Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2019

Many busy new venture owners believe they have heard it all before, so they tune out of conversations, or revert to multi-tasking, thus diluting their leadership. Many new venture owners have trouble disengaging from the escalating demands of their business to celebrate the small successes of the people and customers who depend on them.

Leadership 244

Leadership Dilution Metrics Demand 244

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

In reality, too many choices actually dilutes customer interest in your existing market, and makes your job of production, marketing, and support much more complex. Ongoing momentum requires a move to mainstream, or even late adopters, who demand simplicity in your base function. Focus first on finding more of the right customers.

Technical Review 400

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Advisory Board Cofounder 400

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

But the reality is that you’re faced with two problems: 1) the earlier the stage the riskier and thus more write-offs so you need to have enough ownership percentage in your winners to make up for the losers and 2) the earlier stage your check the more likely the company will need many more funding rounds behind you and thus you face dilution.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

The other revels in the world as we all know it will be someday: limitless distribution enabled by new technologies, the importance of collaborative filters, and on-demand availability of all content for end-users. And as everyone’s attention starts to focus on those same indicators, their value is being diluted. Is that a lot?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Valuations are based more on typical later-stage type of metrics. This is driven both by supply and demand. Finding the right partner is a much bigger win than the extra cash or minimizing dilution. The process varies significantly from investor to investor and each step typically takes a lot longer.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Customers kept demanding that we add this or that IM feature, and we were routinely refusing. We were afraid that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and that once we “gave in&# to these five demands there would be five more, ad infinitum. Every time you listen to customers, you fear diluting your vision.

Advisory Board 151

Advisory Board Customer San Francisco Lean 151

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Supply and demand. To start, let’s not forget about the obvious: the natural economic principles of supply and demand apply to valuing your business. your equity in a hot new patented technology business), the higher the demand (e.g., your equity in a hot new patented technology business), the higher the demand (e.g.,

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

Occam's Razor

APRIL 15, 2019

Bubble Kings most commonly reside in organizations where there is little to no accountability (or misplaced accountability, ex: celebration of vanity metrics). They dilute the analysis with non-facts. You might think it would be the Attacker. A Rationalizer subtly sows doubt. At their worst, they commonly turn diamonds into coal.

Leadership 79

Leadership Non-Compete Analytics Software Review 79

Board Effect

MAY 13, 2019

The realistic demands of cap table management will increase as your business grows and matures—that much is a no-brainer. At this stage, startups should be taking the time to develop a cap table structure that supports growth; plugging in the formulas to eventually model valuations and equity dilution during seed-stage negotiations.

Cap Table 40

Cap Table Management Liquidity Event Dilution 40

ConversionXL

JANUARY 14, 2020

Whether it improves the quality of an existing page (and, therefore, rankings for keywords you’re already addressing) or justifies new page creation (to rank for new keywords), there has to be demand. In each case, the identified demand can be addressed and lead to more organic traffic (and, of course, happier customers).

SEO 159

SEO Framework SCRUM Search 159

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

.   This is most commonly used when a conversion confers superior economic benefits on the preferred stockholder. ·       Anti-dilution provisions that reduce the price of the preferred shares (using a variety of formulas) in the event that the company issues new stock at a lower price.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

If the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? In order for a company to attract a full Seed round ($2M – $3M), that company needs to show an almost completed product, an advanced prototype, or some kind of traction/demand metrics.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Ben's Blog

APRIL 1, 2011

Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared to keeping my mind in check. If the sales team made unreasonable demands on the product organization, then that was my fault. Raise money in a highly dilutive way. It kind of sucked to be me.

Management 78

Management Cap Table Balance Sheet Bankruptcy 78

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 15, 2009

As a consumer internet company with millions of customers, it may seem to have little relevancy for an enterprise software company with only a handful of potential customers, or a computer security company whose customers demand a rigorous audit before accepting a new release. Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23.

Continuous Deployment 167

Continuous Deployment Software Review San Francisco Lean 167

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

There are three parts to a good competitive analysis: (1) defining the metrics and identifying the competitors you’re comparing, (2) gathering the data, and (3) the analysis. If your brand tries to be too many things at once, the message becomes scattered and the brand grows diluted. Start by defining what metrics are important.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Written By Dan Martell on February 2nd, 2012 | Category: Hiring LeanStartup Marketing Metrics Startup Life | 6 Comments. Building Metrics / Usage Reports / KPI 3. Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. 10) Metrics.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

Use your marketing strategy to ensure campaigns never dilute your brand perception. Measure brand awareness metrics and KPIs success by analyzing: Coverage Share of voice Mentions Shares Traffic Links Conversations. Keeping these four principles in mind, let’s look at an example of a company using branding to stand out.

Campaign 109

Campaign Social Media Audience Channel 109

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Anything that hints of a down round brings questions about the success metrics that have already been “booked.” It will also minimize future dilution. I get that you want to grow and I want you to grow, but let’s internally finance that growth by spending gross margin dollars rather than new dilutive dollars of equity.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

When someone shares your YouTube video on Twitter, you can track that metric. Once you know your goal, there are two approaches to take to a social media strategy: meeting demand and generating demand: Meeting demand tries to discover what’s out there already and respond to it to stay relevant to the target market.

Social Media 145

Social Media Audience Media Marketing 145

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

It might make sense to move more live chat staff over to the phones to handle demand. This example from a presentation by Brent Dykes shows how unnecessary noise dilutes data and how much more effective its when stripped back: Image Filename: example-from-a-presentation-by-brent-dykes.jpg. Focus on the data that matters.

Marketing 100

Marketing Analytics Audience Design 100