VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Small fine-tuned models as an alternative to giant generic ones – when finely tuned with appropriate data, smaller, specialised LLMs can yield comparable results at a fraction of the cost. Artificial Intelligence – Scaling global intelligence and redefining work: AI training costs should continue to fall 75% per year.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. The result is a lack of knowledge of the process and of sales people themselves. I had never had any sales training so everything we did for the first couple of years was instinctual. I boil it down to this: sales people are sales people.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

Sales forecasting is much easier than you think, and much more useful than you imagine. Since sales are intimate with costs and expenses, the forecast helps you budget and manage. You measure the value of a sales forecast like you do anything in business, by its measurable business results. Lines of sales.

Forecast 119

Forecast Sales Aggregator Software Review 119

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. But the “no sales people” mantra isn’t what I’m here to take on. I believe it’s flawed.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup API 403

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Sales 120

Sales Entrepreneur Bootstrapping Technical Review 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 29, 2020

So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that email marketing is the most cost-effective strategy to increase your audience base while enhancing your sales. In short, email automation comes with a plethora of benefits for your business, customers, and your revenue. Helps in refining your marketing and sales campaign.

Email 165

Email Campaign Revenue HTML 165

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. million in revenue three years later is, “So effing what?”

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

If your startup’s goal is to sell a product or service but you’re having a hard time with your revenue model, affiliate marketing might be the perfect match to give you that much-needed boost. Affiliate marketing can help your startup rise above the clutter and increase your revenue. What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate 134

Affiliate Revenue Internet Marketing 134

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 21, 2013

Managing shopper experience for medium-sized eCommerce businesses presents a lot of opportunities for conversion testing, and the ability to see real and immediate revenue results when tests are successful. This one small change led to an additional 110 orders, bringing in an additional $43,230 in revenue in a 2 week period.

Revenue 124

Revenue Caching Software Review eCommerce 124

Berkonomics

JANUARY 3, 2013

Most every business can take advantage of continuing, recurring revenues from its customer base. Sometimes, products are designed to make all of their profit upon the recurring revenues from supplies or support. Usually that amount exceeds 50% of total revenues, and is often much more.

Revenue 79

Revenue Software Review Vertical Valuation 79

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Marketing and capital expenses (new factory, high R&D expense) were predicated on consumer-scale sales. We’ll sell them the CDROM drives as well.” (The Kodak CDROM drives were the size of professional audio equipment and depending on the model, costing $600-$1000 in today’s dollars.) (And So what’s the lesson for Apple?

Search 292

Search Marketing Forecast Burn Rate 292

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Board Effect

JUNE 1, 2021

There are two parts to the budget — expenses and revenue. Revenue may not stream in as expected and large, unexpected expenses can creep up. The two primary components of a budget are income and revenue, and many subcategories fall under the umbrella of each. Nonprofit budgets should be considered flexible documents.

Software Review 98

Software Review Technical Review Revenue Forecast 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2021

With PPC, the goal is for the search user to not only see your ad, but to click on it to get to your website (click-through), and buy your widget (conversion to sale). In this context, there are many parameters and concepts you need to understand before you buy advertising: Cost per impression (CPI). Cost per click (CPC).

Search 385

Search Engineer PPC Widget 385

Board Effect

MARCH 23, 2022

Here is a shortlist of funding sources to review: Ticket sales. Product sales. Corporate matches. Also, take note of whether there was a carryover of expenses or revenue which will help you determine which activities were productive and impactful versus those that weren’t. Cost per dollar raised. Government grants.

Campaign 98

Campaign Software Review Technical Review Metrics 98

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. The first step is to have a domain name that matches your business name. Every element on the page needs to be tuned to help convert visits into sales.

eCommerce 133

eCommerce Omaha Entrepreneur SEO 133

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

It partners with sales to close more revenue, informs product teams to deliver better products, and in some cases, co-owns demand generation activities with marketing teams. And then it ensures that all of the organization’s efforts match that true north. of their time), marketing teams (84.2%), and sales teams (75.9%).

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 29, 2018

To keep track of all your expenditure and the effect this is having on your profits, you need to have a plan that details every facet of your business and the costs each incurs. You should have included all your overheads and running costs in your original business plan, so revisit it and see how your predictions have turned out.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review .Net Warrant Cost 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

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. For each potential channel, look at: Customer acquisition cost How many customers you can reach Whether the channel reaches the right audience. Acquisition.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

What will it cost to start that business? Many people underestimate startup costs and start their business in a haphazard, unplanned way. Estimating realistic startup costs is one of the key elements of your financial plan. What are startup costs? It’s always a guess—but you can make it a good educated guess.

Cost 150

Cost Balance Sheet Startup Intellectual Property 150

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Present a professional appearance; Show that you are a real company with solutions to help real businesses solve problems, grow revenue, or reduce cost. Understand the basics around how your message resonates and how to identify more customers that match your target personas. What content and keywords bring them to your site?

Elevator Pitch 100

Elevator Pitch Web Portfolio B2B 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2012

Yet a creative collaboration with your biggest competitor may be the best opportunity for revenue and survival. As a result of our increased coverage and wider range of solutions, we both gained revenue and credibility, while reducing marketing and development. Cost sharing and economies of scale.

Non-Compete 241

Non-Compete Merger Technical Review Software Review 241

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

Yet in this age when customers have a thousand alternatives, and are overwhelmed by a multitude of messages, sales efforts can make or break a business. In fact, I believe modern entrepreneurs need to be super sales people, in the most positive sense, to their team as well as customers. No pain usually means no sales.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Sales Technical Review Social Media 120

Up and Running

APRIL 21, 2021

You made the sale, accounted for the revenue already, only to be forced to give back the money and even pay a fee on top of it all. If you get a little too much, and your chargeback ratio (total chargebacks divided by total sales) reaches a certain level, you’ll either lose your merchant account or get charged higher processing fees.

Software Review 97

Software Review Technical Review IP Database 97

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 21, 2009

Evidence" means emails and Tweets and testimonials that use those words exactly; otherwise you're likely interpreting their feedback to match your expectations. (I What one thing is most responsible for preventing sales? What's one thing you could do to get more feedback from customers, potential customers, or sales you've lost?

Startup 315

Startup Revenue Cofounder Sales 315

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

by Keith Johnstone, Head of Marketing of Peak Sales Recruiting. High-growth startups in the software sales space need to hire adept salespeople to be competitive. Here are ways for startups to compensate for, and even take advantage of, their smaller size to attract and retain recent graduates for sales positions. With the U.S.

Sales 164

Sales Startup Salary Non-Compete 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2011

Yet a creative collaboration with your biggest competitor may be the best opportunity for revenue and survival. As a result of our increased coverage and wider range of solutions, we both gained revenue and credibility, while reducing marketing and development. Cost sharing and economies of scale.

Partner 225

Partner Non-Compete Merger Technical Review 225

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

Yet in expansionary periods, successful leaders spent significantly less on [selling, general, and administrative costs] than did their former peers. A focus on cost cutting—every decision is viewed through a loss-minimization lens. As the authors found, “Firms that cut costs faster and deeper than rivals don’t necessarily flourish.

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Overall acquisition costs for both B2C and B2B have gone up by 50% in the past five years. To offset these costs, you need to earn more repeat purchases from existing customers. That means better margins, more profitability, and cost-efficient scaling. This post gives you a data-backed approach to win more repeat sales.

Retention 126

Retention Analytics Campaign eCommerce 126

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 20, 2021

Consumers skip through the classic Google ads on Youtube but they sit through “tutorials” their favorite influencers deliver and drive up engagement and sales with the discount codes tailored to the influencer. 9-More precise algorithms to match couples. Thanks to Daniel Shapiro, Fourlaps ! #8- 8- Podcasts. Photo Credit: Sarah Farrant.

Entrepreneur 147

Entrepreneur United States Software Review Technical Review 147

Women Entrepreneurs Can

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Even if your systems are in good health, persisting with facilities that do not match consumer expectations will cost you dearly. Conversions will fall, which will bring a noticeable reduction in revenue. Get it right, though, and you won’t only gain a sale. Business technologies evolve at a rapid rate.

Technical Review 52

Technical Review Software Review Cloud Reputation 52

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Your head of sales thinks she should fire somebody. Somebody asks whether you plan to set up 401k’s and do contribution matching. You’re sales person is getting blocked by the CTO who says she shouldn’t go above him but the CTO isn’t approving the deal. I think this paralyzes many people.

Entrepreneur 414

Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Technical Review CTO Hire 414

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

When shelter-in-place hit last March, forcing their doors to close, their revenue dropped to nothing overnight. million of inventory online and recovered all their lost POS revenue with online sales. With no way to serve it in their restaurant, their revenue flattened. And the benefits go way beyond pure revenue.

eCommerce 155

eCommerce Cofounder Community Channel 155

Steve Blank

APRIL 4, 2011

The Agora team started the week wondering whether they were 1) a true marketplace for cloud computing, where they provide both matching and exchange capabilities for real-time trading. Or were they 2) an information exchange, providing matching services for cloud computing buyers and sellers, providing matching services.

Customer 240

Customer Business Model Nebraska Cloud 240

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2018

When it comes to making money online, business and personal branding are huge drivers of sales and influence. On places like Facebook, where the CPM (cost to reach 1,000) is the cheapest of any ad network ever: Source. And according to Forbes, brand loyalty is a big driver in closing sales and selling online.

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Technical Review Hosting SEO 107