Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Paid - if your product monetizes customers better than your competitors, you have the opportunity to use your lifetime value advantage to drive growth. In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc. Expo SF (May.

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Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

This post describes how the traditional product development model distorts startup sales, marketing and business development. For example, some startup sales execs believe hiring the core sales team is a key objective. Here’s what the product development diagram looks like from a sales perspective.

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Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

When we build products, we use a methodology. But too often when its time to think about customers, marketing, positioning, or PR, we delegate it to "marketroids" or "suits." We know some products succeed and others fail, but the reasons are complex and the unpredictable. a roadmap for how to get to Product/Market Fit."

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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.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Whats striking about these stories, if you get past the PR hype, are two very important themes: These prodigies were self-taught, and had a fundamental fascination with technology from a very young age. These were primitive open-ended video games created by the players themselves , using simple programming languages. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2008

Thanks to Suns amazing PR blitz, there was tremendous demand for experts on Java, and I did my best to convince people that I was one of that mythical breed. Later, I discovered you could get paid to program computers, and really never looked back. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R. Expo SF (May.

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infochachkie.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

For instance, if a consultant proposes to help you with public relations, pay them a commission equivalent to the greater of a flat fee per story placed or a percentage of revenue generated from the PR coverage. Such positions include: PR, Sales, Product Development, Lead Generation, Strategic Planning, Fund Raising, etc.

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YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

For instance, voice over internet protocol (VoIP) gives companies seemingly unlimited voice, data, and video capabilities in a simplified cloud-based platform and at a fraction of the cost of a traditional phone system. They can now save money with VPN products. Hire Remote Contracted Employees. VPN Security & Monitoring.

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Up and Running

JULY 24, 2015

Product development. If you need a little help with your product development and getting it on store shelves, you can check out Edison Nation. They can help with development and licensing, too. See Also How to Do Your Own PR If You Can’t Afford to Hire an Agency. Edison Nation. Online education.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 17, 2010

Conference updates continue to pour in: Want to see more preview videos? Conference updates continue to pour in: Want to see more preview videos? Take a look at our new sneak-preview site , sponsored by KISSmetrics. Weve updated our list of simulcast locations (see below). Weve updated our list of simulcast locations (see below).

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Steve Blank

AUGUST 24, 2009

While I love TechCrunch, the post and the quote about the PR agency (“one PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy, throw ethics out the window&# ) left me wondering; how do PR agencies interact with TechCrunch and other blog and review sites? Is this behavior an outlier or is it the norm in the PR industry?

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The higher the vanity ratio, the more effective the PR. It helps companies with PR. And companies crave positive PR and control over their message – all for rational reasons. The higher the vanity ratio, the more effective the PR. It helps companies with PR. It sells newspapers and magazines.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

This "success theater" is occasionally useful for PR or getting through a tough board meeting. This "success theater" is occasionally useful for PR or getting through a tough board meeting. Once again, we revisit the topic of Actionable metrics and their nemesis: Vanity metrics. But how do we know which metrics to look at?

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

In a startup, these channels of communication are critical to understand for advertising, launch and PR purposes. If they are willing to pay big bucks, for example, to attend a conference on a certain topic, that bodes well for your ability to sell them a product related to that topic. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Announce a new product, start its PR campaign, and engage in buzz marketing activities. Marketing launch) Make a new product available to customers in the general public. Product launch) In todays world, there is no reason you have to do these two things at the same time. Do some Customer Development instead.

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Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

This is completely analogous to the situation elsewhere on the internet, where launching a new website, product, or service with PR is getting harder and harder. On the web, we have many of these channels: SEM, SEO, world of mouth, PR and viral. Dont do PR upfront, dont put out a press release. My advice: dont launch big.

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ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

We had that luxury—we had three other profitable companies (focused on web design and development) when we decided to launch Chanty. We wanted to spend money on product development, not market research. Instead, we saved most of that money for product development. Chanty was, at its outset, a fun side project.

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Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

If you don’t yet have a team yet, list the roles you need to hire for. If you don’t yet have a team yet, list the roles you need to hire for. Another great way to test your idea is to create a minimum viable product, or MVP. This is the simplest version of your product minus the frills and frosting. The business model.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

What happened when we got early press (circa 2004) in violation of our own no-PR rule. ► April (11) Video update on the Startup Visa Act Lean Enterprise Institute webinar, April 28 Four myths about the Lean Startup Sneak preview, KISSmetrics (and more) Sneak preview, Grockit The Lean Startup Intensive at Web 2.0 Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Engineers are offenders in this category too, but so is any gender-segregated activity, like an all-female PR or marketing team. After all, if you already have an all-male startup, you’re already at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring the very women that could fix that imbalance. Thats understandable - its embarrassing!

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ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

We had that luxury—we had three other profitable companies (focused on web design and development) when we decided to launch Chanty. We wanted to spend money on product development, not market research. Instead, we saved most of that money for product development. Chanty was, at its outset, a fun side project.

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www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

He should then bootstrap his product development by using the consulting fees. I asked her not to spray and pray, and focus on her core, differentiated products - stretch mark and c-section mark removal creams for new mothers. Through SEO and mommy blog PR, Lee can tap into this market. This is her core market.

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www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

He should then bootstrap his product development by using the consulting fees. I asked her not to spray and pray, and focus on her core, differentiated products - stretch mark and c-section mark removal creams for new mothers. Through SEO and mommy blog PR, Lee can tap into this market. This is her core market.

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Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

mashable.com

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Throw in a few YouTube videos and a Twitter account, and you’re golden — or so we are led to believe. And no matter what the latest trends indicate, you will eventually have to spend money on PR and marketing. But the cost of PR and marketing is going to outstrip that within a couple of months of being up and running!

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Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 9, 2009

We go to mixers, buy fancy offices, focus on PR, and try to one-up each other. ► April (11) Video update on the Startup Visa Act Lean Enterprise Institute webinar, April 28 Four myths about the Lean Startup Sneak preview, KISSmetrics (and more) Sneak preview, Grockit The Lean Startup Intensive at Web 2.0 I think its wasteful.

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Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 27, 2009

Journalists, PR firms, investors, and the public at large love a scrappy come-from-behind story about two guys in a garage who figured out how to take down Goliath. Customer Development : a disciplined approach to finding out if there is a market for your product before its too late. Work in small batches. Expo SF (May.

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Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 7, 2010

In fact, the curse of product development is that sometimes small things make a huge difference and sometimes huge things make no difference. When we’re optimizing, product development teams encounter similar situations. I mean, here we are, paying them to be there, and they won’t use the product!

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A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

You have your general management meeting and in your general management meeting you talk about product development, about marketing and about finance. Now the headline I don’t like, and the reason is anything like productive or simple or saves time, all these things, they’re very generic. Edwin: I know.

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www.kalzumeus.com

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

However, given that it is a well-understood norm, it gives you a bit of an edge in the PR battle should someone decide to just drop a 0-day on you.). What The Rails Security Issue Means For Your Startup | Kalzumeus Software | Ethical Hackers for Hire. Hacker for Hire, Hire a Hacker, Hack Facebook -. January 31, 2013. [.]

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Even worse, entrepreneurs are faced with a constant barrage of vanity metrics from competitors and other companies engaged in PR. That’s what you pay PR firms for: to get an article written that is entirely factual and yet still provides positive spin for your company. The PR firm helpfully left out that context.)

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Steve Blank

MAY 4, 2009

Every marketing communication hire couldn’t wait to produce the next great ad or PR program. Every product marketer thought they should help define the product feature set, etc. In an early stage startup, instead of sales being up front, the point departments are likely to be product development and customer development.

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techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

But six months in, you’re gonna cry when you see someone else put out that same product you’re pitching me right now. Like I said, forget everything else and just get your product out the door. Inevitably, the excuses begin: I need to hire people to build the product. I don’t know any developers. No phone system.

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Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 16, 2008

If your product and its messaging is all about passing time while having fun, you might be able to get to the point where that is an automatic association, and they stop seriously considering other alternatives. Thats exactly what the worlds best video games do. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 30, 2009

Hire the absolute best and the brightest, true experts in their fields, who in turn can hire the smartest people possible to staff their departments. Launch with a PR blitz, including mentions in major mainstream publications. Build the product in stealth mode to build buzz for the eventual launch. We can skip the chasm.

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Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

It takes advantage of the idea, which I owe to Clayton Christensen , that customers buying a product are really "hiring" it to do a specific "job" for them. An employer is trying to hire someone for a specific job, and they think they know what that job is. There are four: Existing market. This is applying for an open job req.

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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.

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Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

In fact, I am convinced that if you could find some of IMVU’s earliest adopters, they would say something like this: “sure, those guys at IMVU HQ were helpful in writing code and stuff, but in the end they were just the hired help. It was really the community who built that product.&# My last real concern is with the new 2.0

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