Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

I like the summary of the competitive reality in a new book, “ Rethinking Competitive Advantage: New Rules for the Digital Age ,” by Ram Charan, who relates a wealth of current experience from global clients: Customers expect a personalized experience. Short-term earnings per share may be low, even as revenues and cash burned are high.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. He is very pleasant when he calls and writes.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Los Angeles 365

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 27, 2024

How To Sell Customer Experiences Not Customer Service written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Jeannie Walters In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeannie Walters. and the necessity of building a customer-centric culture.

Customer 73

Customer Cloud Technology PR 73

ConversionXL

JULY 21, 2022

How did Outreach grow in just a few years to 50,000 monthly active users , $10 million in new bookings, and net revenue retention (NRR) of more than 140%? By focusing intently on a single measurement, known as a north star metric. The north star metric defines success for the whole company and aligns teams on a growth trajectory.

Metrics 120

Metrics Acquisition Revenue .Net 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. The idea of “going deep” with customers has always shaped how I think. I found myself in violent agreement with Fred’s blog post(s).

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Startup Business Model Non-Compete 401

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 15, 2019

Once upon a time every great organization was a scrappy startup willing to take risks – new ideas, new methods, new customers, targets, and mission. For the contractors, anything new offers the real risk of losing a lucrative existing stream of revenue. Companies Run on Process. are obstacles for innovation.

Government 322

Government Technical Review Acquisition Metrics 322

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.

Management 322

Management Entrepreneur Forecast Stock Options 322

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Should SaaS companies trade at a 24x Enterprise Value (EV) to Next Twelve Month (NTM) Revenue multiple as they did in November 2021? But it will be patiently deployed, waiting for a cohort of founders who aren’t artificially clinging to 2021 valuation metrics. In 2009 we could take a long time to review a deal.

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 14, 2021

You work tirelessly to understand your customer, market, and competition so you can differentiate. Voice-of-customer (VoC) research, user research, competitor research, and insights on jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) can inform your marketing strategy. . Does your messaging at each touchpoint match customer intent? NPS & CSAT.

Metrics 157

Metrics Marketing Campaign Audience 157

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Before you bring on partners, develop intellectual property, raise capital, or generate revenues, you need to establish an official business entity. Early customer feedback will position your solution, and help you make pivots before critical time and money are lost.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Steve Blank

AUGUST 21, 2013

—— When I wrote Four Steps to the Epiphany and the Startup Owners Manual , I believed that Life Sciences startups didn’t need Customer Discovery. For example when one team found the right customer, they changed the core technology (the basis of their original idea!) used to serve those customers.

SBIR 321

SBIR Technical Review Lean Startup 321

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.

Forecast 304

Forecast Stock Options Technical Review Metrics 304

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Reading the NY Times article “ Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $1 Billion for Short-Form Video Venture, ” I realized it was time for a new startup heuristic: the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. ” Fire, Ready, Aim.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 8, 2021

That’s why Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is such a critical metric. CAC can be calculated with the following formula: Total Spend on Acquiring Customers / No. of Customers Acquired. But “Total spend on acquiring customers” can be ambiguous. This way, you won’t have to segment new customers.

Acquisition 135

Acquisition Churn Rate Cost Customer 135

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. This is true whether the company is concept stage or ramping revenue. Filed under: Customer Development , Lean LaunchPad , Science and Industrial Policy , Venture Capital. ——-.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2021

Don’t forget to add all pesky “overhead” costs, with fixed elements, like rent, insurance, and administration, and variable elements, like delivery, customer support, and commissions. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations. A required metric is average days to payment compared to expectations.

Technical Review 379

Technical Review Finance Startup Salary 379

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

As a long-time mentor to entrepreneurs, here is my collection of smart risks that investors and I look for in new startups: Focus on a tough customer problem rather than a fun technology. Investors hate technology solutions looking for a problem, due to the high risk of no customers. Customers like leaders, not followers.

Startup 283

Startup Forecast Stock Options Technical Review 283

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 21, 2017

Revenue multiples, profit multiples, premium over the previous financing — these are metrics used by sellers to help determine a minimum acceptable price. Even for startups, it takes years for a new product to become good enough to demand many millions of dollars in revenue.). Startups shouldn’t act smug about this.

Balance Sheet 242

Balance Sheet Vertical Acquisition Revenue 242

Steve Blank

MARCH 15, 2017

His company had marched through customer discovery, learning about the customer problem, validated solutions and was now scaling sales and marketing. And it was going to mention the two words that marketing needed to live and breathe: revenue and profit. Generate end-user demand (to match our revenue goals). That was it.

Startup 329

Startup PR Public Relations Channel 329

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Marketing metrics are a competitive advantage. You have to track metrics you can act on. In this article, you’ll learn which metrics to measure to understand and improve marketing performance. Table of contents What are digital marketing metrics? KPIs vs. digital marketing metrics 1. Where to track bounce rate 5.

Metrics 105

Metrics Analytics Marketing Acquisition 105

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

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2022

The same lesson applies to our daily life of data and metrics. Revenue from your billing system compared to cash flows from your bank statements. Revenue from your billing system compared to cash flows from your bank statements. Number of active customers from Stripe, and from your User Portal.

Analytics 248

Analytics Software Review Metrics Technical Review 248

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2018

According to most investors I know, traction is some clear evidence that the “dogs are eating the dog food” – usually meaning that you have at least one customer paying full price for your solution. Another term often mentioned is “momentum,” or growing visibility and advocacy within your customer set.

Advisory Board 199

Advisory Board Technical Review Metrics Business Model 199

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

The studio’s internal team builds the minimal viable product, then validates an idea by finding product/market fit and early customers. If the idea passes a series of “Go/No Go” decisions based on milestones for customer discovery and validation, the studio recruits entrepreneurial founders to run and scale those startups.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

How can businesses and marketing teams reach customers in the age of COVID-19, respond to lightning-fast changes in the marketplace, and keep up with new consumer demands? Agile marketers recognize that the future is impossible to predict accurately, so how customers will react to a marketing promotion is equally impossible to predict.

Agile 264

Agile Marketing Campaign Sales 264

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2020

In the short term you need customers to find you at any price, and in the longer term you need revenue, profit, and return loyalty. It’s your job as a leader to be the model high performer, quantify the team view with metrics, and expand awareness to the best outside competition and new tools.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Merger Social Media 312

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

by Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of “ The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue “ Everyone knows that retention is crucial for subscription-based companies. I get calls all the time from clients struggling to retain new customers.

Customer 173

Customer Technical Review Retention Acquisition 173

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 16, 2022

There’s more to ecommerce customer acquisition than increasing checkout conversion rates. For long-term, sustainable success, you must attract the right customers. In this article, you’ll learn how to gauge the effectiveness of any customer acquisition strategy. What makes customer acquisition different from marketing?

Acquisition 129

Acquisition eCommerce Customer Churn Rate 129

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. Metrics like Return on Net Assets, Return on Capital and Internal Rate of Return are the guiding stars of the board and CEO. To manage these employees companies create metrics to control, measure and reward execution. Companies need your help.

Private Equity 330

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 330

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue. The founders.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Unlocking the Power of Data: Transforming Metrics into Actionable Insights written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Janstch In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interviewed Peter Caputa, CEO of Databox, an innovative player in the realm of marketing analytics.

Metrics 92

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 92

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

You should always design with the customer experience in mind. Patrons refers to the customers your company serves. A diversified customer base can reduce cash flow risks and greatly increase your company’s value. Generally, companies sell for either a percentage of revenues or a multiple of EBITDA.

Exit Strategy 246

Exit Strategy Intellectual Property Valuation Metrics 246

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Building a minimum viable product, with customer validation. Before you bring on partners, develop intellectual property, raise capital, or generate revenues, you need to establish an official business entity. Early customer feedback will position your solution, and help you make pivots before critical time and money are lost.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

They both have a history of focusing on the lifetime value of a customer rather than chasing short-term profits. If you want to be a leader in customer loyalty and grow your business for the long term, Customer Value Optimization is key. How does “Customer Value Optimization” change your approach?

Customer 132

Customer SMS Retention Acquisition 132

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

He outlines six dimensions of a winning business strategy, with some practical, research-based steps that I like, to focus on in achieving extraordinary results: Above all, deliver an exceptional total customer experience. This requires constant study of what your customers value, what competitors offer, and your target market.

Technical Review 218

Technical Review Revenue Analytics Metrics 218

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

Then they increased their revenue from $2M to $6M in six months. This value-based model bringing all the right customers to their yard is called demand generation. In this article, you’ll learn how to build a demand generation funnel that fuels the pipeline, shortens the sale cycle, and generates revenue.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124