Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. CAC is often measured incorrectly and doesn’t often doesn’t capture the true costs of acquisition. The first input is CAC.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

And given your stage of development you sure better at least know what your goal is. How many through SEM? Usually you have a catch-all bucket for “direct” or similar that often came through PR or word-of-mouth. The next step after measuring the customers you’re adding is to add the “cost to acquire” by channel.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

Lately I’ve been having to say things I thought I’d never have to remind people, like, “getting to positive gross margin in several territories is a very low bar to claim success” or “profitable excluding marketing costs” is not actually a real thing. But not doing basic research makes no sense.

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He took out an ad in the Yellow Pages (it was the early 80′s, pre Internet), which cost him $1,000 / month for a half-page ad. Not because they didn’t want to do Pay-per-click (they are huge buyers of SEM) but because they didn’t want other people to know what they paid for clicks!

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 19, 2015

YouTube takes too high of a revenue split (45% vs. 30% that Apple and many other distribution companies take – FWIW, YouTube argues this is because their costs are much higher since they host and stream the video). This kind of spend happens all day long inside startup companies and 100% of the spend on attracting customers is a cost.

SEM 150

SEM Los Angeles Silicon Valley Acquisition 150

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Even if you must launch to your customers, avoid the urge to also launch in extra places, just because your PR firm can do it at the same time. Do some Customer Development instead. Start with a five-dollar-a-day SEM campaign.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168