Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. So here are some more details ….

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Nearly every successful tech startup I’ve observed over the past 20 years has gone through a similar growth pattern: Innovate, systematize then scale operations. We have well financed competitors whom despite competing with we respect deeply and when you see your competition launching in many markets it’s tempting to follow suit.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

The time spent on reviewing decks went down compared to 2021. Going back to the Docsend research, which includes a survey of 300 founders and VCs in addition to their anonymous data collection on thousands of decks shared and reviewed, they found the top components/slides on successful pre-seed decks. Weeks to launch? Biggest obstacle?

Technical Review 166

Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder Portfolio 166

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A CPA provides input on tax structure and metrics, and assists with due diligence related to your industry. You need to ask questions and perform due diligence before you invest substantial time and money. Think about your employee and ownership hats. Must you wear both simultaneously? Ask tough questions.

Partner 208

Partner Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 208

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Tech IPO prices exploded and subsequent trading prices rose to dizzying heights as the stock prices became disconnected from the traditional metrics of revenue and profits. Then the cycle repeats with a new set of technologies.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 17, 2017

Our defense department and intelligence community owned proprietary advanced tools and technology. We and our contractors had the best technology domain experts. Some are strategic peers, some are near peers in specific areas, some are threats as non-state disrupters operating with no rules. Newell ran the U.S.

Community 244

Community Silicon Valley Technical Review Incubator 244

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

More specifically, you asked the hard questions, like: How can ecommerce companies compete with Alexa? They range from straightforward technical optimizations to complex, long-term efforts to differentiate through a superior consumer experience. Technical optimization: A baseline for voice search strategy. This post has answers.

B2B 100

B2B eCommerce Search Non-Compete 100

Occam's Razor

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

The Write A Review call to action (the more reviews there are on credit cards, the more valuable the site is for comparison shoppers the more people will come and do business with them). And in five seconds I'll end up with a graph that looks like this: The above data is from Compete. Check the Google Analytics metrics.

Web 139

Web Analytics Technical Review Affiliate 139

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

In this case study on Moz.com by Conversion Rate Experts , the first phase of their conversion strategy was to interview paying, non-paying, and former customers about how they felt about the product. The Concierge stage is about delivering the product promised in The Pitch, to a few customers with as little technology as possible.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 24, 2017

What neither group seems to fully comprehend is that retail needs to fundamentally change to succeed, far beyond the addition of an online component, to meet the experience expectations of today’s generation, an oversupplied global marketplace, and technology for instant pricing and distribution.

Customer 130

Customer eCommerce Non-Compete Technical Review 130

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 13, 2009

Many of the startups I talk to - and their boards - seem to equate ability to "hit the schedule" with competence and productivity. Even worse, and unlike their established counterparts, startups often experience a non-quantifiable cost of delay. Wow, great review! Thanks for the informative review.

Product Development 153

Product Development Developer San Francisco Product 153

andrewchenblog.com

MARCH 10, 2010

Most engineers know that in this kind of a case, the best practice is NOT to rewrite your code, but rather refactor it continually and take down the so-called “Technical debt&# so that it’s always under control. Anyway, let’s dive into this topic more, starting with technical debt. @AndrewChen New here?

Technical Review 47

Technical Review Design Las Vegas Product 47

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 8, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 8, 2009 Revisiting the Software Design Manifesto (and whats changed since then) My recent article on technical debt and its positive uses generated a fair bit of controversy. It had a pretty good technical design. That "good design" turned out to be technical debt, after all.

Software Review 87

Software Review Design Software San Francisco 87

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2018

There are three parts to a good competitive analysis: (1) defining the metrics and identifying the competitors you’re comparing, (2) gathering the data, and (3) the analysis. Mexican fast-food giant Chipotle has made serving non-GMO foods a key element of their brand promise. 3) Develop personas for your target customers.

Marketing 162

Marketing Charlotte Naming Design 162

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Disturbing, because many people & organizations want to compete on analytics, but are not doing the right things or adopting the right thinking about analytics. Here are the highlights: Only 2% of companies are tracking lead generation to sales metrics. 15% Of CMO’s Don’t Measure Marketing ROI, 27% Rely On Manager Judgements.

Analytics 113

Analytics Software Review Metadata Campaign 113

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 24, 2011

I feel like the bar has been raised so much in the last five years in the start up community and I’ve been busy working for a distinctly non-start up company. The thing we’re sort of competing with is sort of the immediate things, and the awareness. You mean tech support? Michael: Yeah, help, tech support.

Cofounder 208

Cofounder Technical Review Software Review Differentiation 208

Board Effect

JULY 21, 2022

Credit unions face external risk factors, including natural disasters, exchange rates, cybercrime , interest rates, and loss of funds due to theft. Credit unions also face such internal risks as internal fraud, regulatory non-compliance, data breaches, legal risks, and liability for injuries to consumers and staff.

Management 87

Management Technical Review Forecast Non-Compete 87

Board Effect

APRIL 29, 2022

External risk factors that credit unions face include things like natural disasters, exchange rates, cybercrime , interest rates, and loss of funds due to theft. Credit unions also face such internal risks as internal fraud, regulatory non-compliance, data breaches, legal risks, and liability for injuries of consumers and staff.

Technical Review 92

Technical Review Forecast Non-Compete Government 92

Occam's Razor

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

One of my favourite implementations of Treemaps is in the competitive intelligence tool Compete. You can hover over each box to get a sense of the key metrics. You've see the application of content consumption and keyword analysis using the Sunburst above, and the use of Treemaps by Compete. I used infogr.am

Analytics 145

Analytics Sierra Leone Channel Conversion 145

ConversionXL

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

It’s why Canva can call itself a multibillion-dollar platform and how ConvertKit pulled itself up to compete with goliaths like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor. The goal of growth hacking as marketing is rapid growth, using strategies and tactics that leverage (and even exploit) technology, platforms, and behavior to reach an end goal.

Retention 113

Retention Marketing Acquisition Channel 113

alexpoole.info

AUGUST 14, 2012

In 2003 as part of my master’s degree I reviewed over 50 empirical studies in typography and found a definitive answer. Part 2 reviews the evidence for and against the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces. However, Tinker commented that perceived legibility was due to a great extent to familiarity with the typeface.

Technical Review 85

Technical Review Software Review Design Web 85

Women Entrepreneurs Can

JULY 18, 2024

Moreover, increased employee engagement and morale are often observed due to clearer expectations and structured processes. Regular internal audits and reviews are essential for identifying non-conformities and areas requiring improvement. Consistent product and service quality are crucial for maintaining a competitive edge.

Management 52

Management Technical Review Software Review Framework 52

Up and Running

JULY 10, 2017

The tech-savvy millennials (me being one of them) are already familiar with the “shareware” concept that was turned into freemium. In our example, it’s 20K non-paying customers. Your non-paying customers don’t value the product as much as paying users do. Let’s take a look and find what works best for you. Freemium isn’t free.

Startup 110

Startup Non-Compete Viral Software Review 110

www.women2.org

MARCH 8, 2012

Published on: July 13, 2011 Posted By Angie Tags: Elizabeth Knopf , Finding A Co-Founder , FounderDating , Sorced , Technical Co-Founder , Tips & Tricks. Consequently, I either needed a tech co-founder or to pay someone to develop the product. Thus, I embarked on the journey to find a technical co-founder.

Cofounder 47

Cofounder Technical Review San Francisco Founder 47

Occam's Razor

MAY 4, 2010

If you want to understand the clickstream data for any website you could go to Compete (here's ESPN's data , or this blog's ). Technology Geeks? You might think the purpose is: Facebook followers, Brand Perception Lift, Product Reviews. Focus on the obvious, and the non-obvious. For ANY website.

Web 112

Web Non-Compete Analytics SEO 112

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

It’s a platform that empowers non-designers to make visually impressive designs without any training or technical expertise. Early on, Canva teamed up with tech influencer Guy Kawasaki to advocate their mission as “Chief Evangelist.” There’s no specific metric to determine if your brand awareness efforts are working.

Audience 122

Audience Technical Review Social Media Campaign 122

Hearpreneur

JULY 19, 2021

Through my non-profit Women Of Integrity Inc., I love knowing that my business empowers lawyers to actually understand how marketing works and how to hold the vendors they work with (and often their own internal employees) accountable for their work in measurable, fair, and metrics-backed ways. 30- The opportunity to compete.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Jordan Non-Compete Community 139

www.joelonsoftware.com

MARCH 24, 2010

Our official titles will be: (8) Technical Intern (9-12) Member of Technical Staff (13-15) Fog Creek Fellow "Member of Technical Staff", a.k.a. After that, every six months, Fog Creek management will review the performance of everyone in the company with the goal of making sure that people are at the right level.

Software Review 48

Software Review Stock Options Salary Technical Review 48

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

In this case study on Moz.com by Conversion Rate Experts , the first phase of their conversion strategy was to interview paying, non-paying, and former customers about how they felt about the product. The Concierge stage is about delivering the product promised in The Pitch, to a few customers with as little technology as possible.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

Amar Bhide, my former professor, wrote in Harvard Business Review, “ Strategy is Bunk.” If you can just execute competently , you will outperform a lot of people who might have a theoretically superior strategy. . – Technology stack. – Thoughtful fund management. – Thoughtful fund management.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

Amar Bhide, my former professor, wrote in Harvard Business Review, “ Strategy is Bunk.” If you can just execute competently , you will outperform a lot of people who might have a theoretically superior strategy. . – Technology stack. – Thoughtful fund management. – Thoughtful fund management.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

Duct Tape Marketing

DECEMBER 7, 2023

The discussion extends to the evolving role of leadership, with a focus on empathy as a crucial competency. Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! And that kind of notion, think back 30 years ago, that would've been impossible, but now it's a leadership competency we're talking about. It's the people.

Employee 94

Employee Europe Leadership Technical Review 94

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

  If the entrepreneur has two competing offers, that’s an excellent way to understand what the market will pay. Dividends come in two basic flavors – cumulative and non-cumulative.   So, let’s assume here we have an 8% non-cumulative dividend. Non-financial terms affecting Risk.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

ConversionXL

MARCH 19, 2020

A Harvard Business Review (HBR) study of 4,700 public companies looked at the three years before, during, and after recessions. You can find more ideas here: Product Pricing Strategies and Techniques Pricing Experiments You Might Not Know, But Can Learn From Should I Lower My Prices To Compete? micro-influencers or content producers).

Marketing 121

Marketing Campaign Non-Compete Lean 121

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

The industry standard metric for tracking the severity of disease is disability-adjusted life years ( DALYs ), i.e., the number of healthy life years lost due to the disease or risk. I think that research needs an overhaul to think about non-traditional ways of reducing disease.”. This is not big picture.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 60

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

These services compete with restaurants, cooking for yourself, ordering takeout, etc. Every single logistical and operational component was tied together through in-house technology to maximize its efficiency. While far from perfect, this idea created and operated by 4 people was hitting the metrics we had set.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Startup America Due Diligence 48

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

As the check size increases, investors tend to look for more traction, established revenue models, proven unit-economics, and other metrics that were previously associated with later stage companies. So if the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? Implications for LPs.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48