ReadWriteStart

MARCH 8, 2021

They want to snowball their customer acquisition, attracting thousands of new people to the brand, and reach diverse new audiences in new locations. And the revenue from your existing customers alone may not be enough to cut it. . Growth is all about customer acquisition – the process of attracting new people to the brand. .

Startup 127

Startup Retention Acquisition Agile 127

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

But things like vendor introductions are only needle-movers at the earliest stages. Similarly, customer introductions are invaluable in the early days, but become less valuable once a company has a fully-formed go to market function.”. Organize events in your vertical. Customer Development. AskAnything.VC

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Steve Blank

JULY 7, 2009

I think customer feedback comes in a very unstructured manner, hence it is difficult to apply an algorithm on it. to make sense of the unstructured feedback received from customers. luck… and as one of Steve Blank’s posts today mentioned, you can’t test hypotheses from within your building. Order Here.

Customer Development 124

Customer Development Developer Silicon Valley Customer 124

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

Finally, I’ll write about 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. Three to six months after first customer ship, if Sales starts missing its numbers, the board gets concerned.

Customer Development 224

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 224

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 18, 2018

Now as projects are developing, it is clear that blockchain technology is still in the early stages. Lolli : gives customers bitcoin when they shop online (n.b. Some say that we are in “crypto winter.” Lots of ICOs and capital poured into the frenzy of this market in 2017. For example, Coinbase raised its Series E this quarter.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review North America Seattle Deal Flow 124

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

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 7, 2017

These five strategies are proven to work for early-stage companies in a variety of industries — including, perhaps, yours. But it’s not perfect — merely good enough to perform its intended function and delight your first customers in the process. Adequate documentation for Customs clearance.

Cost 100

Cost Developer Small Business Administration Marketing 100

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2021

billion in early funding. Dozens of outreach programs across the military now offer quick revenue to early-stage companies. For example, “flying taxi” startup Joby Aviation aligned its electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with the Air Force’s stated interest in advancing the market for air mobility vehicles.

Artificial Inteligence 326

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Startup Silicon Valley 326

ConversionXL

JANUARY 28, 2021

We won’t proclaim one is the ‘best’ customer data platform (CDP) for which every business, including yours, should use. Instead, we’ll be covering the core use cases that customer data platforms address and explore whether Segment or Mparticle ultimately deserves a spot in your tech stack. The Rise of CDPs.

Technical Review 86

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Technical Cofounder 86

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital , customers , and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Competencies?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Intellectual Property 48

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

Muun found a market need but failed to compete with bigger names that provided customers with authoritative content and resources. One neglected its positioning by failing to target the biggest pain point, and the other failed to build a brand that its customers could trust above the other major players.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

So most early-stage VCs have started to evaluate investment opportunities with an imaginary benchmark in mind: can this company become a $100 million opportunity? A great product is always the foundation but a clear distribution strategy becomes essential to cut through the noise. In addition, churn tends to rise as a company grows.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2019

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain.

Startup 242

Startup Early Stage Vertical Sales 242

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Vertical integration of different funding risks. I also believe that the ebb and flow of the venture investment cycle has been exacerbated by the recent vertical integration of early, growth, and even late stage venture funds. The investment thesis wasn’t wrong — it’s just that they bet on the wrong horse.

Harvest 60

Harvest Vertical IPO Early Stage 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

Passionate – is the company/product/customers the most important thing in your life? Yet for every founder there are 10-20 other employees who take the near-equivalent risks in joining an early-stage company. Can you recognize and capitalize on them? Tenacious – can you keep going when everyone else gives up?

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

SoCal CTO

MARCH 18, 2010

Our current focus is Actors and Actresses and we are moving into other verticals. I also serve as CEO of a small media companies that profile “Tomorrow’s Most Exciting People Today”.

Los Angeles 225

Los Angeles Revenue Southern California Social Network 225

Steve Blank

JUNE 3, 2009

Reducing Risk – Simulation versus Customer Development If you remember the first part of this discussion, startups face two types of risk; invention risk and/or customer/market risk. The Customer Development Process I teach and write about is designed to do just that.

Vertical 128

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing RSS 128

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2016

At the same time, enterprises today can leverage the cloud to make faster, more efficient software changes; use social media to connect with customers; deploy predictive analytics to determine what their customers will want and connect and control devices via a central point with the Internet of Things (IoT).

Customer 100

Customer Advisory Board Asia Internet 100

A Crowded Space

AUGUST 12, 2011

By this, I really just mean what I look for in entrepreneurs and companies at early stages. Read up on the customer effort study from HBS. · Unique solution – there are a lot of successful companies that are following in the wakes of Groupon. Start with a niche in a city, demographic, or vertical.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Vertical Social Media Acquisition 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. A number of analysts have particular focus on serving the customers of technology companies, e.g., Gartner and 451 Research.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 19, 2009

They sold to a set of customers I knew nothing about. After talking to its resellers and customers I realized that SuperMac was the only company that could be described as “fifth in a group of three.” They had an existing distribution channel and their dealers and customers thought they knew who the company was and what it stood for.

Silicon Valley 146

Silicon Valley Software Review Technical Review RSS 146

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2013

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain.

Startup 293

Startup Early Stage Vertical Sales 293

Eric Friedman

MARCH 25, 2019

Consumer tech works best when it’s completely horizontal or deeply vertical. Multi-vertical out of the gate usually fails. Once you nail the first vertical, you can expand to others. Balancing between external conversations and investors with the reality of the customers demands are usually when things derail.

Vertical 92

Vertical Early Stage Demand Conversion 92

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2012

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain. A startup must gain traction.

Startup 247

Startup Early Stage Vertical Sales 247

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

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 6, 2011

This curriculum is based on the various questions entrepreneurs have asked me over these 64 sessions, spanning financing, positioning, customer acquisition, marketing, sales, channel, and various other early stage, startup-related issues. In the case of J.J's business, the customer is the Network. Mava Consulting.

Vertical 115

Vertical Web San Francisco Entrepreneur 115

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

I was between my 7th and 8th and final startup; licking my wounds from Rocket Science, the company I had cratered as my first and last attempt as a startup CEO. Yet when I talked to my venture capital friends, they said, “Well, that’s just how startups work. We’ve managed startups like this forever; there is no other way to manage them.”

Silicon Valley 125

Silicon Valley RSS Venture Capital Customer Development 125

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 1, 2022

However, in reality the Metaverse is still in its early stages of development, and yet, we already can see positive examples of its impact. L eanne Eliott-Young ( Institute of Digital Fashion ) commented on how fashion brands leaning in to engage with younger customers Roblox. Into the Metaverse event in London.

Generative AI 88

Generative AI Vertical Early Stage PR 88

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2016

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. This is not the total opportunity out there, and not the total target market, but the subset of customers who have and will spend the money you need to cure their pain.

Startup 120

Startup Early Stage Vertical Sales 120

abovethecrowd.com

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

The opposite was true for OpenTable where the installation of a personal computer and internet connectivity were part of the early roll-out requirements. But in the early stages, this friction slows your roll-out and increases the costs associated with supplier aggregation. Some customers now use it as a second car alternative.

Aggregator 101

Aggregator Marketing Software Review North America 101

View from Seed

APRIL 8, 2020

Stevens has held roles across verticals such as head of sales, marketing, product, and professional services at five startups over twenty years. He helps early-stage startups with sales, marketing, and general “go to market” topics. Understand Your Customer and Their Timelines. Chill Out & Build Brand.

B2B 156

B2B Angel Investor Vertical Early Stage 156

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

Customer Development/Lean Startups In hindsight startups and the venture capital community left out the most important first step any startup ought to be doing – hypothesis testing in front of customers- from day one. It’s what my textbook on Customer Development describes. and “What did customers think of your prototype?”

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

Version One Ventures

JULY 11, 2013

For example, at version one ventures, we’re focused on early-stage (seed and Series A) opportunities in e-commerce, SaaS, and marketplaces/platforms across North America. Vertical SaaS (investments: Frontdesk , Jobber ): In the new era of enterprise software, the winners will be purpose-built, vertically sliced tools.

North America 147

North America Vertical Venture Capital Early Stage 147

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? How many are there?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

A Crowded Space

OCTOBER 2, 2018

While a big incumbent is stuck working on their existing core business and platform, early stage startups can focus on new platforms or niche parts of the market to build up initial traction. 2) “Divinely Discontent” Customers – This is a Bezos quote from one of his annual letters.

Vertical 60

Vertical B2B Early Stage Mobile 60

Steve Blank

JUNE 25, 2009

Twenty eight years ago I was the bright, young, eager product marketing manager called out to the field to support sales by explaining the technical details of Convergent Technologies products to potential customers. These companies would take our computers and put their name on them and resell them to their customers.

Technology 138

Technology Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 138

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Oh, and since it was not code compatible with anything, we were going to have to port all the key scientific applications our customers needed (as soon as we figured out who they were.) Personal supercomputer s meant yet again learning something completely new; new computer architectures, new applications and customers, new markets.

North Carolina 125

North Carolina Silicon Valley Fractional VPE Part-Time VPE 125