View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

One of our prior investments was an e-commerce company that grew primarily through organic search. Banks invested because they wanted access to our large and growing consumer base or to try to catch the lightning in the bottle of our virally growing payments business. .

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

It’s an impressive portfolio. Business Model Affects Metrics and Exit Criteria Web-based Business Model Exit Criteria In a web-business model you’re looking for traffic, users, conversion, virality, etc – not revenue. I know we have to create something users find valuable (the two-way search, games?)

Customer Development 227

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 227

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

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. Portfolio. (3). McKinsey highlights. (1).

Software Review 63

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

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? Portfolio. (3). In search of Europe's next tech stars. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. A funny video of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle on Cloud Computing. McKinsey highlights. (1). software. (10).

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Venture Capital 48

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

Occam's Razor

MARCH 25, 2014

In earlier posts on this blog, I've simply defined the journey as Acquisition, Behavior and Outcomes. It's just that there are so many and I set myself the challenge to just focus on two metrics each for acquisition, behavior and outcomes. For mobile Acquisition, our critical few metrics stay the same.

Metrics 155

Metrics Marketing Analytics Channel 155

Rob Go

JULY 11, 2013

This isn’t true for every single one of our portfolio companies, but in at least half, we had a thesis about why this company had some sort of unfair advantage or head-start when it comes to getting their product out into the market. Some products have what look like great viral loops, but aren’t very successful.

Distribution 66

Distribution Vertical Viral B2B 66

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Here are some example metrics that are important at this overall level: CAC – total cost to acquire a customer (see previous blog post Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition to understand why this is so important.) At OpenView, we try to instill this discipline and capability in each of our portfolio companies from Day 1.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

A few times per year, Bessemer organizes a CxO event for our portfolio companies and we decided to focus our first session of 2008 on Software-as-a-service (SaaS). This invite-only event for our portfolio companies and close friends of the firm was designed to be fairly intimate and interactive. Labels: Portfolio , SaaS , software.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Lets call this ratio the Customer Acquisition Cost ratio or CAC ratio. Portfolio. (3). In search of Europe's next tech stars. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. A more accurate benchmark would then be to divide the incremental GM (annualized) in a given quarter by the S&M expenses of the previous quarter.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Occam's Razor

APRIL 29, 2013

1 Search Results Ranking = SEO Success. 1 Search Results Ranking = SEO Success. When you search for a brand or a category term, most companies, small or big, want to show up number one in the search results. The main reason, as all decent SEOs will tell you, is that search results are no longer standardized.

Metrics 166

Metrics Marketing Search SEO 166

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

The top performing SaaS companies typically achieve annual customer renewal rates above 90% - with most of the churn due to death (bankruptcies) or marriage (acquisitions) - and over 100% renewals on a dollar value basis due to up-sells into this installed base. upfront acquisition cost, making the CLTV equal to $2.5-$0.7= means a $0.7

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 26, 2021

You can listen to the podcast here, or search for Greymatter Podcast in your podcatcher. All viral products are somewhat spammy, but I think we’ve become too spammy in the following ways, and here are some techniques we should be using instead.” This essay is based on Part 2 of a two-part episode of the Greymatter Podcast.

Startup 36

Startup Equity Early Stage Green 36