Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 18, 2010

Truth: There’s nothing wrong with raising venture capital. Many lean startups are ambitious and are able to deploy large amounts of capital. What differentiates them is their disciplined approach to determining when to spend money: after the fundamental elements of the business model have been empirically validated.

Lean 167

Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Startup 167

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

The one-page pitch format is also more suitable for SaaS businesses that are constantly testing new ideas. Your pitch is going to cover your strategy (what you’re going to do), your tactics (how you’re going to do it), your business model (how you will make money), and your schedule (who is doing what and when).

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

ConversionXL

JANUARY 16, 2019

Picking a term with a well-understood foil (“outbound marketing”) makes it easier to understand and differentiate. Historically, both terms had narrower definitions related to telemarketing, which differentiated outbound versus inbound calls.) From there, more years passed until: HubSpot’s founders translated an idea into a book.

Naming 119

Naming Conversion Flash Cofounder 119

Reid Hoffman

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

Needless to say, this isn’t a business model that works in the pandemic world. Frequently, however, you need to pivot your business model and find new ways to make money. Business model evolution is the rule, not the exception. The only problem was, we didn’t have a working business model.

Startup 36

Startup Silicon Valley Business Model Mobile 36

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# Of course, monetization of search became one of the best business models in the history of business.

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

But with so many investors still licking their wounds from the dot-com bust, many focused on proven business models, such as advertising or e-commerce. The general rule is one business model drives the business. As it happened, we did end up pursuing all three lines of business. Your differential product?

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Viral Revenue Networking 111

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world. The businesses, it seems, vastly over-estimate their ability to raise funds.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2011

Blogs weren’t popularized yet so it was an oddity for me to read the founder of a software company spewing out advice. Joel met his co-founder for Fog Creek software and learned a valuable management lesson. The original business model for StackOverflow was to help employers find good programmers.

Software Review 285

Software Review Software St. Louis API 285

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 13, 2021

Entrepreneurs such as Figma CEO Dylan Field, fellow investors including Moxxie Ventures founder and general partner Katie Stanton, and Coatue Management partner Jamie McGurk pitched questions to the duo. Reid: I’m doing some SPACs with a venture firm called Reinvent Capital. You can listen to the podcast here.

Incubator 36

Incubator IPO Networking Cofounder 36