SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Its also been interesting to see the interaction of tools involved - Social Networking, Blogging and a Discussion Group. It seems that four different models of "discussion creation" have occurred: Organice Discussion - someone posts something interesting, lots of bloggers post on the topic, distributed discussion ensues.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

As a mentor to many aspiring entrepreneurs, I challenge them to think beyond what I call linear extensions to a current trend, such as another “easier-to-use” app for smartphones, a new dating site for pets, or another niche social network. Keep alternative business models on the table.

Intellectual Property 317

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Salary 317

ReadWriteStart

JULY 9, 2023

Business Models and Pricing Know your business model prior to launching a startup. However, sometimes founders only think about their big idea and forget about the strictly business side of a startup. Metrics A business should be measurable. A good founder is always a good communicator.

Intellectual Property 122

Intellectual Property Startup Burn Rate Metrics 122

Occam's Razor

APRIL 8, 2013

To win in business you need to follow this process: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act. We are far too enamored with data collection and reporting the standard metrics we love because others love them because someone else said they were nice so many years ago. That metric is tied to a KPI.

Metrics 156

Metrics Analytics Lean Churn Rate 156

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2018

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 exist ), or another dating site (over 2500 in the US alone). It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 160

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Metrics .Net 160

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business Model I would like to propose that in addition to team, product, and market, there is actually a fourth, equally important, core element of startups, which is the need for a viable business model. However there is a lot of value in looking at these same metrics for all other businesses.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2016

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 active ), or another dating site (over 2500 in the US alone). It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 161

Intellectual Property Metrics .Net Social Network 161

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 22, 2024

When it comes to startups, the focus often gravitates toward acquiring new customers, expanding market reach, and chasing growth metrics. Source: Pexels Data from the US Census Bureau indicated that 5,481,437 new businesses were established in 2023, setting a record.

Retention 134

Retention Reputation Startup Social Network 134

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Out of hundreds of daily-deal companies funded, one or two became long-term businesses. Out of hundreds of social networks launched, only one changed the world. Normal distributions do not exist; standard deviations are meaningless. Hundreds of companies get funded because there are hundreds of venture funds.

Harvest 60

Harvest Vertical IPO Early Stage 60

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

Different sources define freemium as a business model or a pricing strategy. It’s critical to understand the metrics in terms of dollars per additional user, as you’ll have to spend this amount to serve thousands of your non-paying customers. However, your pricing options go far beyond freemium and free trial.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2015

The most common proposals I hear are for yet another social networking site ( over 200 active ), or another dating site (now over 2500 in the US alone). It starts with a vision, but benefits quickly from a structured process of idea generation, evaluation, prototyping, customer feedback, and success metrics. Ownership.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Metrics .Net 120

Up and Running

APRIL 27, 2012

Sure, the barriers to entry are lower, and customers are one mere click away from their growing social networks. Internet entrepreneurs in the UK need to push managing metrics right to the front of their to-do lists. They need to re-embrace planning even if they have no desire for a business plan. Most meaningful metrics.

Metrics 68

Metrics Nigeria Ratchet Churn Rate 68

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Paring down products, target customers, business models etc takes courage, but it must be done to have any chance of success. Eric, As you touch on, the lean venture has been the basic model employed by entrepreneurs throughout history until the past 12 years or so when venturing became institutionalized.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 7, 2016

If you have been following our blog or firm, you know how much we love network effects. Our investment thesis is centered around network effects , and our portfolio is full of network effects startups ranging from marketplaces to social platforms, SaaS and applications of AI and machine learning. Why social?

Artificial Inteligence 60

Artificial Inteligence Viral Valuation Networking 60

Gust

AUGUST 5, 2012

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 182

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 182

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

People ask me if they really need ANY business plan, unless they are looking for an outside investor. In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. Explain the business model. Financial forecast and metrics.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

The Next Web

AUGUST 17, 2013

Sangeet Paul Choudary analyzes business models for Internet startups at his blog Platform Thinking. For a social network, friending/following a certain number of users could signal commitment. Moving your metrics. You can follow him on Twitter where he is @sanguit. It’s never been easier to build an app.

Mobile 133

Mobile Design PR Social Network 133

The Next Web

MAY 4, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Sangeet Paul Choudary who analyzes business models for Internet startups at his blog Platform Thinking. Marketplaces are difficult businesses to run. This is similar to the critical mass of users that is needed on a social network for users to find value in the network.

Curation 128

Curation Clickthrough Metrics Matching 128

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. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks. Of course, with any trend, there are notable exceptions.

Distribution 103

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 103

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. But it goes beyond just widgets and social networks. Of course, with any trend, there are notable exceptions.

Distribution 100

Distribution Widget Viral Social Media 100

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

This gave me an idea: I could help many more entrepreneurs by making the deck available not just to the Greylock network of entrepreneurs, but to everyone. Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. The graphic we chose emphasizes that it is a network of people. Why is it valuable?

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But, most of use raise capital and source deals the same way people looked for dates 20 years ago: by networking at conferences (or bars). . But in business, you want a lot of partners. This is a great example of why data businesses have substantial moats. That’s why 40 million Americans use online dating sites.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 1, 2013

We’ll look at relevant metrics to help you assess whether a specific marketing channel could work for you, and also highlight additional resources to help you get a better understanding of that channel. Social Media Marketing. These efforts can be paid (buying ads on those networks) or free (engaging and sharing great content).

Small Business 107

Small Business Marketing Affiliate PPC 107

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

In addition to the case study analysis, the students also have the opportunity to develop a business model and financial model for a new concept, which always proves a lot more challenging. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? ► January. (1). ► 2010. (7).

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Venture Chronicles

DECEMBER 20, 2011

The Business of Social Networks: We have seen a coalescing of business models form around social networks and not surprisingly the vast majority of them are evolutions of advertising models.

PPC 32

PPC Social Network Mobile Campaign 32

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Deciding to tinker with pricing without taking into account the overall business model and customer profile is most often a wrong-headed move. One could come up with similar example in all aspects of a business. Activities that miss their metrics, either on the low side or the high side should rise to the daily decision list.

Cap Table 48

Cap Table Austin PR Founder 48

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

The movie, “The Social Network” might have had more of an impact on creating future entrepreneurs than any other event of the past 5 years. The mobile world brings enormous business opportunities and changes to business models that were unthinkable when VCs made investments ten years ago that produced the last decade of results.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Startups rarely survive by guessing, and can only create products and business models based on facts about their target market. ” To make the concept a little less abstract, Sean Ellis , founder of Qualaroo, has created a metric for knowing when you’ve achieve Product/Market fit. Pivot the product entirely.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

He raised less financing than originally planned but was able to launch the site and was running a business by the time his classmates graduated 9 months later. Don't Stop Believin' Is There Any Truth in "The Social Network"? A Lot of Horn Tooting over a Kazoo sized deal. ► January. (1). ► 2010. (7).

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Professor VC

AUGUST 26, 2011

What are the key drivers and metrics? Is the model consistent with the business plan? Does the business model make sense? Do you understand the business and market? Byron Deeter has a good blog post on SAAS metrics. When I look at a model, I care most about the assumptions around the business model.

Silicon Valley 35

Silicon Valley San Jose Hockey Stick Venture Capital 35

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 19, 2013

That said, there will always be categories of apps — such as social networks or messaging apps — that require a user''s identity in order to deliver value. Then you should decide effective ways to test your assumptions and pre-determine what your metrics of success should be in order for you to make a go or no-go decision to build.

Mobile 167

Mobile Developer Technical Review Lean 167

mashable.com

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

Clearly Define Your Business Model While this may sound like a trivial task, young startups often have an exciting and innovative product, but no real plan for monetizing it. It’s critical to establish this component of your business before thinking seriously about growth. in place before you expand.

France 77

France Marketing Social Media Startup 77

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

Unfortunately, we were fixated on "building a real business" and never noticed that maybe students would want to share their profiles with each other. Could we have built the first college-based social network five years before Facebook ? No business model, either. Heck, Id already seen Friendster flame out.

San Francisco 94

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 94

grasshopperherder.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2011

If I can steal your idea by just hearing it, there is no defensible business model there. Show Metrics If you ask me to be a co-founder or even just a consultant, you’re essentially asking me to invest in your company with my time. As an investor, I will expect the same metrics an investor would get.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder NDA Founder Sweat Equity 47

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Written By Dan Martell on February 2nd, 2012 | Category: Hiring LeanStartup Marketing Metrics Startup Life | 6 Comments. How to stay lean and iterate quickly while you’re building a two sided marketplace, especially when “network effect” and “critical mass” are the two main focuses? Why do I do it?

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44