Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

But if you level up , raise capital and grow customers, revenue and staff – life changes. Eventually you need a VP of Product to handle your product roadmap, a CTO for engineering leadership and VPs of sales, marketing & biz dev. Marketing of course often feels the opposite. A larger marketing team?

CTO Hire 385

CTO Hire Entrepreneur Technical Review Leadership 385

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 16, 2022

There’s more to ecommerce customer acquisition than increasing checkout conversion rates. The key is ongoing measurement and testing to understand which acquisition strategies work for your ecommerce business. In this article, you’ll learn how to gauge the effectiveness of any customer acquisition strategy. Google ads).

Acquisition 129

Acquisition eCommerce Customer Churn Rate 129

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 8, 2021

That’s why Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is such a critical metric. In most cases, it includes: Salaries of sales and marketing teams Advertising spend on acquiring new customers (Search/Display Ads, Social Ads, Sponsorship, etc.) That would mean the 1100 new customers in March are the result of February’s acquisition cost.

Acquisition 135

Acquisition Churn Rate Cost Customer 135

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Don’t forget to market yourself before, during, and after your initial idea, through social media, websites, and events. Customer feedback, including blog comments, usability reviews, and early user testimonials, build relationships and provide credible marketing to the broader customer community.

Merger 386

Merger Software Review Acquisition Social Media 386

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

by Michael Woolf that is worth any startup founder reading to get a sense of perspective on the reality warp that is startup world during a frothy market such as 1997-1999, 2005-2007 or 2012-2014. So if your costs are $500,000 per month and you have $350,000 per month in revenue then your net burn (500-350) is equal to $150,000.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 4, 2018

Late last year we passed $100M in annual recurring revenue. That revenue is in on 75,000 customers, earned through the hard work of 500 employees across six offices on three continents. We just announced a few more things.

Engineer 152

Engineer Revenue San Francisco Security 152

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

Quantify the market opportunity in business terms. For example, “Nielsen projects that the market for smart phones will double every year for the next five years.” All startups, including non-profits, need revenue to thrive, such as such as from subscriptions, retail, online, licensing, or services.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

If they were a commercial company, they figured out product/market fit; or if a government organization, it focused on solution/mission fit. HR processes, legal processes, financial processes, acquisition and contracting processes, security processes, product development and management processes, and types of organizational forms etc.

Government 322

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 322

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? What sized team can I afford in order to sell, market & provide service to these customers? But expanding beyond our core customers was going to take more effort than simply launching in new markets. How profitable is my product or service?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is an important metric for any ecommerce business. Put simply, you need a healthy customer acquisition cost for your business to succeed. It’s up to every ecommerce business to find the middle ground between investing too little in customer acquisition and spending beyond your means.

Acquisition 22

Acquisition eCommerce Cost Customer 22

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 21, 2025

Considerations for Investing in Eco-Friendly Vehicles Several critical factors should be assessed when contemplating the acquisition of eco-friendly vehicles. Exploring Customer Preferences and Market Trends Understanding customer preferences is vital for any business seeking growth in the transport sector.

Technical Review 143

Technical Review Government Operations Demand 143

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

One way to approach that last question is to use this simple model: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) How will your business reach prospects? Look at different customer acquisition channels, how they are converting, and the expected lifetime value of customers acquired through those channels. What does the business do?

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. If you can convince investors that your startup will generate a solid revenue stream, and the market won’t go away any time soon, they may see an opportunity for an ever larger return.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Rob Sobers said about the marketing growth strategy, “It’s not about tactics—it’s about people and process.”. When it comes to process, growth marketers must learn to fail. A marketing growth strategy is about small and incremental wins that build up over time. Growth marketing is about process over tactics.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

ConversionXL

JUNE 16, 2022

Consistency is the cornerstone of good marketing. Stacked Marketer turned a free newsletter into a six-figure revenue generator by staying actionable, convenient, and entertaining. A marketing playbook helps you achieve brand consistency across channels and campaigns. A marketing playbook gets everyone on the same page.

Campaign 149

Campaign CTO Marketing Social Media 149

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

It’s not enough that your business has product/market fit. Customer acquisition drives sales and profit margins and it needs to be measured and balanced together with the customers’ lifetime value (LTV). This article explains how businesses can resist one of the top startup killers known as high customer acquisition costs (CAC).

Acquisition 127

Acquisition Cost Affiliate Customer 127

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 18, 2020

However, to the market of potential buyers, your business likely has a much more tangible price point. To help you navigate this gap and come to a realistic figure on what your company is worth, there are a number of different steps you can take and numbers to crunch to arrive at fair market value. Look at Revenues. Conclusion.

Balance Sheet 195

Balance Sheet Valuation Software Review .Net 195

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

For IBM, the Personal Computer was a paradigm shift from their big business legacy, built with new technologies for totally new markets, and battleships turn very slowly. Measurements set on internal objectives, rather than market traction. A single-minded focus and commitment is hard to maintain.

Technical Review 214

Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Burn Rate 214

View from Seed

JUNE 13, 2019

I know some of the investors in Chewy prior to the PetSmart acquisition, but I am not a shareholder nor do I intend to purchase shares in the IPO. revenue business still growing >50% YoY? Chewy now has over 10 million customers, repeat purchases by existing customers account for approximately 90% of their revenue today.

Leadership 214

Leadership .Net Revenue Aggregator 214

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Los Angeles Technical Review 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2020

You expected the difficulty of finding funding, but you never expected it to go so fast into unanticipated expenses, inventory, support, and marketing. The norm for entrepreneurs is to be optimistic on revenue projections, and miserly on funding needs. Endless pivots are required to keep up with market changes.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Due Diligence Startup Acquisition 306

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise. It’s about looking out for and catching the next major marketing wave before others have grokked it. I laughed as I did at much of his rant.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

Perhaps the most misused terms I see these days from entrepreneurs involve CAC (customer acquisition costs) and LTV (life time value) and a lack of understanding these critical components is driving many companies to premature failure. CAC is often measured incorrectly and doesn’t often doesn’t capture the true costs of acquisition.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

In this article, you’ll learn what growth hacking in marketing is and what it’s not. The goal of growth hacking as marketing is rapid growth, using strategies and tactics that leverage (and even exploit) technology, platforms, and behavior to reach an end goal. Why do people think growth hacking in marketing is controversial?

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

The Startup Magazine

JULY 8, 2022

These days, many businesses are adopting the freemium model as their primary strategy for customer acquisition, and it’s easy to see why. You may also require sufficient server space to deal with significant volumes of data beyond customer and technical support representatives, marketing staff, and business development.

Startup 158

Startup Technical Support Software Developers Software Development 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. Strategic threats, including new competitors, market changes, and environmental issues need deeper analysis and full resolution, before they jeopardize your business survival.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Merger Social Media 312

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Perhaps the most powerful content creation of all, which is growing in popularity is coding, catapulting companies like Lovable which hit $17M in annualised recurring revenue in February 2025, up from $7M at the end of 2024. High User Acquisition Costs: The landscape for acquiring new users has become increasingly complex and expensive.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. If you can convince investors that your startup will generate a solid revenue stream, and the market won’t go away any time soon, they may see an opportunity for an ever larger return.

Exit Strategy 289

Exit Strategy Entrepreneur IPO Startup 289

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 7, 2021

However, the shape of the curve—the length of the arc and the speed of the decline—is also determined by how you market that product at each stage of its life. In this article, we’ll look at the different stages of the product lifecycle through the lens of marketing. It also gives you a product to market. Image source.

Product 142

Product Marketing Software Review Social Media 142

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

If you’re a CEO who can’t quickly bias yourself for action and if you wait around for someone to tell you what to do, then your investors, or more likely the market, will make those decisions for you. Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? Emergence of New Market(s).

South Korea 334

South Korea Salary Business Model China 334

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Marketing metrics are a competitive advantage. In this article, you’ll learn which metrics to measure to understand and improve marketing performance. In this article, you’ll learn which metrics to measure to understand and improve marketing performance. Table of contents What are digital marketing metrics?

Metrics 105

Metrics Analytics Marketing Acquisition 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2020

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit. Both have worked.

Revenue 434

Revenue Valuation Viral Retention 434

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2022

How did Outreach grow in just a few years to 50,000 monthly active users , $10 million in new bookings, and net revenue retention (NRR) of more than 140%? Apply these lessons to align your teams and drive revenue growth. NSM must: Lead to revenue; Reflect customer value; Measure progress. North star metrics must lead to revenue.

Metrics 120

Metrics Acquisition Revenue .Net 120

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 24, 2020

Marketing automation isn’t a thing of the future — it’s very much a part of the here and now for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across the world. However, there are a variety of marketing automation tools that many are unaware of and have the ability to help SMBs reach customers in a timely and effective way.

CTO 162

CTO Chad Marketing Artificial Inteligence 162