Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

The concept of free goods and services to get you hooked, financed by deep pockets, or advertising, seems marginally ethical to many. Startup productivity is embodied in key ratios, including low cost of customer acquisition, high retention, and high revenue per employee. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

Cracking the Code

MARCH 12, 2010

The SaaS growth recovery does not seem to take a "V" shape 2) Sales productivity is ramping up: bottom was hit in the first half of 2009 However, the sales and productivity of the group, measured by the median "Customer Acquisition Cost ratio" or "CAC ratio", seems to be recovering more steeply. Finance Dissertation Help.

Software Review 63

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

While poised with a limited number of transactions this year, the world of public Cloud Computing and SaaS companies has been marked by two events in the past few months: the acquisition of Omniture by Adobe and the high profile IPO of LogMeIn, a leading provider of PC remote access and support with a very interesting freemium model.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

ConversionXL

JULY 7, 2020

Even industries like finance can gain traction on Pinterest. Since finance is one of the most competitive and expensive niches on Google Ads , it’s a unique—if challenging—opportunity on Pinterest. They did it by: Focusing on personal finance, which allows them to showcase moving stories of individuals. But it can be done.

Marketing 114

Marketing Viral Campaign Search 114

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

What are your hypotheses around customer acquisition costs? Actually engage in “search engine marketing” (SEM)spend $20 as a team to test customer acquisition cost. change messaging on site during the week to get costs lower, team that gets lowest delta costs wins. Get real costs from suppliers.

Wiki 316

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 316

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 8, 2009

But does Larry hate cloud computing that much or is he hiding a potential future acquisition of Salesforce.com? Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. McKinsey highlight #1: the art of cost cutting or. Yahoo Finance. A funny video of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle on Cloud Computing. Software 2.0: ► 2006. (7).

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Venture Capital 48

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He’s personally led more than 50 financing rounds. Rumored to have turned down acquisition offers from Yahoo and Facebook. Offers virality optimization tools and A/B testing inside Facebook. Offers two products: Palantir Government and Palantir Finance. It’s part of what makes him so likable. Foursquare. -A

San Francisco 248

San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Working backwards means looking at the components that make up Profitability: Profits (EBITDA) = Revenue – Cost of Goods Sold – Expenses So to focus the management team on driving profitability, we should also track and measure Revenue, CoGS, and Expenses. Let’s take the first of these, Profitability, and work backwards. Obvious, isn’t it?

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

Now the new plan for distribution is facilitation through low-cost viral strategies via Facebook and other social media. In fact, Facebook literally published a playbook just over a week ago on marketing virally through their platform. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks. is a progression in thinking.

Distribution 103

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 103

Spencer Fry

JUNE 29, 2011

The Viral Strategy. We're all familiar with the idea of viral user acquisition: Your current users invite other users to use your service. Foursquare and similar viral success stories (Instagram, etc.) You want to be able to track how new viral users are coming into your system.

Philippines 77

Philippines Viral Bootstrapping Europe 77

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

Now the new plan for distribution is facilitation through low-cost viral strategies via Facebook and other social media. In fact, Facebook literally published a playbook just over a week ago on marketing virally through their platform. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks. is a progression in thinking.

Distribution 100

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 100

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%. They need a combination of capital and experience to separate from the rest of the pack – the low cost of starting a business means it is even more vital to become the market leader more quickly. The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 15, 2017

Why take on the costs of space, salespeople, etc? I’ve spent most of my corporate career in online acquisition marketing and while the numbers always start out nice, there will always be a ceiling of how much profitable marketing one can do through the web. HW: For a few years you were online only but now have SF, NYC and Tokyo stores.

Marketing 48

Marketing Design Acquisition Bootstrapping 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 11, 2015

When Elon Musk received $200 million from the proceeds of the PayPal acquisition in 2002, he re-invested everything to build the next big thing: $100 million in SpaceX and $100 million in Tesla. It occurred to him that he should try and find one of the drivers going his way and offer to share petrol costs in exchange for use of an empty seat.

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Churn Rate Silicon Valley Engineer 48

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

It should never be the financing event that dictates whether to shift or not. For example, Dollar Shave Club created a video that went viral. Some metrics that I like to look for are: Lifetime value of a customer, average revenue per buyer, cost of a paying customer, registration rates, etc. Now let’s talk about the metrics.

Metrics 136

Metrics Cofounder Cram Down Liquidity Event 136

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

In addition to the service where you can watch old videos being very compelling, the fact that Jamie has provided this service at such an affordable cost has been a large part of the appeal. Yes, you have to figure out how to finance inventory and sure, it’s harder to iterate products when it involved physical production?—?but

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

You cannot use freemium strategies without this type of user experience (and freemium is the first fundamental change to the cost of customer acquisition). SaaS reduces your sales cost but also means that VC is needed. Sellers get a lower cost of sale/shorter sales cycle and better revenue visibility.

Software 127

Software Startup Architecture Bootstrapping 127

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

They know how much it costs to bring in a customer and they know how much money they can expect to make on each one. Products can find sources of validation with impressive stats along a number of dimensions, such as high engagement, viral coefficient, or long-term retention. involved before we go into production.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Occam's Razor

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

They are slow to grasp new opportunities to rethink customer relationships, to revolutionize products and services, marketing, advertising, acquisition, and to deliver delight and make people happy. Customer acquisition. Re-think Customer Acquisition, Brand Engagement. Why not rethink acquisition? Celebrate a little.

Acquisition 144

Acquisition Mobile Customer Marketing 144

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

One of the things a financing round brings is an opportunity to strengthen the startup’s overall network. Financing can be one of these things. For example, let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and you get one financing offer from one venture capitalist. That’s a no-brainer, right? You have to take the deal…right?

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Some notable metrics are revenue growth rates, free cashflow, leverage ratios, historical financing amounts, returns on marketing spend, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value of customers, customer churn rates, and team social scores. Capital has built a free online tool for founders to calculate their cost of capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Btw, the definition of each startup financing stage has changed in the last decade. These elements of the business model– revenue (pricing, pricing strategy), distribution channel, How to Get/Keep/Grow customers, Key Activities, Resources and Costs – are other, critical parts your start up needs to understand and have in place.

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Lightspeed Venture Partners

JUNE 11, 2012

I concluded that this dynamic, which allowed a startup to take multiple “shots on goal” with a venture capital investment, was what had brought renewed investor interest to gaming, an industry that had largely been financed by publishing deals. Development costs have gone up since 2009, as has production quality and game quality.

IP 114

IP Distribution Viral Mobile 114

Occam's Razor

MAY 19, 2014

The examples cover elements we optimize for in our acquisition ( what are we doing to attract traffic ), behavior ( what happens once they land on our website ) and outcomes ( did we end up making money, were the customers satisfied ) strategies. Raise your hand if you've heard this: "How can we make our video viral?"

Metrics 159

Metrics Analytics SEC Acquisition 159

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2020

In the “tweet heard around the world,” Oreo was able to quickly create a piece of content in real time that went viral and won numerous awards during the Super Bowl a few years ago. One video revolves around a community’s passion for their local soccer club and the sponsorship of the team by a local small business, Low Cost Vans.

Customer 92

Customer Audience Campaign Social Media 92

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Ultimately, finding a low-cost, repeatable way to show customers how to be successful with your solution is as important as the solution itself. You put into words what we were thinking for our cost of client. Michael Kassing. Let me just say "Thanks". You validated our business model and added huge value to our efforts.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Lets call this ratio the Customer Acquisition Cost ratio or CAC ratio. The definition becomes for the last quarter of 2007: CAC Ratio = (GM (Q4 07) - GM (Q307)) x 4 / S&M costs (Q307) A CAC ratio of one would be equivalent to breakeven marginally on a new customer in one year. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

mashable.com

JULY 18, 2012

The search giant’s VP of Corporate Development, along with CEO Larry Page, signs off on the dozens of acquisitions and acqui-hires made every year, large and small. There’s YouTube , of course — well established in its own right, it rewrote the book on how an acquisition can be run delicately, as a company within a company.

San Francisco 104

San Francisco Acquisition Social Media Mobile 104

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Among others, I would quote the Bladelogic IPO, the acquisition of Postini by Google for $625m, the two largest SaaS deals in history signed by Cornerstone OnDemand (160k and 350k seats), Eloqua almost doubling its revenues and LinkedIn adding more than 10m users. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. Yahoo Finance.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

Paypal famously offered customers $5 to invite a friend, who would then also get $5 as part of a highly successful viral marketing campaign (they actually started at $20, and then reduced it to $10 and then ended at $5). It would cost a tremendous amount of money to run such a program. Billions of dollars. Wouldn’t that be great?

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82

ConversionXL

APRIL 6, 2016

Example: “Do you know what a good night’s sleep costs you? Meet regularly – how would you feel if finance only “met when needed.” Fix churn before acquisition – it will flatline growth. Personalizing when the first land for better acquisition. Increase virality –> decrease eCPA.

Retention 48

Retention Algorithm Software Review Conversion 48