Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

This is a common problem that results from viral-loop optimization. By copying the exact same registration flow as every other successful viral app, many viral apps completely lose their positioning. Heres why I dont think engagement loops are that helpful: unlike viral loops, its not bad if its not self-sustaining.

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. Their product development team is hard at work on a next-generation product platform, which is designed to offer a new suite of products – but this effort is months behind schedule.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 15, 2017

Practically speaking, the burning need was to begin hiring employees so that I could spend more of my day on product development, partnerships and driving sales. We don’t have a budget that has to be spent so I wanted to think outside of online acquisition. Where have you invested energy for a brand presence and why?

Marketing 48

Marketing Design Acquisition Bootstrapping 48

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

It has been awesome, flattering, and humbling to see that post went viral and has been seen by so many thousands of people — mainly aspiring entrepreneurs — and has been translated into many languages. Likewise, not a single designer gets approved to sell on Fab without Bradford’s input, review, and approval. Less is more.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

In the Udemy course, Alistair and Ben expand these basics into a description of how to create empathy, stickiness, virality, revenue, and scale. Stickiness, Ben and Alistair say, is where people move on too quickly--they don’t make sure they really have a product that has the right features and functionality to meet their customers’ needs.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

However, due to B2B market saturation, customer acquisition costs are rising ; this digital marketing strategy of giving a little and getting a lot no longer works. You’ve completed customer research for your product development and positioning strategy. Obsessing over going viral. email, ads, retargeting, etc.)

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

Others would go even further and say it is better to launch half a product than a half-assed product. The Four Steps to the Epiphany (highly recommended book by Steve Blank) preaches for customer development before product development, advocating a quick launch with a minimal feature set rather than a full fledged product offering.

Lean 120

Lean Customer Development Audience Viral 120

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 20, 2012

In established companies, the MRD process ensures that engineering will build a product that appeals to existing customers in a known market, where customers and their needs are known. On a startup’s first day, there’s limited - if any - customer input for creating a formal product specification. They understand they have a problem.

Customer 119

Customer Advisory Board Engineer Cofounder 119

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

The App Store is a channel for customer acquisition. This is completely analogous to the situation elsewhere on the internet, where launching a new website, product, or service with PR is getting harder and harder. On the web, we have many of these channels: SEM, SEO, world of mouth, PR and viral. So what can you do?

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Software By Rob

AUGUST 5, 2010

The knowledge that you need 10,000 hours to master a subject, that certain trends become viral after the 412th person adopts it, or that you should make your product remarkable, is not going to help you launch. Nor will it save you a single minute during product development, or sell one more copy of your application.

Founder 78

Founder Startup Software Review Software 78

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

” April, 2012 – Andrew Chen writes Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing , which goes viral (2.4K Startups are designed for astronomical growth. Now, people begin defining growth hacking as a process, a systematic approach, a “viral loop”, etc. ” But what do other growth marketers think?

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2018

Understand: funnel analyis to identify opportunities – 75K people / day werent able to login because of a bad login screen design. Optimize for retention, not just acquisition. To understand acquisition you must understand lifetime value. Dropbox: first achieved growth through virality. Increased engagement.

Retention 106

Retention Artificial Inteligence Channel Email 106

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

When Zuckerberg started Thefacebook.com he was a PHP coder (translation: not a real developer). You don't need a self-designated 10x imbe. I mean a rockstar developer, you need a reliable, steady, bull-like technical partner. Even a beginner and mediocre developer can instill life into your mock-ups and bring the MVP live.

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Or look at MailChimp, a startup-turned-$400-million-revenue-machine that is always creating viral campaigns that set them above their competition, like this recent “Did You Mean Mailchimp” one. Recently, I designed a strategic marketing campaign for a company called Help Scout —a helpdesk software tool. Designing in real time.

Campaign 134

Campaign Marketing Design Differentiation 134