TechEmpower

JULY 24, 2023

At TechEmpower, we frequently talk to startup founders, CEOs, product leaders, and other innovators about their next big tech initiative. Background Questions Let’s start with some background questions about the business and product. What channels will you use (e.g., Ads, Viral/Social, SEO)? Who are the customers?

Developer 520

Developer Technical Review CTO Hire Fractional CTO 520

TechEmpower

JULY 31, 2023

Start by building just enough of your product to get early CAC and CLV signals (they won’t be perfect). Look at different customer acquisition channels, how they are converting, and the expected lifetime value of customers acquired through those channels. Apply costs to each channel. Don’t worry about scaling just yet.

Metrics 260

Metrics Startup Retention Acquisition 260

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

List key features/ Minimal Viable product plan. Create a “ viral ” landing page, with LaunchRock or KickoffLabs. from your product and get feedback and suggestions on new features. Use Skype or Google+ Hangouts for team conversations. Craft Your Company Hypotheses (use the Lean LaunchLab ). JustinMind , Balsamiq ).

Lean 334

Lean Web Coder Business Model 334

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Technical Review 220

Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review Business Model 220

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Traditional video had very high costs of distribution due to limited time slots of broadcast TV (we only had enough spectrum to support 3-4 channels). The number of channels grew with cable & satellite TV but we still have limitations that makes distributing content high. Not so fast. Content goes global (of Maker Studios 4.4

Video 339

Video Technical Review Distribution Aggregator 339

ConversionXL

APRIL 4, 2017

How you decide to invest in marketing channels can make or break your business. Okay, so it’s important to capitalize on effective channels that are conducive to growth at scale. An Overview of Common Digital Marketing Channels. That sounds like an obvious statement, but not a lot of people think about it critically.

Channel 118

Channel Marketing Viral SEO 118

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

Viral marketing costs real money, and your support staff and hosting systems cost even more. Cash is always hard to find, but in many cases it’s even harder to find access to needed distribution channels, government contract expertise, or the special skills required to deliver your solution. Finish the product before marketing begins.

Intellectual Property 312

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 312

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

A great product is always the foundation but a clear distribution strategy becomes essential to cut through the noise. Your business has a high viral co-efficient (or perhaps even a network effect) that lets you amass users cheaply without worrying too much about the monetization per user or spending money on paid acquisition.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

The Next Web

OCTOBER 28, 2012

One explanation is that “growth hacking” is just a catchy way to rebrand marketers, but this begs the question as to why “growth hacking” went viral in the first place. Channel instability. The creation and destruction of channels is a common occurrence today. Channel saturation. The best product fallacy.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review San Francisco Software Review Distribution 150

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Beardbrand currently has two different YouTube channels, one with 1.6 We launched the larger channel back in 2012 and the smaller channel in 2019. These channels combined are generating hundreds of thousands of views a day, none of which we pay for. Giant channel examples are Smarter EveryDay , Mark Rober , and MKBHD.

Channel 129

Channel Metrics Algorithm Video 129

ConversionXL

MAY 29, 2019

What does it take to grow a YouTube channel? Is a channel more than the sum of its video parts? Some solutions are simple—you need a consistent visual presentation on your channel page and across videos. If YouTube channel growth has felt unattainable, you’re not alone. Are most companies’ YouTube channels succeeding?

Channel 106

Channel Video Audience Software Review 106

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 10, 2011

Photoshop is a great illustration of a product designed to this extreme. (A Build your product specifically for them, even if that means confusing and abusing everyone else. If your product really is good, they’ll give you money and tell other power-users (birds of a feather already forum and Twitter together).

Software Review 232

Software Review Technical Review .Net Design 232

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

But, increasingly, the Apple hype-fests are a marketing—not a product—showcase. For product launches, long-term success relies on cornerstones of marketing research and execution, like a strong value proposition and full-funnel campaign. Yet while product launches are a risk, they’re not as risky as you think. Image source ).

Product 110

Product Campaign Acquisition Social Media 110

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

I was recently talking with a startup company who wanted me to try their product. I’m a big believer in product stability & performance before adding too many features. If you can break this down by channel that you’ve acquired them from this is obviously better. Measuring viral adoption is obviously important.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2013

But even if a VC is nasty a rant email back isn’t the right way to channel your frustration. You build a team, ship your product, more tech press, more funding. They qualify every initiative with, “well this didn’t prove viral adoption last time so I don’t expect a silver bullet this time.”

Churn Rate 371

Churn Rate Vesting Viral eCommerce 371

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

In today’s market ( 8,000 martech products alone ), it’s easier to attract the right customer with material they value than it is to chase down and convert a prospect who isn’t ready to buy. Pay attention to your close rate per channel. If your product was developed to solve a real-world problem, your ideal customers already exist.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Along with building a product and a company, you need to build social momentum and buzz. Product and culture . Any brand wants to promote a culture and an experience to some extent, but in early stage-startups, an innovative product drives reputation. Startup Example: Coin. Strategy Adopted: Referral-loop.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 18, 2020

and a full-fledged production crew. Film productions, businesses that were aiming to spend big bucks on live advertising are now turning to various animated video styles to get the job done. What about real product demos? Many companies want to showcase their upcoming products. The bigger the team, the greater the cost.

Video 229

Video Advertising Technical Review Viral 229

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

This post is about choosing the right sales strategy and channels for your startup from the start. Being an engineer, I built myself a kind of algorithm that helps determine an early-­stage startup’s sales channels, and that’s what I’m sharing with you today. Step 2: Choose your sales channels. LTV ­ CAC = ROI. CAC is tricky.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Growth Hacking isn’t viral marketing (although viral marketing is part of it). Growth Hacking comes to solve a very common problem in consumer startups: getting to the first x thousand/million users quickly once the product has launched and the hype has passed.

API 167

API Viral Startup Retention 167

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit. Interesting that Booyah is led by a former game producer, Keith Lee, who formerly launched very large products for Blizzard Entertainment. Total raised: $29.5mm.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Steve Blank

APRIL 20, 2021

Many of them get hung up on understanding how to select the right minimal viable product. He came up with the concept to simply the search for product/market fit by using an MVP Tree. Many startups fall into the trap of building toward a “mission” rather than a minimum viable product (MVP). Your mission is your baby.

Product 436

Product Viral Channel San Francisco 436

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] 20:58] Are there any overlooked channels or platforms worth exploring? This is John Jantsch.

Channel 90

Channel Acquisition Framework B2B 90

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. As Facebook is a very young channel, it is not surprising that everyone's struggling with the answer. It is a lovely emotional video (really was!). Gets more Likes.

Metrics 165

Metrics Advertising Marketing Social Media 165

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

The main B2C benchmarks have to do with traction: growth in user acquisition, user retention/churn, monetisation, as well as the effectiveness of consumer marketing + virality. With the explosion in DTC products (see my post on VC Cafe), they probably deserve a category of benchmarks on their own.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 15, 2010

Small businesses and startups face many challenges when marketing their products and services. Yet products and services rarely sell themselves – small businesses and startups must find ways to let their potential customers know about those products and services. Test your marketing ideas in small batches.

Lean 129

Lean Small Business Marketing Startup 129

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing.

Business Model 120

Business Model Technical Review Advisory Board Software Review 120

Startup Lessons Learned

DECEMBER 14, 2009

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. In a previous post , I covered the three main drivers of growth: Paid, Sticky, and Viral. And this is true outside of games.

Customer 156

Customer San Francisco Viral Lean 156

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

In contrast, it left several e-trends: augmented reality, zero coding, the marketplace boom, and product subscriptions are just a few of them. With the help of voice assistants, such as Siri and Alexa, you can purchase the product just by saying it while running errands. We will deliver product x every three months with free shipping.”

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 27, 2012

Users openly share their love for products on social media, and bloggers especially contribute to the fervor that surrounds every new announcement. On the flip side, consumers continue to purchase Apple products, especially the iPhone, so that they can keep up with their ever-growing social media addictions.

Social Media 202

Social Media Media Small Business Reputation 202

The Next Web

DECEMBER 12, 2013

Growth hacking” or the mentality of “try every viral trick, every channel as quickly as possible in order to get ahead in the land grab” is a hot topic. Currier notes that even Craigslist , eBay and Monster.com - companies that do not necessarily have the best products – still manage nearly $1B in revenue.

Mobile 136

Mobile Silicon Valley Viral Technical Review 136

Occam's Razor

FEBRUARY 3, 2014

The only reason I know loads of new people and brands is because of my subscription to their channels on YouTube. Some brands have channels with content that is rarely updated or it is just a digital repository of their TV commercials. Some have experimented with virality ( Pepsi Test Drive or Dove Beauty , etc.), Everyone wins.

Analytics 151

Analytics Marketing Audience Channel 151

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

There was a backlash against the Plaxo spamming yet it paved the way for everybody who came after them to get users to drive viral adoption and we’d throw up our arms and say, “oh boy, here goes another social network that my friends are going to spam me about&# mentality that made it acceptable for everybody who came afterward.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Occam's Razor

JUNE 11, 2014

From simple and effective personalization on your owned channels (your site) to deep and profoundly impactful engagement on your rent channels (YouTube). From a data perspective this is reflected in our obsession with multi-channel attribution modeling or user based visitor segmentation. We will look at many different examples.

Design 151

Design Software Review Technical Review Mobile 151

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. Yet most startups seem to constrain creativity to product design. Many people are visual thinkers. I use tools to invoke my creative self.

Technical Review 356

Technical Review Framework Audience Media 356

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 4, 2011

Viral marketing and word-of-mouth are not enough these days to make your product and brand visible in the relentless onslaught of new promotional media out there today. Innovation in marketing is perhaps more important than product innovation. Then it’s time to innovate through the channels or platforms that are relevant.

Viral 228

Viral Marketing Startup Demand 228

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

You’ll be able to see which channels (paid, organic, social, etc.) When Mixpanel makes the most sense : If your website or app is your product, however, Mixpanel offers the granular detail that’s essential for monitoring user behavior. Real-time reporting can also help large ecommerce companies manage their products.

Analytics 119

Analytics Technical Review Acquisition Retention 119