Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. Customer acquisition cost.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2013

What I’m talking about here is a level of discipline and skill necessary to collect and analyze the relevant business data, known as metrics. As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time for every startup to assess the metrics, technology, and platforms they’re using to manage the business. Cost of customer acquisition.

Metrics 252

Metrics Technical Review Retention Acquisition 252

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Because of these nuances, startups selling to enterprise customers must be even more diligent in tracking the right growth metrics. Here are a few metrics your startup should be watching: 1. The payback period is the amount of time it takes to recoup your acquisition cost. Lifetime Value/Cost of Acquisition.

Metrics 219

Metrics Churn Rate Startup Acquisition 219

ConversionXL

AUGUST 13, 2019

SaaS sales and marketing teams can get overwhelmed by metrics. But without any metrics, it’s impossible to track growth. If growth is the best way to get out alive, marketing metrics do little unless they correlate with sales. According to Gartner , three metrics form the foundation for those growth levers: (Image source).

Metrics 117

Metrics SQL Retention Churn Rate 117

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

There is no golden metric for everyone, we are all unique snowflakes! :). and tell you what are the best key performance indicators (metrics) for them. In the past I’ve shared a cluster of metrics that small, medium and large businesses can use as a springboard…. If you want to play along. Don’t read what I’ve chosen.

Metrics 143

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 143

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

Having a set of metrics that you watch & that you feel are the key drivers of your success helps keep clarity. And the more public you can make your goals for these key metrics the better. You will likely have multiple sets of metrics you keep depending on the company’s stage, one’s function in the company and level.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 15, 2023

With over a decade of experience in his toolkit, he specializes in helping clients build out cross-channel acquisition systems using a mix of owned, earned and paid tactics. 07:17] What is you cross-channel acquisition strategy? [11:13] 17:30] How deep into financials and metrics do you get before taking a client on? [19:01]

Channel 78

Channel Acquisition Framework B2B 78

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

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). We will go through 5 key strategies for lowering CAC.

Acquisition 127

Acquisition Cost Affiliate Customer 127

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Small Business Metrics to Track: Measuring Success The Right Way written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Are you tracking the right metrics that truly measure your definition of success? 5 Metrics-Focused Tips for Small Business: How to Achieve Meaningful Marketing Goals 1.

Metrics 65

Metrics Small Business Software Review Green 65

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

Dave McClure’s conversion metrics visualize where different conversion optimization opportunities lie—including those for acquisition. Acquisition focuses on how to grab attention in a very crowded content environment. The best acquisition is about getting the right message, in front of the right people, at the right time.

Acquisition 111

Acquisition Software Review PPC Analytics 111

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

No matter how passionately you believe that everyone needs one, and positive feedback from friends and early adopters (false positives), before you invest in scaling the business, make sure you set and meet good metrics in cost of customer acquisition, recurring sales, and margin. Mergers and acquisitions also require new skills.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Merger Software Review Acquisition 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 13, 2019

Some chaos is normal in every new business, but many wait far too long before they install metrics based on “best practices,” and fail to attack obvious bottlenecks with a vengeance. Yet I still see expense budgets based on traditional channels, with no strict metrics on cost of customer acquisition by channel, or lifetime customer value.

Technical Review 306

Technical Review Metrics Social Media Channel 306

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2022

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.”

Technical Review 323

Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation Leadership 323

Occam's Razor

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

They will need two different implementations, it is quite likely that you will end up with two sets of metrics (more people focused for mobile apps, more visit focused for sites). The team at Google has done a great job of having the end-to-end view there across Acquisition, Behavior and Outcomes. And again, a custom set of metrics.

Analytics 143

Analytics Metrics Mobile DC 143

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

It’s important to define your growth strategy, document it, communicate it to your team, and align metrics and employee rewards to target goals. In most companies, maintaining momentum requires the right strategic partners and acquisitions, in lieu of short-term price adjustments and special sales.

Technical Review 400

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Advisory Board Cofounder 400

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

They work to improve top-of-funnel metrics like brand awareness and identify opportunities to improve customer activation, retention, and referral efforts. If your campaign works and your brand awareness metrics improve, you win. Then, compare any change in the awareness metrics you’re measuring in that region with other markets.

Framework 102

Framework Marketing Acquisition Retention 102

Mike Michalowicz

AUGUST 1, 2024

For some added guidance, here’s a breakdown of the action plans around prosperity, quarterly, and daily metrics I used in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur : 1. Quarterly metrics Action steps: Break down long-term goals: Divide your long-term goals into quarterly objectives that are achievable and measurable.

Entrepreneur 78

Entrepreneur Software Review Metrics Lead Generation 78

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2010

Part of those questions are around Startup Metrics. This aligns with understanding the the core business model: Get Users (= Acquisition, Referral) Drive Usage (= Activation, Retention) Make Money (= Monetize) (and Lifetime Value is a good one) Of course, that’s a big part of what the investor wants as well.

Metrics 159

Metrics Startup Retention Software Development 159

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

What You Can Learn From Public Markets It doesn’t really take a genius to realize that what happens in the public markets will filter back to the private markets because the ultimate exit of these companies is either an IPO or an acquisition (often by a public company whose valuation is fixed daily by the market).

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 23, 2022

” No one questions the importance of revenue, but asking the question enabled us to start thinking on what would be the right metric. Did you know that companies like Airbnb, Spotify and Netflix purposely avoid setting revenue as their North Star Metric? Why is revenue not a good ‘North Star’ Metric?

Metrics 180

Metrics Revenue B2C Portfolio 180

Occam's Razor

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

Increased investment in Facebook as an engagement/acquisition channel has translated into requests from CEOs, CMOs and other CxOs about the return on that investment. FBe's recommendation was (paraphrasing a 35 min talk): Don't invent new metrics, use online versions of Reach and GRPs to measure success. and AdWords ads.

Metrics 165

Metrics Advertising Marketing Social Media 165

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

But it is an important metric for firms in pursuit of explosive growth. Wessel measures a 39% acquisition advantage to being in-state. Raising capital isn’t the be-all and end-all of startup success. Raising capital is a necessary step, and survival time without it grows short, or interminably long.

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

Occam's Razor

JULY 18, 2011

You must use metrics that are unique to the medium. Ready for the best email marketing campaign metrics? For everything you do it is important to measure your effectiveness of all three phases of your effort: Acquisition. So for our email campaign analysis let’s look at metrics using that framework. That is okay.

Metrics 138

Metrics Campaign Email Marketing 138

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

HR processes, legal processes, financial processes, acquisition and contracting processes, security processes, product development and management processes, and types of organizational forms etc. Metrics are used to manage process rather than creation of new capabilities, outcomes and speed to deployment. are obstacles for innovation.

Government 322

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 322

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. Great stuff. How Unique Is A Unique Visitor? -

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Our conversion metrics didn’t connect to more important ones: activation rate and, of course, revenue. Additionally, all our users and product engagement metrics got skewed. The post SaaS Acquisition: The Hidden Risks of a “Frictionless” Sign-Up Flow appeared first on CXL. But we had created unanticipated problems.

Acquisition 67

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Mobile 67

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Acquisitions can quickly increase your market share and bring in new customers. Acquisitions. A common framework for defining your growth model is Dave McClure’s Pirate Metrics for startups : the AARRR framework. For each stage of the funnel, consider the distinct metrics that ladder up to your business’s KPIs.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 1, 2013

Over 13 years ago, in March of 2000, I wrote a blog post titled “ The Most Powerful Internet Metric of All. ” The key thesis was this: if an Internet company could obsess about only one metric, it should be conversion. As such, it is time to pound the table again – conversion is by far the most powerful Internet metric of all.

Metrics 93

Metrics Conversion Internet Acquisition 93

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? Investors look beyond top line metrics to assess other important factors. What should our MRR growth be?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2020

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. In the investment community, these leadership elements are often called “goodwill.”

Valuation 311

Valuation Technical Review Due Diligence Leadership 311

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2014

In this webinar, we take time to discuss the different metrics that startups—and established businesses—should be tracking. In terms of pre-purchase, traffic and content metrics. So I’m going to keep going here, “Pre-purchase, the traffic and content metrics.”

Metrics 84

Metrics Startup Churn Rate Forecast 84

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

How to create a growth hacking strategy using the pirate metrics model. Growth hacking in marketing incorporates the five stages of the customer lifecycle into the “ AARRR Framework ,” otherwise known as the “Pirate Metrics model.”. Acquisition. Image source. This stage answers the question: “How do our customers find us?”.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Unfortunately, your personal assessment that you have traction probably won’t be convincing to potential investors and partners, so it’s important that you create and track your progress against some metrics. Define metrics on customer feedback and user counts. Count connections with experts, media, and influencers.

Advisory Board 199

Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

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. Payback periods on customer acquisition way more important to you in the near-term. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. Ultimately it matters a great deal.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

With over three decades of experience in private equity investments, acquisitions and mergers, Mark Hauser has developed a keen ability to recognize trends and do his due diligence. In tandem with these efforts toward organic growth, they will also explore opportunities for inorganic growth through acquisitions.

Private Equity 128

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 128

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

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