Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2011

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends.

Viral 225

Viral Marketing SEM Startup 225

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Matt Miller, founder of BrakeAce , made a Reel for his startup that got 1M+ views in ten days. He shares his learnings for startup founders here. If you’re a busy startup like us, it’ll be impossible to keep short form creativity elevated long term. Viral short form can help!

Viral 102

Viral Startup Bootstrapping Algorithm 102

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. It’s hard to recover from a tarnished image. Marty Zwilling.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 26, 2010

Every time I see a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends.

Viral 141

Viral Cost Marketing SEM 141

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many strategies leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. Viral marketing costs real money, and your support staff and hosting systems cost even more.

Intellectual Property 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. SEO for Startups )? What are your key Startup Metrics ? Major Phases / Major Features - What are the major features in the major phases for the product? Other types of users?

Developer 396

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 396

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 4, 2011

Almost every day I'm talking to early stage startup founders (see Free Startup CTO Consulting Sessions ) about what they plan to do. SEO for Startups )? What are your key Startup Metrics ? Major Phases / Major Features - What are the major features in the major phases for the product? Other types of users?

Developer 384

Developer Founder Viral Oauth 384

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2021

In today’s world, it seems that emotion, not logic, sparks the new trends that become culture, and drives our devotion or disappointment in new products and brands. Businesses which ignore this contract are excluded from consideration, despite maybe having a logically better product or price. Enlist disciples and a congregation.

Marketing 317

Marketing Social Media Affiliate Viral 317

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

Startups in a world of massive markets can be confusing. This is why I loved Brad Feld’s recent post about the “ illusion of product / market fit.” Are our users addicted to our product? “Hacking” growth is only sustainable with a truly great product. Success for many is ephemeral.

Product 150

Product B2B Warrant Technical Review 150

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2017

Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends.

Campaign 167

Campaign Cost Viral Marketing 167

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. business calculated risks entrepreneur smart risks startup'

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

SoCal CTO

MAY 21, 2012

So, here goes: Dr. Tony Karrer Over the past 15 years, Tony has been a part-time CTO for more than 30 startups. Select Startup CTO Speaking Topics Ten Lessons from Working on 30+ Startups Over the Past 15 Years Tony looks back over his experience working with startups and extracts elements that have led to success or failure.

Fractional CTO 175

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Startup Social Network 175

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Plan to deliver a family of products, rather than a one-trick pony. It’s hard to recover from a tarnished image. Marty Zwilling.

Management 322

Management Entrepreneur Forecast Stock Options 322

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Thus I often recommend that before you kick off your own business, you join another startup or existing business to see how things really work. You may think that patents and copyrights are not required, since your products are so innovative, but you will find that competitors are quick to copy your idea if you don’t protect it.

Intellectual Property 432

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor 432

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially.

Startup 335

Startup Social Media Metrics Viral 335

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

This is a guest post by my Startup Owner’s Manual co-author Bob Dorf. While statistics are weak on startup success rates, the worst one I’ve seen suggests that 2 in 1000 venture backed startups will ever achieve $100-million or more in valuation. Can every startup skyrocket like Facebook or Square or Google?

Startup 332

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 332

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

This is the confirmation that your product or service fills a real need in the marketplace. Similarly, it will be very satisfying to see the productivity increases from your leadership and mentoring. Even with the perfect product, your customers won’t even know you exist without marketing.

Sweat Equity 296

Sweat Equity Startup Salary Viral 296

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 21, 2013

Creators of new products in environments of extreme uncertainty, startups face enormous risks. As a startup owner, what can you do to improve your chances? Through rapid experimentation, short product development cycles, and rigorous measurements of the right metrics, they can ascertain what customers really want.

Lean 193

Lean Technical Review North America Startup 193

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 20, 2020

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Trade shows.

Lead Generation 365

Lead Generation Customer SEM Marketing 365

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

But, increasingly, the Apple hype-fests are a marketing—not a product—showcase. For product launches, long-term success relies on cornerstones of marketing research and execution, like a strong value proposition and full-funnel campaign. Yet while product launches are a risk, they’re not as risky as you think. Image source ).

Product 110

Product Campaign Acquisition Social Media 110

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

In fact, investors recognize that founders usually learn more from mistakes than from success, so a well-explained startup failure can improve their odds of funding the next time around. As an active angel investor and startup advisor, I’ve seen many of the same stumbling blocks repeated all too many times.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

If you’re running a startup, working for one, or just considering turning an idea into a company, calling your work life “busy” is a severe understatement. Along with building a product and a company, you need to build social momentum and buzz. Startup Example: Zappos. Startup Example: Cloudera. Startup Example: Coin.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 21, 2013

The buttons that customers need should be obvious, and it should be simple and intuitive to get from any page on your website to the product or service you offer, to the checkout page. Some companies choose to sponsor local festivals and charity events with products or services, financial support, or volunteer hours.

Marketing 153

Marketing Startup Technical Review Viral 153

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

As part of our Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and for the National Science Foundation, students build a startup in 8 weeks using Business Model Design + Customer Development. How To Build a Web Startup – The Lean LaunchPad Edition. Use the Startup Tools Page as the resource for tool choices).

Lean 333

Lean Web Coder Business Model 333

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

SEM 379

SEM Viral Marketing Widget 379

Version One Ventures

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Yammer sreenshot “Going viral” is often the holy grail for Internet startups, who hope to quickly scale to hundreds of thousands of users (then hundreds of millions) with relatively low user acquisition costs. When you turn your attention to SaaS products that are narrow in industry and profession, it’s even harder.”

Viral 149

Viral Product Vertical Acquisition 149

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 16, 2023

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. His professional background includes having held marketing-executive roles at big companies as well as startups. Trade shows.

Lead Generation 285

Lead Generation SEM Viral Marketing 285

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

You can have all traction in the world—acquire, activate, and retain users, but until your startup earns money, you are doing charity work, not running a business. It’s not easy to choose the right pricing strategy for a SaaS product. Your product improves with time, your business team grows, and so your pricing can’t stay outdated.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

The Startup Magazine

JULY 20, 2021

With a viral approach to marketing and customer-friendly pricing, Hawkers today is sold primarily online and in 50 countries. He served as a director for BGB Energy and then worked for Pacific Exploration & Production Corp. Betancourt Lopez understood the value of viral marketing, especially for a key demographic — young people.

Viral 156

Viral Private Equity Venezuela Los Angeles 156

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

I’m convinced that this “me too” or incremental thinking is one of the key reasons that ninety percent of new startups fail, and most of the investors I know won’t sign non-disclosure forms, since they claim to hear the same startup ideas over and over again. Be prepared to ship a minimum viable product and pivot.

Stealth 406

Stealth Startup Metrics Viral 406

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

In contrast, it left several e-trends: augmented reality, zero coding, the marketplace boom, and product subscriptions are just a few of them. With the help of voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, you can purchase the product just by saying it while running errands. We will deliver product x every three months with free shipping.”

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

I’m fully convinced that both inspiration and perspiration are always required in a startup. Watching the orders come in, or the product moving off the shelf, is the feedback you have been looking for. Start even before the product is ready. Success is the right balance of both for fun and profit. A business model that works.

Sweat Equity 400

Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup Viral 400

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2021

Startups are the corporations of the future, so I have long believed that entrepreneurs who study existing corporate models, rather than ignoring them with disdain, will likely profit from the exercise. This occurs when a new product, service, or business model renders the old way of doing business obsolete. Economic instability.

Marketing 339

Marketing Startup Global Viral 339

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

These things outside your control do happen, but based on my years of experience as a startup advisor and angel investor, I still see too many shortcuts leading to failure that are inside the entrepreneur decision realm. Viral marketing costs real money, and your support staff and hosting systems cost even more.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2022

As with many startup activities, you only have one chance for a great first impression. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. If your business is industrial B2B products, social media should be low on your list. These days, video production is also a useful skill.

Social Media 315

Social Media Media Startup Analytics 315

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2021

There is also more going on in every location, so this personal need and super sensitivity to the local community has spawned a new breed of Internet startups, called “hyperlocal.” What’s more difficult than building one successful startup? Try building 50 successful startups. This is not just a fad.

Finder 361

Finder Startup Curation Seattle 361

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. This term is currently applied to recent startups who profess a current valuation which exceeds $1 billion. Could your startup be the next one? Sweat equity.

Software Review 120

Software Review Sweat Equity Accredited Investor Angel Investor 120