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. But distribution is now unlimited. Not so fast.

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

Steve Blank

JUNE 27, 2017

Its employees and investors don’t depend on an existing revenue stream. If they select a business model that targets industry incumbents, they don’t have to worry about upsetting existing customers, partners or distribution channels. Every Airbnb rental is a lost night of revenue for hotels that hate it.

Startup 275

Startup New York City Valuation Distribution 275

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

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

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

I was having breakfast with Radhika, an ex-grad student of mine who wanted to share her Customer Discovery progress for her consumer hardware startup. Activities define the unique expertise your company needs to deliver the value proposition, customers, channels, customer relationships and/or revenue. (If

Cofounder 335

Cofounder Founder Intellectual Property Business Model 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 7, 2020

The classes are built on the Lean Startup methodology: Customer Discovery, Agile Engineering and the Business/Mission Model Canvas. So how do our students get out of the building to talk to customers to do Customer Discovery when they can’t get out of the building? Reminder: What’s the Point of Talking to Customers ?

Customer 413

Customer Business Model Restful Video 413

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

The canvas is a visual chart with elements describing your value proposition, structure, finances, and customers, to help companies identify and align business activities. I look for evidence of the nine major elements of the model canvas, as paraphrased here from the author’s key points and how they apply to teams: Customer segments.

Business Model 334

Business Model Intellectual Property Angel Investor Channel 334

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Companies manage these three types of innovation with an innovation portfolio – they build innovation internally, they buy it or they partner with resources outside their company. buy out an entire company for its revenue and profits. buy out an entire company for its revenue and profits. Five Types of Innovation to Buy.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

VC Cafe

JULY 21, 2022

The portion of women who play games has increased (+5%), with almost as many women playing games as men – 85% vs 81%, respectively ( source ) Gaming is expanding – companies who didn’t traditionally do gaming (like Netflix ) have understood that it’s a key activity for their customers time spent outside of work.

Forecast 190

Forecast IP Mobile Acquisition 190

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Great marketing is required to generate revenue and grow every business, especially new businesses which have no brand recognition nor loyal customer base. Yet, as a business consultant, I still find many of you business leaders relying primarily on your technology, word-of-mouth , or location to attract necessary customers.

Marketing 333

Marketing Revenue Matching Viral 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Up and Running

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Once your business is up and running and as new customers buy your products, referrals will start rolling in organically. Think about it — your customers will likely showcase your products to their friends and family, and your brand name will come up in conversations and recommendations. Take the company iWader as an example.

eCommerce 152

eCommerce Sales Software Review Canada 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2016

The right channel for marketing and distribution is one of the basic “four Ps” of business (product, promotion, price and placement). For growing revenue and market share, it’s a key element of your overall strategy, and one that can make or break you. Treat distribution partners as part of your team.

Channel 120

Channel Distribution Partner Acquisition 120

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 4, 2016

Suppliers also have machinery and technology issues to contend with as they create customized products. Transportation partners play an enormous role in the supply chain as they bring products into distribution centers and sometimes directly to customers. Develop Relationships with Supply Chain Partners.

Management 145

Management Forecast Los Angeles San Francisco 145

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Dino Vendetti a VC at Bay Partners, moved up to Bend, Oregon on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster. Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. This is true whether the company is concept stage or ramping revenue.

Early Stage 286

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 286

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

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

Big-bang hard launches make sense for large enterprises like Apple or Microsoft, who are building on existing revenue streams and have the resources for lavish events, Superbowl ads and large inventory buildups. Let me summarize the advantages of this to your startup: Immediate real customer feedback.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Plan for a real revenue model.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Since 2015, clothing brand ASOS has grown revenue by an average of 22% year over year. In this article, you’ll learn how to build a powerful ecommerce marketing strategy using customer research and messaging development, and how to use it to determine which marketing tactics will best reach your target audience. Both are critical.

eCommerce 129

eCommerce Marketing Social Media Retention 129

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Minecraft” accounts for nearly all of Mojang’s revenue, highlighting the risk to Microsoft should interest in “Minecraft” dissolve, or Microsoft fails to produce “Minecraft” sequels or add-on software. Analogous to Amazon’s $970 million purchase of internet video site Twitch.tv

Acquisition 157

Acquisition Azure Merger Sweden 157

Steve Blank

JANUARY 2, 2014

Doctors, researchers and Principal Investigators in this class got out of the lab and hospital talked to 2,355 customers, tested 947 hypotheses and invalidated 423 of them. Part 4: This Will Save us Years – Customer Discovery in Medical Devices. Part 5: Value proposition and customer segments in Life Sciences.

Lean 240

Lean Algorithm Customer Development IP 240

Steve Blank

AUGUST 31, 2009

The first hint lies in its name; this is a product development model, not a marketing model, not a sales hiring model, not a customer acquisition model, not even a financing model (and we’ll also find that in most cases it’s even a poor model to use to develop a product.) Where Are the Customers? Product Development Diagram 1.

Customer Development 238

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 238

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

In two cases, these businesses were doing significant early revenue ($500K/month+), so could be considered “post-seed”, although both of these companies had not raised significant institutional capital before we led their rounds. Of the last 15 investments we’ve made, 8 have been pre-product or pre-seed style rounds.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

ConversionXL

MARCH 31, 2021

Customer interviews allow you to uncover: Why they decided to do business with you; Why they love working with you; What other challenges they have in their business; Where they go for new information. Your customers can provide you with pain-points to write about, as well as success stories to attract new clients.

Audience 127

Audience Non-Compete Distribution Channel 127

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

How to Scale Unicorns With Partner David Zhang, TVC. Joining us for this episode is our partner David Zhang, Partner at TCV (( Technology Crossover Ventures ). I’m a partner at TCV, which we founded in 1996. And now we are much more careful about revenue quality revenues. Jonathan Siddharth .

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

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. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners.

Startup 335

Startup Social Media Metrics Viral 335

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. So if it’s not necessarily revenue that’s preventing an investment, then WTF is traction? It’s marketing 101 for tech companies in terms of how you market to customers.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Sedibeng’s primary market advantages are their company culture, consistent “quality” branding, traditional brew recipes, and commitment to rural distribution. Customer testimonials. A weakness that may deter investors is NovOculi’s lack of relationship with the medical device distribution community. Build an online presence.

Botswana 148

Botswana Business Plan Oregon Distribution 148

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2023

Everyone in the company must adopt the principles of customer-first focus, agility in responding to change, and constant innovation to improve your processes as well as the solution. Measure progress through metrics on sales, revenue, and penetration. Seek customer feedback on ways to improve value and satisfaction.

Agile 229

Agile Leadership Global Distribution 229

YoungUpstarts

MAY 5, 2020

This will help you fill gaps within your operations that have been created either by losing employees or outsourced partners. Improving your customer service, for example, can make a world of difference, especially in a coronavirus-stressed consumer base. Adding value can also mean reimagining your product distribution.

Small Business 227

Small Business SBA Small Business Administration SEO 227

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

YoungUpstarts

JULY 21, 2019

When his boss asked him to map and monitor all fast-growing E-Commerce companies in the Netherlands, he saw how fast these companies were growing, with some of them quadrupling their revenues year after year. What helped him was his passion for the product and an excellent business partner. The solution was crowdfunding.

Cofounder 113

Cofounder Technical Review Technology Netherlands 113

Steve Blank

MAY 6, 2015

Build a product, get it into the real world, measure customers’ reactions and behaviors, learn from this, and use what you’ve learned to build something better. Repeat, learning whether to iterate, pivot or restart until you have something that customers love. Build, Measure, Learn sounds pretty simple. Waterfall Development.

Lean 120

Lean Agile Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2019

The canvas is a visual chart with elements describing your value proposition, structure, finances, and customers, to help companies identify and align business activities. I look for evidence of the nine major elements of the model canvas, as paraphrased here from the author’s key points and how they apply to teams: Customer segments.

Intellectual Property 250

Intellectual Property Business Model Angel Investor Channel 250