A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 4, 2018

Late last year we passed $100M in annual recurring revenue. That revenue is in on 75,000 customers, earned through the hard work of 500 employees across six offices on three continents. The next sale isn’t quite as sweet.). We just announced a few more things. It’s the heroin-hit that hooks the entrepreneur. (The

Engineer 152

Engineer Revenue San Francisco Security 152

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.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Advisory Board 368

Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor Cofounder 368

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Customers today quickly get beyond these, and put a competitive priority on the experience of others, reflected in reviews and social media, and their own total experience with your sales process, delivery, returns, and support on their schedule. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2020

Minimize one-time sales in your business model. You need a stable customer base with an automatically renewing revenue stream, such as the subscription model. Minimize permanent hiring and customized operational facilities. Your solution must have value for every customer. Facilitate rapid growth through contracted resources.

Merger 386

Merger Software Review Acquisition Social Media 386

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). All good news.

Startup 329

Startup PR Public Relations Channel 329

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. I always push companies to hire “an operationally focused CFO” during this phase because in order to systematize you need somebody who brings economic rigor to decision making. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 23, 2020

Hire for character, competency, and compatibility. Hiring is the single most important thing you do as a leader, and firing is second. Hiring people who are just like you may eliminate revolts, but it won’t get you outside your own box. If your solution is free, or you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume.

Technical Review 324

Technical Review Entrepreneur Due Diligence Business Model 324

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. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2019

Generate revenue around the clock. Hiring virtual assistants for each specific project can be a lot more efficient and cheaper than hiring and managing employees. Focus on recurring revenues. A great way to make more money more easily online is to replace one-time sales with automatically renewing subscriptions.

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Software Review Internet Revenue 243

YoungUpstarts

MAY 12, 2020

Of course, to make yourself available, you normally plan to hire several people along the way, who would be helping out with different initiatives. Or, in other words, who are the first 10 people you would hire for the business. Or maybe with sales? This practical strategy exercise is extremely valuable for many reasons.

Distribution 264

Distribution Vertical Business Plan Software Development 264

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees. Relationships also build loyalty, get referrals, and drive more sales. Under-promise and over-deliver on customer requests.

Customer 369

Customer Technical Review Metrics Employee 369

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 13, 2015

The question is: How do you decide what role is most important to hire for? So, a technical founder decides she needs another developer, or a sales-oriented founder decides she needs another sales person. If I hire someone to do X, I’ll have time for Y and Z. Hire the best person for that role.

Part-Time VPE 120

Part-Time VPE Hiring Retention Revenue 120

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 20, 2024

One increasingly popular strategy is to hire a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO). Early-stage startups often operate with tight budgets, making it impractical to hire a full-time CMO. Such a dual approach helps B2B startups generate new leads while building brand awareness and driving revenue growth right from the start.

B2B 148

B2B Hiring Salary Early Stage 148

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold. On the other hand, there are some roles in a startup where Boomers are probably not the best candidates: Constantly-on-the-road sales territory management roles. Marketing and sales to Gen-Y customers.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 16, 2021

For those of you who don’t know: Conversation Intelligence software integrates with your customer engagement platform to record, transcribe, and analyze sales calls, giving businesses access to crucial deal information, CRM data entry automation, faster sales reps review, and sales coaching. Market Intelligence.

Conversion 162

Conversion Technical Review Startup Software Review 162

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Consider investing in these four software categories to improve business performance and bring in more revenue. Attracting new customers and nurturing them along through the sales pipeline is what every business tries to do effectively and efficiently. Marketing automation software. Customer relationship management software.

Small Business 173

Small Business Agile Software Software Development 173

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Investors bet that by offering prospective hires a stake in the company’s future growth- with a visible time horizon of a payoff – employees would act more like owners and work harder– and that would align employee interests with the investor interests. That made sense.

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Hire for character, competency, and compatibility. Hiring is the single most important thing you do as a leader, and firing is second. Hiring people who are just like you may eliminate revolts, but it won’t get you outside your own box. If your solution is free, or you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Due Diligence Business Model Demand 233

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2023

Hire for character, competency, and compatibility. Hiring is the single most important thing you do as a leader, and firing is second. Hiring people who are just like you may eliminate revolts, but it won’t get you outside your own box. If your solution is free, or you lose money on every sale, it’s hard to make it up in volume.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Due Diligence Business Model Demand 229

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Sales development is a nuanced blend of art and science, requiring a delicate balance for its effective implementation within a company. Drawing from substantial experience, Sally Duby from The Bridge Group provides valuable insights into the intricate realm of sales development. Sally's wisdom sheds light on this dilemma.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Sales Developer Development Team Review 78

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

In this business environment, hiring a new CEO who had experience growing a company around a single technical innovation was a rational decision for venture investors. A company developing software would have to buy computers and license software from other companies and hire the staff to run and maintain it. That’s no longer the case.

Restful 249

Restful Silicon Valley San Jose Puerto Rico 249

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 22, 2024

13:18] A Holistic View The role of a Fractional CMO isn’t just about marketing—it’s about integrating sales, customer service, and even operational aspects to ensure that the entire business is aligned and working towards common goals. Most of the firms that hire you are going to want market expansion.

Leadership 88

Leadership Technical Review Retention Campaign 88

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

Projecting from the seed stage, there are two types of team-building topics you want to address – key senior hires and org-level team building. As the company progresses through product market fit (PMF), you will want to highlight other key senior hires required to scale and round out the functional expertise of the exec team.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 26, 2021

There are so many businesses around us, and to stay in the game, you need to think of ways to improve your small business revenue. As a small business owner, you need to do some research on industry practices for growing small business revenue. Today’s world is all about competition. Follow industry best practices. Final thoughts.

Small Business 179

Small Business Mobile Revenue Social Media 179

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 29, 2020

Computers : Both Best Buy and Stables said that there have been a surge in the sales of work-from-home products , such as laptops, keyboards, and computer monitors, since the COVID-19 outbreak. Being able to offer such products, along with using remote hosted desktops , can provide enormous revenue during this pandemic crisis.

Demand 173

Demand Product Artificial Inteligence Software Review 173

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ).

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2024

Our deep dive into the world of email newsletters unveils tactical strategies for transforming subscribers into revenue-generating assets. Key Takeaways: Russell Henneberry provides the tactical strategies to transform subscribers into revenue. There's going to need to be a sales process and so forth.

Revenue 96

Revenue Advertising Email ChatGPT 96

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 17, 2019

As a business advisor, when I bring this up, at best I will hear the defense that you are focused on the strategy of the moment, such as such as how to increase sales, or reach a new market. Strong leaders continually work on a strategy of hiring, developing, and retaining the best and the brightest.

Technical Review 218

Technical Review Revenue Analytics Metrics 218

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 17, 2023

Redefining Success In Sales With The Unsold Mindset written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Garrett Brown and Colin Coggings In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Garrett Brown and Colin Coggins. 17:54] Some people just don’t have that gift, talent, or empathy.

Sales 98

Sales Technical Review Minnesota Conversion 98

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 14, 2024

He transformed a $3,000 investment into a multi-state enterprise with nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales. We had 600 employees and doing about 150 million in revenue when I finally sold all the businesses a couple of years ago. It was quite a fun ride. A lot of learning along the way though. Well, we're a training organization.

Wisconsin 91

Wisconsin Cofounder Leadership Employee 91

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 13, 2020

A hire or two that you should have been able to close won’t join. It doesn’t matter what industry, what product, what revenue model, what stage of development. Sales is just storytelling with a desired outcome at the end of the story. And what type of ‘sales’ you’ll mostly be doing. How does this harm occur?

Technical Cofounder 162

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Startup Matching 162

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 13, 2024

You must familiarize yourself with key concepts such as marketing, sales, operations, cash flow management, balance sheets, and profit and loss statements. Create a detailed business plan where you must outline your financial goals, expenses, and revenue projections. Always hire people who are passionate, motivated, and adaptable.

United States 141

United States Bootstrapping Social Media Angel Investor 141

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 5, 2020

Here you can create detailed sales reports, monitoring customer habits, trends, and best-selling items. Upserve POS is one of the leading Point-of-Sale systems for the restaurant industry. TouchBistro is a Point-Of-Sale tool to support restaurant staff, 24/7, and from anywhere. Upserve POS. TouchBistro.

Software Review 165

Software Review Software Management Social Media 165

Duct Tape Marketing

AUGUST 30, 2024

They want to hire a marketer to generate some leads, and that usually leads them to doing a whole bunch of different tactics that they shouldn't be doing and takes them away from focusing on the things that are actually going to allow them to meet their marketing objectives and drive real growth.

Marketing 92

Marketing Retention Algorithm Advertising 92

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2025

Were you already engaged in a sales process with multiple parties, or was it really more of an opportunistic conversation between your company and them? By early 2024, we were sustainably profitable for a second time, on track to generate over $30 million in revenue and starting to get some PEs and strategics showing interest in Issuu.

Covenant 77

Covenant Acquisition IPO Artificial Inteligence 77