VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Most startups equate the process of fundraising to dating – founders have to typically kiss a lot of frogs until the find the right fit. Climate tech – We have a fair chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change if startups offer commercial solutions to decarbonize society or remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2014

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs.

New York City 254

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 254

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2023

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs.

New York City 246

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 246

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2018

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs.

New York City 202

New York City Silicon Valley Bootstrapping Technical Review 202

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

The famed business strategist Michael Porter described a set of successful general strategies which firms employ to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage: differentiation strategy and cost leadership strategy for those firms with a broad market scope, and a segmentation strategy for those with a narrow market scope.

Seed Stage 191

Seed Stage Belgium Differentiation LP 191

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 5, 2010

AOL was controlled by one company and the Internet was distributed. They controlled distribution to the masses. might have been a lot less differentiated. Murdoch seethed at these “startups&# getting rich off the back of MySpace. &# And I’d say sardonically , “no, Mom, you’re not on the Internet.

Social Network 318

Social Network Networking Internet Technical Review 318

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2023

Even adding money won’t do it – you need to create a committed and engaged team and partners for marketing and sales, as well as production and distribution. You need a business model that provides a good return for you and your team, long-term growth, value to your customer, and differentiates you from competitors.

Technical Review 201

Technical Review Government Agile Differentiation 201

Hunter Walker

MAY 17, 2024

Hunter Walk: Textio , the startup you founded and CEO’ed until a few months ago, is almost 10 years old. A recent essay covered the ‘AI gold rush’ and as it related to startups operating in this area, very much ‘caution ahead’ in terms of building a sustainable, differentiated business. The first one is simply focus.

Cofounder 133

Cofounder Founder Technical Review Seattle 133

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2016

Yet everyone has limits, and every investor implicitly has similar limits on what makes a startup investable, or one to avoid at all costs. Here is my perspective on the highest risk elements, from my years of working with investors and watching startups come and go: All the co-founders are first-time entrepreneurs.

New York City 120

New York City Silicon Valley Startup Bootstrapping 120

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. Startup Purgatory: No Man’s Land Unfortunately, many consumer internet startups find themselves stuck in the middle of these two strategies: they have a low monetization per user and limited viral effects.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

While there is much discussion about VCs starting to pull back on their investments into startups, the LPs we surveyed don’t expect to slow the pace of investment into VC funds themselves – at least for the foreseeable future. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

It wins through better distribution, logistics, inventory management, warehousing, customer support, merchandising, cross-selling and ultimately on price & scale. I have no doubt that multi-billion startups will disrupt this business with both a higher-quality product and lower costs. And here’s the thing. Of course they are.

Technical Review 150

Technical Review San Diego Dallas Startup 150

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

In the startup world, opportunities are fleeting, and obstacles are ubiquitous. Competition from other startups and established incumbents, constraints on time and capital, and limited access to talent and technology resources are just a few of the hurdles nearly every first-time founder faces while trying to build a business.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs look for that one magic bullet -- an exciting new technology, perhaps, or their own determination to make the world a better place -- to override any shortcomings in their startup model. Such failures ignore the essential business elements investors look for before committing to a startup.

Exit Strategy 120

Exit Strategy Technical Review Distribution Viral 120

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

Investors will want to know what advantages you have over the competition and how you plan on differentiating yourself. How do you plan on differentiating from the competition? Distribution. For product companies, a distribution plan is an important part of the complete business plan. Retail Distribution.

Business Plan 163

Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2023

I’ll start by taking you to the world of Startup X, a passionate team of entrepreneurs who believed they had the next big thing in the world of software as a service (SaaS). It’s disheartening, but sadly, this is one experience that many startup founders face. Do you find yourself and your project in a similar position?

Design 105

Design Product Churn Rate Architecture 105

The Startup Magazine

MAY 27, 2024

Initial investment and startup costs To kickstart your self-storage business in Leesburg, FL, consider initial investments like property acquisition, facility construction, and security systems. Factor in startup expenses such as insurance, utilities, and marketing.

Security 130

Security Operations Finance Advertising 130

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2020

To help with this, we’ve compiled a list of the top 4 industries that show the most promise for startups in 2020. As transportation becomes more intertwined with technology, there is a shift away from traditional services and towards startups with radical ideas. . Why tech startups are (still) trending. Transportation.

Technical Review 97

Technical Review Green Silicon Valley Non-Compete 97

VC Cafe

MARCH 20, 2011

Israeli startup interview series by Startup Intelligence. Startup Intelligence caught up with co-founders Zohar Dayan (CEO) and Yotam Cohen (VP Business Development) to find out more. Indeed this tool is one of the key differentiators between Wibbitz and its competitors (e.g. Contributed by Startup Intelligence.

Web 87

Web Video Cofounder Early Stage 87

Start Up Blog

APRIL 17, 2013

Recently there was a question which appealed to me and no doubt will you: What are some of the most ridiculous startup ideas that eventually became successful. They reminded me that anything can happen in the crazy world of startups and the worst thing we can do is try and predict the next winner. And the answers were total gold.

Social Network 108

Social Network Networking Detroit SMS 108

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 17, 2010

differentiation (can people tell it apart from other offerings?); It is critical that you place your product where your customers want it and look for it and you should regularly question whether your distribution channel the right one. innovation (are you constantly improving, iterating, bettering your product?); Photo: Dave77459.

Marketing 84

Marketing Startup Small Business Viral 84

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

An "elevator pitch" is a concise, well-practiced description of your startup and your plan, delivered with conviction and enthusiasm, that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator. How do you expect them to get excited, if your startup sounds like a dull subject to you?

Elevator Pitch 283

Elevator Pitch Startup Differentiation Distribution 283

Up and Running

JULY 11, 2017

Most successful business plans entail launching a new product, service, or distribution outlet that attacks existing market competitors on what military planners would term an exposed flank. Look closely for other highly differentiated technology that may be hidden in the work you or your team have already completed.

Technical Review 80

Technical Review Development Team Review Differentiation Leadership 80

Hunter Walker

JUNE 23, 2014

It means it’s easy enough to develop that eight hours or so is all it takes to build something that can then be distributed/accessed for free by lots of people. This are good milestones which support experimentation. This is the way the Internet is supposed to work, no? Yelp Competition.

Product 103

Product SBA SMS API 103

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 21, 2013

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Merger 243

Merger Acquisition Startup Bandwidth 243

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Financial Summary: Explain your business model, startup costs, revenues, and liabilities to the company. With the rise of new cannabis companies, it is important to differentiate your cannabis company from the competition, whether you are opening a farm, extraction operation, or dispensary. Distribution. Be specific.

Business Plan 154

Business Plan Technical Review Forecast Software Review 154

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Startup 232

Startup Merger Bandwidth Acquisition 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2010

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Acquisition 214

Acquisition Merger Startup Bandwidth 214

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

This philosophy comes from The Lean Startup methodology , which relies on testing hypotheses to better understand your customers’ pain points and goals. To truly differentiate your brand, center your growth strategy around creating unique and personalized customer experiences. Failing fast is different from failing often. Partnerships.

Marketing 115

Marketing Framework Metrics Channel 115

Up and Running

OCTOBER 21, 2014

If you’re working from home and not seeing clients, you may find your startup costs are limited to marketing, stationery and legal. When you create a worksheet to record your startup costs, keep expenses and assets separate. Startup costs. How to secure funding for your startup – the infographic guide.

Elevator Pitch 166

Elevator Pitch Software Review SBA Angel Investor 166

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Distribution.

Business Model 256

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 256

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Peter Thiel The statistics for startup success are well known. About 90% of startups will fail within three years of starting. Within the group of startups that succeeds, the returns for venture investors are concentrated in few companies. The most important companies are those that others don’t see as valuable.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Due Diligence ChatGPT Generative AI 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2011

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Distribution.

Business Model 246

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 246

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? I was meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and offering (for better or for worse) advice on how to run a startup and how to raise venture capital from my experience in doing so at two companies. I wanted to differentiate.

Startup 373

Startup eCommerce Audience Community 373

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Growth marketing borrows a concept from the lean startup methodology. Growth hacking is a term that emerged from the Silicon Valley tech community and the lean startup methodology. The brand might do this by distributing the content via email to half of their audience, tracking engagement metrics, and measuring the influence on CLV.

Framework 102

Framework Marketing Acquisition Retention 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2012

I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Distribution.

Business Model 242

Business Model Distribution Viral Green 242

ConversionXL

JANUARY 16, 2019

In contrast to “distribution-first content,” movement-first content is a conscious sacrifice of reach: “it isn’t beholden to any SEO tactics like word count and keyword density.” Picking a term with a well-understood foil (“outbound marketing”) makes it easier to understand and differentiate. An eponymous book (e.g.

Naming 119

Naming Conversion Flash Cofounder 119