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 223

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 223

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Don’t rely on conservative forecasts to reduce risk.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2018

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Don’t rely on conservative forecasts to reduce risk.

Forecast 161

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 161

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Up and Running

MAY 10, 2021

In this article, we will talk about the trends and the cost of mobile app development with a forecast for 2021. According to the Payments Industry Intelligent report, by 2022, the forecast value for mobile payment apps will reach nearly $14 trillion. Your app may cost you money, but the revenue it generates may justify the budget.

Artificial Inteligence 150

Artificial Inteligence Developer Development Team Review United Kingdom 150

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

Customers will be even more comfortable with the introduction of voice commerce, another unicorn of the online shopping experience. Sustainability is the Queen In 2023, customers have become even more environmentally conscious, as recent statistics prove. million people and generate monthly revenue. Only in 2021, 72.9%

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Set time aside to sit down and revise the plan , comparing forecasts to actuals and revising as necessary. . Financial Summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. You provide extensive customer service and a variety of rewards options for customers. Key customers.

Business Plan 154

Business Plan Technical Review Forecast Exit Strategy 154

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

It can be the idea, the customers, the mission, the grind—whatever it is; there’s something that keeps you going. Sure, your friends and family say they love it, but that doesn’t guarantee that actual customers will. Take the time to conduct market research and identify your target customers. That’s completely fine.

Forecast 154

Forecast Software Review Bootstrapping Finance 154

Up and Running

OCTOBER 23, 2020

To put it simply, plan vs actual is just the active review and adjustment of financial forecasts based on your real-world financial results. The illustration below shows a view of the sales forecast for a bicycle store. She forecasts sales by forecasting units, the average price per unit, and sales as the product of unit times price.

Management 117

Management Forecast Software Review Balance Sheet 117

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 24, 2024

It is a quantified metric that focuses on the speed of turning prospects into customers. Accelerating your B2B pipeline is about turning up its velocity so that it zips through stages and transforms prospects into paying customers briskly. The higher the velocity, the more predictable and scalable the revenue becomes.

B2B 126

B2B Forecast Entrepreneur Analytics 126

Up and Running

AUGUST 24, 2020

Cutting costs , revisiting forecasts , and stabilizing your business. Take delivery service apps like Instacart for example, that use AI analytics to garner insights about customers and their behavioral patterns. Revisit your business plan , forecasts, and company goals. The first stage in this crisis was survival.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Analytics Forecast Artificial Inteligence 131

Up and Running

JUNE 9, 2020

Until your customers pay their invoices, you can’t pay your bills. So, if you’re doing a ton of business, but your customers are slow to pay on their invoices, you might still have cash flow problems. Forecast cash flow and manage that forecast carefully. But keep in mind that cash and profits aren’t the same things.

Forecast 114

Forecast Software Review Campaign Cash Position 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Don’t rely on conservative forecasts to reduce risk.

Forecast 120

Forecast Startup Stock Options Technical Review 120

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 2, 2016

“Only move forward with creating a product that will be “above the bar.”. ― Brian Lawley , “ Optimal Product Process “ As soon as the product has been delivered, a good manager will cooperate closely with the customer or will analyse how the market has adopted this product to make sure it was developed as intended.

Management 100

Management Product Churn Rate Green 100

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 6, 2020

There are common components in every business plan, but a SaaS (or subscription) business plan should have a special focus on customer acquisition (ie. For entrepreneurs who just want to dive in and start building something and solving customer problems, a business plan can seem like a waste of time. Customer acquisition plan.

Business Plan 87

Business Plan Forecast Churn Rate Acquisition 87

Up and Running

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Many business owners fail to see the value of regular planning and forecasting, and it hurts their businesses because they haven’t planned for potential challenges and don’t have any kind of strategy for dealing with them. Keep an eye on these important metrics. Without revenue, nothing else in your business can really go very far.

Metrics 128

Metrics Software Review Forecast Small Business 128

Up and Running

OCTOBER 7, 2019

You need to use your time and resources productively by focusing on the right metrics so you can use data to help you implement improvements that matter. The first step is to formulate a KPI strategy by selecting the right metrics to track. The metrics should help you identify areas for improvement.

Founder 71

Founder Retention Metrics Technical Review 71

ConversionXL

MARCH 6, 2019

On Facebook, an ideal customer may log on to see photos of a new nephew, not to check out a 30-second demo of your SaaS product. The growth also outpaced their forecast from the prior year, which suggested that video would reach 17% of digital ad spend by 2021.). LinkedIn video ads: tech specs, targeting, metrics, and cost.

Video 129

Video B2B Technical Review Campaign 129

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Entrepreneurs have no trouble focusing on how to build a product, and the good ones know how to find and nurture those first critical customers. What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. Customer loyalty and retention.

Metrics 266

Metrics Retention Acquisition Salary 266

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Between January 2015 and January 2016, we grew our platform Slidebean from $1K to $20K in monthly recurring revenue. Getting the first tracks of revenue is one of the toughest processes of building a startup. Then, in 2015, this is who we added to the team: Jan-15: Head of Customer Success (growth team). Lean marketing.

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Does that muddy up the forecasting, the models, or the accounting? [12:31] So a lot of times we'll help, 'em understand they wanna buy controllership work, which is just the, you know, the full on financial cash movement of all of their revenue through all of their systems. I'm gonna go hire 'em now they know. We've looked at a few.

CPA 74

CPA Technical Review Revenue Forecast 74

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Since many of our investments are companies that are scaling, vs. companies that are just getting started, there are a lot of derivative metrics in these plans. Remember That The Lifetime Value Of A Canceled Customer Is Zero. How LTV Metrics Lie — And What To Look Out For. Good luck with that.

Metrics 120

Metrics Revenue Web Conversion 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

If you’re running a startup or small business, your first priority (after your family) is keeping your employees and customers safe. Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Are your customers closing for the next few weeks? Laying off people?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Growth killer #2: Different goals and metrics. The second thing that holds companies back: departments and vendors trying to grow a huge array of different goals and metrics: The SEO team may want to improve rankings and search engine traffic; The email agency may be looking to increase subscribers; and.

Metrics 132

Metrics Campaign Channel Advertising 132

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

A financial plan with a Sales Forecast, Profit & Loss , Cash Flow Forecast , and Balance Sheet. Performance tracking to compare ACTUAL financial results with your planned financials and other key metrics. You also want to think about some other metrics to forecast, and then measure against actual results.

Lean 83

Lean Small Business Forecast Technical Review 83

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Analytics is about designing, reporting, and leveraging operating metrics to aid strategic and functional decision-making. These are operating metrics because they are not part of GAAP financial statements, even though they are critical for everyone from the CEO to marketers and PMs to make data-informed decision on a daily basis.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 14, 2021

You work tirelessly to understand your customer, market, and competition so you can differentiate. Voice-of-customer (VoC) research, user research, competitor research, and insights on jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) can inform your marketing strategy. . Does your messaging at each touchpoint match customer intent? NPS & CSAT.

Metrics 157

Metrics Marketing Campaign Audience 157

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016

Describe the problem your potential customers have. Describe your solution to the problem—this is your product or service (how does it solve your customer’s problem?). Describe your competitive advantage (talk about how your customers are solving their problem currently as well). Build a sales forecast. Business Ratios.

Business Plan 60

Business Plan Lean Forecast Balance Sheet 60

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Good metrics should also be actionable, and drive successful behavior. In a follow up post, I will use this technique to walk through the design of a set of metrics for a SaaS company.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

David Teten

AUGUST 6, 2015

So often I speak with companies that have charged ahead building an ultra-complex daily or weekly model with thousands of assumptions and complex dashboard outputs, when their potential investors simply want a high-level 24 month forecast with 12 months of reconciling historical data.”. HOW TO MAKE YOUR CELLS READABLE.

Balance Sheet 60

Balance Sheet Software Review Forecast Acquisition 60

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 20, 2017

Besides the general focus on customer and product development, an entrepreneur should foresee the next moves that will serve to guide him on the right path.When an entrepreneur can forecast his next moves, even his/her employees become part of the moves the business makes. 7- Several forecasts. 3- Several Aspirations.

Forecast 59

Forecast Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur SEO 59

Up and Running

AUGUST 28, 2018

Revisit and update it regularly by comparing your forecasts to your actuals and adjusting as necessary. Financial summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. Then you’ll think through your ideal customer , your competition , and your opportunities for growth. Be specific.

Business Plan 72

Business Plan Technical Review Exit Strategy Oregon 72

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

In this webinar, we take time to discuss the different metrics that startups—and established businesses—should be tracking. What a lot of companies or startups don’t realize is when you put up forecast together, it’s difficult if you’re a startup. In terms of pre-purchase, traffic and content metrics.

Metrics 84

Metrics Startup Churn Rate Forecast 84

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Every company has a forecast for how it will get to an arbitrary $100 million in revenue and they all hit it on year five. feedback from early users/customers (qualitative and quantitative) that's meaningful and in the target demographic. What's interesting is the assumptions that go into that vision of scaling.

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Up and Running

MAY 28, 2015

We’re looking at our lean business planning is about strategy, tactics, concrete specifics including milestones, metrics, tasks and schedule, and essential numbers to run a business, all of which lead to managing cash flow. That’s the sales forecast, the spending forecast and the cash flow. It is not a document.

Lean 60

Lean Business Plan Video Software Review 60

OnlyOnce

JULY 9, 2013

The book is part of the Startup Revolution series that Brad has been working on for a couple years now, including Do More (Even) Faster , Venture Deals , Startup Communities , and Startup Life (with two more to come, Startup Boards and Startup Metrics). Writing a book is a LOT harder than I expected!

Startup 95

Startup Advisory Board Elevator Pitch Forecast 95

Up and Running

MAY 30, 2022

An often overlooked purpose of a business plan is as a tool to define success metrics. This includes financial statements such as your profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, and sales forecast. Determines financial needs and revenue models. A key part of writing your plan involves pulling together a viable financial plan.

Business Plan 150

Business Plan Balance Sheet Revenue Metrics 150