Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Generally speaking, there are two ways (and only two ways) to scale a business to hit that $100 million threshold: Your business has a high Life Time Value (LTV) per user, giving you the freedom to spend a significant amount of money in customer acquisition. High LTV can usually be found in transactional or subscription businesses.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2012

Every startup needs to understand that the customer paradigm has dramatically shifted over the past two years with pervasive social networks and smartphones. For example, while the customer paradigm is shifting rapidly to smartphones, a survey last year indicated that just 12 percent of small businesses had that reach.

Networking 234

Networking Customer Entrepreneur Social Network 234

The Next Web

DECEMBER 4, 2013

Starting out, you can’t hit every network and outlet full-force. Locate your core customers, and prioritize your efforts to reach them where they are. Zappos has found great success by keeping social media responsibilities horizontal and flexible. Prioritize social networks. Startup Example: Cloudera.

Social Media 158

Social Media Media Viral Startup 158

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2021

Truly satisfied customers are a joy to every business person. Maybe it’s that first customer testimonial, or that first congratulations from someone you respect, or seeing your story in the newspaper. Reserve the same names on the leading social networks and blogs. Both are networks. A business model that works.

Sweat Equity 400

Sweat Equity Intellectual Property Startup Viral 400

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2010

Social networks. They became popular for socializing, but now are prime sources of business networking, customer service, and client leads. Viral marketing. Viral marketing costs real money, but is often worth it. You are now reading one of 50 million out there already. Crowdsourcing.

Internet 224

Internet SEM Wiki Entrepreneur 224

The Startup Magazine

JULY 20, 2021

With a viral approach to marketing and customer-friendly pricing, Hawkers today is sold primarily online and in 50 countries. Customers were upset at the lag time between ordering sunglasses and getting them delivered. Company leaders realized they needed a new round of capital to grow and provide excellent customer service.

Viral 78

Viral Private Equity Venezuela Los Angeles 78

SoCal CTO

JUNE 15, 2011

The purpose of Branchout is helping people to network their way to jobs. Instead, I want to look at how they've integrated themselves with Facebook and particularly how they engage users to help viral spread. Later in this post, I'll talk about some of the downside of how they've made this viral.

Viral 331

Viral Startup Networking Social Network 331

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 15, 2022

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. If your business is industrial B2B products, social media should be low on your list.

Social Media 315

Social Media Media Startup Analytics 315

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2022

Where are the young social media users going? TikTok is currently the fastest growing social network, while Instagram is close behind with a bigger share globally of new sign-ups. Brands need influencers working on their behalf because they provide the third-party credibility and social proof that validates their products.

Social Media 352

Social Media Media Viral Audience 352

SoCal CTO

JUNE 15, 2011

The purpose of Branchout is helping people to network their way to jobs. Instead, I want to look at how they've integrated themselves with Facebook and particularly how they engage users to help viral spread. Later in this post, I'll talk about some of the downside of how they've made this viral.

Viral 323

Viral Startup Networking Social Network 323

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

I recently spoke at Caltech at the Caltech / MIT Enterprise Forum on “the future of social networking,&# the 30-minute video is here and the PowerPoint presentation is here on DocStoc ). What are the big trends that will drive the next phase of social networks? And so it goes with social networking.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Board Effect

JULY 28, 2021

Before an unsavory post goes viral on the internet, we encourage you to take a look at our step-by-step plan for creating a nonprofit social media policy. Social Media Risks and Concerns for Nonprofit. Customers, stakeholders, or constituents say bad things about your organization.

Social Media 98

Social Media Media Warrant Reputation 98

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2021

If you are in the almost 30 percent of all small businesses who still ignore social media, you need to read the book by Dave Carroll, “ United Breaks Guitars.” It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world.

Social Media 355

Social Media Media Reputation Viral 355

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 21, 2013

This guide is intended to ensure that your small business doesn’t miss out on any of the customers who can be reached by a thorough marketing campaign: Digital. If you choose not to hire a professional web developer for your site design, consider some of the business websites that you have visited as a customer.

Marketing 153

Marketing Startup Technical Review Viral 153

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Category leaders do very well, while the #2, 3, 4… players struggle to attract customers and financing. This trend is particularly true in markets that are highly susceptible to network effects, such as online auctions and social networks. However, now individual employees get the ball rolling by using a product.

IP 163

IP Technical Review B2C Social Network 163

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition In the many thousands of articles advising entrepreneurs on what they have to focus on to build successful startups, much has been written about three key factors: team, product and market, with particular focus on the importance of product/market fit.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

To determine whether freemium is right for you, do the simple math: Figure out how many paying customers you need to run the company. If you charge every user $50 and spend $10K to pay the business bills, you need at least 200 customers to break even. In our example, it’s 20K non-paying customers.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

The BBM SDK allows very unique social features to existing and new applications, including the ability to distribute and share applications virally through BB. Over 35,000 applications available on App World (Note: as you know, App World is just one distribution channel where customers can download applications). •

Developer 207

Developer Asia Thailand Singapore 207

Berkonomics

APRIL 8, 2021

Not every new game-related site is a Steam, and surely not every social network is a Facebook. Discord is a great example of a company going viral mostly from word of mouth. How do you make your product go viral? What are the elements needed to focus upon in making the attempt to take a product viral?

Viral 62

Viral Product Channel Audience 62

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 26, 2022

TikTok has evolved from a platform known for viral dance moves to a place of rapid product discovery. The New York Times named this urge to buy something the “TikTok Feta Effect,” after a viral recipe for baked feta pasta resulted in the cheese selling out nationwide in the U.S. Look at your customer data. via Shopify ].

Sales 115

Sales Customer Viral Marketing 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2013

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Social media connections, if they exist, are buried elsewhere or reserved for monitoring purposes only.

Social Media 249

Social Media Media Customer Viral 249

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2012

As I visit the websites of many startups, as well as more mature businesses, I still too often see a “contact” page offering nothing but a sterile form for customers to submit, never to be heard from again. Social media connections, if they exist, are buried elsewhere or reserved for monitoring purposes only.

Social Media 228

Social Media Media Customer Viral 228

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

He told me in some combinations of device / OS / network they are crashing 4 times per 100. 4 times / 100 means if a customer uses your app frequently (say 10-20 times / day) then they are crashing nearly every day. Customer Acquisition. Do you have a customer referral program? SEO is seldom “free.”.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup Acquisition SEM 346

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 5, 2012

Widespread global availability of free or low-cost web access, easy-to-use social tools, and algorithms by companies like Klout and PeerIndex have also resulted in an “influence revolution” According to Schaefer, the rules of online influence are affected by several factors: 1. Having a strategy. Reaching relevant influencers.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Singapore Algorithm Social Media 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 3, 2011

Every startup needs to understand that the customer paradigm has dramatically shifted over the past two years with pervasive social networks and smartphones. To compete, startups must find ways to provide customers an easier, faster, more pervasive connection to digital networks, via mobile as well as the Internet.

Customer 229

Customer Startup Networking Viral 229

Version One Ventures

JULY 27, 2015

We love these platforms for many reasons, but the primary one is the power of their network effects and how they create a high degree of defensibility for startups. What are network effects? Network effects” is a frequently used term and it is sometimes confused with having a large customer base. Direct Network Effects.

Networking 60

Networking Community Viral Social Network 60

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round). First and foremost, we believed there would be a “professional” social network.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

The project was a little unexpected – creating customer cereal boxes called Obama-Os and Cap’n McCains, timely for the 2008 elections. And it’s a definite win-win for the customers and the manufacturer. Both of these platforms have effectively failed, but the idea of the viral video is alive and well in the form of TikTok.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Bankruptcy Southern California South Africa 97

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

Where are the young social media users going? Snapchat is currently the fastest growing social network, while Instagram is close behind with a bigger share globally of new sign-ups. Brands need influencers working on their behalf because they provide the third-party credibility and social proof that validates their products.

Social Media 238

Social Media Media Viral Audience 238

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2019

If you are in the 30 percent of all small businesses who still ignore social media, you need to read the book by Dave Carroll, “ United Breaks Guitars.” It highlights the story of how United Airlines paid no attention to social media while Dave’s story of his crushed guitar and poor customer service went viral around the world.

Social Media 246

Social Media Media Reputation Viral 246

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2019

You can jump into social media with a poor brand definition, poorly focused content, unrealistic expectations of customer service, or be killed by malware or viruses. Assess social media relevance to your product or service. If your business is industrial B2B products, social media should be low on your list.

Social Media 199

Social Media Media Analytics Viral 199

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

It included one firm who I asked not to call Salesforce.com as a reference (they were our largest pilot customer) and in their kindness they called Marc Benioff (the CEO) and asked his opinion. There was no viral social networking products back then like Twitter where people could easily discover your content.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Term Sheet San Diego Viral 274

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

Current Customers. Do you know everything there is to understand about your customers’ buying habits? Are you following them through every step of the customer journey? Also, Viral Marketing gives us the ability to leverage social networks by offering individuals an incentive to refer family and friends to our business.

Channel 165

Channel PPC Marketing SEO 165

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 18, 2013

A recent study found that small businesses benefit the most from social media marketing, in that 72 percent of small business that implemented social media strategies found a boost in website traffic. Increase in traffic can lead to new customers and greater sales. What are the benefits of social media marketing?

Social Media 269

Social Media Small Business Media Marketing 269

YoungUpstarts

JULY 4, 2019

In today’s digital world, negative feedback can quickly go viral, leading to potential disaster for even the biggest brands. A good reputation will attract new customers. Today’s brands need to attract new customers using their reputations, rather than via traditional advertising methods such as television, radio, and billboards.

Reputation 168

Reputation Management Australia Boston 168

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2013

According to a study of 1700 CEOs last year, only 60% of companies today use social media for marketing, and only 12% of those feel that they are using it effectively. Currently, social media is the least used of all customer interaction methods. Social media demands two-way communication, rather than outbound only.

Social Media 267

Social Media Media Social Network Viral 267

The Next Web

DECEMBER 2, 2013

Taking into account the difference in storage costs in 2002, Schippers estimates that Zuckerberg was spending $3,000 per month on hosting for the first year and about $10 million per month by 2006 as the network grew exponentially in that time period. But if you were to replicate the product exactly, all those decisions are made for you.

Cost 168

Cost San Francisco New York City Ruby 168