Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

There are no guarantees in business, but it pays to learn from the experiences of entrepreneurs and business experts who have gone before you. As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology.

Forecast 161

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 161

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

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

That last bit should sound familiar if you follow theories of Startup Laws & Metrics. Similarly, we hold up “viral growth” as the best sort of growth, because exponential curves overwhelm all others, thus once the mechanism is stable and the company gets large enough to be noticed, it’s neigh-impossible for competitors to catch up.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Viral Metrics Salary 120

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." If you do build the MVP and show it to them, they will ask you about your metrics. They really want metrics, not a product.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

leananalyticsbook.com

AUGUST 19, 2012

The One Metric That Matters. One of the things Ben and I have been discussing a lot is the concept of the One Metric That Matters (OMTM) and how to focus on it. That doesn’t mean there’s only one metric you care about from the day you wake up with an idea to the day you sell your company. Lean Analytics Book.

Metrics 58

Metrics Clickthrough Lean Analytics 58

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

So no, this upside-down business model isn’t what a SaaS business should construct. I wish the modern startup community would understand the mindset that gets a company to this point, and resist it. Use viral growth to offset cancellations. SaaS companies earn their revenue over time.

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Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

As for Metaverse — businesses should keep an eye on it as it is not clear yet whether this is hype or a trend. TikTok and Influencers One viral video on TikTok can reach 1.5 5000 , a blog about the fastest-growing business models. million people and generate monthly revenue.

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

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. You only build what you need to prove that model.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225

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

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

Determining the right monetization strategy is by far the most important issue for every SaaS business. You can have all traction in the world—acquire, activate, and retain users, but until your startup earns money, you are doing charity work, not running a business. Nick, our CEO, taking a photo of the Chanty team.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

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

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.

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Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

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

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. This post is applicable to any kind of business.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

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. Activation.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, December 14, 2009 Business ecology and the four customer currencies Lately, I’ve been rethinking the concept of “business model&# for startups, in favor of something I call “business ecology.&# A successful startup strives for this latter case.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

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.

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Balance Sheet Startup Burn Rate Metrics 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I can’t help feel a bit of rear-view mirror analysis in all of “VC model is broken” bears in our industry. I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

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. This should not be news to you.

Metrics 156

Metrics Analytics Lean Churn Rate 156

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 19, 2021

True, many boards are dysfunctional, but when you build a great startup board, it will be a powerful tool that can help the CEO make the company successful. This essay, which is based on Part 1 of a two-part episode of the Greymatter Podcast, will cover the fundamentals of building great startup boards.

Startup 36

Startup Cofounder Advertising Hiring 36

mashable.com

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

There is something to allowing your business to grow organically and not to push expansion too rapidly. On the other hand, it’s important to consider the realities of today’s business environment. If you’re a startup entrepreneur, you risk facing a competitive disadvantage if you wait too long to expand your operations.

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France Marketing Social Media Startup 77

This is going to be BIG.

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

They think that if they just had enough money to market something, it would take off, yet whenever they pitch the app in front of a crowd of 100 people, the conversion and virality rate isn’t proven out at all. 7) Does such a model get you to a long term size that makes sense for venture capital investors (north of $100mm in revenues)?

Startup 110

Startup Viral Venture Capital .Net 110

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Get more involved in the Bay Area startup community: Join the WebWallflower mailing list to get a calendar of upcoming startup events and exclusive discounts sent right to you every two weeks. Tweet. --> You might tacitly assume that I have no major blind spots when it comes building little tech startups. Powered by LaunchBit ).

Metrics 273

Metrics Startup Revenue Engineer 273

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

From there, I became the first non-founder employee at an e-commerce startup called BITSource, which was the first electronic software distributor delivering electronic volume software licenses to corporations. It was also beneficial because I got some good experience with both B2B and B2C business models.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

It has many stylistic errors — and a few substantive ones, too — that I would now change having learned more, but I realized that it still provides useful insights for entrepreneurs and startup participants outside of the Greylock network, particularly across three areas of interest: how entrepreneurs should approach the pitch process.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

I’ve introduced a new class at Stanford to teach engineers, scientists and other professionals how startups really get built. Business schools teach aspiring executives a variety of courses around the execution of known business models, (accounting, organizational behavior, managerial skills, marketing, operations, etc.).

Wiki 311

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 311

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

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 9, 2013

Unfortunately, due in part to the popularity of Lean Startup and the concepts it promotes, the pivot has been bastardized to the point where it doesn’t mean much to people anymore. Lean Startup pokes a hole in our reality distortion field. Validated learning Validated learning is at the heart of Lean Startup.

Lean 284

Lean Analytics Metrics Viral 284

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

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

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 11, 2018

by Courtney Reum and Carter Reum, co-authors of “ Shortcut Your Startup: Speed Up Success with Unconventional Advice from the Trenches “ Too often we see leaders who have the entrepreneurial instinct to move quickly go wide before they’ve nailed the most crucial early steps.

Los Angeles 133

Los Angeles Investment Bankers Cofounder Viral 133

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. Here's what they have to say about churn rates in SaaS businesses: The best SaaS sites or applications usually have churn ranging from 1.5% to 3% a month.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2012

Think of it as a selling effort, not an attempt to fully describe your startup. Business model. Outline your sales and marketing strategy (direct marketing, sales channel, viral marketing, and lead generation). There is no magic that fits all startups, but make sure you touch in each key issue. Marty Zwilling.

Business Plan 244

Business Plan Elevator Pitch Viral Lead Generation 244

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. For that year, the metrics look amazing. Their growth came from users, and they had true virality.

Conversion 133

Conversion Technical Review Channel Engineer 133

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 Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? In an early-stage startup especially, revenue is not an important goal in and of itself. Let’s start with a simple question: why do early-stage startups want revenue?

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Think of it as a selling effort, not an attempt to fully describe your startup. Business model. Outline your sales and marketing strategy (direct marketing, sales channel, viral marketing, and lead generation). There is no magic that fits all startups, but make sure you touch in each key issue. Marty Zwilling.

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Elevator Pitch Viral Lead Generation Metrics 226