Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round).

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

You may have heard that venture capitalists in Silicon Valley no longer read business plans. For the rest of us, we need a business plan, as well as a product plan. Some of you may be convinced that your product specification communicates the product message even better than a business plan, so why be redundant?

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content. We started building the product 18 months ago so we are in better shape than 99% of start-ups. Free product. Don’t you guys want to see the product? I start in with the product. Folksonomy.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

The Next Web

DECEMBER 12, 2013

It’s easy, especially in Silicon Valley, to get hung up on all the whizbang new technologies available to developers. Growth hacking” or the mentality of “try every viral trick, every channel as quickly as possible in order to get ahead in the land grab” is a hot topic. Myth #4: It’s all about the technology, not the service.

Mobile 136

Mobile Silicon Valley Viral Technical Review 136

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

I’m co-hosting an event in 2 weeks with an old friend and colleague of mine from Silicon Valley named Adam Nash. Previously, Adam was VP of Product at LinkedIN and an EIR at Greylock. Adam has spoken about growth and virality on numerous occasions, but this is the first time he’s speaking on the topic in Boston.

Silicon Valley 44

Silicon Valley Boston Viral Hosting 44

Diego Basch

JUNE 21, 2012

I believe that Silicon Valley is like Las Vegas, except they make you pass a number of tests before they let you gamble. The purpose of this post is to analyze the folowing problem: Joe Founder comes to Silicon Valley with a laptop full of dreams, but no money. A quantum leap in virality technology.”

Silicon Valley 78

Silicon Valley Las Vegas San Francisco Vesting 78

Duct Tape Marketing

MARCH 26, 2021

Staples has developed a reputation in the marketing industry for being a creator of viral content. It’s often hard to tell stories about change—audiences grow wary or defensive—but Margolis helps leaders in Silicon Valley and other hotbeds of innovation make that change feel exciting and achievable.

Marketing 90

Marketing Silicon Valley Cofounder Framework 90

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

But, as Sean Ellis notes, it isn’t about manipulating customers—it’s about helping them: “Sustainable growth is about understanding the value people get from your product and helping people realize this value. Growth hacking is about caring for and optimizing the user experience to build trust and keep customers using your product.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit. Interesting that Booyah is led by a former game producer, Keith Lee, who formerly launched very large products for Blizzard Entertainment. Total raised: $29.5mm.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 2, 2014

One Startup’s Struggle to Survive the Silicon Valley Gold Rush | WIRED – crowdspring.co/1fmuIOO. Interesting Facebook post on the viral potential of rumors … The strange truth about fiction – crowdspring.co/1rJBrCv. Interesting trend at VC firms … design partners | Co.Design – crowdspring.co/1k67wjJ.

Social Media 96

Social Media Small Business Design Media 96

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

Nearly two years since CA governor Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Pay Act which was designed to close the wage gap, women in Silicon Valley still report that their multi-billion dollar tech giant employers are still paying them less than their male counterparts for equal work (Larson). 3% (Uber).

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Engineer Viral California 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Stanford was also the right place because of nearby Silicon Valley. In addition to Seth, the core team he pulled together consisted of Elaine, a product person with front-end engineering skills and sharp design sense, and Sandy a back-end server engineer. Seth saw friends move out to California, go to school, and launch Plaxo.

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

Remember the whole controversy over Facebook’s Beacon product where a guy bought an engagement ring for his wife and it was published to a stream and ruined the surprise ? So my gut says this will be a youth-oriented product. It is a platform to help brands building viral marketing campaigns. 4mm in Series A.

Venture Capital 270

Venture Capital Cofounder Spain San Diego 270

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. Startups needed millions of dollars of funding just to get their first product out the door to customers. Carpe Diem.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Thats the conclusion Ive come to after watching tons of online products fail for a complete lack of customers. Our goal is to find out whether customers are interested in your product by offering to give (or even sell) it to them, and then failing to deliver on that promise. Nothing made any difference.

Demand 167

Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

About Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners is a global investment group with offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Mumbai, and Tel Aviv. S&M productivity (CAC ratio) for the SaaS 13 Index. "10 Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Product D. Popular Media: the key to viral marketing.

Software Review 48

Software Review Partner United States Venture Capital 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 28, 2006

The bi-weekly podcasts feature interviews of entrepreneurs and silicon Valley leaders. VentureCast : Bi-weekly anecdotes on the Silicon Valley venture world. S&M productivity (CAC ratio) for the SaaS 13 Index. "10 Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Product D. SaaS 13 Index*. Started on Jan.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Technology San Francisco 48

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 16, 2006

A couple weeks ago, I attended the 13th Silicon Valley Annual VC/Entrepreneur luncheon organized by NVCA. The guest speaker was a well known and highly successful Silicon Valley veteran: Tony Zingale, President and CEO of Mercury Interactive. S&M productivity (CAC ratio) for the SaaS 13 Index. SaaS 13 Index*.

Software Review 48

Software Review Silicon Valley Technical Review Software 48

VC Cafe

JULY 27, 2017

Serial exploded in popularity and spread virally. It also established a formula for podcast success: (1) Strong narrative focused on unsolved crime, (2)great storytelling and (3) high quality production, (ideally by radio professionals from NPR). the catalyst. Serial by WBEZ on Apple Podcasts. itunes.apple.com. Masters of Scale?—?

Audio 109

Audio Silicon Valley Curation Cofounder 109

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

Great content again in September that meets at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. Sean Murphy on the first dozen enterprise customers - Gabriel Weinberg , September 8, 2010 I recently did a Traction Book interview with Sean Murphy who runs a boutique cutomer development firm in Silicon Valley.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And a few words about Persistent Systems, an outsourced software product development (OPD) company that is navigating its next phase of evolution are also warranted. The game has started getting some traction already, and has a good virality index. I also advised Andrew to greatly tighten his product and go-to-market strategy.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

In normal times, every company operates against some hypothetical growth model—a data-driven framework that describes how your product grows and how you acquire new users. In normal times, every company operates against some hypothetical growth model—a data-driven framework that describes how your product grows and how you acquire new users.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

Women Entrepreneurs Can

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

John Doerr of Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist’s calls it the “next wave of the web.” User-generated videos have enormous potential for sharing and to go viral. They also offer your products and services original viewpoints from authentic consumers, giving your brand credibility. Social media-fuelled the rise of the UGC.

Software Review 94

Software Review Social Media New Zealand Silicon Valley 94

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

If you don’t know, Ring offers home security products that started with a video doorbell, then video floodlights, outdoor stickup cams and now in-home security features that innovate in-home security alongside outside protection. We were CONVINCED Dropcam (then Nest) wouldn’t mobilize a competing product quickly if it did sell?

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

VC Cafe

JULY 27, 2017

Serial exploded in popularity and spread virally. It also established a formula for podcast success: (1) Strong narrative focused on unsolved crime, (2)great storytelling and (3) high quality production, (ideally by radio professionals from NPR). Serial – the catalyst. Serial by WBEZ on Apple Podcasts. itunes.apple.com.

Audio 60

Audio Curation Silicon Valley Media 60

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 11, 2015

It’s very important to explain in detail how this engine is designed and how you can scale while maintaining quality and productivity. They will assume you’ll meet Silicon Valley-based VCs (even if it is not the case!), This model relies on grass root marketing of the targeted community, combined with smart online tactics (e.g.,

San Francisco 48

San Francisco Churn Rate Silicon Valley Engineer 48

Hunter Walker

FEBRUARY 12, 2016

While leading product at YouTube I fell in love with the Next New Networks team, one of the first startups to understand how to build content for YouTube and assist networks of creators. HW: YouTube, for me, was always product that required both algorithms AND anthropology to thrive. VP: It is rapidly narrowing.

Media 48

Media Silicon Valley Audience Community 48

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

Finally, and importantly, society is better off because Amazon makes the system for distributing books (and other products) vastly more productive, freeing up resources for other value-creating investments. The second is distribution —the ability to get product into the hands of customers. Plenty of headroom there!

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

We are the leader in the professional domain with viral growth. Normally, you’d expect us to explain our product — i.e., what “professional people search 2.0” To show potential revenue streams, we listed three products: ads, listings, and subscriptions. The blue boxes identify the corresponding markets for those products.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 15, 2020

One of the main factors that made my SocialNet journey so challenging was that so many different aspects of it were new and unknown, from the product category (at the time, there was no such thing as social networking) to the fact that it was the first startup for many of the team members, including me. How do I drive viral growth?

Cofounder 69

Cofounder Restful Silicon Valley Term Sheet 69

www.jasonnazar.com

MARCH 22, 2011

I asked the panelists ( David Travers , Brian Norgard , Fouad ElNaggar , & Demian Sellfors ) about the specific challenges that we face down here in Los Angeles as opposed to Silicon Valley. Whereas in Silicon Valley, you can have a V.1 Simply put LA has a lack of GREAT product, UI/UX, and design talent.

Los Angeles 48

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Southern California San Francisco 48

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Whether you’re pivoting in the early days because you haven’t yet found product-market fit, or you’re pivoting by reinventing yourself later on, all companies – if they’re going to become and stay successful – are going to have to pivot. If you launch your product and you’re not embarrassed by it, you’ve launched too late.

Startup 36

Startup Silicon Valley Business Model Mobile 36

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Growth Hacking isn’t viral marketing (although viral marketing is part of it). Growth Hacking comes to solve a very common problem in consumer startups: getting to the first x thousand/million users quickly once the product has launched and the hype has passed.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

But more spend = more viral opps = more revenue down the road. >50% of our revenue in now viral. The company did well in 2006 as we delivered a phenomenal product that got much industry acclaim at conferences and with initial customers. I’m assuming this in Silicon Valley, LA or similar locations.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 16, 2012

Now what could go wrong with Silicon Valley – [link]. Hiring of Kevin Rose by Google sends all the wrong signals to Silicon Valley – [link]. Marketing the Viral Effect and Not-for-Profit Gold – [link]. How Y Combinator Started – [link]. Name dropping!

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

The reasoning behind releasing an MVP is simple: The longer companies wait to release it—and the more money they spend building it—the riskier their product becomes. We did spend a lot of nights and weekends over the course of six months getting the first version of the product working, so there was definitely an opportunity cost there.”.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Software Review Vesting Cofounder 78

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 15, 2013

The science of how temperature and lighting impacts our productivity | The Buffer – [link]. Money matters: why women founders struggle in Silicon Valley | The Verge – [link]. The science of how temperature and lighting impacts our productivity | The Buffer – [link]. – [link]. ” [link].

Social Media 105

Social Media Small Business Design Media 105