Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. A graph that shows a hockey-stick “up and to the right” curve with at least three data points per key indicator is a great visual assist.

Hockey Stick 304

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. These are more likely scalable and investable.

Hockey Stick 339

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 339

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers. Investors have spread the word that you can’t get “hockey-stick” growth without a large cash infusion.

Equity 349

Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Present a “hockey-stick” financial growth model without sharing your numbers behind your numbers (a.k.a. If I had a nickel for every pitch I saw where the financial projections grow in the shape of a hockey stick, I could have funded my last startup! Are you pitching “hockey-stick” financial growth?

Hockey Stick 114

Hockey Stick Technical Review Due Diligence Seattle 114

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Of course, their answer is that the second intends to get to market faster, but every engine has limits regardless the fuel applied. Your goal is that magical breakeven point and hockey-stick profit-growth curve. Use social media for early marketing. Cash flow can be drastically reduced by working out of your garage.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 265

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Startup 265

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise. It’s about looking out for and catching the next major marketing wave before others have grokked it. I laughed as I did at much of his rant.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

Your target market. Don’t say that everyone in the world is potentially your target market , even if it could be true one day. Be realistic about who you’re building your product for and break out your market into TAM, SAM, and SOM. Customer acquisition: Marketing and sales strategy. Your revenue or business model.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2015

But for startups with limited resources and experience, I always recommend a soft launch or toe-in-the-water approach in a local market -- and scale up later. In addition, with today’s fast moving market, the whole environment can change in the year or more you are hiding out to get the solution and your total infrastructure built.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. These are more likely scalable and investable.

Hockey Stick 386

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 386

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers. Investors have spread the word that you can’t get “hockey-stick” growth without a large cash infusion.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. The right time to start dilemma. The control and growth dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Small Business Force

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Virtually, every business plan that's ever been presented to the investor community, invariably, has that fabled "hockey stick growth" period where suddenly revenue jumps exponentially. So, while "hockey stick growth" might be something you're chasing, it may not be something you can manage. Don't just let it happen.

Hockey Stick 42

Hockey Stick Bandwidth Entrepreneur Venture Capital 42

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Leveraging my marketing skills, I successfully made what Steve calls an “onslaught launch”, generating a lot of press coverage and apparent early success. In 2004, Googling terms like “high tech marketing” and “startup” I discovered “ The Four Steps to The Epiphany ” at Cafépress.com. Maysee now enjoys hockey stick revenue growth.

Japan 292

Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 292

Up and Running

AUGUST 16, 2017

For example, missing crucial deadlines for finishing the business plan, or drawing hockey stick profit projections can repel potential investors. Lots of ideas seem great until you figure out that the market doesn’t actually want your product. Of course, there are obvious reasons that business plans fail.

Business Plan 127

Business Plan Hockey Stick Cofounder Salary 127

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Good forecasting is educated guessing based on assumptions about drivers and understanding the way business numbers interconnect, such as how sales relate to marketing expenses. . Why do entrepreneurs sometimes resort to the “hockey stick forecast,” especially when they pitch to investors? Forecasting screenshot from LivePlan.

Forecast 114

Forecast Hockey Stick Angel Investor Sales 114

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review Way back when the money was doled out, the team made a compelling pitch about the large market that was going to adopt their new innovative product or service. Lets return to our team thats failing to hit their targets. Read the rest here.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 31, 2016

As an investor and former founder, I know that scalable growth (and the pretty hockey stick graph) is the holy grail for every startup. Just a decade ago, most software/cloud startups used a traditional model where product and marketing were siloed: product teams created the product and marketing drove people to the website to buy it.

Software Review 60

Software Review South Africa Hockey Stick Viral 60

Up and Running

JANUARY 2, 2013

Your Target Market : Don’t say that everyone in the world is potentially your market, even it it could be true one day. Be realistic about who you’re building your product for and break out your market into TAM, SAM and SOM. Your Revenue Model : Investors tend to care about this slide the most.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Due Diligence 164

Up and Running

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Because I have so much jewelry, I have to stick thumb tacks in the wall to hold it all up. There is no stand that I have seen on the market to solve my problem – only small stands for a time long past when people bought fewer but more expensive items. He calls it ‘ the secret of the market ’. A jewelry stand.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick South Africa Africa Cambodia 144

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. A graph that shows a hockey-stick “up and to the right” curve with at least three data points per key indicator is a great visual assist.

Hockey Stick 266

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 266

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Retention The scary reverse-hockey stick chart shows up in this report, too. Overall, MixPanel showed a big spread between top and bottom performers, with apps in the 90th percentile seeing 25% usage, and apps in the 50th percentile seeing 5–10%.

Retention 48

Retention Conversion Hockey Stick eCommerce 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. The right time to start dilemma. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Cracking the Code

APRIL 21, 2021

After going $0 to $1mm in their first 10 years, UiPath has now hockey-sticked to over $600mm in revenue in 2020, and the automation market is still in early innings. The company became the first Cloud decacorn born in Europe last year and today’s public market entry is another notable milestone in their journey.

Leadership 62

Leadership Hockey Stick North America Europe 62

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

When I asked the standard “How are you,” he answered: “If I see another hockey stick forecast this week, I’m going to throw something at somebody.”. That was so long ago that I had to ask him to explain the hockey stick metaphor. Real startups don’t launch and collect half a percent of a $50 billion market.

Forecast 130

Forecast Hockey Stick Startup Sales 130

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Parts of the answer are that (a) there are enormous regulatory requirements relating to secondary markets, and (b) there are no analysts tracking private company stocks.

Seed Stage 131

Seed Stage Hockey Stick Cap Table Liquidation Preference 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 263

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

The value ascribed by subsequent investors (in a secondary); buyers (acquisition); or the public markets (IPO). As a result, unfounded hockey-stick graphs and unicorn promises give way to financial fluency, realistic expectations, frank conversations about what a business can credibly achieve, and transparency. . Retain 100%.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. These are more likely scalable and investable.

Hockey Stick 278

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 278

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2018

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Unfortunately, the market is changing so fast these days that any upward climb can level off quickly, as the core business growth begins to stall.

Hockey Stick 130

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 130

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Their presentation looked like this: Market/Opportunity Lessons Learned Slide 1 Lessons Learned Slide 2 Lessons Learned Slide 3 Why We’re Here Telling the Cafepress Customer Discovery and Customer Validation story allowed Fred and Maheesh to take the VC’s on their journey year by year. The rest is just fluff.

Venture Capital 209

Venture Capital Silicon Valley RSS Hockey Stick 209

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2014

It starts with product market fit. And I’m also going to look outside of the sales projection for credibility in the projected marketing spend. So if your numbers are here, going up in a hockey stick—and let’s just say this is your hockey stick—and your marketing expenses go up, and how do I do?

Forecast 85

Forecast Hockey Stick Sales Business Plan 85

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. The right time to start dilemma. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

We regularly share our favorite posts on entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, logo design , web design , startups, leadership, social media, marketing, economics and other interesting stuff! Good insight … Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth [link]. – [link].

Artificial Inteligence 48

Artificial Inteligence Hockey Stick Small Business Design 48

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

We regularly share our favorite posts on entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, logo design , web design , startups, leadership, social media, marketing, economics and other interesting stuff! Good insight … Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth [link]. – [link].

Artificial Inteligence 48

Artificial Inteligence Hockey Stick Small Business Design 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

The right time to jump is a function of favorable career, personal, and market circumstances. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. The right time to start dilemma. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Ready to scale is when you have a proven product and a proven business model, about to expand to new geographies and markets. Most consulting services, like marketing, are not scalable, since they must be delivered by experts, and cloning experts is slow and expensive. These are more likely scalable and investable.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 120