Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

I had the opportunity to pioneer this approach to funnel analysis at IMVU, where it became a core part of our customer development process. To promote this metrics discipline, we would present the full funnel to our board (and advisers) at the end of every development cycle. Check your assumptions, what went wrong?

San Francisco 166

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Continuous Deployment 166

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 9, 2013

He adds: “All that you have to do is exceed your customers’ expectations, not by a huge margin, but just enough so that they’re pleasantly surprised. That’s where word-of-mouth advertising begins. When you hit that point, there’s a multiplier effect to the investment you make to secure the customer.

Customer 170

Customer Technical Review Florida Cofounder 170

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

Listen to this episode if you want to hear about a founder who has a product and users and paying customers … and is trying to figure out how to take his company to the next level and grow faster. They have many, many man-years of development and customer development in them. I first did it for the founder.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

My co-hosts were Bob Walsh and Patrick Foley , hosts of the well-known Startup Success Podcast. Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. How cofounders can collaborate without going crazy.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

Steve Blank

JUNE 6, 2016

The show follows the journeys of founders who share what it takes to build a startup – from restaurants to rocket scientists, to online gifts to online groceries and more. Evangelos Simoudis’ is the founder and managing director of Synapse Partners. It included things like advertising, marketing analytics, cyber security.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Fractional CTO Analytics 120

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

Each of these four currencies represents a way for a customer to “pay&# for services from a company. A great product enables customers, developers, partners, and even competitors to exchange their unique currencies in combinations that lead to financial success for the company that organizes them.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 13, 2008

You declare how much someone clicking an advertisement is worth to you, and then the search engine does its best to get you as many clicks as it can at that price. Those rates gave us a map that told us a lot about our customers; insights that proved stable even when the company grew orders of magnitude bigger. SEM is a simple idea.

SEM 164

SEM San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 164

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. What are the terms of their relationship with the founder?

Software Development 60

Software Development Software Developers Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

Using mTurk to interview 100 customers (in 4 hours) | Customer Development Labs - [link]. Google App Engine is ready for primetime says Reddit/Hipmunk co-founder – [link]. Using mTurk to interview 100 customers (in 4 hours) | Customer Development Labs - [link]. ” - [link].

Social Media 93

Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development?

Software Review 167

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Continuous Deployment 167

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

Customer development. For those interested in getting started with agile or customer development, I thought Id include a few links. For customer development, start with Steves book The Four Steps to the Epiphany or take a look at his recent Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Lecture.

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 29, 2008

I was wondering if you could expand on finding a technical co-founder. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development? Getting educated about advertising, agencies, and. December 2, 2008 10:56 AM Ryan said.

San Francisco 146

San Francisco Lean Agile Java 146

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

I believe this is one reason why the myth of the dictatorial startup founder has such enduring appeal. Its easier to believe in a glorious future when you have only zeroes, for everyone: founders, investors, and employees. Freemium or subscription or advertising? Freemium or subscription or advertising?

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Software Review 167

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 21, 2011

Because then you’d miss out on: Whether it’s better experience to build a complete, tiny startup or to do more in-depth customer development for a meatier problem. How cofounders can collaborate without going crazy. Those tools do not integrate as seamlessly with e-mail as advertised. We’ve tried it.

Widget 204

Widget Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 204

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Founder Dialogues : Eric Paley plays talk show host on this recurring fireside chat style event that has featured Boston’s BEST founders. OnStartups: One of the largest online startup communities founded by HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah. Topics have included “Leveraging Pinterest”, “Mobile Commerce”, and “Facebook Advertising”.

Boston 71

Boston Technical Review Community Cofounder 71

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Phil Randazzo , is the founder of American Dream U , a national entrepreneurship and coaching program that helps transitioning soldiers find work or start their own business. Derek Andersen , is the founder of Startup Grind , a 200,000-person entrepreneurial community with chapters in 75 countries run by more than 1,000 volunteers.

Las Vegas 120

Las Vegas Entrepreneur Cofounder Nevada 120

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

If youre making revenue, you should be finding ways to grow it predictably month-over-month; if youre focused on customer engagement, your product should be getting more sticky, and so on. Some companies and founders refuse to serve existing customers, and are always lurching from one great idea to the next.

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development?

Agile 76

Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 13, 2009

Do some Customer Development instead. Founders push for it. In some ways, founders are even worse. My experience is that many founders actually have a deep anxiety that maybe they are not succeeding. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 168

San Francisco PR Lean Early Stage 168

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 2, 2009

Furthermore, I think most of what you are suggesting is applicable in companies/ industries that are not software development. I work in advertising and this system would work to analyze failures. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup?

San Francisco 164

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 164

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Almost every private equity and venture capital investor now advertises that they have a platform to support their portfolio companies. A well-organized library of best practices for founders in your vertical, which you can share as appropriate. I have developed a founder curriculum on my blog. Customer Development.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Excepting for cosmically co-incidental success stories, the fuzzy requirement stuff never congeals as a holistic engineering exercise. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? October 22, 2008 2:31 PM Eric said. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

ConversionXL

MARCH 28, 2014

Neil Patel, co-founder of CrazyEgg says that even though the video below brought in an extra $21,000/ month back in 2012, it was the script that was really responsible for such incredible growth. To get more detail on the 12 most common styles of explainer videos, check out this article on TheStartupVideos.com.

Video 122

Video Software Review Cofounder Metrics 122

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

I once worked with a vendor who asked me to help him develop advertisements for his home-cleaning business. He didn’t care that not all potential customers were sports fans, or that they might root for a different team. The problem was, he would consider only ads modeled after his favorite sports team’s branding.

Customer 190

Customer Cofounder Developer Email 190

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

“If you can fix a problem for someone and do it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than your competitor, you’re off to a good start.” – Gabriel Kuperman, founder and CEO of CuePin. We created UpKeep to fill this void—a cloud-based solution that was affordable for any size business.” – Ryan Chan, founder of UpKeep.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development?

San Francisco 79

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 79

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Shawn immediately said the name I had given the four steps was confusing – I had called it market development – he suggested that I call it Customer Development – and the name stuck. And Jennifer is now my co-instructor in the Stanford Lean LaunchPad class.). Step 3: Jobs to Be Done. Final Thoughts.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

The response so far has been nothing short of overwhelming, and I want to especially thank those of you who participated in the survey and customer validation exercise that helped shape this event. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? For now, Id like to ask a favor.

Lean 60

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

Just as Erin mentions above -- replace content with games -- the same dynamics are at work in the advertising world. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? Each new campaign is a startup where Lean principals can be applied to maximum effect. Eric, First of all, great post.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

Previously she was Co-Founder and CEO of SNAZZ, a cloud-based event management platform. At Virgin Mobile USA, Mari led early initiatives in mobile commerce, social networking and advertising. What are some of the unique benefits and constraints from the point of view of a founder? . Mari Holds a B.A.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Technical Review Portfolio 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? What is customer development?

San Francisco 60

San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 24, 2009

But that is not the only source of positioning: brand advertisers have been using packaging and TV ads to do this for years. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development ► June (3) What is a startup? WoW is a fun and addictive experience, and once its sucked you in its pretty hard to stop.

Metrics 88

Metrics San Francisco Lean Viral 88

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 20, 2010

As a good student of startup theory, especially modern theories of customer development, this time I was methodical and purposeful. A year after leaving Smart Bear, having talked with dozens of startup founders about their marketing woes, I realized 100% of them needed the marketing-measurement engine I built at Smart Bear.

Startup 239

Startup Campaign Turkey Customer Development 239

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

Thanks to those of you who were willing to fill out the survey, I learned my net promoter score (about 25) as well as some clear other segmentation insights: about 80% of you are founders of or work at a startup, you read many of the same other blogs, and many of you would like to engage with Lessons Learned in formats and venues beyond this blog.

San Francisco 68

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? However, one of my co-founders doesn’t seem to be as motivated as the rest of us. Create a strong brand, solid social community, sell advertising. However, i need a technical person (web developer) who can bring my vision to life.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Steve Blank

MAY 21, 2009

If you think you are going to offend your customers or embarrass your engineering organization, get out of the marketing department. Design your graphics, pre-show promotion, literature and show directory advertising around your focused message and theme. Is the company hosting/co-sponsoring some event?

Silicon Valley 207

Silicon Valley RSS California Customer Development 207

Hippoland

DECEMBER 5, 2012

For all intents and purposes, I’m the non-technical co-founder of my internet company LaunchBit, an ad network for email. Moreover, if you are a non-technical entrepreneur looking for a technical co-founder, showing that you can do these things effectively will set you apart from nearly everyone else. .

Founder 90

Founder Cofounder Advertising Customer Development 90