Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2010

Whether your new software is ‘in the cloud,’ an online download, or distributed on a CD through various direct and indirect distribution channels, the process of localization is still a time consuming, manually intensive, and expensive effort. In addition this person should report, dotted line, to product development or engineering.

Software 200

Software Distribution Europe Database 200

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels. Real growth always requires real marketing.

Social Media 329

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 329

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

While some investors will be willing to help you build your team, they will not be willing to invest in your startup if you are not willing to distribute responsibility and bring on diversified expertise. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

The key contributors to an out-of-control burn rate is 1) hiring a sales force too early, 2) turning on the demand creation activities too early, 3) developing something other than the minimum feature set for first customer ship. The Customer Development process (and the Lean Startup) is one way to do that. Something else?

Lean 259

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 259

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

Let’s start out with the basic functions of a tech company: 1) Engineering 2) Marketing 3) Sales 4) Business development 5) PR 6) Design 7) Product Management 8) HR 9) Operations 10) Finance Ok, that's just overwhelming. Let’s take sales and business development. Ready to start simplifying?

PR 160

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 160

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Some believe in the all-in approach to product development: build an advanced app. Then, about two weeks before launch, I distributed a survey to those 256 partners. Although Recycler Spotter was perceived as a great model for increasing awareness and sales, most partners decided to wait for the product launch.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 3, 2018

Content, including articles, guides, and case studies, can still generate prospects and customers consistently—you just need to approach distribution from a different angle. Copper’s Relationship Era does the same for the sales industry, and Dialpad’s Anywhere Worker paints a picture of simple, streamlined communication for SMBs.

B2B 133

B2B Marketing SEO Search 133

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2017

Reporting in the Harvard Business Review on a major study of growth stalls they conducted, Olson and his colleagues cite the case of the iconic brand Levi Strauss, which hit a historic high mark of sales in 1995, reaching revenue of $7 billion, but then, starting in 1996, saw a decline in sales so precipitous that by 2000, revenue was down to $4.6

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Algorithm Channel Analytics 127

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

In the first 50 years of commerce in the then-new United States, most businesses were general merchants , buying and selling all types of products as exporters, wholesaler, importers, etc. and concentrated on a single part of the supply chain – importing, distribution, wholesale, retail.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Venture Capital United States Technical Review 120

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

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. Nufactur is a marketplace for industrial distribution so it is important to grow both the demand side, the users, and the supply side, the distributors.

Forecast 130

Forecast Artificial Inteligence Entrepreneur Technical Review 130

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2019

Go beyond standard sources of voice of customer data ; better options are: Interview founders (the original “customers”); Thank-you page surveys; Usertesting.com; Mine sales calls; Mine support tickets; Mine Facebook comments ; Mine online reviews. recommendation engines, chatbots, automated suggestions for collaboration).

Artificial Inteligence 114

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Metrics SEO 114

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 3, 2009

When they promise to help you with marketing, sales, distribution, integrated product development, etc. But the venture guys don’t make the calls on what the product / business guys do. Imagine your investor has to call the CEO of a $20 billion company for approval for your merger or sale.

Strategic Investors 279

Strategic Investors Venture Capital Due Diligence Early Stage 279

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

Lean Methodology consists of three tools designed for entrepreneurs building new ventures: The Business Model Canvas – to write down all the hypotheses about a new business; Customer Development – a process for testing those hypotheses outside the building; Agile Engineering – to rapidly build minimal viable products to test product/market fit.

Customer 424

Customer Marketing Lean Vertical 424

Steve Blank

AUGUST 27, 2009

This series of posts is a brief explanation of how we’ve evolved from Product Development to Customer Development to the Lean Startup. The Product Development Diagram Emerging early in the twentieth century, this product-centric model described a process that evolved in manufacturing industries.

Silicon Valley 268

Silicon Valley Product Startup Product Development 268

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. Their product development team is hard at work on a next-generation product platform, which is designed to offer a new suite of products – but this effort is months behind schedule.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Ads drive awareness…to drive sales. PR and publicity drive attention…to drive sales. Social media drives communication…to drive sales. September 2013 – Ryan Holiday publishes Growth Hacker Marketing and urges people to build growth into the product itself so that it’s a self-sustaining, scalable growth machine.

Retention 48

Retention Metrics Acquisition Conversion 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 29, 2016

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. Continually add new marketing and distribution partners. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Aggressively enter new markets and sales channels. Real growth always requires real marketing.

Social Media 120

Social Media Metrics Viral Channel 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

In an enterprise sales context, this is called a "repeatable and scalable sales process" - once you know how to do this, your company can graduate from early adopters and make an attempt at the mainstream. Thoughts on scientific product development Lo, my 5 subscribers, who are you?

Audience 119

Audience San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 119

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2018

Facts don’t change minds – true for both sales and customers. Ed Fry – Customer Data Operations: Unleashing your hidden growth engine. In an A/A test the distribution of p-values is random. Offline sale – typically. Long sales cycle – 18 months or more. What makes B2B different?

Retention 106

Retention Artificial Inteligence Channel Email 106

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 28, 2010

They were interested in the tools and new distribution medium kaChing provided. “Some people weren’t comfortable because it wasn’t as fun, and one senior engineer thought we’d be losing the part of kaChing that was an enabler for anyone who wanted to make it as a pro,&# Rachleff recalls. says Rachleff.

San Francisco 158

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment SEC 158

Occam's Razor

APRIL 23, 2012

And no, she was not able to complete her task after 6.3802146 frustrating minutes because neither your navigation nor your internal site search engine got her to the right page. of Search Traffic: This measures the percentage of traffic you receive from search engines, in context of all other traffic sources. This one is more subtle.

Metrics 152

Metrics Analytics Search Channel 152

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products. While it’s useful to be able to have a sales forecast and expense budget early on, it’s not something you need until you’ve validated your idea. Another great way to test your idea is to create a minimum viable product, or MVP.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

One is explaining the world as it used to work: the importance of gatekeepers, the scarcity implied by limited distribution, and the resulting quality bar that the industry is so proud of. Mostly it is the time and expense required to create the means of distribution for that industry. It’s just taking some longer than others.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

techcocktail.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

be the manager and product developer). Developer – Most likely your product requires some engineering. Make sure you have the right developer(s) on board in whatever capacity you need them, whether it’s a part time HTML or Wordpress developer or a full time PHP wiz.

San Francisco 44

San Francisco Startup PHP San Diego 44

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

The classic graph for the product lifecycle is a sales curve that progresses through stages: a sharp rise from the x-axis as a product transitions from Introduction to the Growth phase; a sustained, rounded peak in Maturity; and a gradual Decline that portends its withdrawal from the market. Create product awareness and trial.

Product 124

Product Marketing Differentiation Harvest 124

Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2011

what’s the product? what distribution channel? Autonomow team members: Jorge Heraud (MS Management, 2011) Business Unit Director, Agriculture, Trimble Navigation, Director of Engineering, Trimble Navigation, MS&E (Stanford), MSEE (Stanford), BSEE (PUCP, Peru). Decide what constitutes a pass/fail signal for the test.

Business Model 237

Business Model Nebraska Peru Germany 237

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 22, 2010

The cost of creating new companies is falling rapidly, and access to markets, distribution, and information is within the reach of anyone with an Internet connection. The result is a profound democratization of the digital means of production. [.] The result is a profound democratization of the digital means of production. [.]

San Francisco 121

San Francisco Indiana Lean Startup 121

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

This gets me into trouble, because it conjures up for some the idea that product development is simply a rote mechanical exercise of linear optimization. You just constantly test little micro-changes and follow a hill-climbing algorithm to build your product. How to listen to customers, and not just the loud.

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 8, 2015

The Internet has changed the way consumers and enterprises alike research and purchase buy products, and according to McKinsey & Company , this has led the CMO to serve as the “voice of the customer” for their company by helping to identify and meet the needs of a diverse and global customer base.

Finance 100

Finance Mobile Analytics Distribution 100

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

You can argue that the DNA created by Microsoft's over emphasis on distribution (Steve) and development (Bill), has ultimately cost it $50bn or more in lost revenue, market share and market capitalization. Developers have worn the crown for the last 30 or more years in the technology industry - rightly.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

1x hacker in charge of product/development. 1x hipster working with both product and growth. Aug-15: Head of Sales (growth team). Nov-15: Graphic Designer (growth/product). Nov-15: Graphic Designer (growth/product). Dec-15: Developer (product team). Apr-15: Head of Marketing (growth team).

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Steve Blank

JUNE 8, 2009

Execution by Vertical Market As the class progressed, students asked how the activities/functions of a startup; (Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Development, etc.) For example, How does sales differ from one market to another? Sales – What Channel to reach the customer? New/Disruptive?

Vertical 124

Vertical Silicon Valley RSS Marketing 124

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

We’re going to distribute that on a platform and we’re going to build an audience in some way and we’re going to sell our product or service, which by the way is fine. They have more skews than Amazon.com, they sell electronics geared to engineers. That’s great. John Jantsch: Yeah. Robert Rose: Yeah.

Cost 37

Cost Marketing Audience Media 37

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Firebase : Are all your developers front-end engineers? Google Custom Search Engine. Google App Engine. Search Engine Optimization Tools. turn customer feedback into sales and relationships. usability testing for designers and developers. Google App Engine â?? Check them out. Very responsive.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Well, my advice for Chak is to focus steadily on a worldwide list of greeting card distributors using Telewebsales and Sales 2.0 methodologies - in other words, don't invest in travel and in-person sales, but try to close as many deals as possible by phone and the Web. (On While you may not have the budget to spend $500,000 on Sales 2.0

Bootstrapping 114

Bootstrapping Marketing Angel Investor Silicon Valley 114

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 21, 2013

If you're working on the Sticky Engine of Growth , you're focused on very different metrics from those that you care about in the Viral Engine of Growth. Similarly, a two-sided marketplace cares about different things from a traditional e-commerce product. If you do your job well, you’ll disrupt the ecosystem.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Metrics Churn Rate 167