VC Cafe

JUNE 6, 2024

It’s not a surprise, given that entrepreneurs are obsessed with data and metrics, but in the conservative VC market of 2024, it feels even more important for founders to know what ‘good’ looks like and what investors expect. Metric Unremarkable Good Excellent Outlier ARR <$500k $500k-$1.5m $1.5m-$2.5m >$2.5m

B2B 97

B2B Burn Rate Generative AI Retention 97

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Finance has homes in New York, Hong Kong, and London. Finding talent and financing isn’t the only hurdle to overcome on the road to startup success. But it is an important metric for firms in pursuit of explosive growth. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Silicon Valley 149

Silicon Valley Las Vegas Arizona Montana 149

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Finance has homes in New York, Hong Kong, and London. Finding talent and financing isn’t the only hurdle to overcome on the road to startup success. But it is an important metric for firms in pursuit of explosive growth. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Silicon Valley 256

Silicon Valley Las Vegas Phoenix Montana 256

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Very few people turn up with a strong sense of “what we should be doing” or ready to lean into a productive conversation The financials were prepared by the VP of Finance / CFO. Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” There are too many pages. It passes the weight test.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Prescriptive analytics The digital analytics metrics you need to know How to use analytics to improve marketing campaigns Define your mission, goals, and KPIs Set key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure marketing performance What to look for in a digital analytics product 9 tools for your digital analytics stack 1. Conversion rate.

Analytics 106

Analytics Metrics Channel Campaign 106

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.).

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

This required a repeatable and scalable sales process, which required a professional sales staff and a product stable enough that customers wouldn’t return it. While 20th century metrics were revenue and profit, today it’s common for companies to get acquired for their user base. People had to actually pay you for your product.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 25, 2018

Toronto’s Mark Attanasio has spent some 20 years advising businesses at various stages in their development on what it takes to position themselves for growth – whether it’s through traditional transactional activities like management buyouts and mergers and acquisitions or via a public listing on a Canadian stock exchange.

Partner 113

Partner Technical Review Management Due Diligence 113

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

My company, EcoFlow Tech, raised more than one million in sales and achieved our goals of getting customer feedback and generating buzz. However, having a high top-line sales numbers doesn’t necessarily mean you will hit your goals, or even that your campaign was a success. Know what you need in the end.

Campaign 145

Campaign San Francisco Technical Review Flash 145

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 7, 2018

This means finance, operations, sales, and marketing departments as well as leadership can all access the same data. Predictive analytics help determine the most effective markets for adspend, suggesting areas where the product is being well-received and those where the cost of customer acquisition is unreasonably high.

Artificial Inteligence 164

Artificial Inteligence Analytics SCRUM Cofounder 164

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 19, 2022

After having to reduce and rethink our strategy during COVID, we observed that our community and sales have skyrocketed. Especially during challenging times, retention is significantly more crucial than acquisition. 11- Paying attention to metrics. Instead, you should monitor metrics for the whole sector.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Metrics Technical Review North America 120

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 2, 2017

This keeps them aligned with their investors since a $250m exit with modest venture financing raised can be wonderful for all parties, but the same transaction can look awful if your last round was $60m on $300m pre! Here the acquisition becomes more metric-driven and the assumptions around growth and multiples drive the offer.

Technical Review 115

Technical Review Cap Table Acquisition Startup 115

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Btw, the definition of each startup financing stage has changed in the last decade. You need to begin to “instrument” your customer acquisition process with analytics. Step 5: Series, C, D….

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Maybe you are wondering which metrics to track, or whether or not you should take out a loan for your business. Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going. My name is John Bates.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2015

billion dollar sale to Oracle from Bozeman, Montana. Finance has homes in New York, Hong Kong, and London. Finding talent and financing isn’t the only hurdle to overcome on the road to startup success. But it is an important metric for firms in pursuit of explosive growth. Energy is still the domain of Houston and Dubai.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Phoenix Montana 120

Board Effect

DECEMBER 19, 2019

Another vein of thought is that boards should primarily be involved in strategic planning when there is a major event such as a change in the CEO, a major investment opportunity, a looming acquisition, a decline in sales, or an unsolicited takeover bid. Choosing Metrics to Monitor Strategy Implementation.

Management 64

Management Software Review Acquisition Merger 64

Austin Startup

MARCH 26, 2019

25 questions that DTC entrepreneurs should ask themselves before scaling customer acquisition So you run a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand. You just spent a few thousand dollars on advertising and your paid customer acquisition cost (CAC) numbers tested well relative to your best guess for customer lifetime value (LTV).

Technical Review 49

Technical Review Software Review China Acquisition 49

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

B2B2C startups can focus on their core expertise, thanks to business collaborations, and they enjoy a faster route to customer acquisition by tapping into existing customer bases. Their advanced AI platform seamlessly offers unique and highly sought-after access to customer journey metrics and upselling opportunities.

B2C 120

B2C Startup Acquisition Finance 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC. Bottom of the sales funnel. The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2019

Go beyond standard sources of voice of customer data ; better options are: Interview founders (the original “customers”); Thank-you page surveys; Usertesting.com; Mine sales calls; Mine support tickets; Mine Facebook comments ; Mine online reviews. Talk to your finance people: What performance indicators get attention? Tell Don’t Sell.

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Metrics SEO 114

Up and Running

JULY 31, 2014

What is it about your business that made you think you’re going to make it this much in sales and yet somehow you didn’t achieve that. This means you need to set goals in sales and expenses. We really encourage you to think about your sales lines in terms of those big major categories. So think about sales goals.

Software Review 74

Software Review Sales Acquisition Small Business 74

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

This structure allows for alignment on the front end, and real-time flexibility for performance metrics,” says Samira Salman , a family office investor and advisor. . Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

17:07] I’m seeing more and more agencies talk about growth through acquisition – is that a good way to grow? Look, if you work in sales, wanna learn how to sell or just peek at the latest sales news. You can spend on as a risk without putting you outside of the metric. Is that fraught with lots of challenges? [19:44]

CPA 70

CPA Technical Review Revenue Forecast 70

Occam's Razor

JULY 24, 2018

work (collection, processing, reporting, analysis), processes, org structure, governance models, last-mile gaps , metrics ladders of awesomeness , and… so… much… more. Remember, tools, work, processes, org structure, governance models, last-mile gaps, metrics ladders of awesomeness, and… so… much… more. The Implications of Complexity.

Analytics 93

Analytics Framework Metrics Algorithm 93

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 6, 2018

Before raising your B round, you’ll need to be able to show how you can scale sales and marketing and that you are starting to really understand your business. This metric is over 90% for best-in-class startups and is a huge driver for above mentioned LTV. Retention rate: What percentage of users can you retain quarter over quarter?

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Distribution Metrics Retention 150

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Measuring sales and marketing effectiveness of SaaS companies. Lets call this ratio the Customer Acquisition Cost ratio or CAC ratio. Labels: SaaS , sales and marketing , software. Monday, March 10, 2008. Posted by Philippe Botteri. at 8:58 PM. 5 comments: Scot. Anonymous said. 6:02 PM.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

of revenue, force-feeding sales pipelines with an unprofitable product. I know the argument: The pay-back period on sales, marketing, and up-start costs is long, but there’s a profitable result at the end of the tunnel. Marketing, sales, legal, account management, on-boarding, technical guidance, training. But: $1.5R

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

OnlyOnce

JULY 9, 2013

The book is part of the Startup Revolution series that Brad has been working on for a couple years now, including Do More (Even) Faster , Venture Deals , Startup Communities , and Startup Life (with two more to come, Startup Boards and Startup Metrics). What About Sales & Marketing?, Writing a book is a LOT harder than I expected!

Startup 95

Startup Advisory Board Elevator Pitch Forecast 95

ConversionXL

AUGUST 30, 2018

The key is to connect user research to an improved user experience and, in turn, an increase in customer retention, leads, or any other metric for which C-suite members are accountable. According to that same NNG research: Ecommerce sites can expect to double their sales. User research is the foundation for those gains.

Design 111

Design Framework Product Development Technical Review 111

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

They measure their success on metrics that reflect success in execution, and they reward execution. Staff functions in finance, human resources, legal departments and business units developed Key Performance Indicators, processes, procedures and goals to measure, control and execute. This is a big idea. What Does this Mean?

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

Effectively implementing the model requires an analysis of the customer lifecycle taking into consideration various metrics. It then applies four metrics to assess the impact of every step on performance. Getting Customers, according to the above model involves six key steps: Prospects acquisition (S1 – Prospect). Conversion.

SQL 86

SQL Metrics Business Model Revenue 86

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Tailor your marketing and sales plan to attract more people like your ideal customer. Components of this section include: Your marketing and sales plan. Milestones and metrics that you’ll need to hit to be viable. Marketing and sales plan. You will want to know the average sales and rental prices in the area.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

ConversionXL

AUGUST 23, 2017

” I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Chip about customer journey and innovative service metrics. Metrics should be anchored in part to customer outcomes, not granular processes and practices. Their customer journey maps the following path from Discovery to Sales, and Retention. Click to enlarge.

Customer 130

Customer Channel Design Retention 130

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

How do we finance the company, etc. For web startups, this is when the cost of customer acquisition is less than the lifetime value of that customer. Do the metrics show that the business model you’re creating will support the company you’re trying to become? Startup Metrics. Customer Acquisition.

Balance Sheet 304

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 304

Up and Running

MARCH 9, 2022

There are numerous instances where an in-depth view of your business finances can help avoid risks. Everyday business events such as expansion projects, acquisitions, low cash on hand, increased fixed expenses, increased borrowing, and even an increase in sales can be signs that it’s time to reevaluate your business risk.

Equity 136

Equity .Net Balance Sheet Operations 136

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 23, 2011

The sales productivity ratio (measured with the Customer Acquisition Cost or CAC ratio) are also fairly similar for the two groups (except for a small cap dip in Q4 09) and therefore do not explain the difference Why is scale so much rewarded by public markets? sales and marketing. (10). Yahoo Finance. anecdotes. (13).

Software Review 101

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Europe 101