Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

What does your Chief Technology Officer do all day? Often times, it seems like people are thinking its synonymous with "that guy who gets paid to sit in the corner and think technical deep thoughts" or "that guy who gets to swoop in a rearrange my project at the last minute on a whim." But along the way, something strange happened.

CTO 168

CTO Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review 168

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2010

This insidious disease kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. Feature creep” (or scope creep) refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product before first delivery. Define milestones for cost review and sign-off.

Technical Review 129

Technical Review Software Review Database Demand 129

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Instead, buyers are checking out product and service information in their own way, often through the Internet, their social network, or just plain word-of-mouth or customer reviews. It’s a myth that social networks and their technologies are creating new approaches to marketing. But LEGO took a smarter approach.

Marketing 234

Marketing Software Review Technical Review Social Network 234

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

In 2018, after two short years and $3 million raised in startup funds, recruitment AI company Ansaro shut down due to bad market fit. Product marketing informs strategic positioning and ensures alignment across the company. Product marketing shows value in its ability to improve usage, lift customer LTVs, and decrease churn.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Currently at Facebook, Kent has pioneered effective software development, co-authoring the Agile Manifesto , which modernized product development, and writing a slew of books with practical advice for engineering teams. At a conference I overheard a couple of programmers make a snarky comment about Test-Driven Development.

Product Development 167

Product Development Software Review Technical Review Developer 167

techland.time.com

JANUARY 16, 2013

Politics World Business Tech Health Science Entertainment Style Sports Opinion Photos Magazine Video LIFE.com Lists TIME Home. Reviews & Features. A site’s design, of course, can do only so much if the content it presents isn’t equally compelling. iPhone Demand Is Waning. Skip to Content. Sections → NewsFeed U.S.

Global 68

Global Technical Review Minnesota RSS 68

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2018

A version of this article appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Finally, GM created the notion of perpetual demand within brands by continually obsoleting their own products with new models rolled out every year. When technology changes are rapid you want the founder to continue to run the company. One wonders if $2.6

Michigan 296

Michigan Cofounder Stock Forecast 296

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. Each starts inventing and testing their own alternatives about how to sell and position the product.

Customer Development 232

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 232

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

This value-based model bringing all the right customers to their yard is called demand generation. In this article, you’ll learn how to build a demand generation funnel that fuels the pipeline, shortens the sale cycle, and generates revenue. Like SEO, demand generation is a long game. Demand generation is no exception.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

One of the most common mistakes I see in startups is making decisions that lose sight of the context , including the past, present, and future. Early stage startups have to survive one day at a time and are often presented with limited choices of the moment that enable them to continue. Some products are very simple to message.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

ConversionXL

JANUARY 24, 2017

What are the industry and technology trends that are fueling the need for these skills? Those working in data-centric tech organizations probably don’t find this idea out-of-the-norm. With agile development cycles and uncertain monetization models, they live and die by data and experimentation. What should they learn today?

Conversion 48

Conversion Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Analytics 48

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. So let’s turn our attention from what may happen in the future to what is definitely happening in the present.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Playing with new technologies. Strategy - startups first encounter this when they have the beginnings of a product, and theyve achieved some amount of product/market fit. We also try to communicate the initial due date with as few people outside our company (investors, customers, etc) as possible to avoid losing credibility.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

They take things like unit testing, design documents and code reviews more seriously than any other company Ive even heard about. What is customer development? Using AdWords to assess demand for your new online. Principles of Lean Startups, presentation for Mapl. Lo, my 1032 subscribers, who are you?

Agile 76

Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Airbnb’s availability as a marketplace and its aggregation of substantial consumer demand has actually meant certain forms of lodging have been newly built or converted into rooms for the primary purpose of listing on Airbnb. So How Profitable Could Airbnb Really Be? Of course this begs the question of “compared to what?”

North America 401

North America IPO Prospectus Europe 401

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This post describes how companies using the Customer Development model can increase their credibility, valuation and probability of getting a first round of funding by presenting their results in a “Lesson Learned&# venture pitch. Tons of advice is available on how to pitch , present and market your company.

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Hes a new employee, and he was not properly trained in TDD So far, this isnt much different from the kind of analysis any competent operations team would conduct for a site outage. What started as a technical problem actually turned out to be a human and process problem. We didnt even practice TDD across our whole team.

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

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. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Continuous Deployment 167

Continuous Deployment Software Review San Francisco Lean 167

Reid Hoffman

NOVEMBER 10, 2020

When assessing whether the primary components of a viable business endeavor are present, the most important thing is to be able identify the valuable opportunity. These laws apply to every entrepreneurial endeavor, not just high tech startups, though we’ll still spend plenty of time on the technology industry.

Technical Review 36

Technical Review Software Review Engineer America 36

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 27, 2015

I also developed an appreciation for the value of the resources we did have, and an aversion to waste of any kind: food, money, and especially as I grew older, time. I became very passionate about productivity. The list below is a compilation of some of my own routines and habits I’ve developed to stay productive.

Product 100

Product Technical Review Russia Software Review 100

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

Its common to find a hacker at the heart of almost any successful technology company. When a startup encounters difficult technical problems, this is the guy you want solving them. As the company grows, hes the go-to person for almost everything technical, and so hes very much in demand. All is not lost, though.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review Part-Time VPE San Francisco 94

ConversionXL

JUNE 25, 2021

A product launch lives primarily in the introduction phase (merging into growth once it generates enough demand). Understanding how your product launch fits into the bigger picture will help you discern: How to build awareness in the introduction stage (this strategy will vary based on product type, industry, target audience, etc.)

Product 96

Product Social Media Audience Software Review 96

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

That’s because Five Whys will often pierce the illusion of separate departments and discover the human problems that lurk beneath the surface of supposedly technical problems. But if we stay stuck at the technical parts of the problem, and never uncover the human problems behind them, we’re not going far enough.

San Francisco 164

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 164

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 3, 2009

Without further ado, the video: Slides are below: Minimum Viable Product View more presentations from Eric Ries. Labels: minimum viable product , slides , video 13comments: Alan Pinstein said. I do this as a core part of the Product Management process I use at all startups. Iterate quickly to uncover true market demands.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Product Lean Continuous Deployment 168

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I have the knowledge in tech to implement it. If you’re looking for technical talent – go to the dev meetups. Building Product 2. I think it’s a huge mistake to outsource technology as a startup. Near shoring development with your team (ex: your team is based in Canada / India) is cool, but not outsourcing.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

One of the sayings I hear from talented managers in product development is, “good enough never is.&# And, most importantly, it helps team members develop the courage to stand up for these values in stressful situations. Over time, such teams either explode due to irreconcilable differences or dramatically slow down.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 10, 2009

It’s important to note that system I’m about to explain evolved organically in response to new demands on the system and in response to post-mortems of failures. Nobody gets here overnight, but every step along the way has made us better developers. Code reviews and pairing Great practices. If it didnt, wed trash it.

Continuous Deployment 123

Continuous Deployment San Francisco Software Review Lean 123

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Tech Gadgets Mobile Enterprise GreenTech CrunchBase TechCrunch TV Disrupt SF More TechCrunch TV Beta Invites Crunchies Elevator Pitches Gillmor Gang Podcasts TechCrunch Europe TechCrunch Trends TechCrunch France TechCrunch Japan Whats Hot: Android Apple Facebook Google Microsoft Twitter Yahoo Zynga Subscribe: From Nothing To Something.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Due to an interaction effect between your hardware, solar flares, and quantum flux, this virus will crash your computer and erase your hard drive sometime soon. I have been present for these kinds of negotiations many times in my career. I have been present for these kinds of negotiations many times in my career.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Architecture Lean Continuous Deployment 133

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Non-Technical Co-Founders Co-Founders Technical Co-founders Finding Co-Founders Startups & "How Important Are Ideas?" " Web Development Startups Solo Founders I am a creative guy with a startup idea. "I am a creative guy with a startup idea."

Developer 42

Developer Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder 42

ConversionXL

MARCH 28, 2019

Product Hunt is a community-based website that allows makers and marketers to launch their products or services and get in touch with their first real users. The community can jump start products through votes and (honest) reviews, which are essential in the early stages of campaigns. Some aspect of your product is free.

Campaign 127

Campaign Product Technical Review Social Media 127

Software By Rob

AUGUST 18, 2010

But a more important question to which I don’t have a good answer is whether the Free/Premium strategy leads to better or worse product development. If you offer a product for free you get more users and more feedback on your product. Demand it later, after you have demonstrated your worth! #48

Software Review 78

Software Review Software Revenue Cofounder 78

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 19, 2017

So, too, should the Test Manager take direction from their cohort of subject matter experts: Product Managers, Technical Directors, Web Designers, and Customer Service Representatives.”. This model tends to be more common in the SaaS service industry, in companies with a lot of developers, and other technical organizations.

Chad 90

Chad Analytics Technical Review Framework 90

Occam's Razor

APRIL 23, 2012

It also means the BBC photo slideshows can use a beautiful fade transition that makes for a lovely presentation. Sometimes this one-night stand obsession is subtle, sometimes it is obvious in what is presented to you when you land, but it always becomes more transparent as you go deeper into the site. That was 7 dates.

Metrics 152

Metrics Analytics Search Channel 152

mashable.com

JUNE 11, 2013

In my first company, people liked our product but were embarrassed to share it because the design and presentation was so poor. For young entrepreneurs, especially non-technical founders like myself, it feels like our big idea is all we have, and we want to guard it like a defenseless baby. Follow @mashable. Social Media.

Cofounder 111

Cofounder Technical Review Startup Software Review 111

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Developers have worn the crown for the last 30 or more years in the technology industry - rightly. But in the world following Jonathan Ive, designers are finally getting their due. It is interesting to see the emphasis that both Twitter and Quora have put on product design, not just engineering.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

Hearpreneur

JULY 10, 2017

Prior to starting Ozmo both Ming and I worked in a design house creating new and better products. Throughout my five years of experience in product development, I realized that most of product launch failure could have been avoided by getting the product right earlier on, or understanding the limit of the maker.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Hungary Software Review Cofounder 101