Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. Innovate In the early years of a startup there is a lot of kinetic energy of enthusiastic innovators looking to launch a product that changes how an industry works.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? Top-line metrics are indicators of success, not the one bar to clear to raise funding for your startup.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 29, 2023

Essential Metrics for Comprehensive Customer Journey Analysis Conversion Rates Conversion Rates are fundamental metrics in evaluating the effectiveness of each touchpoint within the customer journey. By optimizing engagement levels, you not only improve the customer experience but also increase the likelihood of successful conversions.

Metrics 145

Metrics Customer Harvest Acquisition 145

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 29, 2023

By understanding the preferences and needs of potential customers, businesses can tailor their communication and offerings, increasing the likelihood of conversions and long-term customer relationships. As a result, they experienced a 25% increase in new customer acquisitions.

Lead Generation 124

Lead Generation Software Review Software Technical Review 124

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. Customer acquisition cost.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Here are some recent great posts that I’ve come across that generally fall in the intersection of startups and CTOs. Of course, one of the best ideas around this is to have Negative Customer Acquisition Costs. Of course, one of the best ideas around this is to have Negative Customer Acquisition Costs. Great stuff.

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

It’s a conversion killer. But there are no absolutes in conversion optimization —what works for one site or business doesn’t work for another. We built a near-frictionless sign-up flow with a 96% conversion rate. We’re a startup in a dynamic industry and without extravagant resources. We’ve learned that the hard way.

Acquisition 67

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Mobile 67

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. The other day I posted some advice on Twitter that I just did free-formed from thoughts going through my head from recent conversations. There’s many more concepts I could have written about.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Click-Through Rate Definition The Conversion Rate Formula: How to Calculate Conversion Rate Bounce Rate: Everything You Want to Know and More How To Calculate and Increase Customer Lifetime Value PPC Click-Through-Rate: What it Means and How to Use It (and Improve It) How to Track and Improve Ecommerce Customer Acquisition Effectiveness.

Metrics 105

Metrics Analytics Marketing Acquisition 105

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

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

Indeed, historically, Twitter traffic has had one of the lowest conversion rates compared to other social media giants. Yet Twitter can be a reliable source of both clicks and conversions. I still use hashtags for tweeting my articles but keep conversion-oriented tweets (i.e., How to earn clicks and conversions on Twitter.

Conversion 68

Conversion Social Media Search Campaign 68

Haystack

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

I have fielded many startup pitches for podcast-related startups and basically said “no” to each one. 5/ Underlying RSS Technology Not Optimal For 21st Century Media. Again, I hope to be proven wrong — I could’ve invested in Gimlet and today I wish I had.

Acquisition 134

Acquisition Media Audio Technical Review 134

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

It’s a very important concept for me because in a startup you are constantly under pressure and have way too many distractions. Commitment & urgency are key drivers of success in startup businesses. I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. Customer Acquisition. On measurement.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

At our mid-year offsite our partnership at Upfront Ventures was discussing what the future of venture capital and the startup ecosystem looked like. Pitchbook estimates that there is about $290 billion of VC “overhang” (money waiting to be deployed into tech startups) in the US alone and that’s up more than 4x in just the past decade.

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

These are people that didn’t make their money through a tech startup or startup investing. Some of these folks are founders and CEOs, but not at high-growth tech startups. They might not understand how a pre-revenue startup could be worth anything, let alone be valued at $5mm. Perhaps they inherited it.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

I was reading Danielle Morrill’s blog post today on whether one’s “ Startup Burn Rate is Normal. I love how transparently Danielle lives her startup (& encourages other to join in) because it provides much needed transparency to other startups. ” I highly recommend reading it.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Prospect trial to conversion rates fell with the longer trials. Growth marketing borrows a concept from the lean startup methodology. Growth hacking is a term that emerged from the Silicon Valley tech community and the lean startup methodology. The results? It isn’t about finding quick hacks to boost short-term revenue.

Framework 102

Framework Marketing Acquisition Retention 102

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

However, sound investors would do well to remember that although their prevalence has certainly made these industries a popular topic of conversation, they are by no means the only viable option for significant returns. Private equity investments offer access to growth in more scaled businesses. Photo by Tiger Lily from Pexels.

Private Equity 140

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 140

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

In this post, we’re sharing how ASO helps you increase traffic and downloads, the specific on-metadata vs. off-metadata factors that matter, and how to leverage ASO mechanics to maximize conversions. How to leverage app store optimization (ASO) to improve app visibility, conversion rates, and retention.

Metadata 121

Metadata Technical Review Retention Metrics 121

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 24, 2020

Regardless, consider the following if you are looking for an effective way to really push forward and improve your web traffic and new customer acquisition. Improve Conversions. The post Top Reasons To Improve Your Website Design appeared first on The Startup Magazine. Give Former Customers a Reason To Visit. Author Bio.

Design 157

Design SEO Engineer Web Development 157

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 161

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 161

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2022

Let’s say your startup is using monthly active users as your NSM. It’s been good for measuring growth so far, but you’ve identified that 80% of your users are on the free plan, and it’s time to focus on conversion. To achieve this, sales will need to focus on metrics such as conversion rate and average deal size (measured in users).

Metrics 120

Metrics Acquisition Revenue .Net 120

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 1, 2013

The key thesis was this: if an Internet company could obsess about only one metric, it should be conversion. Yet despite the remarkable power of this metric, it is alarming how few companies today truly understand conversion and how to optimize it. Customer acquisition efforts are pervasive in our industry.

Metrics 93

Metrics Conversion Internet Acquisition 93

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is an important metric for any ecommerce business. Put simply, you need a healthy customer acquisition cost for your business to succeed. It’s up to every ecommerce business to find the middle ground between investing too little in customer acquisition and spending beyond your means.

Acquisition 22

Acquisition eCommerce Cost Customer 22

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 296

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 296

The Startup Magazine

JULY 5, 2020

It is an ongoing process where you need to keep constant tabs on important numbers such as organic visits, conversions, and lead acquisition rates. The post 5 Content Marketing Tips For Getting More Customers appeared first on The Startup Magazine. Marketing is not a “set it and forget it” project.

Customer 178

Customer Marketing Reputation Software Review 178

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2023

I’ll start by taking you to the world of Startup X, a passionate team of entrepreneurs who believed they had the next big thing in the world of software as a service (SaaS). It’s disheartening, but sadly, this is one experience that many startup founders face. Do you find yourself and your project in a similar position?

Design 105

Design Product Churn Rate Architecture 105

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2022

For maximum value with the least effort, focus on only the “what ifs” that are the highest priority in your mind for your own startup. What if your customer acquisition cost assumptions have to change? The cost to acquire a customer, or traffic to conversion ratios, are critical to the success of most startups.

Conversion Ratio 368

Conversion Ratio Startup Business Model eCommerce 368

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

This philosophy comes from The Lean Startup methodology , which relies on testing hypotheses to better understand your customers’ pain points and goals. It can also be helpful for startups looking to expand without the resources to branch out beyond their existing target markets. Acquisitions. Customer experience improvements.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

He’ll be speaking at this year’s Lean Startup Conference , and also has a new book (for which I very happily wrote a short foreword) coming out next month: Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It. It used to be that startups went public about 6-7 years from founding; that number is now 10-12 years.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference The Lean Startup Conference is next week--and now that we can step back and see all the speakers and mentors, we have to say: Wow. He’ll talk about making a profit and making a difference in a conversation with New Media Ventures’ Christie George.

Lean 165

Lean Fractional CTO Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE 165

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Startups need to survive and thrive on a shoestring budget, which is why it’s based on rapid experimentation. 500 Startups founder and entrepreneur Dave McClure created this model as a way for growth hackers to optimize the speed of their sales and marketing efforts in generating results. Acquisition. Image source. Activation.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

VC Cafe

MAY 17, 2023

billion acquisition by Google for Waze and $900M Moovit acquisition by Intel) Uri has also been involved in various startups, especially on the consumer front, as an angel investor. It starts from how founders pitch their startups. The true goal is to address a problem , with the solution serving as a conduit to that end.

Founder 103

Founder Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286