Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2010

I come from a high-tech software background, and only a few years ago, it would cost at least a million dollars ($1M) for a team of professionals to produce any commercial software product. Now, with open source software components, and low-cost development tools, the same job can be done by one good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Burn Rate 125

Burn Rate SEM Social Network Angel Investor 125

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

Just for reference, Slidebean is a SaaS presentation software where users can add content, and a finished presentation is designed automatically. It’s significantly easier to get a press mention from smaller bloggers or internet evangelists (Youtube, Scoop.it). Google AdWords or SEM (expensive). Small press (cheap or free).

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60

www.cscyphers.com

MARCH 8, 2012

It can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff when you’re talking to a marketing person (‘Ah, you do internet marketing? facepalm Spammed within an hour >> 2012/02/28 RT @mikeloukides : best customer may not be the 1 who buys the most, but who has the most influence on social networking. Social Networking (22).

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Technical Review Founder Software Review 40

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

Pick a similar product that they do use, and ask them "who was the first person you know who started using [social networking, mobile phones, plasma TV, instant messaging.]? For example, we used to be baffled at IMVU by the significant minority of people who would download the software but never chat with anyone.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 133

abovethecrowd.com

JULY 17, 2013

DirecTV has supported this feature for some time, initially on the Internet via the browser and more recently via their smartphone application. For each and every Internet company out there, mobile is rising as a percentage of all user visits. Likewise Priceline and Expedia rule travel, not some travel company that exited pre-Internet.

Mobile 96

Mobile SEM SEO Technical Review 96

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 7, 2008

Take a look at The App Store after the gold rush - FierceDeveloper : According to a recent BusinessWeek feature , the flood of new games, productivity tools and related iPhone software is making it difficult for the vast majority of apps to crack the consumer consciousness. Acqusition competition is how new apps get new customers.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Retention SEM 68

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 4, 2016

Online Advertising– This includes the use of pay-per-click platforms, social networks, display ads and retargeting. Marin Software – Optimize your Search, Social & Display ads across channels and devices. Tools: Moz – Inbound marketing and marketing analytics software subscriptions.

Lead Generation 28

Lead Generation Social Media Public Relations Channel 28

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Self-employed services specialists are just as important, and most often operate remotely (from anywhere in the world) in this age of the Internet. As your business starts up, you need marketing programs, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a modern “pull” strategy based on social networks, and lead generation.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur SEM Lead Generation Social Network 267

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

In some businesses, especially in certain industries like traditional enterprise software, you simply cannot bring a new product to market on your own. Here was our experience at IMVU, which I have seen replicated at many other consumer internet startups. Start with a five-dollar-a-day SEM campaign. Dont scale. Great article.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168