The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 16, 2024

Utilize Social Media Platforms to Widen Campaign Reach In this day and age, neglecting to use social media platforms as a channel for promoting your limited-time offers and flash sales can be considered a serious oversight.

Flash 139

Flash Sales Campaign Social Media 139

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

First up, Priyanshu Harshavat, from Evanston, Illinois, presented Socioclean , a service for cleaning up your reputation on social networks. Chris is primarily trying to assess his customer acquisition strategy, which requires that people see the game being played. His customer acquisition strategy, however, needs a lot of work.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Its also been interesting to see the interaction of tools involved - Social Networking, Blogging and a Discussion Group. It seems that four different models of "discussion creation" have occurred: Organice Discussion - someone posts something interesting, lots of bloggers post on the topic, distributed discussion ensues.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 263

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2018

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 130

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 exist ), or another dating site (over 2500 in the US alone). Business risks are not just development risks. As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 160

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Metrics .Net 160

ReadWriteStart

MAY 3, 2011

and SEO as two of the most effective and affordable customer acquisition strategies. First up, Raj Sheth from Bangalore, India, presented Recruiterbox , a SaaS recruitment management tool for small businesses, with co-founders Raghu Kancherla and Girish Redekar. and an affiliate program would also help with customer acquisition.

Acquisition 115

Acquisition SEO San Francisco India 115

Austin Startup

APRIL 27, 2019

Cotter bucks the flavor-of-the-day entrepreneurial stereotype: the college dropout popularized by both our own Michael Dell and recently Mark Zuckerberg and the great movie The Social Network. the business was the same and through acquisitions it became to be worth $1.33 Our pivot wasn’t a business model pivot?—?it

B2C 51

B2C Austin Cofounder IPO 51

View from Seed

APRIL 24, 2019

Couple that noise with the flurry of AI/messaging startups from a few years back (set off by Facebook’s WhatsApp acquisition), in conjunction with app developers’ notification euphoria… all of which have resulted in a state on our mobile phones where “ our brains being overloaded with push notifications about nothing.”.

SMS 207

SMS San Francisco Channel Dilution 207

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

After the dot.com bubble collapsed, venture investors spent the next three years doing triage, sorting through the rubble to find companies that weren’t bleeding cash and could actually be turned into businesses. Tech IPOs were a receding memory, and mergers and acquisitions became the only path to liquidity for startups.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Guerilla Startup Acquisition 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 active ), or another dating site (over 2500 in the US alone). Business risks are not just development risks. As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 161

Intellectual Property Metrics .Net Social Network 161

The Equity Kicker

DECEMBER 2, 2014

More importantly, having money coming in the door puts you in a much more powerful position when it comes to your next round of funding or acquisition talks. The TypePad approach—taking the high-end position in the market—makes for a great business model in the right market. Less support. Less scalability concerns. Less abuse.

Startup 121

Startup Acquisition eCommerce Social Network 121

Steve Blank

APRIL 15, 2011

This week they were testing one of the most confusing sections of a company’s business model – Customer Relationships - the activities used to “Get, Keep and Grow” customers in a physical or virtual (web or mobile) channel. But the big project for the week was testing and analyzing Customer Acquisition Costs. Can the D.C.

Customer 261

Customer Cloud EC2 Channel 261

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 28, 2012

IBM has just announced the acquisition of social recruitment business Kenexa for $1.3bn, the latest of a string of ‘social’ enterprise software businesses to be acquired this year. The first major acquisition of a social business was Salesforce’s acquisition of Radian6 for $326m nearly 18 months ago.

Vertical 94

Vertical Acquisition eCommerce Flash 94

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 active ), or another dating site (now over 2500 in the US alone). Business risks are not just development risks. As a startup investor in this age of the entrepreneur, I see many more startups, but innovation is still hard to find. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Metrics .Net 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 26, 2016

Today these potential adversaries are able to harness the power of social networks, encryption, GPS, low-cost drones, 3D printers, simpler design and manufacturing processes, agile and lean methodologies, ubiquitous Internet and smartphones. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community are now facing their own disruption from ISIS.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley North Korea Agile Lean 120

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

eBay was ultimately unable to generate sufficient profits and synergies from the acquisition. They devalued the company and sold 70% of the business to private investors in 2009. Questionable business model. Unique social networking product. This was a great service, but it generated very little income.

IPO 162

IPO Exit Strategy San Francisco Startup 162

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Homebuyer (Cincinnati, OH) Dan Green, CEO Homebuyer is a lead nurture system for mortgage lenders that reduces customer acquisition costs and increases per-loan profits. Techstars funds all types of startups, working across all verticals, applying all types of business models.

Austin 62

Austin Curation Startup Dallas 62

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

In the trailer below, Brad Pitt in describing the new player acquisition philosophy, says "we are card counters at the blackjack table were going to turn the odds at the casino" I look forward to checking out the movie and seeing if RSCM can exploit the odds on early stage investing. A Lot of Horn Tooting over a Kazoo sized deal.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

1) Your idea is undifferentiated Investors see thousands of businesses a year. And, your idea is 50th social networking site of the week. 3) Your business model seems flawed OR is not the right fit I talked a lot about unit economics and sales cycles in my last post.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

The Next Web

AUGUST 17, 2013

Sangeet Paul Choudary analyzes business models for Internet startups at his blog Platform Thinking. Activation, not acquisition, holds the key. For a social network, friending/following a certain number of users could signal commitment. You can follow him on Twitter where he is @sanguit. Simple and intuitive ?rst

Mobile 133

Mobile Design PR Social Network 133

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

1) Your idea is undifferentiated Investors see thousands of businesses a year. And, your idea is 50th social networking site of the week. 3) Your business model seems flawed OR is not the right fit I talked a lot about unit economics and sales cycles in my last post.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 13, 2012

Then Gaurav Dahake from IIT KGP pitched BUYHatke , a penny auction site that is considering three primary segments with a consumer-to-consumer e-commerce business model: net-savvy housewives, IT and BPO professionals, and college students with Internet access. Univect Education Solutions.

India 117

India Entrepreneur Asia Programming 117

Up and Running

APRIL 27, 2012

These students are typically attracted to Internet and technology start-ups, given that these share favourable industry characteristics such as significant addressable markets, low barriers to entry, modest initial capital requirements and relatively low costs of customer acquisition. These entrepreneurs soon find out it is not.

Metrics 68

Metrics Nigeria Ratchet Churn Rate 68

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

I am not arguing that distribution has been commoditized, but it does point to the fact that the bar has certainly been raised for what meaningful traffic/distribution means without a business model behind it. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks.

Distribution 103

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 103

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

I am not arguing that distribution has been commoditized, but it does point to the fact that the bar has certainly been raised for what meaningful traffic/distribution means without a business model behind it. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks.

Distribution 100

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

The movie, “The Social Network” might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. The numbers of potential buyers had decreased dramatically both because large companies were shedding jobs and because many past buyers simply lacked resources to make acquisitions.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

Besides the natural fit with eBay, he wanted the buyer to feel good following the acquisition and certainly the investors in StubHub were happy. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? All of this only helps for the next venture. Heres another bonus lesson. ► January. (1).

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

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. few years ago I also started following Alexander Osterwalder in his blog about his Business Model Generation -mantra. What truth?

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

ConversionXL

APRIL 24, 2019

Buffett, when thinking of low-cost production moats, uses GEICO (another Berkshire Hathaway acquisition) as an example. Social networks have their own switching costs. A business model that requires a strong network effect is a long play. The network effect is a powerful moat. Image source ).

Non-Compete 122

Non-Compete United States Networking Acquisition 122

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

The LinkedIn acquisition of CardMunch a few weeks ago caught my attention. Techcrunch called it one of the " most like-minded and forward-thinking acquisitions I’ve ever seen " I met with the founders of CardMunch several months ago when they were out raising their Series Seed round. The last blogger in Silicon Valley.

Acquisition 31

Acquisition San Jose Angel Investor IPO 31

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Needless to say, this isn’t a business model that works in the pandemic world. Frequently, however, you need to pivot your business model and find new ways to make money. Business model evolution is the rule, not the exception. The only problem was, we didn’t have a working business model.

Startup 36

Startup Silicon Valley Business Model Mobile 36

SoCal CTO

MAY 4, 2010

Some great posts from April 2010 that talk to me in terms of being a CTO at a Startup. Redeye VC , April 13, 2010 Startup Development - SoCal CTO , April 23, 2010 Want to Know the Difference Between a CTO and a VP Engineering?

CTO Hire 150

CTO Hire Vesting Venture Capital Startup 150

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

I took a look back at our original financial model we presented to VCs in 2004. The business model (OEM through broadband and home security companies for mass distribution) if not specific product functionality has remained largely the same. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"?

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

Customer Acquisition Cost or CAC is how much money you can spend to get someone to become a customer. There is logic behind your thinking of how to determine which CAC is right for your business model. You can be the sales guy or gal with all the tools you need at your fingertips ­ email, phone, social networks, etc.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

always focus on the business model and assumptions, but there are too many unknowns to put much faith in the future cash flow projections. Blink starts with the anecdote of the Getty Museums $10 million acquisition of a rare Greek statue dating from the 6th century BC. I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwells Blink.

San Jose 33

San Jose Angel Investor Venture Capital Mezzanine 33