Version One Ventures

MAY 17, 2022

We’re very excited to announce our investment in Inflection.io , as the company comes out of stealth with a $5M seed round. Inflection is the only marketing automation solution purpose built for B2B product-led companies. Some of today’s most successful B2B companies are product-led.

B2B 107

B2B Product Stealth Marketing 107

trada.com

APRIL 7, 2010

Trada Blog: Paid Search Marketing, Online Advertising and Small Biz Trada's blog for small businesses making paid search, online advertising and social media easier to understand. One of my favorite startup debates is about stealth mode. We’ve been in stealth mode at Trada for almost 18 months now.

Stealth 40

Stealth PPC Advertising Conversion 40

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

He has a really interesting background as a product manager and now an entrepreneur. Like many product managers, my background is fairly eclectic. That's where I learned I enjoyed interacting with customers and working with development teams to build and launch products. I know you are still in stealth, but what can you tell us.

Management 150

Management Product Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 150

news.ycombinator.com

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Hacker News new | comments | ask | jobs | submit login Startups in stealth mode need one piece of advice. I work for a stealth startup. The idea is just a very small part of the reason why we are in stealth. Investors are looking for proven entrepreneurs to enter this emerging market and they will get well funded too.

Stealth 41

Stealth Technical Review Startup Software Review 41

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2011

Every time I hear about a new startup that is in stealth mode, I wonder what problem they are hiding from whom. Of course they pretend that they are trying to avoid alerting competitors prior to launch, but too often it becomes an excuse to move slowly in a world that’s all about getting to market fast. Marty Zwilling.

Stealth 252

Stealth Startup Incubator Engineer 252

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). And we wanted a head of global marketing. ” So Ethan went to work as a product manager at Google Video. He was seeking $500k.

Southern California 359

Southern California San Francisco CTO Hire SEM 359

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. Below, she shares lessons learned from the earliest days of marketing the company and how this has translated to her second startup role as VP of Marketing at Toast. How did you address that?

Marketing 120

Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

As a seed stage VC, I have a unique privilege of confidentially spending time with a number of entrepreneurs throughout their company formation and initial product development process. independently come to launch very similar products/services. without any knowledge of the other’s activities?—?independently

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Startup Cofounder Stealth 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

Stay in stealth mode until the last minute. With all those fully-completed products, it’s a mystery why UserVoice even exists. Don’t ask anyone if they’d pay for your product. Of course they’ll pay; the math is simple: By using your product they’ll save 45 minutes a day.

Stealth 309

Stealth Database Software Founder 309

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

We are purpose-built to not only invest pre-product but also to help accelerate your path to product-market fit with our decades of entrepreneurial and investing experience along with our active CXO advisory board. First check leads in 5 founding teams, all in stealth. First check to Series B?—?congrats

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Gust

OCTOBER 7, 2012

Every time I hear about a new startup that is in stealth mode, I wonder what problem they are hiding from whom. Of course they pretend that they are trying to avoid alerting competitors prior to launch, but too often it becomes an excuse to move slowly in a world that’s all about getting to market fast. Tune your website.

Stealth 131

Stealth Entrepreneur Incubator Engineer 131

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 9, 2019

We recently invested in Osano , which is led by the very talented Arlo Gilbert and is currently in stealth mode. By contrast, MOON is going to launch soon and is not in stealth mode at all. We went with the stealth mode approach prior to our launch, as I’ll reflect on at the bottom of this lesson. I could waste no time.

Stealth 48

Stealth Cofounder Los Angeles Technical Review 48

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

billion gamers worldwide will help the global games market generate revenues of $189.3 Companies like iHeartMedia, SiriusXM, and Spotify are investing in and leading the evolution of audio, focused on music streaming (on-demand and lean-back modalities), podcasting and content production. Fortnite alone made $1.8 credit App Annie.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Ideas to improve the usability of an existing product, or ways to extend its audience, are not likely to be unique to you, and difficult to win over competitors. You may be a product expert, but have little experience with running a business, or marketing, or sales. Be prepared to ship a minimum viable product and pivot.

Stealth 406

Stealth Startup Metrics Viral 406

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Product or service readiness. Investors are evaluating your process as well as your product.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 237

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. Startups which insist on operating in stealth mode in fear of competitor response miss the more important customer response. Build your audience and the product at the same time.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Startup Stealth Agile 120

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! How To Choose A Market For Your Startup Or Small Business – [link]. How To Choose A Market For Your Startup Or Small Business – [link]. Dave McClure – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 11, 2012

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! More interesting ads in the Social Media and Marketing section below. Lean Marketing: Delivering Customer Service via Social Media – [link]. Who’s Next? – [link].

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2017

In my own experience as an investor, I have concluded that success is more about the people than the product. Solutions that imply a paradigm shift always take longer to sell, and more money for marketing and education than expected. Persistence and patience with timing mismatches. Balance of technical and business knowledge.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Stealth Lean Social Media 152

K9 Ventures

JANUARY 26, 2016

“ US Navy Sea Shadow stealth craft ” by US Navy employee – [link]. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stealth is overrated. Today, I have seen it enough times from companies in my portfolio and others that are not in my portfolio that have utilized the “We’re in stealth mode” line.

Stealth 48

Stealth Silicon Valley Cofounder Portfolio 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2014

It’s popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. Demonstrate a minimum viable product (MVP).

Stealth 252

Stealth Startup Early Stage Social Media 252

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

If your strength is technology, find a co-founder who has a comparable strength in business, finance or marketing. Even before you build a product, you should be interacting with potential customers in person, and through social media. Ship a minimum viable product quickly, test the market and iterate.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock Stealth 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2010

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Product or service readiness. Investors are evaluating your process as well as your product.

Technical Review 225

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 225

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

In my experience, it means it will likely be necessary to supplement your product business plan with some key personal initiatives that define you as a business leader role model for all to see: Take a visible leadership role in your industry. Build relationships with known business leaders.

Stealth 362

Stealth Leadership Viral Social Media 362

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 28, 2011

They explained they were building it "stealth". Interestingly, very active angel and COO at Square , Keith Rabois weighted in on Quora in response to the question: "What are some concrete reasons for *actively* stealthing a startup?" Building a reputation and community in your target market. Leveraging Product Feedback Earlier.

Stealth 126

Stealth Deal Flow Reputation Lean 126

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2017

As Ada Support launches its automated chat platform from stealth and announces an impressive $2.5 With Mike and David ferociously developing product and doing sales, they launched the Ada bot with early customers like Medium, Kik and Wattpad. The story underscores the importance of perseverance and having the right founding team.

Artificial Inteligence 151

Artificial Inteligence Silicon Valley Stealth Term Sheet 151

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Come with a product built and a proven business model. A business needs technical, marketing, financial and many other skills. Startups in stealth mode can’t get feedback from real customers and can’t be perceived as experts in their industry. Contrary to a popular myth, angels don’t fund dreams.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Groups 120

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2017

New businesses are usually strapped for cash, which means that they don’t have enough money for costly marketing strategies. Quite the opposite, guerrilla marketing tactics offer the factor of surprise, which is exactly what it takes to generate buzz, draw the attention of a target audience, and improve visibility. Flash mobs.

Flash 162

Flash Marketing Stealth Social Media 162

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 30, 2019

Guerrilla marketing , a marketing strategy that’s different to your traditional methods. The essential quality of a guerrilla marketing campaign is to apply creative thinking – maximising unique and surreal means of seeing the world. This marketing strategy has been most often used by small companies who have a limited budget.

Campaign 113

Campaign Flash Marketing Viral 113

The Next Web

DECEMBER 19, 2013

Ryan Hoover is the co-creator of Product Hunt , creator of Startup Edition , and instructor at Tradecraft. Follow him at @rrhoover or visit his blog to read more about startups and product design. The way product managers, UX designers, and other “non-technical” roles think , communicates their ability and culture fit.

Stealth 167

Stealth Cofounder Social Media Viral 167

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

As the marketing industry developed, researchers dove deeper into buying behavior and buyers’ minds. His “Torches of Freedom” campaign in the 1920s promoted smoking among women as a symbol of liberation, opening a new market to cigarette companies. How far can subliminal marketing go? That’s a major limitation.

Software Review 105

Software Review Advertising Stealth Campaign 105

Gust

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

After you have successfully attracted angels or venture capital with your business case, your million dollar product idea, and you have a signed term sheet, there is still one more hurdle to overcome before investors write the check. Product or service readiness. Investors are evaluating your process as well as your product.

Technical Review 152

Technical Review Due Diligence Intellectual Property Private Equity 152

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 2, 2022

6- Increased marketing spend. Taking a risk by increasing marketing spend (strategically), has paid off substantially, seeing our annual sales grow by over 30%. A market saved me from wasting a lot of time and money on it. We have been able to break through the noise with our marketing. Photo Credit: Tracey Munn.

Entrepreneur 125

Entrepreneur Jordan Employee Revenue 125

Steve Blank

MAY 30, 2016

Understanding the left-side of the mission model canvas ( activities, resources , partners , and costs) forces all teams to ask, “Are we building a product for a DOD/IC customer only or do we have a “dual-use” product that could be sold commercially and get funded by venture capital?”. This post is a continuation of the series.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley San Diego Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2016

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. Optimize your web history and presence.

Stealth 120

Stealth Startup Early Stage Social Media 120

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 31, 2015

Product Hunt, an 18-month old startup, has evolved from a basic idea into a thriving online community. It all started with a small group of founders and product enthusiasts who self-aggregated into an online community. Check out his post on how he launched Product Hunt, a story captured in tweets, emails, and photos.

Lean 60

Lean United States Fractional CTO Startup 60

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. You’ll gauge people’s excitement level for the product and for various features. Great tips, fully inline with “Four Steps to the Epiphany” Also reminds me of Dharmesh’s “Stealth Mode, Schmealth Mode” — [link].

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68