Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

The ripple and feedback effect of all of these closures will have a major impact on our economy, as each industry that gets impacted puts people out of work, and those laid off workers don’t buy products and services. What are the new financial metrics? Alter the product? Can your product be sold, delivered or produced online?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 22, 2020

Product links – Good content doesn’t only give general information but also makes recommendations. These links can be directed to internal products or affiliate links. Good content that’s likely to impress search engines contains the following metrics. However, a website cannot do that by only posting products or services.

Affiliate 230

Affiliate Startup Later Stage Search 230

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

You can link to multiple sources, either when you initially set up your dashboard or at a later stage. Identify your metrics. It’s vital to know how a product or marketing campaign fares compared to these goals in order to know how successful it has been. Metrics are indicated as a series of markers between the two axes.

Sales 137

Sales Metrics Customer Analytics 137

VC Adventure

MARCH 17, 2022

With the markets down significantly, financings (at least at the later stages) slowing down, and inflation and interest rates on the rise, perhaps now is a good time to talk about your burn rate. Your underlying business metrics should. Maybe it’s the rise of the $100M seed round.

Balance Sheet 121

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Metrics 121

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. ExitRound helps early stage companies identify buyers.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

As the former Head of Product at Blue Apron where I also built and led our Analytics & Data Science team (I know enough SQL to be dangerous), I have an intuitive sense for the “when” and “what” of this role. Analytics is about designing, reporting, and leveraging operating metrics to aid strategic and functional decision-making.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. You’re unlikely to want to make this sort of investment with the product or the market not yet validated. So how exactly are prices determined? There is no great science to it.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 15, 2015

Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution – Part I. Very few companies become super-successful without users loving their product. Pay attention to your metrics, because a company will build what the CEO measures. Pay attention to your metrics, because a company will build what the CEO measures. Lecture 6: Growth.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Delaware Startup Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I spend hours thinking about the products, competitors, market opportunities, recruiting and financing of these businesses. I am much more attracted to technical product teams than to new business concepts or commerce types. Early stage. I know there will be victories, set-backs and even some fights. Innovator’s Dilemma.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

We come in after a product has landed and found product market fit and has some escape velocity. So there’s a product side and a business side. . Do you have other efficiency metrics that you look at when you evaluate businesses to check the quality of growth and the quality of the revenues? . That’s not what we do.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I know it sounds obvious but just so you understand: There are more capital sources available for earlier-stage capital, the information on which they are evaluating the investment is less (it is almost certainly just team and product) and the risk of the investor getting things wrong is diminished.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

Certain VC’s like the new class of Super-Angels and small VC funds specialize in the early stage of a startup where you are searching for a business model. And some larger funds that specialize in later stage deals may have a partner or two who likes to invest at this stage. Have they heard about Customer Development ?

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

I owe it originally to lean manufacturing books like Lean Thinking and Toyota Production System. The batch size is the unit at which work-products move between stages in a development process. Similar results apply in product management, design, testing, and even operations. For software, the easiest batch to see is code.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment Development Team Review 161

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2018

You can go with the base plan for starters and choose to upgrade in the later stages for additional features such as full API access and multiple monetization options. In addition to corporate training & e-learning, businesses also utilize software for marketing communications, customer support and product education.

Software 104

Software Bandwidth API Flash 104

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

If the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? If it doesn’t have the product fully baked yet? A Seed round today — like the Series A round of yesteryear — requires some kind of traction or product. Those times are long gone.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

My conviction in investing in a company is a function of my belief in the team, the traction of the company, and how the product/opportunity resonates with me personally. My POV is that every VC has a core product. For NextView specifically, we say that we are a one-product company. For SaaS: At least $100K in MRR.

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

If you have board members you respect you owe it to yourself to run more productive sessions where board members contribute. What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance.

Metrics 196

Metrics Strategic Investors Later Stage Management 196

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

As the check size increases, investors tend to look for more traction, established revenue models, proven unit-economics, and other metrics that were previously associated with later stage companies. So if the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. More people aren't the answer if your core business isn't already productive. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

Rob Go

AUGUST 12, 2013

These companies did have some solid metrics, but they did not see hockey-stick like momentum and there were still a hundred reasons why they could fail. These great investments were much more a bet on a team, a vision of the future, and an early product that seemed right, even if the quantitative evidence was still pretty slim.

Hockey Stick 69

Hockey Stick Early Stage Later Stage Portfolio 69

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Automation allows you to spend less time on tedious tasks and will help boost productivity, especially within a small marketing team. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. They read reviews of the products of target investments.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Some will demonstrate strategically justifiable metrics and have fantastic ‘up round’ exits; others may see liquidation preferences kick in which will negatively impact founders and employees; others may fulfill the adage “IPO is the new down round” , which has been the case for more than half of the public companies on our list. .”

Liquidation Preference 70

Liquidation Preference Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net 70

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2019

Trend lines aren’t impressive if they track metrics that appear distant from business goals. Your website content—however tailored—may represent only a fraction of the total time a prospect considers your product. A prospect’s first impression of your ads, whitepapers, product page, etc.,

Marketing 124

Marketing Sales Cycle Retention Differentiation 124

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 30, 2015

Because most internet business concepts were not capable of productively employing tens of millions of dollars of venture capital does not mean they were bad ideas." They might even find themselves operating more efficiently than they ever had been--newly focused on core metrics. Each month, they''d tick up just a little bit.

Hockey Stick 60

Hockey Stick Valuation Startup Maryland 60

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Twenty-five years ago, to go public you had to sell stuff – not just acquire users or have freemium products. People had to actually pay you for your product. This required a repeatable and scalable sales process, which required a professional sales staff and a product stable enough that customers wouldn’t return it.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

This required more product evangelism and customer wins. How complex is your product? Does your company clearly understand current CAC , LTV, CAC payback period, and other core growth metrics? Paid tools can help you figure out what people are searching for, which we’ll list later. Gates and weights.

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 12, 2015

So here are some of the things I was thinking about when I tweeted this: Peak Oil is defined as the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter terminal decline. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in the Peak Oil theory or not.

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Seed Stage LP Valuation 48

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 11, 2020

I gave a critique of Yahoo’s products and strategy, and explained all the things that I thought Yahoo should do differently. Embedding individual performance metrics in team performance metrics is a central part of how Jeff operates, but he also concerns himself with setting a cultural drumbeat and making everyone feel part of the team.

Cofounder 36

Cofounder Leadership Metrics Later Stage 36

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

For early stage companies and for our new investment activity: I’m very bullish. When you start a company, or when we make a seed investment, we are thinking about the potential for the product and company over a long 10-year+ time horizon. Were you chasing the right metrics and did you have the right priorities?

Marketing 28

Marketing Dilution Burn Rate Seed Stage 28

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 11, 2016

Instead, I predict 2016 will be the year of alterna-metrics.” (via Acquisio). Display is a completely different audience as they might not have any recognition of the brand or even be actively looking for your product or service. Will likely need only the essential product / service information. Focusing on the Wrong Metrics.

PPC 48

PPC Matching Campaign San Francisco 48

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 12, 2009

However, this financial bar has had the effect of excluding one segment of potential customers that Id really like to see there - early stage entrepreneurs who have all the intelligence and vision of their later stage counterparts, but simply cannot afford the cash flow to attend. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Lean 60

Lean Programming San Francisco Continuous Deployment 60

Small Business Force

FEBRUARY 21, 2014

In early stage companies (and even some later stage or mature ones), there is no one area where most entrepreneurs and small business owners are lacking in just basic fundamentals, than in dealing with their company's finances and financial management. Go spring for some basic accounting software, early.

Finance 37

Finance Management Forecast Entrepreneur 37

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

A multiple is a company value divided by a metric. This growth could be a function of product differentiation, go-to-market operations, sheer market size, new geographies, and expansion into adjacent categories.

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

17:16] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on? [19:43] There's so much production value. Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on as. So the emphasis and the laser focus on metrics is like not optional. (18:22): They want a path to grow themselves. We can also then use that. Maybe these are hard.

SEO 85

SEO Channel Campaign Audience 85

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2023

17:16] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on? [19:43] There's so much production value you can turn around to Hulu or YouTube, connected tv, Disney plus, like you name it. Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on as. So the emphasis and the laser focus on metrics is like, not optional. (18:49):

SEO 87

SEO Audience Channel Campaign 87

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 6, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, December 6, 2008 The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: part three Those startups that manage to build a product people want have to deal with the consequences of that success. Lets start with the most important thing you can do to help product teams succeed: make them cross-functional.

San Francisco 74

San Francisco SCRUM Lean Continuous Deployment 74

Austin Startup

JUNE 26, 2019

If you’re a founder/product manager/business owner, I encourage you to find that out! that a sub-par product/execution is very likely to win the market. Related: when people say that execution is the most important metric of who will win, keep in mind that executing a fundraise is almost paramount. That’s a metric!

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup B2C Sweat Equity 54