Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

So most early-stage VCs have started to evaluate investment opportunities with an imaginary benchmark in mind: can this company become a $100 million opportunity? Early users of a product are often strong advocates and company ambassadors, while those users acquired through paid marketing channels down the road show far less loyalty.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Building your brand presence on specialized outlets holds immense value for your business – especially in early stages. Any brand wants to promote a culture and an experience to some extent, but in early stage-startups, an innovative product drives reputation. Target influencers. Startup Example: Sprout It.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

” Sean is somebody widely respected in Silicon Valley (although he now lives in SoCal) for having helped many early-stage companies go through major growth periods by quantitatively testing features with audiences to help diagnose what led to growth.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2021

Planning is not just an early-stage activity, but must be an ongoing activity, based on current accurate information as well as educated guesses on future changes. Word-of-mouth and viral are not long-term solutions. Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it. Marketing and advertising are business realties.

Intellectual Property 345

Intellectual Property Leadership Viral Early Stage 345

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 25, 2023

As soon as you have 2-3 months' worth of sales data to work with, use a formula to calculate stock reorder levels to ensure you always have stock ready to go, especially if you're promoting your products on platforms known for viral content, like TikTok. And that can make or break your customer retention, especially in the early stages.

eCommerce 126

eCommerce Omaha Entrepreneur SEO 126

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

It helps to advertise your new presence with a grand opening, viral video, and traditional advertising to highlight entry into the arena. Use social media, industry shows, expert contacts, and social media influencers to establish a memorable brand even before you roll out your business.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Helps content publishers and advertisers launch campaigns that develop viral distribution attributes and therefore gain “buzz.”. It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

As I look at more and more start-ups predicated on viral growth, and at the use of social marketing, its becoming simultaneously easier to understand some aspects of viral growth and still a gap in understanding whats going to be that "hook" that will grab people at the end of the day.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 26, 2021

Staples has developed a reputation in the marketing industry for being a creator of viral content. He then went on to found his own business and run marketing for a number of early-stage startups. Tim Staples is the CEO of Shareability and co-author of Break Through the Noise: The 9 Rules to Capture Global Attention.

Marketing 91

Marketing Silicon Valley Cofounder Framework 91

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

Because it can be hard to define or agree company objectives at an early stage I believe most people avoid them. Measuring viral adoption is obviously important. The best way is to start by asking yourself at management team level: what are our company objectives and how do we best measure them? How many through affiliate deals?

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

In some ways it is similar to early stage incubators such as Y Combinator, although FI is even earlier stage, focusing on developing the founders themselves as entrepreneurs as opposed to actual companies. You mention social / viral aspects at both Google Photos and United Online. How did you do that?

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2019

Planning is not just an early-stage activity, but must be an ongoing activity, based on current accurate information as well as educated guesses on future changes. Word-of-mouth and viral are not long-term solutions. Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it. Marketing and advertising are business realties.

Intellectual Property 231

Intellectual Property Leadership Viral Early Stage 231

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 7, 2014

The simplest and most important dashboard for early stage startups - crowdspring.co/1gMgfqV. 7 Things Marketers Can Learn From 2,616 Viral Headlines. Startup and Small Business Marketing 2014: Smart Web Design Best Practices and Tips - crowdspring.co/1dn9KvH. Don’t fear competition. Employee Retention - crowdspring.co/1f2fAz5.

Social Media 98

Social Media Small Business Design Media 98

David Teten

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

Please note that we expect our members to invest at least $25,000/year in early-stage investments, although there is no contractual commitment to do so. HBSANY members are required to be accredited investors (per SEC regulations) and are expected to agree to the terms of the HBSANY Membership Agreement.

Technical Review 128

Technical Review New York Accredited Investor IP 128

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

If you expect to seek investors, or you expect to have a sustainable competitive advantage against sleeping giants, you need to register all your patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets early. Intellectual property is also often the largest element of early-stage company valuations for professional investors.

Intellectual Property 251

Intellectual Property Startup Viral Early Stage 251

The Equity Kicker

JULY 9, 2014

He lists the four (paid, viral, SEO, sales – for B2B) and then ‘other’ in which he says: There’s the odd partnership, like Yahoo/Google, that can help make or break a startup – but these are rare and situational. Andrew Chen has a great post up detailing the ways to scale user growth. But sometimes it happens!

Viral 122

Viral B2B Early Stage SEO 122

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. We are coaching VCs and Angel Investors everyday who call us wanting to understand our Early Stage LPO versus late stage IPO approach to business. Companies like GrowPublic, Inc. What will you find here?

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. We are coaching VCs and Angel Investors everyday who call us wanting to understand our Early Stage LPO versus late stage IPO approach to business. Companies like GrowPublic, Inc. What will you find here?

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 1, 2012

If you expect to seek investors, or you expect to have a sustainable competitive advantage against sleeping giants, you need to register all your patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets early. Intellectual property is also often the largest element of early-stage company valuations for professional investors.

Intellectual Property 274

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Viral Early Stage 274

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

In another we decended into a debate about our 5 year forecasts (I built the models so fielded most of these questions), and it became clear they probably weren’t the best fit for our Series A round (this group is no longer in the early-stage VC business). And a third firm “pressure tested” (i.e. link] leehower.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Disruptive technologies and grand new solutions can ultimately change the world, and create a large opportunity, but they are not exciting to early-stage investors for the following reasons: Fundamental changes take a long time to happen. This means building a brand, viral marketing, and multiple expensive promotions.

Technology 228

Technology Early Stage Angel Investor Viral 228

The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 10, 2012

It’s as big of a deal as getting your viral loop working — it’s how you’re going to acquire customers at scale. The problem is, early stage sales isn’t about making money. It takes time to get the roadmap solid.

Hiring 51

Hiring Founder Viral Early Stage 51

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2017

Planning is not just an early-stage activity, but must be an ongoing activity, based on current accurate information as well as educated guesses on future changes. Word-of-mouth and viral are not long-term solutions. Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it. Marketing and advertising are business realties.

Intellectual Property 160

Intellectual Property Leadership Viral Early Stage 160

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 23, 2013

Planning is not just an early-stage activity, but must be an ongoing activity, based on current accurate information as well as educated guesses on future changes. Word-of-mouth and viral are not long-term solutions. Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it. Marketing and advertising are business realties.

Intellectual Property 265

Intellectual Property Founder Startup Leadership 265

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2012

Planning is not just an early-stage activity, but must be an ongoing activity, based on current accurate information as well as educated guesses on future changes. Word-of-mouth and viral are not long-term solutions. Planning is about preparing for the future, not predicting it. Marketing and advertising are business realties.

Intellectual Property 276

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Leadership Viral 276

VC Cafe

JULY 15, 2021

So while ads can be an effective way to grow, spending on user acquisition before figuring out monetisation is a sure way to shorten runway for early stage startups. are trying to automate the process of content creation with GPT-3, but in the early days, there’s no substitution to creating your own voice.

Mobile 190

Mobile Social Media Distribution PR 190

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

As I ask questions to understand the thinking, what usually comes out is something vague along the lines of web marketing, and/or viral growth with no numbers attached. A quick look around all the B2C startups shows that, although viral growth is often hoped for, in reality it is extremely rare.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Disruptive technologies and grand new solutions can ultimately change the world, and create a large opportunity, but they are not exciting to early-stage investors for the following reasons: Fundamental changes take a long time to happen. This means building a brand, viral marketing, and multiple expensive promotions.

Early Stage 220

Early Stage Angel Investor Viral Technology 220

Rob Go

JANUARY 12, 2015

As an early stage investor, should you pay up for team or traction? When you are thinking about joining an early stage company, how should you be evaluating the risk of the overall company? How should you be weighing the presence of a great founding team vs. early signs of traction? The Founders Perspective.

B2B 28

B2B Early Stage Distribution Software Review 28

Gust

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

If you expect to seek investors, or you expect to have a sustainable competitive advantage against sleeping giants, you need to register all your patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets early. Intellectual property is also often the largest element of early-stage company valuations for professional investors.

Intellectual Property 183

Intellectual Property Startup Viral Early Stage 183

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Business Model Affects Metrics and Exit Criteria Web-based Business Model Exit Criteria In a web-business model you’re looking for traffic, users, conversion, virality, etc – not revenue. This a hard concept and even harder to implement.

Customer Development 219

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 219

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

It is a platform to help brands building viral marketing campaigns. I knew that OATV had invested in the company and I typically like to look harder at stuff that they do since I consider them to be very savvy with early stage trends. Wildfire was one of the darlings of the fbFund incubator program.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 23, 2013

In the Udemy course, Alistair and Ben expand these basics into a description of how to create empathy, stickiness, virality, revenue, and scale. It''s a good measurement because it captures both satisfaction and virality. That''s why the most critical attribute of early-stage product development is the ability to learn quickly.

Analytics 167

Analytics Lean Widget Metrics 167

Gust

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Disruptive technologies and grand new solutions can ultimately change the world, and create a large opportunity, but they are not exciting to early-stage investors for the following reasons: Fundamental changes take a long time to happen. This means building a brand, viral marketing, and multiple expensive promotions.

Technology 167

Technology Angel Investor Early Stage Viral 167

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? Deep tech is harder to measure/compare, especially in the early stage. What should our MRR growth be?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2015

When you are thinking about joining an early stage company, how should you be evaluating the risk of the overall company? How should you be weighing the presence of a great founding team versus early signs of traction? This post is mostly from the early stage investor’s perspective, but what does this mean for founders?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage B2B Distribution Early Stage 120

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 8, 2009

This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. channels (search, social, viral, new media), cost-efficient distribution He also points a fair bit to Eric Ries – The lean startup. A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. Great stuff.

Metrics 225

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 225