ReadWriteStart

APRIL 14, 2011

At the roundtable, five entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to me, and I interacted with them in our usual format, with active participation from the audience. First up, Girish Mathrubootham from Chennai, India, presented Freshdesk , a SaaS solution for multi-channel customer support including knowledge base and social CRM support.

India 126

India Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 126

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

It is particularly satisfying for me to work with these entrepreneurs because I have long believed that India needs to diversify out of pure labor arbitrage. Other discussions on India's need for product companies have also been equally controversial. I like this business very much, and believe it can be a large, and important company.

Entrepreneur 118

Entrepreneur India Technical Review Los Angeles 118

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 31, 2014

There’s nothing wrong with a business that supports you and perhaps an extended family. But if you want to build a scalable startup you need to be asking how you can you get enough customers/users/payers to build a business that can grow revenues past several $100M/year. With 317 million people the U.S. Outside the U.S.

Global 335

Global Australia Silicon Valley China 335

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

This is an open opportunity for an entrepreneur to build a custom solution. Today, the telecom industry charges customers based on fixed price business models for data services. SurgeForth has since graduated to paying customers, and is making good progress. Cion has 18 customers and is considering funding.

Cloud 117

Cloud Fractional CTO Entrepreneur Bandwidth 117

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

This company provides a crowdsourced customer service solution to enterprises. Gio pitched it to me as a crowdsourced BPO, but I think he will have more success if he simply focuses on customer service as his core value proposition. They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

Monetization models, while not yet validated, can come from charging the customer base that is already acquainted with the service, as well as selling the white label solutions to colleges. Chris is primarily trying to assess his customer acquisition strategy, which requires that people see the game being played.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 13, 2011

for the app and has 30,000 customers. He asked me if he should offer the app for free to get more customers. It is much better to grow organically with revenue. Please remember, free is not a business model. Richard is currently charging $1.99 I said, no. Cortese Design Bags. The Free Rider Problem.

Business Model 122

Business Model New Hampshire Dallas Entrepreneur 122

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

This partnership speaks to a core philosophy of the program where we encourage entrepreneurs to get as much customer validation as possible before raising too much money, use other people's channels if you can get to them, don't burn too much cash, and all that good fiscal conservative stuff. The business is already profitable with $2.9

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

ReadWriteStart

MAY 3, 2011

and SEO as two of the most effective and affordable customer acquisition strategies. First up, Raj Sheth from Bangalore, India, presented Recruiterbox , a SaaS recruitment management tool for small businesses, with co-founders Raghu Kancherla and Girish Redekar. and an affiliate program would also help with customer acquisition.

Acquisition 115

Acquisition SEO San Francisco India 115

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

So for this year we try increase our revenue and launch a social campaign to get our customers to be more involved. We wanted our customers contribute their story and showcase their little kids wearing our clothing. #7 – Busiest & Hottest Season. Image Credit: Lisa Chu. It wasn’t easy. Image Credit: Zorik Gordon.

Los Angeles 48

Los Angeles Las Vegas Entrepreneur Phoenix 48

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

I asked her not to assume that investors will be investing in this business idea, at least not until she can acquire some level of validation, which means tens, if not hundreds of thousands of customers, and several partnerships with daily deal sites. Gnosis India. I asked him to abandon this idea and find a better one.

Channel 115

Channel India Bootstrapping Silicon Valley 115

ReadWriteStart

MAY 26, 2011

make so little use of the affiliate business model for monetization purposes? Please use the comments below to give your thoughts and analyses on why you think Twitter is not using the affiliate business model to monetize its immense traffic. This is a question I would like to address to you guys as well. Don't miss it!

Affiliate 117

Affiliate India Nevada Silicon Valley 117

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 2, 2011

In our Business Incubator series of interviews, we have invited many leaders from the industry to come share their best practices and challenges with us. We have also facilitated open discussions on Why Do Business Incubators Fail and Incubator Business Models , which turned out to be animated, active and extremely constructive discussions.

Incubator 114

Incubator San Jose Silicon Valley India 114

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 27, 2016

New suppliers and customers can be found much further afield, and even internationally, literally with the click of a mouse. Globally, SMEs that sell overseas generate average revenues of US$1.5 Right from the start, Jane recognized the potential of exporting and designed a business model comprising physical and online stores.

Small Business 100

Small Business South Korea Colombia Taiwan 100

Up and Running

JULY 23, 2018

A few years back, I was working as a business consultant for a venture located in a small city in India. After one year as a consultant to the business owners, I realized it was not in a position to succeed. The restaurant’s main target customers had always been the people who used the highway.

Salary 72

Salary San Francisco India Bootstrapping 72

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 7, 2017

I’ve built a loyal customer base and by selling directly through image consultants, stylists, at shows and on my website I am able to give my clients top quality at almost wholesale affordable prices. (I Our business has started little bit over a month ago, but we have already had more success that we have expected.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur LLC Cofounder Green 91

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 20, 2011

I reminded him that commercial open source is a classic freemium model, where the free software comes with paid customer support and training. Soren's answer is ambiguous, even though his value proposition and business model are relatively clear and well thought through. So, which one are you, I asked.

Massachusetts 113

Massachusetts Entrepreneur Open Source Silicon Valley 113

The Next Web

AUGUST 30, 2013

To best answer these questions I have highlighted six key pieces of advice for execs who are growing the operations side of their business in an Asian country or the region itself. A company cannot hire out of a hub city like Singapore and expect those individuals to cover Indonesia, India, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Asia 129

Asia Operations Indonesia Thailand 129

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

At today's roundtable, we had entrepreneurs presenting from Brazil, Israel and India. In fact, I was pleased to even see an entrepreneur from Kolkata, India, the city in which I was born and raised. As I keep reiterating, 99% of the businesses that go out for financing get rejected. Overall, I saw several promising businesses.

Brazil 115

Brazil India Entrepreneur 115

Transformify

DECEMBER 2, 2019

As the flow of new projects is hard to predict, business owners prefer to hire on a project basis to match costs and revenue and make the ends meet. Prior to COVID-19 outbreak, Transformify's customers were mostly interested in sourcing talented freelancers and filling roles as quickly as possible.

Software Review 83

Software Review Software Management Matching 83

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Steve Blank

JUNE 10, 2010

Both my parents worked as hard as any Silicon Valley entrepreneur but with a different definition of a successful business model; when they made a profit, they could feed our family. When business was bad they figured out why, adapted and worked harder still. All searching for a sustainable business model.

Silicon Valley 331

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur United States New York City 331

Up and Running

AUGUST 23, 2017

This was the driving force behind our company, which became both a custom design marketplace and a creative platform for designers for learning and showcasing their creative work. Building trust through excellent customer service. One of the biggest challenges we faced was attracting business from U.S. and European markets.

Design 121

Design Startup Social Media India 121

www.chubbybrain.com

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

spent $20 million to get back to the same revenue that I had when I was CEO. created a vastly higher cost structure; I had 80 people mostly on base salaries under $100,000 and was bringing in revenue at the rate of $20 million annually. .”). Not close enough to the customer. We had the wrong business model.

Software Review 79

Software Review Startup Technical Review Vesting 79

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Only after reaching $1M in CMRR should you consider hiring European sales and services execs behind customer demand. Be prepared to cross the desert - SaaS requires R&D and sales expense up front for a multi-year stream of revenue, so it demands enough investment capital to fund 4+ years of runway. 16 comments: BdH. Great list!

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The rest can be outsourced to wherever (Estonia – Skype; someone mentioned digg above; you can even send this junk to India and get it with questionable quality). Thus had to spend hard cash building a half way completed demo outsourced to India. link] SEO India Wonderful!! So, the guy is BS-ting you, people.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 4, 2011

Irit, however, needs to think through some of the details of the business model, pricing model, and positioning. It requires some serious fine-tuning, which will offer guidance on where the best customers are going to be. I like the concept, and there is already a prototype and a pilot case with an advertiser.

Bootstrapping 124

Bootstrapping San Jose Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 124

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com. SMALL BUSINESS. Back to Top « Customer Service. Customer Center. View All Search Results » Subscribe. América Latina.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. 2) Business model-defined funds. These firms also sometimes target startups that serve a specific kind of customer (e.g. B2B vs B2C) within the business model preference. .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

I first met Evangelos Simoudis when he ran IBM’s Business Intelligence Solutions Division and then as CEO of his first startup Customer Analytics. and the emergence of new industries, markets and customers. Evangelos has spent the last 15 years as a Venture Capitalist, first at Apax Partners and later at Trident Capital.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Venture Capital United States Technical Review 120

Life Beyond Code

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

One Million by One Million is a global initiative that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars each in annual revenue and beyond by 2020, thereby creating a trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. 1M/1M Program has a bold mission. This is where numerous ventures fail.

Programming 116

Programming Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 116

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

In the 20 th century startups I was part of, the time to build a first product release was measured in years as we turned out the founder’s vision of what customers wanted. Yet time after time, after the product shipped, startups would find that customers didn’t use or want most of the features. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer.

Restful 243

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 243

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

based in emerging markets: Russia, China, India. If you were part of the first wave of apps to go on the Apple Appstore, you’d likely have hundreds of customer reviews and downloads to show for. who are your customers? These are mostly search engines, portals and news sites (soso.com, baidu.com, 163.com,

Russia 68

Russia Hosting Differentiation Social Network 68

Lightspeed Venture Partners

DECEMBER 3, 2010

The online video networks are doing terrific business, and even Yahoo is benefiting from increased brand spend, seeing revenue growth for the first time in a while. Real time web usage outpaces business models. Automotive and CPG in particular are both seeing significantly increased online budgets.

Internet 114

Internet eCommerce Advertising Flash 114

sivers.org

JUNE 25, 2010

Also important: Only go for providers who have great reviews from many past customers. The programmer will probably not understand your business model, and therefore cant help you point out anything that doesnt make sense in the requirements. Or if prototype is good enough to sell, sell it to customers.

CTO Hire 84

CTO Hire Hiring Software Review Technical Review 84

online.wsj.com

MARCH 4, 2013

To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com. Developers of apps are increasingly testing an array of price points and business models, Greg Bensinger joins digits. América Latina.

Software Review 45

Software Review Technical Review Advertising Naming 45