Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2023

Instead, they need to validate a customer problem and real market need first. Don’t create solutions looking for a problem , since investors ignore these, and customers other than early adopters will be hard to find. I say again, customers buy solutions, not technology. Look for customer willingness and ability to pay.

Customer 276

Customer Sales Cycle Social Media Viral 276

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

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I was in New York last week with my class at Columbia University and several events made me realize that the Customer Development model needs to better describe its fit with web-based businesses. In it, I got asked a question I often hear: “What if we have a web-based business that doesn’t have revenue or paying customers?

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 11, 2010

We're going to use an affiliate program so our customers sell it for us.". We're putting a 'Retweet' button inside the product to encourage viral growth.". This is the viral step: Having trialed the tool, the stranger might use it herself, then more people find out about it, and so forth. "We're going to get reviews on blogs.".

Software Review 261

Software Review Technical Review Viral Software Developers 261

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about price during customer development interviews. ” How many times have you heard someone agree that “it would be great if someone did X,” but when show them someone did do X, but it costs $39.99, they don’t buy? simple enough to be self-service). . $1/mo

Bootstrapping 294

Bootstrapping Technical Review B2C Sales Cycle 294

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 25, 2023

The expansion of e-commerce should also bring about seeing returns as a strategic lever, similar to how companies used faster delivery to drive customer experience and revenue. Think of it from the customer's perspective – Why should this customer shop from your store instead of the other stores selling this product?

eCommerce 128

eCommerce Omaha Entrepreneur SEO 128

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit. High customer loyalty and high team passion.

Valuation 235

Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

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. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. It’s hard to recover from a tarnished image.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

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. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. It’s hard to recover from a tarnished image.

Forecast 161

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2023

It's far less expensive to nail down repeat business from your existing customers than it is to land new ones. Now is the time to reap the benefits of those good customer relationships that you've been cultivating. Viral marketing campaigns to lure new customers will cost you big money. Snap up top talent.

Viral 232

Viral Revenue Distribution Campaign 232

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. The most common failures are solutions looking for a problem, lack of a defined market, or an inadequate revenue model. How will you reach your customers?

Business Model 256

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 256

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The main thrust of the post is that with YouTube taking a 45% of revenue and talent taking 70% of the remaining revenue, YouTube Networks didn’t have sustainable businesses unless they invested heavily in technology as a tool to increase margin and provide defensibility. Much of it already is. Not so fast.

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 28, 2022

I intend to release one study every three months, which I'll send to journalists in the hopes of generating viral attention on social media. I believe that if I can have one piece of content go viral every three months, not only will I be able to develop more links but also raise my brand's recognition. 7- Improve customer experience.

Social Media 118

Social Media Entrepreneur Retention Finance 118

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. it was a personal mission.

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Then we ship it to customers way before it’s ready. For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. We didn’t spend any real cash prior to getting our first paying customer,” recounts Arsenault. “I’ll Image source).

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2020

It's far less expensive to nail down repeat business from your existing customers than it is to land new ones. Now is the time to reap the benefits of those good customer relationships that you've been cultivating. Viral marketing campaigns to lure new customers will cost you big money. Snap up top talent.

Viral 430

Viral Revenue Distribution Cloud 430

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Growth hacking is a practice that aims to acquire as many customers as possible while spending as little money as possible. Where campaigns to build brand awareness and generate top-of-funnel sales drive traditional marketing, data across the entire customer lifecycle drives growth hacking in marketing. What is growth hacking?

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Both have worked.Google reached $1 billion in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400 billion. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit.

Revenue 246

Revenue Entrepreneur Valuation Viral 246

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

For businesses, these are now prime sources of business networking, customer service, and client leads. Viral marketing. Viral marketing costs real money, but is often worth it. Rates per click are very low, so don’t try to live on ad revenues until visit rates are very high. Do you have a business presence there?

Internet 239

Internet SEM Wiki Viral 239

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2021

Customers go there to check on the details of your offerings and verify that you are not a scam, investors look there to check out your management and sales approach, and suppliers expect to find contact information. Two months later they still didn’t have a web site, and didn’t have a customer. Viral marketing needs a website.

Web 349

Web Viral Naming Internet 349

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

As a result, repeating any of the following 10 mistakes outlined here won’t get you any credit for intelligence and learning and will cost you dearly in your funding credibility and real cash. Assume you already know what your customers need and want. Just because you love a new solution doesn’t mean your customers will love it.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. Customer Acquisition. At the highest level you’ll obviously want to track how many customers your adding every month (and for some businesses that have hit scale this is measured on a daily basis).

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

They’re a selfish ploy, tricking people who thought they were customers into being alpha testers. Founders explain failures with things like “our two main competitors did [thing] to us” or “customers didn’t understand [our point of view].” Sometimes that’s product design so thrilling that every customer spreads the word to five more.

Restful 202

Restful Founder Revenue Acquisition 202

abovethecrowd.com

JUNE 2, 2021

Marketing 101: Customers love free stuff. As a result, it is a common marketing practice to offer things “for free” in order to impact customer behavior or encourage customer loyalty. Customers have shown again and again that they really love free stuff. You know what customers like more than free stuff?

IPO 82

IPO Customer Matching Silicon Valley 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Common failures I see along these lines include: solutions that are "nice to have" but don't address painful problems; a business model that lacks a means for bringing in revenue; and a founder who has turned a blind eye toward his or her competitors. A near-term customer value proposition. Solution production and support.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

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.&# Let’s begin with the four customer currencies. And this is true outside of games.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

It seems to me that there is abundant proof in the marketplace of the financial returns to both large and small businesses, the low cost of entry, and the ubiquity of social networks. Dell announced years ago that it had earned $3 million in revenue from using Twitter, and other businesses report daily on increases in web traffic up to 800%.

Social Media 289

Social Media Small Business Media Technical Review 289

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Some make big mistakes, such as Webvan expanding too fast with a huge infrastructure, and Pets.com , trying to grow the business with a negative margin, under the mistaken assumption that winning customers is more important than making a profit. Actively listen to customer feedback, and don’t be a one-trick pony.

Startup 335

Startup Social Media Metrics Viral 335

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

The cost of entry has never been lower, with new tools to create your own website , and free social media to get your message out everywhere. These are necessary to attract customers, investors, and give you a line of defense with competitors. Test your plan to get feedback from real customers.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Investors and founders alike have been obsessed about “growth at all costs,” just as a virus colony grows without care to its effect on its host cells or whether the colony’s growth ends up destroying the host body completely, taking the colony down with it in a viral version of Lord of the Flies. The problem is “growth at all costs.”

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Viral Metrics Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

Similarly, mentioning viral marketing without specifics won’t assure fundability. Even social entrepreneurs need milestones, quantifiable results, and revenue to sustain their value. Focus on customer needs. Investors expect to hear annual revenues, average margins, customer acquisition costs and sales pipelines.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Angel Investor 134

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2010

They became popular for socializing, but now are prime sources of business networking, customer service, and client leads. Rates per click are very low, so don’t try to live on ad revenues until visit rates are very high. Viral marketing. Viral marketing costs real money, but is often worth it. Social networks.

Internet 224

Internet SEM Wiki Entrepreneur 224

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Then we ship it to customers way before it’s ready. For this article, we asked 14 SaaS CEOs a simple question: “How much did you spend on your MVP before you had your first dollar of revenue?”. We didn’t spend any real cash prior to getting our first paying customer,” recounts Arsenault. “I’ll Image source).

Sweat Equity 50

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 50

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 22, 2023

As a result, businesses in this field should leverage technology to provide interactive, easy-to-understand educational content that can help customers make health-related decisions and maintain healthy habits. Positive experiences create emotional value, which keeps customers coming back and makes small businesses stand out from the rest.

Artificial Inteligence 121

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Entrepreneur Social Media 121

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400B. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit. High customer loyalty and high team passion.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Growth Hacking isn’t viral marketing (although viral marketing is part of it). and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph. If a startup is pre-product/market fit, growth hackers can make sure virality is embedded at the core of a product.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2021

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. Customers today trust those they know and those they see others trusting. Increase customer leads and conversion. Maximize customer retention.

Social Media 355

Social Media Media Reputation Viral 355