SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I asked some of the same questions I ask in my Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions and then I get to a very common conversation: Me : Do you have specs? Conversations with a technical advisors or possible developers should be iterative. Founder : Ummm. what do you mean? You likely are writing your first one of these.

Developer 354

Developer Technical Review Fractional CTO Software Review 354

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. Even if you are just starting to consider building a SaaS startup , you’ve probably used products with either freemium pricing or a free trial. Choose wisely.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

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. Use the Startup Tools Page as the resource for tool choices).

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

So how did a company that provides storage grow so fast (we’ll exit 2017 with 10’s of millions in recurring revenue), why is it so defensible and is it really a tech startup? If you buy that Amazon is a tech startup then essentially you’ve already answered the question. In short — how the hell did we raise $30 million?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Los Angeles Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. This term is currently applied to recent startups who profess a current valuation which exceeds $1 billion. Could your startup be the next one? Sweat equity.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

This is Part 5 of the 5-part series: 5 lessons from 150 startup pitches. Ask a technical founder about his startup, and he'll proudly describe his stunning software — simple, compelling, useful, fun. We're putting a 'Retweet' button inside the product to encourage viral growth.". Infection built-in, not bolt-on.

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 6, 2011

" Today I had two conversations with early stage startups (see Free CTO Consulting ). The other was a consumer play with possible viral growth. Would the consumer one get traction and be viral? In both cases, I was the mentor telling the person that the idea, as I understood it was "not great."

Customer 227

Customer Fractional CTO Viral Lean 227

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2011

Viral marketing and word-of-mouth are not enough these days to make your product and brand visible in the relentless onslaught of new promotional media out there today. Don’t just join the conversation, spark it. Viral is an outcome, not a strategy. Innovation in marketing is perhaps more important than product innovation.

Viral 228

Viral Marketing Startup Demand 228

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

It’s a very important concept for me because in a startup you are constantly under pressure and have way too many distractions. Commitment & urgency are key drivers of success in startup businesses. I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. increasing conversion from 12.5%

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. A conversational tone should be the basis for all of your content. Conversation inviting. Great content is conversation. Your content must continue to deliver new ideas.

Viral 367

Viral Conversion Matching Sales 367

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

TikTok and Influencers One viral video on TikTok can reach 1.5 3 Watch out for Startups and Emerging Markets Analyzing competitors’ activity in the market is essential, but businesses should think outside the box and keep track of startups and emerging markets. million people and generate monthly revenue.

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

As an investor and former founder, I know that scalable growth (and the pretty hockey stick graph) is the holy grail for every startup. Just a decade ago, most software/cloud startups used a traditional model where product and marketing were siloed: product teams created the product and marketing drove people to the website to buy it.

Software Review 60

Software Review South Africa Hockey Stick Viral 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2011

I recently had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jon Steinberg, president of Buzzfeed , a company who focuses on helping media companies make their content go viral. But of course we also focused on making content go viral. I guess this video won’t go viral, then! Good comment community = viral blog.

Viral 354

Viral Video RSS Audio 354

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 22, 2020

Startups require nurturing, monitoring, and sustained investments to get off the ground. How will your startup benefit from well-crafted and valuable content? Start conversations with clients – In today’s online marketplace, brick and mortar conversations are few and far between. Can Great Content Help Startups?

Affiliate 230

Affiliate Startup Later Stage Search 230

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 18, 2020

Businesses and startups are looking for new ways to survive in this pandemic. They also have immense viral potential on social media. This is because animated videos are one of the best ways to improve conversions and help make your product more visible on the internet. But social distancing comes at a price.

Video 229

Video Advertising Technical Review Viral 229

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 19, 2011

It's a familiar story: a startup launches their beta. The Viral Launch Page. And like many other startups, Easel implemented the viral sign-up page - something popularized by LaunchRock. Kim describes that process as "old school" - the startup conducted phone-based interviews with beta testers. But then what?

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Viral Startup Email 118

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." I would guess that this represents less than 5% of startups. Investors demand more than that.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

Austin Startup

AUGUST 3, 2017

Is it an Texas-based tech startup company or is it doing something in the email space? For me, that’s any tech startup company in Texas or any email related company in the world. What will it take for your tech startup to raise $500,000 in Austin in 2017? The best meetings are just conversations, not presentations.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Startup Texas Email 69

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2022

Don’t connect the latest platform, which may be transient, with the larger phenomenon of digitally enabled social conversations. Each participant becomes part of your marketing department, as other customers read their output, and become part of the conversation. It’s the principle underlying “viral marketing.”

Social Media 352

Social Media Media Viral Audience 352

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

However the Customer Development Model and the Lean Startup work equally well for startups on the web. I realized the Customer Development model needs to be clearer in what exactly a startup is supposed to do, regardless of the business model. But it also requires you to ask a few questions about your startup before you use it.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

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

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 12, 2015

A higher conversion rate is great, but as Peep says, “If you want to increase conversions, make everything that you sell one cent, conversions go way up, but you go out of business.” Your work isn’t done after the initial conversion (one night stand). via 500 Startups). via 500 Startups). Tweet It!].

Retention 48

Retention Conversion Acquisition Social Media 48

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

That means they normally only invest in startups with a working product that has already been sold to at least one customer for full price (beta tests, giveaways and best friends don’t count). These days, even viral marketing requires real money, for events and promotions. Make sure allocation amounts are reasonable.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially.

Social Media 329

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 329

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

The father of “Growth Hacking” appears to be Sean Ellis who wrote this widely read post, “ Find a Growth Hacker for your Startup. For starters it brings a mindset to startups that not all of them have innately. If your startup isn’t committed to growth hacking you’ll never find extra-ordinary growth.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

People said this about Ring (which went from startup to selling to Amazon > $1 billion in around 5 years), Facebook, YouTube, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Instagram and many other great behemoths of the technology industry. There is nothing viral! Ah, but Bird doesn’t have network effects! Anybody can launch a scooter service!

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Technical Review Los Angeles 256

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2021

An all-too-common question I get from startups and small businesses is “Which is the right social media platform for my business?” It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world.

Social Media 355

Social Media Media Reputation Viral 355

Haystack

FEBRUARY 1, 2019

market by launching in connection with Facebook viral invites? This all represents a huge market for engagement minutes as audio as a medium, while not inherently viral, is likely more accessible to more people in terms of literacy and in many cases faster and more efficient than reading (though not in all cases). Remember Stitcher?

Acquisition 134

Acquisition Media Audio Technical Review 134

View from Seed

MARCH 8, 2016

He and his firm are widely applauded for their work with high-growth startups, particularly those with a consumer focus. Unfortunately, too many startups come to us way too late. What’s important is that wherever possible, have those early conversations just to get started in thinking about your company’s brand.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Conversion Startup PR 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2020

That means they normally only invest in startups with a working product that has already been sold to at least one customer for full price (beta tests, giveaways and best friends don’t count). These days, even viral marketing requires real money, for events and promotions. Make sure allocation amounts are reasonable.

Elevator Pitch 336

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2014

Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. A conversational tone should be the basis for all of your content. Conversation inviting. Great content is conversation. launch marketing startup strategy word-of-mouth'

Startup 258

Startup Viral Conversion Matching 258

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 15, 2022

We've had lots of conversations on is social media community and I think social media enables community. And she ended up running an hour and a half long conversation around taxes and tax strategies and how entrepreneurs can think about this and left our little two day event with seven new clients. Wouldn't you say? For to what end?

Community 82

Community Framework Advisory Board Viral 82

Genuine VC

MARCH 14, 2012

We at NextView have been thinking about and looking for investments in seed-stage startups which leverage the megatrend of transitioning computing away from a standard fixed-web PC world. Anytime a fundamentally new platform is introduced, it creates white-space… especially for startups. Mash-up of many other technology platforms.

Search 211

Search Boston Seed Stage Seattle 211

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2013

Join the conversation with Community Forums. By having frequent conversations with experts in your industry, you rank yourself among the top, and show you are connected. Keep the atmosphere relaxed and fun, to increase traffic, and maybe even go viral. Arnie Kuenn business content marketing entrepreneur startup'

Widget 286

Widget Marketing Curation Audio 286

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Startups need to survive and thrive on a shoestring budget, which is why it’s based on rapid experimentation. Neither would have achieved virality had customers not received something tangible for their efforts. Why do people think growth hacking in marketing is controversial? Growth marketing was born out of necessity. Activation.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2019

Image via Flickr by jardenberg Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. A conversational tone should be the basis for all of your content. Conversation inviting. Great content is conversation. Easy to digest.

Customer 233

Customer Marketing Viral Conversion 233

David Teten

MAY 1, 2013

This is part 1 of a 2-part series on domain names and startups; part 2 will be “ Build Your Startup on a Vacant Domain Name ”. A startup called Corpora made headlines for all the wrong reasons after tech bloggers ran an image search to find the company logo. credit: Wikipedia)). Facebook paid $8.5

Naming 114

Naming Semantic Venture Capital Startup 114