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Lessons Learned: The three drivers of growth for your business.

Startup Lessons Learned

In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc. The spread between your LTV and blended CPA determines either your profitability or your rate of growth, and a high valuation depends on balancing these two factors.

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It's a startup, not a spreadsheet

Startup Lessons Learned

Luckily, we also discovered that certain other metrics, like LTV and CPA were much better than we initially projected. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? As the product got better, we could see the rate getting closer and closer to the mythical “ one percent rule.&#

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Business ecology and the four customer currencies

Startup Lessons Learned

Each of these four currencies represents a way for a customer to “pay&# for services from a company. A great product enables customers, developers, partners, and even competitors to exchange their unique currencies in combinations that lead to financial success for the company that organizes them.

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