Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Between January 2015 and January 2016, we grew our platform Slidebean from $1K to $20K in monthly recurring revenue. Getting the first tracks of revenue is one of the toughest processes of building a startup. 1x hacker in charge of product/development. 1x hipster working with both product and growth.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. And I can even imagine cases where it might burn more cash than a traditional startup. Lets see why.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2017

Reporting in the Harvard Business Review on a major study of growth stalls they conducted, Olson and his colleagues cite the case of the iconic brand Levi Strauss, which hit a historic high mark of sales in 1995, reaching revenue of $7 billion, but then, starting in 1996, saw a decline in sales so precipitous that by 2000, revenue was down to $4.6

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Algorithm Channel Analytics 127

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

is an elegant way to model any service-oriented business: Acquisition Activation Retention Referral Revenue We used a very similar scheme at IMVU, although we werent lucky enough to have started with this framework, and so had to derive a lot of it ourselves via trial and error. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?)

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

Because they used the magic term ‘personas,‘ development teams were discouraged from developing their own, not realising that a market segment might contain multiple personas. Development teams couldn’t use marketing personas to make design decisions, so they decided personas weren’t that useful. (It Career background?

Software Review 115

Software Review Design Agile Analytics 115

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2018

mobile is ~50% of revenue, shorter form works better. Embed blog videos hosted on facebook so you can track consumption and advertise to them. Flip your funnel – only 5% of revenue comes from optimisation but 92% of revenue from retention. In an A/A test the distribution of p-values is random.

Retention 106

Retention Artificial Inteligence Channel Email 106

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

Then they increased their revenue from $2M to $6M in six months. In this article, you’ll learn how to build a demand generation funnel that fuels the pipeline, shortens the sale cycle, and generates revenue. Your number one metric for any marketing initiative should be revenue. Like SEO, demand generation is a long game.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

ConversionXL

MARCH 7, 2017

Because they used the magic term ‘personas’, development teams were discouraged from developing their own, not realising that a market segment might contain multiple personas. Development teams couldn’t use marketing personas to make design decisions, so they decided personas weren’t that useful. (It Career background?

Software Review 102

Software Review Design Agile Analytics 102

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 27, 2022

Are there ways that you’ve seen local businesses use this in a way that might effectively drive revenue? [19:23] I mean, you think back in 2008, you think about early advertising and banner ads. One is, you know, potentially revenue. 19:23] What’s next for businesses on Facebook? [22:24]

Community 69

Community New York Small Business New York City 69

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

One is explaining the world as it used to work: the importance of gatekeepers, the scarcity implied by limited distribution, and the resulting quality bar that the industry is so proud of. Mostly it is the time and expense required to create the means of distribution for that industry. It’s just taking some longer than others.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 24, 2014

Just get it done” is fine when entrepreneurs are starting out, but not when the work is distributed to a bigger team. To help build new product development and venture teams, my colleague Rob Goldberg, of Stages of Innovation , created an assessment tool called Talent for Growth.

Startup 252

Startup Angel Investor Early Stage LLC 252

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2016

Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Resist the urge to delegate accounting decisions, under the assumption that incoming revenue takes the pressure off. Real growth requires new and innovative ways to find customers, as well as old-fashioned advertising and email blasts. Don’t give up your dream too early.

Social Media 120

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 260

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 260

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

The key differentiator being the product-level focus vs. the channel-level focus of traditional marketing effort. Optimization is a huge part of growth, specifically optimization applied across the entire product experience, not just on websites and landing pages, where CRO has traditionally been highlighted.

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

You declare how much someone clicking an advertisement is worth to you, and then the search engine does its best to get you as many clicks as it can at that price. And one day a remarkable thing happened: we started making more than five dollars a day in revenue. SEM is a simple idea. How to listen to customers, and not just the loud.

SEM 164

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 164

Start Up Blog

JULY 13, 2015

They have built successful systems on great decisions made ‘yesterday’ Systems which include offices, staffing, manufacturing, distribution, advertising, new product development, revenue streams, most everything… And so the best question any company facing change can ask is this: What would we do if we started today?

Australia 48

Australia Government Distribution Advertising 48

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

People had a terrible experience using their product. After turning their attention toward feedback and testing, letting the voice of their customers fuel their content strategy and product development, they took off. The introductory stage is rarely profitable because of high distribution and promotion expenses but low sales.

Product 102

Product Marketing Social Media Channel 102

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

So instead of just being the department that makes pretty pictures or the department that spews out advertising or that makes cold calls or that tries to convert customers using all manner of collateral material, marketing the function actually becomes that which builds and creates customers, which we’re now calling audiences.

Cost 37

Cost Marketing Audience Media 37

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 21, 2013

For example, in the revenue stage—where the company is busy growing revenues and pouring a percentage of them back into user acquisition—there are several places where analytics and iteration can help increase revenues. More people means adding users, ideally through virality or word of mouth, but also through paid advertising.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167

K9 Ventures

APRIL 28, 2010

The fund focuses on investing in companies that meet the following necessary but not sufficient criteria: Technical Founders : The founding team needs to be capable of building its own product and have the technical chops to make it happen. Technical Product : The product must have some technical depth.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage San Francisco IP Portfolio 61

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

CrunchBase Information Seth Sternberg meebo Information provided by CrunchBase Tweet Next Post Previous Post Advertisement Now Commented Facebook Firesheep In Wolves’ Clothing: Extension Lets You Hack Into Twitter, Facebook Accounts Easily NSFW: Changing the world via Twitter? But at the end of the day, it is about a product being accepted.

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 66

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

These are areas that may be gaps in the portfolio of large companies, and are perfect for M&A deals in three to five years after building enough validation and $10-$20 million in revenue. Raymond has built a nice business through efficient distribution deals and will do about $250,000 in revenue this year.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

These are areas that may be gaps in the portfolio of large companies, and are perfect for M&A deals in three to five years after building enough validation and $10-$20 million in revenue. Raymond has built a nice business through efficient distribution deals and will do about $250,000 in revenue this year.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Small Business Force

MARCH 8, 2013

Net, net, strategic partnerships , whether to expand sales channels in specific vertical or geographic markets, or to expand product offerings, or joint development of new products, enable entrepreneurs to add resources while conserving capital.In effect, each company brings something the other lacks or wants.

Partner 37

Partner Small Business .Net Vertical 37

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Or should I launch products and a startup for each of them, focusing on only 1 product at a time? I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Do that – nothing else but one product / company / focus and get to $1M in sales with atleast $15% net profit. do something else.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Software By Rob

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

Building a product involves a large up-front time investment , and as a result is far riskier than becoming a consultant because you have to wait months to find out if your effort will generate revenue. In addition, growing a product to the point of providing substantial income is a long, arduous road. at 9:05 am [.]

Software Review 42

Software Review Software Product Salary 42

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Update: Part 2: Finding Your Co-Founders CrunchBase Information Seth Sternberg meebo Information provided by CrunchBase Tweet Next Post Previous Post Advertisement Now Commented Facebook Goodbye, MacBook Pro. I too am looking for someone to work with that knows the manufacturing and distribution end of a solid product.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

This single decision wound up costing the company significant revenue and over the course of several months sent its customer growth into decline. We kept denying that we had done anything wrong, that the features still worked as advertised, and justifying our decisions instead of apologizing. We couldn’t have been more wrong.

Community 158

Community Management Lean Software Review 158

Occam's Razor

APRIL 23, 2012

Most content sites are currently monetized using display advertising, most commonly on a Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) basis. That incentive removes a focus from the important entity, your customer, and places it on the secondary entity, your advertiser. Revenue vs. Economic Value. But it gets worse. Just like Yahoo!

Metrics 152

Metrics Analytics Search Channel 152