Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

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 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Benchmarks are typically specific to stage/business model/geo. In Rob Go’s words: For seed and Series A deals, investors will also need to see a high-potential team with founder/market fit , a large and attractive market opportunity , and a business model with increasing returns to scale. Consumer apps and services.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

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 strategies 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 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. How To Build a Web Startup – The Lean LaunchPad Edition. Write down your 9- business model canvas hypothesis.

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

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.

Management 322

Management Entrepreneur Forecast Stock Options 322

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Having just retired from a career as an entrepreneur I had started thinking about why startups were different from large companies. Over the last two decades Shawn has seen hundreds of startups use the Lean Methodology. Many of them get hung up on understanding how to select the right minimal viable product. The MVP Tree.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

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.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 235

Business Model Product Advisory Board Angel Investor 235

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

This is the confirmation that your product or service fills a real need in the marketplace. Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. Feel the inspiration from peers asking for your secret, or peers trying to model their efforts after yours.

Sweat Equity 296

Sweat Equity Startup Salary Viral 296

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

This is a guest post by my Startup Owner’s Manual co-author Bob Dorf. While statistics are weak on startup success rates, the worst one I’ve seen suggests that 2 in 1000 venture backed startups will ever achieve $100-million or more in valuation. Can every startup skyrocket like Facebook or Square or Google?

Startup 332

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 332

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). " One was an enterprise software product. The other was a consumer play with possible viral growth. Would it take more work to sell the enterprise product than they could make on it? Neither felt like a slam dunk.

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

I’m fully convinced that both inspiration and perspiration are always required in a startup. Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person. Watching the orders come in, or the product moving off the shelf, is the feedback you have been looking for. A business model that works. Reign-in expenses.

Sweat Equity 400

Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup Viral 400

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

In contrast, it left several e-trends: augmented reality, zero coding, the marketplace boom, and product subscriptions are just a few of them. With the help of voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, you can purchase the product just by saying it while running errands. We will deliver product x every three months with free shipping.”

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

There is also more going on in every location, so this personal need and super sensitivity to the local community has spawned a new breed of Internet startups, called “hyperlocal.” The term first appeared at least ten years ago, but the model is now very common. What’s more difficult than building one successful startup?

Finder 361

Finder Startup Curation Seattle 361

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. Along with building a product and a company, you need to build social momentum and buzz. Startup Example: Zappos. Startup Example: Cloudera.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

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

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

And without revenue how do we know if we achieved product/market fit to exit Customer Validation?” I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

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

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

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. It’s not easy to choose the right pricing strategy for a SaaS product. The decision will affect and shape your brand, your marketing, and your business.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

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 120

Forecast Startup Stock Options Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2011

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 234

Business Model Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 234

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. Earlier this year I founded a new startup called KlickFu.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

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

AUGUST 19, 2013

His passions are business process automation, surfing, and his new baby girl Maya. ?. Sales are the bloodstream for most businesses, and tech startups are no exception. However, figuring out the way your startup should make money could be challenging, especially for us left­-brained founders. LTV ­ CAC = ROI.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 23, 2013

of revenue, force-feeding sales pipelines with an unprofitable product. Eloqua was also a SaaS company, also selling to enterprise, selling the same product in exactly the same space, also tightly integrated with Salesforce.com, and IPO’ed with a $5m loss on $71m in revenue — a 7% loss instead of Marketo’s massive 60% loss.

Business Model 335

Business Model .Net Revenue IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2012

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. So how do you go about proving the business model?

Business Model 248

Business Model Advisory Board Entrepreneur Angel Investor 248

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. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Production.

Business Model 242

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 242

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

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. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, and giving away the product. Production.

Business Model 246

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 246

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

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

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." It is almost never the case that you are building an MVP to "show" to an investor the product itself.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Every startup dreams of achieving that milestone, when they can focus more on scaling the business and enjoying their earnings, rather than fighting for another investment infusion. Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50%, and a net margin in the 20% range.

Valuation 235

Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

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

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. Solution production and support.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2020

Every startup dreams of achieving that milestone, when they can focus more on scaling the business and enjoying their earnings, rather than fighting for another investment infusion. Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50%, and a net margin in the 20% range.

Revenue 434

Revenue Valuation Viral Retention 434

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 6, 2021

Since the internet is the dominant force in every industry, startups need to conquer many challenges to succeed these days. The competition is incredibly fierce – modern consumers demand more and more with each passing day, while business trends come and go so quickly that it’s hard to keep track. Choose the Right Business Model.

Social Media 173

Social Media Audience Affiliate Startup 173