Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why vanity metrics are dangerous In a previous post, I defined two kinds of metrics: vanity metrics and actionable metrics. In this post, Id like to talk about the perils of vanity metrics. My personal favorite vanity metrics is "hits."

Metrics 167

Metrics San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV. Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits.

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Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

SoCal CTO

MARCH 13, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Tuesday, March 13, 2007 8 Ways the Internet has Changed Software Marketing Great post - 8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing - is an interesting take on how different it is these days to market software. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO?

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Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles Internet 150

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Smart Contracts – Powering the internet-native financial system, smart contract networks could generate fees of $450bn in 2030. trillion by 2030.

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Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

YoungUpstarts

MAY 29, 2011

Founders that learn are more successful. Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x Solo founders take 3.6x Balanced teams with one technical founder and one business founder raise 30% more money , have 2.9x

Silicon Valley 230

Silicon Valley Cofounder Technical Cofounder Startup 230

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Just look at the disruptive challenges that businesses face today– globalization, China as a manufacturer, China as a consumer, the Internet, and a steady stream of new startups. Metrics like Return on Net Assets, Return on Capital and Internal Rate of Return are the guiding stars of the board and CEO.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2019

A number of blog posts recently have mentioned this, but we seem to be experiencing a rise in repeat founders starting new businesses and raising seed capital. We’re also seeing a wave of folks who were not founders, but were star players among the first 25 folks at a unicorn company also starting new companies.

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Founder Agile Cofounder Seed Capital 256

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Too many founders have learned that passion and free beta products do not imply a sustainable business. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. No matter how good your cause, it takes real money to sustain a business.

Business Model 273

Business Model Customer Angel Investor Bootstrapping 273

Eric Friedman

MAY 2, 2019

I have been working with early stage founders on sharing their narrative and story with others. One thing that stands out more than anything else is the ability to share their story arc in the context of a metric that they own. ” if they didn’t scrobbled the entire Internet? Back in 2013 Wunderlist (acq.

Metrics 68

Metrics Early Stage Internet Engineer 68

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

by Anish Sebastian and Juan Pablo Segura, co-founders of Babyscripts. Founders need seed capital to get their operations up and running, and to begin generating revenue. When founders are wrong (which happens often), that initial seed round runs out quickly, requiring another round of funding — typically referred to as a bridge round.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2022

In this context, the late great Andy Grove , founder of Intel, believed that no change breeds failure. Adopt some key metrics to measure your change agility. With the world-wide Internet, every aspect of your offering, including latest changes, is instantly visible to current and potential customers.

Agile 371

Agile Metrics Demand Internet 371

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Friday, July 9, 2010 Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# theory of management At any given time, something like four percent of the US population is engaged in some form of new-company-creation. Are we solving the right problem? We can do better by focusing on process instead of personality.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Management Founder Lean 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Too many founders have learned that passion and free beta products do not imply a sustainable business. Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. No matter how good your cause, it takes real money to sustain a business.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Successful people look for complementary co-founders, and hire a multi-faceted team. In the startup world, even the best-laid plans are probably wrong, so there is a need to be able to launch fast, have metrics in place to measure progress, learn from real customer feedback, and pivot as required.

Stealth 406

Stealth Startup Metrics Viral 406

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

These days, with the many Internet articles and new courses available, most new professionals readily cross the gap from lack of business knowledge to knowing, but many never make it over the knowing versus doing gap. Use metrics to support judgment in decisions. Metrics are necessary to acquire knowledge and turn it into action.

Leadership 120

Leadership Developer Metrics Internet 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

But for founders who do their homework, the cost of entry is lower and the opportunity is higher than ever. Excellent detailed resources are everywhere, including a new book, “ The Startup Checklist ,” by serial entrepreneur and founder of the New York Angels, David S. Networking no longer is primarily a face-to-face serial activity.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 26, 2022

“Personal Branding” The term is fingernails on a chalkboard-level cringe for many of the best founders—mostly because it feels most of the people who spend time building their personal brand don’t actually have much there there behind it. Unfortunately, this has real consequences for founders. So how can founders differentiate?

Founder 103

Founder .Net Term Sheet Aggregator 103

Up and Running

DECEMBER 1, 2020

You may think of this one as a given, but lots of founders and business owners still don’t know about user recording or heat mapping their website. David, Founder at Firstclasspostcodes. ” When implemented like this, customers become weary and they are usually working towards a negative for your metrics.

Conversion 90

Conversion Sales Software Review eCommerce 90

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Great post on the most important internet metric of them all – CONVERSION – crowdspring.co/18u6N8Y. Why Founders Can’t Afford to Have Any Weak Links | by Mark Suster – crowdspring.co/18L78oE. Why Founders Can’t Afford to Have Any Weak Links | by Mark Suster – crowdspring.co/18L78oE. 1dUrddm.

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 25, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Sunday, February 25, 2007 Challenge of Predicting Winners I just read a bit on the payout to YouTube from the Google Acquisition ( Internet News , CNN ). ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? The poor guy. What a bad $200M decision.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2016

Founders soon learn that customers only spend real money for solutions rather than ideas. Google , for example, was not the first Internet search provider (think Yahoo!, Set business goals and milestones, and use metrics to track performance. Companies that do this best become market leaders. billion in 2015.

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Technical Review Architecture Agile Business Model 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

In this age of instant communication through the Internet and social media, people remember personal images more than a product or service name. Proactively use metrics and customer feedback before a crisis hits, to recognize when a pivot or product adjustment is required. Allocate resources to handle bumps along the way.

Marketing 333

Marketing Revenue Matching Viral 333

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2020

Many experts tell me that more startups fail simply because their founder gives up, than for any other reason. All of us have access via the Internet to multiple expert sources, insights, and data to support our own experience, to make more relevant and timely decisions. Use metrics in lieu of feelings to measure progress.

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Startup Cofounder Metrics Restful 433

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

Internet scale. At this level, as a founder you feel SO CLOSE to profitability that many say, “I’m going to keep my costs really low this year to try and hit profitability. The first company represents a normal software company that sells its products directly (either via sales staff or directly off of the internet).

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2021

If you are a passionate technologist , it’s easy to forget that marketing is required to sell even the most compelling solution, to cut through the information overload everyone sees today on the internet. As a business adviser, I still see too many new venture founders who skimp on their marketing focus, or start too late.

Las Vegas 385

Las Vegas Matching Marketing Social Media 385

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Metrics on keywords, follower profiles and competitors all help define your target listener. Initially, your staff (even if that’s just you and a co-founder) will be your greatest asset in locating and connecting with your audience. You’re not going to be able to blanket the entire Internet with your message – nor should you want to.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

I sent a tweet out last week that elicited quite a few responses from both founders and investors: seed funds that don’t invest pre-traction =. — I could hear the internet nodding in violent agreement. For very well known founders, a series A can happen well before traction. Rob Go (@robgo) November 4, 2019.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cofounder Retention Founder 331

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Open Source 150

Open Source Business Model Technical Cofounder Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 9, 2007

► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Los Angeles CTO Hire 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2007

The articles I cited there around finding co-founders suggests that Ben is on the money. ► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Networking Southern California Los Angeles 150

SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

► February (2) CTO Founders / Cofounders Part-Time Startup CTO? Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Technology Advisor Technology Roles in Startups Pricing Customer Acquisition Sunk Costs and More -.

Technical Cofounder 150

Technical Cofounder Southern California Search Engineer 150

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

As a VC, the biggest challenge in evaluating LTV models is that metrics can dramatically change at scale. Startup Purgatory: No Man’s Land Unfortunately, many consumer internet startups find themselves stuck in the middle of these two strategies: they have a low monetization per user and limited viral effects.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2020

Yet there are clearly some positive steps I can recommend for getting you (and him) over the bridge: Find a co-founder who has been there and done that. Create a written plan, with target milestones and metrics. Build your own personal brand image through blogging, industry forums, and networking.

Elevator Pitch 315

Elevator Pitch Cofounder Dividend Leadership 315

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

There are volumes of material on the internet for you to read about the drawbacks of SWOT as an analysis tool. We communicate with: – A one-page strategy map that outlines your advantages, what you want customers to say about your advantages and metrics you’ll use to monitor employee actions.

LLC 127

LLC Founder Texas Agile 127

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Why do these founders get to stay around? Because the balance of power has dramatically shifted from investors to founders. VCs competing for unicorn investments have given founders control of the board. A pre-IPO board usually had two founders, two VCs and one “independent” member. Technology Cycles Measured in Years.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274