Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 7, 2008

And we cant hire new engineers any faster, because you cant be interviewing and debugging and fixing all at the same time! Even with the highest standards imaginable, theres no way to hire just genius hackers. Hire a CTO or VP Engineering. Worst of all, your teammates are constantly wanting to have meetings.

Software Review 94

Software Review Technical Review San Francisco Part-Time VPE 94

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 14, 2008

This was 2004, and we had never even heard of MySpace, let alone had any understanding of social networking. It required hearing customers say it over and over again for us to take a serious look, and eventually to realize that social networking was core to our business. But the early customers all compared it to MySpace.

San Francisco 131

San Francisco Customer Lean Continuous Deployment 131

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. Initially, we promoted it to a list that we’d already developed through Website Grader, the free app our CTO Dharmesh Shah had built before we even had a product.

Marketing 120

Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

And in some markets its decisive, because of well-known network effects (as happened with Microsoft, eBay, and many others). But if your product category doesnt have strong network effects, word of mouth alone is not usually enough to fend off a competitor who also has a quality product. So what model will prevail on the iPhone?

Distribution 74

Distribution San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 74

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 18, 2008

Pick a similar product that they do use, and ask them "who was the first person you know who started using [social networking, mobile phones, plasma TV, instant messaging.]? For companies in the early-adopter phase, you can play "the earlyvangelist game" whenever a customer turns out to be too mainstream for your product. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 133

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

For example, in the case of one recent company that we’ve been working with for the last 7 months, we have sourced half of the new team members for the company, including their CTO, head of marketing, head of customer success, and a talented senior engineer.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc. For eBay, this is caused by the incredible network effects of their business (so-called demand-side increasing returns and supply-side increasing returns). Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 22, 2009

Ive spoken in some detail about a specific pivot that we went through at IMVU , when we decided to abandon the instant messaging add-on concept, and switch to a standalone instant messaging network. We went through another pivot when we switched again from instant messaging to social networking. Amazon PostRank

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Agile 167

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 5, 2008

Spray files across cheap disks on your network. Expo New York New York, NY Nov 19 The Lean Startup at MIT Boston, MA Nov 20 Lunch workshop at Dogpatch Labs Boston, MA Dec 17 Lean Startup Cohort program begins San Francisco, CA KISSmetrics KISSmetrics is loading. MogileFS - "Distributed (meta) file system. Pay less for storage.

Open Source 107

Open Source San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean 107

rapidrollout.wordpress.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Web Startup Lessons Advice from a CTO and Entrepreneur Home About Finding a Technical Partner for Your Startup Today I received an inquiry from a student at an Ivy League university who wants to launch a web startup. In the process of gathering feedback, you’re beginning to develop a network of advisers and supporters.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Fractional CTO Partner CTO Hire 40

www.collegemogul.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

We spent a lot of time asking everyone we knew if they knew anyone who would be looking to intern with a startup. We’ve had some success with hiring interns for fashion design and editorial work, so we were hoping to replicate that with a coder, even in basic HTML, CSS and PHP. On a bootstrapped budget free is great.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Web Development Web Developer 40

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 21, 2016

More than a non-profit, though, we are a network. More than a non-profit, though, we are a network. Today, if you go into most major cities, you’ll find people who’ve worked with us, or hired our alumni, or attended our conferences who are spreading the gospel and showing these practices working and getting outcomes.

America 48

America Government CTO Hire San Francisco 48