Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

In the last decade, SaaS (Software as a Service) has become a very popular model for new software product development. The largest cost component of establishing a SaaS company is product development costs. This includes the design, development, launch, and enhancement of the SaaS application. .

Cost 158

Cost Developer Azure Churn Rate 158

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

Even if you don’t have “direct&# sales I would tell you that “everything is a sale&# including fund raising, hiring, getting press and doing business development. One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

Transformify

MARCH 14, 2020

Typically, these remote jobs did not require advanced skills – data entry jobs, image tagging, image labeling, customer support, online call centers, telemarketing, online surveys and the like. So, who benefits the most from work from home jobs and diversity hiring programs? Work from home jobs & Hiring Neurodiverse People.

Hiring 98

Hiring Bulgaria Italy Spain 98

David Teten

JULY 9, 2012

We are thus more likely to befriend those people, we are more likely to develop strong ties to them, and even eventually to marry one of those people. [1] Often, when startup founders first assemble teams, they hire familiar people – either people they know, or people like them.

Hiring 138

Hiring Technical Review Affiliate Audience 138

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

David Teten

JULY 9, 2012

We are thus more likely to befriend those people, we are more likely to develop strong ties to them, and even eventually to marry one of those people. [1] Often, when startup founders first assemble teams, they hire familiar people – either people they know, or people like them.

Hiring 128

Hiring Technical Review Affiliate Audience 128

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 26, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, April 26, 2009 Product development leverage Leverage has once again become a dirty word in the world of finance, and rightly so. But I want to talk about a different kind of leverage, the kind that you can get in product development. Its a key lean startup concept.

Product Development 88

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 88

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 10, 2012

by Bill Lee, author of “ The Hidden Wealth of Customers: Realizing the Untapped Value of Your Most Important Asset “. Talented product developers. No one can truly understand your customers or genuinely share their interests unless she is a customer herself. Are you ready to grow your company? That’s right.

Customer 154

Customer Fractional CTO Canada Technical Review 154

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. Companies Run on Process.

Government 315

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 315

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 12, 2020

Different ways of working are better suited to different industries and business sizes, so it’s crucial to consider these sorts of things before you begin hiring or go to market. Also known as a system on module, SOM offers companies a unique strategy when it comes to developing products while keeping customizability fully possible.

SCRUM 131

SCRUM Software Review Technical Review Differentiation 131

View from Seed

JULY 5, 2022

Investors, customers, regulators, and all key stakeholders are demanding more transparent corporate sustainability disclosures. RH: Who are your customers? CC: Our customers are companies that are collecting, managing, and tracking their ESG data. . My favorite part is how many different hats I wear.

DC 156

DC Software Review Government Boston 156

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 26, 2018

In our experience, structured customer development work is right up there amongst the most valuable things a founder can do in the early days of their startup. Once you have an idea that feels strong, it’s imperative to speak with customers about it. But good customer development is tough to do.

Customer 75

Customer Framework Differentiation Customer Development 75

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 17, 2018

As a new entrepreneur or business owner, the most important thing you will do is hire talent. Hiring = Sales. Robert Metcalfe, co-founder and CEO of 3Com, says you need to think about it as “recruiting, not hiring”. impactful work (we point to specific features that are being used by 100s of customers) and 3.

Cofounder 121

Cofounder Elevator Pitch Hiring Dividend 121

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 Thoughts on scientific product development I enjoyed reading a post today from Laserlike (Mike Speiser), on Scientific product development. Keep split-testing, but keep this iron rule: if it doesnt change customer behavior, its not a feature. Now that is fun.

Product Development 68

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 68

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

The most common mistake startups make is assuming they can operate the same way big companies do, and expect success with little to no feedback from potential customers. A corporation like Starbucks could pick locations by throwing a dart at a map and know they’ll at least break even with a new location and mediocre customer service.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

It wasn’t always perfect, but it was way more right than wrong, It informed our product development to a great degree and kept us working on more or less the right stuff. The final proof of a compelling technical vision is that customers were interested—the phone was always ringing. Hired the Smartest People. What a gift!

Technical Review 333

Technical Review Venture Capital Software Review Database 333

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. He just hired Meg Whitman.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

A $150 llama rental for a photoshoot, $250 for a bagpipe player at a customer picnic, $5,000 for an executive’s tires — these are just some of the most questionable things people have paid for or attempted to pay for, in the name of business. This can place a heavy strain on small businesses that don’t have a regular stream of customers yet.

Cost 150

Cost Technical Review Salary Social Media 150

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

” Below are our favorite pieces from the past few years, divided in to a few key categories: fundraising, company building, product development, industry trends, and the life of a VC. Hiring Your Team. So, we decided to aggregate NextView’s “greatest hits.” ” (Rob Go). ” (Melody Koh).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Sunday, September 7, 2008 Customer Development Engineering Yesterday, I had the opportunity to guest lecture again in Steve Blank s entrepreneurship class at the Berkeley-Columbia executive MBA program. Unfortunately, positioning our product as an "IM add-on" was a complete mistake.

Customer Development 131

Customer Development Engineer San Francisco Developer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

Assume you already know what your customers need and want. Just because you love a new solution doesn’t mean your customers will love it. Before spending any money, make sure you interact directly with potential customers, industry experts and investors. Hire helpers in lieu of people who are smarter than you.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 19, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, January 19, 2009 Lean hiring tips In preparing for the strategy series panel this week, I have been doing some thinking about costs. And all of that cost was caused by one activity: hiring. Hiring is no different from any other company process. Sounds a little abstract, though, doesnt it?

Lean 140

Lean Hiring San Francisco Continuous Deployment 140

Up and Running

JANUARY 3, 2019

Here’s the simple truth of business: Without customers to buy your products, you’re not going to make any money. Many businesses develop personas to help them make the right choices as they start, grow, and advertise their business. What if the target customer isn’t you? Buyer (or customer) personas.

Software Review 130

Software Review Product Development Portland Software 130

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, November 8, 2008 What is customer development? When we build products, we use a methodology. But too often when its time to think about customers, marketing, positioning, or PR, we delegate it to "marketroids" or "suits." a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit."

Customer Development 168

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? This may sound crazy, coming as it does from an advocate of c harging customers for your product from day one. They are gaining valuable customer data.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

YoungUpstarts

JULY 16, 2019

Customers enjoy online shopping; their demands create enormous opportunities for eCommerce company’s growth. Have you developed any vision of a product development strategy? And keep in mind that the best option is to develop at least 5 domain names connected to your brand’s name to find an unoccupied domain.

eCommerce 101

eCommerce Software Developers Software Development Hosting 101

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. Hire the wrong people. Be trigger shy about hiring.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2012

There are unknowns at every turn, leading product development, attracting customers, managing cash, and dealing with human resources and office politics. The proactive solution is to hire sparingly, and spend the time and effort needed to hire existing experts in all cases.

Advisory Board 240

Advisory Board Forecast Early Stage Product Development 240

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 17, 2010

After all: Tech support deals with insane customers. Tech support keeps angry customers at bay while having no power to effect change. If this is your attitude, your conception of tech support is completely backwards and you're missing out on important channels for marketing, product development, and sales.

Technical Review 245

Technical Review Sales Turkey Software Review 245

Women Entrepreneurs Can

OCTOBER 19, 2021

While there is an element of innovation needed to be successful, you also need to keep in mind the customers that you are serving, and the experience they will endure with your software. You may also consider ensuring that you hire different people, for different parts of your software. Test, Test, Test.

Software 59

Software Software Developers Software Development Hiring 59

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 26, 2009 A real Customer Advisory Board A reader recently asked on a previous post about the technique of having customers periodically produce a “state of the company&# progress report. Many companies seek to involve customers directly in the creation of their products.

Advisory Board 151

Advisory Board Customer San Francisco Lean 151

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2014

Most of us would want to hire the most experienced, cutthroat lawyer specializing in multimillion-dollar mergers. Do you want the product, or does your target market want the product? If you aren’t 100 percent confident in your ability to deliver a vital product to your market, you haven’t done enough research.

Fractional CTO 185

Fractional CTO Product CTO Hire Merger 185

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 16, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, March 16, 2009 Combining agile development with customer development Today I read an excellent blog post that I just had to share. In most agile development systems, there is a notion of the "product backlog" a prioritized list of what software is most valuable to be developed next.

Agile 111

Agile Customer Development Developer San Francisco 111

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 26, 2020

He also said, “The most important hire I made in my time at the JAIC was the chief technology officer, Nand Mulchandani.” Nand changed the culture of the JAIC, bringing in Silicon Valley tools for product development, product management and for the first time a culture that focused on UI/UX, MVPs and continuous integration and deployment.

Artificial Inteligence 388

Artificial Inteligence Fractional CTO Technology CTO 388

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, February 11, 2009 The free software hiring advantage This is one of those startup tips Im a little reluctant to share, because its been such a powerful source of competitive advantage in the companies Ive worked with. This approach gives you an edge in hiring. Instead, engage with the project.

Software Review 68

Software Review Software Hiring San Francisco 68

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 19, 2020

Similarly, customers are more knowledgeable, aware, and conscious to choose from the variety out there, which slows down the company’s revenue and growth. Capturing and analyzing data enables companies to get insights that benefit their companies in cost-saving, relevant marketing, product development, etc.

Technical Review 148

Technical Review Forecast Analytics Social Media 148

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 5, 2010

I believe it is the best introduction to Customer Development you can buy. As all of you know, Steve Blank is the progenitor of Customer Development and author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany. You can imagine how well that worked. On the plus side, that means its a great deal. I think theyve succeeded.

Customer Development 166

Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 166