Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2021

Startups are the corporations of the future, so I have long believed that entrepreneurs who study existing corporate models, rather than ignoring them with disdain, will likely profit from the exercise. This occurs when a new product, service, or business model renders the old way of doing business obsolete.

Marketing 339

Marketing Startup Global Viral 339

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

If you’re running a startup, working for one, or just considering turning an idea into a company, calling your work life “busy” is a severe understatement. Here are five essential, efficient ways to eliminate guesswork and make your startup a success on social media. Startup Example: Zappos. Startup Example: Cloudera.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many shortcuts leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 120

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. Union Square Ventures The next morning I got to spend time with Brad Burnham , partner at Union Square Ventures talking about their investment strategy and insights about web-based businesses.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2012

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. I support her assertion that a business model consists of at least the first seven of the following ten basic elements: Value proposition.

Business Model 242

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 242

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs look for that one magic bullet -- an exciting new technology, perhaps, or their own determination to make the world a better place -- to override any shortcomings in their startup model. Yet, magic bullets are not sufficient to assure business success. A large and growing market opportunity.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2011

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. I support her assertion that a business model consists of at least the first seven of the following ten basic elements: Value proposition.

Business Model 246

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 246

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2020

Driven by the current pandemic, smart entrepreneurs of all ages are jumping into the fray with new ideas, new recovery strategies, and discarding outmoded business models. But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages.

Viral 430

Viral Revenue Distribution Cloud 430

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and Angel investor, I still see too many common failure causes that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. Master of 500 Hats: Startup Metrics for Pirates (SeedCamp 2008, London) This presentation should be required reading for anyone creating a startup with an online service component. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Not all startups need outside investment to grow. What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. Here’s the first 2½ years of a startup journey. The Startup Investment Landscape. Team, Product, Traction, Business Model and Market.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2018

The reality is that successful businesses these days require an equally elegant business model, with the right marketing, delivery channel, price, and target customers, to get real traction. In the investment community, this work is called proving the business model. Finalize your channel and marketing strategy.

Product 137

Product Advisory Board Business Model Cofounder 137

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2012

This reality has fostered a popular startup approach which dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of these corrections, pioneered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Eric Ries. This refers to the monetization or revenue model. The “free” model doesn’t capture much value. Engine of growth pivot. Technology pivot.

Silicon Valley 273

Silicon Valley Architecture Startup Channel 273

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Startups that are searching for a business model need to keep score differently than large companies that are executing a known business model. Yet most entrepreneurs and their VC’s make startups use financial models and spreadsheets that actually hinder their success. Managing the Business.

Balance Sheet 298

Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Rob Go

JULY 11, 2013

As a seed fund, we tend to layer in “ capital efficient beginnings ” to the mix given our investing model and belief about the best way to build internet and software businesses. We tend to favor companies that have a “distribution advantage”. So what are some examples of distribution advantages?

Distribution 66

Distribution Vertical Viral B2B 66

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

On December 2nd, 2006 I wrote the blog post published later in this post when I was CEO of startup Koral about my experiences in pitching VCs. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. Consumer approach to software for business users. Free product.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2013

Driven by the recent recession, smart entrepreneurs of all ages are jumping into the fray with new ideas, new recovery strategies, and discarding outmoded business models. But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 247

Startup Viral Revenue Distribution 247

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

This reality has fostered a popular new startup approach which dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of these corrections, pioneered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Eric Ries. This refers to the monetization or revenue model. The “free” model doesn’t capture much value. Engine of growth pivot.

Lean 255

Lean Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Architecture 255

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 8, 2009

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. This kind of a simple model also helps: Define the early proof points for the company. We need to make sure we have these numbers. Great stuff.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

I joined as employee 14 and spent a few years at this analytics startup, which was founded by Hiten Shah and Neil Patel. But for startups or enterprise tech companies, there’s just not enough volume for testing. Otherwise, consider using those marketing dollars to scale up your core distribution channel first.

Conversion 133

Conversion Technical Review Channel Engineer 133

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

After the crash at the end of the last decade, web startups clamped down to focus on their core value proposition and were forced out of necessity for survival to hone their revenue models. The old playbook six years ago was that the web distribution could be bought for a price with Google Adwords. is a progression in thinking.

Distribution 103

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 103

Gust

NOVEMBER 25, 2012

This reality has fostered a popular startup approach which dramatically improves the efficiency and speed of these corrections, pioneered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author Eric Ries. This refers to the monetization or revenue model. The “free” model doesn’t capture much value. Engine of growth pivot. Technology pivot.

Silicon Valley 187

Silicon Valley Architecture Startup Channel 187

Genuine VC

APRIL 30, 2008

After the crash at the end of the last decade, web startups clamped down to focus on their core value proposition and were forced out of necessity for survival to hone their revenue models. The old playbook six years ago was that the web distribution could be bought for a price with Google Adwords. is a progression in thinking.

Distribution 100

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

We’ve hung out periodically over the past few years and I have enjoyed debating many startup topics. They realized for them this was dumb because people didn’t want to use up their credits so viral adoption wasn’t happening quickly enough. They switched to a flat rate model and sharing went up immediately.

Viral 303

Viral Investment Bankers Video Business Model 303

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 3, 2013

Startups are the corporations of the future, so I have long believed that entrepreneurs who study existing corporate models, rather than ignoring them with disdain, will likely profit from the exercise. This occurs when a new product, service, or business model renders the old way of doing business obsolete.

Entrepreneur 257

Entrepreneur Global Viral Green 257

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 7, 2016

The result is a framework to help decide whether a startup is viable. Another good answer is previous success by the team at startups, or at executing complex projects together. Why is “right now” the best time to create this startup? Social Media makes group-games viral. Who → Why you? When → Why now?

San Francisco 170

San Francisco Startup Framework Azure 170

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Startups need to survive and thrive on a shoestring budget, which is why it’s based on rapid experimentation. Some see growth marketing as the antithesis to an in-depth digital marketing strategy that cultivates a business over time using storytelling and content marketing. Growth marketing was born out of necessity. The result?

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? Paths to Liquidity: a quick history of the four waves of startup investing. The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

There has never been a viral outbreak of such magnitude before. In other words, you must start bootstrapping an online startup , because the future of the global business world is online. What is a startup? Before we look at ways to bootstrap a startup, let’s consider a comprehensive definition of what a startup is.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2012

Driven by the recent recession, smart entrepreneurs of all ages are jumping into the fray with new ideas, new recovery strategies, and discarding outmoded business models. But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages.

Entrepreneur 234

Entrepreneur Viral Revenue Distribution 234

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2010

Driven by the recent recession, smart entrepreneurs of all ages are jumping into the fray with new ideas, new recovery strategies, and discarding outmoded business models. But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages.

Startup 127

Startup Viral Revenue Distribution 127

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Guest post by Lisa Regan, writer for The Lean Startup Conference. Analytics spark more questions and discussion than almost any other aspect of the Lean Startup method. It provides a basic introduction to analytics as they apply to Lean Startup, including sections on what metrics to use and how to interpret them.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

Finally, and importantly, society is better off because Amazon makes the system for distributing books (and other products) vastly more productive, freeing up resources for other value-creating investments. Microsoft and Apple believed that microprocessors would allow consumers to have their own computers.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. For more on gathering data and using it to assess companies, see How to Assess Startups Using Machine Learning. 2) Market . 8) Monitor .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 21, 2013

If you're working on the Sticky Engine of Growth , you're focused on very different metrics from those that you care about in the Viral Engine of Growth. It's also vital to know what the most important metric is to your business right now. Finding your One Metric That Matters But it's not enough just to know "normal".

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

To give you a better idea of what entrepreneurs in this industry are thinking about during each phase of the startup process, I interviewed SaaS entrepreneurs from all over the world, including our own COO Noah Parsons. The one-page pitch format is also more suitable for SaaS businesses that are constantly testing new ideas.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74