 2019

Well Health Technologies, for instance, was able to continue expanding through a scalable acquisition model. Attracting investors in the early stages helps bring in new partners that are committed to your business. Ask for what you need in order to prove that your business model works. Do not be greedy.

Canada 78

Canada Early Stage Valuation Finance 78

Steve Blank

AUGUST 5, 2010

Fairchild Semiconductor became the progenitor of a flood of Silicon Valley chip companies and at the same time the adoption of the limited partnership as the model for Venture Firms gave VC’s their own profitable business model. One could argue that there’s nothing new here, as Internet distibution models started in 1995.

Lean 263

Lean Internet Silicon Valley Venture Capital 263

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

For this reason, we’ve partnered with Guild members who have experience across different kinds of customers, business models, and distribution channels. This is an initiative that we will continue to refine in the coming years, but we are so excited to be partnering with these Guild members going forward.

Operations 177

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 177

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

This partnership speaks to a core philosophy of the program where we encourage entrepreneurs to get as much customer validation as possible before raising too much money, use other people's channels if you can get to them, don't burn too much cash, and all that good fiscal conservative stuff. Brainscape. The answer to the question is neither.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114