Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

The spread between your LTV and blended CPA determines either your profitability or your rate of growth, and a high valuation depends on balancing these two factors. To the extent that you have good word-of-mouth, activation or retention, these factors tend to drive down your CPA or drive up your LTV, and so are nice bonuses.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 5, 2009

When the project winds up getting cancelled for failing to meet its ROI justification, it’s natural for the entrepreneur to feel like it was the CFO – and their innovation-sucking spreadsheet – that is the real cause. Just because entrepreneurs tend to forget about these models doesn’t mean their investors do.

San Francisco 102

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 102

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

A business that strives for something like this should absolutely be charging money from day one, in order to establish baselines for their two key metrics: CPA (the cost to acquire a new customer) and LTV (the lifetime value of each acquired customer). Founders struggle with this question. Founders struggle with this question.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156