Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Mentorship.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Generally speaking, there are two ways (and only two ways) to scale a business to hit that $100 million threshold: Your business has a high Life Time Value (LTV) per user, giving you the freedom to spend a significant amount of money in customer acquisition. High LTV can usually be found in transactional or subscription businesses.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

The Equity Kicker

MAY 11, 2016

Andy Dunn, the founder of Bonobos and one of the most thoughtful writers I know on ecommerce, penned a good piece yesterday entitled Digitally Native Vertical Brands. It’s a brand, and that brand is vertical. Personalisation is a common way for vertically integrated ecommerce companies to differentiate their physical product (e.g.

Vertical 60

Vertical eCommerce Differentiation Distribution 60

Version One Ventures

JULY 21, 2020

However, most businesses are looking for network effects, so they are less of a differentiator than they were a decade ago. No matter the vertical, geography, business model, macro or micro trends, entrepreneurs form the nucleus of a generational company. Fast forward to today.

Founder 213

Founder Vertical Differentiation Portfolio 213

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

Several conversations over the last month have turned to the topic of helping entrepreneurs. As a mentor, you are expected to bring to the table real experience, sound advice, relevance, customer and/or funding connections, enough technical grasp to speak the language, and adequate availability to see the startup process through.

Incubator 48

Incubator Vertical Deal Flow Technical Review 48

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2009

Since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any engineering, customer or competitor problem, and you shouldn’t agonize over trying to find one. An example of a reversible decision could be adding a product feature, a new algorithm in the code, targeting a specific set of customers, etc.

Silicon Valley 300

Silicon Valley RSS Startup Agile 300

VC Cafe

APRIL 27, 2011

10 things VCs can do to differentiate themselves and provide more value to potential investments – based on feedback from dozens of entrepreneurs. This is the second part of the Entrepreneur’s Wish List. Entrepreneurs use a variety of fundraising sources when looking for many.

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Differentiation Incubator Angel Investor 90

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 5, 2017

John Jantsch: One of the ways to really drive up profit is to specialize, is to go into a vertical market, is to go have a niche, to get known as an expert in X, Y, or Z. First of all, so many other people are doing the exact same thing, so there’s no meaningful differentiation. Market vertical would be what you said, dentists.

Vertical 46

Vertical Java Software Developers Software Development 46

Steve Blank

MARCH 25, 2009

While we sometimes cut the price of graphics boards, it was only because we offered our customers no compelling reasons to buy one that was priced equivalently to the market share leaders. Was SuperMac attempting to introduce radically new products and create a new market ? And we lost money when we did so.

Silicon Valley 141

Silicon Valley Marketing RSS California 141

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 25, 2023

In the digital age, technology has pervasive impacts, and data plays a central role in transforming customer value propositions, operations, and the structure of industries. But there are certain ways in which the digital age is having maybe differential impacts than what we've seen in the past. Your customers.

ChatGPT 70

ChatGPT Technical Review Generative AI Technology 70

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Unfortunately, in this age of vacillating customer trends and a wealth of new competitors scratching and clawing for a piece of the action, long-term growth requires constant focus. The new strategy here is to focus on unmet new customer needs, rather than enhancing the offering you have – product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps).

Vertical 167

Vertical Differentiation Restful Audience 167

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

Slopestyle runs are judged on the difficulty of the tricks being executed, the vertical height achieved, and the overall execution of the run. The takeaway for entrepreneurs is that they need to take the time to develop the requisite skills and then practice and perfect. Same with Slopestyle. Audaciousness.

Entrepreneur 91

Entrepreneur Vertical Small Business Differentiation 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. (5:00 5:00 – 5:55).

Vertical 265

Vertical Curation Boston Burn Rate 265

ReadWriteStart

MAY 12, 2011

She has, thus far, not done any other formal customer acquisition initiative. I suggested LinkedIn, oDesk, and eLance with the caveat that the field is extremely competitive and crowded and differentiation would be tough to achieve. In February, he had about 200 customers. Happy Grasshopper. Following a guerrilla p.r.

San Francisco 125

San Francisco Entrepreneur Silicon Valley India 125

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2011

I am sure most entrepreneurs have. Mike's customer acquisition strategy is weak at this point, and he also has a rather broad strategy in approaching this market. Kelly has a lot of gaps in her customer acquisition strategy, as well as positioning, and she is seeing customers from commercial and residential clients.

Entrepreneur 114

Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Vertical Massachusetts 114

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. While that’s not true, it is a fact that entrepreneurs only have one word for “startup.”

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Hippoland

APRIL 3, 2016

When I first met them (when I was an entrepreneur), in the back of my mind, I was thinking, “Gosh, what are they actually addressing? It’s a weird mix of customer service and marketing and sales.” Companies in certain verticals tend to have this problem more. And the company is doing really well!

Differentiation 48

Differentiation Marketing Vertical Software 48

Mucker Lab

DECEMBER 2, 2015

Most brilliant “Internet of Things” ideas are quicksand for capital unless you have the branding, vertical integration and customer lock-in that Apple achieved. For the first time, entrepreneurs could build consumer services AND distribute them at scale with almost no physical middle men and inventory costs.

Vertical 60

Vertical Widget Distribution China 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

The strategy of GigaOm and where they differentiate in the market. industry investors rather than VCs) a good idea for entrepreneurs. His view: sometimes entrepreneurs expect too much value from the partner. Network of vertical focused sites: BeachMint, BeachMint, WineMint, etc.; Are “strategic investors&# (e.g.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital Non-Compete Vertical Europe 225

The Next Web

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

You don’t need a master’s degree in marketing to understand that quality customer service is crucial to the long-term success of your business. Your existing customers will become your most vocal advocates and help grow your customer base on your behalf if you provide a worthwhile and memorable experience each and every time.

Vertical 151

Vertical Social Media Programming Matching 151

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 28, 2012

By the time the trailblazer is successful there are typically many entrepreneurs working on derivatives of the core idea. For those that haven’t followed the sector closely, Kenexa is focused on recruitment, Buddymedia and Vitrue on marketing, Yammer on internal communications and Radian6 on customer insight.

Vertical 94

Vertical Acquisition eCommerce Flash 94

Hearpreneur

NOVEMBER 20, 2022

Being in love with your business, when you’re an entrepreneur, is even better. Although there are days when tossing in your hat seems like a viable option, remembering how much you love your “job” can quickly snap an entrepreneur out of that mentality. Helping others is the thing I love most about being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 71

Entrepreneur Asia LLC Community 71

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 26, 2018

They convey the right message to customers convincing them to do business with you. A bad or poor business name choice on the other hand, can scare customers, fail to communicate your core business, and cause you to lose “buy mode” customers, none of which you want for your business. Differentiation in this case is key.

Naming 70

Naming eCommerce Startup Database 70

Hunter Walker

MAY 20, 2018

The idea was to build a publishing-focused brand with events as a revenue base while we figured out our own differentiation in a crowded market — and then added business lines around advertising, custom content and now subscriptions. How should media entrepreneurs weigh funding options for their startups?

PR 64

PR Media Differentiation Audience 64

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 25, 2023

Matt is an entrepreneur and the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Lulu.com, as well as a self-diagnosed collaboration junkie. 7:30] Would you say self-publishing is seen as a differentiator for businesses? [11:42] 2:25] Is self-publishing a more profitable way to publish today? [5:12] 00:50): This is John Jantsch.

Audience 88

Audience Revenue Distribution Differentiation 88

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

A frequent question entrepreneurs have when they are just starting their company is: how secretive should I be about my idea? This includes investors, entrepreneurs, people who work in similar areas, friends, people on the street, the bartender, etc. (I Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret. I agree completely. link] Nivi.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

Chapter 3: Brand Identity Research: Customers, Competition, and Your Brand. A brand is the sum total of the experience your customers and customer prospects have with your company or organization. Your company’s brand is a promise you make to customers and prospects about your products, your services, and your company.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

Hippoland

MARCH 19, 2017

One of the biggest components of this is differentiating your product / your company from others. Differentiation is very difficult — there are so many entrepreneurs who are doing something similar to you and also so many alternatives that achieve the same results as your product / solution. And, that’s ok.

Differentiation 48

Differentiation Lead Generation Algorithm Search 48

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 19, 2015

No matter the tale, the background behind each and every business is what fuels each entrepreneur and brand. business #entrepreneur #startup #story #why #ceo #ceoblognation #CEOs #hearpreneur. 2) Help Others & Improve Upon Customer Service. Start our FREE Business Blogging Course! Tell Your Business Story! That’s it.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur Australia Technical Review Community 48

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 25, 2023

Since its launch a few weeks ago, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has captured the imagination of users, entrepreneurs and investors alike. So, should entrepreneurs think of AI as the next new platform opportunity? If that’s the case, how can an AI enterprise company create a differentiated product on top of large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI?

Artificial Inteligence 78

Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT Azure Balance Sheet 78

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Because again, that’s a differentiated small town is their individual small businesses. But what you can compete on is that personalized customer service. And so, we always tell small business, compete on what you can be differentiated around. But also diversity of the kind of category or vertical of business.

Small Business 41

Small Business Community Arkansas Non-Compete 41

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

I’m sure its customers wonder, “Why is an organic grocer named RydeOn?”. In the world of technology companies, a pivot generally involves changing the product in a substantive way that changes how the company engages with its customers. Failure isn’t the goal; learning is the goal. Not all pivots are created equal.

Startup 36

Startup Silicon Valley Business Model Mobile 36

abovethecrowd.com

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

In many cases, a deeper focus on a particular category or vertical allows these marketplaces to distinguish themselves from broader marketplaces like eBay. Stitch Fix’s algorithms match the perfect stylist with each and every customer to help ensure the optimal outcome for each client. As you can see, that can be a big mistake.

Internet 88

Internet Matching Vertical Hosting 88

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 17, 2013

eBay recently launched an aggressive campaign attacking Amazon’s rate table on a vertical-by-vertical basis ( those percentages can be found here ). When evaluating new marketplace investments, we are naturally biased towards entrepreneurs who understand the strategic rationale behind the argument for a lower rake.

Europe 101

Europe Social Network Technical Review IPO 101

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. How to differentiate yourself in a crowded market (and when perhaps you shouldn’t try). Jason: get into customer development and it’s a big waste.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

Version One Ventures

APRIL 17, 2019

I think this is an important discussion to have and I am trying to develop a framework to differentiate between the different terms. Some entrepreneurs realized that you could remove even more friction between buyers and sellers by becoming even more involved in the transaction. And, the term managed marketplace was born.

Management 166

Management Vertical Differentiation Framework 166

Steve Blank

JULY 16, 2009

But underlying the company’s existence was a fundamental hypothesis we refused to see or test - customers would care if we did. Our potential customers didn’t seem to be calling for Hollywood stories, characters and narrative. Our customers wanted to kill, shoot or hunt for something. That’s OK, because we knew better.

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS Video San Diego 207