Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Each copy of the first printing of the hardcover edition of The Startup Way in the US and Canada contains a unique code that grants you access to bonus features at thestartupway.com/bonus. If you're outside the US or purchased via Kindle or Audible, sign up on the site without a bonus code and you'll receive some bonus materials as well.

San Francisco 107

San Francisco Los Angeles Software Review Silicon Valley 107

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

I feel like “conversion rate optimization” is in 2013 what “social media marketing” was in 2009. Not because they have a conversion problem but because they never really nail the product or how to market it. This is not a conversion problem. Most startups fail. This is a customer development problem.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Since the term “cloud computing” was coined in 1996—at least as we have come to understand its meaning—the software as a service industry has exploded. If you use software like LivePlan, you can create this initial “lean plan” in under an hour and then spend your time where it really matters—on validating your idea.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Austin Startup

MARCH 15, 2017

By the time Silicon Valley white privilege culture, tech magazines that promote only white faces, Ethereum/Bitcoin fanboys, sellout black tech wannabees and globalists promoting their blockchain consortium get a hold of this article, it’s already too late and the game already ended a while ago.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review XML 54

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 15, 2013

How You Can Benefit from All Your Stress | Heidi Grant Halvorson – Harvard Business Review – [link]. Money matters: why women founders struggle in Silicon Valley | The Verge – [link]. Culture Code: Creating A Company YOU Love | by Dharmesh Shah – [link]. Paid Search: Are You Wasting Your Money?

Social Media 105

Social Media Small Business Design Media 105

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

You can learn as much from these cautionary tales as you can from the enduring successes, plus studying a broad sample of firms helps avoid drawing false conclusions due to survivorship bias. Technology Venture Investors [Silicon Valley] –> Claim to fame… sole VC investor in Microsoft, which turned out ok.

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

philipsmith.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Silicon Valley Frontlines. Compensation-wise the biggest challenge is insuring people are respectful of my time and skills (when they don't write real checks for hourly or project work they don't tend to be quite as diligent on this as one would like!). Life in the Valley. » January 23, 2010. Less Fortunate.

Silicon Valley 40

Silicon Valley Equity Technical Review Recapitalization 40

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 13, 2020

I’m not talking about exploring a new city and feeling like you get to re-invent yourself simply by changing zip codes; everyone loves that. I’m living in my seventh zip code here already and I’ve lived in Austin while working at Domino’s Pizza making $7/hour and while working for a tech startup making nearly $200K a year.

Austin 118

Austin San Francisco Texas Technical Review 118

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This reminded me of a conversation with one of my direct reports years before my daughter was born. This required convincing software vendors to move their applications to our unique machine architecture. Once he was on board, I sat down with him on a weekly basis to review our progress with our list of software vendors.

Silicon Valley 331

Silicon Valley Software Review RSS Technical Review 331

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

An engineer by training, Founder and CEO Larry Gadea built the MVP of Envoy’s first product, Visitors, by himself using only free versions of software. “I Gadea leveraged his connections in Silicon Valley to seed viral distribution of the product, which, in turn, generated the revenue to hire engineers and scale the company.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Reid Hoffman

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

The leaders and disrupters we meet in Silicon Valley and around the world are distinguished by the speed at which they zip up the learning curve. But it’s worth the effort, given the potential of learning via one-on-one conversation. You [will] learn very different and important things.”.

Japan 78

Japan Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Houston 78

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Growth hacking and growth teams are so commonplace today, at least inside Silicon Valley, that it’s easy to forget that “growth” (as we know it now) is a relatively new phenomenon. Here are some highlights from the conversation. . And Andrew understands growth strategy as well as anyone in the industry.

Software Review 60

Software Review South Africa Hockey Stick Viral 60

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 14, 2014

Silicon Valley Needs to Lose the Arrogance or Risk Destruction | Wired Opinion - crowdspring.co/1g2t41F. Our Love Affair With the Tablet Is Over | Re/code - crowdspring.co/Nv1PDw. Court Rules Yelp Reviewer Guilty of Defamation: Review At Your Own Risk? - crowdspring.co/NeImqH. Dana Stalder: Why $1.5 1gis0H1.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

When WordStream began receiving complaints that the seven-day free trial of their PPC management software wasn’t long enough, the brand decided to A/B test 14-day and 30-day trials. Prospect trial to conversion rates fell with the longer trials. The results? From the standpoint of the growth marketing team, it’s a win-win situation.

Framework 102

Framework Marketing Acquisition Retention 102

Austin Startup

JUNE 8, 2017

After investing in 36 lobbyists to win this bill — Uber and Lyft got basically everything they wanted and both Silicon Valley giants turned their apps back on in Austin a few hours later. The third set of folks we lost are temporarily using Uber/Lyft’s discount codes but may actually prefer RideAustin (and/or Fasten).

Austin 83

Austin Silicon Valley Technical Review Software Review 83

Agile VC

DECEMBER 13, 2011

I recently was having one of these conversations with an entrepreneur I’ve known for a couple years. In NextView’s case that’s seed stage internet and software companies. Im a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned East Coast VC. Author howerl. Filed under Uncategorized. Read More ».

Seed Stage 185

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Review 185

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. They have the same trade-off decisions that you do about packing up and moving to Silicon Valley vs. staying and building locally. Consider just how much exposure the Austin community gets every year due to SXSW.

Seattle 317

Seattle Silicon Valley Technical Review Los Angeles 317

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

What I notice is that people further the conversation, talk with each other, network, try to get noticed (linking to their websites, etc.). And to give credit where it’s due (in addition to the content that Fred producers) a lot of the discussion works well because of the Disqus commenting platform. I rarely only read the post.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Software Review 301

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Stories about companies with lots of ping pong tables, free yoga classes, gourmet chefs—it’s starting to feel like the TV series “Silicon Valley” is a little too much like the real-life Silicon Valley. See Also: The Importance of Partnership Agreements, NDAs, and Security: Lessons from HBO’s “Silicon Valley”.

Hiring 60

Hiring Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup 60

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

The primary terms for these types of transactions are the valuation cap and the conversion discount. Debt also has a due date and interest rate to negotiate. In Silicon Valley, most boards ultimately make decisions based on a consensus. Debt or convertible securities (e.g., Patent Trolls. ” Intellectual Property.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

Extra Lucrative Conversion Advice. Conversion Optimization Services. Conversion Research. It’s Not a Conversion Problem, It’s a Customer Development Problem. I feel like “conversion rate optimization” is in 2013 what “social media marketing” was in 2009. Website Analysis.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2017

John Imlay of MSA occasionally took me on road shows with analysts to talk about his new acquisition Peachtree Software. But, credit is due to all these CEO’s for perseverance. I believe the famous Ron Conway made about 300 investments in his Silicon Valley angel fund in the late 90’s, and his one big win was?—?Google.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Atlanta Software Review Early Stage 48

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

Official SXSW Panels and Speakers SXSW Badge Required Watch Out Silicon Valley: Rising LATAM Tech Scene Watch Out Silicon Valley: Rising LATAM Tech Scene MAR 8, 2019 | 12:30PM?—?1:30PM Vanessa Dawson, Integris Software C.E.O, See hundreds of exhibitors and demonstrations across every industry and technology.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

Steve Blank

MAY 30, 2016

Four decades ago my first job in Silicon Valley was with ESL, the first company to combine computers and signals intelligence. The founder of this 1964 Silicon Valley startup was Bill Perry. They might be hardware development, software expertise, manufacturing, launching rockets, funding, etc. Pivot stories.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley San Diego Technical Review Incubator 120

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

QR Codes QR codes are machine-to-machine computer vision technology which will be key in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. QR codes make it quick and easy to conduct actions without typing in text as well as transfer the UX to the consumer mobile device with a quick QR scan.

Technical Review 54

Technical Review Technology Artificial Inteligence Software Review 54

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

Consumer value Once Jamie realized that he could not only sell tens of millions of dollars of home security cameras he also realized that he could get customers to sign up for a monthly subscription to keep the videos in storage in the cloud and review them after the fact. He was dogmatic. He was self-assured. He was right.

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round).

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

crowdSPRING Blog

JULY 19, 2013

Billions have been spent trying to replicate Silicon Valley, with little to show for it. | MIT Technology Review – [link]. Iron Conversions – [link]. Increase Your Team’s Curiosity | Harvard Business Review – [link]. Can you Crowdsource Your Employee Reviews? – [link].

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

An engineer by training, Founder and CEO Larry Gadea built the MVP of Envoy’s first product, Visitors, by himself using only free versions of software. “I Gadea leveraged his connections in Silicon Valley to seed viral distribution of the product, which, in turn, generated the revenue to hire engineers and scale the company.

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Examples of Sign-Up & Contact Forms Designed For High Conversions – [link]. 50 Useful Coding Techniques (CSS Layouts, Visual Effects and Forms) – [link]. Legal Contracts for Software Developers Who Hate Contracts (w/free contract template to use today) – [link]. Single Letter Logos – [link].

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

abovethecrowd.com

AUGUST 23, 2020

If you are looking past or through Covid — and why not, all of Wall Street is — the topic du jour in Silicon Valley is Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs. The traditional way of going public is systematically broken and is robbing Silicon Valley founders, employees, and investors of billions of dollars each year.

IPO 118

IPO Silicon Valley Warrant Matching 118

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Five Reasons You Haven’t Launched - Software By Rob , November 10, 2010 Photo by stevendepolo. These are probably the two sites where I've posted the most reviews. This Thanksgiving it might seem that there’s a lot less to be thankful for.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

Duct Tape Marketing

JUNE 1, 2022

Xenia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Planable, a content review and marketing collaboration platform used by over 5,000 teams behind brands such as Hyundai, Christian Louboutin, Viber, and United Nations. Xenia graduated from Tim Draper’s startup academy in Silicon Valley and took Planable through the Techstars London accelerator in 2017.

Cofounder 82

Cofounder Social Media Software Review Technical Review 82

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 6, 2024

Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Work Better Now Visit WorkBetterNow.com mention the referral code DTM Podcast and get $150 off for your first 3 months. That's work better now.com. What are you missing?

Dividend 71

Dividend Software Review Technical Review Silicon Valley 71

Up and Running

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Jason Cohen is the founder of the WPEngine and Smart Bear Software. The First Round Review | First Round Capital. The Review delivers premium insights from the best and most creative entrepreneurs in the business.” Read his blog to learn more about Software as a Service (SaaS), and startups, among many other things.

Software Review 168

Software Review Intellectual Property Montana Technical Review 168

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

Even though most of this message was already drafted, we also had a Hail Mary of a final acquisition conversation that closed the following morning. The Whole Enchilada For those of you interested in more than The Skinny, keep reading… Countless conversations have been had with key users, customers, advisors, mentors, family and friends.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54

Austin Startup

AUGUST 17, 2017

Unfortunately, it is the sad fate of certain candidates due to the fact that their interviewers are biased, whether it is blatant or concealed. Giving a position a manager title can also be misleading if the position simply manages a software or process and does not manage other team members.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review Austin 48